exciting news
just kidding, there's no exciting news. hence, no blog. the blog started off when we first moved here, with enthusiasm and curiosity. it's easy to write stuff when you look around and see all these interesting things around you. that time has passed. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but things are different now. it seems that we have gone into survival mode. it's not that the jobs are terrible; we're not just punching the clock yet. and it's not that our friends suck; we have many good nights together with nice folks.
not sure what it is exactly. I think the desert has something to do with it. this is a barren landscape, uniform and delicate. for example, this weekend we drove from cruces to cloudcroft. this drive takes you northwest on hwy 70, the old main road before the freeway system came through to connect florida to california. the drive to cloudcroft is as dramatic as they come around here. you climb first up to the pass through the organs, a gentle slope between immense rock spires. achieving the pass, you are rewarded with a sweeping view of the tularosa basin, sight of the world's first atomic explosion (I can never not think of this fact everytime I come to the basin. put yourself in the same spot, rewind the clock 60 years, early morning. I'm not sure what type of warning they gave the local people, but I imagine it was minimal. so more than likely, if you found yourself anywhere near there around that time, you would've seen something inexplicable, monumental.)
so then you burn rubber through the basin, past white sands to alamogordo, where the next mountain range starts, the sacramentos. to get to cloudcroft you go through alamogordo (sprawling wasteland) and begin climbing into the sacramentos for about 30 miles upward. You are now entering your 3rd distinct ecosystem--alpine range--since you left cruces 90 minutes ago. really that is about as dramatic as it gets in southern new mexico. there are some more hairpin adventures to be had in the gila, but that place feels unique and separate. the drive to cloudcroft is more typical--sweep up and down a massive mountain range, speed accross a perfectly flat, perfectly straight desert expanse, and sweep up into the next mountain range.
in minnesota, this 90 minute journey would be peppered with small towns and farms, maybe a DQ here and there. in new mexico, there are no satellite towns. once you get to the top of the organ pass, you can see all the way to alamogordo, some 70 miles away. And there is nothing between here and there save for an isolated military installment (white sands) and an equally isolated national monument (also white sands). this is not a landscape that man can mold to his liking. the opposite in fact occurs. and I think the desert is starting to get inside me in strange ways. Joe Chavez recently moved out of our house to brooklyn. he writes and tells me that he can't stop thinking about the landscape around here--the desert.
it's hard to articulate what I'm trying to get at. it feels that my relationship to the desert is beyond language, something subconscious. here, in the real desert, not in the town, there are no trees, no water, and no seasons, just a slow burn and then a slow cool. life hangs on delicately, literally. you walk over to a mesquite bush that might be 25 years old and if you try to yank it out of the ground it will come easily. things can't put down deep roots here. that's how tumbleweeds are born. sure, the mesilla valley that runs along the river, north of cruces to el paso, can be quite lush with pecan trees, cotton fields and neat rows of chile plants. but this is lush in a relative sense.
when you walk around the woods in minnesota, it might often occur to you, 'this would be a nice spot to build a cabin. I could put a shed over there, a fire pit here, etc.' those thoughts don't occur here. we're guests in the desert; there's nothing here to sustain us. at the same time, this desolation has an undeniable magnetism.
... sorry there's not really an argument or thesis to any of this. just some ramblings on desert life from the view of a guero.
like I said, in the town, life continues normally. school is going well but I'm becoming increasingly disillusioned with the whole set up. for example my total student load for a day (I'm a full time teacher) is 22 students. right now I think teaching is pretty cool, but then I wonder if I had 35 students in each of 6 classes, what would be so cool about that? Even the small classes get kind of weird. I like to walk around and talk with the students about what they're working on. it gets kind of awkward when you're on your 4th lap around the classroom, half the kids just want to be sleeping or playing guitar hero, and the other half are quietly working on the same thing they were 10 minutes ago.
I'm gravitating towards an intensive year of ceramics production. there are several residencies offered throughout the country to people in exactly my position. I think if I continue with ceramics I could make some real breakthroughs. at the same time, I can't stop thinking about a life of foreign service. it's becoming increasingly obvious that america is in desperate need of intelligent people who have international experience and can speak chinese or arabic. I have none of those things, but it couldn't be more than 5 years away if I work at it.
lately we've been knitting. since joe moved out I've also renewed my interest in audio circuitry. I also commit about 1 jam every two days to the jam man (guitar work). of these, about 1 in 5 is decent. we've been watching twin peaks at night. excellent series, very strange and fun. kyle mclaughlin is simply a wizard. saw lars and the real girl last week, very funny/touching movie about a shy boy and a sex doll. listening to... grizzly bear, panda bear, animal collective, new radiohead, and sludge metal (boris, sunn o)))...).
you must check out this article by mark bittman, who is not a vegetarian. he has a video column in the times called, 'the minimalist,' where he prepares simple and quick recipes. in this article though, he makes a great case for reducing meat consumption. there are some startling figures in there, for example, if everyone in american cut their. meat consumption by 20% (seems simple) it would have the same effect on the environment as if everyone who drives switched from a camry to a prius. check it out.
or ivwar
not sure what it is exactly. I think the desert has something to do with it. this is a barren landscape, uniform and delicate. for example, this weekend we drove from cruces to cloudcroft. this drive takes you northwest on hwy 70, the old main road before the freeway system came through to connect florida to california. the drive to cloudcroft is as dramatic as they come around here. you climb first up to the pass through the organs, a gentle slope between immense rock spires. achieving the pass, you are rewarded with a sweeping view of the tularosa basin, sight of the world's first atomic explosion (I can never not think of this fact everytime I come to the basin. put yourself in the same spot, rewind the clock 60 years, early morning. I'm not sure what type of warning they gave the local people, but I imagine it was minimal. so more than likely, if you found yourself anywhere near there around that time, you would've seen something inexplicable, monumental.)
so then you burn rubber through the basin, past white sands to alamogordo, where the next mountain range starts, the sacramentos. to get to cloudcroft you go through alamogordo (sprawling wasteland) and begin climbing into the sacramentos for about 30 miles upward. You are now entering your 3rd distinct ecosystem--alpine range--since you left cruces 90 minutes ago. really that is about as dramatic as it gets in southern new mexico. there are some more hairpin adventures to be had in the gila, but that place feels unique and separate. the drive to cloudcroft is more typical--sweep up and down a massive mountain range, speed accross a perfectly flat, perfectly straight desert expanse, and sweep up into the next mountain range.
in minnesota, this 90 minute journey would be peppered with small towns and farms, maybe a DQ here and there. in new mexico, there are no satellite towns. once you get to the top of the organ pass, you can see all the way to alamogordo, some 70 miles away. And there is nothing between here and there save for an isolated military installment (white sands) and an equally isolated national monument (also white sands). this is not a landscape that man can mold to his liking. the opposite in fact occurs. and I think the desert is starting to get inside me in strange ways. Joe Chavez recently moved out of our house to brooklyn. he writes and tells me that he can't stop thinking about the landscape around here--the desert.
it's hard to articulate what I'm trying to get at. it feels that my relationship to the desert is beyond language, something subconscious. here, in the real desert, not in the town, there are no trees, no water, and no seasons, just a slow burn and then a slow cool. life hangs on delicately, literally. you walk over to a mesquite bush that might be 25 years old and if you try to yank it out of the ground it will come easily. things can't put down deep roots here. that's how tumbleweeds are born. sure, the mesilla valley that runs along the river, north of cruces to el paso, can be quite lush with pecan trees, cotton fields and neat rows of chile plants. but this is lush in a relative sense.
when you walk around the woods in minnesota, it might often occur to you, 'this would be a nice spot to build a cabin. I could put a shed over there, a fire pit here, etc.' those thoughts don't occur here. we're guests in the desert; there's nothing here to sustain us. at the same time, this desolation has an undeniable magnetism.
... sorry there's not really an argument or thesis to any of this. just some ramblings on desert life from the view of a guero.
like I said, in the town, life continues normally. school is going well but I'm becoming increasingly disillusioned with the whole set up. for example my total student load for a day (I'm a full time teacher) is 22 students. right now I think teaching is pretty cool, but then I wonder if I had 35 students in each of 6 classes, what would be so cool about that? Even the small classes get kind of weird. I like to walk around and talk with the students about what they're working on. it gets kind of awkward when you're on your 4th lap around the classroom, half the kids just want to be sleeping or playing guitar hero, and the other half are quietly working on the same thing they were 10 minutes ago.
I'm gravitating towards an intensive year of ceramics production. there are several residencies offered throughout the country to people in exactly my position. I think if I continue with ceramics I could make some real breakthroughs. at the same time, I can't stop thinking about a life of foreign service. it's becoming increasingly obvious that america is in desperate need of intelligent people who have international experience and can speak chinese or arabic. I have none of those things, but it couldn't be more than 5 years away if I work at it.
lately we've been knitting. since joe moved out I've also renewed my interest in audio circuitry. I also commit about 1 jam every two days to the jam man (guitar work). of these, about 1 in 5 is decent. we've been watching twin peaks at night. excellent series, very strange and fun. kyle mclaughlin is simply a wizard. saw lars and the real girl last week, very funny/touching movie about a shy boy and a sex doll. listening to... grizzly bear, panda bear, animal collective, new radiohead, and sludge metal (boris, sunn o)))...).
you must check out this article by mark bittman, who is not a vegetarian. he has a video column in the times called, 'the minimalist,' where he prepares simple and quick recipes. in this article though, he makes a great case for reducing meat consumption. there are some startling figures in there, for example, if everyone in american cut their. meat consumption by 20% (seems simple) it would have the same effect on the environment as if everyone who drives switched from a camry to a prius. check it out.
or ivwar
posted by j0eb0t-xj9 at 9:51 AM
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