Columns

On March 21, Saturn will ingress into the sign of Aquarius, marking the end of one mini-epoch and our collective entrance into another.  Saturn has been in the sign of Capricorn since December 2017, bringing attention to the structure of our institutions and “the establishment.” Saturn’s shift into the sign of Aquarius will shift the […]

Driving by the sign “Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates,” took me aback. Making an illegal U-turn in front of the medium-security WS Key Correctional Center on a rural Oklahoma highway this February, I drove back to snap a couple of pictures of the sign. Reflecting upon many hitchhiking journeys of my own, through Europe, Canada, […]

With a lifetime of working in nature, I feel like a “holder of secrets” at times. My second favoritest job ever was as an arborist, working for my friends Mickey and Susan as an undergrad. Each morning at a new job site we’d step into our saddles, gear clinking just as it did on the […]

My maternal grandmother was Canadian and lately I find myself contemplating about the bureaucratic process to obtain dual citizenship, along with the cost of gear needed to survive a Canadian winter. If it really comes down to fight or flight, I may just flee. Because I love this country, I don’t want to watch it […]

A reasonable person is able and willing to reason. Such a person is respectful of logic, not suspicious of it, and is willing to follow the argument wherever it leads. This requires a certain amount of humility, an acknowledgment that one could be wrong. Such a person is capable of listening to the other side […]

Having experienced several big-city transit systems — San Francisco, Chicago, Denver — I can testify that RFTA is a gem. When I moved here, I was astonished to learn that the Roaring Fork Transportation Agency is Colorado’s second-largest transit system, after Denver! (Huh, Colorado Springs?) Interestingly enough Colorado leads the nation in rural public transportation. […]

I don’t care what culture you identify with the most, or how amazing or superior you may think your culture is to others. Every single group has its eyebrow-raising, kooky, cultural neuroses, and we Mexicans are no different. As most of you know by now, I mostly consider myself American Mountain Girl (it’s a real […]

My horoscope said I may be experiencing an “existential crisis” this week. Nailed it. Luckily, it’s not a permanent condition, and according to the stars, should clear up by the weekend… After a natural disaster we often see people who have just lost everything wandering around with a disbelieving look on their faces, searching for […]

One of the single most defining aspects of one’s high school career is the college application process, a process near-complete but still ebbing out for most seniors today. And though the experience of applying to college has been a large part of the American teenager’s life for much of our nation’s history, it’s changed drastically […]

While having surveying done 41 years ago prior to building our home in the Crystal Valley, the surveyors showed us a map of the area from the 1880s. It indicated a spot about 3/4 of a mile upriver from us labeled “Mobley’s Corral”. This was new to us because the local name for that spot […]