This week's guest writer is Katrina Cano. Katrina is a writer from Alpine, Texas. She currently works as an intern for KUER’s RadioWest in Salt Lake City, Utah.
I’m writing this Desert Dispatch to share a lesson that our desert taught me. I returned to Alpine in the fall of 2023, and worked at Sul Ross State University. I recently landed an internship which, for me, is a first step towards my dream of being a professional writer. On a brisk Saturday before departing to chase this dream, I took a farewell-to-West-Texas hike with friends. The hike analogized the persistence needed to move forward, despite literal and figurative setbacks. Here's how it went.
Three miles down the jeep road, we begin our ascent to the Four Seasons Shelter. Our steep climb is on scree, loose rock and soft sand that gives under foot as you will yourself forward.
Perched on tiptoes I lift my right leg, trying to catch ground as my left foot slides back. I drop my palms on the earth in front of me, which is nearly parallel to my face, and splay my hands in a futile attempt to hold steady as gravity drags me back.
A rock, a rock – a rock to anchor my feet. I need an anchor.
I look down and around the space between my feet and hands. A small, peachy, round rock jets out about knee-high.
Redo. Revise. Try again.
I pull my right leg up and lunge for the rock as my left foot slides back. The ball of my foot makes the landing. I pause, watching my choppy breath, then push down on my right toes to test if it gives. The rock is stable. My shoulders relax. I listen to my heart thump as sweat drips down my chest.
Squinting up at the sun, I look to the shelter, but see no holds along the path. Perched on this rock, midway up the ascent, I commit to the climb. With a deep inhale I will myself forward, and push against the loose earth. I lose half my pace with each step.
My heart pumps hard as I approach the shelter’s base. Craning my head up, a pictograph comes into view on the far right. My ears perk with excitement, then the ground gives. My front smacks on the sand, and my whole body slides down the steep incline. I lift my right foot and kick it into the mountain’s side, straining my toes to gain a hold.
The sand streams stop, bringing silence. I inhale deeply, then release heat from my mouth. The base of the shelter, made of smooth rockface, is 100 yards ahead. With effort, I take punchy steps to push my body forward as my feet slide back, dancing with earth.
My hands reach the rock face at the shelter’s base. I grip my fingers on a crimp, using the small edge to hold myself static.
Midway up the smooth rock, a short, green bush grows out of a sandy shelf. I take a deep breath and lunge my body forward and up, knowing to stop is to fall. I scramble to the bush, and hoist myself onto a small boulder to its right.
Anchored on my seat, I look ahead to the vista. The shelter opens to golden grass, prickly cactus, and earth all shades of brown. The colors form a scene of a pointillist painting.
I shirk off my backpack, and gingerly set it down so the bush serves as a backstop. I turn and follow the line of pictographs that wrap around the shelter’s back.
“You beat me!” Faced right, I find your beaming face at the shelter’s base.
“Come up! Come up!”
Do you want to be a guest writer for the Desert Dispatch? We are accepting pitches! Genre and subject matter are up to you. Our only requirement is that your submission have a sense of place, and particularly this place - Far West Texas, the Big Bend, the Chihuahuan Desert, the Permian Basin - however you define this region. Send in your pitch, and a brief bio about you, to dispatch@marfapublicradio.org.
High Five
Many of us at the station have had David Lynch on our minds since he passed a couple of weeks ago. Here's our Lynchian playlist for the week.
- Falling - Julee Cruise
- This Magic Moment - Lou Reed
- Is That All There Is? - Peggy Lee
- The Pink Room - Angelo Badalamenti
- Song to the Siren - This Mortal Coil
You can find all of our archived music shows on our Mixcloud.
Caló
Currelear - There’s no comparable word in Spanish or English. It’s Romani for the act of trying to get somebody to fall in love with you. In Caló, it’s often mispronounced as “corralear” or corral, as in entrap or fence in, not at all what’s meant with currelear. To currelear is to get your mark to become attracted to you fulsomely, not deceitfully, mistakenly or haphazardly. For you don’t pursue fools or prisoners in a curreleada. You aim to win a committed lifelong friend or romantic partner.
Caló is a borderland dialect. You can find more episodes here.
Nature Notes
They’ve been called “the Lords of the Sky,” and with good reason. Eagles are among the planet’s largest birds of prey, and there are few creatures so fierce, or so free. And while the bald eagle might hold the American spotlight, the world’s most common national animal is the golden eagle, which is found not only in North America, but in Europe and Asia. With 7-foot wingspans, and plumage of lustrous brown and brilliant gold, these are majestic birds.
Their history here is fraught. But West Texas is golden eagle country.
Read more about how these incredible creatures endure across West Texas in this week's Nature Notes.
From the Newsroom
President Trump has made it clear in the first days of his second term that one of his priorities is unleashing the oil and gas industry. He proclaimed at his inauguration that the United States is going to “drill baby, drill” and signed an executive order declaring a national energy emergency.
But across the U.S., oil production has already been hitting all-time highs, with most of that crude flowing from West Texas oil fields.
Marfa Public Radio's Mitch Borden spoke with economist Ray Perryman, who lives in Odessa and closely follows the Texas energy sector, about how all of this could affect the Permian Basin. Listen to their conversation HERE.
PSAs
One Tail at a Time West Texas, a non-profit regional pet rescue, will be hosting an official launch party for the organization on Saturday, February 8th at Siempre.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature food and beverages and live music by The Marfa Municipal Alliance.
For more information, and to RSVP online, click HERE.
