FEATURES
Patricia Limerick and George Orwell on Stage!
Tuesday, August 06 2024
Clay will join noted author and MacArthur Awardee Patricia Limerick at the Vail Symposium in Colorado on August 21 to discuss George Orwell’s novel 1984.
- Published in Features
Falling In Love With Montana All Over Again
Saturday, July 27 2024
John Steinbeck loved Montana — actually, he fell in love with it. So far as we know, he had never been there before 1960. His travels across the country had all been at lower latitudes.
- Published in Features
John Steinbeck’s Evening With a Father and Son in Idaho
Sunday, July 21 2024
John Steinbeck stumbles into an uneasy father-son relationship during a quiet stopover near Coeur d’Alene.
- Published in Features
Clay Visits Glendive, Montana’s Dinosaur and Fossil Museum
Tuesday, July 16 2024
Clay visits the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum which presents its exhibits in the context of biblical history.
- Published in Features
John Steinbeck and Me in Beach, North Dakota
Tuesday, July 09 2024
John Steinbeck spent the night of October 12, 1960, in Beach, North Dakota, just a few miles from the Montana border. He was about to fall in love with Montana.
- Published in Features
Sag Harbor to Bismarck: What I’m Learning About John Steinbeck and His “Search of America”
Sunday, June 30 2024
This spring, Clay departed Sag Harbor, New York, on an expedition to follow John Steinbeck's 1960 cross-country trek immortalized in Travels with Charley. Recently, after completing the first phase of the trip, Clay reflects on what he's learned about Steinbeck and how he now sees the story behind the classic travelogue.
- Published in Features
Encounters in Yellowstone National Park
Tuesday, June 25 2024
On my way back to North Dakota I visited my modest cabin 2 miles from Yellowstone National Park I wanted to make a pilgrimage to Old Faithful.
- Published in Features
The Death of Astronaut William Anders and the Promise and Challenge of Earthrise
Friday, June 14 2024
Astronaut William Anders, died on June 7, 2024 at the age of 90. Anders, a member of the Apollo 8 team, will always be remembered as the man who took the famous Earthrise photograph on Christmas Eve 1968.
- Published in Features
The Heroic and Problematic Legacy of Joseph Banks
Monday, June 10 2024
I was listening to an audio biography of Joseph Banks, the great British naturalist who sailed with Captain James Cook, who made Kew Gardens in Britain, and who was the president of the Royal Society — among much else, not all so admirable it turns out.
- Published in Features
John Steinbeck Among the French Canadian Harvest Gypsies
Tuesday, June 04 2024
In my second week of travels, I drove up much of the length of Maine, because in 1960 John Steinbeck was determined to touch the roof of the United States before turning west, and I reckoned you aren’t really fulfilling the mission unless you follow his path.
- Published in Features