In December, Jonathan Thompson, the roving contributor and former editor for ‘High Country News,’ offered his latest musings on the Bears Ears controversy from his home in Bulgaria. Responding to an op ed in ‘The Deseret News’ by Utah’s Governor…
What do we fear more—dying or being forgotten? My father, who was always a private man, died a little more than 7 years ago. I don’t know if he worried about being forgotten—that’s one of the many questions I never…
In December, The Zephyr first reported on a leaked email of a draft memo from a Friends of Cedar Mesa board member. Here is an update…JS A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LEAKED MEMO The Friends of Cedar Mesa (FCM), a…
Paul Vlachos is a New Yorker who understands The West. And he is a New Yorker who understands New York. Wherever Paul goes, he finds signs of life… Please let me explain myself. Even though Saint Francis said “it’s better…
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There is a language to picking salmon out of a gillnet. During the summer of 2017, I spent 6 weeks on a fishing boat in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and learned a little bit of this language. It is an act…
Note: In the essay that follows, I continue to write about my early days of learning to fly fish. Uncle Lloyd still lived in Dove Creek, and I was on the way west again with my family. We were moving…
My dad, like many people in 1911, was born at home in his parents apartment, without the assistance of medical professionals. My grandmother Phelps lived in that apartment above their store from the time it was built in 1906 until…
In early December, when Cisco Davey contacted me to say that his dad, Ken Davey, had died, I was, for once, at a loss for words. I guess I still am. Ken was my next door neighbor in Moab for…