In this episode of Words on a Wire, host Will Rose speaks with historian Max Perry Mueller about his groundbreaking new book, Wakara’s America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West. Mueller uncovers the complicated, often misunderstood history of Chief Wakara, the influential Ute leader whose life intersected with Mormon settlers, the expanding American state, and the violent transformations of the 19th-century West.

Through a conversation that blends archival detective work with storytelling, Mueller explains how Wakara shaped trade networks, diplomacy, intertribal relations, and the contested borderlands of the Great Basin. The discussion explores Wakara not as a mythic figure or a villain—as he has often been depicted—but as a strategist navigating colonial pressures while protecting his people’s interests.

In this episode of Words on a Wire, host Daniel Chacón speaks with writer and journalist Michelle Morgante about her journey from a small agricultural town in California’s San Joaquin Valley to a globe-spanning career in journalism, and ultimately, to fiction writing.

Morgante begins by reflecting on her childhood in Lindsay, California, a tiny, heavily agricultural town she describes as a real-life “Mayberry.” She shares vivid memories of biking across town, a deeply segregated school environment, and how being a mixed-heritage kid positioned her literally and symbolically in the “in-between”—a role that crystalized when she became the school dance DJ mediating between racial groups through music. This early experience of living between worlds seeded her lifelong fascination with liminal spaces, a theme that now shapes much of her creative work.

Chacón and Morgante explore how magical realism, borderland identity, and Gloria Anzaldúa’s concept of nepantla inform their artistic perspectives. Morgante describes how Latino culture sees the magical and the mundane as intertwined, a worldview that deeply influences her fiction.

From there, the conversation moves into Morgante’s wide-ranging journalism career with the Associated Press, taking her to Detroit, Denver, New York, Miami, Mexico City, Portland, San Diego, and beyond. She recalls the unexpected beauty and sorrow she saw in places like Detroit, the artistic vibrancy of Mexico City’s Condesa neighborhood in the 1990s, and how newsroom layoffs and the decline of local media brought her back to the Valley. She and Chacón also discuss the impact of AI on journalism, the growing importance of human-created writing, and why authentic storytelling will matter more than ever.

Listen to part 2 of Tim Z. Hernandez's conversation with Olga Talamante. Be sure to catch part 1 right here on the Words on a Wire podcast.