I have started a blog series called “microcosm” over on my Agenda New West site. Agenda New West is about contrasting the Old West with the New, showcasing what the West was, how it got to where it is today, and what it is becoming. Most of all I want to envision what the West could be along the lines of Wallace Stegner’s notion of “a society to match the scenery.”

Recently in Wayne County, where Torrey is located, the county has overridden existing zoning ordinances to allow a gravel pit on Utah state lands in what is primarily a residential area. Nearby residents are flabbergasted and have objected strenuously. Many of these residents are so called “move-ins” and the long time “locals” are incensed by the move-ins’ objection. It is a question of custom and culture much like such issues are in the West in general and in the country at large with the divide between Trump followers and the rest of us. Wayne County, these days, is a microcosm of the larger changes and challenges in the West.

I often ask about my blogs something like, “If I post a blog and there is no one there to read it, did a tree fall in the forest?” If I have no readership, why have more than one blog site? I can’t justify it, but I wanted to mention to the ether that I am also posting elsewhere.