Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 12 CONTRIBUTORS CONTRIBUTORS CONTRIBUTORS Valerie Harms has edited this magazine since 2005 and says it is like throwing a party every season. A writer as well as editor, she is the author of 10 books and numerous articles. A graduate of Smith College, for seven years she was an editor at the National Audubon Society in New York City. She has taught writing and given workshops around the country, plus in Greece and Canada. In 1995 she moved to Montana to see wild animals in their habitats and explore the mountains and rivers. For more info see her Web site at www. valerieharms.com. Email queries to valerie@distinctlymontana.com. Robert Rath collects hyphens. Currently, he's an illustrator-designer-author-art director-dog walker living in Bozeman. He's illustrated many children's books, including the award-winning First Dog: Unleashed in the Montana Capitol, and Yellowstone's Hot Legends and Cool Myths. His clients include Lucasfilm, The History Channel, Scholastic Books, Farcountry Press and many others. He isn't allergic to anything, can't remember birthdays, likes to cook, can wiggle his ears, and hates writing bios. GIDDY-UP MONTANA PAGE 20 SUZANNE MILLER, a native of Butte, owns Dunrovin Research, a full-service guest ranch and equestrian club offering unique backcountry adventures on Tennessee Walking Horses. The installation of a web camera led SuzAnne to establish a cyber ranch. www.DaysAtDunrovin.com. GROWING A BIRD GARDEN PAGE 26 LIZ LARCOM writes about outdoor subjects for national, regional and state publications. In her spare time she scours the countryside for birds. FLOATING WITH KIDS PAGE 31 JOANNA POCOCK graduated with distinction from the Creative Writing Masters at Bath Spa University, England. She has writ- ten for the London Sunday Independent, Litro, Mslexia, 3:AM and Good Housekeeping in the UK. In the US. she has published work in The Nation and JSTOR Daily. She is currently exploring and writing about the American West. BAD COWBOY PAGE 34 LANDON Y. JONES is the author of William Clark and the Shaping of the West, The Essential Lewis and Clark, and Great Expecta- tions: America and the Baby Boom Generation. The latter coined the phrase "baby boomer" and was nominated for the American Book Award in Nonfiction. From 1989-97, Jones was the head editor of People magazine and launched Who Weekly, In Style, People en Espanol. In 2015 he received the Luce Award for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement from Time Inc. CAPTURING LITTLE BIG HORN PAGE 40 RAY CAVANAUGH is an East Coast city dweller who likes long walks, the great outdoors, short novels, and colorful characters. He's written for such publications as Celtic Life, The London Magazine, and USA Today. TALES OF THE BELGRADE BULL PAGE 44 M. MARK MILLER is a fifth generation Montanan who returned to the state in 2003 after a 40-year career as a newspaper reporter and journalism professor. A public speaker for Humani- ties Montana, he is the author of Adventures in Yellowstone: The Stories of Yellowstone and Macon's Perfect Shot. WILD WEST WORDS PAGE 48 Raised on a farm in northeastern Montana, CHRYSTI M. SMITH now wrangles words for her daily radio series, "Chrysti the Wordsmith," produced at KGLT-FM in Bozeman; it can be heard on public radio stations throughout Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and worldwide on Armed Forces Radio. http://wordsmithradio.org 'SHROOMS PAGE 50 CHEF JIM GRAY is a Missoula-based culinary instructor and food writer. He also teaches for the kitchen store chain Sur La Table in Scottsdale, Arizona. DRINKERS WITH A RUNNING PROBLEM PAGE 56 ERIK PETERSEN has been photographing life in Montana and around the world for more than a decade. He lives in the Shields Valley with his wife and two sons. His work can be found at www.erikpetersenphoto.com. MONTANA BASEBALL HISTORY PAGE 61 SKYLAR BROWNING is the editor of the Missoula Indepen- dent, Montana's alternative news weekly. His award-winning feature writing has involved everything from spending time at the state's only nudist colony to standing in the huddle with the local semi-pro football team. He's been honored by the Montana Newspaper Association and the Society of Professional Journalists, and received an NEA Fellowship in 2009. JEREMY ALLAN WATTERSON grew up on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation along the Hi-Line in Wolf Point. He has provided color for baseball games on KVCK radio. He is a member of the Society of American Baseball Research, and earned a degree in sociology from the University of Montana in Missoula. He has had photography, poetry and other co-authored baseball writing published in weekly newspapers and western Montana journals. Montana Baseball History is his first book. RAMBO GOES FISHING PAGE 64 KRISTEN BERUBE lives a crazy, laugh-filled life with her outdoorsman husband Remi and their three camo-clad children in Missoula, Montana. A graduate of Montana State University and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, she loves being a mom and enjoys hiking, fishing, and camping. Confessions of a Camo Queen: Living with an Outdoorsman is her first book. FRANK CONLEY PAGE 75 As a blacksmith and historian, LYNDEL MEIKLE has hammered out several stories for Distinctly Montana, on topics as wide-ranging as the best way to steal a cow, vinegar pie, and gambling in Montana in the 1850s. She is coauthor of the Speaking Ill of the Dead books and editor of Very Close to Trouble, the memoir of Montana's colorful trader, Johnny Grant. OUR ALEXIS PIKE

• Cover