Essay by Stephen Lyons
Growth – July 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine
My 21-year-old daughter is finally leaving the small western college town she grew up in for a large West Coast city, and I couldn’t be happier. After low wages and a cul de sac of career opportunities she finally figured out that her quality of life would increase educationally, culturally and, most importantly, vocationally in a metropolitan setting.
Essay by Stephen Lyons
Modern Life – November 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
Just before the neighbors’ air conditioning kicked on, I was dreaming about snow-covered mountains in Idaho. Not the verticality, the pine scent, or alpenglow, but the dry coolness of elevated spaces. Instead, I awoke in my soggy underwear in a hot bed near sea level, my eyebrows and scalp sweating for the first time in my life.
Essay by Stephen Lyons
Humor – February 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine
ONLY FOOLS PREDICT the future, which is why I’m perfect for the job.
What a century it’s been! Who could have guessed that you could get a decent cup of coffee in southeastern Utah and that three rare species would make incredible comebacks: rottweilers, condors, and Jerry Brown. Who had the vision to predict that one of the most popular bumper stickers in eastern Washington would say, “Save Our Dams”? Or that Ted Turner would own 1 percent of all the land in New Mexico?
Essay by Stephen Lyons
Western Life – January 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine
It’s a good day to be indigenous
by Stephen Lyons
FROM THIS MOMENT ON kindly refer to my family as “indigenous.” Or, if you prefer, “First Peoples.” With the discovery of what could be my long-lost European relative — Kennewick Man — it’s time to respect my elders.
Essay by Stephen Lyons
Nature Writing – December 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine
IN A RECENT COLUMN in the online magazine Salon, Anne Lamont made the following proposal: “Rather than make perfectly good writers crank out new books every few years because they need income and are otherwise unemployable, what if we gave them subsidies NOT to write any more books, like they give to tobacco growers?”
Essay by Stephen Lyons
Planning – January 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine
MY WIFE AND I had just finished hiking Brims Mesa outside of Sedona, Ariz., when we spotted a woman at the trailhead wearing a purple velvet, or velour, dress that hung loosely to her bare ankles. A garish, glittery skull cap of the same hue covered her black mane. In her righthand she held a hawk feather, and around her neck dangled an assortment of necklaces, pendants, and a leather “medicine bag.” She was not smiling even though she was about to enter the famous red rocks of northern Arizona, one of the prettiest places in the galaxy.