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Ordinary Skin

“Cowboys” is a verb when Auker “cowboys” for Spider Ranch in Arizona. Ugliness vs. Beauty is the natural theme of a cowboy (or girl) poet in the desert looking for lost cattle or potsherds around seeping Willow Springs. Now she’s hauling a demolished house to the dump. Now she’s popping a gold stud in her nose, or riding an ancient canyon where she is “bombarded with poems.” Auker’s essays and prose poems emerge from the midnight growls of the earth and stretch to the star-studded Arizona sky. She resonates with a Zen-like buzz as a Navajo with red ties in his braids tells her his word for hummingbird is the same word for fighter jet. Her editor asks her to strike a dark vignette about a baby bird that impales itself on a nail. So she writes about her monthly flow; the bad news screen screaming bloodshed; torturous scrambles to the blazing peak of a wild truth. “And yet you sing.” Stunning. Five stars. By Amy Hale Auker • www.ttupress.org 800-848-6224

Utilities Nearby

When Jes Márquez and her husband answered a pumped-up ad and rented an off the grid house near Santa Fe. They “learned by immersion” that “solitude and beautiful vistas” did not compensate for blocked pipes and a freezing bedroom. She posted a rant on Craigslist under “Reader's

Patterns of Exchange

Wilkins details the cultural exchange between Navajo weavers and Anglo buyers. Commercial Navajo weaving grew out of the ancient Anaasází tradition of trade when beads and turquoise, seashells, parrot feathers, and obsidian were prized possessions. In the Southwest, where some Native Americans are reluctant to commercialize their sacred symbols, Navajo weavers are open to suggestions about which patterns will sell. Traders sometimes brought drawings or paintings for weavers to adapt to their designs. To purchase these rugs for resale, traders had to be skilled in delicate negotiations and be extremely knowledgeable about current market value. Today, in Arizona and New Mexico, the trader-weaver exchange has expanded from traditional trading posts to art galleries and even Walmart. But some Navajo weavers who have utilized their expert skills for years worry their children will not carry on the tradition because they are busy going to school. By Teresa J. Wilkins • www.oupress.org 800-848-6224

Comments” and in her book includes her readers’ survival tips and questions about eco-living. Does “Low Carbon Footprint” mean living by lantern light? Should you ask if there’s a wood stove? Minimalistic living may not include the monthly cost of propane. Sure, free yourself from powerdraining espresso machines, but hang onto your middle school math to calculate kilowatt hours your batteries will hopefully pro

Shook

This dramatic tale is centered around a legendary mountaineering guide, David Hahn, of Taos, who was caught in a massive earthquake that shook Mount Everest in 2015. Hahn prayed and stayed calm. He had climbed mountains around the world, led 21 expeditions to the top of Denali in Alaska, and summited Everest fifteen times. He was with the expedition that found the body of George Mallory, who may have been the first to summit Everest in 1924. In 2015, Hahn’s Everest team was camped at 19,000 feet between two deep crevasses below a tower of ice when the 7.8 earthquake struck in rolling waves. Avalanches roared all around while they huddled in their tents. They were lucky to survive but shocked to learn Base Camp was decimated by a blast of ice-laden air that killed 19 people. Hahn helped supervise the evacuation of 140 people, the largest high-altitude rescue in history. The book includes photos, interviews, and vivid historical details. Bravo! By Jennifer Hull • www.unmpress.com 800-249-773

duce in winter. Can those aging solarvoltaic batteries charge enough by day to run your laptop? Is there a well? “Sponge-Bathed-AllWinter-Yurt-Man-North-Of-Taos” could be challenging for a Trump/Apocalypse Newbie. “Cleaning out your underwear drawer is an important step for living off the grid,” Márquez says. By Jes Márquez • www.amazon.com UtilitiesNearby@gmail.com