Mind & Body
Assisted Living? Not on Your Nelly!
Sixteen Going On Eighty-FiveShe's at it again. My grandmother, who recently turned 85, is thumbing her nose at Death. She recently suffered a scary bout of pernicious anemia. She was in the hospital for three days, getting blood transfusions and packed cells, but she looked the Grim Reaper in the face and flipped him the bird. My grandmother is stubborn, wily, ornery and tough, all qualities I admire. I sincerely hope she goes right on being as independent as she can, and as bloody-minded as she likes. I just wish she'd stop giving her friends and family the finger as well. [more]
MY DAD, THE LEGEND, PART II
When Ed Anacker Made Cyclists Eat His Dust
John Anacker and his brothers grew up in the shadow of an outdoor legend when their town was a different place and the West a different kind of region. As the sons of Bozeman's legendary athletic hedonist Ed Anacker, now a spry octogenarian, they remember slogs with their patriarch who defined himself by acts of extreme physical endurance — this in an age well before the word "ultra" and lucrative sponsorship deals ever entered the vocabulary of American recreation. As the longtime head of the chemistry department at Montana State University, Ed Anacker in his free time put men one third his age to shame, including when he designed the brutal course of the notorious Ed Anacker Bridger Ridge Run held every summer in Bozeman. In writer John Anacker's first essay about his father, he chronicled a climb to the pinnacle of Montana's highest summit, Granite Peak. With this sweet second piece, he tells the tale of what happened when his dad raced a beater bike against the fashion and techno mavens of modern cycling. —Todd Wilkinson
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A Common Sense Vote on Latah Health Services
Time for the Flies to Get Out of the OintmentToday, Latah County voters are being asked to decide whether or not to approve the sale of Latah Health Services to Moscow’s Gritman Hospital for $1. That’s right -- one dollar. Sound like a bargain? Think again. Latah Health Services is in dire straights. It costs the county $10,000 a month to operate and maintain, and it needs an estimated $1.5 to $1.8 million in upgrades and repairs. If Gritman purchases the facility, it will continue to provide home and community health care services, including adult day health. [more]
A Step-By-Step Guide
How to Blow a Knee Properly
Crack. Snap. Pop. Ripppp…
The dreaded sounds are hateful to hear when it comes to the human body, especially the knee.
Knee injuries are not uncommon, especially in the winter. With the knee being a complex structure, webbed with bones, ligaments and muscles, each is vital in the functionality and stability. But some more easy to tear, rip or sever than others.
When the idea to blow the knee comes to mind, there are a few steps that should be taken to do it properly.
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MY DAD, THE LEGEND
When Granite Peak Loomed As Something More
John Anacker and his brothers grew up in the shadow of a mountain. In this case, the mountain was a man. As the sons of legendary Bozeman outdoorsman Ed Anacker, now a spry octogenarian, they remember slogs with their patriarch who defined himself by acts of extreme physical endurance — this in an age well before the word "ultra" ever entered the outdoor vocabulary of America.
As the longtime head of the chemistry department at Montana State University, Ed Anacker in his free time would do such things as setting out with a goal of, in a single day, riding his bicycle 400 miles across Montana from the Yellowstone gateway town of Gardiner to the Canadian border. Anacker also laid out the notorious course for a footrace that runs the spine of the Bridger Mountains. Today, the 20-mile Ed Anacker Bridger Ridge Run is considered "the most rugged technical trail race" in existence, attracting participants from around the country every summer.
To many, Anacker is a near-mythic hero, but for every person whose public reputation is larger than life, there is also the reality back home among family members of the mortal human who is loved not for his heroic deeds but for simply being there. What is it like to be Ed Anacker's son? John Anacker, a novelist, painter, and journeyman, explores the question in a series of short essays beginning with this one about a family quest to scale Granite Peak, the highest summit in Montana.
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OLD LEFTISTS THE NEW PALEOCONS?
Has Your Ville Come Of Age As A ‘Latte Town’?Heaven knows that folks in the go-go West love their cups of morning java. We are as addicted to caffeine as we are adrenaline-lusted for feats of athletic hedonism.
But is your community a "Latte Town"? Nine years ago, political commentator David Brooks penned a wonderfully sneering piece for The Weekly Standard in which he created a new social category for certain lifestyle communities.
Like De Tocqueville, Brooks has a special fetish for traveling through the hinters of America identifying trends based upon patterns of conspicuous consumption that he believes translate into expressions of conservative or Liberal ideals. I'll get to the punch line later but meantime, read on:
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My Self-Indulgent Birthday Blog
There’s Nothing New About 40I had a birthday last week, a big birthday, and I'm afraid I have some disappointing news for all of you 39-year olds. Are you ready? Are you sure? Okay, here it is -- forty is not the new thirty. I'm sorry, but forty is just forty, same as it ever was. I know. We've taken this milestone birthday, tarted it up, given it a shot of Botox and a public relations makeover, but the truth is as plain as the gray hairs on our heads. Forty is the grand entrance to middle age. There is an exit, but if you're the optimistic sort, you'll recognize that there's really no need to take it. Being forty is not that bad. In fact, so far, it's been pretty good. [more]
Smoking in the West
Teen Smoking Up, Prevention $$ DownColorado leads the Rocky Mountain states in fighting teen smoking, according to a new report released today. Other Western states don't do such a good job, with Idaho making the poorest showing. Meanwhile, tobacco industry spending to market tobacco far outstrips what the states spend to fight it.
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WHERE DOES YOUR FOOD COME FROM?
Like Many Counterparts, Bozeman’s Community Food Co-op Finds Strength In NumbersThe Community Food Co-op in Bozeman has, in many ways, become a flagship for the co-op movement inside the inner West. Thriving within an atmosphere of enormous competitive pressure exerted by national grocery chains, including Wal-Mart, Co-Op General Manager Kelly Dean Wiseman says that an emerging unified front among many different co-ops is leveraging buying power. It is resulting in lower prices, better and safer product choices, as well as giving individual stores a greater say in how organic and homegrown foods can change the way America eats and shops.
In his essay which follows, Wiseman discuses the purchasing power of the National Co-op Grocers Association which ranks second only to Whole Foods in its ability to deliver healthy food to the marketplace every day.
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OF FAIRWAYS AND ECONOMIES AVOIDING THE ROUGH
Will Golf Erode Jackson Hole’s Competitive Edge?As new golf courses proliferate across the West, bringing with them more high-end development into former rustic valleys and retooled ski resorts, the perception is of a game on the rapid upswing. That's not necessarily the case, says lifestyle economist Jonathan Schechter, a frequent commentator at New West. In fact, Schechter notes, the number of Americans involved with golf is headed for the same kind of downward parallel turns as the ski industry.
Schechter says that Jackson Hole and ritzy Teton County, Wyoming—one of the wealthiest per capita communities in the U.S.— serves as an excellent case study for examining whether golf will remain the social icon of the upwardly mobile leisure class or be remaindered tomorrow as an activity of yesterday. Do people who come to Jackson to golf really appreciate what the place is all about? One thing is certain, Schechter says: It's the rare things found only in certain locales that retain their social value across generations. In this latest essay, Schechter ponders if the number of new courses springing up in the Tetons are creating an oversaturated market and what it bodes for fairway-style development. It's a commentary that should reverberate throughout the Rockies and the booming western Sun Belt.
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