The essay you are hopefully about to read is part of my forthcoming 2022 collection and exhibition with the Montana artist Tabby Ivy. Both the collection and the exhibition will be called Between Artists: Life in Paintings and Prose. The…
One of the truisms of life as a reporter, especially in a small town, is one always had to have access to motorized transportation. There was no predicting when or where a news event would take place, and, especially if…
This piece is excerpted from from Cold Case Chronicles: Mysteries, Murders & the Missing by Silvia Pettem (©2021). The book is available on Amazon at this link. For a few months in 2009, twenty-first-century forensics seemed to resolve the mystery…
In the mid-70s, Cisco, Utah was already being called a ghost town. It had boomed briefly during the Uranium Craze, but two decades later, it already had a deserted look and feel to it. One marginal exception was Ethel’s Cafe. Its…
For the past three years, I have taken an active interest in drought in the southwestern US as illustrated by declining water levels in various reservoirs. I have been especially interested in Lake Powell which started filling in 1963 upon…
Disclaimer: The following is a recollection of events that occurred in the early summer of 1988. An avoidable accident resulting in the death of a paying passenger was due to an unfortunate series of errors by ill-prepared staff and owners…
The June 9th Pack Creek Fire was deeply upsetting for those of us who know and love the La Sals. I discuss the fire, and its effects, in two stories this issue: Take it or Leave it: FUTURE “FIRES”… A…
This is the first installment of a new series on “Things that Annoy us.” The inaugural submission, written by our founding publisher, will be followed in future issues by other rants from members of the Zephyr Writing Staff and hopefully…
Our regular readers know that we began a new project at the Zephyr last year–called “Zephyr America.” We’ve been slowly wading through the massive Zephyr archives of historic photos and digitizing them to share with our readers. To keep up…
Herb Ringer liked Ford vehicles. He traveled the country from the 40s through the 80s, initially with his parents Joseph and Sadie, and then alone. And from the beginning, the family preferred Ford–from their ’45 Super Deluxe to the ’49…