News

The Telluride Film Festival happened over the weekend, and I can now stop complaining that I've never encountered a celebrity in day-to-day life. Daniel Day-Lewis and I looked at each other across the street, I saw Justin Timberlake making a horse's ass out of himself during The Feed Friday evening, and M. Night Shyamalan walked right in front of me with an umbrella, on the way to a film. Sean Penn was in town as well, but I never saw him. Regular folks like you and me, except for the whole fame and money thing.

# # #

The Blue Bomber is officially dead. It met its end this morning on the way into town, and it couldn't have happened in a better way. It made some horrible grating and clanking noises, and then it lost power. The man in the truck behind us gave us a ride to the Spur, where the road construction was creating so much traffic congestion that he let us off to walk the last three miles into town. Turns out that he lived in our rental last summer. Small world.

There are some details to be worked out, such as we will be needing some interim wheels, until the Tracker is fixed and we're moved to Norwood. We spent time and energy looking for the best location for the interim office, which will be operated out of our home while we get the paper up and running. Lucky for me I'll be working for and with such wonderful people. I've got lots to learn.

It's weird how journalism has been stalking me. When I finally earned my English degree, everyone assumed I would either become a teacher or reporter. I responded to their assumptions by stating that neither interested me and I just wanted to live in the mountains or by the ocean. And wouldn't you know, I did become a teacher and now I'm on to journalism!

More than once, because of Doug, I've been offered opportunities in journalism, and I, figuring that I'd make a shitty reporter, have found ways to skirt those opportunities in favor of jobs that complement poverty. The areas of Norwood, Naturita, and Nucla, as well as Sawpit and Placerville, will be under the jurisdiction of this new paper. One of the issues I'm very interested in covering has to do with uranium mining. The Four Corners states are all experiencing a boom in uranium mining (because of nuclear power plants gaining even more popularity, especially in China), and Nucla and Naturita are the former sites of uranium mines that had been shut down and were in the clean-up phases. Now, given the increasing demand for uranium, they're opening those mines up again.

I feel some Erin Brockovich coming on.