Today we talk with Daniel Kemmis. Daniel studied both philosophy and political science, and names Plato, Rousseau, Jefferson, and Gandhi as his primary influences. He was minority leader and speaker of the house in the Montana State Legislature during the ‘80s, when the Sagebrush Rebellion was at its height. Later, he served as Mayor of Missoula. The intense dysfunction of those times, together with the fiercely contested land issues, inspired Kemmis to write the seminal book Community and the Politics of Place, and develop the Kemmis method for finding compromise. Some years back, Zion Nation ..read more

The Spanish enslavement of Indigenous peoples across the Southwest was an immense market in humans, second only to that of African Americans. Severed from their lands and cultures, how did some of them create a path forward? Who are the Genízaro? How can Catholicism and Indigenous traditions coexist, perhaps even synergize, in one community? And how can photography act as medicine? Today we talk with documentary photographer Russel Albert Daniels. He begins with the incredible story of his great great Grandmother Rose, who was captured from her Diné homeland by a band of Utes and sold to a Mor ..read more

Eric digs into how politicians ignored drought data to create the 1922 Colorado River Compact, and how that intentional myopia continued for almost a century.  Today, the entire basin must finally reckon with what has been true all along; that the allocated water just is not there.  He busts two foundational myths along the way, one about the science and data, and the other about water use.  He then situates the Lake Powell Pipeline (LPP) into the present moment of truth, setting the stage for our next, perhaps final podcast about the LPP itself.   We say “perhaps,” because ..read more

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a friend is “one joined to another in mutual benevolence and intimacy. Not ordinarily applied to lovers or relatives…a boon companion.” It first appears in “Beowolf” in 1018 A.D. as “freondum.”  Though the opposite of “fiend,” both words root in the same Germanic word soup for “love” and “hate,” so therefore inextricably intertwined.  Here, two old friends, Teresa Jordan and Judith Freeman, both remarkable and accomplished writers and artists, born and bred in the American West, examine their own enduring relationship through the lens of Ju ..read more

This is Part One of a three-part series on the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline (LPP). The first two podcasts explore the historical roots of the complex issues underpinning the pipeline proper. Here, Historian Greg Smoak joins us to discuss the origins of water law in the West, beginning with, appropriately enough, the lake’s namesake John Wesley Powell, and his populist perspective on how water in this arid region might be equitably managed. Professor Smoak is a Professor of History at the University of Utah and the director of the American West Center. He’s the author of many articles and essa ..read more

We’ve podcasted about the Lake Powell Pipeline, so we thought, as the drought continues and water levels continue to drop, let’s go have a look. We told our board about the idea and it turns out that board member Catherine Smith rafted the Colorado River through Glen Canyon as a teenager in 1955. We were so pleased that she insisted on coming along. We included David Petitt, a well-known photographer now painter, and of course, our producer and host Logan, his wife Angie, and our assistant producer Ben. The level when we took our trip in May was only 1/4 full at 3523 feet – just 33 feet above ..read more

In Part 3, we continue searching for that special something that no one can quite put their finger on; whatever it is that is drawing people to Helper like a magnet.  Gary DeVincent made his way to Helper because he has an eye for quality. He has been restoring old motorcycles and cars his whole life, giving him a penchant for recognizing things that were built with care and intention. So, several years ago when he saw the beautiful but run-down buildings on Helper’s main street he saw a project. Now he is doing everything he can to shorten the distance between now and then, restoring bui ..read more

In her new book Gender(s), a new volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Kathryn Bond Stockton explores the fascinating, fraught, intimate, morphing matter of gender. Stockton argues for gender's strangeness, no matter how normal the concept seems; gender is queer for everyone, she claims, even when it's played quite straight. And she explains how race and money dramatically shape everybody's gender, even in sometimes surprising ways. Playful but serious, erudite and witty, Stockton marshals an impressive array of exhibits to consider, including dolls and their new gendering, the t ..read more

With the downturn of the coal mines in the 70s and 80s came a period of economic decline for Helper, Utah. The town was starting to look a little shabby, so proud residents Neida Garcia and Lois Giordano took it upon themselves to spruce things up a bit. They started planting flowers on Main Street with a hunch that caring would beget caring. They were right. Every business on Main Street wanted to be a part of it, and pretty soon there were pots of flowers outside every storefront. But it didn’t stop there.  One day in the 80s, artists Dave Dornan and Marilou Kundmueller finally pulled o ..read more

What constitutes a community? What do they form around, the seed? What makes them persist over time? Helper, Utah was founded as a “helper engine” town in 1881. Here trains would pick up an extra engine to help them up the steep, relentless grade of Price Canyon and over Soldier Summit. At the beginning of the 20th century, Helper was a booming railroading and coal mining community. It was also the most diverse place in Utah, with 27 different languages spoken in the town. Coal later diminished in value, and eventually started to run out, and the community has been forced to find a new way. Fr ..read more