ceebeegee: (Southwest cactus)
2011-01-13 11:17 am

Arizona

I am no expert on Arizona politics but I have visited there several times and my father and stepmother go to their house there all the time. It's...sad, I guess, that Arizona has been cast in the role of this super-conservative, xenophobic area. I can't say how accurate that is but I will say at least the Sedona area is a mixture of very conservative and very liberal, hippie-ish, New Age. And they all seem to get along just fine. I'll also say, regarding their draconian response to illegal immigration--they're on the front line. Arizona has to deal with that situation is a very different way than most of the rest of the country. I don't agree--AT ALL--with demonizing or otherizing illegals, and I think demanding to see their papers smacks of Nazi Germany and is ridiculous and racist. But they're desperate. I strongly support legal immigration--in fact, I think it should be easier to get citizenship--but you have got to wait in line.

I probably could've written that a few months ago, but it came up again when I was at the gym watching Nightline last night. They showed this...sea, this beautiful sea of flowers, balloons, notes outside the hospital where Congresswoman Giffords and some of the other wounded are, all well-wishers, all Arizonans who came together to unite. I especially loved seeing the Native Americans chanting. You see a lot more of those cultures out there--we've pretty much eradicated that here on the East Coast :( but there are reservations and stores and constant reminders over in the Southwest. It's really lovely. I thought that chanting was as great a response as praying or writing a note.

And this is sad (from the Post):

While federal lawmakers debate how best to increase safety for themselves and their staff, some Arizona Republican party officials are choosing to leave office in the face of threats.

A conflict that has been going on between local Arizona Republicans came to an end in the wake of the shooting in Tucson on Saturday when Arizona's Republican District 20 Chairman Anthony Miller and several others chose to resign.

The Arizona Republic reports that Miller, 43, a former campaign worker for Sen.John McCain who was re-elected to a second one-year term last month, has been concerned for his family's safety by constant verbal attacks and blog posts from some local committee members with tea party movement ties.


I can't blame him for not wanting to die but--yeah, way to stifle debate through threats of violence.
ceebeegee: (Default)
2010-08-05 06:57 pm
Entry tags:

If you ever plan to motor west...


I saw a neat little blurb about in the Metro handout today about traveling Route 66 as a vacation, calling it "America's most romanticized, classic road."  I've had a fascination with the Mother Road ever since they decommissioned it back in the '80s and I read about it in People magazine--accompanying were these haunting pictures of old roadstretch, worn down by how many tires, carrying people on their way West.  So evocative, so uniquely American--there's a better life that way.  Go toward the sun, chase the sun--go west, west.  Leave the prairies behind, skiff the deserts like a skipping stone, see the mountains in the horizon beckoning to you, calling you. 




You'll seeeee Amarillo
Gallup, New Mexico!
Flagstaff, Arizona
(Don't forget Winona!)
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino...



I took these pictures, as well as the one from my icon, when I was at my dad's in Arizona and we went to Flagstaff together to see the Mother Road herself.A dream come true. What wouldn't I give to be able to take a motorcycle trip down that road, just like my dad, heading down the highway, looking for adventure?
ceebeegee: (Default)
2007-12-27 12:57 pm

My trip to Arizona

I've been meaning to write about my trip to Arizona last month--my Dad sent me the pictures a few weeks ago but I've been so busy, I haven't gotten much chance to write. I flew into Phoenix two days before Thanksgiving and my Dad picked me up for the two-hour drive north to Sedona. Phoenix is in the southern half of the state where it's much warmer because the elevation is about 4,000 feet lower. Hence the lovely palm trees:



This was right from the highway.

And:



I felt as though I were back in Florida--ahhh, lovely palm trees, harbingers of warmth and light. However my favorite icon of southern Arizona was the everpresent saguaro cacti--they're the cacti that you see in Road Runner cartoons and in Westerns, the ones that stand straight up and tall.



They're protected in Arizona--you can't cut one down without permission.

One thing I love about Arizona is how Western it is--Nevada is right next door (it's about a half-day's drive to Las Vegas) and Phoenix is not too far from the California border. California! I was born there in Coronado but I haven't been back too many times--I don't even remember San Diego although I have been to San Francisco (where I was baptized) 4-5 times. In my mind the state is almost myth--it was indescribably cool to see signs that said:



I mean, look at that! I could've driven to Los Angeles!

It never rains in Northern Arizona... )

You'll seeeeeeee Amarillo--GalLUP, New Mexico! Flagstaff, Arizona, don't forget Winona... )

On the way back I got some lovely, evocative shots of this gorgeous state, but this was my favorite:



Western Moon
ceebeegee: (Southwest cactus)
2007-11-30 03:43 pm
Entry tags:

Fauna in the Desert

So I spent last week in beautiful Arizona. I took MANY pictures with my dad but he hasn't sent them to me yet, so I can only display what I took with my lil' camera phone.



This is one of my favorite things about Arizona--the beautiful Saguaro cactus. You can't see them very well in this picture but there are everywhere along the highway. They grow all over southern Arizona and are protected--you cannot cut them down without express permission. They seem so exotic, as though you've stepped onto a movie set or into something from your dreams--a classic Western icon.





More warm-weather fauna, gorgeous palm trees blowing in the sun. They make me so happy--they take me back to Florida, they remind me that a warmer world is out there. Arizona is a desert paradise, ascetic and surprising, long, black-ribboned highways etching into the horizon, narrow mountain passes with canyons yawning below, coyotes howling in the night.