West Obsessed - High Country News

Listen to COVID-19 precautions in Mam language

Listen to COVID-19 precautions in Mam language by High Country News

#35: A desert divided on the borderlands

The borderlands are a long-misunderstood region of the country, wrapped up in rhetoric and myth. In this episode of West Obsessed, Tucson-based Associate Editor Maya Kapoor joins Editor-in-Chief Brian Calvert and Deputy Editor-Digital Kate Schimel to discuss the realities of the border, the communities along it and their intertwined ecologies and economies.

#34: The growing Indigenous resistance to drilling in the Southwest

In this episode of West Obsessed, contributing editor Jonathan Thompson joins High Country News editors Brian Calvert and Kate Schimel to explore the struggle of Navajo Nation residents, and others, to prevent more oil and gas exploration in historically important lands. Chaco Canyon holds cultural significance to several tribal nations and is also at the center of one of the richest oil and gas fields in the country.

#33: Indian Country's dual housing crises

Writer Julian Brave Noisecat join High Country News editors on the latest episode of West Obsessed to talk about the original victims of gentrification. Inside this story is an emotional tale of one Indigenous family's experience with structural inequities that affect the availability of housing in both rural and urban areas.

#32: The State of Jefferson's undercurrent

In the latest episode of West Obsessed, High Country News editors discuss a zealous political movement — a push for a 51st state — born from resentment of California’s liberal ‘resistance’ to Trump.