Reflections on this fraught moment in history.
Extremism
Posted inJune 2024: The Idea of Wilderness
Hate groups in western Washington echo the past
The bigotry displayed when white supremacists disrupted a Pride celebration in Centralia repeats a pattern that dates back to 1919.
Posted inArticles
The end of a frontier dream amid the Unabomber’s reign of terror
An excerpt from ‘Old King,’ Maxim Loskutoff’s latest novel.
Posted inMay 2024: A River Returns
How attacks on energy substations play into the hands of extremists
When the West’s electrical grid is targeted, motives tend to matter less than ensuing propaganda.
Posted inAugust 1, 2023: In the Line of Fire
Oregon’s Greater Idaho movement echoes a long history of racism in the region
Instead of fixing Oregon, the Greater Idaho movement seeks to leave it. White supremacists are on board.
Posted inArticles
James Watt, Ted Kaczynski and power over lands
The legacies of the two recently departed men are intertwined.
Posted inJanuary 1, 2023: Ripple Effects
Growing up queer in Colorado Springs
In the wake of the Club Q mass shooting, reflections on an adolescence in the ‘Evangelical Vatican.’
Posted inNovember 1, 2022: The Futures of Conservation
How to prevent an anti-government revolution
In eastern Oregon, one strategy has proven effective at inoculating communities against extremist ideology.
Posted inArticles
Was Yellowstone’s deadliest wolf hunt in 100 years an inside job?
Veteran park service employees were involved in last year’s hunt, but one says he’s a victim of a federal ‘witch hunt.’
Posted inArticles
(Not) one nation, under God
To truly become a more equal society, look to our youth, the ‘nones.’
Posted inArticles
Where anti-LGBTQ+ politics intersect with housing the homeless
A new report shows Southern Oregon’s largest homeless shelter is led by a conversion-therapy proponent.
Posted inAugust 1, 2022: Our Fiery Future
When extremism hides in plain sight
Leah Sottile investigates how an Idaho couple’s embrace of fringe Mormon beliefs led to multiple murder charges in her debut book, ‘When the Moon Turns to Blood.’
Posted inOctober 1, 2021: In The Graces of Grasses
When public health becomes the public enemy
Far-right extremists are robbing the West of the officials who protect community health.
Posted inJuly 1, 2021: An Urban Greenspace Revolution
How a trail in rural Oregon became a target of far-right extremism
To understand the state’s urban-rural divide, start by looking at Yamhill County’s proposed walking trail.
Posted inArticles
Will history repeat in a dry Klamath Basin this summer?
This year’s drought is worse than in 2001, when political and environmental tensions exploded into the national spotlight.
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
Pro-Trump riots won’t stop the winds of political change blowing in the West
What the D.C. insurgency meant for our regional conscience.
Posted inFebruary 1, 2021: End of the Line
The Washington, D.C., siege has Western roots and consequences
History and the growing power of right-wing extremism point to a volatile future for the West during the Biden presidency.
Posted inArticles
Bracing for unlawful militias and vigilantes at the ballot box
Emboldened by Trump’s rhetoric, armed groups plan to post up near poll sites.
Posted inArticles
How anti-Indigeneity proliferates around the West and the world
Across the globe, anti-Indigenous organizations and sympathizers work to undermine the collective rights of Indigenous peoples.