A Dance With Strangers I Have Come to Love

 January 18, 2026

     At the end of the day, here is what I am after: What are the facts? What can we believe? And, finally, what can we love? And, as for the last one, I must say the quote at the end, down there, sums it up pretty well.

The cast and crew of "The Searchers"

on location

(courtesy of Warner Brothers)

   Thanks to the author Glenn Frankel who gave us permission to excerpt a chapter from his excellent book The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend, we have been getting crazy online traffic, some 250,000 shares just of the above photo. It has really struck a nerve. The feature is in the current issue, on the newsstand even as you read this.

   I am noodling a rugged vaquero whose flinty exterior conceals a kindly heart. . .

Daily Whip Out:

"A Loveable Rugged Vaquero On The Move"

   I'm enchanted with narrative boxes and sometimes they write themselves. . .

Daily Poach: "Fill In The Gaps"

      In the end, gallows humor rescued us all. . .

Daily Whip Out: "Viva Los Cuerudos!"

(Translation: Long live the Leather Guys! Which was slang for The Rurales back in the day)

   I'm also noodling a possible cover on this guy:

Daily Whip Out:

"Edward Fitzgeral Beale In The Field"

Last Light On Sugarloaf

"Sustained historical research is a dance with strangers I have come to love. . ."

—Ian McEwan, What We Can Know