In this episode of Words on a Wire, host William Alfred Rose speaks with journalist and author Kyle Paoletta about his new book, American Oasis: Finding the Future in the Cities of the Southwest. Paoletta takes listeners on a journey through the urban heart of the American Southwest—El Paso, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Tucson, and Las Vegas—exploring how these desert cities reflect the challenges and possibilities of a rapidly changing climate and culture.

Paoletta, a New Mexico native, shares his personal journey from the mountains outside Albuquerque to the editorial offices of New York, and how that distance shaped his desire to reconnect with the Southwest. The conversation touches on climate change, water scarcity, urban development, and the cultural divide between older, historically Mexican and Indigenous cities like El Paso and Tucson, and newer, booster-built cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas.