I Was First in Line To See the New Oppenheimer Film
Monday, July 24 2023
I sat in the theater Friday for three hours and was mesmerized. The film is historically accurate. Oppenheimer is one of the best movies I have ever seen.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Remembering the Great Charles Wilkinson
Monday, July 17 2023
A beloved educator and leader in environmental and Native American law, Professor Charles Wilkinson of Colorado University, Boulder had a profound impact throughout the American West and beyond.…
- Published in Features
Sorting Myth From Fact: Can We Truly Know Sacagawea?
Tuesday, July 11 2023
You cannot think about the Lewis and Clark story without trying to come to terms with Sacagawea. She is the most statued woman in American history. And she is one of the two most prominent Native American women in American memory. And yet, to borrow Winston Churchill’s famous description of the Soviet Union, “she is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Inspiration and Nostalgia on Visiting My Alma Mater — Video Dispatch
Monday, July 10 2023
A short video I recorded recently on the campus of my alma mater, the University of Minnesota. I was a student there in the early 1970s and after class I often found myself at the base of Northrup Auditorium, incised with what I still regard as the perfect mission statement.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Kindness of Strangers: Penniless Across America
Sunday, July 09 2023
In 1994 San Francisco journalist Mike McIntyre got it into his head to try to cross the county with no money. No money whatsoever. With a borrowed 50-70 pound backpack, he traveled literally penniless for 4,223 miles from San Francisco to Cape Fear, North Carolina. That's fourteen states, 82 rides, five laundry loads, and one golf round.
- Published in Books
Artificial Intelligence: A Collision of Opportunity and Challenge
Tuesday, July 04 2023
Machines, it turns out, think and learn in pretty much the same ways that humans do. They also possess some of the same weaknesses. Clay explores the topic of artificial intelligence with futurist, David Horton.
- Published in Features
With the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
Tuesday, July 04 2023
As the editor of the Lewis and Clark quarterly journal, We Proceeded On, I attended the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation annual meeting in Missoula at the end of June.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Reflections on A Colorado River Journey
Sunday, July 02 2023
Conditions are changing so fast in the Colorado River watershed that it is impossible now to keep up. I write this on April 14, 2023. In two successive days since I returned to North Dakota, my news feed has served up stories on Great Salt Lake.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Circumnavigating the Great Salt Lake in a Kayak
Monday, June 26 2023
Days 12 and 13, Tuesday/Wednesday: Salt Lake City
Clay visits Salt Lake City to talk with Scott Baxter a passionate advocate and student of the Great Salt Lake.…
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Farewell to Our Intrepid Guide and a Water in the West Reading List
Friday, June 23 2023
Days 10 and 11, Sunday/Monday: U.S. 89 to Utah 20; Utah 20 to I-15; I-15 to Salt Lake City.
A sad farewell as Frank, our scout and chief raconteur for the last 10 days, heads home to Escalante, Utah, and Clay and Dennis continue north to visit the Great Salt Lake.…
- Published in Dispatches from the Road