“The desert will take care of you. At first, it’s all big and beautiful, but you’re afraid of it. Then you begin to see its dangers, and you hate it. Then you learn how to overcome its dangers. And the…
My love I am sending you this picturesque view of the river –W.G. Sebald Again, remember that it is not the weight of the future or the past that is pressing upon you, but ever that of the present alone.…
“I ain’t got no quarrel with the Viet Congs” Muhammad Ali 1967 Required by law, I registered for the draft in 1968 when I was 18 years old. I had done enough homework and was frightened enough to know that…
For Ken Davey, 1953-2017 UPDATE ON ZEPHYR LAWSUIT: IT’S NOT OVER YET. NOTE: On January 10, the Utah Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed the decision of the Seventh District Court to summarily dismiss the $5 million defamation lawsuit against the…
I rarely write about myself, so bear with me. Nick Sandmann, a student at a Catholic high school in Covington, Ky., has been vilified far and wide based on this photo. Prominent liberals have labeled his smile a “self-satisfied smirk”…
“We don’t inherit the Earth from our parents. We borrow it from our children.” David Brower Evidence of human use of the Thompson Springs area can be dated back to the Archaic Period, when beautiful pictographs were left in Sego…
NOTE: While we put this issue together, the United States government was in partial shutdown mode. It lasted 35 days. Among the government agencies affected was the National Park Service and the many “units” in its system. Across the country…
Hank Schmidt’s first reports as Park Custodian at Arches National Monument in the fall of 1939 were all addressed to “Boss” Pinkley, then the Superintendent of the Southwestern National Monuments. Pinkley was a Park Service legend. According to Arches historian…
24 October, 2018 It is only partially coincidental that in this past week we had municipal elections across the province and a climate change scientist just happened to speak at a public forum in Penticton. There was nothing coincidental, however,…
I love to get out and see the beautiful views in San Juan County. I grew up here and I had the perfect growing up life. We lived on the east side of town. I’d get with my boy friends…
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 High Plains. We believe…
The Zephyr Backbone is what keeps us alive! Click Here to Join! *Note: The Cartoonist screwed up. In a subconscious attempt to escape the world’s news, he changed one of our Backbone Member’s names from “Michael” to “Richard” Cohen. Sorry,…
*With contributions from Tonya Stiles First, let’s get something straight. Everything…everything…that facebook does is for the money. For profit. Facebook—and I will henceforth use the pronoun ‘It’ to describe the company— is concerned with profits and nothing more. It doesn’t…
The main thing to remember about capitalism is that companies will always try to make you feel better about buying their product. It’s easy to be seduced by advertising—believing that buying one type of soda pop makes you a better…
“Battle Over Bears Ears” is a one-hour documentary produced by KUED in Salt Lake City. According to the station’s website, it “explores the deep connections to place and the vast cultural divides that are fueling the fight over how the…
Paul Vlachos is a New Yorker who understands The West. And he is a New Yorker who understands New York. Wherever Paul goes, he finds signs of life… As soon as you click the camera shutter on a photograph, your…
PROLOGUE: For the past several years San Juan County, Utah and its citizens, especially the white Mormon residents of Blanding and Monticello, have been the subject of much scrutiny. From local media attacks to national coverage, many of the county’s…
In large part, my personal opposition to a large new national monument in San Juan County was always based on a straightforward risk assessment of the likely consequences under “monument” versus “no monument” scenarios. On the one hand, it seemed…
“People are so easily distracted. So I’m the distractor…with a little story. People can’t get enough of them because, well, people connect the stories to themselves, I suppose. And we all love hearing about ourselves so long as the people…
On November 12, KUED, the public television station in Salt Lake City, premiered a one hour documentary titled “The Battle Over Bears Ears.” In 2017, producer Nancy Green and her crew came to San Juan County and spent weeks there,…
