A couple of weeks ago, if you remember, I wrote an ode to Arizona’s desert loveliness.
Has the state now betrayed me?
Last Friday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into being one of the most reactionary, racist laws in recent memory in Arizona. I won’t rehash the details of the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.” Suffice it to say that its illogic is mind-boggling, and the hate and cynicism that fueled its passage astonishing. Continue reading
Last week, I had the privilege to spend a couple of days in Tucson, Arizona, on family business. It made me realize how much I miss the West and the great outdoors. It also gave me an excuse to use WordPress.com’s new (and a little late in the game, to be honest) slide show feature. Following are some hiking pictures from a “desert” that is in bloom after getting big winter rains. First time I ever saw miners’ lettuce outside of Northern California. I hiked to raging waterfalls, saw poppies blooming under cacti, and went from 85 degree sunshine to snow in a 25 minute drive up a sky island. And, I also spotted a troop of snookum bears!
Is that it? No rants about the politics of urban development in Southern Arizona? Or a discussion of the way that Mamdani’s theories about how colonizers turned ethnicities into hardened political entities — by designating them tribes — might be relevant to the Hopi-Navajo land dispute?
Not right now. This post is a little off-topic for the LGD. But life is life, and we all do as we can.* Enjoy the slide show.
*I realize this is a largely meaningless sentence. Sorry. 🙂
Eamon Kircher-Allen 