Editor's Letter

I read a story in the news recently in which a deer who had been trapped in a trash can lid, her leg suspended above the ground for months, delivered a fawn. During her entrapment, the doe learned to live on three legs, evading rescuers who hoped to free her. One day in early June, she emerged with her baby, both of them standing on all four legs. Since, she has begun to heal, and neighbors report that she is limping less and less.

What’s the lesson here? Is it an allegory on the ways in which the human world encroaches upon the natural one? Is it about the persistence of mothers? Or the adaptability of the spirit?

What strikes me is that somehow, things worked out, whether or not we saw it happen. The right tree or shrub to help her navigate her body out of the hard plastic, a dirty puddle to add slip, the grit and stamina of late pregnancy. It happened in a thousand tiny ways, but it all had to happen in the right way.

Convergence—the same forward motion that brought the right pieces together for that doe means that, somehow, we’re all sharing this space together now. This issue is about those same kinds of improbable journeys and nonlinear paths that bring us all to the places we inhabit.

I got to write about California Condors, an exceptional bird with a hopeful future, and all because of an out-of-office email reply I received, the lead itself is an unlikely journey. Mike McKenna writes about Idaho salmon, who both travel and have altered course in a big picture way, and April Neale introduces us to some of the newer faces of "Outdoor Idaho."

We’ve also got a beautiful look at Boise’s diverse variety of murals and, better yet, the humans who’ve made them happen. Look for a story by IdaHome intern Sophia Roemer too, who hopped in a VW bus and saw, among other things, some of the same murals.

Albert Frank Asker, the most knowledgeable man in Idaho when it comes to comics, has a fun story about, among other things, Tarzan’s journey through our state…or at least his creator’s.

Finally, we explore the Shoshone-Bannock Indian Festival with Arianna Creteau, which features a huge variety of culturally significant events, displays, and FUN! She’s also got an interview with Emma Bates, an incredible runner with strong Idaho ties.

Cherie Buckner-Webb is off this month, but she’ll be back in the next issue with her invaluable words. By the time we print, I will have just returned from the Oregon Coast, which I’m hoping is a straighter, gentler path.

Smooth sailing,

Heather Hamilton-Post

Editor-in-Chief