Writers on the Range

We're bringing you two columns this week. First, publisher Dave Marston profiles Allen Best, a one-man journalism shop whose coverage of Colorado energy has become essential reading. Then, editor Betsy Marston provides Western transplants some quick tips for adjusting to the rural life.

Writer Stephen Trimble writes about a problem that has never been solved in this country: How to care for the chronically mentally ill. His mother, he says, learned from the Denver Post that her schizophrenic son, Mike Trimble, had died at 33, alone in a "care home" that failed to deliver proper care. For decades, Trimble says, we've known that we must do better.

On this week's show, Gavin Dahl interview James Pagliasotti, a longtime music critic at the Denver Post now writing and living in Oregon, about his book What it Was: Growing Up When the Music Mattered. Plus, Colorado Sun editor and co-founder Larry Ryckman shares his latest column, I’m a journalist and still an optimist, from Writers on the Range.

This week we get an update on the Colorado Outdoors project along the Uncompahgre River from Montrose Press reporter Josue Perez. Plus journalist Elizabeth Miller explains the impacts on hikers from wildfires in New Mexico, which she just wrote about for Backpacker. And we’ll hear from Writers on the Range contributor Matt Witt on a coalition in Oregon who defeated a pipeline project.

This week on The Pen and The Sword, author Jessica Nordell talks about her deeply-researched new book The End of Bias: A Beginning, The Science and Practice of Overcoming Unconscious Bias. Plus, for Writers on the Range, Tim Lydon asks, How much will a name change change?

This week's show features two commentaries from Writers on the Range, Gavin Dahl's conversation with reporter Stephanie Malatrich on what 3 million fish fry tell us about Colorado’s drought, and Lisa Young's interview with Colorado author Jeff Rice on his novel The Snake Patch.

This week author Paul Andersen talks about his new book “The Town That Said Hell, No!” Crested Butte Fights a Mine to Save its Soul. Plus, a commentary on affordable housing from Writers on the Range and a spring poem from Kate Redmond to mark the end of National Poetry Month.

This week Gavin Dahl speaks with Colorado Sun reporter Margaret Fleming about the impacts of high prices on Colorado wheat farmers and Montrose Press reporter Anna Lynn Winfrey on how inflation is impacting the Sharing Ministries Food Bank. Plus, Dave Marston from Writers on the Range shares the commentary “Want to Farm? Get a Cash Register.”

Every Friday night at 6, KVNF highlights writers. This week Aspen Daily News editor-in-chief Megan Tackett talks with Gavin Dahl about her piece on local Ukrainians, Dave Marston of Writers on the Range shares his latest column A Tale of Two Western Counties, Art Goodtimes shares his poem Avalanche, and comedian Brent Gill chats with Gavin ahead of his gig in Montrose at Healthy Rhythm Gallery.

KVNF board member Betsy Marston reflects on four decades at High Country News, and talks with KVNF's Gavin Dahl about the inspiring work she's doing at the nonprofit Writers on the Range she started with her son. HCN recently published a tribute by Florence Williams.