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A brief history of Letters from Home
Michael Wolcott had been writing a column for Flagstaff Live! for several years, and was also an encouraging voice for a number of other local and regional writers. In December 2007 he wrote in an email:
I…would like to generate a column that uses each of our voices….Our voices are representative, I think, of a certain cast of characters who’ve chosen to live on this great ocean of sedimentary rock, the high dry plateau we think of as home. We have lived in communes and in tents, in high-rises and vehicles….We have worked on the river, waited tables, opened business and made art here. We have acquired academic degrees and families here, fallen in love and had our hearts broken. And had them healed.
In 2008, Wolcott decided to give up the weekly deadline, and with Tony Norris pitched the idea of a rotating column to Flagstaff Live! editor, Ryan Heinsius. Tony dubbed the new column – which debuted on May 8, 2008 – Letter from Home.
By mid-2009, a group of five writers settled into regular rotation: Tony, plus Shonto Begay, Kate Watters, Jean Rukkila and Darcy Falk. This group remained the core of the column until the summer of 2012, when Kate decided to take some time off. At that time Laura Kelly joined the circle. In 2017 Margaret Erhart took Kate’s slot, and in 2018, after Jean Rukkila stopped writing regularly, Allison Gruber and Stacy Murison joined us. A few other writers have stepped in at various times, especially at the beginning: Peter Friederici, Scott Thybony, Rose Houk, Sue Norris, Jill Divine, and Megan Buchanan.
Thank you
Many thanks to Raechel Running for the use of her photograph (above) of the ranch house at the Grand Canyon Trust's Kane Ranch on the Arizona Strip, where some of us have spent time writing.
See more of Raechel's work at raechelrunning.com.
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