Changing Woman Reaps The Wind And The Women's Book Gets The Green Light

 September 9, 2022

   I've always had a thing for this legendary woman.

 

Daily Whip Out:

"Changing Woman Reaps The Wind"

And I'm still noodling negative space.

Daily Whip Outs:

"The Empty Space Showcase"

Daily Whip Out:

"Negative Space Cowgirl #1"

Daily Whip Outs:

"Negative Space Cowgirl #2"

   The news just came in that we got the green light and we are going on press with a long gestating project.

Whole Lotta Love

   Back in 1994 I had it on my schedule to do one of my timeline books on "The Wild Women of The Wild West." I wrote a lengthy timeline and gathered a whole bunch of images for the project but then life got in the way, we bought a magazine, and two decades slipped by. When I finally got back to the concept I realized two things: the title had been poached to the point of oblivion and I really needed to team up with someone who has the chops to make it a true look at female history in the West, and, someone who is actually a female. There was only one person who fit that bill and here we are with the book that has been in the works for 28 years. 

Jana Bommersbach and I go back. In 1978 we shared an office on the second floor of the San Carlos Hotel where a motley crew of feisty journalists—and one cartoonist—worked at New Times Weekly. Billed as an alternative weekly, the paper catered to the hipster oriented counterculture then in full bloom. We had some fun and we won some prizes (Jana is the most awarded journalist in Arizona history).

That's Jana on far right, me in the hat.

Two of these cats are currently wearing

ankle bracelets.

   The project was not easy. Originally scheduled for 2021, the book got put on hold because of pandemic issues and then printing and paper shortage issues threatened to kill the book entirely. With a narrowing window this past summer, and with the herculean efforts of Stuart Rosebrook, Robert Ray, Dan Harshberger and Beth Deveny we managed to deliver the book and the October issue of the magazine to the printer on the same day, with minutes to spare.

Whew.

On press and ready to rock

    Jana and I dedicated this long overdue book to our mothers and our grandmothers, all of whom were instrumental in our love of history and our respect for Western women.

Our mothers and grandmothers get their due. Ain't that the sweetest?

"Good design is so simple, that's why it's so complicated."

—Paul Rand