Southwest

Fut

From time to time, too, and for the space of two or three paces, an image or an echo would rise up from the recesses of time: in the little streets of the beaters of silver and gold, for instance, there was a clear, unhurried tinkling, as if a djinn with a thousand arms was absent-mindedly practising on a xylophone.

 

     ― Claude Lévi-Strauss, Tristes Tropiques

 

The Southwest is a swirl of images, peoples, histories and myths, often unexpectedly announcing their presence in odd manners and contexts. I find both Solace and Mystery here.

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Some of the images below are snapshots, fast visions from moving-car windows, a couple caught with quickly-grabbed phones, and others are composed and premeditated. Perhaps the combination  will provide a kaleidoscopic pastiche closer to Southwest essence than composed shots alone.

 

Our species now poses many threats to this region, both its Natural World and its Human World. 

 

Ravens and Coyotes forever adapt, bend, re-invent themselves, solve problems and flourish. We can learn from them. 

 

I recall a conversation with Dave Brower in the 1970’s regarding the evolution of the Environmental Movement. He said the time had passed for preservation alone; we should think in terms of restoration as well. 

 

That was decades ago.

 

Restoration is overdue. Can we re-invent ourselves, solve problems, and harmonize with our world the way Coyotes and Ravens do? 

 

Chuck Jones, creator of the Road Runner/Coyote cartoons once said, “There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is the willingness to think”.

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