Uh Oh, Burning Bridges Plus The Letters to The Editor That Make Me Happy!

 July 3, 2026

   Some well meaning friends have cautioned me to beware of burning bridges in my bid to step down as editor of True West magazine. And you know what they say about burning bridges:

"The hardest thing in life is to know which bridges to cross and which to burn."

—Old Vaquero Saying

   And, I must admit, as the days tick down, when I feel the most vulnerable, I think of it this way.

Daily Whip Out: "Burning Bridges—Uh Oh"

   I absolutely love Shooting Back (letters to the editor), because it gives our readers a chance to, well, shoot back on the conversation. You know, like this:

   "As a career Country Music DJ, I appreciated Stuart Rosebrook's article, 'The Texas Outlaws Who Saved the West.' If I had one issue with the story, it's that the story left out the original 'cosmic cowboy,' Michael Martin Murphey. It was Murph who Willie saw performing for rednecks and hippies at the Armadillo World Headquarters that led him to change his image and take charge of the 'outlaw' movement in Country Music.

   "I love True West and always read it cover to cover. I appreciate the cover you did for Santa Fe Trail, the poetry book by Karla K. Morton and Alan Birkelbach. Michael Martin Murphey's CD, that was included in the book, was recorded in our Geneva Sky studio in the back of my barn during a cold day in January. At one point, I had to interrupt the recording session so Murph could help me with a mare that had just foaled on a patch of solid ice. That little filly is now a year and a half old and has become my pet."

—Orin Friesen, Geneva Sky Productions

Rocking Banjo Ranch, Benton, Kansas

   And, one more burning bridges quote for the road.

"Old Vaqueros All Lit Up!"

"May the bridges you burn light the way."

—Old Vaquero Saying