Jackalopes, Black-Footed Ferrets and Big, Big Sky
Monday, August 14 2023
On Clay’s third day from Bismarck to Vail, he travels through Wall, South Dakota and visits the U.S. National Grasslands Visitor Center and Badlands National Park.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Professor Who Changed My Life
Saturday, August 12 2023
I was leaving Three Forks, Montana, when I got the call. My beloved English professor Thomas Clayton died this morning, August 9, 2023. He was 90 years old and an exceptional educator who made all the difference.
- Published in Features
A Day With Three Extraordinary Missile Men
Sunday, August 06 2023
I spent the day with three extraordinary men at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site learning the “on the ground” operations of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles during the Cold War.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
A Detour to the Home of American Writer Hamlin Garland
Tuesday, August 01 2023
As I continued my drive and not far into South Dakota, I visited the homestead of the Pulitzer Prize winning author Hamlin Garland.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Forgotten Battle of Whitestone Hill, North Dakota
Monday, July 31 2023
My first stop was the lonely Whitestone Hill, a grass hill in south central, North Dakota. It is the site of the bloodiest battle in North Dakota history in 1863.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
My Favorite Photographs of Robert Oppenheimer
Monday, July 31 2023
Inspired by the new Oppenheimer film here are a few of my favorite photographs of the noted physicist.
- Published in Features
The Story Behind a Famous White House Dinner
Wednesday, July 26 2023
Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed new film has ignited a fascination with Robert Oppenheimer. Clay reflects on a surprising connection between Oppenheimer, John F. Kennedy, and “America’s da Vinci,” Thomas Jefferson.
- Published in Features
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