Last summer, Tonya and I were traveling through some remote New Mexico landscape, trying as always, to escape the grip of 21st Century “civilization,” or at least the aspects of it we find the most loathsome. Out there, on those…
Acknowledging that we have committed to climate catastrophe is not paralysis. Life is still rich after you accept that it will end. —– Tim De Christopher, April 27, 2018 Whether the recent Pack Creek fire outside Moab was the product…
A JUNE 2021 INTRODUCTION: In June 1990, thirty-one years ago this month, I penned a Page Two essay for my fledgling newspaper, The Canyon Country Zephyr, called “New West Blues.” The Zephyr had only existed for a bit more than…
“With all its hopes, dreams, promises and urban renewals, the world continues to deteriorate…give up.” “Deteriorata.” National Lampoon. 1972 So a couple months ago, when I heard that for the first time in recorded history, TWO tropical storms were simultaneously…
Back in June, a friend sent me a link to a new book that he thought might interest me. It was called Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultra-Wealthy & the Remaking of the American West. I was able to access a brief introduction…
I have been at a loss lately, to provide any words of significance, much less wisdom, on the current state of our country and what sometimes feels to me like a dismantling of our society. Words fail me. But I did…
NOTE: After 2 1/2 months of this, I’d almost rather eat Brussel Sprouts than write about COVID-19. Like many of you, I am conflicted and tired and frustrated and scared and angry. Sometimes I even think that God is just…
“Let the word go forth, from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans…”— JFK I was sleeping soundly, oblivious to the cares of the world, and…
BILL DAVIS & ‘ENOUGH ROPE” A MOAB REPORTER RETURNS AFTER 35 YEARS. In the late 70s. Moab was experiencing a mini-boom of sorts. The Atlas mill was still running full-tilt. The price of oil had skyrocketed, thanks to the Iranian…
I have had a soft spot for cowboys and the cinematic Western since I was old enough to walk and say, “giddy-up.” It is one of the great regrets of my life that I never became proficient on a horse.…