Podcasts about Pinedale

Sara Domek is Wyoming's Migration Program Director for The Nature Conservancy. Sara grew up in the small town of Kemmerer and later moved to Pinedale, giving her a rare, firsthand perspective on Wyoming's working landscapes—both from a natural resources and a conservation standpoint. Her upbringing, paired with years of experience working in nonprofits, agencies, and boots-on-the-ground conservation, makes her uniquely suited to lead TNC's efforts to protect Wyoming's world-renowned wildlife migrations. If you've spent any time driving through Wyoming, you've probably cruised past some of the most important migration corridors in North America—maybe without even realizing it. Sara and her team are working to keep those landscapes permeable, helping mule deer, pronghorn, elk, and other species continue the seasonal journeys they've been making for thousands of years. We talk about the science behind migration, how seemingly small barriers like fences can create big challenges for wildlife, and how collaborative conservation—between landowners, agencies, and nonprofits—can create real, lasting wins. Sara also shares some fascinating details about Wyoming's longest mule deer migration, the importance of building trust with local communities, why cheatgrass is a bigger villain than it looks, and how carefully designed wildlife crossings can benefit both animals and people. We also get into her favorite books, why she's hopeful about the future, and, once again, the simple but powerful idea that success in conservation often comes down to strong relationships. This is a thoughtful and inspiring conversation with someone who truly embodies the spirit of collaborative, community-driven conservation. I hope you enjoy! --- The Right to Roam: Sustaining Wyoming's Migratory Herds Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/sara-domek --- This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Colorado chapter of The Nature Conservancy and TNC chapters throughout the Western United States. Guided by science and grounded by decades of collaborative partnerships, The Nature Conservancy has a long-standing legacy of achieving lasting results to create a world where nature and people thrive. During the last week of every month throughout 2025, Mountain & Prairie will be delving into conversations with a wide range of The Nature Conservancy's leaders, partners, collaborators, and stakeholders, highlighting the myriad of conservation challenges, opportunities, and solutions here in the American West and beyond. To learn more about The Nature Conservancy's impactful work in the West and around the world, visit www.nature.org --- TOPICS DISCUSSED: 2:50 – Intro, growing up in Wyoming and valuing natural resources 6:09 – Pinedale and the Wind Rivers 7:15 – Plan after high school 10:37 – Finding TNC 14:16 – Sara describes her job 17:21 – Mule deer and pronghorn migration corridors 21:57 – Fencing and migration 26:25 – Getting the word out about fencing 29:27 – Migration primer: distance, predators and collisions 35:54 – Valley of the warm winds 42:37 – RCPP programs 45:27 – Cheatgrass 101 48:54 – Important partners 51:08 – Prioritizing projects 54:40 – What Sara's looking forward to 57:57 – Where to learn more 1:00:22 – Book recs 1:03:04 – Parting words --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: Mountain & Prairie - All Episodes Mountain & Prairie Shop Mountain & Prairie on Instagram Upcoming Events About Ed Roberson Support Mountain & Prairie Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts

The Pinedale neighborhood of Fresno, California was once the location of a facility used to stage Japanese-Americans on their way to the WWII-era internment camps. In this episode, Matt talks about how history can be stored but also warped in ghost stories and how some aspects of our past hold lessons for the present. Also, there's an old Spanish lady who throws sand in people's eyes. Previous Episodes transcripts, and sources etc: kmmamedia.com/podcasts/ghosthropology-podcast/ Facebook: facebook.com/ghosthroplogy Instagram: instagram.com/ghosthropod YouTube: youtube.com/@ghosthropology Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/ghosthropology

Between the legislative session in Cheyenne and President Donald Trump's first week back in the White House, immigration policies in Wyoming are on the fast track for an overhaul.   When the roads are too snowy to drive on – why not plane? As in snow plane. In Tetonia, there's a festival celebrating the invention that bridged the technological divide between the horse-drawn sleigh and snowmobile.    What's the financial value of a wolf in Wyoming? That's the question behind a new article in the travel magazine Matador. An interview with reporter from the publication who wrote the article “Are wolves worth the cost? The American West's new wildlife dilemma.”   A beloved fishing lake near Pinedale now has no fish and the entire lake has turned red. Land managers and biologists don't know why but they think it might have to do with toxic algae blooms of cyanobacteria, a growing problem in Wyoming's waters.    Jackson Unpacked airs locally at 89.1 FM or via live-stream Mondays at 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., and Fridays and Sundays at 12:30 p.m. Support Jackson's only nonprofit newsroom by becoming a member of KHOL today.

On today's Bible Answer Man broadcast (01/10/25), Hank asks listeners to think about their prayer life and encourages developing the discipline of listening for God's voice.Hank also answers the following questions:Why do we need to pray if God already knows what we need? Zachary - Oakland, TN (3:44)Does the peace symbol have any connection to the occult? Would it be appropriate for our Youth Group to use the peace symbol? Harris - Philadelphia, PA (9:16)I recently lost my fiancé, and I struggle with grief. Are there any passages of Scripture that can give me comfort through this process? Joyce - Greensboro, NC (15:12)Why would God plan for people to have hardened hearts and to be condemned to hell like Judas? K.C. - Pinedale, WY (22:22)

Today on the show, a little lake north of Pinedale has long been treasured by locals for fishing. But this fall, something happened... it turned red. There's going to be an influx of new faces at the Wyoming Capitol this month after a slate of newcomers beat out incumbents in recent elections. And we have the story of how a group of Green River High School students wrote a proclamation to make January 5th Nellie Tayloe Ross Day. Those stories and more.Editor's note: This audio has been updated to correct a misstatement.

Happy New Year everyone! We're gonna bring in the new year here with an episode that was recorded in Pinedale, and features John Dahlke. John has been very involved with sage grouse conservation over the years, which has also helped with his sage grouse hawking pursuits. John also has a gyrfalcon propagation project, and primarily flies gyrfalcons in his own falconry. We discuss these things, as well as some of his unique learning experiences under some early pioneers of falconry in the United States, so come hang out with us as our conversations with Wyoming falconers continue! Sign up to support and/or receive extra content at buymeacoffee.com/falconrychroniclesSpecial thanks to the organizations and businesses who've kindly helped support the podcast!The Archives of Falconryhttp://www.falconry.orgMarshall Radio Telemetryhttp://www.marshallradio.comMasters of the Skieshttp://www.mastersoftheskies.orgBaba Yaga Craftshttp://www.instagram.com/babayagagoshawkNorth Mountain Goshawkshttp://www.northmountaingoshawks.comNew Mexico Falconers AssociationArizona Falconers Assocationhttp://www.arizonafalconers.comTexas Hawking Associationhttp://www.texashawking.orgNorth American Falconers Associationhttp://www.n-a-f-a.comFalconry Fundhttp://www.falconryfund.orgPursuit Falconry and Conservation Magazinehttp://pursuitfalconry.co.ukThe Specialist Falconhttp://www.thespecialistfalcon.comCape Falconry Clubhttp://www.capefalconry.co.zaEast Coast Falconshttp://www.eastcoastfalcons.comBlackhawk Falconry Dachshundshttps://www.facebook.com/blackhawkdachshunds

On this week's episode: KHOL's Jenna McMurtry reports on the controversy surrounding a potential charter school South of town, in Alpine. Heather Goodrich and Jeff Daugherty agree the town needs a new school, but exactly what that school should be, not so much. Matt Erickson, the area superintendent is not sure any school can be built before the start of the next school year. KHOL's Dante Filpula Ankney talks to Jackson Hole's Vosmus and Armitage families at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort about new safety measures being implemented this year. Ned Wonson, who works at the resort, touts them as proof of JHMR's continued improvements, while some wonder if and how they will work. KHOL's Evan Ballew talks with Jackson-based artists Hilary Camino and Leif Routman about their latest single “Release your Grip” which recently premiered at KHOL. Wyoming Public Radio's Caitlin Tan met up with Sublette County outfitter and mountain man Bill Webb at his house in Pinedale for a unique Christmas tree hunt, for a juniper. Jackson Unpacked airs locally at 89.1 FM or via live-stream Mondays at 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., and Fridays and Sundays at 12:30 p.m. Support Jackson's only nonprofit newsroom by becoming a member of KHOL today.

On today's show, we chat with John Scanlon! John Scanlon lives and works as general counsel of a green fuels company in Pinedale, Wyoming. He also works in the film industry in various capacities, including as a producer. John has served as general counsel to three companies, helped launch, finance and operate several businesses, and has worked on over 100 film and television projects. He was the founding general counsel of Pedestal, an online trading platform owned by Deutsche Bank, Reuters and Battery Ventures; of Federal City Bancorp; and of Culture11, an online media company.  He began his legal career at Davis Polk & Wardwell and Latham & Watkins, where he advised on securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions.  John earned his J.D. at Georgetown, where he was associate editor of the Georgetown Law Journal, and his B.A. from the University of California, Davis (Phi Beta Kappa). He paid his way through college working as a professional firefighter/EMT. His film credits include BONHOEFFER (Producer), CLEMENTE (Producer), and HONOR FLIGHT (Legal Counsel). ABOUT Bonhoeffer: As the world teeters on the brink of annihilation, Dietrich Bonhoeffer is swept into the epicenter of a deadly plot to assassinate Hitler. With his faith and fate at stake, Bonhoeffer must choose between upholding his moral convictions or risking it all to save millions of Jews from genocide. Will his shift from preaching peace to plotting murder alter the course of history or cost him everything? angel.com/movies/bonhoeffer @bonhoeffermovie2024 christianmusicguys.com @christianmusicguys

Use promo code ROMANTASY25 or go to dipseastories.com/romantasy25 to get 25% off an annual subscription with Dipsea!--This podcast is intended for mature listeners…Headphones highly recommended.Wilder from Dipsea's "Pinedale Falls" returns to the cabin after a rival pack threat, relieved to find you unharmed. His protective instincts flare, revealing the depth of your bond. Struggling to control his aggression, Wilder whisks you away into the bedrooms so he can burn off some of that heat. Can't wait till the next episode drops? Want more sexy audiobooks and even spicier episodes? Get access to 1,000+ spicy audiobooks and more on the Dipsea app. Use promo code ROMANTASY25 or go to dipseastories.com/romantasy25 to get 25% off your annual with Dipsea!--Created by Dipsea.

In this chapter of "Pinedale Falls," Luke's unexpected visit to the cabin brings news of Dan's rebellion. Wilder returns to confront the pack split, facing off with Dan. Their power struggle is cut short when unknown wolves are sensed near the cabin, forcing Wilder to choose between his leadership and your safety.This podcast is intended for mature listeners…Headphones highly recommended.Can't wait till the next episode drops? Want more sexy audiobooks and even spicier episodes? Get access to 1,000+ spicy audiobooks and more on the Dipsea app. Use promo code ROMANTASY25 or go to dipseastories.com/romantasy25 to get 25% off your annual with Dipsea!Created by Dipsea.

On today's newscast: Vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz will visit Flagstaff Saturday, several other politicians have appeared in northern Arizona to make their final appeals ahead of Election Day, recreational marijuana delivery starts tomorrow, authorities have scaled back search efforts for a missing 75-year-old Pinedale woman, and more. Plus, our ballot breakdown continues with the Arizona Corporation Commission race.

Get access to 1,000+ spicy audiobooks and more on the Dipsea app. Use promo code ROMANTASY25 or go to dipseastories.com/romantasy25 to get 25% off your annual with Dipsea!--Your favorite werewolf romance is back!In the newest chapter of "Pinedale Falls," newly-appointed alpha Wilder takes you to his family's remote mountain cabin, seeking space from pack politics. In the quiet isolation, he reveals his true nature. As you both adjust to this new reality, an unexpected visitor arrives, threatening to end your romantic reprieve.This podcast is intended for mature listeners…Headphones highly recommended.We're dropping you right into Chapter 4 - but can listen back to Chapters 1-3 released in this podcast feed earlier this year, or download the Dipsea app for the best listening experience.--"Pinedale Falls" by Dipsea: When you move to a ranch in Pinedale Wyoming, local cowboys Dan and Wilder are ready to show you the ropes. They get you set up with a horse and set you to work. You're ready to learn and not looking for trouble, but somehow it keeps finding you. Secretly, Dan has taken a shining to you. But that's not the only secret on the ranch: both Dan and Wilder are werewolves. Wilder sets out to protect you from Dan, because he's worried that a relationship between you two will put you in danger. But along the way, he falls for you too.Created by Dipsea.

Listen every weekday for a local newscast featuring town, county, state and regional headlines. It's the daily dose of news you need on Wyoming, Idaho and the Mountain West — all in four minutes or less.

KHOL reporter Jenna McMurtry tells us Teton County is proposing changes to its Fire Protection Plan, that among other things, expands the boundary of what's considered wildland urban interface. Robb Sgroi of the Teton County Conservation District, Todd Fitzgerald of a local tree service business and Jackson Fire Marshall Raymond Lane provide insight into why and how residents can make their homes more fire resistant. And in partnership with Storycorps — KHOL is hosting a series of conversations between candidates running for local office and a constituent they aim to represent, finding common ground. Tune in to hear Jacksonite Jessica Baker and Jackson Town Council candidate Kevin Regan in the third edition of our series produced by Alyson Spery. Also, the Mountain West News Bureau's Hanna Merzbach takes us to Pinedale and Victor where some like Doug Rellstab, Lindsey Love and Will Haywood are building houses out of straw bales. Lastly, KHOL Music Director Jack Catlin sat down with Fire In The Mountains music festival founder Jeremy Walker who says he's disappointed to be leaving Teton County. Still, he's excited about the possibilities about a new location on the Blackfeet Reservation in Northwestern Montana. Jackson Unpacked airs locally at 89.1 FM or via live-stream Mondays at 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., and Fridays and Sundays at 12:30 p.m. Support Jackson's only nonprofit newsroom by becoming a member of KHOL today.

#100 - When you hit a hundred of anything, it's worth throwing a party, and that's exactly what we're doing here on Journey with Jake as we ring in our 100th episode! Join your host Jake (thats me) and my effervescent guest host Rick Bamford, as we stride down memory lane, reliving the belly laughs, the slip-ups, and the heart-tugging stories that have painted the vibrant canvas of this podcast. It's a chance to bask in the shared human experience with stories that span from the quaint streets of Pinedale, Wyoming to the awe-inspiring peaks of Banff and Jasper National Parks.Our celebration wouldn't be complete without revisiting that spark of wanderlust that keeps our hearts yearning for the next adventure. So, we've reconnected with some of my past guests including Cole Young, Dave Preston, Matt and Cheryls Schoss from Were in the Rockies, Daniela from @monorailmagic_,  and Shelby Mann from Ground Up Adventures.It's not just about where we've been; it's about the people who've journeyed with us. This centenary episode is drenched in gratitude for our listeners, the guests who've brought their stories to our stage, and the serendipitous connections that have blossomed into invaluable friendships. Our tapestry is rich and far from finished. So, whether you're tuning in from Germany, Australia, or anywhere in between, know that your companionship fuels this show. Here's to the next hundred episodes—each step, each story, each shared moment engrained in the soul of Journey with Jake.To follow along with these past guests see their Instagram and website information below.Matt and Cheryl Schoss - Instagram @wereintherockies  website  www.wereintherockies.com and YouTube  @WereintheRockies Cole Young - Instagram @the_cole_youngDave Preston - Instagram @davidpre.meDaniela - Instagram @monorailmagic_ and YouTube  @monorailmagic_ Shelby Mann - Instaram @groundupadventures website www.groundupadventuresco.com and YouTube @groundupadventuresRick Bamford - Instagram @lord_ricksterAnd as always give me a follow on Instagram @journeywithjakepodcastVisit LandPirate.com to get your gear that has you, the adventurer, in mind. Use the code "Journey with Jake" to get an additional 15% off at check out.

This week, we're leaving the fairies and the werewolves behind to introduce you to a character who will feel a bit closer to your everyday reality. Ronan, the Irish farmer, is a huge hit on the Dipsea app, and is especially beloved by fans of Pinedale Falls. If you've tuned in to our “Extra Spicy Episodes” before, you'll find this format familiar.Headphones in and imagine this: you're in bed with Ronan and he's eager to share his dream with you...This podcast is intended for mature listeners… Headphones highly recommended.Can't wait till the next episode drops? Want more sexy audiobooks and even spicier episodes? Get access to 1,000+ spicy stories on the Dipsea app. Use promo code ROMANTASY or go to dipseastories.com/romantasy to get 30 days free.Created by Dipsea.

Wilder is worried that Dan knows you two slept together in the tent. So he's trying to play it cool by keeping his distance from you. He plans on skipping the big Halloween party, but when you need his help he comes rushing back and is forced to defend you. The fight turns his animal instincts into overdrive and the tension between you finally comes to a head. This podcast is intended for mature listeners…Headphones highly recommended.Can't wait till the next episode drops? Want more sexy audiobooks and even spicier episodes? Get access to 1,000+ spicy stories on the Dipsea app. Use promo code ROMANTASY or go to dipseastories.com/romantasy to get 30 days free.Created by Dipsea.

When Dan invites the pack over for the full moon, he asks Wilder to take you camping so they're free to turn and hunt. Wilder's pissed. For starters, he's tired of being ordered around by Dan. But worse than that, he keeps having dreams about you. And when an accident out on the trail forces you to share a tent for the night, the tension is higher than ever…This podcast is intended for mature listeners…Headphones highly recommended.Can't wait till the next episode drops? Want more sexy audiobooks and even spicier episodes? Get access to 1,000+ spicy stories on the Dipsea app. Use promo code ROMANTASY or go to dipseastories.com/romantasy to get 30 days free.Created by Dipsea.

Wilder's not happy when Dan invites you to work on the ranch—for one, you're an out-of-towner. But more importantly, you're a human and living amongst werewolves isn't exactly safe for non-supernatural folk. He does his best to steer clear of you, but you keep being drawn back together. And when he overhears you spending the night with Dan, he finds himself unexpectedly jealous. This podcast is intended for mature listeners…Headphones highly recommended.Can't wait till the next episode drops? Want more sexy audiobooks and even spicier episodes? Get access to 1,000+ spicy stories on the Dipsea app. Use promo code ROMANTASY or go to dipseastories.com/romantasy to get 30 days free.Created by Dipsea.

Albert and Sue Sommers met, fell in love and got married in their 40s. Albert is a rancher whose family has worked the same land in Pinedale, Wyoming for over 100 years, and Sue is a writer and multimedia artist who grew up in New Jersey. Since they married later in life and don't have kids, that raised big questions about what would happen to Albert's family ranch once they were gone. Ranching is a tough business, and the Sommers family land is in a part of Wyoming where property values have soared as very wealthy people have moved in. That increases development pressure to turn that land into cash. In 2010, Albert and his family decided on a different, novel path that both preserved the Sommers' family land from development and enabled them to pass the business to a young neighbor who's no relation. Albert and Sue tell Anna about how they got together and took on these big family decisions, and despite their offering differing opinions, how they “continue the conversation.”  Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox, and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter, and follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

In Wyoming, The Continental Divide Trail spans 510 miles from the Colorado border to Montana.  CDT through-hikers spend days on the trail, before the need to resupply and the desire for a soft bed and a shower, leads them into towns along the way. One such stop is the Jackalope Motor Lodge, in Pinedale. In this episode, Pathfinder Bruce chats with The Nomadic Norseman-one of the many adventurers taking a break at "The Jack". For more information about the Continental Divide Trail: https://continentaldividetrail.org/explore-the-trail/

The Fresno Planning Commission rejected a proposed cannabis shop in Pinedale last week even though it met every requirement spelled out by the city council. For more top stories, visit https://www.GVWire.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GVWire/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/gvwire Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gvwire/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gv-wire TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gvwire --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gvwire/support

While brewers have long used cacao nibs for brewing chocolate beers, the pulp of the cacao fruit has been an unexplored resource due to its high perishability and cultural obscurity. Leila Carvajal Erker of Cocoa Supply wants to see that change. Her company is importing pasteurized cacao pulp from cacao farms in Ecuador and working with brewers to figure out how best it can be used in the brewing process.In this episode we talk with Leila about Cocoa Supply's cacao pulp products, as well as Sam Mosle, the head brewer at Wind River Brewing in Pinedale, Wyoming, who recently brewed a Blonde Ale with cacao pulp. We also discuss a similar beer brewed by Jon Naghski at Fifth Street Brewpub in Dayton, Ohio.You can check out all the links mentioned in this episode at our Linktree. Follow Bean to Barstool on social media!InstagramTwitterFacebookPinterestTikTokSign up for host David Nilsen's newsletter to get regular updates!

The Pinedale community gathered together to fight against the new cannabis dispensary opening in the neighborhood Tuesday. Linda Amparano, one of the Pinedale community residents, says the biggest issue with the cannabis dispensary is the location since it would bring more stereotypes to the neighborhood and it is not safe for families and children.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grizzlies in the Rockies w/ Maria Davidson / Wild & Uncut / EP 50 On this episode of Wild & Uncut, Kristy Titus sits down with SCI Foundation's Large Carnivore Conservation Program Manager, Maria Davidson. Kristy and Maria deep dive on the two main projects Maria is focusing on right now, the struggles and successes they're experiencing and the landscape of grizzlies in the west, looking forward. Grizzlies are possibly the most polarizing issue facing American west, as it pertains to outdoor recreation, ranching and agriculture, and game management/conservation. Maria recently retired after a 28 year career as the Large Carnivore Program Manager for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Maria coordinated research activities with universities, federal agencies, NGOs and private landowners to address recovery needs of the federally listed Louisiana black bear. Maria now lives in Pinedale, Wyoming and continues to enjoy hunting and fishing with her family and friends. We hope you enjoy this episode, as much as we appreciate your support! Make sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to make sure you catch every bit of Wild & Uncut!

Lisanne Fear grew up in Pinedale, Wyoming, and began her mustang journey while training horses to pay for her books during college. Later, she worked with a guest ranch that bought mustangs from a prison program. She enjoyed seeing the mustangs learn and grow into wonderful horses, and take riders to spectacular places in the mountains. After the ranch, Lis took an interest in camping with horses and ran her own pack trips with friends. She doesn't like walking or carrying her own gear, so horses are an ideal mode to be able to “camp in comfort” in the backcountry. “Horses have expanded my life,” she says, “and I continue to learn more from them every day.”#hoofnitpodcast @hoofnitpodcast #ehalnews @ehalnews #khc @khc @equifestofks2023 #equifestofks2023

Listen every weekday for a local newscast featuring town, county, state and regional headlines. It's the daily dose of news you need on Wyoming, Idaho and the Mountain West—all in four minutes or less. Fridays feature a roundup of KHOL's best stories of the week.

Listen every weekday for a local newscast featuring town, county, state and regional headlines. It's the daily dose of news you need on Wyoming, Idaho and the Mountain West—all in four minutes or less.

Bronwyn Minton is a mother, a passionate teacher, and a talented artist. As the Executive Director of the Art Association of Jackson Hole, she has been a driving force behind the organization's success in promoting art in the local community.Originally from New Hampshire, Bronwyn developed a deep appreciation for the breathtaking landscapes of Wyoming during her summers spent at a camp in the Wind River Range. Her love for the state led her to make Jackson her permanent home more than 30 years ago in 1992, after leaving bustling cities such as New York and Portland.In this episode, Bronwyn shares her nostalgic memories of spending summers at a camp near Pinedale, and discusses what motivated her decision to settle down in Jackson. Stephan and Bronwyn delve into the Art Association's extensive community programs and events, including the exciting "WhoDunnit" mystery event. They also reflect on the rich history of the Art Association, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Furthermore, Bronwyn shares insights into her artistic process, describing how she channels her emotions into visually stunning works of art.To see Bronwyn's art, visit BronwynMinton.comLearn more about the Art Association of Jackson Hole at ArtAssociation.orgThis week's episode is supported in part by Teton County Solid Waste and Recycling, reminding businesses of Teton County's “Curb to Compost” Program for food waste collection; an important next step in your restaurant's recycling program. More at TetonCountyWY.gov or at @RoadToZeroWaste.JH on Instagram.Support also comes from The Jackson Hole Marketplace. The Deli at Jackson Hole Marketplace offers ready-made soups, sandwiches, breakfast burritos, and hot lunch specials. More at JHMarketplace.comWant to be a guest on The Jackson Hole Connection? Email us at connect@thejacksonholeconnection.com. Marketing and editing support by Michael Moeri (michaelmoeri.com)

The most easily recognized teachers in our culture are on the big screen. So when we think about good teaching, it's almost impossible not to think of Robin William's character in Dead Poets Society standing on a desk and inspiring his students. This might be part of the problem. When teaching is associated with unrealistic Hollywood characters, it can create impractical or ridiculous assumptions about what teachers do. In this episode, we hear how the stereotypes of teachers may be contributing to teachers' decisions to leave education. Music: Theme Song By Julian Saporiti “NPC Theme” by HoliznaCC0 is in the Public Domain. “Sunny Afternoon” by HoliznaCC0 is in the Public Domain.  “Infrastructure” by Scott Holmes Music is licensed under a  CC BY-NC license. “Just a Blip” by Andy G. Cohen is licensed under a CC  BY license. “Room With a View” by Jahzzar is licensed under a CC BY-SA license. Movie Clips: Freedom Writers (Paramount Pictures) Dead Poets Society (Touchstone Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures) School of Rock (Paramount Pictures) Ferris Bueller (Paramount Pictures, United International Pictures) Transcript:  Episode 3: “What Would Robin Williams Do?” There is a picture-day-esqu photo on my parents' fridge of me sitting on my dad's lap. I am wearing a tie-dye shirt and my orange hair is in its natural state of an Eddie Munster widows peak. My dad is in a blue button down and has on a tie. My cheeks crowd my eyes, my smile is so big. My dad, who doesn't always smile for pictures, has a cheeky grin.    This picture was taken around the same time that my dad squatted down to eye-level with me and said: “When people ask you where you got your red hair, you tell them the milkman. Okay?”   He didn't make a big deal about telling me this. It was just a directive, and I said okay. I figured, yeah, that makes sense.    So as adults would come by, ruffle my hair and say things like, “Oh my, what pretty red hair. Where did you get hair like that?”   I'd look up at them, smile, and tell them, “The Milkman.”    They would guffaw, cough down a drink, blush, and I'd try to explain, “You know, because he delivers things.”    And they'd laugh out an “I'm sure he does!” and find my dad who would have a grin settled between his bouncing shoulders as he muffled a laugh, and my mom would say something like “G-uh, Darcy Joe”   Not to be heavy handed, but the stereotypes of what a milkman may or may not do when visiting people's homes is what makes the joke land. This joke was lost on me until high school. I didn't understand the baggage associated with being a milkman.   Language matters. Words like milkman have connotations - they carry weight or have stereotypes attached to them. That's why I can't flip someone off and say, “Why are you upset,this means joy to me.” There are too many representations of middle-fingers that situate the digit as a symbol of the obscene. Repetition and representation give meaning.    The middle finger or terms like milkman or teacher, carry a history of expectations and stereotypes. Last episode we heard about the historical inheritance of teachers, which is significant in how we view modern teachers. But history isn't the only thing that impacts how we view teachers. Today, we're going to look at the teacher stereotypes in pop-culture and how these stereotypes can be contributing to teacher attrition. This is Those Who Can't Teach Anymore, a 7-part podcast series exploring why teachers are leaving education and what can be done to stop the exodus. I'm Charles Fournier. Here is part 3: “What Would Robin Williams Do?” Molly Waterworth: I've gotten to the point where I see any TV show or movie where some sort of plot device hinges on the inspirational teacher. And I just roll my eyes.   This is Molly Waterworth. We heard from her last episode, and she just left education after teaching English for 8 years. She points out a stereotype of inspiring teachers in media: Molly Waterworth:I just can't.  I can't stomach it because it's so saccharin. It completely obscures the fact that these inspiring teachers that are either drawn from real life or the product of someone or someone's imagination, it completely obscures the fact that their inspirational teaching is very likely the outgrowth of massive mental health deficiencies. And like a complete imbalance of where they spend their time and where they're getting like their soul fed. Inspiring teacher stories make me feel awful.    That shouldn't be the case, right? Inspirational teacher movies should INSPIRE. And they can and they do - they inspired me - but what Molly points to is a nagging reality in many inspirational teacher stories.    Dead Poets Society Clip   As you can hear in this scene from Dead Poets Society, Mr Keeting, played by Robin Williams, pushes his student, Todd Anderson.. And in this unconventional way Mr. Keeting helps Todd start to gain some confidence and see his potential. Similar scenes occur in other famous teacher movies, like Mr Holland's Opus, or Freedom Writers.    These movies project a fantasy of heroism onto education, and people love it. Inspirational teacher movies are usually underdog stories: A  teacher rails against convention and inspires and does amazing things for others no matter the personal cost. We are attracted to this as a culture. We want heroes that are selfless. We want to see ourselves as capable of being like Robin Williams' character in Dead Poets Society.  And the way these movie teachers influence kids…man, that's the dream.  But, several if not most of the teachers in those stories that inspire don't have the healthiest work-life balance. They give everything to their students - time, energy, love, inspiration. And these movie teachers inspire in the public comments like, “We need more teachers like this” or “I wish teachers would be more like (whatever movie teacher).” But we need to ask, what is expecting teachers to fit a stereotype asking of real teachers?   Think of Freedom Writers, a movie based on the real-life Erin Gruwell, who is played by Hillary Swank. She is the epitome of the inspirational teacher stereotype. Halfway through the movie, her husband leaves her because she is spending so much time focused on her students,  Freedom Writers Clip  The film creates a feeling that the husband might be unrealistic. As an audience, we're rooting for Erin Gruwell because she does amazing things - her husband points this out. And don't get me wrong, Ms.Gruwell is phenomenal and her story is amazing, but there might be danger in presenting this story as a precedent for what good teaching looks like. Yes, she is a good teacher, but at what cost? In most other films about different careers, it's likely the main character would realize that work is taking too much and family is more important, but not in inspirational teacher movies. Expecting teachers to do what Gruwell does is expecting teachers to forfeit their own lives for students. It's expecting martyrdom. This is a stereotype.   And the reality is different. Molly Waterworth: We're not martyrs, and we're not perfect. And there are things that can be said about the profession as a whole and certainly about individual teachers that needs improvement, absolutely. But I think a lot of it maybe stems from just this sense that teachers aren't entirely human - that we are saints. And so therefore, we shouldn't worry about all of these factors that are making our jobs harder, because we have this big calling on our lives that turn us somehow into people that don't have needs. This language that surrounds teaching is significant. It feeds the stereotype of selflessness, which in turn has an impact on how teachers are treated. Right now teachers are feeling burned out because this stereotype is unrealistic - it's creating an expectation that makes teachers want to leave education.  I met up with Rachael Esh at Welcome Market Hall in Sheridan, Wyoming on the eve of her very last day as a teacher. Rachael Esh:  It's a bit of a stereotype with teachers. It's like, Oh, this has been your calling since you were this age, or since this teacher impacted you. This idea of a calling is that you don't teach for the money, you do it for the kids because it is what you were meant to do. It is your destiny or purpose. A quote unquote “calling” can create a sense of guilt in teachers when they realize, crap, I'm not getting paid enough for this, which is in contrast to the narrative surrounding  teaching like Molly points out: Molly Waterworth: People don't get into this for the money, why would they? But they're in it for the kids, and they're in it for that sense of purpose and mission. That's like, “Yeah, but I also would like to be paid.” So to have a calling is to feel like teaching is more than a job, more than a paycheck, it is a clear directive from some higher power for the direction your life should take in service of others. Rachael didn't feel like that stereotype matched her experience. Rachael Esh: And I don't feel like that's usually the case. It's more of a roundabout zigzag pattern. This surprised me. I grew up wanting to be a teacher because, as Rachael said, I had some amazing teachers leave an impact on me, but I never thought teaching was my calling. It was something that sounded cool, and it was made cooler by movies like Dead Poets Society. I wrote the movie's motto, “Carpe Diem” on all of my notebooks. And I liked reading and writing and teaching people, and teaching would give me a chance to coach. Not once did I get the sky part and shine a light on my career path. It wasn't a calling, and of the 30 teachers that I interviewed, hardly any of them felt like teaching was their calling either. For Rachael and Molly, they had different plans with where their lives were going to go. Rachael Esh: So my undergrad I actually got at Ohio University in environmental biology, and so I thought I was gonna maybe do field work or something like that. Molly Waterworth: I declared my major as geography, but I did it with the intent of being able to go into the forest service. But I found out pretty quickly that I really didn't care about any of my classes. And I found out that I was going to have to take calculus and I wasn't interested in doing that. So I kind of bounced around into various humanities areas. And both Rachael and Molly landed in education because they each had a summer experience in college that put them in front of kids. Rachael took an internship teaching environmental education and Molly went to China with a group from college and got to help kids with their conversational English. They both found their way to being educators because of positive experiences teaching kids. Rachael Esh: So I knew I either wanted to go on to park service or education after working with kids then. And so it kind of just worked out that getting my degree in education was just more accessible, and I kind of wanted to separate my fun time, which was like outdoors, from my work. So I decided to kind of go into education. And I mean, the kids are never boring. So you're like, well, heck this. This beats an office job any day of the week. And when Molly returned from China, she declared first as an elementary teacher.  Molly Waterworth: I think that when I envision myself being a teacher, I thought of myself reading with kids, and talking about literature and talking about books and big ideas and stuff like that. And so at that point, I had the very obvious revelation that I should be a secondary English teacher because that would afford me that opportunity most often. So that was kind of my meandering path into into There was no bright light for either of these teachers, no calling. Nothing so profound. Like most people, they stumbled onto their desire to do a job because they took advantage of an opportunity and realized, “Hey, this isn't bad.” And Teaching wasn't a last option for either of them. They weren't failing at other things in life, which is tied to another stereotype of teaching. If teachers aren't depicted as martyrs, they're often seen as selfish or deviant or lazy or dumb or boring, like in Ferris Bueler's Day Off. Ferris Bueller Clip And this image of teachers perpetuates the idea that teaching is a last ditch option for people that can't do anything else. This stereotype often leads to a willingness to discredit teachers as experts in their field. Not being seen as experts in their field is a major reason teachers gave for leaving teaching.  For Molly or Rachael, they became teachers by choice. They didn't need to fall back to something easier. It wasn't a School of Rock scenario, where Jack Black's character, Dewey Finn, hits rock bottom before becoming a long term sub proving that someone with no qualifications can be a better teacher than trained and dedicated teachers - a trope that we see over and over again.  In the film, Jack Black's character even draws attention to a common saying that is tied to education.  School of Rock Clip Dylan Bear is a PE teacher in Pinedale, WY. We sat at a picnic table in front of his house with a view of the Wind River Mountain Range, while we drank coffee, snacked on a loaf of banana bread he was gifted from a student, and talked about these sayings and images surrounding education.  Dylan Bear: I think another thing, we've gotten a lot of quotes, like funny quotes in the society, like, oh, teachers, they take these jobs for June, July and August. I think that's something that needs to stop.  What Dylan has noticed is the negative lens with which culture and Hollywood has viewed teachers. Like I mentioned earlier, we stereotype teachers as good or bad, the marty/savior type that saw teaching as a calling or the boring/lazy person who saw teaching as a backup plan.  But, Dylan, like Molly and Rachael, didn't see teaching as a calling. He didn't see teaching as a fall back career either. Dylan Bear: So I started off as an engineer, and those were just not my people. And I was looking more for a little more social environment, a little more high energy versus analytical, consistently, day in and day out. And so I went from engineering to math in secondary math education because I liked working with kids. And then after a few years of that three years deep, looking at all the papers all the time, I just couldn't do it, so I switched from math. I was actually sitting in Prexy's Pasture and Laramie. And the special ed teacher came and sat down next to me and she said, What are you thinking about? Instead, there was my longboard. I said, I don't know if I can do math the rest of my life. Would you rather be teaching math or out playing a field, you know, and I thought like instantly. Dylan would rather be out in a field. Teaching was a good path for Dylan - not a calling and not a last ditch option. He takes his job seriously, and he is someone that plans on teaching for some time. And when Dylan started feeling a little burned out, he moved towns and got a change of scenery, so that he could keep teaching. He isn't naive to the reality of burning out or how difficult the job is, nor is he jaded in thinking that anyone could do this job. The key word here is reality. The reality of a teacher is that teachers are human, not a stereotype. We make mistakes and we have successes and we make some profound impacts on kids and we make some mediocre impacts on kids.  Dylan Bear: Some teachers are really good, and some are really lazy. And some kids are really good, and some are really lazy. So it's like, we don't want to paint a broad brush over everybody. And I think sometimes we do an education because there's so many people in education. It's like one of the leading job forces out there. So you hear these stories that are negative about one or two teachers, and then you say all I'm doing the same with kids. I hate when people say, kids are always on their phone. It's like, no, no, some kids are on their phones. Some of them are waiting for you to talk and give them a good lesson. I think education gets those broad brushes which devalue people. And that's a dangerous world.  Dylan recognizes the need for grace and the danger of broad generalizations of any groups. He recognizes the fact that people are human, but sometimes we only get a snapshot of education, which creates these generalizations that feed into the stereotype of teachers as either good or bad. Dylan experienced this first hand when he had a student continuously refuse to take off his hat.  Dylan Bear: I was like, This is absurd. So I'm a climber, and so he was playing badminton, and I popped his hat off and ran up and jumped up the basketball hoop and climbed in the rafters and hung it from like, the highest point in the gym, like, 50 foot up. And yeah, not very smart, but it was like, I didn't think about it, but kids Snapchatted it. And all the kids came like, “Oh, we saw you but it was out that was so funny. That it's like you have to be aware of that.”  The snapchat of Dylan only includes his climb. It doesn't include the warnings he gave the student from that day and previous days. It doesn't include Dylan's positive relationship with the student and the students' family, or all of the normal/positive interactions Dylan has with his other students, or the mundane aspects of his job that he does everyday. The Snapchat lacks context, and this is how stereotypes begin and are fed. A single image becomes the representation of the whole - even if it is a fragment of the reality.   This is the kind of thing that becomes an overgeneralization - a stereotype of teachers. These stereotypes are on social media and in movies and they contribute to cultural narratives about education that are unrealistic. Some of these glimpses and snapshots might be part of what teachers expected education to be, which is misleading and could be contributing to the disillusionment leading to teachers quitting. Here's Molly again. Molly Waterworth:  I think that the image probably came from a couple of places, a selective memory of my high school and middle school classrooms. So thinking back to those good experiences that I had as a student, I was like, “Okay, I want to create that for other people.” But I also had it in my head, the the image of the cool, thoughtful, worldly literary teacher that you see in like Dead Poets Society or any number of  other movies like that - opening up doors and exploring identity and figuring out who we are all along the way.  Dead Poets Society Clip I love Dead Poets Society, and Freedom Writers, but I remember telling my wife, after our first week in real teaching jobs: “This sure as hell isn't Dead Poets Society.” I had been fooled with what teaching would actually be, and this is also an image of what the public seems to see of educators. They want the engaging classroom, the teacher that inspires, and don't we all. Or they expect the lazy, boring, slacker who got into teaching because their real goals didn't pan out. But education is more complex than a movie.  Molly Waterworth:  The crushing reality of grading was something that I hadn't quite prepared myself for. I think that I knew going into teaching, because obviously, you know, that you're going to have to grade and that's part of the job. So the grading part was overwhelming. You never see in movies, like staff meetings, or having to figure out the copier or the deeply existentially difficult process of figuring out the culture of the building in your first year. Just the kind of mundane but deeply tangible on a daily basis struggle of making sure that everything fits in your lesson plan. Like that's not glamorous. But it's, it's the part that makes or breaks you as a teacher of just balancing the day to day and making sure that you're hitting your standards and teaching the stuff that you don't care about, but you have to do anyway. Like, Robin Williams isn't gonna do that. I would love to have a b-roll version of Dead Poets Society where Robin WIlliams' character, John Keating, sits for 4 hours grading papers, intermittently standing up to stretch, get a coffee, shake his head and mumble things like, “I swear we went over that.” Molly Waterworth: You never see an inspiring teacher movie where they are tracking missing assignments. You never see them answering the onslaught of emails at the end of the semester, asking how to get my grade up. You never see that. You see the inspiring parts and that's it. Never the work that it takes to get there. So we see teachers that either act as martyrs like Keating who, don't forget, gets fired at the end of the film after a student kills himself, or we see teachers that make real teachers cringe. Molly Waterworth:  I remember watching Glee when that was out.  And it was not just unrealistic, but it was just so I thought it was insulting the way that the teachers were showing their like, as just unserious. Too involved in teenagers' lives. And, like, really, really concerned about both of those things. That I was just I couldn't do it. I couldn't put up with it.  And again, why does this matter? Why does it matter that depictions of teachers are unrealistic? It honestly wouldn't matter if these depictions didn't seep into how teachers are currently being treated. If the cultural view of education remained realistic. But this is how stereotypes work. We may recognize a stereotype as wrong or dangerous, but they can still seep into our behavior.  And they influence what parents expect from teachers, what students expect from teachers, and even what teachers expect from themselves. If teachers buy into the stereotypes, they may be striving for a sense of perfection and martyrdom that is unhealthy and unrealistic. So it's up to us, all of us, to push against these stereotypes. Like any other cultural stereotype, we need a massive cultural shift in how we think about teachers, which often starts with how we represent and talk about teachers.  Unless we become conscious of our biases or of these stereotypes, things won't change, and in the context of teaching, teachers will continue to quit.  The misconceptions surrounding teachers and education are very much influenced by what folks see on a consistent basis. This isn't to say that there haven't been realistic depictions of teachers. I love Tina Fey's character in Mean Girls. She was quirky and smart and imperfect. Her character felt more real to me, but this is an outlier in teacher representations.  Stephanie Reese: Culturally, I think the media shows teachers as “Man, they just work tirelessly.” You might recognize Stephanie's voice from last episode. I met up with her at Blacktooth Brewery in Cheyenne, she's the general manager there. Stephanie taught PE from kindergarten to college, and she left education after 8 years. She points out how some of the perceptions of education bleed into the expectations placed on teachers.  Stephanie Reese: They just love what they do so much. They love kids. They're willing to put in all these extra hours, because they just love what they do. And they're okay with that. And, and that doesn't actually give teachers a voice. And that, to me is bullshit because teachers are tired, they're exhausted, they're stressed to the max there. Some may love it. And fine. If you have that intrinsic motivation to love something without getting anything back. That's amazing. You are a superhero.  When being a teacher is associated with loving kids as Stephanie points out, does that mean that leaving education means a loss of love for the kids? Or that not wanting to put in the extra hours is because teachers don't love the kids? This rhetoric is dangerous and it isn't helpful when thinking about why teachers are leaving. When teachers decide to leave education, they often hear, “You can't, you're so good for the kids” or something to that effect. This is said in praise, but it actually ignores what teachers are dealing with and it pushes this cultural stereotype that teachers ought to be willing to give everything for the kids. The reality is, the list of what teachers do, the extra work teachers have, is tremendous and all of that work rarely makes it into films. Here's Dylan. Dylan Bear: It's funny when you asked me to do this, I looked up, like, what are the job requirements for teachers and there was like, on the, on the description, it was, like 30 bullet points. It was incredible, like, lift 50 pounds, walk 100 yards. When Does anyone do that? We think teachers are just this, like square. But it's not, it's this open ended job that you can work your tail off forever, you know, or you can do the minimum and you still get paid the same. So it's like, I think a lot of people want to know, like, here's your job, and here's what you're gonna get for it. And that's not the case in teaching.  And that list of job requirements is long and ambiguous and continuously added to. A big portion of what it means to be a teacher isn't simply “to teach” or “to inspire.” It's to manage a huge amount of expectations, which doesn't often get included into the stereotype of teachers, and if it does, it's only for a moment.  Stephanie had strong thoughts about what teachers are expected to do.  Stephanie Reese: This isn't going to be a positive one, Charles, I hope that you're not like, brace yourself, right? I'm not gonna sit here and say, oh, yeah, teachers are here to inspire teachers are here to you know, try to spark some sort of love or interest in something and help every single kid and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, like all that sugar coated shit. Fine. That might be the case. But to me, and I know a lot of teachers who agree, it's babysitting. So our roles are just sit tight, do your best, try to get in something that's worth value. Or maybe try to teach his kids to be decent human beings.    The stereotype often clashes with the reality of teaching. Still many teachers try to live up to the inspiring teacher stereotype, which can be contributing to the sense of burnout lots of teachers are experiencing.  Many teachers, whether they intended to or not, have wrapped their identity around education, which is kind of a cultural expectation - they are one with the school. This can make being in public and trying to have a personal life kind of awkward especially in small towns.  Rachael Esh:Anywhere we would go. I'd be like, I can't go there. All my kids are gonna be there, you know? Or like, do you want to go bowling? No, I don't want to go bowling. So I have to talk to seven of my students online, like no, like, you know, so there's just places that I don't even want to go because I just get bombarded with children. Which is, I love them. But you know, you want to like, be away from work for a while and you're like, I've done this all day. I want adult time. It's adult time now. they'll walk by when I'm having a beer. I'm like, don't, don't you look at me.  The teacher advocating for healthy boundaries or focusing on mental health in a genuine way is not a common teacher stereotype in pop-culture. This has only started bubbling up more recently on social media with teachers and former teachers drawing attention to their struggles in the classroom. There have even been some new television shows that have started to address what teachers are struggling with. They are pushing against the stereotypes. This kind of representation can help restructure how we think about and discuss teachers.  Seeing teachers as stereotypes either creates standards so high it is absolutely unrealistic or we are creating a villain to be a scape-goat for all of our worldly problems. Both of these images are contributing to teachers leaving the profession, and both of these images are very common cultural tropes. To break free from stereotypes, we need to first recognize they are there and how they are working.  I teach about stereotypes when I teach rhetoric. One of my favorite lessons to teach is about binary opposition. We get to address stereotypes and how we, as humans, often categorize ideas and language into this or that, and how such categorization is often a logical fallacy.  Here's a quick look at how the lesson goes.  I start by asking students what a binary star system is, then draw it on the board. Binary stars are two stars that orbit each other. They rely on each other for survival. If one dies, the other dies. In this binary, one star is larger than the other, it carries more weight. Even so, if the other star dies, the larger star will also die.  How we categorize language and ideas is similar. Things are good or bad, and we often privilege one side of that opposition. And we wouldn't know good without bad. The poet Wallace Stevens wrote, “Death is the mother of Beauty,” which means, without death, we wouldn't know beauty.  At this point, a few of the students are nodding, others are usually staring, but as I move around the room, their eyes all follow me. This is when you know that you've got ‘em. Now, I move to the board again and ask the students to picture the perfect and stereotypical 1950s couple. I give a few seconds - they don't need long. Then I ask, “So, who are they?” Right away, students establish a white, able-bodied couple, made up of a man and woman. This is when I turn my back, marker ready, and say, “Okay, tell me about the woman.” They yell over each other rattling off the same image of a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman with a light color poodle skirt, wearing minimal makeup. She cooks, cleans, and takes care of children. Her only vices are gossip and the occasional cigarette. I then have the students describe the man. He's tall, has dark hair, wears a dark suit, and works in an office. His vices include drinking, smoking, fighting, and adultery.  In less than two minutes, my students always describe Don and Betty Draper perfectly. Then we continue with other opposing stereotypes under men and women. We agree that these are stereotypes as a class, but I point out that they came up with these opposing lists in about 5 minutes total. It takes that long because I can't write as fast as they yell out ideas. I tell them, even if they don't believe in these stereotypes, they are ingrained in their brains because of the culture in which we live, and if they're not careful, they might unconsciously let them dictate their behavior At this point, I pause the class and take a different colored marker and circled  qualities on both sides of the list. Then I tell the students, these are things that make up who I am. I have a lot of qualities under both men and women circled: I cry more than my wife, I am emotional, I like to cook, I'm terrible with vehicle maintenance, but I am also a woodworker, I was an industrial ironworker,  I've been in fights, I was a college wrestler. We talk about monoliths, and the reality that in a binary, most people live in the gray. We're not one or the other, and that doesn't make us less-than.  Even so, we tend to categorize ideas based on binary opposition.  Thinking back to the binary of men and women, I ask the students who is good and who is bad. Kids argue and defend, but we don't have a consensus. Then I ask who wears what on a stereotypical wedding day. Men wear black, black is associated with bad. Women wear white, which is associated with good, (which is problematic in its own right).  Inevitably one of the students says this isn't fair.  They're right - it isn't. That's the danger of binary logic, of assuming things are either good or bad. It creates an all or nothing scenario and double-standards.Binary logic is a fallacy.  Now, if we only think of teachers as either good or bad, we are forcing them into unrealistic stereotypes.  When teachers are associated with being martyrs, saints, nurturers, or people following a calling, and if all of this is seen and represented as good, then as soon as a teacher doesn't want to give their life to education or be like the teachers in the inspirational movies, then there is a cultural damnation that they must be bad or selfish or deviant or lazy or mean. It sounds ridiculous, but teachers are either leaving because the expectations for being a teacher are more than what they're willing to give, or they are seen as lazy and unintelligent. Either way, teachers are leaving as a result. As my students point out every single year, binary logic is simplistic and unfair and most things aren't simple enough to be one or the other. But, this is often how we interpret the world, it's good or bad, Democrat or Republican, wrestling or basketball. You get the idea.  So what can be done? As I said earlier, we need to first recognize that there is a stereotype and why that stereotype might be dangerous. Then, the next step would be to listen to real teachers and be able to differentiate stereotypes from reality.  The way teachers are talking about leaving education is not cinematic, it's real, and it's happening.  Unlike the stereotype, real teachers are listening to their friends and family.  Molly Waterworth: And I was talking about it with Ryan, and he was like,” Molly, you cannot keep teaching. You just can't because it ruins it ruins you emotionally.” And I'm like, Yeah, you're really right because I live for months with just dread, dread, and exhaustion. And you don't want to see anybody that you love feel that way. And it sometimes it takes that external viewpoint of like, No, this is wrecking you to to actually recognize that like, Oh, this isn't just something that I feel internally terrible about. It's obvious to other people. So this is a problem. They realize that education doesn't have to be a life sentence of martyrdom.  Rachael Esh:  I've given this job and these kids everything that I have, and I don't have anything left. And that's just the reality. And it's like, I had to pick myself over them. And it's, it's like, I love them dearly, and I care about them. But I can't put my mental health on the backburner for the rest of my life.  When people decide to become a teacher, I think everyone thinks like, oh, my gosh, you're a teacher, and you're going to be my kids teacher. And you're going to be a teacher forever. And like, that's your, that's your identity.  I've always felt like  this wasn't necessarily my forever career, like some people have. I was like, I'm gonna do this and I want to see how it goes. And the first few years, I was like, yes, like this is, this is my jam. I'm learning so much. I just started thinking I was like every year is just the same. I'm like  a permanent sixth grader, and I was like, I am not the kind of person that can stay in a job for 30 years if I don't have any room to grow in it. I just started seeing that cycle. And, when summer comes, it's like, such a huge relief. And then when you start going back to school, just the anxiety about thinking about that already. I was like, no, I would rather have a job all year that I am not going to be completely stressed out about.  What I heard teachers tell me is that they are dynamic humans, not cultural stereotypes. I feel that too. Teachers live in that liminal gray space in-between, just like everyone else. They are neither wholly good nor bad. So it would be great to see a cultural shift, teachers included,  in how we discuss teachers - it can start by framing them as complex humans rather than cultural tropes. This will include allowing teachers to voice concerns they have about the profession, so that things can be addressed and we can keep great teachers.  Now, a common cultural reaction to this last statement and to teachers airing their grievances in general, is to say that, “Well, they're just whiners.” So, if this was your reaction, it is a good time to review that lesson on binaries. If you thought the teacher sharing a concern was a whiner, then it seems like  you would prefer that teacher to remain silent. To, in essence, be a martyr. But just like binary logic, expecting teachers to be martyrs is not helpful and is based in stereotypes.  So it would be worth reflecting on our own stereotypes about teachers, and try to humanize them. They really are just humans. But if folks continue to struggle to separate real-life teachers from the stereotypical, dramatized, fictionalized, news-worthy, or social-media teachers, we'll continue to struggle with holding onto brilliant teachers who won't fit into the restrictive categorization.    Next time, we will talk about the purpose of public education. Many teachers are leaving because our country cannot reach a consensus on what public education is for and who it's for.  That will be next time on Those Who Can't Teach Anymore. Thank you for listening. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share episodes with everyone you can think of. This episode was produced by me, Charles Fournier. It was edited by Melodie Edwards. Other editing help came from Noa Greenspan, Sarah-Ann Leverette, and Tennesee Watson. Our theme song is by Julian Saporiti. All other music can be found on our website. A special thanks to Rachael Esh, Molly Waterworth, Dylan Bear, and Stephanie Reese for taking time to sit down and chat with. This podcast is funded in part by the Fund for Teachers Fellowship. With movie clips from Freedom Writers (Paramount Pictures), Dead Poets Society (Touchstone Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures), School of Rock (Paramount Pictures), Ferri Bueller (Paramount Pictures, United International Pictures)  

Scott Boeckner is the owner of Aspire Coffee Roasters in Greybull, WY. Scott started his coffee journey by roasting coffee beans in a bread maker with a friend. He started his shop about a year and a half ago and has enjoyed every moment since. One of the funniest parts Scott shared was how people in his area want coffee to look and taste so strong that “a horseshoe can float”. Follow along for Scott's new adventure as he moves the roasting side of his business to Colorado. Looking for other shops to visit around Wyoming? These are the shops recommended by Scott: Beatific Coffee Roasters in Lovell, WY Hygge Hearth Coffee & Bakery in Sheridan, WY Pine Coffee Supply in Pinedale, WY Want to know of more great places to get coffee (or tea) as you're visiting new states across the U.S.? This is the last of the 50 shops featured. Check out the past 49 episodes for a featured shop in every state. If you have questions you want answered for the recap episode of this series, send us your ideas at baristatalkshow@gmail.com before 12/25/2022 and it might just make it into the final episode! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/baristatalk/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/baristatalk/support

To understand how we got to where we are today, hosts Alex and Jared go to Albert Sommers' operation and the Green River Drift, a cattle migration in Wyoming that's been taking place for generations. We'll learn about the land management policies that shaped predator eradication, public lands, and the West we know today. Nathan Sayre's “History of Rangeland Policy” talk from Beyond Conflict, WLA event in 2021 Nathan Sayre's book: The Politics of Scale Threshold's season on bison: Oh, Give Me A Home Feature-length documentary about the Green River Drift: The Drift CBS News segment on the Green River Drift If you're interested in learning more about the homesteading days in the Upper Green, you can head to the Sommers Homestead Living History Museum near Pinedale, Wyoming. The museum is located about 7 miles south of the Cora Junction on US 191 on the East Green River Road, Just west of Pinedale Wyoming. For more information, call the Museum of the Mountain Man(307-367-4101), or find it on Facebook. Follow Working Wild U on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Many of the problems modern teachers are facing aren't new, so we're going back in time to find out how our education system became a system that teachers are currently fleeing. Come to find out, modern teachers inherited low pay, limited respect, and a system that strips communities of their cultural traditions. In this episode, hear how Indian Boarding Schools and the American Industrial Revolution have left traces on modern education, and how these traces are contributing to teachers' decisions to leave education.   Music:  Theme Song By Julian Saporiti “Sonata No.13 in E Flat Major, Op. 24 No. 1-II. Allegro, Molto, e Vivace” by Daniel Veesey is in the Public Domain. “Railroad's Whisky Co” by Jahzzar is Licensed under a CC BY-SA license. “Ugly Truth” by HoliznaCC0 is in the Public Domain. “Upsurge” by Jonah Dempcy is  a  CC BY-NC license. “Green Lights”  by Jahzzar is licensed under a CC BY-SA license. “Pizz” by Andrew Christopher Smith is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA Transcript: I had a band teacher once hold me after class and force me eat a beef and bean burrito. He sat in front of me on the piano bench to make sure that I ate it. I was a freshman, in the middle of the high school wrestling season, and I was cutting weight for my first varsity tournament – where I'd end up getting my lips knocked off. My teacher, Mr. Duran, was short, wiry, wore jeans with a braided leather belt and a button-down shirt. He had round-framed glasses, combed his hair to the side, and more than once told me to listen to the greats like Chick Webb and not just the white guys that made it on the radio.  He was in his 30th year of teaching, and he was not shy about giving advice. While I ate the burrito, Duran talked about playing baseball in college and how abruptly a life of sports could come to an end but how long a life of music could last. This was mature guidance, albeit, guidance that I see more value in now than I did then. Duran would garnish each class with stories that worked to guide us towards being kind human beings. There were days in Jazz band where he would sit in the center of the tiered room, legs crossed, saxophone neck strap still on, and tell us about his past. When Mr. Duran was in college at the University of Northern Colorado in the 1960s, the Count Basie Orchestra went through town and stopped at the university. UNC was known for its jazz programs and one of Basie's saxophone players dropped out and they needed a replacement. Count Basie was one of the most influential musicians from the Swing Era – he was like a swing minimalist. Duran jumped at the opportunity. He got to travel and play with the band and experience life as a musician – more specifically as a musician of color. One time he and a buddy from the orchestra went into a diner and were refused anything more than water. Duran was Mexican and his friend was Black, and it was the middle of the 1960s. In protest, they sat in the big window of the diner for 3 hours, sipping their water, putting themselves on display for anyone who walked by. I love that story – this man, my teacher, saw inequity and faced it with defiance. Duran's lessons were eye-opening. I didn't realize that those stories served as parables on ethics and kindness until I became a teacher and started telling stories of my own to serve the same ends. Duran used his history to help us become better humans. And isn't that why we turn to history? Well, today, we're going to take a lesson from Duran and examine the history of education in the U.S. And because the history of education is tremendous, we have to narrow it down. So we'll focus on two aspects of history that set precedents for modern education, for the current system from which modern teachers are exiting.. We are going to start with Indian Boarding Schools, and then we'll take a look at the American Industrial Revolution. This is Those Who Can't Teach Anymore, a 7-part podcast series exploring why teachers are leaving education and what can be done to stop the exodus. I'm Charles Fournier. Here is part 2: “Inheritance” Caskey Russell:  I'm going crabbing this weekend. I own a boat with my brothers. And yeah, we go out and catch crab. And there'll be salmon season soon. So I kind of got back into the ocean style lifestyle. This is Caskey Russel. I got to catch up with him over a zoom call this summer. He is the Dean of Fairhaven College at Western Washington University. He grew up in Washington and is from the Tlingit tribe. I know Caskey because he taught for 17 years at the University of Wyoming, he was a dean of American Indian Studies, and he was my thesis chair and educational guide when I was at the university. Some of Caskey's research for his PhD program dug into the history of Indian Education, specifically Indian boarding schools. Caskey Russell: My grandmother and her brothers, aunts and uncles, all went to Chemawa Indian School, in Salem. And it was a mixed bag. If you are asking yourself, wait, who's this Caskey guy and what do Indian Boarding Schools have to do with teachers quitting? Here's how. We know that historical atrocities leave a trace on modern institutions, so we need to recognize that Indian boarding schools have left their mark on modern education. They are a  part of the system of inequity modern teachers have inherited. Indian Boarding Schools are an example of the deculturalization that has occurred in education. One of many. Attempts to strip communities of their cultures happened with just about everyone in this country at some point that didn't fit into the male, able-bodied, straight, white, Anglo Saxon Protestant category. Traces of these inequities remain in education, deculturalization still happens, and teachers working towards inclusion in a system that was based on exclusion often run into roadblocks – think book bans or accusations that teachers are trying to indoctrinate kids - and these roadblocks are pushing teachers out of education. So to better understand the inequities in modern education, this thing that is frustrating teachers to the point of quitting, we need to look at where some of those attempts at deculturalization originated. We need to look at Indian Boarding Schools. And we need to listen to someone like Caskey.  Caskey Russell: They liked the sports. They like some of the music, but my uncle Stanley Pradovic, I remember he said, “I used to dream of feasts, seafood feasts that they had in Alaska.” And  my grandmother was able to keep the Tlingit  language because she didn't go to boarding school, but her brothers did not.  You step back and look at the whole system and how destructive and just kind of the cultural genocide aspect. My grandmother would say she didn't know her brothers because when she was born, her brothers were gone away from her earliest memories. And so she didn't get to know her brothers right away. It did break families up. And I was just chatting with my mom last night. My mom said the other family had no control over what it was determined for them. And again, not having control over that seems to be the key to it, nor having input in the education nor valuing…and then having a different model, different cultural notion of success. And then the military and the Christianization, all that together, just adds problem on top of problem, instead of being empowering and enlightening, that really becomes conforming, sort of thing. What happened to Caskey's family was a result of centuries of efforts to deculturalize tribes. Early European colonizers of the US  set a precedent of trying to assimilate tribes into a single monolithic culture. Colonizers disregarded tribal traditions and languages and failed to see that tribes already valued education for their youth. So the assumption that public education started with Horace Mann in 1837 is an assumption that values eurocentric education over the public education that was already in the Americas.  Part of this is because the purposes of education differed. Many Native communities saw educating children as a means to pass on generational knowledge and teach children how to be a successful part of the community. 17th-century Plymouth settlers specifically saw education and literacy as a method to keep Satan away. Children needed to be able to read so they could read the Bible. A pilgrim minister explained: “[There] is in all children, though no alike, a stubbornness, and stoutness of mind arising from natural pride, which must, in the first place, be broken and beaten down; that so the foundation of their education being laid in humility and tractableness, other virtues may, in their time, be built thereon” (42). But tribes did not beat down their children, did not read the Bible, and were able to survive and thrive in what Pilgrims saw as wilderness. So Pilgrims worked to impose their educational priorities onto tribes as a way to cast out Satan, and ultimately gain control of Indigenous people. This effort to assimilate and control only compounded over the next few centuries By the 19th century, congress was also making efforts to deculturalize and assimilate tribes. Thomas Jefferson who had a big role in the removal of Native Americans from their lands also had a One Nation idea when it came to Native Americans – an assumption that required assimilation through education. In 1816, Jefferson explained the value of education: “Enlighten the people generally and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. Although I do not, with some enthusiasts, believe that the human condition will ever advance to such a state of perfection as that there shall no longer be pain or vice in the world, yet I believe it susceptible of much improvement, and most of all in matters of government and religion; and that the diffusion of knowledge among the people is to be the instrument by which it is to be effected” (101)). Jefferson believed a democratic, not a moral education which was what kids were getting at the time, was essential to democracy and he's right, but his One Nation idea required a monolithic ideal that did not value other cultures. He wanted tribes to conform to his image of being American. This focus on conformity was baked into the American educational philosophy. The Civilization Act of 1819 saw Thomas McKenney, the first head of the Office of Indian Affairs begin a process of Native American deculturization  – they created a tribal school system run by white missionary teachers hoping to gain control of tribes through the power of education and assimilation. When Andrew Jackson became president in 1829, he saw some of the educational progress made by tribes as dangerous to America's goals of gaining control of lands.   So, in 1830, America passed the Indian Removal Act, which brutally uprooted tribes and relocated them. Thirty years later, the Indian Peace Commission began reservation schools or day schools. But again, the cultural genocide that all of these acts and efforts had hoped for weren't as effective as the government Wanted. This is when the government stepped in again. Paired with the Dawes Act of 1877 that worked to split reservation lands into private property began the start of the boarding school movement in 1879. Each step was a process working towards killing cultures in an attempt to control land, people, and ideas – all largely through some form of education. The start of the boarding school experiment can  be attributed to Captain Richard Henry Pratt. Caskey Russell: Pratt actually had a number of prisoners of war under his charge at St. Augustine, Florida. Besides being given military uniforms, they would teach them. And so the way he sold the first  boarding schools was that instead of being at war with natives, you can educate them. The US could educate them, and kind of eradicate native culture through educating towards whiteness. Caskey explained that the thought was that education would help the government avoid the expenses of war. Caskey Russell: So there are a group of Plains Natives that were transported to St. Augustine, that was his kind of first experiment. And then he was able to go to Congress and get some money. And he took them to The Hampton Institute and eventually to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School So Pratt's experiment led to the establishment of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania in 1879. This was around the same time that Pratt made a famous statement to congress: Caskey Russell: He says to Congress, “You have heard Sherman say the only good Indian's a Dead Indian. I would agree with this one kind of difference that you can kill the Indian save the man.” That's what education can do. That's the motto. And so, there was based on military kind of military boarding school style, and they opened up across the country. And they were often religiously affiliated, and religious institutions given  them control of them. Which, you know, was another part of the boarding schools was the religious education, the eradication of tribal cultures, tribal religions, and the inculcation of Christianity, the various sects of Christianity across the country. Each step taken by congress, in the name of education, was an effort to prioritize one culture over others, one idea of success over others - often through religious means, because again, early education was morality based. And they did this through legislation and through educational policy. Even though many of these efforts are pretty old, we still feel the educational effects of prioritizing a single culture or single idea of success.. Elizabeth Smith, a veteran teacher of 20 years who teaches on a reservation still sees this today.  Elizabeth Smith: Even though I can count on my hand, the number of students that I've taught that have graduated and have a white culture, sort of experience with what would be known as success, quote, unquote   Caskey sees this idea in what is tested or valued as a bottom line in public education. These are things that dismiss differentiated cultural values. Caskey Russell: Did the schools reward students let's say for instance, this the schools Wind River  reward students for knowing the traditional clan system,  speaking Arapaho or Shoshone for knowing traditional ways, whether it's kind hunting, traditional use of land, traditional plants respond medicine, knowing being prepare, or being an apprentice for ceremony, none of that none of that culturally important stuff that was really important to Native people, especially young people they could dream of, you know, I'm going to fulfill these goals, these roles, these social roles one day, none of that's important, it seems like an American school system, right? When you're going to take the SAT or the ACT, are they going to value the hours you spent with your grandparents trying to learn the language or learning stories or learning traditional ways? Of course not. This is a part of the inheritance of modern education, something teachers have to grapple with consistently. How can we educate students to be a part of a community that through legislation or policy doesn't seem to value all traditions and cultures within that community? Or how to reach a measure of success that isn't culturally misaligned or based on morality? Caskey Russell:A handful of them might be successful in kind of the white American ideal. But that's not the only measure of success, nor is it maybe a healthy measure of success, right, for Native people. It would be wonderful to let other ideas of success, community success, success as a human being within a community flourish in the school setting. This question of how to honor a diverse spectrum of students lands on teachers in the classroom. Though legislators and school boards may make efforts to dictate what can and can't be taught in the classroom, the reality is it's teachers and administrators who are working with kids – and kids from a wide spectrum of communities who have often been forced into a specific, standardized idea of success, which might not be culturally conscious. This is exactly how Indian boarding schools started, they forced kids from diverse tribes into a standardized idea of success initially using arguments for morality to do so. We recognize this as bad now, so why are forms of it still happening?   A big concern of some of the teachers who have decided to leave teaching was the start of limits and  restrictions about what can and can't be taught in the classroom. Many of these limits originate from argument about morality that are backed by religious groups that want to dictate what is happening in the classroom. Think of Mr. Wacker from last episode who is still frustrated with the banning of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye for moral arguments or Mr. Atkinson who felt his curriculum being squeezed by people who didn't appreciate class conversations about varying cultural perspectives on current events.  And, as we saw with the history of Native American education, this is not new – even though many founding fathers, who were deists themselves, advocated for the separation of church and state and were adamant that education focus on democratic values rather than religious values. John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail:  “I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.” John Adams does not reference education and say study the Bible. And fellow former president James Madison did not mince words in a letter that pushed against church use of government land, which would later include schools: “The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries.” And these beliefs worked their way into legislation with the inclusion of the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment, which Thomas Jefferson said was “A wall of separation between the church and state.” And though we know Jefferson's view of education wasn't very inclusive, if we combine this idea of the separation of church and state with a modern inclusive reading of Jefferson's thoughts that education is to “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty,” We get a pretty good idea that education is a means to inform a free-thinking, diverse population that has different belief systems.  The founders knew the danger of letting religion seep its way into government - they just broke free of a country that allowed that to happen. So to have a system of education that would inform the whole mass of people without perpetuating the deculturalization we saw with the Indian Boarding schools, which have their origins in religious schooling, that system would need to accommodate the diversity of that mass of people.  This means that teachers would need the trust of the public and  freedom to use their expertise to do their jobs, which would likely include selecting a wide range of materials to accommodate a diverse student population. This freedom and trust is not something being granted to modern teachers. There is currently a trend of parents, legislators, and school board members criticizing teacher efforts to support diverse student needs, often through moral critiques. Which stems from a lack of trust and the same morality based fear that sparked early deculturalization efforts in the United States. So, this isn't new. This is another part of what teachers have inherited from previous generations of educators, a lack of professional respect that translates to a lack of autonomy in the classroom, low pay, and a smattering of other things that are driving teachers from their jobs. Here's Elizabeth again: Elizabeth Smith: And let me clarify, you know, when I say I love teaching, I do love teaching. To say that I love where I'm at right now, no, I do not. I am not satisfied with the way my job is going. I'm not satisfied with the way I feel inside every single day coming home from work. It's like a battlefield. It is intense. It is stressful. My family has noticed it and made comments on it, you know, and I don't have the patience to deal with my own children. And what am I going to do if I don't do this? I've got 20 years of expertise invested in this. And I've spent a lot of time learning how to do the things that I do and I enjoy improving it. As of now, she is planning on staying in education. And all of those 20 years have been spent teaching on reservations. She attributes this in part to why she loves her work so much, why she's planning on staying. There is a different level of respect that she sees in these schools and a higher level of appreciation, which goes a long way. But this doesn't mean that there still isn't a lack of professional trust or respect that she feels from being a teacher.  Elizabeth Smith: There's so much micromanaging and so many expectations that are put on us that are really insulting, actually, to our intelligence and to our professionalism. And I understand that there are teachers who are unaware of the ways that they're doing things are unprofessional and unintelligent. So I get the admin has to make some allowances and come up with some plans for how to deal with teachers that are not as aware of themselves and their skills as they should be, you know, so I understand that but the blanket statements.. To address where these blanket solutions may originate from, we are going to take another look at history through a little different lens than what we've been using so far.  When I asked teachers about what pushed them out of education, they echoed Elizabeth's frustrations. Lack of respect was a major reason people left. But this is not new, like the history of inequity in education, the lack of professional respect has been a thread through public education's history. So we are going to pull on that thread and look at the tradition of not valuing or respecting teachers.   Stephanie Reese: As a teacher, you're going to be marginalized, and you're not going to be taken seriously. Ron Ruckman: I think a lot of administrators, They just don't have any idea there, and they don't really think of us as professionals, you know, they don't really think of us as being able to do our job. Christie Chadwick: As a teacher, we're managing all these expectations. And I think that that's not acknowledged by the general population. Teachers want to be seen as professionals. This came up in interviews in reference to being trusted to make decisions about curriculum, in being more autonomous, and in getting paid better. When thinking about why teachers have inherited a lack of professional respect in the present, it might have to do with the American Industrial Revolution: Colby Gull: We were built on an industrial model. Get them in, stick the widget on him and get him out the other side of the door. Right. And that's just not how humans work. This is Colby Gull, he is the managing director for the Trustees education Initiative in the College of Education at the University of Wyoming. Colby has been a teacher, a coach, a principal, and a superintendent. He's run the educational gamut. And he points out that the structure of education does not necessarily promote the growing and sharing of ideas. Colby Gull: And we live in now the idea economy. And we're still not teaching in the idea economy. We're teaching in the industrial economy where you buying and selling goods. But our economy now is based on ideas and sharing of ideas and debating and discussing, and I don't know, people make a lot of money with their ideas.  And this structure of education, this factory style model, which looks similar to the military approach seen with Indian Boarding Schools, started and gained popularity during the American Industrial Revolution at the end of the 19th century. Along with this more industrial model the precedent for the amount of respect teachers received was set. I see several ways in which history has handed down a dismissive attitude toward teachers.  As Common Schools gained popularity in the mid-19th century, young women were also moving to cities for better economic opportunities. And these women were hired as teachers in droves because they could be paid substantially less than men. This compounded since teaching was seen as respectable employment for women - it matched the stereotype that women were naturally nurturing. Both the image of teachers as nurturers and the trouble with pay is consistent with what we see today.  Here's Stephanie Reese, a former PE teacher who left education and became the general manager of Blacktooth Brewing Company. Stephanie Reese: Absolutely money matters. I was in so much debt. You know, with loans, whether they're student loans, or just credit card, or whatever it is, I had a lot in college, had a lot while I was teaching. and teaching just doesn't give you that opportunity.. And  level increases are a fucking joke. Unless you've been in, you've been in I call it like, like you've been in the pen. You've been in for 34 years, you've given one kidney, you have four degrees, master's degrees, preferably doctorate even better, and you've given up your will to live, and those those things will give you more money. Part of the consistently poor pay has to do with the hierarchical structure in education. After the Civil War, the first iteration of the department of education was created, in order to track what the nation's schools were doing. So there was an expectation for the availability of public schooling. Once the American Industrial Revolution hit towards the end of the 19th century, factory jobs boomed. More people flocked to cities meaning there were more kids and more of a need for teachers. With more men transitioning to better paying factory jobs, even more women were moving to the classroom. The large number of women serving as teachers was accepted at a time when women weren't given many professional opportunities. Administrative roles – principals, superintendents, and the like – were held by men. And many high school positions were still held by men. So a hierarchy that prioritized male control and male decision making was very clearly in place. Mark Perkins, a former teacher and administrator and current parent and professor of Educational Research methods at the University of Wyoming, points out that this hierarchy has remained even if the original gendered reasons for its creation haven't. Mark Perkins:  I think there's a power hierarchy. And I don't think that teachers have been empowered enough to express their professional expertise. I think that teachers are approached as a service industry. And so, we want teachers to parrot curriculums. We want them to be experts in their content, as long as their expertise doesn't contradict with our preconceived notions of reality. So I think there's a sociological phenomenon that goes on in schools.  I think it's a common phenomenon. The system of becoming an administrator in some cases  was once based on seniority. So the most senior teacher would inherit the role of principal. This changed when a degree was required to become a principal or superintendent, which also prevented women from gaining access to these administrative positions by making them require a degree because women weren't often able to access such an education. So these days, some administrators are in the position without having had a tremendous amount of time in education, which can make administrator impact or insight into the classroom difficult. Ron Ruckman, who just left teaching after 23 years, explains that the lack of experience can be glaringly obvious for some administrators who are disconnected from the teachers. Ron Ruckman:  You know, and then there's other administrators that just don't want to have anything to do with your classroom, you know, and they want to make decisions, but they don't want to, they don't communicate with you or ask you things. There's a lot of that especially in rural districts. We've spent so much time and money in this district doing initiatives and buying products. And, you know, I can't imagine how much money we've just wasted, you know, buying stuff that, you know, on, based on a good salesman that convinced somebody that they needed it. Whereas had they come and asked us would have been like, no, no, that that would be a really dumb thing to do. That's not going to work. You know, but there's just that kind of an apt idea that teachers really are, you know, don't really know what they're what, you know, they don't really know anything other than their subject. And we're, we're pretty smart. Most of us, you know. (Beeping) This was perfect timing. That beeping was for a fire. Ron is the Battalion Chief for the Pinedale fire department - he has a lot of roles in his community because he is intelligent and capable and because of not being respected for being intelligent and capable, he quit teaching to pursue the other things he's good at.  Some of the ways teachers are not seen as capable has to do with how education is standardized. In the late 19th century, as cities got larger and more and more kids were put into schools, urban schools started to split students into grade levels. Around this time and into the early 20th century, there was a development of what historian David Tyack (Tie-yak) described as the One Best System of education – this saw a focus on specific, easily assessed, and easily sequenced subjects of study. This also did more to highlight non-academic items like good attendance, behavior, and willingness to follow directions, which all aid in creating people who would fit into an industrial economy. This structure was useful when more and more students were placed into a class. And by the early 20th century, politicians and administrators were seeing schools as being a solution to the nation's woes. Traces of these industrialized values are very present in modern classrooms, and it makes Allison Lash, who taught art in New York City and Austin, Texas, sad at what she sees. Allison Lash: A friend of mine had said one thing about why he's doesn't like education is just that you go to school to learn how to work, basically, to get you ready to go out in the world and work. And that's sad. Like, I just want to live. I don't want to worry about working and how to make money and pay your school loans and your bills. It used to bother me that kids would get rewarded for being in school every day. And it's all about money. It's all about how many kids are in their seats every day for the school district to make money. And it was sad, it was sad that kids would win awards for like, being their everyday awards. Like who really cares? They're totally ignoring mental health and even if the kid is sick, you stay home. It's really sad when you go into elementary school and you see the kids quiet and lined up in a line and like “shhhhh,” and I remember teaching that and  I know that I guess order is not wanted, and I don't know if needed is even the right answer. Teach kids to be a good person. The rise of industry during the American industrial revolution also saw a rise in unions and strikes. Because teachers were mostly women, and many of the strikes of the time were more militant and potentially violent, women were less likely to take part in strikes and efforts to gain better pay. This was not helped by the fact that men held leadership positions in education, so they did not make efforts to better the work environments of teachers because these men just weren't affected. The  National Education Association, which was founded in 1857, wasn't just for teachers, so administrators, men, were also in charge of Union happenings. It wasn't until 1910 when Ella Flagg Young was elected as the NEA president that the union started taking more steps to help teachers. But the difficulty in changing and revising educational structures is still present. Chris Rothfuss, a parent and Wyoming State Senator and member of the Senate Education committee, knows this all too well. While we have a coffee in Laramie, Wyoming, Chris explains that change may require a cultural shift inspired by younger generations .  Chris Rothfuss:  I think a large part of the reason why we develop into what we are really is the way this country industrialized and grew and had a middle-class work ethic through the mid-20th century, that shaped a lot of the way things are done. And the philosophy about why things are done, the way they're done, where there is a common viewpoint that I think is handed down from generation to generation that if you just work hard, put your nose to the grindstone, that you will be successful, and things will go your way, and you'll have a good life. I think part of what's changing that, is that this emerging generation is realizing that while that may have been true, a lot of what allowed that to be true, was frankly, taking on debt that is generational debt and handing that debt down to the next generation. So effectively exploiting the future for the benefit of the present. This younger generation isn't enthused about that as they're learning more about it, and rightly so. And they don't see a path to a traditional life as being what they aspire to. A potential reason for major shifts not having occurred in the past might have to do with economic uncertainties. For every economic depression and war to occur in the 20th century, money was pulled from education to help the war or economic problems, but that money was not necessarily given back to education. Teacher pay was often cut when other unionized jobs like factory work was not cut because there was an assumption that teachers, being mostly women, would not need to support their families. During WWII, when more women went to work in factories, those women who were still teaching saw how much better the pay was for the women who went to work in factories. The impact of war and economic troubles also resulted in  a more factory-like structure in the classroom. This was often a result of trying to accommodate a larger student population with less resources, and it was also an easier way to measure student achievement. This created an educational structure that overwhelms teachers, which makes best practices more difficult and stretches teachers thin. Molly Waterworth, who just left teaching this year after 8 years in the classroom, explains the reality of being overwhelmed as a teacher.   Molly Waterworth:  The reality is that if you have 150 kids, there's no way that you're going to grade all of their work in seven and a half hours that you have with them during the day. There's no way. It's just a mathematical impossibility.  The truth is, teachers have inherited being paid poorly, being overworked, and not being treated with respect. Sadly, much of this is associated with the trend of women in the profession within a patriarchal society. And the teaching profession is still dominated by women. The NEA reports that about 3 quarters of teachers are women, and teachers still get payed about 74% of what equivalent degreed professions earn.  So, teachers are leaving education, but the reasons they are leaving are a result of problems that have been percolating since the start of public education in the United States. Efforts at deculturalization seen with the Indian Boarding Schools have left an impact and pattern on modern education, just like the treatment of women and industrialization of education has left an impact on how teachers are currently treated.  This does not mean that public education needs to end, but like any inheritance, we need to acknowledge and deal with the problems. We need to see that there have been attempts to address inequity in education with efforts like Brown v Board in 1954, Title IX in 1972,  and the disabilities act of 1975. But continuing to return to a standardized, one-size-fits-all approach that matches an industrial structure of education just does not work – it doesn't value teacher expertise, nor does it meet the students with unique cultural backgrounds or needs where they are. And because teachers have been tasked with addressing these inequities with limited freedom and trust and resources, many are calling it quits. This needs to change – teachers need to be able to disclaim this inheritance for their sake and for the sake of their students.  Next time, we will look at how the perception of teachers might be influenced by pop-culture.  TEASE: “Robin Williams isn't going to do that.” That will be next time on Those Who Can't Teach Anymore. Thank you for listening. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share episodes with everyone you can think of. This episode was produced by me, Charles Fournier. It was edited by Melodie Edwards. Other editing help came from Noa Greenspan, Sarah-Ann Leverette, and Tennesee Watson. Voice Acting by Rory Mack, David Whisker, Rick Simineo, and Markus Viney who also offered editing help. Our theme song is by Julian Saporiti. All other music can be found on our website. A special thanks to Elizabeth Smith, Caskey Russell, Stephanie Reese, Ron Ruckman, Molly Waterworth, Christy Chadwick, Colby Gull, Mark Perkins, and Allison Lash for taking time to sit down and chat with me. This dive into history was greatly aided by two books: American Education: A History by Wayne J. Urban and Jennings L. Wagoner, Jr. and Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality: A Brief History of the Education of Dominated Cultures in the United States by Joel Spring……This podcast is funded in part by the Fund for Teachers Fellowship.

Terry Hill's life has been defined by his passion for music. Terry Hill grew up in Thomasville and enjoyed performing in musical events at school and church. After graduation in 1980, he moved to Pinedale, WY, and worked in construction as a welder. He married and was blessed with three children and five grandchildren. In his spare time, he was also a ski instructor. Music a passion Throughout his life, Terry pursued his passion for music. He taught himself to play the guitar and joined a local band that played often in festivals and special events. Along the way, he...Article Link

Scott Kosiba is the Executive Director of Friends of Bridger-Teton. Originally from Michigan, the study of Sage-grouse brought Scott out to Wyoming in 2010. In this episode, Scott shares the story of what brought him out to Wyoming and what it is like living in the Pinedale area. He talks about the increase in visitation to the Bridger-Teton area and the impact it has had on the public lands. Scott dives into some of the bigger initiatives that they have accomplished, including installing and maintaining vault toilets at Shadow Mountain. He then explains the three different types of camping on the Bridger-Teton land. Stephan and Scott also touch on fire and bear safety, tagging photos responsibly, and how volunteers can make a big difference.   Do you know what a Charmin flower is? Listen to this episode to find out.  Follow Friends of The Bridger-Tetonhttps://www.instagram.com/bridgertetonfriends/?hl=en ( @bridgertetonfriends) This week's episode is sponsored in part by Teton County Solid Waste and Recycling. Old Bill's Fun Run donations directly support zero waste education and outreach. Recycle often, recycle right, and donate today! Donate at OldBills.com. More athttps://www.instagram.com/roadtozerowaste.jh ( @RoadToZeroWaste.JH) on instagram. Support also comes from The Jackson Hole Wine Club. Curating quality wine selections delivered to you each month. Enjoy delicious wines at amazing prices. More athttp://jacksonholewineclub.com/ ( JacksonHoleWineClub.com) Want to be a guest on The Jackson Hole Connection? Email us at connect@thejacksonholeconnection.com. Marketing and editing support byhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmoeri ( Michael Moeri) (http://michaelmoeri.com/ (michaelmoeri.com))

This week we sit down with Nick Marzano to explore his experience during the 2022 Tour Divide.  The 2022 Tour Divide began with over 200 riders following the 2,745-mile Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from north to south starting in Banff, Alberta, Canada and finishing at the US/Mexico border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico. Episode Sponsor: Trek Travel - come join The Gravel Ride Podcast crew on the November 6th trip. Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Nick Marzano [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the show, we've got Nick Marzano from Philadelphia. Here to talk to us about the tour divide. Nick recently finished the tour divide routes during the grand depart from Banff, Canada, and made it all the way to the edge of the border of Mexico. If you don't know about the tour divide, it's roughly follows a route called the great divide mountain bike route, and it's recognized as one of the most important off pavement cycling routes in the United States of America. If not the world, the root criss crosses the continental divide from north to south, starting in Banff, Alberta, Canada, and finishing at the U S Mexico border in antelope Wells, New Mexico. I've been following the tour divide for many years. In fact, in some small part, I credit it with getting me excited. About making the transition from mountain bike, riding to gravel riding. It's an amazing accomplishment. To have achieved this event. It's 2,745 miles, and God knows how much climbing along the way. When Nick picked his head up in the ridership forum and mentioned to the community that he was doing it, I was super stoked to not only follow along. is.as he completed the route, but hear his stories along the way. It's amazing to get a firsthand account of what the tour divide experience looks like. . It varies every year, as you can imagine, with 2,745 miles. Across the United States. You've got all kinds of things to contend with. This year, there were some late season snow up in Canada. Which wreaked havoc. On the race and ended a lot of people's tour divides efforts before they even began. As you'll hear Nick persevered and had an amazing experience out there. It was a real pleasure talking to them. Before we jump into that conversation i need to thank this week sponsor trek travel You may recall last year when we had Trek on talking about the Jarana gravel bike tour, I was super excited. What you don't know is I've been talking about going on this trip since that moment in time. I'm super excited to go to Jarana this year in November, and I'm inviting you to join me. I'm going on the November 6th trip. From Trek travel just you're on a bike tour. You know, Jarana is a cycling gym. There's a reason why all the pros call it home with butter, smooth, tarmac, and perfect weather. But the road riding is just the beginning. And after that conversation with you, and I've looked at a number of routes out of Jarana and I'm super excited to get over there and experience the amazing gravel, the quiet mountain passes and the little villages of Spain. I feel like I've had this trip in my mind for. The entirety of the pandemic, and we're finally pulling it off. Trek wanted me to invite you to join me on this trip. Any of our listeners are going to get a free handlebar bag and a free pair of socks when they joined the trip. You simply head on over to Trek, travel.com and search for the Jerone gravel bike tour. It's a five day four night trip. The team over a, truck's going to handle all the logistics from the hotel to the routes. They're going to have guides on hand. It's actually one of the Trek travel service course locations. So they're gonna have a lot of beautiful track. Demani SL disc brake bikes available for us. As well as the option to bring your own, I'm super excited to get over there myself. We've got a small crew that's already signed up for this trip, but I want to invite you the listener. How amazing would it be for us to finally get together? And in Jarana of all places. I'm certainly looking forward to finally getting some dirt under my wheels in Europe, on a gravel bike. Simply visit truck travel.com. Find that you're on a gravel bike tour and make sure during booking that you mentioned, you're a gravel ride podcast listener, or a member of the ridership to get that free handlebar bag. With that said let's dive right into my conversation with nick Nick welcome to the show. [00:04:42] Nick Marzano: Hey, thanks for having me, Craig. [00:04:44] Craig Dalton: You look surprisingly refreshed considering it's not too long ago, you just completed a 2,700 mile off-road bike ride. [00:04:52] Nick Marzano: Yeah. I mean, I'm gonna rack that up to the, the food monster has been strong. The sleep monster has been strong. I've been, you know, you can indulge in both of those for, for about a solid week. I've been trying to get back to. The sleep has, has rectified itself, the, the nutrition and the food monster. I'm working on getting back to a, a normal diet. But I, yeah, I'm feeling back to a hundred percent for [00:05:15] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I gotta imagine. After an event like the tour divide, you're you just want to eat, eat, eat all day long. [00:05:22] Nick Marzano: You look sort of longingly, like whenever you pass a gas station, like, should I stop and get. 10 Snickers. Should I stop and get some little debes? But, and I typically eat pretty healthy. So it, it is kind of like no holds barred when you're, , when you're only resupplies gas stations for a few days. But yeah, trying to get back to, to some greens in my diet, some fruit [00:05:45] Craig Dalton: Nice. I've given a little bit of preamble in the intro about what the tour divide is, but it's such, it's something I've been following for, gosh, I feel like a decade and it's such an event that if the listener hasn't heard of it, you're going from Canada to Mexico. On gravel effectively, except it's pretty extreme gravel along the way. [00:06:06] Nick Marzano: Yeah, that's, that's pretty much, it, it is mostly dirt. There's some paved sections and this year. I think more than prior years, there were more paved sections because of the initially we were all looking at the, at the black fire in, in New Mexico and, and a couple of other fires that cropped up that forced some some reroutes on pavement. But we made up, we more than made up for that in difficulty with late season snow on the mountain paths in Canada, and then early season monsoons when we hit New Mexico. So it, the route looked a little different this year than it has in years past. Once you hit around New Mexico. But it was still very challenging and a lot of fun. It was very beautiful. [00:06:43] Craig Dalton: With a 2,700 mile plus route, we've got a lot of ground to cover, but as you know, I always like to start off by just learning a little bit more about your background. As a cyclist. And when you discovered gravel cycling and then let's get into, like, when did the tour divide creep into your mind as something you wanted to do? [00:07:01] Nick Marzano: Yeah, it was kind of a rapid progression. So I was a, I'm a, I'm a COVID gravel bike baby around July, 2020. I had, I had wanted to get some kind of, you know, I didn't know the terminology for it until I started researching. I wanted to get something that would, that would allow me to get offroad. I had a hybrid single speed that I had used to try to keep up with people who were doing road rides every now and then if I was on vacation, I used it for commuting almost daily. It was just like a red line, 20 Niner hybrid kicking around Philadelphia. It was great. Did you know, I would, I did like one alley cat race with it. At some point in Philly just used it for ridiculous purposes, but mostly, mostly commuting. And then around 2020, I wanted to transition into something with maybe a little, a little bit of gearing and got my first gravel bike really started listening to, you know, in the research came, wanted to, to find community and, and find some advice and came across the gravel ride podcast. Pretty soon after that. And immediately started signing up for, you know, signed up for like a 60 mile race nearby here to see if, if racing was, was something that was into, I don't remember when the concept of bike packing got a hold of me, but it was pretty quick because by the fall of that of 2020. I was, I, I, I definitely roped a couple of buddies into a 60 mile bike pack trip out to just like an overnight or out to French Creek, state park, which I know you're, I think you're familiar with, from your time out [00:08:31] Craig Dalton: absolutely. [00:08:33] Nick Marzano: Yeah. So it ramped up from there. The following year. I, we had a vacation my partner and I had a vacation planned for the finger lakes. And I said, well, why don't I try to take the long route? I've been reading a lot about bike packing. Let me meet you up at the finger lakes. And I'm gonna take a four day trip and try to link together forest roads and some rail trails that will kind of take me from near Philly up to the New York finger lakes and had fun building that route. Learned a lot, you know, about gear learned a lot about you know, how to plan resupply, how to plan, how long could I make it? I had, I had not done a, I don't believe a, a century ride at that point or had only done one century ride. So figuring out that I could link together, you know, a hundred mile days was kind of a revelation I had planned for six days. I did it in three and change. [00:09:28] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it's kind of hard, like, you know, two things there, one, like it's unusual that you have all day to ride, right? So who knows how long they can ride when they have all day to ride. And two, when you're loaded down on the bike, it's a totally different factor, right? You don't know how long can I ride with a fully loaded bike? [00:09:48] Nick Marzano: totally. Yeah. So , you know, and I, and I had sort of under I conservatively booked each of those days I had put out a sort of an itinerary for myself for six days and was really conservative and realized the other, the other concept with solo bike packing is you get to camp at the end of A long day. And if you're not worn out, you really, you don't wanna get to camp at, at six o'clock seven o'clock, there's nothing to do. You know, I'm fine with solo time. But I think I got into one campsite around like four o'clock and was just sort of twiddling my thumbs for the rest of the night. So I knew, you know, I was capable of, of pushing a little bigger and I can go, I can go further, but I kind of went down, you know, from there. Every couple of months, I would pick an event or design something where I would like add one new challenge to that. And so quickly from 2020, I kind of ramped up in that way. Let me, let me pick a new challenge to sort of add complexity to what I've been doing. Add racing into the mix, add cold weather, camping into the mix. Add, you know, you add rain and, and riding in the elements pretty quickly when you're linking big days. Yeah. And that, you know, Where are we at two years later? I feel like I've got a, a pretty good amount of experience under my belt and at least, you know, 2,600 more miles from the, the tour of divide, [00:11:05] Craig Dalton: And had you, had you had an a background with endurance athletics prior to coming to cycling? [00:11:10] Nick Marzano: Your, you know, your normal running events around Philly, do the broad street run and the Philadelphia marathon a couple of times. But it, it kills my knees. And so I knew. While I still run for just bone health and, and a little cross training that was part of the reason, you know, I wanted to get a bike in 2020 cuz I was I'm. I was pushing 40 at that point. I'm I'm now over 40 and, and wanted something that I could do much longer than I think I'll be able to do running event. [00:11:37] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Do you recall when the tour divide first came into your, your head? [00:11:43] Nick Marzano: Yeah. Yeah, so things ramped up after that finger lakes trip pretty quickly. I reached out to, I reached out to Nelson trees who, who runs the silk road, mountain race and the Atlas mountain race and asked him if I could get a last minute sign up for the Atlas mountain race that. Which is ridiculous and was probably not the right next challenge. If I'm, you know, I've talked about adding sort of stepwise challenges that would've been probably a little out of my wheelhouse, but he accepted my application and I was set to go and it got, it got canceled at the last minute, which worked out perfectly. Because I ended up going to Virginia for something called the trans Virginia five 50. Where I met this great community of bike Packers. It was a much more it's about the same length. It's a little shorter than Atlas mountain. The, the elevation really, and the, the difficulty is, you know, we'll see, I'm going to Atlas next February. We'll see if, if this checks out, but it it's a pretty difficult race. And the elevation is. Not exactly comparable, but it's, it's pretty hefty. So it was a great challenge, nonetheless, and I, you know, more importantly, I met this great community, which gets to, you know, the answer to your question is around December the organizer of the trans Virginia, five 50 Dave Landis reached out to a bunch of us and said, Hey, I'm setting aside the time I'm doing tour divide. Does anybody want to get a little training group together? Anybody who might wanna put this on their, on their calendar? And I think it was like a week after that I talked to my boss at work and said, I've been here 10 years. Can I link together PTO and, and take a month off. This is really important to me. And, and he's great. You know, my company's great. They, they said we support you completely take the time. And, and then I was, I was in, [00:13:31] Craig Dalton: That's amazing. Yeah, I think it's one of the things that as the listener does some research about tour divide and realizes like you really need to have a month long block of time available unless you're one of the elite elite athletes that might be able to do it in half a month. But that that in and of itself is a huge challenge. Let alone just the logistics of planning, your equipment, your nutrition, your pacing, everything else that goes into it. So you, you sign up for the event you graciously get the time off from your employer. You're ready to go in your mind. What type of preparation did you need to do? Obviously you've been doing some of these bike packing races at that point. You'd kind of presumably ironed out a lot of the equipment questions you might have had of what works for you. What type of bags, et cetera, but with a 2,700 mile race over the tour divide based out of Philly, what did you feel like you needed to do to prepare for that start? [00:14:29] Nick Marzano: The one of the very first things I did was get Kurt re Schneider had a, had a sale on his, just like PDF six month training guide. And a lot of people use that for the tour of divide. If you're looking for a place to start, I totally recommend it. I didn't work directly with Kurt, although I got a chance to meet him briefly at, at a. A training ride in, in April and thank him for, for putting that guide together. It was just great to have a framework. So that training framework started in January. It very quickly and. You know, I got a full swift set up because Philly winters are, are really rough and I couldn't get out early enough to not have ice on the road or, or tons of salt on the road. So I, and I was also recovering. I was nursing an injury that I, we can gloss over for now, but a, an injury from a fall on a, on a November bike packing trip that I took with the, the Virginia crew. So, yeah, it was, it was trainer straight through February. I, I started researching gear the Virginia crew and actually another guy out of, out of Philly who, who had also done that trans Virginia race. So I consider him part of that Virginia crew, but we were able to ride together once you know, once we got into late February, March. And that was it. I mean, I, I planned the schedule. I, I did. You know, picking up new equipment. I picked up a, a salsa cutthroat. My first gravel bike was a GT grade and it didn't really have the tire clearance for the sort of mud I knew we would get into or, or for the comfort that I knew I would need. So, it wasn't cheap and there are a lot of barriers to entry that, you know, I, I feel very privileged to have been able to get a second bike that quickly and and get the time off work. But at that point, nothing was really gonna stop me. It was it, you know, that once we all got very dialed on that goal and, [00:16:12] Craig Dalton: do feel like that cutthroat it's if, if you don't want to think about it, there's just so many people who have used that bike that it's kind of a no brainer to go down that road route. If you have the option of getting a new bike for it. [00:16:24] Nick Marzano: totally, [00:16:26] Craig Dalton: I don't wanna get too much into the specific training plan, but I'm just curious, like, were you encouraged to do a bunch of overnights, a bunch of big back to back days? How were you fitting this into your normal work life? [00:16:41] Nick Marzano: Yeah, a lot of it was waking up, you know, 5:00 AM jump on the trainer and it was typically one to two hour rides. Throughout the week, there would be a couple of two hour like high intensity efforts. But it was really just getting that time on the bike and, and doing the base level plan that, that Kurt provides. Then yeah, he does build in, he starts to build in, you know, back to backs. I looked for events like the one in, in April that I mentioned where I met, you know, I got to meet Kurt himself there which was another Virginia part of the Virginia endurance series, like a 250 mile overnighter called rockstar gravel. Which is great, but they, yeah. Other than that, you know, worked with my buddy, Tim, who was the, the gentleman in, in Philly, who I was training with and lined up some more overnights to French Creek and just did our best to find as much elevation and as much gravel as we could around here. That was, that was about it. I mean, the, the timing lined up in life where I, I was able to put a lot of time in the saddle Re it was the, the, the dur during the week rides were really it was really just about jumping on the bike as soon as, as soon as I got up. And, and as long as I did that, it was pretty easy to fit to, to my schedule. [00:17:55] Craig Dalton: When you were riding outdoors, were you always riding fully loaded? [00:18:00] Nick Marzano: No there, that really came closer to the like a month before, maybe a month and a half before there were a bunch of fully loaded ride. [00:18:08] Craig Dalton: Yeah, so to give the listener some perspective and it doesn't have to be precise, but when your bike is not loaded, how much did it weigh? And when you had your full tour divide kit on it, how much did it weigh? [00:18:21] Nick Marzano: So I know it's it's about 21 pounds with nothing else on it. No water, just dry weight with everything on it. I'm estimating also dry weight. No, not counting water. Based on I use air table to kind of just roll up the extra gear that I'm I'm putting on there. I think it was somewhere in the 45 pound range. Dry. Yeah. [00:18:41] Craig Dalton: got it. And as you're thinking about the tour divide, and you're starting on the start line in Canada, what type of mentality did you have with respect to sleep? Obviously, like there's all different ways of going about this and, and it may have very well evolved and changed along the way, but I'm curious as you mapped out, like what your experience was gonna look like I imagine you had a number of days goal in mind. How did that play out? And what was your thought process around. How much you were gonna sleep. [00:19:12] Nick Marzano: Yeah, I knew early on. So I had, I, I wanted to experience one of the, the, the big things I hadn't done, I'd ridden through the night, I'd ridden into like midnight 1:00 AM on the trans Virginia, five 50, but I'd never gotten through the night to see if I was capable of that. What does that feel like? And I used that training ride that rockstar gravel two 50, you know, one of my goals was I may not be competitive in this sort of way, but I'm gonna ride through the night. And I, I did it in, you know, a full push. In like a day and a half, which felt, you know, rough. But I it also didn't feel that bad. I knew, I knew that weapon was there if I wanted to use it. But the tort divide, you know, is a very different race than a 250 mile race. So I knew I wouldn't pull that out unless I was feeling awesome in the third week. And my goal was somewhere between. December before I started training, it was 23 days is what I put in the, the initial sign up. And by the end of that training, I, I was getting a little cocky and had, had posted 19 days as my goal on track leaders. I never, the like the sleep, the sleep thing was always going to be somewhere in the four to six hour mark for the majority of the race. [00:20:21] Craig Dalton: Okay. [00:20:22] Nick Marzano: And I can talk, I'm glad to talk about sleep system. I think that's kind of a lesson learned on that if you want, but yeah, that was the expectation was I wasn't going to crush myself on sleep deprivation and then you know, blow up early on and, and not be, I mean, finishing the race was so much more important than finishing the race in 19. [00:20:40] Craig Dalton: Yep. And so with that mindset around six hours of sleep a day or an evening were you riding that whole time other than resupply and things like that? Or is that sort of saying like, I'm gonna ride, I'm gonna stop and have a lunch. I'm gonna maybe take a nap. I'm gonna ride some more. How did, how did you kind of think about it? [00:20:58] Nick Marzano: it. So the way that I thought about it, oh, well, see, like there were days where this, this thinking didn't play out, but the way I thought of it was I'm gonna ride when I'm not resupplying and when I'm not sleeping. And it was when I looked back at my my data, it, it was more in the like four to five hours a night sort of range. Where that sort of, where that changed is I had a, we, I took a knee for a day as a lot of rider did just before getting into seal lake, there was a big peak Richmond peak that already had one to two feet of snow pack on it. And a, as some of your listeners may have read if they were keeping up with the tour divide, the first few days in Canada, they got hit with another major snowstorm. A lot of riders were airlifted. I came into, into the other side of Richmond peak, a little town called con Montana, soaking wet, and most of my kit was wet. So I took a day because I didn't feel comfortable going up in a snowstorm. So that was a complete day off the bike. Fill out rest. And then there was another day, right around Pinedale, which is about halfway through the race famously where you dump your bear spray, where you're out of grizzly country. Just before Pinedale, I had kind of, I hit a low point and I talked about that a little bit with that was right around the time I talked to Patrick at bikes or death and considered taking an entire other day off the bike and basically taking myself out of race mode entirely. I didn't, but I took some shorter days. and then the closer I got to, you know, once I hit Colorado got into New Mexico, I really found my stride again and was hitting some like 1 50, 200 mile days, which was kind of my expectation going in that I was gonna try to pound like one 50 to 200 a day resupply real quick and then, and then head to bed. So I deviated from that for sure. And it was, it, it was rejuvenating. And I, you know, if I, if I needed to take that time, I needed to take. but that, that was certainly not the plan going into it. [00:22:52] Craig Dalton: Yeah. So impressive. Stepping back for a second. I mean, we think about registering for an event, you know, like an SBT, gravel, or an Unbound, and there's a lottery and you pay an entrance fee. Why don't you talk about what it's like to, to enter toward divide and what it actually means? [00:23:10] Nick Marzano: Yeah. It's so, it's if you've never done a grand apart before The concept is, and, and this is how the trans Virginia five 50 is as well. The concept is that there is a course director and they're going to define the rules and they'll give you more or less information. David with the trans Virginia does an incredible job of outlining what a six day, nine day, 12 day touring pace looks like and what resupply looks like. He's just, he, he, you know, reviews the course each year. He's extremely involved in that the tort divide Is similar in that it's a grand depart where they provide the course, they provide the track leaders link. Matt and Scott I think founded track leaders. And, and so they, they provide the, the tracking, but really, I think I read in the New York times article that Matt Lee calls himself, the chief disorganize or something like that as opposed to the course director they. They're not there to monitor folks along the route. They're not there's, you know, there's obviously no resupply, it's self supported. And you don't really get any information until we got the course maybe a week before. So you sign up on a Google form you, which is your letter of intent basically. And then it's radio silence until, until that GPX file drops. In this case a week before, because they had a lot of detouring to, to figure out with those fires. [00:24:31] Craig Dalton: And is that, is that why you're given the GPS file? Obviously like the root in general is known from. What was it? The the, the mountain bike divide route is the general scope of the route. But that GPX file is, Hey, here's the current up to date thing on what passes are passable, where there's fires, where there's detours. [00:24:51] Nick Marzano: Yeah. So there is the, and there's a lot of confusion on this, by the way, too. There were some riders who didn't have the, the GPX file that you need to from. It's it's posted on, on a very old forum on bike packing.net. It gets reposted into Facebook and linked. There's not, there's not necessarily an email that goes out to all of the folks who signed up on that Google forum. So you really have to be engaged in the community on Facebook and the conversation to even find the file. But it's based on the great divide mountain bike. Which was established by the adventure cycling association, you know, decades ago as a touring route and adapted for racing, you know, in the, in the early odds, late nineties. So even without the Rero for the fires there are a couple of changes that Matt Lee who's the primary course director that he's made over the years to add more challenge. There's. Infamous section early on called Coco claims, which you hit on day one, which is like a six mile section where you are just pushing your bike up boulders at what feels like a 45 degree angle for six miles five miles that is not anywhere on the ACA map. And there are a couple of changes like that here and there. So it is it's distinct, but certainly inspired by and matches up with a large portion of the GD. [00:26:15] Craig Dalton: Yeah, and I know there's a lot of information out there on the internet and people have published guides and whatnot. How researched were you in advance about how you were gonna structure your days and is it confusing on where you're gonna resupply? Are there a lot of challenges there? How much of it do you think you had a handle on versus not when you showed. [00:26:36] Nick Marzano: Man. So there. There are so many more. I can't imagine racing this back when Matt, Matt Lee and, and others were, you know, if you, if you watch the old ride the divide documentary, which I think is on Amazon prime, I, I just, I bought the DVD cuz I, I want to have a hard copy. I can't imagine what that was like these days there are. Some really good resources online. There's a good community of people who have of veterans who are sharing resupply. So you can start to piece things together. What was still overwhelming. I was knowing what it looks like when, when boots hit the ground. Every time I've tried to put together an itinerary, it falls apart on day one because I either feel stronger or I run into. You know, I didn't know how long it would take to make it through some of these snowy sections. You can look at the snow pack layer and try to estimate that and set a target for where you want to get to. But when you put boots on the ground all of that can change. So my approach, which I, I would adapt a little bit if I did this again and, and maybe do a little bit more planning and research was to plan in the morning, set a target in the morning, using the tools that I had and, and. Try to piece together where resupply was going to be day to day, rather than it just felt too overwhelming to try to map the map out. A plan early on that I had had a good feeling I would diverge from immediately. [00:27:58] Craig Dalton: What were some of those tools at your disposal? Obviously you're looking at a map. What kind of apps were you using and were, were other writers sharing information back saying, oh, it took me eight hours to get up this pass. [00:28:10] Nick Marzano: Yeah, that, I mean, that's where it gets tricky because you're, you really shouldn't be. But I think it, it happens for sure. And you can watch track one of the, the tools that is sort of available to everyone. So within the rules is you can look at track leaders and see. Oh, this person was moving at 15 miles an hour, and then they were moving at two miles an hour for about three hours over this pass. So that probably means hike a bike. [00:28:33] Craig Dalton: So are you looking at that in real time? So say you're approaching a pass. Obviously you're aware that it's a 3000 foot climb or whatever. Are you then taking a moment and saying, gosh, well, I should do a little research to see are people crawling up this thing or are people riding? [00:28:46] Nick Marzano: yeah, in some cases for sure. Yeah. And that's kind of the, the benefit, one of the benefits of being. Mid pack or, you know, a little bit behind the, the leaders is if, if so Sahi is, is struggling at three miles an hour going across something, you know, it's pretty gnarly and, and probably hike a bike. And so you can zoom in on track leaders to their history and see those dots get closer together. And that was one tool, the other tools. So the ACA does have a great map. An app that has the map with a lot of resupply information on it. And that was super useful. You just need to be really aware of where that actually lines up with the official race route and not some folks navigated with that app and were relegated because they, they missed some of the, the unique turnoffs that Matthew Lee is built in. The other tools there's, there's a number of guides from a website called one of. Where they, they list resupply. He actually provided some updates to us like a week before, or a couple of days before, once he got the the updated course from from Matthew Lee. So those resources were great. And then there, there were some things that writers share on the Facebook community ahead of time, where people have built out elevation profiles that are really useful. You can kind of get a sense Chris Ellison showed up. I think that was his name showed up at the, at, at the Y w C a in BAMF with these laminated elevation profile maps that also had the terrain type, which you, I couldn't find anywhere else. So you could see when Jeep track was coming up, because that's always going to take you longer than you think it's always gonna be mud or snow. That was really helpful in kind of planning. How fast miles would go? Nothing, nothing really in one place. If this sounds like a hodgepodge, it really was like, let me take a look at the, [00:30:30] Craig Dalton: Yeah. [00:30:30] Nick Marzano: The surface type. Let me take a look at the elevation. Let me take a look at the, you know, whatever the Gaia snow layer looks like. and let me take a look at track leaders and then piecing all of that together. You get a sense for where you could potentially make it that day. [00:30:43] Craig Dalton: It's unquestionable that you just need to continue to be adaptable along the way. And, and, and read the tea leaves, honestly, as to what's going on, you experience so many dramatic bits of weather in the north part of the country, along the way that you couldn't have expected going in, [00:30:58] Nick Marzano: Yeah, it was intense. [00:31:00] Craig Dalton: were you using then sort of a, an iPhone or a mobile phone plus a GPS computer on your bike? [00:31:06] Nick Marzano: yeah, I was following the purple line on my ere, so just, I used like really simple ere 22 X. For most of the navigation and then I had it loaded on ride with GPS as well. If I just needed more detail or, or wanted to make sure I didn't miss turns that were coming up, I [00:31:21] Craig Dalton: I've always read that the tour divide riders tend to favor that eTrex battery powered, old style GPS device versus the bike computer kind of style. [00:31:31] Nick Marzano: Yeah. Some people seemed to get along with the bike computer. No problem. I didn't have. A dynamo hub that it lit my my headlamp really well, but I didn't really trust it to charge anything. It was a little older and had a lot of miles on it and just seemed to I didn't rely on it for, for too much battery management. So I was glad to have the, even though it's it's wasteful, but I was glad to have a, you know, a bunch of spare double A's that I could just throw in the etre. [00:31:57] Craig Dalton: Yeah. For those of you who don't know, dynamo hub actually generates. And stores electricity. Right. And can power something like your headlamp? [00:32:06] Nick Marzano: Yeah, it generates it. I don't think too many of them store it, but it will you know, you can throw power to a headlamp and then, or a a transformer is probably the wrong word converter and use it to charge up a, a cash battery as well. A, a battery bank, power bank. As you go, so during the day you could be charging the bank and then you could flip a switch and have your light on as long as you're going fast enough for that light to be, to be powered. [00:32:28] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I've heard sometimes going uphill. It doesn't actually generate enough to really shine the way. [00:32:34] Nick Marzano: Yeah. I have a sine wave beacon, which I love because it has the, the converter right in it. So. On on another bike where I also have a, a dynamo in my gravel bike, it does charge my cash battery really well during the day. And then I can plug the cash battery into the, to the beacon and power it from that. And it, it SAPs so little energy that I can charge my phone on it as well. So, but yeah, if you're going less than like five miles an hour or so, you're gonna have kind of a strobe light effect until you, until you build up a little. [00:33:06] Craig Dalton: So let's jump over to that grand depart moment. Where is that? And what was the feeling like at that point? Sounds like you had a couple buddies that were there at the start line with you. [00:33:17] Nick Marzano: Yeah, that was really beautiful. It was, it was really cool to be there with, I mean, first of all, bam is, you know, you bike packing is a, is a niche sport. And to be in a place where so many people who, you know, are ready to talk gear who have been investing as much time and energy into this Are are all lining up together and you're running into them at dinner was really exciting. But then to have a group of five, five of us from the east coast who had trained together, been on rides together was really cool. We lined up at the w or Y WCA in BMF, which is the traditional starting point and it was really subdued. There was not. Presentation like Matt Lee doesn't show up. There's not a course director sendoff. We had instructions to go off in waves of about 15, I think which is different than past years where it's just, it's a grand apart. Everybody heads out at the same time. And the reason for that was that Canada parks was a little, they, they were getting a little They were advising Matt Lee that something needed to happen because of the number of people who were showing up 170 people were, were signed up and, and they were a little nervous about 170 people departing. So I think we're doing waves for the foreseeable future with tour divide. And it seemed to work really well. Nobody was there flagging us off. It was just sort of, you know, we would check and say, is it, is it time? Is it seven 20? All right. We're going everybody. And everybody. Left and, and that was it. It was the start and finish are. So anti-climatic that it's, it's you know, it kind of underscores what bike packing is all about. We're all out there to ride our own race and have, you know, an experience that's inevitably gonna be really personal. And I love that about the sort of subdued start and finish of Tor divide, especially, but a lot of, a lot of races you'll finish in the middle of the night and nobody will, nobody will be around to to welcome you in. And there's something special about that. As fun as, you know, finish lines of at parties at big gravel races can be a lot of fun too. [00:35:14] Craig Dalton: Did you have an expectation of riding with some of the members of your crew? Or was it clear that you guys were gonna be on different paces? [00:35:20] Nick Marzano: Yeah, this is where I don't, I don't know if not that I was in any sort of contention. I don't know if I'll relegate myself for this, cuz this rule is kind of unclear you can't draft for sure. And there was no drafting. But you know, we come from the east coast. We don't have Grizzlies out here and none of us were scared out of our, out of our you know, mountain bike shoes. But we. We're gonna ride. I was gonna ride together with one or two of them through grizzly country and ended up riding with, with David Landis for a large portion of it. And riding together, didn't always look like riding side by side. We would end up at the same place. Often start from the same place. He, he, for a couple of days was on a middle of the day nap schedule and I I'm not a napper, so he would. Roll off to the side of the road and then catch up with me a little bit later. But yeah, grizzly country, it was nice to have just that conversation prevents you from having to yell hay, bear all the time as you're going through those areas. [00:36:16] Craig Dalton: Yeah, that makes sense. I gotta imagine it's. Yeah, it's next to impossible to imagine that over that distance, you're gonna feel the same. Throughout the day and nights and wanna ride at the same pace. Even there, like you said, you may end up in the same places. [00:36:31] Nick Marzano: Yeah. Having like I had explicit conversations with Tim who we started. We, we did sort of our pre ride together and we were we're supposedly, we were like on the same pace we had 19 day, 20 day goals and he, he changed up his pace pretty soon wanted to ride sort of a different race, but we had had an explicit conversation early on. We're each gonna ride our own race and if it works to ride together, great, if not, we'll yell hay, bear a lot, and we'll, we'll figure it out. David, who is just an incredibly strong rider. And I, I didn't think I was gonna be able to keep up with, I was able to keep up with him. And so that was really cool for me. It was, it was, it worked out, but we also had an explicit conversation. At breakfast one morning, we were like, Hey, you know, if you need to take off or, or if you're worried about what it looks like for us to be riding next to each other it's probably more of a concern. If you're at the front, it might look like you're drafting on track leaders. But more importantly for each of our own races, like, you know, I get it. If you need to take off, if you're feeling really good and you need to take off, or you're gonna, you're gonna do an overnight push an overnight. And I can't do that. You ride your race and it just worked out. [00:37:37] Craig Dalton: Let's paint the picture of what, what happens at night when it's time to lay your head down? [00:37:43] Nick Marzano: Yeah, well, so it, it involved more motels this year than I than I had planned for, for sure. [00:37:50] Craig Dalton: I, I mean, I, I can't blame you and a couple long bike trips that I've done, like having a night in a hotel in the middle just meant all the difference in the world. It just felt so refreshed. [00:38:00] Nick Marzano: Yeah, I knew it would be somewhere on like maybe 40% it's in bear country. If you don't find a pit toilet and there's, you know, some of the motels are pretty affordable. It's refreshing after a 200 mile day to just get four hours in a bed. And I think it did help with saddle sores were not, were not a huge issue. They, you know, But yeah, I mean the, the night basically looked like rolling in at 11, 12, sometimes two or 3:00 AM to a motel or rolling out my B and. Quick. I mean, it's, it's resupply. It is prep your stuff, and I got better at this. As we went along, hit a resupply cram as many calories as you can try to cram some protein in there as well. Try to drink as much as you can, so you don't go to bed dehydrated or wake up even more dehydrated. Figure out what your sleep situation is. If it's Bing down or if it's grabbing a motel, do that very quickly and then make a plan for tomorrow. And fall asleep as quickly as you can, so you can maximize that time. So that is really the tiring part of, I like the riding certainly physically exhausts you and, and makes that part harder. But the time management of making sure, as soon as you're off the bike, you do those sort of things. Is that wears on you after three weeks? For sure. I can't imagine. I mean, it gives me such a greater appreciation for Sophie on and Actually a member of our Virginia sort of crew Abe Kaufman finished fourth overall first American, like these are folks who are doing that at a much higher level than I was even doing that for sure. And, and it's still exhausting. Like just, you need to be on as soon as you get off the bike and make sure that you're maximizing that time. And then you wake up and throw your stuff on. Try not to Dole too much and, and get right back out. [00:39:47] Craig Dalton: How concerned were you about your busy situation and in terms of warmth when you're in the Northern part of the country? [00:39:54] Nick Marzano: Warmth, not at all. It was more about the wet. I would take a tent if I went again and oddly, you know, David had sort of the opposite reflection. He brought a tent and, and would've preferred prefer to bivy. But I think I would've been a little bit bolder camping out in some of the wetter areas. If I had had something a little more substantial but my B would let water in if it was more than a little sprinkle and then my down sleeping bag would be wet and then I would be cold and, and wet. And that's not a good recipe. [00:40:23] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Did you have days where you were concerned about where you were gonna lay your head that night? [00:40:31] Nick Marzano: Not not completely. I mean, the nice, the nice thing about the root is that there are a lot of, there are a couple of, of, of tricky sections, but really if you, if you have a B, I didn't get into a bad spot where I was, I was really worried. And I had an emergency plan. I mean, I had a ground cloth wi with me that if, if I was really caught out in a storm, I could cover myself with that, get into some dry clothes, try to get under a tree. Or at the very least find, find some sort of awning or overhang. So I never got into a, a tricky situation with that. I think I just think a tent would've been more comfortable. [00:41:09] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah, it sounds like, I mean, there's so many unknowns yet, so much information out there that you just try to, I imagine you just try to fill your head with as much information as possible. So as we were talking about before each morning, you can say, okay, I'm in this location, kind of think I can get to here. I kind of know there's a resupply there. I kind of know there's a place where I can get some shelter and then just keep plowing forward. [00:41:35] Nick Marzano: Right. Yeah. And, and you'll make mistakes on that. I, I certainly did. We picked We both got into Del Norte, Colorado around the same time and David was like, I'm gonna get a motel. And I'm like, all right, well, I heard that there's free camping in the park. And I feel like I'm doing too many motels, so I'm gonna go camp in the park. He's like, all right, let's go camp in the park. So he was, we were, we were gonna set up a camp there together. He's got a tent so he could have broken the tent out. But I was, I was like, look at, I'm gonna go sleep under this band shell up here. It was threatening to rain. So it was like that, that looks like, you know, we could have slept, I could have rolled out my B in the toilet nearby and probably been fine. But the band shell looked like plush digs. So we went for it and around one 30 apparently this is like, well known to veterans and we are not the first to get literally hosed by, by this thought process. We the park sprinklers go off at, at one 30 in the morning. And completely. So we were protected from rain from above, but we were not protected from these fire hose, industrial sprinklers that went off at one 30 in the morning, soaking us with what felt like just heavy water I mean, it was, I don't know if there was fertilizer in it or what it was, but it was not pleasant and we spent a lot of time drying out after that. So yeah, things didn't always, didn't always work out as planned, but they. Most of the time, if you have the right info going in and you've, you've prepared enough and you know, what your, what your limits are, which I think I do. And also how, you know, how far I can push them. You can get yourself to a, you know, to a good spot to sleep almost every night. [00:43:10] Craig Dalton: That's an amazing story. How concerning is water supply along the. [00:43:15] Nick Marzano: There are a couple of sections where it's you should bring more than two liters. Most, most of the root I would be fine with two liters on my fork. Two, one liters on my fork. And then a filter along the way. And a lot of the mountain passes. You would just, it, it would be flush with water. Couple of sections towards. Especially in New Mexico where resupply and running water are a little rough. The basin is famously the, the Wyoming, the great basin in Wyoming is a nice I forget how long the stretch is, but it's over a hundred miles where you're not gonna find resupply and there's no running water in a, a big geographic basin. And. So I just had a, I had a bladder, a three liter bladder that I would fill maybe halfway and have a couple of extra liters for those sections. [00:44:02] Craig Dalton: Is that a bladder that you're going into your frame bag, that, that massive bladder. [00:44:06] Nick Marzano: Yep. I just threw, just threw it in my frame bag and then would take it out and use it to refill the, the liters on the fork. [00:44:12] Craig Dalton: Were you generally avoiding carrying anything on your back? [00:44:17] Nick Marzano: Yeah. Yeah. Some people do the hydration thing. I've just. I wasn't sure how my back would react over three weeks with a couple of extra pounds on it. So, I've avoided it, but I also haven't tried it before, so it's, you know, certainly a solution. I saw a lot of writers using [00:44:33] Craig Dalton: Yeah. Yeah. I think it would be concerning just putting any extra weight on your back, given how much torture I'll put it, your back may take along the way. [00:44:41] Nick Marzano: Yeah, for sure. [00:44:43] Craig Dalton: What are some of the highlights along the way? I don't know what the best way to organize. This is such a long event, but maybe state by state, some of the things you enjoyed and loved about the. [00:44:53] Nick Marzano: Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. Thinking about some of the highlights was a lot of fun earlier today where you, you told me you might might throw that one at me. And it was nice going, going back through those memories. I think the snow snowy passes were really challenging. But it was also beautiful. And there were two in particular red Meadows pass. I hit midday where a couple of the passes early on. I had hit, I mean, I went over the pass just before the American border at, at 1:30 AM. And so that was kind of, that was kind of scary. I was sort of falling asleep on my bars as I was hiking through it. Didn't wanna fall asleep in, in the middle of a, a snowy mountain. Red Meadows. My breaks had been cashed early that morning. I didn't have replacement breaks. I had to make it, you know, a hundred miles to white fish to get a, get to a bike shop. And so walking over a mountain pass was like, I, I no breaks, no problem. Right. I, nobody needs breaks when you're hiking your bike over. Six miles of, of snow. And it was midday. It was warm. I was by myself at this point, David was, was behind or ahead I think, and I threw, I threw some like eighties music on and, and just some, some like dance music. And had a party just sort of dancing myself down, down the mountain to music probably expending like way too much energy, but sort of just shuffling my bike down and, and having a blast. Then Kirsten ended up. So are you, are you familiar with Kirsten at, at brush mountain lodge? And so she is She is famous within the Tor of divide and, and her brush mountain lodge is like the place that you hit after the basin, where you can get, you know, she has a pizza oven, it sort of, pay as you wish. You can stay there if, if you want. But it becomes sort of this VOR. She calls it the vortex where people it's just so nice to. To hang out and it, it it's sort of like the Bermuda triangle, like racers struggle to get out of it. And she had said a few months before the race started, Hey, you know, we're taking some time. I'm not gonna be there this year. Really sorry. But my family needs to, we're gonna do some strategic planning and reset where we're at. So I'll have, you know, maybe vending machines there I'll have, I'll have water for you, but you're not gonna get the full treatment this year. And that was kind of a. You know, a bummer for everyone understanding that she's gotta take time for herself, but is such a you know, she's such a piece of, of, of the tour divide lore, and, and she's a legend. So I showed up there and a bunch of racers were hanging out. It looked like they were eating pizza. I was like, what is happening here? This looks, if I step back in time and Kirsten was there because. For whatever. There, there was a a rainbow family gathering nearby that sort of forced her hand, somebody needed to staff this, this lodge just outside of Steamboat. So it was great. I got to chat with her. It was a bit of a vortex. I hung out for three hours there with a couple of other riders who I hadn't had a chance to catch up with. And then so that was, that was beautiful. The other, do you have time for, for two more highlights? How's [00:47:49] Craig Dalton: more highlights. Let's do it. [00:47:51] Nick Marzano: So the, before we hit the, we got, we got doused with those sprinklers in Del Norte. I had had this is a lowlight highlight. I had had a great day trying to, to breeze into Del Norte after I think 153 miles was the full. And right around right around the one 40 mark it always seemed like the last 10 to 14 miles of the day would be the hardest and they would sneak up on you. I hit Jeep track. That was Sandy. It was dark. And I didn't think I was gonna make the gas station resupply and was like outta food. I was outta water. I was done. There was nothing else open in Del Norte apart from this gas station. Pushed through all of that you know, slogged through that hit gravel was just burning at 17, 18 miles an hour down this, this gravel path to get into Del Norte in the last couple of miles, look at at Google maps and it's closed early. It, you know, according to the resupply, it should be open an hour later. Google says it's closed. So I kind of, you know, the wind goes outta my sales. That was gonna make it with like half an hour spare. But I keep pushing and come to find it's the lights are still on. It was, the Google was wrong. It was still open. So that was, that was beautiful. The, the last one I had my first major mechanical right out of, outside of lake abike, which is about 30 miles outside of Santa Fe and the route doesn't go through Santa Fe. Hub froze up and I just couldn't get my hub to grab. It was, it was grabbing every, you know, three or four pedal strokes, but I was just spinning out other than that. And so I could either try to like limp 150 miles to the next to silver city, which was probably more than 150 at that point. Or I could go off route and take time that I I would just lose trying to get down to Santa Fe. And I, I picked getting down to Santa Fe hitch hiked, which is allowed once you're off route, you can, for a mechanical, you can, you can take motorized support. Got picked up almost immediately by two incredibly kind, like one after the other hitch hitchhiker or drivers had great conversations with them. Got dropped off at the bike shop bike shop, fixed me up in two hours. I'm usually not this bold, but I went up, I had had, I'd been having good conversation with all of the guys down at mellow Velo bikes in Santa Fe and, and went up to the owner was like, Hey, I have to ask. I, you know, I wouldn't be this forward usually, but any, any chance you could gimme a ride back an hour north of here to where I left off so I can get some more miles in today. And he looked at me and he was. I was already thinking about it. Let me, you know, he gave one of his employees his, his keys and got me back up there. And the whole episode start to finish lost me five and a half hours, which is just mind blowing and these, these races. And I'll, I know I can, I can go on for a while, but the, these races can be Self supported. I don't think means self isolating and there can be kind of this mentality that we're all sort of Jeremiah Johnson's out there, but meeting people and having experiences like that along the route which I hope to pay forward in my life after that is just, that is one of the most meaningful parts of it. And that was probably, you know, went from a mechanical. That was a huge bummer and, and kind of put me into problem solving mode. When I wanted to just be in ride mode. But it turned into one of the best days of the whole trip. Because you know, the, there were, there were five people out there between the, the, the hitchhiker folks and, and mellow Velo who were absolutely like, didn't hesitate to help someone out. And that was, that was, that was really cool. [00:51:34] Craig Dalton: Yeah, such a special memory. And it's funny, I I've heard a couple other people mention that just. Leaving the tour divide with that notion that paying it forward in life is important because as you've just described, you had this moment, which could have been really shitty. Like it's not life ending or life threatening, but you could have spent 24 hours trying to get your stuff sorted out. And the fact that strangers helped you got you to a bike shop. The bike shop realized what you were doing realized, Hey, two hours out of their day out and back to get you back on. It's gonna mean the world to you and, and not much to them. And I'm sure they have the similar alternative side of that memory. Like I just did someone a solid and it probably felt good to them as well. [00:52:19] Nick Marzano: For sure. [00:52:20] Craig Dalton: Yeah. So, I mean, we could go on and on it's it's the tour divide has always been fascinating to me for all the reasons you've described along the way. It just sounds like this epic life adventure. That is gonna unfold as it unfolds. It's gonna be different every year. I know you guys experienced a lot of rough weather up in the early parts of the race in the north, getting outta Canada and to persevere through that and know that, Hey, you're gonna be on your bike for 21 days or whatever it amounted to, and you're gonna have good days and bad days. But the important thing is to just keep forward. [00:52:55] Nick Marzano: Yeah, that is, you know, JP to very repeats that a lot. If you, if you follow him on, on Instagram or Facebook, that's his, his motto. And I don't know if he coined this or it's or got it elsewhere, but yeah, riding forward, just whatever, however, you're feeling, jump on your bike. I think I, it wasn't so much life changing as, as affirming in a lot of ways. And one of them is, is that, that there is, there is so much mutability in. The weather in your attitude in, and if you can make as a principle that you just jump on your bike and don't wait for the good times to happen, but know that they will be there, deal with, if the train is tough right now, it's tough right now. It will be good. Later if it's good right now, don't set up an expectation that it will be good at mile at the, you know, the last 14 miles of the day, because oddly, those are always the hardest. It will be tough later. And if you can still jump on your bike and just ride forward regardless. And I didn't, you know, I wasn't perfect at that. I, like I said, in Pinedale, I took a day where I had to really think whether I wanted to keep riding forward. , but I hope that what you get out of this, what I get out of it hopefully is that I can reflect on that. And in moments where I'm struggling to ride forward in life in, in certain ways that I can, you know, return back from this super selfish, selfish endeavor, right. Where I'm spending a lot of money and time on myself and come back ready to like ride forward for others, pay it forward for others. And, and. You hope that all that time reflecting over three weeks on, on how you responded to those challenges can translate into something for for your return to society, to normal society. [00:54:41] Craig Dalton: Nick, I can't think of a better sentiment to end on. Amazing. I appreciate so much you sharing the story with me. As I said, opening up in this conversation offline. I hope this serves as a little archive of your experience and I, I know you got a little bit of joy outta reflecting on what some of those high points were. So thanks again. It means a lot that you shared their story with me. [00:55:02] Nick Marzano: Yeah, thank you for the opportunity, Craig. It's been great, great meeting you and getting to talk to you. [00:55:06] Craig Dalton: Cheers. Yeah. So that's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast, chapeau to Nick for that amazing accomplishment on the tour divide. I have to say every time I talked to someone about that route, I get more and more excited about dreaming to do it someday and myself. Huge. Thanks to our friends attract travel. I really hope you can join me in Gerona in November on the November six. Departure of the Jarana gravel bike tour. Simply visit Trek, travel.com. And search for a drone, a gravel bike tour. And remember to mention the podcast as you'll get a free handlebar bag. With your registration. If you're looking to connect with me or have any questions. Feel free to join the ridership. That's www.theridership.com. Nick is actually an active member of the ridership. So I'm sure if you have any follow-up questions for him on the tour divide, he'd be happy to respond. And if you have any questions about this gravel bike tour that we're doing in November with track, feel free to hit me up directly. I'm really looking forward to meeting some of you guys and girls out there this year has been far too long since we've gotten together. Until next time here's to finding some dirt under your wheels  

Family Events Tuesday, August 2nd - 5 pm National Night Out at Mountain Meadows Recreation Park https://www.facebook.com/events/738234890547704/  Friday, August 5th - 8 pm Kids Run and Glow Run at Blue Ridge High School https://pinetoplakesideaz.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=881  Saturday, August 6th - 6 am High Mountain Marathon at Blue Ridge High School  https://highmountainhalf.com/   Saturday, August 6th -  9 am Nature Hike with Ron Miller at WM Nature & Wildlife Center  https://whitemountainnaturecenter.org/events/  Saturday, August 6th - 10 am Chuckwagon Festival and Pies for Pinedale at Pinedale Community Center  https://www.wmicentral.com/news/chuckwagon-cook-off-set-for-aug-6-in-pinedale/article_e8ad6acf-9c9f-55c3-b5cb-548dbb4108b3.html    Adult Events Friday, August 5th - ReCenter Ally Open House https://www.rcaz.us/  Friday, August 5th - 8 pm Chris Kane Trio at Hon-Dah https://www.hon-dah.com/timbers-showroom   Upcoming Events Saturday, August 13th - White Mountain Sheriff's Posse BBQ  https://www.facebook.com/White-Mountain-Sheriffs-Posse-130627437027844/   #AZWM #ARIZONAWHITEMOUNTAINS #AZWHITEMOUNTAINS #ARIZONASBACKYARD Recorded at the Birdman Media Studios. The Community Shout is how you the listener can come in and share anything from charity events, to fundraisers and even just to comment on how cool your neighbor is at no cost! Just stop by on Tuesday morning at 10:00 am in the Birdman Media Studios, have a seat and tell everyone what's going on.   The following are the sponsors of the ARIZONA WHITE MOUNTAINS Podcast show, please visit them and give them your support when you can, as they make this show possible. Premier Sponsors: Summit Healthcare Town of Pinetop-Lakeside City Of Show Low The Hub   Arizona's Mountain Home Hunters Buffalo Bill's Tavern and Grill Darbi's Cafe Edward Jones - Jason DiCamillo Elevate Athletics Firehouse Subs The House Restaurant J&T Wild-Life Outdoors La Casita Cafe The Lion's Den The Lodge Sports Bar & Grill The Maverick Magazine Nexus Coalition for Drug Prevention PersNIKKIty's Pour Station - White Mountain Purified Water Solterra Senior Living St. Anthony's School Sutton Weed & Pest Control White Mountain Tees WME Theaters

Nick Marzano is back! And this time he has joined the ranks as an official Tour Divide Finisher with a time of 20d, 9h, 1m, which was good enough to secure 22nd place. Nick first appeared on the podcast while he was still racing the Tour Divide. We chatted when he was at mile 1,250 in Pinedale, WY at about the halfway point for the race. If you haven't already, you may want to give that episode a listen first. Read the full writeup at BikesorDeath.com Local Nation Podcast - Nick's passion podcast from 2018 EPISODE SPONSORS Athletic Greens ~ Good for bikepackers on the go! Visit www.athleticgreens.com/bikesordeath to get a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase.

Out of Pinedale, Wyoming, a woman tells the story of her missing sister, Anne Elliot, or Anne Elliot Lancaster. I talk to Emily, Anne's sister, about Anne's struggles with experiencing addiction, her life, her childhood, and ultimately the day she went missing in Salt Lake City. On this episode I have interviews with Jason Jensen, the private investigator from We Help the Missing and Lana Mahoney from Recover Wyoming. And as always, I have an update with Desiree Tinoco with Missing People of Wyoming, so be sure to stay tuned. Show Notes: Pinedale Woman Continues Search For Missing Sister;Over Two Years Now Without A Trace Missing in Utah: ‘My sister matters' says woman whose sister vanished Recover Wyoming To donate to Recover Wyoming DCI Missing People of Wyoming Facebook group We Help the Missing Salt Lake City Police Department: 801-799-3454 Jason Jensen: 801-759-2248 National Drug Hotline: 1-844-289-0879 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/renee-m-nelson/support

Last week I put a call out to anyone currently racing the Tour Divide to come on the podcast. I knew it would be a bit of a challenge, but I thought it would be really neat to hear from someone who is currently racing to give us a live account of this years Tour Divide. Nick Marzano answered the call via instagram and after a few days trying to make our schedules align we were able to chat while he was posted up in a hotel room in Pinedale, WY. Nick Marzano - Trackleaders / Instagram EPISODE SPONSORS Embark Maple - Maple Energy Adventure Packs for the Modern Explorer. Use code "bikesordeath" to receive 3 free samples!

(Fremont County, WY) - Lander Valley High School soccer has reached the halfway point of the season. Both the girls and boys teams have had success and are looking to keep it going when they continue their home stretch of games. Some of the team's athletes and coaches joined Wyatt Burichka on the County 10 Kickoff Show to talk about the first half of the season. Guest of the show include: Dean Shauff - Head Coach of the Lander Tigers Soccer teamJoesph Hellyer - Lander Tigers Soccer AthleteBen Hamilton - Lander Tigers Soccer AthleteAbilio Monteiro - Head Coach of the Lander Lady Tigers Soccer teamMia Copeland - Lady Tigers Soccer AthleteAbby Copeland - Lady Tigers Soccer Athlete Lander soccer will be home on Tuesday, April 26 against Pinedale at 3 p.m. for the Lady Tigers and 5 p.m. for the Tigers. All shows air on KOVE 1330 A.M. and 107.7 F.M. also streaming on our website. You can listen to the full episode below.

(Fremont County, WY) - The spring season is underway for high school sports which includes soccer. Riverton has played two games already in the season and are about the head to jamborees in Worland and Pinedale. Before the Wolverines and Lady Wolverines compete this weekend, they joined the County 10 Kickoff. Guest on the show include Tanya Santee - Lady Wolverines Soccer Head CoachJordan Anderson - Lady Wolverines Soccer PlayerSavannah Morton - Lady Wolverines Soccer PlayerBrady Samuelson - Wolverines Soccer Head Coach Daxton Ficher - Wolverines Soccer PlayerKorbin Heio - Wolverines Soccer Player All shows air on KOVE 1330 A.M. and 107.7 F.M. also streaming on our website. You can listen to the full episode below.

Rene Schell with Wyoming Game and Fish gives us another great interview. She's discussing an opportunity to learn and ask questions about upcoming potential proposals for the hunting season with the seasons setting annual meetings. Rene Schell has more by clicking below. CASPER REGION03/21/22, 4-6 p.m. – Crook County Courthouse Basement, Sundance, WY 03/21/22, 7-9 p.m. – Pinnacle Bank, Newcastle, WY 03/22/22, 6:30-8:30 p.m. – Greater Hulett Community Center, Hulett, WY 03/22/22, 4-7 p.m. – Converse County Library, Douglas, WY 03/23/22, 4-7 p.m. – Niobrara County Fairgrounds, Lusk, WY 03/24/22, 6-8 p.m. – Casper Game and Fish Regional Office, Casper, WY (To join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83246589993) CODY REGION03/21/22, 6-8 p.m. – Meeteetse Conservation District Office, Meeteetse, WY 03/22/22, 5-8 p.m. – Lovell Fire Hall, Lovell, WY 03/23/22, 6-8 p.m. – Washakie County Fairground Building, Worland, WY 03/24/22, 6-8 p.m. – Thermopolis Fire Hall, Thermopolis, WY 03/24/22, 5-8 p.m. – Greybull Town Hall, Greybull, WY 03/28/22, 6-8 p.m. – Powell County Fairgrounds, Homesteader Room, Powell, WY 03/29/22, 6-8 p.m. – Park County Library, Grizzly Room, Cody, WY (To join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82112815410) GREEN RIVER REGION03/21/22, 6-8 p.m. – Cokeville Town Hall, Cokeville, WY 03/22/22, 6-8 p.m. – Carbon County Higher Ed Center, Baggs, WY 03/23/22, 6-8 p.m. – Mountain View School Admin. Building, Mountain View, WY 03/24/22, 6-8 p.m. – Uinta County Library, Evanston, WY 03/25/22, 6-8 p.m. – South Lincoln Training & Events Center, Kemmerer, WY 03/29/22, 6-8 p.m. – Green River Game & Fish Regional Office, Green River, WY (To join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82135678066) JACKSON REGION03/17/22, 4-7 p.m. – Jackson Game & Fish Regional Office, Jackson, WY 03/18/22, 4-7 p.m. – Afton Civic Center, Afton, WY LANDER REGION03/17/22, 6 p.m. – Fremont County Library, 1330 W. Park Ave., Riverton, WY 03/17/22, 6 p.m. – Jeffrey Community Center, 315 W. Pine St., Rawlins, WY 03/22/22, 6 p.m. – Headwaters Conference Center, 20 Stalnaker St., Dubios, WY 03/24/22, 6 p.m. – Game and Fish Regional Office, 260 Buena Vista Dr., Lander, WY (To join: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ChhseQ3GRLq9IkNcTlqp8Q) LARAMIE REGION03/22/22, 6-8 p.m. – Platte Valley Community Center, Saratoga, WY 03/23/22, 6-8 p.m. – Platte Valley Bank Conference Center, Torrington, WY 03/24/22, 6-8 p.m. – Platte County Public Library, Wheatland, WY 03/28/22, 6-8 p.m. – Cheyenne Game and Fish Office, Cheyenne, WY 03/29/22, 6-8 p.m. – Laramie Game and Fish Regional Office, Laramie, WY (To join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82758275483 ) PINEDALE REGION03/23/2022, 6-8 p.m. – Pinedale Game & Fish Regional Office, Pinedale, WY (To join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81898984778?pwd=THkxT0RwOEtQZkpWSkU5QUhqY1hBdz09) SHERIDAN REGION03/21/2022, 4-6 p.m. – Campbell County Public Library, 2101 S 4-J Rd, Gillette, WY 03/22/2022, 4-7 p.m. – Game and Fish Regional Office, 700 Valley View Dr., Sheridan, WY 03/23/2022, 4-6 p.m. – Johnson County Library, 171 N Adams Ave, Buffalo, WY 03/24/2022, 4-6 p.m. – Kaycee Branch Library, 231 Ritter Ave, Kaycee, WY 03/29/2022, 6 p.m. – Game and Fish Regional Office, 700 Valley View Dr., Sheridan, WY (To join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81982217466) Date layout above thanks to Wyoming Wildlife Federation

In this episode, the issue of abortion has been prominent in the legislature this year And some are worried the attention to a service of reproductive health will hurt women's access to healthcare. We'll also hear about the lack of affordable housing in Pinedale. And we'll talk to Governor Mark Gordon about a number of issues including the legislative session. Those stories and more.

(Lander, WY) - Jerry Bath, the 2022 Pedigree Stage Stop dog sled race commentator and analyst, recently stopped by 1330 KOVE AM / 107.7 FM's Coffee Time, where he chatted with host Vince Tropea about the upcoming race. https://www.facebook.com/PedigreeStageStopRace/posts/4851433904919546 This year's race will have the largest number of competitors in event history, at 30 teams. The first stop of the race begins in Jackson Hole on January 28th, and the seventh and last stop will be in Driggs, ID on February 5th. The race will include a stop/race in Lander on January 30th, starting at 9:00 AM at the Louis Lake parking lot. There will also be a meet and greet the day before on January 29th, near the 200 block of Main St., where 10'rs will have a chance to meet the racers, of both the two and four legged varieties. (Attendees are strongly encouraged to leave their own dogs at home for both the meet and greet and race!) The race will also include stops in Teton County, Pinedale, Big Piney/Marbleton, Kemmerer, and Alpine. Bath filled us in the race details, Lander's amazing race trails, how he came into his role as commentator and analyst, and even shared a few stories from his days as racer himself (you'll definitely want to hear about his run-in with a moose during a race...) Check out the full Coffee Time interview with Bath below, which begins around the 5 minute 20 second mark. Be sure to tune in to Coffee Time every morning at 9:30 AM on 1330 KOVE AM / 107.7 FM, or stream it live right here.

Hear Tammie Heuck from Bridges of Sublette County in Wyoming discuss resource coaching in her community with aha! Process author and consultant Ruth Weirich.

Eric Makelky is the Pinedale Middle School principal in Pinedale, WY.  He earned a Bachelors and Master's degree from Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT.  Eric has worked as a middle school language arts and social studies teacher, football, wrestling, and track coach, 6–12 instructional facilitator, middle school assistant principal, and Skyline Academy (alternative high school) principal. Mastermind made a huge difference - Join us. Your book was based on my beliefs Three yearly goals: Target was always moving What can we do every year, year after year? Every student who walks in the school can identify by name one trusted adult. Beat state average at reading and math growth Demonstrate beliefs behaviors and outcomes that create our school culture. Greeting kids by name and in the hall. What do you do with those kids that have negative experiences their whole school careers? Sticker chart was dumb. Staff love connecting with students. Strategies for school culture. Define the culture that you want in your school. The outcomes we want are driven by our behaviors, and our behaviors are driven by our beliefs. Anybody can make a poster, but making it happen is where it gets fun. You have to call out the behaviors that I ask for help, I give help, I care, listen, and communicate. Want people to know the culture before they apply. Keeping things simple. Common language. Staff appreciation/recognition I feel too appreciated - said no one ever You've got to help me give staff recognition and appreciation. Why teachers don't get recognition awards. Nominate your teachers for awards. Have a way to recognize when people do something great. Trophy. Saul the saber-tooth tiger Growth mindset, stand up and own it, power of the team. How to be a transformative principal? Join the mastermind! Helps grow my confidence. Sponsors InControl SEL for Middle School In Control created an effortless social and emotional, character development video curriculum for your students that's ZERO-TEACHER-PREP AND it's so cool looking- it feels like a Youtube or Netflix Series- and that's purposeful, they meet students right where they're at. The videos are 5–6 minutes, kids love them, teachers love them, and you will too. There's no guesswork in the program because there's a 21-video progression for each grade level. They've thought of everything– because it's a group of award winning counselors, teachers, and principals that came up with this thing. It'll help you save tons of time and headaches. Take it from me, it's time to check that social-emotional learning box, the empty one that's been keeping you up at night–and it's time to do it in a meaningful, measurable, magnetic way. If you go to www.InControlSEL.com/jethro you can check out some of the videos and even receive 20% off if you pre-order for next school year John Catt Today's Transformative Principal sponsor, John Catt Educational, amplifies world-class voices on timeless topics, with a list of authors recognized globally for their fresh perspectives and proven strategies to drive success in modern schools and classrooms. John Catt's mission is to support high-quality teaching and learning by ensuring every educator has access to professional development materials that are research-based, practical, and focused on the key topics proven essential in today's and tomorrow's schools. Learn more about professional development publications that are easy to implement for your entire faculty, and are both quickly digestible and rigorous, by visiting https://us.johncattbookshop.com/. Learn more about some of the newest titles: - The Coach's Guide to Teaching by Doug Lemov The Feedback Pendulum: A manifesto for enhancing feedback in education by Michael Chiles Putting Staff First: A blueprint for revitalising our schools by John Tomsett and Jonny Uttley 10 Things Schools Get Wrong (And How We Can Get Them Right) by Jared Cooney Horvath and David Bott Let's Talk About Flex: Flipping the flexible working narrative for education by Emma Turner A Parent's Guide to Powerful Teaching by Patrice Bain John Catt is also proud publisher of the new book from Transformative Principal host Jethro Jones: SchoolX: How principals can design a transformative school experience for students, teachers, parents – and themselves Visit this page to learn more about bulk orders and how to bring John Catt's research-based materials to your school: https://us.johncattbookshop.com/pages/agents-and-distributors

News Brief Nov. 9 | Infrastructure Package Passes, Pinedale Man Charged for Illegal Grazing by KHOL

Days 11 of the Tour Divide Border-to-Border and the Great Divide Classic! We true-up three calls today as we get our first call from Will Staler from Pinedale, Jay P. calls in from Del Norte, and Rick Ashton also calls … Continue reading →

This week we visit the beautiful town of Pinedale, Wyoming.  https://www.visitpinedale.org https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinedale,_Wyoming https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/wagon-wheel-project http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2011/07/EarlyHistoryoftheCow.htm https://youtu.be/T3lmJp5jCGY