Most of this issue was already ‘in the can’ and ready to post, when the world suddenly turned upside down last month. We wondered if our stories were so insignificant by comparison, that we should even hold back this issue. But…
“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…
When the swamp gas clears…and the weather balloons are safe in their weather-station beds …and all the super-secret spy planes have spun their alley-oops and jittered their non-ballistic shuffles through the clouds for the night…and you’re on some wide stretch…
The following excerpt is from the book: CANYON COUNTRY EXPLORATIONS & RIVER LORE: The Remarkable Resilient Life of Kenny Ross, by Gene M. Stevenson. The book was written about Kenny Ross, one of the forgotten personalities on the Colorado Plateau…
I can’t write about my time in Moab without providing a little backstory on why I loved the place so much, and how happy, no, giddy, I was to move there. I grew up in Santa Barbara, California, during the…
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…
Few readers of The Monkey Wrench Gang know that Bonnie Abbzug was based on a real woman–a real dancer from the Bronx. She and Ed were a couple when Ed began writing the book and they remained friends until his…
NOTE: I finished this article several weeks ago, before the current COVID-19 disaster gave new urgency and recognition to the term “essential personnel.” It’s clear to everyone now how great a role is played by grocery workers, truckers, gas station…
As Bill Davis and I chatted about his new column, one name dominated our thoughts more than any other. Sam Taylor, the longtime publisher of the Moab Times-Independent, hired Bill in 1978. Though their politics could not have been more…
Today, the rural west veers between two economic extremes: The industrial resource extraction and commodity economy, and the industrial tourism economy. The traditional occupations of the west, ranching, farming, logging, and mining, are locked in a deadly embrace with global…