This event was recorded on October 10, 2023, at TACAW, in partnership with Aspen Public Radio.
Listen in to this Aspen Words author talk with award-winning independent journalist and October 2023 Writer in Residence Miles W. Griffis, who discusses his writing about queer ecology and birding, including his focus on the local gray jay and a “brief history of avian drag.” Griffis is in conversation with local writer, Aspen Words Writer in Residence program partner and ACES board chair, Daniel Shaw.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Miles W. Griffis is an award-winning independent journalist based in Los Angeles, California. His work has appeared in High Country News, The New York Times, National Geographic, Popular Science, Vogue and many others. His writing has been supported by the Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency and The Freeflow Foundation. In 2020 and 2022, he was selected as a finalist in the Sewanee Review nonfiction contest. Outside of his writing, Miles has worked as a backcountry guide in Colorado, Canada, and Australia. He’s also volunteered as a wildland firefighter. He writes about the Southwest, Long Covid and queer issues.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Daniel Shaw is a journalist, filmmaker and musician living in Woody Creek, Colorado. He currently is co-producing and co-writing a documentary on the late gospel/soul/rock musician Billy Preston with the Oscar, Emmy and Grammy-winning team at White Horse Pictures in Los Angeles. Daniel has written for dozens of publications, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Postand recently wrote a book on the history of Snowmass, CO-based Anderson Ranch Arts Center. He has reviewed music for Daily Variety and the LA Weekly, was a Washington, D.C. bureau chief during the second Clinton administration, was a staff writer for The American Lawyer magazine, spent several years on fishing boats reporting on the global commercial fishing industry and served as press secretary for the Navajo Nation. As a blues, rock and country harmonica player, Daniel has played live with numerous acts and recorded albums and commercials. Through their Catto Shaw Foundation, Daniel and his wife Isa Catto host a writers’ residency with Aspen Words. He currently chairs the board of trustees at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, co-chairs the board at TACAW and chairs the Leadership Council at Conservation International.