Phoenix police will begin clearing out the residents of the Zone in downtown Phoenix this week. Have you been there? Last week I visited the Arizona State Parks office. Stretching along the sidewalk on the west side of 7th Street, the homeless encampment completely occupied the stretch of asphalt. Some encampments are enclosed by a…
The smoke is mostly gone and firefighting crews are mopping up the Pipeline fire. Twice now, families have fled before the flames, carrying a few possessions as they wait to hear whether their homes have survived. I have an acquaintance who one of those who lost her home – there is nothing left but charred…
Garden season is here and the funny thing about gardens is that they are usually not the picture- perfect rows of glistening plants and bounteous vegetables found in gardening magazines. They are a working space, leaning into the angle of the sun with insects buzzing and crawling among the plants. Funny thing. You can’t legislate…
In the 2016 Olympic Marathon, Feyisa Lilesa approached the starting line with athletes from countries around the world. The commentators would not have noticed Lilesa as their attention turned to athletes from Kenya, Eritrea and Uganda. Just under two hours later the world’s attention had re-focused on Lilesa as he overcame Glen Rudd from…
Two years ago, a fire in the hills of north of Flagstaff drew residents to every high point, their focus on the aerial ballet of spotter planes and bombers dropping slurry on the flames. Yesterday, we were reminded that this is fire season once again, not that we had forgotten. The smoke settling over Flagstaff…
At last, winter showed up, dumping thirty inches of snow across Flagstaff. Local sledding hills are crowded and streets jammed with visitors who seek a little of the white stuff. We’re celebrating the moisture that comes to our dry land. In the next few weeks, we’ll be adding a new book to our line-up with…
‘Arizona’: Just the name speaks of arid land, of dry dusty plains panting for a deluge of rain. The settlers who first came to the arid southwest understood water meant life and in this dry land water is scarce. As we move through the desert and high country, finding water leaking from a sun-blasted…
Most of us living in Grand Canyon country have given as gifts to relatives a coffee table book of canyon photographs or a calendar of outdoor scenes…But this year, as I’ve been working on the Flagstaff Memories book, I’ve been reminded that our special sense of place is tied as well to our built environment…