News from rural America.

This week, we talk about the upcoming midterm elections — what they mean for rural America, and what primaries might tell us about how rural voters could shift the results. Then, Daily Yonder reporter Anya Petrone Slepyan takes us to the Gay Rodeo in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where men and women compete in the same events — even bull riding. We hear from bull rider Emma Treu about what fearlessness means to her, and we ask what we all want to know: what does it feel like to ride a bull? Lotus-Porte Moyel with the Youth Voices program at the University of Montana tells us how she is working with rural and Indigenous high school students to report on and tell stories about their communities. And we hear one of those stories from students at Bigfork High School. Our featured musical guest this week is Leah Grams Johnson.

TRANSCRIPT

This week on Yonder Radio, rural conversations with National Reach gather around the proverbial campfire as we talk about the upcoming midterm elections, what they mean for rural America and what primaries might tell us about how rural voters could shift the results.

Then, Daily Yonder reporter Anya Patron-Slepian takes us to the Gay Rodeo in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where men and women compete in the same events, even bull riding.

And we hear from bull rider Emma True about the fearlessness that it takes to do what she does.

And we ask what we all want to know.

What does it feel like to ride a bull?

Lotus Portmoyle with the Youth Voices Program at the University of Montana tells us how she is working with rural and indigenous high school students to report on and tell stories about their communities.

And we hear one of those stories from students at Big Fork High School.

Our featured musical guest this week is Leah Graham Johnson.

And there's trivia and news and you with us on Yonder Radio.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yonder Radio, Rural Conversations with National Reach.

Hello, my name is Jared Ewi.

Welcome to the program.

And coming up for you, just, you know, us on the porch here, swapping stories.

I'm going to hear from a bull rider who is also one of the greatest, most casual philosophers I've ever heard.

She is on the way.

And if you're wondering if the kids are all right, they are, as going to be demonstrated by the young people from the Montana Media Lab, doing a news story.

But before we get to all that, we saw a big turnout from rural voters in primary elections earlier this year.

And we know that the rural vote makes big differences in elections across the country.

Here to talk about the implications of the upcoming midterm elections for rural America, we have Madeline DeFigueredo and Sarah Mallott.

I guess just starting with you, Madeline, what was the headline of the 2026 primaries?

I think the headline we kept seeing over and over was the term record-breaking.

That was a phrase that was used to describe turnout across the country, including in rural communities.

I can take us first to Texas, which is a state that I have been watching closely, where we saw the highest primary midterm turnout rate in decades.

And it even leapfrogged the 2024 and 2020 presidential primary.

We're seeing that surge carry into rural communities.

And the really cool thing about Texas was that rural voters actually led the charge on turnout in the primaries compared to other demographic groups.

Overall turnout statewide was roughly 23.8 percent, and we saw rural voter turnout exceed 26 percent.

And this is a trend that has extended to many of the states that we've been covering.

And Sarah, this is happening despite some of what you've seen with mail ballots and maybe some confusion and some other bureaucratic obstacles that might keep people from turning out.

That's right.

Yeah, we're seeing a lot of chaos surrounding this election around whether or not mail-in ballots are going to count with Trump's attempted to restrict mail-in ballots and mail-in voting.

Yet at the same time, in my home state of North Carolina, just like in Texas, we saw record-breaking turnout again.

Turnout in the Democratic primary was up 33% compared to 2022.

Nearly 82% of all of North Carolina's non-metropolitan or rural counties saw an increase in turnout in the Democratic primary compared to, again, 2022.

I think that this kind of surge in turnout is a trend that we see pretty universally.

This is something that is extended in the Midwest, in Minnesota, in Wisconsin, and Ohio.

And we've seen in many of these states, just like North Carolina, Democratic primary turnout has been exceeding the rate of Republican turnout in Ohio.

The Ohio Signal, a local paper there, did a great analysis that showed how that unaffiliated voters are lean Democratic in the primary and that the rate of Democratic voter turnout exceeded that of the registered Republican voter turnout.

Now, Sarah, you live in data.

Is there anything that has surprised you?

Are there trends that you're seeing here that you think will be playing out into the general election with what you've seen?

It's really hard to say how this might play out in the general election.

There's been some speculation that we might see a blue wave.

It's sort of hard to tell what's going to happen based on primary data, primary outcomes, what the carryover is going to be into the general election, we are seeing record-breaking turnout numbers that are even different than previous primaries.

And so we are seeing differences, not just in like high-profile races, but in other races across the country that there's just been record-breaking Democratic turnout, even in rural counties.

Well, we have other states that you looked at too, Alaska, Maine, Iowa, anything that either of you saw in these states that support current trends or did they buck trends at all?

I think there's something to be said about some of the predominant narratives about rural voters and their lean towards conservatism.

I think that's a trend that we are maybe seeing challenged or the narrative that we're seeing challenged in this election.

Going back to Ohio and the Ohio Signals reporting, of the five counties with the lowest percentage of Republican turnout, four of them were rural counties.

And similarly, in Michigan, when we looked at the Democratic primary, we had two candidates, U.S.

Rep Haley Stevens and Abdullah Seyed, who represented really different sides or really different points in the Democratic Party spectrum.

And Haley Stevens, in many polls, was projected to win rural counties in Michigan by a margin of upwards of 10 points.

What we saw in the data was that Abdullah Seyed actually ended up leading rural counties by half a point.

And so there are a lot of moments that are giving us new information about how rural voters are engaging with this round of elections.

And as a data person, Sarah Mallott, you have the biweekly newsletter I know that comes out with a daily yonder.

Do you like seeing that there's surprises?

It's definitely exciting.

I have been reporting on rural elections for four or five years now here at the Daily Yonder, and I don't think that I've seen anything like this so far.

And so this is really exciting to be surprised by the data.

And Madeline, about you, you know, you and I have shared stories that you have done as you've been on the ground across America, you know, talking to people.

Have you had a chance to, you know, talk to people who were maybe part of these trends and understand why?

Yeah, I think one thing that I've heard a lot in talking with rural folks across the country is that And while there are a lot of eyes on these national races for U.S.

Senate and Congress and even governor, a lot of rural communities are really focused on their local elections and how county commissioners and school board members and library board members can be kind of the critical first responders to a lot of the national policies that are shaping rural experiences today.

And so while a lot of these larger elections are very like sexy and attention worthy, there are, I think, a lot of rural voters who are channeling their energy, resources, and attention to the local election landscape as well.

Well, I love this coverage.

What's on your to-do list, Sarah Millat, as far as following the data as we get closer to the general?

In the days following that election, we're going to be scrambling to analyze the data as quickly as possible so that we can get on the radio hour and we can get some stories up on the Daily Yonder, kind of analyzing what we see.

Well, I'm an absolute political dork and love the numbers, love seeing the reporting.

And I think people in communities across the country probably appreciate that they're getting talked about, that the discussion includes them for once.

I think sometimes a lot of people in rural counties feel like maybe they're being overlooked.

Madeline, are you seeing that rural counties are feeling like, hey, we're a part of this conversation?

And I'm wondering, Like, does the phrase data center come up in any of those conversations?

The Wisconsin gubernatorial election was actually a little bit of a glimpse into the role of data centers, not to extrapolate causation out of everything.

But one thing that was interesting was that there were two candidates, David Crawley and Francesca Hong, and Hong really campaigned on a data moratorium platform.

And so in our analysis, we polled rural counties.

And then we also took a closer look at counties that had a history of data center development to see if they were voting in favor of candidates that were more outspoken against data centers.

And that was actually not a trend that we found.

So it's kind of begged some questions about what are the issues that are underlying people's voting behavior.

And I think there's still a lot of questions around that for us as a daily honor to explore.

Thank you, Madeline DeFigueredo, for stomping by and Sarah Mallott.

We greatly appreciate this and look forward to more.

Thanks for having us.

Thank you, Jared.

That was Daily Yonder reporters Madeline Figueredo and Sarah Mallott.

Follow along with their rural politics coverage at dailyyonder.com.

And now our featured musician this week is Leah Grams Johnson.

Leah hails from, as she describes it, the rugged coast of Northern California.

Now she spends her time writing songs in Nashville and heading back west to sing those songs.

Her first album, State of Grace, is out now, and we talked to her about her NorCal roots, her moving performances, and songwriting styles.

Here's Leah.

Back to the sun, midday.

Something I was just thinking about, if you're from Northern California and the Beach Boys are singing about California girls, they're not singing about you, or are they?

Or is it just altogether insulting?

That's a great question.

No, they're definitely not singing about Northern California.

It's very, you know, you're wearing your overalls and some plaid, and the coast is cold.

You wear a sweatshirt, a hoodie, several layers, actually.

Yeah, it's like Ewok forests up there.

It's magical to me.

It's really magical.

And I think that, you know, it's been a long time now since I've lived on the West Coast, but I still tell people, yeah, that's where I'm from.

I was born and raised in Northern California.

I usually just say I was raised by hippies in the forest, in the Redwood Forest.

That is quite a differentiator.

It sounds very intriguing.

Okay, so you have this quote that I've read from you that says you're a child of the West, but a student of the South.

What are some of the lessons the South has taught you?

The value of storytelling is unique in this region.

And as a songwriter, that's one of the things that drew me here was the history and the richness and the value of storytelling.

The South has been where I've grown up when I first moved here.

I was 21.

Sure, that's technically an adult, but.

Yeah, there's a lot of growing to do, especially in the music business.

Oh, most definitely.

I have said I've lived in Nashville now for a long time.

I have said that I have lived six lives. as a cat in Nashville.

There's been a lot of seasons of life and growing up.

We have this album now, State of Grace.

So are these the stories that your life has inspired, this being in the South has taught you to tell?

The album, I feel like, really spans a lot of different regions.

But I think that the emphasis on storytelling that the album really embodies was certainly influenced by my time spent so far out here in Middle Tennessee.

The album itself, I'd say it's about 50% fictional.

I like to use storytelling and songwriting as an exercise in empathy and putting myself in someone else's shoes.

I think that is very interesting to me personally.

You see that happening in a performance of you singing Dust Bowl because here you're using this capability of empathy to sing about, I believe, sing about someone else working in these conditions.

Dust bowl on the brink Whole cup from a dream Walking in the night Tense land up, river trail But then you connect with the audience because at the very end of that performance, there's this dude that growls, wow.

Have you heard that?

Did you hear that while you were up there?

If I didn't hear it while I was up there, I did hear it afterwards in that video.

Wow.

Thank you.

I think that's the whole hope and intention of going out to perform is you want to move someone.

And if you don't move someone else, hopefully you at least moved yourself.

Dust to bare feet Steady hands, mouths to feed Maria Weaves This song, Maria Weaves, this seems like you're doing a lot of work here along those lines, sharing this story.

Tell us the story of the song Maria Weaves.

So that song came about from a very unexpected gift that I received in the mail one day from a dear friend of mine.

She sent me this 100-year-old Mexican serape, this really beautiful, colorful woven blanket that had been in her family for several generations.

I thought that it would be a good way to show my gratitude by writing about who I would imagine had woven that blanket.

Red and gold, blue and green, brightest colors that you ever seen.

A woman's love and her undone dreams all in the seams.

And so that was just a chance then kind of like a diving board into the depth of telling women's stories in general. and that's a theme throughout this album.

My sister calls it a very feminist record.

I don't know that that wasn't necessarily intentional but I think when you get into more of the unsung heroes stories there's a lot to say.

I mean you're building up to this.

You go to the Berklee College of Music.

You're at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation.

What do you come away with with the education side of the music?

Was the focus an album one day or as a musician What was that?

Definitely an album one day and hopefully more than one.

It's a lifelong path for me.

And even though I do feel like I'm a bit of a late bloomer, that things can take me quite a bit of time.

I think one of the best things that I learned from those educational periods was a sense of devotion.

A sense of devotion to my craft and reverence and commitment that even if it takes a long time, I'm still walking this path.

Well, Leah Graves Johnson, it's been great to talk to you.

I've learned so much just in your authenticity and listening to your music.

And what's next?

What's happening next?

Is that too much pressure to ask that?

You seem really chill right now.

I don't want to put pressure on you.

Not at all.

This has been a wonderful conversation.

Currently, I'm in the throes of my first very small Kickstarter in order to make vinyl and some nice quality merch from this album.

That's all in service of supporting me better on tour next year.

I'll most likely be back out basing myself in the West next summer to sing as much as I possibly can.

Well, her album is State of Grace, And she is Leah Grahams Johnson.

Leah with an H, G-R-A-M-S, johnsonwithanh.com.

And it's been awesome talking to you.

What a great story.

And you have an incredible sound.

Thank you.

Little red pickup truck.

Running on a streak of luck.

And now it's time for our first trivia clue.

This historical event resulted in the executions of 20 people, all of whom were later exonerated.

Oh, we're sorry about that.

You've been exonerated.

More clues coming up on the ridiculousness of that first clue as we get to the answer throughout the show.

Also on the way, going to be talking to this bull rider who's this incredible casual philosopher.

That's coming up on Yonder Radio. music plays Thank you.

Yonder Radio, Rural Conversations with National Reach.

Hello, Jared Ewe here.

And you might be like me and ask yourself, why would you strap yourself to an animal that weighs, I don't know, 10 times you and maybe wants you less alive than you are?

Well, we're going to find out when we talk to a bull rider.

She is coming up, but first now, Jan Patalski, news editor for the Daily Yonder.

What is going on in rural America, Jan?

Hi, Jared.

This week we kick off with High Country News and their story on the upcoming vote in Colorado.

Colorado will vote in November whether they want to amend the Constitution and codify the right to hunt and fish.

It's the Amendment 83, backed by an out-of-state interest group.

It's causing a little bit of division among the community, both hunters and non-hunters alike.

What they want to accomplish with this ballot is to designate hunting and fishing as Colorado's quote-unquote preferred means of wildlife management. as well as establish Coloradans' right to hunt and fish using quote-unquote traditional methods.

The problem being traditional methods being incredibly vaguely defined.

So you can hunt a deer with a flaming catapult?

At the crux of the controversy are issues like who actually should decide about the science of preservation.

Some folks are pointing to potential for lawsuits because of the vagueness of the language.

On the opposite end, some folks say that the vague language could actually neuter the amendment.

And last but not least, people within the state are concerned about outsiders influencing state policy.

Well, from Grist, Trump just effectively killed a popular solar energy program for rural America.

What are the details on this?

Yes, the U.S.

Department of Agriculture announced changes to one of their long-running programs that were designed to help farmers and rural small businesses basically set up their solar panels, their renewable energy projects.

What is this looking like on the ground?

The new rules that went into effect on October 16th of this year make solar-powered development ineligible for funding through what is called a REAP program, Rural Energy for America program.

Now, that program has been long established and for a long time provided financial support to all those who are interested in building out those renewable energy systems on their land.

I mean, there seems to be some benefits to solar.

Has that been taken into account?

Yes.

So because of all the hardships and difficulties facing especially smaller scale farmers across America, those renewable energy systems can help lower utility bills.

They can also allow them to sell the excess energy back to the grid.

It feels like we've talked about this before.

Like this has been in the news.

Trump's administration has been going after that specific program for a while now.

We are witnessing a lawsuit.

The Iowa Farmers Union is one of many plaintiffs in that lawsuit that was filed just last month.

That one addressing previous changes made to the program back in August of 2025, following an executive order that was essentially designed to neuter the program in the first place all the way back then.

Well, thank you so much, Jan Patalski, Daily Yonder news editor there.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thank you, Jared.

Now, if you grew up in rural America, there's a good chance you've been to a rodeo at least once.

And if you're like me, you've been to many and you were cattle prodded one time by an angry old man.

And that still myths me to this day.

But now we're putting on our cowboy hats and settling up for a story from Daily Yonder reporter Anya Patron Slepian.

Gay rodeos have been around for 50 years.

And to celebrate, Anya attended the Zia Rodeo in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Here's that story.

On a hot morning in late August, 18-year-old Kenzie Garcia climbed into a metal chute containing a steer, which is a castrated bull.

She was nervous, but determined to improve her skills as a shoot dogger or steer wrestler, one of the rough stock events common to pro and amateur rodeos.

And she was getting plenty of advice.

Remember, you've got to keep your feet.

You're letting your feet get behind you.

Keep your feet with it.

Don't assume what's going to happen.

Take it slow.

Take it slow and keep you slow.

Go ahead.

Go over.

I'll be right here.

Get its nose out.

Pull its nose out.

The goal of shoot-dogging is to walk a steer 10 feet to a line in the arena, and then wrestle it to the ground.

The fastest time to get the steer on the ground, with all four legs pointed in the same direction, wins.

At this practice session, the day before the real rodeo competition began, Kenzie successfully took down her steer for the first time.

Go!

Keep your feet!

Keep your feet!

You got it, though.

Come on, Kenzie.

Come on, come on.

There you go!

Over the shoulder!

There you go, baby!

Over here!

Yes!

She was still out of breath when I talked to her after her triumphant practice run.

I've been to four rodeos.

I've been working really hard to shoot dog and get my steer down, and today was the first day I was able to do that, so it feels great.

At most rodeos, shoot dogging and other rough stock events are only for men, while women traditionally compete in timed horseback events like barrel racing and pole bending.

But the 34th annual Zia Rodeo in Santa Fe, New Mexico has different rules.

That's because it's put on by the New Mexico Gay Rodeo Association and is part of the International Gay Rodeo Association circuit.

At gay rodeos, men and women compete on equal footing in all events, including rough stock and timed events, as well as special camp events unique to the gay rodeo circuit.

This rodeo is so good at including everybody, no matter who you are, where you come from, what you look like.

And even just being a woman in this, it's so different.

It makes you feel really strong.

For years, Kenzie has accompanied her mother to gay rodeos around the country.

Now, she's finally old enough to compete.

The first gay rodeo was held in Reno, Nevada in 1976 as a fundraiser for a nursing home. 50 years later, gay rodeo has its own association and competition circuit with hundreds of regular competitors and several thousand members, according to Brian Helander, president of the International Gay Rodeo Association.

He began his own rodeo journey two years ago.

I really got started like many people in our association.

I went to a rodeo and I liked what I saw.

I felt I could find a community there and I did.

Since he began competing in 1995, Helander has seen significant changes on the circuit.

The HIV pandemic caused devastating losses among the gay rodeo community, as it did in LGBTQ communities around the world.

Prior to the newer medications.

We lost a lot of our competitors and our officials and our administration people also.

The IGRA responded by raising hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to support those diagnosed with HIV and AIDS.

Now, according to Helander, the community has rebuilt itself, with philanthropic efforts extending to issues like women's health and benefiting local organizations, gay and otherwise.

We've spent the last 10 or 15 years recovering from that, and we have recovered from that.

We have a tremendous interest in gay rodeo these days.

Brian Contrato is one of the younger members helping to grow the circuit.

Now in his third year as a competitor, he says he's drawn by the opportunity to learn from older participants.

Grapping it up in this historical association that's like 50 years old, that survived AIDS, that's got old gay guys in dykes that ride horses and have stories going back to the 90s that they'll regale you with.

You know, like intergenerational access to poor people of all ages.

I think that's even special in its own right.

You don't get that in a lot of spaces.

Contrato competes primarily in rough stock events, including bull riding, steer riding, and shoot dogging.

And camp events like goat dressing and wild drag race.

He takes the competition seriously, especially bull riding.

This is Brian Contrato.

This is your final bull rider.

He's going to world finals to represent the Texas Gay Rodeo Association.

That's who he rides for out of Austin, Texas.

Contrato rode his first bull a couple of years ago, at a time when he was struggling with depression.

He found that the physical intensity of being on a bucking bull helped him reconnect with his body, and he became hooked on the challenge and excitement of the sport.

That feeling is intoxicating.

It's fun to do something that's difficult, but feel like you can get better.

And every time it's a little bit less scary, feel like a little bit more like you know what's going on.

You can use your brain, use your muscle memory.

And it just sounds impossible, right?

You're just like, okay, I'm 30-something years old, and I could just start bull riding, but that's what I did.

And I mean, I think that's pretty cool.

At the Zia Rodeo, Contrato covered a bowl for the first time, meaning he stayed on for the full eight seconds.

He was excited about winning his first individual belt buckle, but said the most meaningful part was sharing his experience with his close friends who he met on the circuit.

It's individual sport in some sense, but it's nice to share those moments of just like complete overwhelming joy with people that have been with you through some of the hard things that make doing this meaningful.

Gay rodeos are competitive sporting events with devoted participants and spectators, but the sense of community and camaraderie, especially among direct competitors, is tangible.

All right, there's your final cowboy, Harry, out of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

There you go, Harry.

Come on!

Being announced there was rodeo newcomer Harry Children, who drove five hours from Colorado Springs to compete.

It's only his second rodeo, but he already feels like he's part of the community.

I've been to plenty of rodeos, the big PRCA rodeos, and they're a lot of fun, but everyone fits their archetype and everyone wants to act a certain way.

Everyone wants to look a certain way.

If you don't wear the right thing, people always can tell you're an outsider and you just don't see that here.

It's very freeing to be able to come to a rodeo and it's truly rodeo without the expectations.

Harry pulls a 9.85.

All right, we're going to shift the arena just a little bit.

On the first day of competition, the day after she dogged her first steer in a practice round, Kenzie couldn't get the steer to the ground.

But she came back ready to compete on the second day with her family and friends there to support her.

Here we go.

Come on, Kenzie.

You got this, girl.

We're ready for you.

Crowd is behind her.

Fellow contestants are cheering her on like crazy.

Come on, Kenzie.

You got this.

You got it.

Nice and easy.

Go, go, go.

Yes!

It took her just four seconds, the fastest time of the day among women, which earned her her first prize buckle of her own.

The audience cheered, but the other competitors, dressed head to toe in their own rodeo gear, waiting their turn to wrestle a steer, they really went wild.

My whole rodeo family screamed at the top of their lungs for me.

It was the best feeling ever just knowing you have so much support and love around you and people who want to see you succeed in something you're passionate about.

This week, you can celebrate 50 years of gay rodeo at the World Gay Rodeo Finals in El Reno, Oklahoma.

For Yonder Radio, I'm Anya Petron-Slepian in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

We're going to have more from Anya and the Zia Rodeo coming up in a couple minutes, But first, we've got another song from Leah Graham's Johnson titled Ride from her debut album, State of Grace.

I left my horse to stand beside the singing stream.

I looked him in the eye, said, oh, please, God, wait for me.

I left my horse and walked into the darkest thicket.

Something unseen came over me And I chose to follow it guitar solo Clearing in the woods That was Ride by Leah Graham's Johnson.

Hear more of her music at leagrahamshonson.com And Leah is with an H, L-E-A-H.

And now we're going to trot back to the gay rodeo to talk to bull rider Emma True about what we all want to know.

What does it feel like to ride a bull?

Currently a farmhand in Texas, Emma True is one of the top female bull riders on the gay rodeo circuit.

Daily Yonder reporter Anya Patron Slepian sat down with her just a few days before the Zia Rodeo, where Emma was matched against Dopey the Bull.

To the tune of what else?

Girls just want to have fun.

Hey buddy, let's do this!

Let's go, Caldwell!

You got this!

Emma True coming up next, everybody.

She's going to be riding dopey.

How do you get into bull riding?

What is it like to get on a bull for the first time?

I guess the reason I did it is when I was a kid, I always, you know, one of the things bull riders do is very embarrassing, but I'm just going to be honest with it.

We walk around in our gear the entire rodeo.

We're going to have our spurs on, our chaps on.

We could take those off, but we don't.

We choose not to.

We want everybody to see us.

And so when I was a kid, I'd see these bull riders walking around in their gear clinking, you know, all of that.

And the big thing I saw in them was like fearlessness.

Like I was like, these guys are not scared of anything.

And then I came to a point in my life where I was experiencing immense fear.

And I kind of went back and was able to redefine who I was in that moment.

Everybody tells you you can be whatever you want to be.

And then you grow up and you're like, oh, no, you can't the world.

And then you turn 30 and it hits again.

And then you're like, no, I really can.

I got to put in the work.

My big thing was pulling what I liked out of the people that I looked up to.

And bull riders were the ones.

Like, I was like, these people are fearless.

They're not scared.

Right now I'm scared.

I want to be fearless.

And so I signed up to ride steers at first because steers are castrated bulls.

So they're a little less mean, a little less testosterone.

The first time I got up there, I looked down at that steer and I was just shaking.

And I was like, I can't do this.

Like, this is terrifying.

I am scared.

I remember distinctly turning to the cowboy next to me and I said, hey man, I'm genuinely afraid.

Is this safe for me to do?

And he had this big plug of chew in his mouth and he spit and he said, I'm scared every time.

It all clicked for me.

I was admiring this fearlessness that doesn't exist or it does exist, but fearlessness is not not being afraid.

Fearlessness Like it's the most living I've done in hopefully eight seconds.

It doesn't always make it to eight seconds, but you're fully present, fully there.

Yeah.

And, and it, it's like nothing else.

Can you describe any more of the feelings either emotionally or physically while you're on a ball?

You stand up there in the chute.

It's pretty loud.

You know, they're typically playing a free bird or something like something.

You know, you hear the crowd.

And then as soon as you slide, slide down onto that animal, it goes quiet.

And the one thing that you that I hear is my heart beating against my chest and that animal breathing.

So I really try to listen to his breath so that I can kind of match that.

It's not riding a bull.

It's dancing with him.

I'm not in control at all and I think that's another reason I love it so much I get to let go when that left shoulder dips I'm going to slide my left hip down my hand's going to go behind my head following his lead and being able to create something beautiful when you hit that the only way I can describe it is the world makes sense like you you hit that one moment and oftentimes it is a fraction of a second where you sync up with one of the most powerful animals in the world and it's like yeah that's pretty cool do you have any sort of routine to prepare yourself before you ride yeah i try to thank people for coming out just thank every vendor walk around put on all my gear i do my left shoe before my right shoe i zip the vest once unzip twice zip once it's there's a lot of superstition a lot of superstition and i ride with the queen of hearts in my pocket why are the queen of hearts princess die i know that sounds silly but they called her the you know the queen of hearts and she's everything I wanted to be as in a person you know she went out there and did it she didn't just say she was I also have a little bit of a reputation at some right so maybe lean into that lean into that a little bit fair enough tell me a little bit more about the IGRA and about the community that's there I was introduced to IGRA at a pride event in Santa cafe I was wearing a felt Stetson in June which is like big cowboy no-no like your felt comes on first frost you don't wear a felt hat but I had just got the felt and I was really excited and I also spent six hundred dollars on a hat and I'm gonna wear a six hundred dollar hat whenever I want so I was wearing this cowboy hat and Brian Helander the president of the organization came up to me and he was like hey have you ever thought about competing in rodeo and I was like I don't have an animal.

And he's like, it is not the kind of rodeo you're thinking of.

This is so inclusive, so welcoming.

And so that year I went and I saw what it was.

And I was like, I'm doing this next year.

I've met my family through that people that are genuinely my family.

And what I really love about it as well, there are so many diverse people.

And I mean, politically, religiously, race, of course, but like my entire life I've existed in the gray.

I've been too much of this for one group, too much of that for another group.

And when I found these people, I was accepted wholeheartedly for who I was.

And they pushed me and helped me.

I don't know how to describe it.

Family doesn't even seem like the right word.

Like they're home.

Those people are home.

You've said yourself that bull riding isn't the smartest thing in the world to do, but has it given you any wisdom to share understanding the difference between grit and spite doing something because you're gritty and doing something because you're spiteful i think i started this journey because i wanted to prove that women could ride bulls and that's not what it's about anymore do things for yourself not because you hate others or you have something to prove it's free Yo, this cowgirl, let her hear it, everyone.

You came to see a Santa Fe cowgirl ride a bull.

Let's send her to World Finals.

Come on, Emma.

Yeah!

Come on, Emma True.

That was Daily Yonder reporter Anya Patron-Slepian talking with bull rider Emma True.

I could hear her talk all day.

For more stories on the Gay Rodeo, you can visit dailyyonder.com slash yonderradio.

And now it's time for our second trivia clue.

When we last left off, there was 20 people killed, and then they were exonerated after they were executed.

Here's the second clue.

A Massachusetts museum telling the story of this centuries-old historical tragedy attracts more than 300,000 visitors every year.

On the way, we're going to find out the kids are indeed all right.

That's coming up on Yonder Radio. guitar solo guitar solo The Yonder Radio Rural Conversations with National Reach, and we're about to get some help from the youths.

The youths are reporting, and they put together a story for us, and that comes from the Youth Voices Program run by Lotus Port Moyle at the University of Montana.

That's where they train mostly rural and indigenous high school students to report and tell stories about their communities.

Maybe we're a bit biased here at Yonder Radio, But it's hard to think of a better mission.

Well, here you are.

You are running the Youth Voices Program at the University of Montana.

What exactly is this program?

The Youth Voices Program is actually through another program called the Montana Media Lab, which is Audio Storytelling Center through the University of Montana School of Journalism.

And our Youth Voices Program is our educational program where we design and then bring audio journalism and journalism workshops into rural and indigenous areas around Montana, mostly with high schoolers and in high schools to report stories that are important to them in the towns that they live.

What motivates you when you are working with these students?

When I was in high school, I think the summer after my junior year, I did a summer bridge program with Maps Media Institute.

And that's a filmmaking youth program in Montana, also working with rural and indigenous students around the state.

And I did a program with them where we made a documentary in a week.

And I was like, this is so fun.

We got to go in the art, the B archives and look through old newspapers and interview people and also be interviewed ourselves.

And I really loved how hands-on it was.

It felt really cool as a young person to be able to work with other young people and have the tools to tell stories.

And so that's why I do it.

And that's why I went to journalism school and now I'm teaching it.

Well, why is it important to teach these students about journalism and storytelling?

I think what we try to bring across and work with the students we work with on is just the media landscape, how complicated it is in the world we are in right now, especially for young people to navigate because a lot of young people have social media and are coming of age in the age of AI and maybe seeing daily news.

If they have a publication where they live, maybe not.

And so it can be really confusing and complicated to dissect what everything means and what's true and what's not true.

And then also understanding that the stories that are important to you and the stories in your own community are really important for the public to hear and know about.

It's important for youth to know that the landscape they're in, yes, is complicated.

And also that they have a place in it with that teaching about the ethics of journalism and how to be an active listener and how to connect with the people in your community in a responsible and respectful way. there a story that sticks out to you where you saw that like oh they're getting it oh definitely I mean every time that we go and do a workshop I feel that way there's always like a moment at least with one student where I'm like oh wow they're so into taking portrait photos of this interviewee or they want to now they want to keep interviewing this person after we're there but a specific example is this summer we went up to Browning which is the tribal headquarters for the Blackfeet Nation.

We worked with a group of high schoolers up there.

We did our first paid apprenticeship journalism program.

So they were all paid and reported for a week on the tribal elections.

At the end of the week, after the students had interviewed all of the candidates, we had a little celebration for their families and people from the town to come and listen to little audio clips of the interviews that they had done and talk about.

One of the family members of the students came up with their student to our team at the end and was like, I think listening And so the interviews and the reporting that these students did made me change my mind about who I'm going to vote for in the tribal election.

And that felt really cool to be like, oh, some person thought that this reporting was so impactful that it changed their mind about an election.

Yeah, look at you, young person.

You just moved a community.

Yeah.

What kind of transformations are you seeing take place with the people in your program?

We're not necessarily looking for students to want to come out being a full-time journalist or being the ones who are the watchdog for the community constantly, because that's a lot to ask of a high schooler.

But I always get really excited when I see one or a few students who you can kind of see the spark of excitement in their energy when we're working with them.

Our big goal is to show students that the stories that are important to them in their communities and the stories of where they live are important for everybody to hear and that they're worth telling.

And that's like the stories that they're going to tell, have the possibility to make an impact on their community and the public more broadly to learn about those places and the people that are there.

This is incredible.

Youth Voices Program Coordinator, Lotus Portmoyle.

Thank you so much for stopping by Yonder Radio.

Thank you for having me.

That was Lotus Portmoyle with the Youth Voices Program at the University of Montana.

Not everyone we interview, we're going to immediately have them demonstrate what they talked about.

But it comes in handy when you have the talent available at the Montana Media Lab, because now we're going to hear a story produced by the students themselves.

Students at Big Fork High School bring us to Flathead Lake, where declining water levels are affecting business owners along the shoreline.

Summer water levels at Flathead Lake have lowered in recent years.

Big Fork High School journalists talked with business owners and community members about how the lake levels impact their town located on the shores of the lake.

Rebecca King is the Executive Director of the Big Fork Chamber of Commerce.

Fun fact, I took my first job in Big Fork because I lived in Lakeside and I could drive my boat to work.

People live in Montana and the Flathead Valley because of the untouched nature, the pristine wilderness, and the lake levels are part of that.

According to King, businesses, including restaurants, marinas, and rental companies, all rely on visitors who recreate on Flathead Lake and the rivers that feed into it.

Lake levels affect many of those businesses.

Tourism drives much of the local economy.

King says most of these businesses are locally owned.

We really are fortunate to have very small businesses and a very small business-minded community.

I can't think of one business with a storefront in Big Park that I don't know the owner of, personally.

It's not some corporate conglomerate somewhere.

Flathead Lake levels are controlled in part by dams.

The Salish Kanonska Kalips Bay Dam is owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

Dam operators influence lake levels by determining how much water spills over the dam and out of the lake.

Brian Lipscomb is the Chief Executive Officer of Energy Keepers, the tribal company that has run dam operations since 2015.

I'm the CEO for Energy Keepers, and we, of course, manage the facility Salish Kassan Kakelas Bell Hydroelectric Project.

And that project controls the top 10 feet of Flathead Lake.

So as we use that 1.2 million acre feet of storage in the reservoir to generate electricity, the lake will go up and down depending on hydrologic conditions.

He says operators make decisions that impact lake levels, but the impact is limited.

The trend of warming temperatures and unpredictable weather have made it harder to manage lake levels.

And there just hasn't been as much water available to fill the lake.

So this is the yearly volume over the last 30 years.

If you look right here, we've just ended three of the worst water supply years in the history of the entire record.

And what's important to note is that there's three in a row.

Never has that happened when you look back over time.

Lipscomb says the entire system that delivers water to the lake has changed in recent decades.

Over the last 30 years, the region's winter weather has become warmer.

That means there's less snow melting off the mountains in the spring and more rain falling in the valley throughout the winter.

Lipscomb says that the change as part of why Flathead Lake has been lower in the summer.

Compared to what I experienced as a teenager, and that's 45 years ago now, What I was experiencing and growing up with was a different world than what you all are experiencing and growing up with.

But we can figure out and start asking the question of what do we need to do to plan and continue to adjust and be resilient?

What's that going to take?

As lake levels fluctuate, businesses are having to shift.

An example is Base Camp Big Fork, an outdoor adventure outfitter that leads kayak, paddleboard, and canoe trips.

The owner, Mark Shirky, says his business is set up to ensure the receding shoreline isn't a direct threat to its survival.

I would say I'm the guy that's kind of benefited from lower lake levels, and I don't mean that like sweet, I'm excited, because it's more that because of the nature of paddle sports, whether the lake is high or low doesn't really impact us.

Restaurants are among the businesses feeling most impacted, especially those like the Sitting Duck, where many customers arrive by boat.

For sitting duck owner Mike Lapeter, every inch of lost water is potentially a lost customer.

Less boats can dock at the lake on our docks.

And then last year, the year it was low, we actually had to have somebody to help people get out of the boats because older people and kids, the level was so low that our docks are at a fixed height.

People could barely even get out of their boats to get onto the docks.

For people like Lapeter, changes in the lake can mean changes for their business.

Researchers predict these fluctuations will continue.

Here's Mark Shirky, the paddle guide, once more.

It is what it is, like nature's nature, and there isn't that element of like, who can we blame for this, right?

In Big Fork, I'm Lily Safiya.

And I'm Emily Wissman.

This story was reported by high school students in Anne-Marie Sycon's journalism class at Big Fork High School in partnership with Montana Media Lab.

Student reporters include Emma Benn, Lily Bissett, Trilliam Devaney, Lily Safiya, and me, Emily Wissman.

Thank you to Big Fork High School, the Hearst Foundation, and the Arthur M.

Blank Family Foundation for supporting this project.

What an incredible job of sharing an important story that resonates beyond the lake.

Imagine the ripples in the water.

Well, they rippled right up to the shores of yonder radio.

And a big thank you to the students of Big Fork High School who reported that piece.

That's time for our final trivia clue.

This event has inspired dozens of books, movies, and plays, the most famous of which is Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible.

Did you guess it?

The answer is...

The Salem Witch Trials!

From 1692 to 1693, a wave of paranoia swept through the community of Salem in the Massachusetts colony.

Accusations of witchcraft began flying in February of 1692, after a couple of young girls experienced seizures and fits and blamed three women for their afflictions.

Over the next 15 months, more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft, most of them women. 19 people were hanged, one elderly man was pressed to death with heavy stones, and five more people died while awaiting trial.

To this day, scientists, historians, and sociologists struggle to explain the conditions that cause this widespread hysteria I would like them to actually kind of lay out what happened and why so we know In the meantime, we'll dress up like witches and see if people will give us candy instead of death sentences So enjoy the Halloween season and we will be here for you sharing stories And a little bit of your time if you haven't here on Yonder Radio Thank you for listening Thank you for listening to Yonder Radio, a production of the Center for Rural Strategies, publisher of The Daily Yonder.

I'm your host, Jared Ewy.

Thanks to Don Castle and the Tennessee Sheiks, Steph Gunno and the Lone Tones, Quincy Ponver, Leo Pozel, and Tim Merima for the great music.

Our editor and producer is Susanna Brown.

This episode was also produced by Alana Newman and Will Wright.

Our executive producer is Joel Cohen.

The executive in charge of production is Adam Georgie.

Yonder Radio, rural conversations with National Reach. guitar solo