Scott Thybony Commentaries

Novelist Gustave Flaubert reached a frustrating impasse while writing Madame Bovary. So, he wrote to a friend about the struggle, hoping it would fix his writer's block: "What a heavy oar the pen is, and what a strong current ideas are to row in!" Commentator Scott Thybony can relate. He, too, spends a lot of time thinking about writing and rivers, the subjects of this month's Canyon Commentary. 

“When the flowers bloom … that in itself is the extension of all life, of all beauty.” Those are the words of a Navajo medicine man commentator Scott Thybony met some years ago when winter was on the verge of spring. Through their conversations, he came to understand that landscape is not separate from our own lives. In his latest Canyon Commentary, Thybony takes us back to Navajo Mountain where he learned the changing seasons are one of our greatest teachers. 

If you’ve done any exploring around the Southwest, you’ve probably visited a few places with rather ominous names: “Bloody Basin,” “Skull Valley,” “The Superstition Mountains.” Seems Arizona is full of places named after grim legends. “Deadman Flat” is no exception. It’s a place writer Scott Thybony has visited many times. In his latest Canyon Commentary, Thybony tells the tale of how “Deadman Flat” got its name. 

KNAU commentator Scott Thybony has – for decades – pursued an interest in sacred places of the wider Four Corners region. And it was on a trek to a Buddhist meditation center in Colorado that he realized just how well Zen and mountains go together. In his latest Canyon Commentary, Thybony delves into the mystic with the story of Stone Woman … and the reason for snow. 

Today, the country elects a new president, and along with it, a new First Family. There have been many notable - even infamous - First Family members, including Alice Roosevelt, daughter of former President Theodore Roosevelt. She was independent and brazen at a time in history when women were expected to be demure and take backseats to men. Her father had a problem with her behavior...Alice did not. She remained vibrant and outspoken all her life. Commentator Scott Thybony recounts Alice Roosevelt's adventurous trip to the Grand Canyon nearly 100 years ago as her father prepared to make it a national monument.