Category Archives: Place

FREE RANGE: FOOD, NATURE, PLACE, AND MORE

Conflict on the half-shell in mellow Marin

“… most ranchers and farmers in the West care as much for the health of their land, air, and water as any member of the Sierra Club.” (Mark Dowie) This was the second September in a row in which we … Continue reading

Posted in Place | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Christian Althaus and the gift of perspective

For all of my whingeing about the difficulties of adjusting to life in Texas, even after thirty years here, I know I’ve had it pretty easy, especially compared to the nineteenth-century settlers who endured almost unimaginable hardships while trying to … Continue reading

Posted in Place | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Look out of any window

Last week we spent several days at the Chisos Mountains Lodge, in Big Bend National Park, with our friends Bruce and Margaret Bennett and Peter and Kay Willcox. (Longtime readers may recall that Bruce was my hiking buddy on coast-to-coast … Continue reading

Posted in Place | Tagged , , , , , , | 14 Comments

The Alliance conference: our first time in the Second City

The Windy City. Hog Butcher for the World. City of the Big Shoulders. The Second City. Mrs. O’Leary’s cow and Harry Caray’s “Holy cow!” Richard Daley and Mike Ditka. Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Frank Lloyd Wright and Al Capone. … Continue reading

Posted in Place | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Field notes from Madroño Ranch: bison and birds

This is a bird-and-bison-intensive kitchen sink of a blog post; even Martin’s most focused editorial ministrations will be of no avail in trying to flush out some kind of narrative thread. To lend it at least an illusion of coherence, … Continue reading

Posted in Place | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The mythical West: John Wesley Powell and the limits of individualism

In reflecting on some of the issues Heather raised in her recent post on billboards and property rights, I’ve found myself forced to the conclusion that the American West doesn’t really exist, and never did. Oh, I don’t deny the … Continue reading

Posted in Place | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Down home and out of place: East Side blues

As regular readers of this blog know, we believe firmly in the pleasures—and, even more, the importance—of cultivating the kind of deep knowledge of people and landmarks and events, present and past, that only comes with long residence in a … Continue reading

Posted in Place | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Trans-Pecos: fried chicken and freshwater sharks

West Texas has been much on my mind recently, in part because Heather and I drove down to San Marcos a couple of weeks ago for a panel discussion marking the opening of an exhibition entitled Big Bend: Land of … Continue reading

Posted in Place | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Maps and mobility: living in, not on, the land

I was surprised, while reading Rebecca Solnit’s fascinating Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, to realize that I probably know substantially more about the history of Texas than I do about the history of my native San Francisco. Of course, … Continue reading

Posted in Place | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

These boots were made for blogging

Owen Wister and Roy Rogers, Audie Murphy, John Wayne, and a powerful pull. All of which only partially explains why I just bought myself a pair of a certain professional football team based in Dallas. Moreover, my feet are famous … Continue reading

Posted in Place | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments