When Herb gave his father a journal for Christmas in 1944, JOSEPH RINGER put it to good use. In addition to his remarkable commentary that spanned the years 1944 to 1963, he liked to make lists. This is one of…
Note: Yesterday, the Deseret News ran a shorter version of this summary. This 1400 word essay provides a more detailed analysis of the Monument debate, which is sure to continue after yesterday’s announcement by President Trump that the Monument will…
The Zephyr Backbone is what keeps us alive! Click here to Join! Click Here to Join the Zephyr Backbone! Don’t forget the Zephyr ads! All links are hot!
This publication has maintained for over a year that all federal lands are protected by the Archaeological Resources Protection of Act of 1979 and that, in fact, ARPA was passed by Congress to address shortcomings and inadequacies in the 1906…
By now, most Americans have heard some mention of an ongoing debate over “Net Neutrality.” Whether via John Oliver’s now famous segment on the issue, which drowned the FCC website in pro-neutrality comments, or else courtesy of a few grudging…
A few weeks ago, I submitted a shorter version of an article we posted in The Zephyr called “The New West’s Big Lie” to the environmental newspaper, High Country News. Though “The Big Lie” was in direct response to a…
The Zephyr takes pride in getting our facts right and our quotes accurate. Sometimes we have to do a little research to find those facts and quotes, but it’s worth the effort. This issue’s “accurate quotes” section comes from a…
“It is not by adaptation to environment, but by the creation of an artificial environment.” —John Wesley Powell, 1888 In defiance of the prevailing belief that modern insights and innovations are driving humanity down the path of enlightenment, social tensions…
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view..until you climb into his skin and walk around in it… until you stand in his shoes “ Harper Lee, “To Kill a Mockingbird” I moved…
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… I’m going to keep this short, as I’m on the road and…
What benefit to the Navajo people would ever come from the Navajo Nation threatening to sue the Federal Government over Bears Ears National Monument being reduced? Suing the government over the anticipation of reducing Bears Ears National Monument pays more…
On July 25th I received an email from Jim Hook who, along with his wife Luanne, are owners of the legendary Recapture Lodge in Bluff Utah. The Recapture Lodge was founded by Gene and Mary Foushee. The email said simply, “Sorry to…
The novel is significant, therefore, not because it presents someone else’s fate to us, perhaps didactically, but because this stranger’s fate by virtue of the flame which consumes it yields us the warmth which we never draw from our own…
It was just dumb luck that in 1985 I befriended Pat Newman., a septuagenarian woman who had connections in the community. I found her stories fascinating, and let her know, as I would hang on the tales she would tell.…
THANKS to Tom McCourt & the Tibbetts Family. For years, I have been watching Moab move farther and farther away from its roots, to the point where it seems few people even know the history of the place anymore. Some…
One morning in a willow swamp I carried a camera close to a bull moose. I wanted a full-screen portrait. The moose, accustomed to trespassers, calmly went on browsing, his head low. Wanting him head-up. I made a sudden forward…
In the 1970s, Edward Abbey often spent time with his old pal, the great Southwest painter, John De Puy. Abbey and De Puy had a hideaway–actually De Puy owned the property, Abbey was a frequent visitor— somewhere in southeast Utah.…
In addition to the thousands of 35 mm Kodachrome transparencies that herb shot over 50 years, another of his prized possessions was his leather-bound 2 1/4 Rolleiflex camera.. He took thousands of…
*NOTE: We’ve received a number of Backbone contributions since we put together this page. If you contributed, we are incredibly grateful, and your cartoon will appear in the Dec/Jan Group of Supporters. Thanks! The Zephyr Backbone is what keeps us…
