Summer In The Desert

I have been abysmally absent this last month or so. I hope you’ve been having loads of fun without me!

I just returned from a trip up north where it was *only* 100° and there *only* a little ash in the air. Phoenix is being ravaged by several wildfires and the sky looks like London circa 1952. With temperatures creeping into the low 120° and no rain in sight, centuries-old saguaros are tipping like top-heavy sunflowers. Both sets of grandparents moved to Phoenix when the population was under 100,000 and the city has since seen a 4,584% increase(!) in population. Each year, we break the previous year’s record for highest temperature and lowest rainfall. The concrete heat dome keeps expanding and the desert is dying. I was born and raised in the desert and have hated nearly every minute of it, but it’s my home and I respect it, and it breaks my heart to see others greedily build outward without consideration of the natural environment–the flora and fauna that were here first, and are still struggling to survive. I can’t help but wonder if this is happening everywhere, or if the damage is particularly pronounced in Phoenix.

We spent a few days in a creek-side cabin that my in-laws have been renting each summer for the last 45 years, and I always enjoy spending time in a place where my partner collected many fond childhood memories. On a hike along the creek, he pointed out a unique black and yellow butterfly; simultaneously, I pointed our a dozen topless young women in the creek. On the hike back, we saw two deer mules; the female was frozen in panic as her partner casually grazed a few yards away. Somehow, both experiences seem like they could warrant their own analysis and creative elaboration.

How have you been lately? What exciting (or not so exciting) things are going on in your life?