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Kaya Juda-Nelson & Tony Abeyta

Flickr user, Granger Meador

Kaya Juda-Nelson left Missoula for college in Boston, excited to leave. But when events brought her back to Montana, instead of finding herself lonely or bored, she found that silence and spacious views provided "company as well as solace." In Tony Abeyta's essay, "Tsankawi's Trail," the Navajo painter describes an ancient Pueblo village in New Mexico "where spirits of past and present parallel infinitely:"

"From this vantage point, I can see the whole pueblo world below and beyond. I see that serpentine River that emerges from a dark canyon to the north...The Navajo call this our glittering world...I grab a handful of those tiny transparent crystals from the powdery ashen trail at my feet. They are all gently strewn throughout this sunlit summit, all to contemplate - to arouse inspiration..."

(Broadcast: "Reflections West," 11/19/14. Listen weekly on the radio, Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m.)

Beth Anne Austein has been spinning tunes on the air (The Folk Show, Dancing With Tradition, Freeforms), as well as recording, editing and mixing audio for Montana Public Radio and Montana PBS, since the Clinton Administration. She’s jockeyed faders or "fixed it in post” for The Plant Detective; Listeners Bookstall; Fieldnotes; Musicians Spotlight; The Write Question; Storycorps; Selected Shorts; Bill Raoul’s music series; orchestral and chamber concerts; lecture series; news interviews; and outside producers’ programs about topics ranging from philosophy to ticks.
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