How the first Native director of the National Park Service drew from a legacy of federal boarding schools and Indigenous teachings.
Profiles
Posted inFebruary 2025: Immigrant Stories
Reenvisioning the image of immigration
Artist and refugee Papay Solomon juxtaposes European painting with African ancestry.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
Meet the gun-toting ‘Tenacious Unicorns’ in rural Colorado
How a transgender-owned alpaca ranch in Colorado foretells the future of the rural queer West.
Posted inArticles
A Seattle tattoo artist turns to essential work: transporting the dead
After her shop closed, Jessica Henry found a way to be of service during the pandemic helping others with life’s passing.
Posted inApril 15, 2019: Scene of the Crime
An Arizona border sheriff confronts the wall
President Trump’s pitch is ‘a sound bite, not a cogent public policy position.’
Posted inArticles
Filmmaker Jingjing Tian releases her inner cowboy
From movies to music, artists of color are claiming Western mythology.
Posted inDecember 24, 2018: Good news, bad news
As the influence of newsprint erodes, Westword prevails
Despite the state of the media, Westword Editor Patty Calhoun maintains hope.
Posted inSeptember 17, 2018: The Pioneer of Ruin
The pioneer of ruin
Amid a desolate mess in Cisco, Utah, a young woman resurrects a home.
Posted inAugust 6, 2018: What Are We Doing Here?
Pawnee comic Howie Echo-Hawk wants to see you squirm
Echo-Hawk’s ‘punishment comedy’ draws on his experiences as an Indigenous man living in Seattle.
Posted inNovember 13, 2017: Solace and Perspective
The Kumeyaay poet who’s disrupting nature poetry
Tommy Pico merges natural and personal history of the arid West from Brooklyn, New York.
Posted inNovember 13, 2017: Solace and Perspective
A map of language charted by Navajo philosophy
Esther Belin is trying to shape a uniquely Navajo way of writing.
Posted inNovember 13, 2017: Solace and Perspective
The border as a ‘weaponized’ landscape
Border Patrol agent-turned-author Francisco Cantú examines his experiences.
Posted inArticles
A Navajo musician’s quest to spread jazz across the Nation
After gaining international fame, Delbert Anderson and his ensemble bring their music home.
Posted inSeptember 18, 2017: No Hoax
In Glen Canyon, a fight against invasive grasses
A young researcher seeks to make the Southwest more resilient to climate change.
Posted inArticles
‘The blurring of the then and the now’
An author returns West, looking for unexpected intersections.
Posted inOctober 31, 2016: A Monumental Divide
The fight for Bears Ears, on the road
Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, Ute Mountain Ute member, takes the monument debate to Washington.
Posted inOctober 3, 2016: Purple Rain
Meet Denise Juneau, who hopes to be the first Native American woman in Congress
Indian Country votes will help determine whether this seat flips to blue.
Posted inSeptember 5, 2016: When the Doctor is Out
Meet the West’s oldest climate correspondent
Anna Mae Wright has spent seven decades recording the weather.
Posted inAugust 22, 2016: 100
Meet the man helping the Park Service prepare for a hotter future
Patrick Gonzalez walks the walk when it comes to climate action.
Posted inJune 27, 2016: The New Advocates
Meet the new advocates for the West
A generation of young Western activists are using outdoor sports as a step towards conservation.