Episode 1: Carpetbagger

FromThe Modern West

Start listening View podcast show

Episode 1: Carpetbagger

FromThe Modern West

ratings:

Length:

29 minutes

Released:

Sep 17, 2019

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

You ask around, and people can’t agree on a quintessential Wyoming writer. And if you can’t identify the literature of a place, you can’t define the place. Authors including CJ Box and Craig Johnson weigh in. (more…)

Released:

Sep 17, 2019

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (87)

Exploring the evolving identity of the American West. Produced by Wyoming Public Media and PRX, The Modern West takes you on a sound-rich journey into some of America's most iconic landscapes. Guided by host Melodie Edwards' personal connection to the region, it's an unflinching look at the American West--its problematic history, its modern-day struggles and resilience, and how its present and future are being shaped.

Skip carousel

Episode 5: Belonging: Young people from Gen Z are moving to cities around the West. But in doing so, they're also out-migrating from rural hometowns in places like Wyoming and New Mexico. Conversations between young people about why they leave and why they stay. by The Modern West
24 min listen
Episode 8: The Man From Lodge Grass: Quincy Dabney loved growing up in Lodge Grass on the Crow Reservation in Montana. But then, just like him, it started falling apart. Now Quincy is working to save the hometown that saved him. by The Modern West
36 min listen
Episode 2: Both/Neither: The U.S. government only allows Native Americans to register with one tribe. But what happens when two tribes share one reservation for over a century? Two women grapple with how that affected their identity growing up. by The Modern West
18 min listen
Coming Soon To A Feed Near You...: A preview of our summer mini-season: three episodes that take you deep into the real West to meet people thinking hard about the future of this place. Predators, prairie, and pots of glitter. by The Modern West
4 min listen
Season 1 Preview: The Modern West is getting a reboot! New host, new theme music, and brand-new stories just for this podcast. Season 1 starts September 17. by The Modern West
4 min listen
The Small-Town Drag Queen: It wasn’t easy growing up queer in small-town Wyoming. And when Taylar went to college in Laramie, an assault left her in pieces…until she found community with Giselle and the Dragonettes. Follow them as they head to the big city for a David Bowie drag competition. by The Modern West
32 min listen
Episode 7: Bringing The Buffalo Home: It's been over a century since the U.S. government exterminated bison from the Great Plains as a way to win the war against the Native American tribes there. But now reservations across the West are working to bring them back. by The Modern West
28 min listen
The Environmental Billionaire: Ghost Town(ing) Part 4: 2020 feels apocalyptic. It's not just the pandemic; there's also drought, mega-fires, melting glaciers. Meanwhile, the ultra-wealthy are stockpiling land, buying up small family ranches across the Mountain West. It makes you wonder, is it really a good idea to put that much environmental control in the hands of so few? by The Modern West
38 min listen
Bust Town: Ghost Town(ing) Part 2: Why are we so fascinated by old ghost towns? And what can they teach us? We go looking for the ghosts of an old silver mining community called Teller City to see if they have any lessons for how the nearby town of Walden, Colorado can keep from falling into the same cycles of boom and bust. by The Modern West
36 min listen
Episode 6: The Next Yellowstone: Imagine Congress agreeing to create national forests and wildlife refuges these days. Probably wouldn’t happen. So when a billionaire realized a large swath of the Great Plains needed special protections he decided to do it himself, without the government’s help. His dream is for a new kind of privately-owned national park–one as expansive as Yellowstone. by The Modern West
49 min listen
Episode 9: What You’re Missing About Coal Country: Once upon a time, coal miners took pride in the hard work they did. But these days the coal industry is sluggish and miners are feeling left behind—even disrespected—by the world. What they want most now is to just figure out how to hold on to the strong community that coal once gave them. by The Modern West
37 min listen
Episode 3: Adult-Onset Hunting: The number of Americans hunting and fishing is declining, but women are bucking the trend. Host Melodie Edwards finds a sisterhood at an all-women hunting camp—and catches her first fish with her dad. by The Modern West
22 min listen
The Rolling Stone: The Great Individualist Part 1: For the Elliot family, there isn't just one kind of cowboy. There are guys like Jake who chase the idea of the rodeo star, never sinking roots, a rolling stone. And then there's Jim, the hardworking and intimidating rancher. In this episode, we bust some myths about what it means to be a "real" cowboy and whether ranching ever measures up to our American ideals. by The Modern West
27 min listen
Mountains In The Rearview Mirror: Ghost Town(ing) Part 10 by The Modern West
39 min listen
Episode 10: The Widower: Bob was devastated when his wife died of cancer. He'd been her main caregiver, and afterward, he realized that now he had to face his old age alone. No kids, no family nearby. And living in the West, he started worrying about how inaccessible senior care could be. That's when his gallows humor took over. by The Modern West
27 min listen
Episode 4: The Midwife: Most births are uncomplicated. So in rural areas where hospitals are shutting down, women want to give birth at home. Now, states across the country are legalizing and regulating midwifery so they can. This is the story of one rural state, one midwife, a by The Modern West
26 min listen
Episode 1: Carpetbagger: You ask around, and people can't agree on a quintessential Wyoming writer. And if you can't identify the literature of a place, you can't define the place. Authors including CJ Box and Craig Johnson weigh in. by The Modern West
29 min listen
Meet Your Neighbor: A Conversation About The Rural West And The 2020 Election: Part 4 of our Ghost Town(ing) series is in the works, coming out next week. But while you’re waiting, here's a way that you can get your voice in on the conversation about the state of the rural West. by The Modern West
3 min listen
The Rancher And The Wild by The Modern West
38 min listen
A Walk Across The Prairie: When Emily Chen-Newton moved to Nebraska, she was worried she’d miss her Kentucky mountains. But then she walked a long section of the new Great Plains Trail and realized her new home was a more magical place than she gave it credit for. And not so flat either. by The Modern West
29 min listen
Season 2: Ghost Town(ing) Trailer: They say those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. So what can Old West ghost towns teach us about today's shrinking rural towns? Starting September 16, we'll take you to the windswept prairie where towns once stood and to new ghost towns in the making. We're exploring rural decline and resilience, and asking, why does it matter if America's small towns disappear? by The Modern West
4 min listen
A Stranger Comes To Town: Ghost Town(ing) Part 3: The West has long been a haven for the ultra-wealthy. Sometimes, they move into small towns with the aim of revitalizing them. But in Walden, Colorado, one wealthy businessman's plans went awry, with dire consequences for the community. by The Modern West
41 min listen
"You Can’t Eat The View": Ghost Town(ing) Part 1: Years ago, small towns like Walden, Colorado were vibrant. Street dances, a health food store, a movie theatre, the works. At least, that's how host Melodie Edwards remembers it from her childhood. Now it's shrinking, part of the "ghost towning" of the American West. But can communities like Walden find a way to survive? Or will Melodie's parents be forced to move away, like so many others? by The Modern West
22 min listen
Bonus: Middle of Everywhere: The Modern West brings you heartfelt stories about poignant issues happening today in the rural west. A lot of these issues are also felt in other rural communities, across the country. Today we take you to the foothills of the lush Appalachian Mountains in East Tennessee. There you’ll meet people who lost their way of life when a federal agency decided to take their land and flood their rich river valley, burying beneath the water much of our country’s early history, including many sacred Cherokee sites, and threatening an endangered species. This was all done in the name of progress. From our good friends at the award-winning podcast Middle of Everywhere, with WKMS in Kentucky, this is The Story of Tanasi, the first of a five-part series following a decades-long battle that took the river’s people all the way to the Supreme Court as they tried to save their way of life in the Little Tennessee River Valley. In this first part, called The Birth of a River, by The Modern West
24 min listen
The Garden On The Prairie: Ghost Town(ing) Part 7: Many places in the American West are becoming food deserts, where it's hard to get healthy food. Sometimes that's because people can't afford it or because it means driving long distances. And for really isolated places, sometimes it's because of both. Now, a group of ladies in Wyoming's struggling coal country are working on a plan to solve hunger there. by The Modern West
36 min listen
The Fine Art Of Coexisting: Ghost Town(ing) Part 12: In the final chapter of Ghost Town(ing), host Melodie Edwards revisits her parents' decision about whether to move away from Walden. Her mom has been trying to lure her dad away with all sorts of stratagems. But there's a lot about the craziness of 2020 that entrenched him even deeper. by The Modern West
30 min listen
Immigrations, Interrupted: Ghost Town(ing) Part 9 by The Modern West
35 min listen
The Great Individualist Trailer: The cowboy roaming horseback across the American West is nearly inextricable from what it means to be American. But in reality, most beef is raised out East where there's more grass, and only a tiny fraction of the economy in the West comes from cattle. But now a new generation of ranchers is working to reinvent this iconic way of life to fit a modern world. by The Modern West
7 min listen
$The Great Individualist Trailer: The cowboy roaming horseback across the American West is nearly inextricable from what it means to be American. But in reality, most beef is raised out East where there's more grass, and only a tiny fraction of the economy in the West comes from cattle. But now a new generation of ranchers is working to reinvent this iconic way of life to fit a modern world.$
Cowboy Up Trailer: Everyone likes to say that there's no better place to grow up than in the Rocky Mountains. Building snow forts, riding your bike everywhere, learning how to find your way out of the woods when you're lost. But for kids having a hard time, no one's handing them a map and compass. In Wyoming, kids are incarcerated and dying of suicide at higher rates than anywhere else. Longtime education reporter Tennessee Watson started to wonder if all this had to do with the "cowboy up" attitude we take toward child-rearing in the American West. A three-part series coming January 5th. by The Modern West
5 min listen
Small Town Democracy: Ghost Town(ing) Part 11: Small town politics has a lot to teach us about how fragile democracy is right now. In Walden, we sit in on a beautification committee meeting and see how hard it is to make change happen--and how rural struggles are reflected in American democracy writ large. by The Modern West
39 min listen

More Episodes from The Modern West

Skip carousel

Wolves #2101 and #2301: Part Three of High Altitude Tales: "Wolves represent a lot of what farming and ranching is about, which is like, you have no control ultimately." by The Modern West
41 min listen
The Sixth Boom - Part Two of High Altitude Tales: Take a bike ride into a tiny forgotten historic mining town that sits at the intersection of two beloved through trails. For hardcore bikers and hikers, this town is an oasis. And for a community used to cycles of boom and bust, there's hope this boom could last. by The Modern West
38 min listen
Courage is a Muscle - Part One of High Altitude Tales: Exactly 100 years to the day after a woman named Eleanor Davis became the first recorded woman to ever climb the Grand Teton – a nearly 14,000 foot-tall mountain that’s the namesake for Grand Teton National Park. by The Modern West
32 min listen
High Altitude Tales Trailer: Miss us? We're back for Season 8 of The Modern West - High Altitude Tales. High Altitude Tales drops on April 3rd on all of your favorite streaming platforms. by The Modern West
4 min listen
Urban Wildfires - a Burn Scar Bonus: If you missed our Facebook Live panel discussion, now’s your chance to hear it. We discuss how to prepare for urban wildfires in the west with folks you met in The Burn Scar… and the former mayor of Paradise, California. by The Modern West
38 min listen
Our Imperfect Human Selves: “It’s clear to me that this place doesn’t resemble my childhood home at all. That feeling I had of familiarity isn’t really here anymore.” by The Modern West
49 min listen
A Desirable Neighborhood: “What ends up happening is you're just propping up the people who can afford this and it's really elitist. It's saying if you can't afford any of this, you're not going to live here.” by The Modern West
44 min listen
The Burn Scar: Bonus Episode: Here's a bonus episode focusing on a behind the scenes conversation between Melodie and Ariel. Happy Holidays Modern West listeners! by The Modern West
16 min listen
Our Safe Place: “It's continuously the hottest year on record for us. But I feel like I had that feeling before I ever had an awareness of the climate doom that would define our lives.” by The Modern West
44 min listen
Solastagia: Ariel returns to see the burn scar that was once her childhood home. She feels strangely…homesick. “Imagining one’s home place meet its end – envisioning just what this neighborhood looked like engulfed in flames – I wonder if this is all part of the feeling of solastalgia.” by The Modern West
44 min listen
The Winter Fire: Burn Scar Part 1: December 30, 2021, Podcaster Ariel Lavery’s parents are forced to flee as Boulder’s Marshall Fire bears down. Later, her mom returns to find their house burned down. “The fire was so hot that a lot of it just crumpled and exploded.” It’s the most expensive fire in Colorado History. Listen now. by The Modern West
25 min listen
Burn Scar Trailer: The Marshall Fire was the most expensive fire in Colorado history. The Burn Scar is a tender yet carefully investigated podcast of one family, one fire and the hard choices people are making in the wake of increasing natural disasters. Hear the trailer now. by The Modern West
4 min listen
Bison Stories: Bringing Home the Buffalo - Part 4: Filmmaker Ken Burns just released a new series called American Buffalo and The Modern West sat down to talk to him about it. He says it’s a very new direction for him. “This is a project we’ve been thinking about for more than 30 years – a biography of an animal.” by The Modern West
27 min listen
Bison Stories: Bringing Home the Buffalo - Part 3: We’re gearing up for the Ken Burns film The American Buffalo. In part three of our Bison Stories series, we make a journey to the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana for a bison release ceremony. by The Modern West
50 min listen
Bison Stories: Bringing Home the Buffalo - Part 2: In Part II: why American settlers chose to wipe out the bison and replace them with cattle. by The Modern West
39 min listen
Bison Stories: Bringing Home the Buffalo - Part 1: This time on the Modern West, we gear up for the release of the new Ken Burns film, the American Buffalo. In anticipation, we’ll bring you a roundup of our best buffalo - aka bison - episodes AND an interview with Ken Burns. We start with a story from our first season. by The Modern West
29 min listen
Bonus: On Land Podcast from Western Landowners Alliance: You might remember this daunting statistic from our season on ranching: the American West is facing its biggest drought in 1200 years. This special episode from the On Land podcast is all about solutions to that water crisis. Geologist Caroline Nash joins for a conversation about building resilience in times of uncertainty, how restoring beavers to our Western landscapes could help with watershed restoration, and the ways landowners across the West are experimenting with innovative land management practices. by The Modern West
46 min listen
Bonus Episode 3: A Conversation with Lakota Historian Jeff Means: As you might have noticed from previous episodes, Jeff is a committed skeptic. But still, I decide to start by asking Jeff, does he believe healing this history is even possible? by The Modern West
20 min listen
Existence As Protest: Mending the Hoop Part 8: This time on the Modern West…we meet Indigenous activists bringing healing to their communities. by The Modern West
55 min listen
Land Back: Mending the Hoop Part 7: It’s popular these days to read a land acknowledgement at public events, but Indigenous leaders and thinkers say that should only be the beginning — “a commitment that should be followed by action.” Like, returning the land itself. by The Modern West
53 min listen
Bonus Episode 2: A Conversation with Lakota Historian Jeff Means: Jeff and I pick up the conversation today where our last one left off. As the 19th century came to a close, the United States may have stopped direct battle with the Plains nations… but the war was far from over. As Native communities were forced onto reservations, the U.S. now used new techniques to attempt cultural genocide … alienating children from their communities at boarding schools and exterminating the bison. Throughout the conversation, Jeff points out the ways Indigenous communities continue to demonstrate a pride in their identities that the U.S. government tried to erase. by The Modern West
25 min listen
#MMIW: Mending the Hoop Part 6: Native American women are the most stalked, raped, murdered and exploited of any other race in this country. by The Modern West
43 min listen
Rematriation: Mending the Hoop Part 5: That's the identity for our tribe is our buffalo. So they are our relatives. I always cry when they come. It's always really emotional when they come home. Because I believe that's going to heal our people. by The Modern West
50 min listen
Killing The Indian Inside: Mending the Hoop Part 4: This time on the Modern West…to make sure the Plains Indian Wars don’t flare up again, the U.S. army starts taking hostages…the tribes’ children. If they ran away, where would they go? They're 1000s of miles away from home. It was strategic on their part. It really isolated them. Killing the Indian Inside…it’s part four of our series Mending the Hoop. by The Modern West
48 min listen
Bonus Episode: A Conversation with Lakota Historian Jeff Means: It seemed important to share some of the behind the scenes conversations for this series. As a white woman reporting on Indian Country, Melodie always knew she would need extra guidance putting this season together. So she’s been regularly sitting down to talk with Oglala Lakota member and Native American historian Jeff Means to discuss best practices. by The Modern West
28 min listen
The Broken Hoop: Mending the Hoop Part 3: The Plains Tribes continue their winning streak at the Rosebud and Little Bighorn fights. But it only leads the federal government to crack down harder. Soon, many tribal leaders surrender and, in despair, take their people to live on tiny reservations. Then along comes a new ceremony: the Ghost Dance. And that changes the dynamics of the war drastically. by The Modern West
44 min listen
The War Pipe: Mending the Hoop Part 2: After the massacre, the survivors flee into the bitter cold night and eventually are rescued by the Lakota. The tribes form a great alliance and decide war is justified. And so, in the months after Sand Creek, what ensues is a series of battles that shocks and awes the U.S. army. Never before have they witnessed the full might of the greatest mounted horsemen in the world. by The Modern West
36 min listen
The Witness Trees: Mending the Hoop Part 1: For the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes, the Sand Creek Massacre of November 29, 1864 doesn’t feel like distant history at all. That’s the day that the Colorado cavalry tortured and killed over 200 people, mostly women, children and elderly – one of the worst atrocities in U.S. history. To the tribes, it feels like there’s still a lot of healing to do. And so, these days, they’re working to do just that. by The Modern West
49 min listen
Mending the Hoop Trailer: Recently, you may have noticed a lot of big news coming out of Indigenous America, from protests at Standing Rock to the return of wild bison to efforts to bring home ancestral remains and artifacts. But when you talk to the movers and shakers, the conversation often comes back around to a bitter history – the Plains Indian Wars. This season we hear the story from the point of view of the Plains tribes themselves. We discover how raw that story still is, and yet how communities are coming together to heal it. by The Modern West
3 min listen
Bonus: Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore: A few seasons back, we had a series called Cowboy Up that dug into the juvenile justice system in Wyoming. If you liked thinking about education in the west, you’re going to love this. We are sharing an episode from the podcast Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore, produced by one of our very own, Charles Fournier. This is a narrative podcast series that takes a look at why teachers are leaving education and what can be done to stop the exodus. In this episode, we’ll hear from Charles’ wife, Jennie and two other former teachers about why they left teaching. From struggles with mental health, to low pay, to a lack of autonomy in the classroom - they give insight into why we are losing good teachers across the country. This episode sets the stage for the series, which will take you through the history, pop-culture, and politics of education. by The Modern West
43 min listen

Discover this podcast and so much more

Episode 1: Carpetbagger

Episode 1: Carpetbagger

Description

Titles in the series (87)

More Episodes from The Modern West