Podcast
The Modern West
Hosted by Wyoming Public Media · EN
Exploring the evolving identity of the American West. Produced by Wyoming Public Media and PRX, The Modern West takes you on a sound-rich journey into some of America's most iconic landscapes. Guided by host Melodie Edwards' personal connection to the region, it's an unflinching look at the American West--its problematic history, its modern-day struggles and resilience, and how its present and future are being shaped.
11episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Living with Grizzlies
1w ago00:34:26Tap to summarizeIt’s not just human animals that migrate around the West. So do wildlife. We start this season learning about how humans are adapting to the expanding range of grizzly bears. We head out into the field with wildlife photographers, go toe-to-toe with a robo bear, pick apples to reduce food rewards, and meet a herd of cattle getting radio collared.
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Mountain Migrations Trailer
3w ago00:01:38Tap to summarizeMountain Migrations Trailer
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The Modern West shares: Our Uncertain Future, an off gridding podcast
Apr 100:52:40Tap to summarizeThis time on the show, we share an episode from another podcast called Our Uncertain Future. It’s produced by Johanna DeBiase and Eric Mack, the couple we met in our last bonus episode called “An Apocalyptic American Dream.” Johanna and Eric and their teenage daughter live in a strawbale house in the no man’s land of the Mesa, a few miles west of Taos, New Mexico. They’ve been documenting the reasons they’ve chosen this life, and in this episode, they celebrate six years of off gridding.
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The Apocalyptic American Dream: A Cheap Dirt Bonus Episode
Mar 1800:27:40Tap to summarizeA visit to a family living in a straw bale house on the Mesa outside Taos, New Mexico. They say they’re feeling less stressed about the chaos of the world because living off grid has given them survival skills. And they delve into the lurid history of how this subdivision turned into a no man’s land in the first place.
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Outlawland
Mar 400:44:16Tap to summarizeThe story of one family who lived off grid in a yurt for years in the no man’s land of the Mesa outside Taos, New Mexico. Now that her kids are all grown, Janelle has come full circle. She bought some land and a new yurt and re-adopted this life in her 50’s.
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Abide By The Land
Feb 1800:45:47Tap to summarizeCeleste and Gary Havener seem to have a perfect homesteading story: the horses, the garden, the honeybees, an amazing mountain view from every window. But theirs is actually a cautionary tale of enduring cancer, COVID and multiple forest fires. At 70, they almost gave up the life. But then they realized they were surrounded by support.
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The Flats
Feb 400:46:20Tap to summarizeWe talk with Pulitzer finalist Ted Conover about his book Cheap Land, Colorado: Off Gridders On America’s Edge. Ted bought land in an area outside of Alamosa where he and his neighbors lived off grid with few social safety nets. His take away? It’s a difficult life with incredible views and intense poverty. But you can find lifelong friends and experience a special sense of liberation.
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Charismatic People
Jan 2100:35:31Tap to summarizePaul Menjares moved to Frisco, Colorado to live the good life as a musician. But when his landlords kept canceling his leases to turn his apartments into short term rentals, he made a crazy decision. He moved into his car. That was three years ago. Now he’s the manager of a program helping other people do the same thing.
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Many Hands Make Light Work
Jan 700:27:57Tap to summarizeWhen a U.S. Forest Service worker gets fired by DOGE, she’s left scrambling to find a place to live while she finishes building her straw bale house. Luckily, she has lots of friends who not only let her couchsurf, but help with the house raising. It’s an old fashioned approach to affordable housing that’s catching on.
Transcribe →Cheap Dirt: Holiday Pause Update
Dec 2400:01:36Tap to summarizeHowdy Cheap Dirt fans! We will be taking a pause this holiday and resuming on January 7th with a new episode.
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