New West Book Review
Brandon R. Schrand’s “The Enders Hotel”
The Enders Hotel
By Brandon R. Schrand
University of Nebraska Press
230 pages, $17.95
Brandon R. Schrand's vivid new memoir chronicles his childhood growing up in the Enders Hotel in Soda Springs, Idaho. In the 1970's, Schrand's grandparents restored the place, originally built in 1919, and welcomed all kinds of people, especially the itinerant laborers of the region. Schrand, who teaches creative writing at the University of Idaho, moved back and forth to the Enders as his mother's and stepfather's jobs came and went. "Because we were job seekers," he writes, "we endured the perpetual ebb and flow of work—the overtime followed, always, by the lay-offs, the shut-downs, the walkouts."
Brandon Schrand will appear at Common Knowledge Bookstore in Sandpoint, Idaho (May 16, 4:30 p.m.), Fact & Fiction in Missoula (June 13), and at The Enders Hotel in Soda Springs, Idaho (June 30, 5 p.m.).
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Featured Photo from New West Images
"In the Shadow of San Acacio," Golondrinas, New Mexico. Photo by Jeannette S. Wood
See more photos on the New West Images photoblog.
rally at msu
Barack Obama to Visit Billings, Crow Reservation, and Bozeman Monday
UPDATE: Obama has added a visit to the Crow Reservation to his Monday schedule. Details below.
Sen. Barack Obama will be in Billings for a townhall meeting Monday morning and in Bozeman for a rally at MSU Monday evening, the campaign announced today. The visit marks Obama's second stop in Montana in as many months in advance of the June 3 primary. Both events are free and open to the public.
Details after the jump.
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From edible Missoula
Rooted in the Soil
From Edible Missoula
By Neva Hassanein
Over the last decade, a movement to build a vibrant local and regional food system has gained tremendous momentum in Western Montana. As someone involved in this effort, I smile when I step back and look at how many pieces of the localization puzzle have begun to fall into place. While there is much to celebrate, the challenges have become clearer too. In the face of rapid population growth and development, one of the biggest hurdles of all may be saving fertile soil -- the medium in which our local food system must be rooted. Yet, opportunities for innovative and collaborative problem solving present themselves.
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From the new west blog: be careful what you wish for
Backyard Temporarily Closed Due to Unprecedented Demand
It’s taken me ten years to convince our backyard streamside wildlife that our deck is a safe place with cozy nests, old trees full of interesting holes, and quantities of healthy bird seed, squirrel chow, duck corn, and approved tidbits. This year, they all got the message, and the animal energy I wanted has finally arrived.
Lately, things are zoo-like. The cat brings snakes in through the cat door. One of my nine squirrels, Itchy, is too bold, and comes into the kitchen to say “Hey! Empty feeder out here!”
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Diary Of A Mad Voter: Heath Haussamen
Let’s Focus On Oil Addiction
Ninety-seven U.S. senators voted on Tuesday to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for six months, a move they say they hope will help ease the gas-price burden on motorists through the summer months. The vast majority of House members later followed suit in approving the proposal.
But the reality is that this was a do-nothing vote following weeks of partisan rhetoric designed to make it look, in this election year, like Congress is doing something to allay the concerns of angry Americans who are watching gas and food prices skyrocket. Meanwhile, substantive legislation that would actually help solve America's energy and fuel crisis is nowhere to be found.
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A Ball Of Sturgeon
Swimming With A Western Dinosaur
I’ve got a new challenge for all those people who think they’re hardcore by diving into a body of water during the winter just so they can be a part of the Polar Bear Club: Take a dip into the Columbia River’s sturgeon ball.
Now that, my friends, is living.
During recent winters fisheries biologists have discovered an estimated 60,000 sturgeon - some of them 14 feet or longer - hanging in one massive group below Bonneville Dam. No one is certain why the sturgeon are congregating in a literal mountain of fish, but can you imagine swimming through such a wild assortment?
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Dems Say Obama Can Rope Independents
Why Obama is Winning the West
The Barack Obama campaign held a conference call this morning to discuss Obama's electability and appeal to people in Montana and other Western states. On the call were former Colorado Governor and former Chair of the Democratic National Committee Roy Romer, DNC Committeewoman and superdelegate Jean Lemire Dahlman of Rosebud County, Montana, and Lewis and Clark County Commissioner and superdelegate Ed Tinsley of Helena, Montana.
Here are some choice quotes from the conversation, glimpses into why these particular Western political leaders -- and Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming -- have chosen Obama as their guy...
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From The New West Blog: Ag, Nutrition, Economy
Congress Passes Veto-Proof Farm Bill
Congress passed today the almost $300 billion, much-awaited, much-politicized Farm Bill and it did so with enough votes to override the President's promised veto.
The Senate Thursday voted for the bill 81-15 and yesterday, the House voted 318 to 106 for the legislation, which Bush says gives too much to wealthy farmers.
As Mary Clare Jalonick points out for the Associated Press today, the election has given the bill its very own spotlight and largely bi-partisan support.
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SHARE THE ROAD, NOT THE LANE, WITH CYCLISTS
How to Drive a Motor Vehicle
A couple of weeks ago, I was riding my bike up MacDonald Pass, on four-lane U.S Highway 12, on the shoulder. It was a mid-day, low-traffic time, and even though the left lane was available, a driver purposely hazed me by speeding by with his right wheel on the fog line going at least 80 mph. His mirror missed my helmet by about six inches. One minor correction to miss a rough spot on the road, and I wouldn't be writing this.
Besides wondering if this reckless driver realizes how close he came to killing somebody, the incident reminded me of one of the first commentaries I wrote for NewWest.Net when I started the Wild Bill column three years ago called I Can Feel the Scorn. I'm sorry to say that I can still feel it.
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SAME ROAD, SAME RULES, SAME RIGHTS
Montana Adds Section on Driving with Cyclists to New Driver’s Manual
Commendably, and with the counsel of a committee of road cyclists from around the state, the Montana Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) allowed me to re-write the three-page bicycle section of the Montana Driver's Manual, which is now being distributed. It replaces a woefully outdated bicycle section written decades ago and constantly re-used with minor if any updating.
In it, I emphasized the "same road, same rules, same rights" philosophy and urged motorists to "share the road, not the lane."
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In The New West magazine: Design Showcase
Have Your Ranch & Develop It, Too
The Sand Creek Ranch sits on about 850 acres of Wyoming prairie near the Big Horn Mountains and the small town of Buffalo. It's the kind of place a real estate developer might dream of slicing into pieces of Western paradise. The ranch, like hundreds of others across the Mountain West, is worth far more with cul-de-sacs than cattle.
John Jenkins, who 40 years ago helped his newly widowed mother downsize from a large spread on the Powder River to this smaller ranch, has a powerful reason to protect the property and to preserve a portion of its, and his, agricultural heritage.
"I want to keep it open. I cast my mother's ashes to the wind out there on the big meadow," says Jenkins, who recently retired after a career as an oilman and political consultant. "But, realistically," he adds, "because I'm a businessman, I know that its highest and best use is really as real estate."
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