Friday Homestead Dispatch

Frosty Garrulous Hemorrhoid

May 6

Due to the many activities this week, today’s Dispatch is a tiny one.

I will say the last few days I happened to actually get off the couch and catch three, count ‘em, three musical performances here in Tucson. Check out the videos from each night here, here, and here. (More details to be read on each night if you’re on FB) Excellent stuff and just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of Tucson musicianship.

1.
After I had finished my California Camp piece in late February I posted This is the first in a series of state ‘camp’ shirts, starting with California, which will give me work to do until THE END. I decided to go with Colorado next, which I put the polish on last week, but it makes me tired to think I have forty-eight to go. I think I……zzzzZZzzzzzzzzz….

Colorado Camp, Mixed Media, 27 x 21 x 2, 2022 (front and back views)

2.
Here is perhaps a reason to be somewhat optimistic about the water situation in the Southwest…for now. An article published in Yale Environment 360 late last month said Water officials in San Diego say they are not worried. “We have sufficient supplies now and in the future,” said Sandra Kerl, general manager of the San Diego Water Authority. “We recently did a stress test, and we are good until 2045” and even beyond.

San Diego is not alone. While the public image may be that booming southwestern cities such as San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque are on the verge of a climate apocalypse, many experts agree that these metropolitan areas have enough of a water cushion to not only survive, but continue to grow into the surrounding desert for the foreseeable future, even during the worst drought in 1,200 years. Regardless of what the future holds, the search for water savings and more supply has so far been largely successful.

The author, Jim Robbins, went on to say It’s a remarkable case of adaptation to climate change that flies under the radar — the result of a quiet revolution in recent years in how these cities source and conserve their water supplies. From replacing water-guzzling lawns with native vegetation, to low-flow plumbing fixtures, to water recycling and desalination, to the shift of agricultural water to cities, governments in arid western regions are pursuing an all-of-the-above strategy.

Another factor is Beginning in the 1990s, the San Diego region embarked on one of the most aggressive water conservation plans in the country. An analysis last year showed that the city’s water use dropped from 81.5 billion gallons in 2007 to 57 billion gallons in 2020 — a 30 percent decline. Nine cities surveyed in the Colorado River Basin lowered their water demand in the range of 19 to 48 percent between 2000 and 2015.

Regarding Arizona, The University of Arizona and Arizona Project WET has developed and produced a groundwater video series meant to inspire the next generation of water stewards using hands-on learning, empowering them to make a difference in their community, and by putting students at the center of their water cycle. All nine videos can be accessed here and below is Episode 1, the Unique Hydrological Cycle of Arizona.

3.
If you’ve been looking for that ’special’ accent chair, look no further. Multi-disciplinary designer Hannes Grebin has created a group of upholstered seating for Todd Merrill Custom Originals, inspired by the questioning of traditional domestic decor. He describes the pieces as “living sculptures, which puts the traditional views about comfort and taste into question.” Thanks to my east coast friend, Bill O’Hara, for posting one of these earlier in the week.

4.
Richard Thompson wrote and performed some pieces for Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man (2005), which was the story of grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzly bears in Alaska.

In a Thompson interview with the Aquarium Drunkard it was announced that Music From Grizzly Man is being reissued this week from Quarter Records.

AD: How much input did Herzog have into the music? In the documentary of the sessions, he’s often sitting right there with you in the studio.

Richard Thompson: The general rule was that we wouldn’t play while we were looking at the film footage. We would look at, say, 30 seconds of footage and try to absorb whatever emotion was needed. And then we’d play for 30 seconds. And it’s surprising how well that worked. I think Werner’s concern was that each piece, however long or short it was, had to be a complete piece of music without the film there. It had to be self-supporting. And I think the music holds together in the way that was Werner’s intention, maybe in a way that not all soundtracks do.

Here’s a stunning scene from Eric Nelson’s short film, In the Edges, documenting the sessions for the soundtrack. As Richard Thompson improvises a dark, shimmering elegy on electric guitar, Herzog, seated nearby, appears to blink away tears, smiling in rapture.

5.
And today’s post wouldn’t be complete without a bit-o-wisdom from Heather Cox Richardson:

Regardless of who leaked the draft, in its wake, the political landscape in the country appears to be shifting. The right wing seems to see this as its moment to accomplish the imposition of religious restrictions they had previously only dreamed of achieving. Talk of ending gay marriage, re-criminalizing homosexuality, undermining public schools, and so on, is animating the radical right. Media stories have noted that most democratic countries have, in fact, been expanding reproductive rights. Going the opposite direction is a sign of rising authoritarianism. The United States shares that distinction right now with Poland and Nicaragua.

In contrast, those interested in protecting the constitutional right to reproductive choice, as well as all the other civil rights now under threat, are speaking out powerfully. There is also mounting anger that five of the justices on the Supreme Court seem to have lied under oath in order to do the very thing they appeared to promise not to.

That open call for a rollback of rights we have enjoyed for 50 years seems to have been a wake-up call for those unable to see the rising authoritarianism in this country for years.

Click here for the full report.