10/10/11
10/9/11
Selfy Sunday | 10-09-11
Feeling Blue...
Jeff Smith and Levi Moore collaborate on a project called "Selfy Sunday" open to photographers on Google+ for posting and sharing a self-portrait taken that day or the week before. This photograph is my contribution to Self Sunday - Oct. 9 | 2011.
My contribution and the associated comments can be viewed by clicking on Feeling Blue | Jr Snyder Jr and clicking on +JR Snyder Jr will take you to my Google+ posts and profile. You may also want to visit my Picasa Web Photo Albums.
Jeff Smith and Levi Moore collaborate on a project called "Selfy Sunday" open to photographers on Google+ for posting and sharing a self-portrait taken that day or the week before. This photograph is my contribution to Self Sunday - Oct. 9 | 2011.
My contribution and the associated comments can be viewed by clicking on Feeling Blue | Jr Snyder Jr and clicking on +JR Snyder Jr will take you to my Google+ posts and profile. You may also want to visit my Picasa Web Photo Albums.
10/7/11
10/6/11
Home On The Range
Occupied by Desert Rats...
Desert rat is a term used regionally in the vernacular for someone who lives in the desert. Sometimes they live marginally but quite happily. This place is in the middle of southeastern Arizona and is occupied. There are a few other mobile homes close to it that are in a little better shape so I assume this is the oldest one in the small remote group.
There are a wide variety of desert rats and many have nicer digs and are self-sufficient with electric power, water and connection to the outside world via satellite dish. Remote desert areas may seem sparse but if you scratch the surface you will find all kinds of interesting and creative people who embody the spirit of the desert. Deserts are places where the hardy, both natural and human, create maximum use of the minimum of resources.
Desert rat is a term used regionally in the vernacular for someone who lives in the desert. Sometimes they live marginally but quite happily. This place is in the middle of southeastern Arizona and is occupied. There are a few other mobile homes close to it that are in a little better shape so I assume this is the oldest one in the small remote group.
There are a wide variety of desert rats and many have nicer digs and are self-sufficient with electric power, water and connection to the outside world via satellite dish. Remote desert areas may seem sparse but if you scratch the surface you will find all kinds of interesting and creative people who embody the spirit of the desert. Deserts are places where the hardy, both natural and human, create maximum use of the minimum of resources.
10/5/11
Urban Desert Revival
Dust storm followed by rain changes the season...
Yesterday was quite the day for weather in Phoenix tipping the balance from hot urban heat island summer to cool winter. Simply put we only have two seasons here: very hot summer and temperate winter; for all practical purposes we skip the in between seasons. The leaves on deciduous trees don't turn and drop off until late November and then bud green and mature in late March. During four blasting months of summer we get cabin fever in the reverse of colder climates since June through September our temperatures are in triple digits ranging around 110 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius). We get some rain but due to the urban heat island effect most rainfall doesn't move into the city so we get dust storms instead.
Yesterday was a classic shift of weather in from one season to another that occurs with a transitioning storm. In the morning a balmy wind started blowing and the sky was overcast and appeared as if we were getting another mild dust storm. It turned out to be a full blown dust storm by midday slowing and even stopping freeways and enveloping the city obscuring buildings and distant mountains. After the storm blew through there was a brief period of weak sun but by late afternoon storm clouds were gathering. Around 17:30 from on top of my roof I could see rain falling in spot cells off in the distance. Then the unique tint that comes from the desert sky when weather is mixing cast over the desert floor in its beautiful way.
A little while later came steady rain washing summer's dust and grime off roofs, streets, trees and ground giving everything a good wash down. This storm brought with it cooler air from Alaska no less and we had turned the page from our long parched summer to the fair pleasant cool season starting our winter. All summer scorched time has stood still while we waited for salvation from the weather and now it is time for our winter revival.
Yesterday was quite the day for weather in Phoenix tipping the balance from hot urban heat island summer to cool winter. Simply put we only have two seasons here: very hot summer and temperate winter; for all practical purposes we skip the in between seasons. The leaves on deciduous trees don't turn and drop off until late November and then bud green and mature in late March. During four blasting months of summer we get cabin fever in the reverse of colder climates since June through September our temperatures are in triple digits ranging around 110 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius). We get some rain but due to the urban heat island effect most rainfall doesn't move into the city so we get dust storms instead.
A little while later came steady rain washing summer's dust and grime off roofs, streets, trees and ground giving everything a good wash down. This storm brought with it cooler air from Alaska no less and we had turned the page from our long parched summer to the fair pleasant cool season starting our winter. All summer scorched time has stood still while we waited for salvation from the weather and now it is time for our winter revival.
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.
10/3/11
The 99% Is 75%
The other twenty-five percent recognize reality of the New Era...
Sheep who want shepherds rather than personal responsibility.
Personally I have little in common with the Occupy Wall Street movement, a consortium of "unions, students, teachers, veterans, first responders, families, the unemployed and underemployed." These are not my people and I doubt they represent all of the groups they list as "...the majority" and "...are the 99 percent" who will "...no longer be silent." I would venture that a large segment of "99ers" whose unemployment is running out is among them. What I think is they belong in the seventy-five percent majority of Americans, that number my purely anecdotal guess, which doesn't yet fully understand the 21st Century has arrived but not in its fullness. They are still looking backwards to institutions, government, public education, banks, politicians and private employers for overhaul and reform when by the nature of this disruptive period these entities are on the verge of collapse.
Your right to protest is honored, your protest may not be honorable.
What I do support is their Constitutional and common law right to assemble and protest by exercising their free speech peacefully. It seems to me that has been breached by the New York Police Department but there is a disconnect that bothers me. The place of umbrage is while I support their rights they totally miss the point of those of us who pursue the cause of liberty and free speech. To them we are out on some right wing limb and they do not see the correlation to their dependence on Statism. What the NYPD has done to break up their protests is the very thing that many of us warned about post 9-11 when the federal government subsidized police departments all across the country in obtaining equipment and training in the name of anti-terrorism. It has created a militarized de facto national police force that was never intended for our country.
Mainstream America is still listening to the Mainstream Media and watching reality TV shows. Their gut instinct tells them something is terribly wrong but they cannot articulate what. It is a result of years of dumbing down the population by the very public schools and institutions they are now beholden to. My calculation is the majority of my rough estimate of this three-quarters of the population will not go quietly into a new era and adjust their expectations about how they obtain consumer goods. They feel entitled to a "middle class lifestyle" and that is their "right." Since the mid-nineties anyone who knows me has had to listen to my saying that our biggest concern should be what happens when the mass population figures out they actually have to work for something when the bubble bursts. Then I was referring to the tech/telecom bubble. The majority like bubbles since they easily provide them consumer goods even though they become fuel for the "one percent," really the institutions they're rallying against now, to ensnare them into debt and a contemporary version of servitude. This escapes those demonstrating on Wall Street.
Being one of 99 percent will be the loneliest thing they ever do.
What they also misunderstand is globally we are in the midst of a 500 year crash of civilizations event that breaks up empires and reshapes the world. They just want their SUV. It is fair to make comparisons to the Great Depression and use the history of it and previous Panics as a guide for what will happen next on the economic markets front. What is happening though is bigger than a Panic or Depression and much larger than the social changes of the sixties and seventies. Loosely about twenty-five percent of us understand that and recognize we are not only in an economic crisis but a disruption of high magnitude that may take more than a decade to play out. It is economic, political and social; permeating all areas of our culture and lives and will create the New Economy but won't be one the "99 percent" envision. You will have the right to be entrepreneurial, creative thinking, a free agent to live and earn a way of life of your choice. You will not have the right to be entitled to a desultory lifestyle based on what was considered "middle class."
"He who is not busy being born is busy dying."
Those of us who understand that we must go on with our lives know that in disruption there are opportunities if you choose to seek them. A chance to reinvent your life depending on how hard you work and what you want to surrender to rise above current conditions. We channel our energy towards that rather than banging a drum asking to be dependent on a reformed government and institutions to make us happy. These are difficult times but not insurmountable if you are willing to take a long term realistic view of what you want to do with your life and are willing to get on with it despite obstacles. This is a forward looking view recognizing that we may have to endure another bubble (the education bubble comes to mind) before we get to the other side. Post WWII institutions and method of governing must fail in order to restore what America was originally and is meant to be. It is a new reconstruction, a tough one just as Reconstruction was after the first Civil War. This war will not be fought geographically but between those with internal motivation versus those who expect external awards. It will be a new structure based on an old one although a more advanced version that is resurrected as the false storefront of the twentieth century collapses.
Sheep who want shepherds rather than personal responsibility.
Personally I have little in common with the Occupy Wall Street movement, a consortium of "unions, students, teachers, veterans, first responders, families, the unemployed and underemployed." These are not my people and I doubt they represent all of the groups they list as "...the majority" and "...are the 99 percent" who will "...no longer be silent." I would venture that a large segment of "99ers" whose unemployment is running out is among them. What I think is they belong in the seventy-five percent majority of Americans, that number my purely anecdotal guess, which doesn't yet fully understand the 21st Century has arrived but not in its fullness. They are still looking backwards to institutions, government, public education, banks, politicians and private employers for overhaul and reform when by the nature of this disruptive period these entities are on the verge of collapse.
Your right to protest is honored, your protest may not be honorable.
Mainstream America is still listening to the Mainstream Media and watching reality TV shows. Their gut instinct tells them something is terribly wrong but they cannot articulate what. It is a result of years of dumbing down the population by the very public schools and institutions they are now beholden to. My calculation is the majority of my rough estimate of this three-quarters of the population will not go quietly into a new era and adjust their expectations about how they obtain consumer goods. They feel entitled to a "middle class lifestyle" and that is their "right." Since the mid-nineties anyone who knows me has had to listen to my saying that our biggest concern should be what happens when the mass population figures out they actually have to work for something when the bubble bursts. Then I was referring to the tech/telecom bubble. The majority like bubbles since they easily provide them consumer goods even though they become fuel for the "one percent," really the institutions they're rallying against now, to ensnare them into debt and a contemporary version of servitude. This escapes those demonstrating on Wall Street.
Being one of 99 percent will be the loneliest thing they ever do.
"He who is not busy being born is busy dying."
9/30/11
9/29/11
9/28/11
Desert Autumnal Equinox
The sun blotted out from the sky...
Still Hot, Paint It Black.
Sunrise
Sunset
Still Hot, Paint It Black.
Sunrise
Sunset
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