THE ZEPHYR BLUE MOON EXTRA

A ZEPHYR ALTERNATIVE FUTURE? AN ALTERNATE REALITY?

As many of you know, The Zephyr’s  future is uncertain. In December, Tonya decided to leave here and start a new life elsewhere. For once, words fail, other than to say I hope only the best for her.  I will always love her.  Tonya gave me the happiest decade of my life. I will leave it at that.

But regarding The Zephyr, Tonya had become publisher three years ago. But really she had been doing the lion’s share of the work, and doing it brilliantly,  for most of the past decade. She took charge of all the production work on the Zephyr, the layouts, all work associated with WordPress. She handled the special email notifications that we sent to our readers, and she scheduled posts and monitored the comments daily.  And, as you know, in addition to all that, she was and is an incredible writer. I am sure Tonya has a bright and brilliant future, wherever it leads her.

When it comes to these tech issues, however, and working online to create and produce a cyber version of The Zephyr,  I’m pretty lost. I’m an old “cut and paste” newspaper guy.  I can do amazing things with layout boards, a pair of scissors and a hand waxer. And over a decade ago, I did possess some very rudimentary skills assembling stories in an old version of WordPress, but I don’t remember much of it.  

When my life changed so suddenly and unexpectedly in December, I saw no option regarding The Zephyr but to call it quits. Honestly, most of me still feels that way. But I have heard from a lot of you, wondering if there aren’t other avenues available to keep The Zephyr alive,  but perhaps in a different way.

For 33 years, we posted The Zephyr as a regularly scheduled bi-monthly publication, even after I gave up on the print version in 2009. It had a regular posting date and a set time. Each issue often included as many as 20 features, articles, and stories that all posted simultaneously online. It was an enormous amount of work for Tonya, trying to edit and create layouts for all of those stories and always facing that looming deadline.

Even before December, we had considered other options. The one possibility that makes more sense now, if I have any hope of continuing, is to make The Zephyr a more fluid publication. Instead of throwing two dozen stories at our readers all at once, I’d post stories and articles and photo features — by me and others — as we completed them. That single story would then appear on our website at the top of the page, where you now see the December/January cover. And with each succeeding story, the most recent post would continue to assume that top spot. The previous article would simply drop down to the next line on the home page. All Zephyr articles would continue to be accessible and available, and free,  to all of our readers.

In addition to the new stories, I would continue to regularly repost selections from our archives, on our Zephyr facebook page.

First, I have to relearn WordPress and a lot more. My great friend and The Zephyr webmaster, Ricky Richardson, is going to help me, and as soon as I can make the trip to Utah, he hopes he can impart enough of his knowledge upon my seemingly impenetrable skull that I can learn enough to reassume at least some of the responsibilities that Tonya did so well and for so long. 

My target date for all this is March 14, 2022. On that day 33 years ago, we printed the very first issue of The Zephyr. Coincidentally, and unknown to me until that afternoon, it was also the day that my friend and mentor Edward Abbey died. It’s a bittersweet memory all these years later. And now even more so.

So I am hoping I can meet that deadline. As for the frequency of the website posts, you might see three in a week, as the need or inclination arises, or the site might stay static for a week or three. Or I might repost a favorite story from our archives. It’s hard to say. This is all an experiment.  Despite the title, I would hope I’d be posting new articles and features more frequently than “once in a blue moon.” 

Finally, The Zephyr depends almost exclusively on its readers for financial support. Many of you are sustaining members ($5 to $15/month) and I hope that you will have the patience to stay with me for a while. And if there are any of you who would want to make a leap of faith, who might also want to support The Zephyr’s future, either as a monthly contributor, or on a one time basis, here is the link:

http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/advertise/indexnewz.htm

If you want to avoid credit cards or PayPal and write a check, please make them out to me personally until I can create a new Zephyr checking account.

Someone once said it’s better to hope for the best, but expect the worst. Emily Dickinson wrote, “Hope is the thing with feathers.” I hope she’s right. For now I’m not even sure what I’m hoping for.

Someday I’m going to write a very personal account of this last year. You won’t believe it. And I think it was even harder on Tonya than it was on me. I wish I could have taken that bullet for her. She didn’t deserve the misery that the Stiles Family forced her to endure. But that’s a story for another time.

Thanks for listening. Thank you for your support and your albeit long distance friendship. To those few who ‘get it,’ you have no idea how often I miss Bill Benge, Gene Schafer, Reuben Scolnik, and Herb Ringer. My real family. And Tonya.

Take care,
Jim Stiles

The Canyon Country Zephyr
c/o Jim Stiles
PO Box 133. Coldwater KS 67029

www.canyoncountryzephyr.com

cczephyr@gmail.com

(For now note the new address)