Columns

Stumbling through riverbed boulders and log jams, the beams of our headlamps were lightsabers, slicing erratically through black night. Snowmelt sloshed in my 20-year old waders. My friend George shivered, soaked up to shrinkage. Neither state though, dampened our mirth. Out after dark, we felt like kids at play. Crossing a marsh, odd pinpoints of […]

“I’ve never felt safer.” I pulled my mask down and leaned over to yell in my friend’s ear during the #BLM march in Rifle last month.  As I said it, there were half a dozen Harleys revving past us as we marched along the sidewalk and police from several municipalities stationed at each intersection. Rifle […]

Whatever the creepy recorded voices at City Market say, it doesn’t feel like we’re all in this together anymore. That’s not necessarily a criticism, just the impression that comes with seeing some people out in large groups and others still cooped up at home. And while I don’t know what precautions might be under the […]

“How are you guys holding up?” I asked a friend.  She groaned and told me how her marriage was strained after months of unemployment, not to mention the stress of having her older children suddenly thrust back into the nest. I sensed she wanted to go keep venting, but she quickly switched gears, as if […]

The best and worst part of growing up in a small town is running into people you know.  Those who have stayed connected via social media over the years can see past my changed outward appearance and others squint, trying to figure out why I seem familiar. I am normally filled with anxious anticipation of […]

When I was a second grade teacher I set my watch’s second hand to match the clock in my classroom.  Every day, at 30 seconds past 9:28, my students split off into six different rooms to receive their small group reading instruction. As my students left, less familiar faces arrived from other classrooms. I sat […]

In this week’s Mountain Journal, a nonprofit journal centered on Yellowstone National Park, I read an editorial about the packed trails locals are experiencing in Livingston, Montana under the shadow of Bozeman’s population explosion amid COVID-19.  I felt their angst over an attempt to find pleasure in the wilds, only to find stress amid crowds. […]

I recently had a nightmare that it was Mountain Fair. Folks came from all over and converged on downtown. Under normal circumstances, it’s an important tradition (without which I would not exist, as my parents met at Mountain Fair). But in the context of a pandemic, the welcome sight of old friends and new was […]

I have come to a crossroads in my career path. Well actually, it’s more like one of those corner roadside stands in Mexico where they sell any/everything from fresh fruit to furniture… after 25 plus years of administrative work in myriad industries: art/entertainment, grocery, airline, etc. I am now a junk dealer. My sister sent […]

Recently, I happened upon a short video of anti-racism activist and educator Jane Elliot inviting an audience of white people to stand if they would be happy to be treated the same way that this society, in general, treats our black citizens. Not one single person stood.  Then she said, “This means you know what’s […]