Many Moabites were not quick to embrace the Mountain Bike Phenomenon. Local businesses geared to tourism were the first to see the benefit and tolerated the invasion, if not fully embracing it. Old Moab was not so generous. These guys…
Our friend martin Murie left us in January, but with the permission and blessings of his family, we would like to re-print some of his best essays from the past decade. Here is one of Martin’s first contributions, a…
Mary was married July 3, 1924. Jack was working for Beeson’s at that time, they had practically adopted him anyway. July 24, 1924 Jack and Mary took me to Castleton for the 24th Celebration. They had a little Model T…
BEYOND BELIEF It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble; it’s what we know that ain’t so. – Will Rogers Let’s all try a little thought experiment. The next time you hear your favorite politician refer…
Winter is slowly leaving the High Atlas as I pass the milestone of having been a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Morocco for two years now. Two years; it’s hard to believe that it has been so long since I…
2/3…TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT….By Jim Stiles * Overpopulation—the Windex Solution * DISSENT–The Greatest form of Loyalty * THE 99% (We don’t like each other very much) * The French Toilet Jobs Solution * Moab U…Hurrah for Education. But BAD…
Recently a quotation from George Clooney made the rounds on facebook. Every Democrat worth his liberal-leaning salt was running this admonition from the popular actor. In part he said: “I’m disillusioned with the people who are disillusioned with Obama, quite…
If you’re like me, you know the whole “gay rights” question isn’t really a question: it’s an eventuality. According to an ABC poll from 2011, 68% of Americans under the age of 30 support gay marriage rights. More strikingly, 65%…
BELLA! Andy and Marcee Nettell have been fostering this beautiful pooch, Bella, while she waits for a permanent home. If you can’t resist those beautiful, soulful brown eyes, contact the Moab Valley Humane Society immediately. GOOD NEWS! AT PRESS TIME…
Aziz Rain falls softly from a slate grey sky, and drips slowly from the drooping tips of the palm leaves that dominate the view from my hotel window here in Rabat. Birds sing unseen, sheltering from the rain, and people…
Since the Occupy Movement began last September, I’ve watched with bated breath. I love a good revolution and have spent most of my adult life hoping to see one, but in this day and age, especially here in the…
“I’d hoped that my intuitions were wrong, but they weren’t.” – Jim Stiles, 2007 It’s late Monday morning at Starbucks, on the day after New Year’s. The snow outside is beginning to whip up; several inches are forecast for later…
Desi and I tried to picture the country in 50 years, as a kind of parlor game. “Oh! Mushroom cloud! It’s going to be a disaster!” he said. “It’s so overwhelming there’s nothing in particular to be worried…
The D&RGW: Colorado 1954 HERB RINGER came West from his home in New Jersey in 1939. Camera in hand, Herb captured the American West, from the Canadian Border to the Rio Grande and from the Big Sur coast to the…
The world’s human population passed seven billion souls last October with little fanfare. There were a few ripples of concern but, incredibly, others thought it was a moment for celebration. You’d think we’d won a prize for procreation or something.…
I was going to write about population, water and the Southwest, largely where I’m still headed. But then came headlines about the Occupy Movement; an essay on the Cassandra dilemma, and my ongoing frustration that a nation founded on the…
In 1940, the Roosevelt administration hired out-of-work writers and photographers from coast to coast to create “travel guides” for each of the 48 states. The Federal Writers’ Project sent documentarians to the far corners of America. One of the most…
BACK TO JACKSON HOLE… Approaching my old home grounds, Jackson’s Hole, I start gearing down. Deep breathing, concentrating on traffic, letting all else blur by. But a parking place has to be found and by then I’ve remembered the sagebrush…
The Sand Flats & the Slickrock Bike Trailhead… 1981 & 1995 In the early 198s, soil scientist Lynn Fenstermaker conducted soil tests near the Sand Flats above Moab. At the…
The twins were born March 7, 1916. That was a night. Mary had to run up the hill a little way to get Mrs. Wheeler to come stay with Mother while Dad went after Mrs. Carrol, the Midwife. I had…
EDITOR’S NOTE: For Part One of: ‘The Calm before the Swarm,” go to: http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2011/12/01/the-calm-before-the-swarm-by-jim-stiles/ After decades in operation, the Atlas Uranium Mill, once the lifeblood of the community, ground to a halt, closed in 1984 and never re-opened. The domestic…