Showing posts with label tucson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tucson. Show all posts
2/24/18
2/10/18
1/27/18
1/11/18
1/7/17
12/10/16
12/7/16
12/4/16
1/16/15
11/17/14
11/2/14
10/26/14
3/15/13
2/20/13
5/1/12
Always Learning
Growth occurs in sporadic unexpected moments...
On producing mediocre work while learning new techniques.
The freeware editing programs I was using to create visual art were not really working for me anymore and had limitations and I felt as if I'd gone as far as I could with them. After thinking about what to do I decided to purchase Photoshop Elements 10 and Lightroom 4 for several reasons, mostly recommendations and fortunately I also had an opportunity to buy them at a good discount. Photoshop CS6 was also an option but more expensive and since I figured I needed to learn at least basic Photoshop I would go with the products I did.
I'm reminded of when I started learning to edit video with Sony Vegas Platinum and was frustrated with learning the mechanics while wanting to achieve some reasonably good results. It takes time to do both and when you're used to getting at least some decent quality work done it's hard to put out mediocre work. My theory has always been not to stop though and keep going since growth happens in sudden sporadic moments when you least expect it. Fortunately with video editing I went and visited a friend in California several times who in spite of both of our frustrations taught me some basics and got me past some fears.
I'm operating on that experience currently since I learn a new tiny little trick every day with Photoshop Elements but the resulting artwork is not what I'd like it to be at all. These pieces are an example of knowing what I wanted to achieve, arrived somewhere around it but they are full of flaws that are enough to cause me not to be satisfied with them but even so here they are. For the moment I've stopped working with Lightroom 4 since it is not intuitive to me and I figure it is best to learn one thing at a time since I am learning on my own. I'm taking this philosophically since it is causing me to stretch myself and learn new things to ultimately achieve a higher level of skill and artistry.
On producing mediocre work while learning new techniques.
The freeware editing programs I was using to create visual art were not really working for me anymore and had limitations and I felt as if I'd gone as far as I could with them. After thinking about what to do I decided to purchase Photoshop Elements 10 and Lightroom 4 for several reasons, mostly recommendations and fortunately I also had an opportunity to buy them at a good discount. Photoshop CS6 was also an option but more expensive and since I figured I needed to learn at least basic Photoshop I would go with the products I did.
I'm operating on that experience currently since I learn a new tiny little trick every day with Photoshop Elements but the resulting artwork is not what I'd like it to be at all. These pieces are an example of knowing what I wanted to achieve, arrived somewhere around it but they are full of flaws that are enough to cause me not to be satisfied with them but even so here they are. For the moment I've stopped working with Lightroom 4 since it is not intuitive to me and I figure it is best to learn one thing at a time since I am learning on my own. I'm taking this philosophically since it is causing me to stretch myself and learn new things to ultimately achieve a higher level of skill and artistry.
10/4/11
Tucson AZ
Down and out in the boondocks...
Hit by the economic downturn and tragedy but not out for good.
The Old Pueblo is showing its age through this economic downturn. Tucson is a bit tarnished from the transition in the previous decade from a quaint small city with a university to a popular relocation destination with a lot of lookalike housing surrounding it. It once had a thriving film location business and attractions that suffered unfortunate fates both fueled by fire. The original Old Tucson movie studios and the community on top of Mt. Lemon both burned down and never restored to what they once were.
The natural beauty of the Sonoran desert around Tucson is still alive. The two rainy seasons, winter and summer, keeps the desert lush. Tucson and Pima County made wise decisions decades ago to reduce light pollution by having little street lighting due to the nearby observatories and preserving the desert landscaping by ordinance. It escaped the importation of plants and remaking the desert into a California-like city as Phoenix did. Due to its geography and these measures the urban heat island effect is limited.
For seven Biblically epic long years I lived in Oro Valley just north of the city. In those years I witnessed the town transform from a sleepy stable horse and ranch village to a suburb that rivaled those of Phoenix with seemingly endless miles of stucco and red tile roof houses most people could not really afford. I lived at the base of Pusch Ridge and my home was immune to the worst of it but Oracle Road, the main thoroughfare, became nearly impossible to navigate to get there. Worse, I lost three jobs due to companies disappearing from the area. Tucson metros major problem is employers such as AT&T, Lucent, IBM, Qwest, UPS and others departed to be replaced by low paying contract call centers. The remaining employers, defense contractors, military, aviation, Pima County and the University of Arizona have entrenched employees subject to frequent cutbacks and layoffs.
Tucson stands alone as a liberal political island surrounded even in its own county by a conservative constituency more aligned with the rest of the state. In my recent visit there it seems the tragic event of the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords took away what confidence was left out of the area. The city itself and the territory around it also appear worn down and bereft. Its close proximity to the border has taken its toll also. This once thriving alternative to Phoenix seems to have lost its way, unsure of what to do and where to go next. My estimation is that Tucson metro still has a lot going for it and although it will take time the region will pick itself up, dust off and revitalize into an even better place than it once was.
Hit by the economic downturn and tragedy but not out for good.
The Old Pueblo is showing its age through this economic downturn. Tucson is a bit tarnished from the transition in the previous decade from a quaint small city with a university to a popular relocation destination with a lot of lookalike housing surrounding it. It once had a thriving film location business and attractions that suffered unfortunate fates both fueled by fire. The original Old Tucson movie studios and the community on top of Mt. Lemon both burned down and never restored to what they once were.The natural beauty of the Sonoran desert around Tucson is still alive. The two rainy seasons, winter and summer, keeps the desert lush. Tucson and Pima County made wise decisions decades ago to reduce light pollution by having little street lighting due to the nearby observatories and preserving the desert landscaping by ordinance. It escaped the importation of plants and remaking the desert into a California-like city as Phoenix did. Due to its geography and these measures the urban heat island effect is limited.
For seven Biblically epic long years I lived in Oro Valley just north of the city. In those years I witnessed the town transform from a sleepy stable horse and ranch village to a suburb that rivaled those of Phoenix with seemingly endless miles of stucco and red tile roof houses most people could not really afford. I lived at the base of Pusch Ridge and my home was immune to the worst of it but Oracle Road, the main thoroughfare, became nearly impossible to navigate to get there. Worse, I lost three jobs due to companies disappearing from the area. Tucson metros major problem is employers such as AT&T, Lucent, IBM, Qwest, UPS and others departed to be replaced by low paying contract call centers. The remaining employers, defense contractors, military, aviation, Pima County and the University of Arizona have entrenched employees subject to frequent cutbacks and layoffs.
8/29/11
Moving On
When a city has lost a way of life...
How a western city became a model of modern boom and bust.
There comes a time when it is time to move on, get back to where you started from and remove yourself from the once small city that grew up around you and become a big one. You can't change a place, only your attitude toward it or remove yourself from it, especially when you feel as if you no longer belong there. You have the choice, the control and the ability to move on and improve your way of life. Living is not to be wasted in a place you don't want to be because it is no longer what it once was.
This city and I have a long history with each other. There was a brief moment of time in the late sixties and seventies when it was just the right size and mix of people. It still retained an air of a western way of life, live and let live, without being totally bereft of the conveniences of city life. In hindsight real change began to occur after the floods of November 1978 through March 1979 which paralyzed traffic in the metro area. This was followed by floods the next winter season of 1979-1980 where flood waters were polluted by sewage. The infrastructure couldn't sustain what growth that had developed. This was also an era of unexpected political change coupled with public reaction to the floods and the legacy that led to is too lengthy for this writing. The summary is the infrastructure was built and the people did come. In droves. That was the beginning of a series of events that brought us explosive growth that really detonated after the recession of 1992-93.
The nineties was a pivotal period when most of my family left and returned to our original hometown of Prescott. I fled for Tucson that by 2000 started beginning to quickly replicate the frenzied thoughtless growth of Phoenix. The few things it had going for it couldn't be fought off by the housing boom that was occurring all over the country, particularly the western and southern regions. Fueled by subprime money coupled with shrinking employment made for a combustible mixture that caused me to leave in 2005 and return to Phoenix for better employment. It was at the height of the craziest years to be here when it seemed as if every inch of the city was crammed with people and oversized houses and automobiles. The proverbial jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Even with good employment it was impossible for people like myself who were not borrowers to keep up with the pace and cost of living.
We are a contemporary ghost town now. Although there is some job growth in low paying jobs, higher paying employment and many well educated people have fled. Housing is essentially frozen, suspended in some tract that no one really knows what is going to happen. There is not a political answer although we have elected city officials and bureaucrats who have an over-inflated view of themselves and their sense of control. We are an urban heat island with searing heat summers, year round pollution and rarely does it rain now in the urban core to wash of the dust and ash.
The economic crisis hit hard here and by now the entire country has awakened to the fact that this is a long term disruption that will take a decade to resolve itself into whatever the new average standard will be. Since I didn't buy into the frenzy that preceded the crash I am maintaining and have preserved enough to be able to build for the future. My attitude has adjusted to accept that I may be here a little longer. I am of the fortunate ones not living on borrowed money or time and that I am not alone and share a life with someone else with similar ideas. Neither one of us grew up in large city Arizona but the smaller cities of the state. When I left in the nineties I didn't feel as if I belonged here and haven't since I returned. It is now time for a call to action and a plan to remove ourselves as soon as we are able.
How a western city became a model of modern boom and bust.
There comes a time when it is time to move on, get back to where you started from and remove yourself from the once small city that grew up around you and become a big one. You can't change a place, only your attitude toward it or remove yourself from it, especially when you feel as if you no longer belong there. You have the choice, the control and the ability to move on and improve your way of life. Living is not to be wasted in a place you don't want to be because it is no longer what it once was.
This city and I have a long history with each other. There was a brief moment of time in the late sixties and seventies when it was just the right size and mix of people. It still retained an air of a western way of life, live and let live, without being totally bereft of the conveniences of city life. In hindsight real change began to occur after the floods of November 1978 through March 1979 which paralyzed traffic in the metro area. This was followed by floods the next winter season of 1979-1980 where flood waters were polluted by sewage. The infrastructure couldn't sustain what growth that had developed. This was also an era of unexpected political change coupled with public reaction to the floods and the legacy that led to is too lengthy for this writing. The summary is the infrastructure was built and the people did come. In droves. That was the beginning of a series of events that brought us explosive growth that really detonated after the recession of 1992-93.
The economic crisis hit hard here and by now the entire country has awakened to the fact that this is a long term disruption that will take a decade to resolve itself into whatever the new average standard will be. Since I didn't buy into the frenzy that preceded the crash I am maintaining and have preserved enough to be able to build for the future. My attitude has adjusted to accept that I may be here a little longer. I am of the fortunate ones not living on borrowed money or time and that I am not alone and share a life with someone else with similar ideas. Neither one of us grew up in large city Arizona but the smaller cities of the state. When I left in the nineties I didn't feel as if I belonged here and haven't since I returned. It is now time for a call to action and a plan to remove ourselves as soon as we are able.
3/8/11
3/2/11
Geography of the Mind
Arizona is a state of mind...
It's irrelevant what any urbanist, civic booster, city officials or property developers say. Downtown Phoenix is a ghost town of brand new high rise buildings, condominiums, multi-use projects that have largely been unoccupied or are under occupied. Lots of them. The restored slums sit waiting alongside the new buildings also waiting to be fully peopled. Our historic buildings sit as lonely islands in a sea of steel and glass. The truth is not much is happening in Phoenix, at best we're at a standstill, mostly the core city is deserted. Meanwhile we are ringed by cheaply built but formerly high priced suburbs that one day may rival the desolated developments of the Salton Sea.
There are those who are doing well, the usual suspects, making a buck of what is left but despite attempts to dispel the truth, the average person is economically down. There are pockets of activity and vitality, some of it in the most surprising places and communities of people. For the most part, Phoenix is like a jilted lover, confused and wondering what to do next. As most forsaken ones do, we will find new companions and our way back. People may be down but are not out, the new frontier spirit is alive and well among lots of folks.
The Arizona Legislature is busy thinking of ways to buck the Federal Government, in ways that appall much of the rest of the country, but we have never much cared for what they think. Good on 'em for doing it. Even though I find our Senate President, Russell Pearce and his minions, personally repulsive. We're as broke, if not more so, than any state in the union but we need to rebuild this state our way. We have been like that from the beginning. Before President Taft would even allow us to become a state, he insisted on changes in our Constitution, which our ancestors made and then after statehood put the issues to the voters to reinstate them and they did. Nowadays we have people in Pima County who want to become a state of their own.
Which is laughable to a lot of the rest of the country but you have to be a real Arizonan to understand. We truly don't care what the rest of the United States thinks or does, especially about us. I have no idea how Arizona, especially it's two major cities, Phoenix and Tucson, are going to pull out of this over-development and funny money mess. What I do know is there is something about this place, that you have to be here a long time to fully understand, that always manages to find it's own way back.
It's irrelevant what any urbanist, civic booster, city officials or property developers say. Downtown Phoenix is a ghost town of brand new high rise buildings, condominiums, multi-use projects that have largely been unoccupied or are under occupied. Lots of them. The restored slums sit waiting alongside the new buildings also waiting to be fully peopled. Our historic buildings sit as lonely islands in a sea of steel and glass. The truth is not much is happening in Phoenix, at best we're at a standstill, mostly the core city is deserted. Meanwhile we are ringed by cheaply built but formerly high priced suburbs that one day may rival the desolated developments of the Salton Sea.
There are those who are doing well, the usual suspects, making a buck of what is left but despite attempts to dispel the truth, the average person is economically down. There are pockets of activity and vitality, some of it in the most surprising places and communities of people. For the most part, Phoenix is like a jilted lover, confused and wondering what to do next. As most forsaken ones do, we will find new companions and our way back. People may be down but are not out, the new frontier spirit is alive and well among lots of folks.
The Arizona Legislature is busy thinking of ways to buck the Federal Government, in ways that appall much of the rest of the country, but we have never much cared for what they think. Good on 'em for doing it. Even though I find our Senate President, Russell Pearce and his minions, personally repulsive. We're as broke, if not more so, than any state in the union but we need to rebuild this state our way. We have been like that from the beginning. Before President Taft would even allow us to become a state, he insisted on changes in our Constitution, which our ancestors made and then after statehood put the issues to the voters to reinstate them and they did. Nowadays we have people in Pima County who want to become a state of their own.
Which is laughable to a lot of the rest of the country but you have to be a real Arizonan to understand. We truly don't care what the rest of the United States thinks or does, especially about us. I have no idea how Arizona, especially it's two major cities, Phoenix and Tucson, are going to pull out of this over-development and funny money mess. What I do know is there is something about this place, that you have to be here a long time to fully understand, that always manages to find it's own way back.
8/17/10
The American West
Western states' uneasy relationship with the federal government...
The West is known for it's wide open spaces, big skies and "live and let live" attitudes. Well...less so in attitudes now that it has become saturated with people from Back East after the Sunbelt Migration of the Seventies, changing the nature of western cities.
(For reference, to a true westerner, Back East is anything east of the 100th Meridian. When Back East., anything west of the meridian, is referred to as Out West.)
The Sunbelt migration combined with the advancement of communications created a cultural shift that is pervasive in large western cities. The role of the federal government with state and local governments is a tense one. The Federal Government owning the majority of the land is a factor that should not be overlooked or underestimated. Within the relationship is a conflict in values.
The West is known for it's wide open spaces, big skies and "live and let live" attitudes. Well...less so in attitudes now that it has become saturated with people from Back East after the Sunbelt Migration of the Seventies, changing the nature of western cities.(For reference, to a true westerner, Back East is anything east of the 100th Meridian. When Back East., anything west of the meridian, is referred to as Out West.)
The West has always had a relationship with the Federal government, whether they chose to admit to it or not. It's an affair based on one element: H2O. Without the support of the federal government, dams and water projects wouldn't have happened and subsequently railroad, electric and telephone networks could not have been completed. Western states also have always had, as a price for statehood, a disproportionate area of land owned and controlled by the federal government. Prior to the late 20th Century Westward Movement, Washington DC was far away enough to be kept at bay and states Out West could operate pretty much as their own entities.
The Sunbelt migration combined with the advancement of communications created a cultural shift that is pervasive in large western cities. The role of the federal government with state and local governments is a tense one. The Federal Government owning the majority of the land is a factor that should not be overlooked or underestimated. Within the relationship is a conflict in values.
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