Radio interview with WyoFile's Samuel Western

by Ruffin Prevost, Yellowstone Gate May 16, 2011September 22, 2021

Radio interview with WyoFile’s Samuel Western

Ted Vigil, right, and son Danny Vigil — Ted Vigil, right, has lived and farmed all his life in Worland. He still helps his son, Danny Vigil, left, in raising sugar beets and other crops around the area. (Ruffin Prevost/WyoFile – click to enlarge)

If you’ve enjoyed reading Samuel Western’s recent three-part series, Hispanic Wyoming, then you’ll want to listen to his interview from Friday, May 13 on Open Spaces, Wyoming Public Radio’s original program about local issues and policy matters.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Molly Messick interviewed Western and Ed Munoz, who directs the University of Wyoming’s Chicano Studies Program. The discussion covers the state’s changing demographic trends, and how advances in agriculture — from mechanized farming to herbicides — have affected employment patterns around Wyoming.

Click here to listen to the interview, which runs about 10 minutes.

In his series, Western takes WyoFile readers deep beyond the U.S. Census data that show how Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority group in the country.

A Shift From Agriculture ran on April 26 and The Jobs Machine of Campbell County appeared May 3. ‘A Good Place to Live’ is the third and final part of his series looking at changing immigration trends in the Cowboy State.

— Ruffin Prevost, WyoFile managing editor

WyoFile's goal is to provide readers with information and ideas that foster constructive conversations about the issues and opportunities our communities face. One small piece of how we do that is by offering a space below each story for readers to share perspectives, experiences and insights. For this to work, we need your help.

What we're looking for:

Your real name — first and last.
Direct responses to the article. Tell us how your experience relates to the story.
The truth. Share factual information that adds context to the reporting.
Thoughtful answers to questions raised by the reporting or other commenters.
Tips that could advance our reporting on the topic.
No more than three comments per story, including replies.

What we block from our comments section, when we see it:

Pseudonyms. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish, and we expect commenters to do the same by using their real name.
Comments that are not directly relevant to the article.
Demonstrably false claims, what-about-isms, references to debunked lines of rhetoric, professional political talking points or links to sites trafficking in misinformation.
Personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats.
Arguments with other commenters.

Other important things to know:

Appearing in WyoFile’s comments section is a privilege, not a right or entitlement.
We’re a small team and our first priority is reporting. Depending on what’s going on, comments may be moderated 24 to 48 hours from when they’re submitted — or even later. If you comment in the evening or on the weekend, please be patient. We’ll get to it when we’re back in the office.
We’re not interested in managing squeaky wheels, and even if we wanted to, we don't have time to address every single commenter’s grievance.
Try as we might, we will make mistakes. We’ll fail to catch aliases, mistakenly allow folks to exceed the comment limit and occasionally miss false statements. If that’s going to upset you, it’s probably best to just stick with our journalism and avoid the comments section.
We don’t mediate disputes between commenters. If you have concerns about another commenter, please don’t bring them to us.

The bottom line:

If you repeatedly push the boundaries, make unreasonable demands, get caught lying or generally cause trouble, we will stop approving your comments — maybe forever. Such moderation decisions are not negotiable or subject to explanation. If civil and constructive conversation is not your goal, then our comments section is not for you.