A million years ago, I graduated Phi Beta Kappa in journalism and Latin American Studies (B.A., Colorado State University), and sometime after that, I finished a Master's degree in rhetorical studies (M.S., Montana State University). For the next three decades, I worked as a magazine journalist, college educator, and adult curriculum developer, selling freelance fiction and nonfiction along the way. Both innate (Onötowáʼka: Seneca) and inculcated devotion to the literary, environmental, and cultural conflicts, identities, and dreams of the American West have shaped my life and my career. I have lived in seven U.S. states, Mexico, Colombia, and Costa Rica. I don't do favorites.