2014-12 5enses

Celebrating art and science in Greater Prescott

Alan Dean Foster

contemplates contents & contentedness P. 10

Ty Fitzmorris

braves the cold & champions the winter P. 14

Jacy Lee

finds collectibles blowing in the wind P. 7

Gene Twaronite caves in to his primitive impulses P. 21

And much2 more

DECEMBER 2014 | VOLUME 2, ISSUE 12 | 5ENSESMAG.COM

LOCALLY & INDEPENDENTLY OWNED & OPERATED

METHOD COFFEE

3180 WILLOW CREEK • 777-1067

5enses In which:

4 5 6 7 10 11

Peregrine Book Co.

struggles through struggles, raps about rap, generates generations, emerges from Emergency, and fables fables.

Peter Pierson

stops, looks, then listens for a fowl-weather friend that sounds far afield in the Central Highlands.

Helen Stephenson

rolls out the red carpet for the Prescott Film Festival’s screenings of Oscar-nominated films in 2015.

Jacy Lee

collects a windfall by sowing the wind and harnessing the wind-related collectibles whirlwind.

Alan Dean Foster

thinks inside the cereal box and discovers that contents and contentedness rarely fill containers.

14 16 18 20 21

Ty Fitzmorris

acknowledges it may be winter, but insists that’s no reason to make this the winter of your discontent.

James Dungeon

finds out it’s all fun and games when he chats with Jeff Whitham of the Prescott Area Boardgamers.

Robert Blood

talks about second chances and recycled art with Matthew McIntosh of Avertosh Salvage Steel Art.

Paolo Chlebecek

tries not to catch a cyber cold that would hold his digital health hostage without hope.

Gene Twaronite

December 2014 • Volume 2, Issue 12 Copyright © 2014 5enses Inc. unless otherwise noted.

Publisher & Editor: Rev. Nicholas M. DeMarino, M.A. Copy Editor: Susan Smart Read a new 5enses the first weekend of every month.

Visit 5ensesMag.Com, Facebook, & Twitter for more.

Contact us at 5ensesMag@Gmail.Com & 928-613-2076.

Plus

5/6 8 22

Flip Photo

A visual puzzle by the Highlands Center for Natural History

Left Brain/Right Brain

Find out what’s going on in Greater Prescott

Oddly Enough

Comics by Russell Miller

D00d135

Doodles by Jacques Laliberté

trolls for the troglodytes who caved in, left the dark, and climbed his family tree, naturally.

James Dungeon

discusses birding, arting, and growing up in Prescott with avid avian enthusiast Micah Riegner.

COVER: “Red-breasted Sapsucker.”

Watercolor by Micah Riegner.

RIGHT: “Lawrence’s Goldfinch” watercolor by Micah Riegner.

See James Dungeon’s story on Page 11 for the full story.

5ENSESMAG.COM • DECEMBER 2014 • CONTENTS • 3

Peregrine Book Co.

Staff picks

By Peregrine Book Company staff “My So-called Ruined Life”

By Melanie Bishop Melanie Bishop’s “My So-called Ruined Life” is a page-turner with substance. Readers young and older will fall in love with smart and witty Tate McCoy as she struggles through more adversity than any one person should have, gaining strength and wisdom from what could have broken her. This poignant and inspiring book will fly off the shelf. —Susan “Understand Rap: Explanations of Confusing Rap Lyrics That You & Your Grandma Can Understand”

By William Buckholz From Bone Thugs to Busta Thymes, Puff Daddy to Biggie Smalls, and Dr. Dre to Lil; Wayne, this book is jam packed with clear and concise explanations (many of which seem so spot on Buckholz himself must

have grown up street-side) of oft misunderstood and highly misquoted “bars.” You don’t have to be a hip-hop head to acquire a chuckle or two from this. Doesn’t hurt though. –Seth

“One Hundred Years of Solitude”

By Gabriel Garcia Marquez You will never see the world the same way again. You will learn to dream with your eyes open. –Michaela “A Fine Balance”

By Rohinton Mistry “A Fine Balance” is arguably the greatest novel I’ve ever read. Mistry’s prose is absolutely remarkable and his descriptions of India and its people evoke such unbelievable poignancy. At times I felt completely delighted to be reading of such compassion and humanity, and then enraged & horrified by the tragedy that befalls these wonderful charac-

ters. I implore all to read this novel, not only to admire brilliant writing, but as means to acquire a richer life perspective. –Jeremy

“The Whispering Muse”

By Sjón, translated by Victoria Cribb Simply thinking about this book gives me shivers. Sjón combines sly comedy with myth and history to form a powerful & surrealistic fable involving transformations of the body, of the heart, and of the natures of reality and time, seen through the eyes of stuffy fish-loving narrator Valdimar Haraldsson. Indelibly beautiful writing with images sharp as salt spray. –Reva

***** Visit Peregrine Book Company at PeregrineBookCompany.Com and 219A N. Cortez St., Prescott, 928-445-9000.

4 • FEATURE • DECEMBER 2014 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

Bird of the Month

Hairy Woodpecker Photo by Robert Taylor, Creative Commons 2.0.

By Peter Pierson

There

is an ironic peace amidst the bare, black pine and juniper in the saddle between the dwindling end of Trail No. 261 and the true summit of Granite Mountain. Take a moment to listen. The sound of the wind in the stark branches of dead ponderosa pine is broken by an intermittent tapping, then one loud, assertive “peek,” and then another.

The Hairy Woodpecker can seem foreign in the arid West. Its peeks, tweaks, and chatters are more at home in a winter Iowa backyard from a wire feeder. High on Granite Mountain, though, they come and stayed in numbers moving through burned areas in small flocks. Hairy Woodpeckers have come for the wood-boring beetles and other opportunistic insects made easy fodder in burned ponderosa trunks.

The robin-sized woodpecker can be distinguished from other local woodpecker species, the Acorn and Ladder-backed, by its black back broken by solid white down the middle.

Males display a patch of red on the nape.

Hairy Woodpeckers are found locally in ponderosa and mixed conifer systems and among stands of riparian hardwoods.

On

Granite Mountain, we will not see the ponderosa re-

turn to the scale realized before the Doce Fire of 2013; certainly not in our lifetimes. The human ignorancecaused fire burned hot, leaving little green in the stands it tore through.

With even the slightest rise in temperatures from the climate change patterns, these giants have little chance of returning to the marginal environs of the likes of Granite Mountain. Walking back from the overlook, picking up the trail back in the dimming light of a December afternoon, though, the tapping sound, the familiar peek and chatter amidst the burned trunks, call you to pause and look, to pay attention and find grace in just how persistent and hopeful life can be.

Granite Mountain Outtitters

320 W. Gurley | Prescott 928-776-4949

Highlands Center for Natural History’s

pilF Photo

***** Peter Pierson is a freelance writer and communications adviser who has found home from northern Minnesota to Regina, Saskatchewan, Nome, and Fairbanks, Alaska, and western Colorado. A recipient of a Minnesota Arts Council/McKnight Fellowship, his essay work has been published for a variety of print media and produced and broadcast for KAXE-Northern (Minnesota) Community Radio and CBC Radio One across Canada.

Visit Prescott Audubon Society at PrescottAudubon.Org. Contact them at Contact@PrescottAudubon.Org or 928-778-6502.

Whose nose who hibernates?

5ENSESMAG.COM • DECEMBER 2014 • FEATURES • 5

Prescott Film Festival’s SCRIPT NOTES

Seeing red

By Helen Stephenson

65-years-old, bubbly, excited, and having the time of their lives. There is an interviewer at the end of the red carpet.

EXT. YAVAPAI COLLEGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER – NIGHT – ESTABLISHING SHOT The outside lights are on, and the trees twinkle with white lights. A red carpet has been rolled out and antique and classic cars surround the entrance. Men in tuxedos and women in high heels and sleek formal gowns start to arrive.

Photographers snap photos and videographers capture moments.

Two friends, Dorothy, Caroline, walk up the red carpet. They are around

CAROLINE (laughing) Not an Oscar! Passes to the annual Prescott Film Festival!

DOROTHY That’s right! We’ve watched almost every film that’s been nominated, including all the nominated shorts!

CAROLINE And don’t forget “Boyhood”!

It had a HUGE Oscar buzz, so we saw that one, too!

DOROTHY I know, I’m just hamming it up for the camera! Come on sis, let’s get going! Our Pre-Oscar cocktail party awaits!

INTERVIEWER And you need to fill our your ballots!

CAROLINE That’s right! See you inside!

INTERVIEWER How did you ladies see all the Oscar-nominated short films?

DOROTHY Yes, once you’ve watched the Oscars with an audience, you’ll never watch them at home in your bathrobe and high heels again!

DOROTHY We are dressed to the nines and ready to win!

DOROTHY The film festival screened them in February!

CAROLINE (shaking her head) TMI Dorothy! TMI!

INTERVIEWER (laughing) Win? Are you nominated in one of the categories?

CAROLINE All three categories for the shorts: animated, live action, and documentary.

DOROTHY Time Management Information?

INTERVIEWER Good evening ladies! Are you ready for a great evening at the Academy Awards telecast?

Highlands Center for Natural History’s

Flip otohP

INTERVIEWER So it sounds like you are both going to be prepared to fill out your ballots!

DOROTHY Yep! And we’ll be working to win a Platinum or All-Movie pass to the 6th Annual Prescott Film Festival July 22-26, 2016!

CAROLINE Aside from seeing all the films in the multiplexes, we went to every January and February Oscarnominated film that the festival brought right here to Prescott!

A bear’s, that’s whose. There are many animals in our Central Arizona Highlands that hibernate. Some, though, are only partial hibernators, meaning that they wake up throughout the winter to scavenge for food or fill up on food stores in their dens. Bears are partial hibernators along with skunks, raccoons, and chipmunks. True hibernators include most species of reptiles, amphibians, and insects, along with some mice, bats, and ground squirrels.

6 • FEATURES • DECEMBER 2014 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

DOROTHY We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE going to the movies and seeing them with an audience.

It’s so much better than watching a film on your phone!

CAROLINE Dorothy, you’ve never watched a film on your phone!

CAROLINE Yes! Let’s get going!

They turn and wave to the interviewer as they enter the Performing Arts Center.

INTERVIEWER That’s it folks! Remember to watch the Prescott Film Festival website and the Prescott Film Festival and Monthly Series Facebook page to keep up to date!

January and February will be hopping around here as the festival brings every Oscar-nominated film they can get the rights to, right here to Prescott! Then the fun really begins on Feb. 22, 2015. The broadcast of the Academy awards is free and open to the public.

But come early to support the Prescott Film festival with the Pre-Oscar Cocktail Party! Good night and see you at the movies! ***** Helen Stephenson is the founder and executive director of the Prescott Film Festival and the director of the Sedona Film School at Yavapai College.

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind

One

of our earliest uses of wind was the weather vane. Ho-hum. Yawn. The weather vane. Well, the Colonial Period weather vanes are anything but boring now.

In the 1700s, up to the mid-20th century, folks depended on weather vanes for vital information. This, and barometers, were their only ways of predicting the weather. Consistent direction on a vane probably meant consistent weather patterns. A change, meant, well, a change. This was their science.

Their vanes, made of iron, tin, or copper, had the N, S, E, and W, but also were decorated with horses, cows, chickens, sulkies, and

As

much as the windmill influenced photography and art, it also spawned other collectibles. An obvious genre is lawn art.

The gangly, tin models of windmills have been created for several generations now, and are still being created

***** Longtime Prescott resident Jacy Lee has been in the auction business for 37 years and is directly responsible for a fraction of a million pounds of minimally processed recycling each year.

4

Pig weather vane and windmill. Photos by Jacy Lee.

Prescott’s 4th Friday

4FRIDAY

ART WALKS

’S

thousands of years, man has harnessed the power of the wind to move ships. This is readily pictured and documented throughout history. But the use of wind for energy purposes on land is not as historically familiar.

Since the Middle Ages, Europe has popularized windmills, but what of America’s use of wind? Since the colonial days, the U.S. has harnessed the wind, sometimes for practical use, sometimes just whimsical.

So, from iconic, to common, to eclectic, the gadgets we’ve devised to track and harness the wind are all around us. If you ever see some crazy wood sculpture of a brightly painted man and woman on a seesaw with a donkey nearby, poised to kick a woodpile, and your friend asks how that works, simple say, “The answer, my friend ...”

COT T

For

today. Usually 4-6 ft high, there are versions as tall as 10 feet. Although salesman samples of windmills were virtually non-existent, some companies that gave toy ones with the purchase of a life-sized one. Some people even use the full-size tails of the windmill as yard art or wall art.

Another, rarer collectible from the windmill industry is the windmill weight. The weight is a chunk of cast iron, about a foot long, almost as high, and 50-or-so pounds. They were used as counter-balances on windmills. A common theme was the crescent moon, but horses and bulls are more sought after by collectors.

The windmill company name often appeared on the weight.

PRE S

By Jacy Lee

even people. These have become extremely sought after pieces of early American folk art. With well preserved weather vanes bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars, it’s no wonder that thieves have used scenarios that would seem to be out of a James Bond movie to steal them off of barns in the northeast. Even an early 20th century weather vane, with no bullet holes, can bring a few thousand dollars.

Weather vanes were very practical. Whirligigs are mostly whimsical. The whirligig is a colorful, and active, spinoff of the weather vane.

While they also showed the wind direction, they also helped show the wind speed. Whirligigs started in early America, but really blossomed in the early 20th century in the Midwest. Made from brightly painted scraps of wood and metal, a whirligig is vanery in motion. Common themes were two people sawing a log, riding a seesaw or one person riding a bicycle or milking a cow. Often times, birds with moving wings were depicted. The faster the wind speed, the crazier the sawing, riding or flying was done. Although not as sought after as a 1770s weather vane, whirligigs allow many of us to own a latter, but still true, piece of American folk art for only $50 to several hundred dollars.

In the Great Plains to the far west, the American windmill was a common sight from the mid-19th century up to today. Usually made of steel, it has become iconic in black-andwhite photos, as well as in original art. In the slightest breeze, the creak of an abandoned windmill can bring an eerie feel to even the sunniest day.

EVERY

TH

2014 January 24 February 28 March 28 April 25 Beginning at 5 PM May 23 June 27 July 25 August 22 September 26 October 24 November 28 December 26

See Special Events

www.ArtThe4th.com

5ENSESMAG.COM • DECEMBER 2014 • FEATURE • 7

Left Brain: December’s mind-full events Events

7

3

Prescott Astronomy Club • 6:30 p.m. Wednesday: Jeff Stillman discusses the Southwest Astrophotography conference, Corrine Shaw discusses the Mt. Lemmon SkyTour, and Jeff Stillman discusses the Arizona Science and Astronomy Expo at the monthly Prescott Astronomy Club meeting. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

4

5

“Shift Happens” • 6:30 p.m. Friday: Tice Supplee, Audubon Arizona director of bird conservation, discusses Audubon's seven-year scientific study about climate change and North American birds. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928776-9550, $10-$15, RSVP)

6

LAN party • Noon Saturday: Play multiplayer computer games like Quake, Counterstrike, and Tribes at monthly Local Area Network party. Via Western Sky PC. (Game On, 1957 Commerce Center Circle Suite C, Prescott, PPCGG.Com) “Frontier Christmas” • 6 p.m. Saturday: Learn how frontier families celebrated the holidays, and how Christmas was celebrated in Prescott as early as 1864. (Sharlot Hall Museum, 415 W. Gurley St., 928-445-2133)

Conservation Biology Symposium • 8 a.m. Dec. 8 & Dec. 10: “Conservation Biology” students present on regions with high biodiversity, risks these areas face, and what's being done to protect them. (Prescott College Natural History Institute, 312 Grove Ave., 928-350-2280) Bird walks • 8 a.m. Dec. 3, 13, & 17: Bird walks at Goldwater Lake, Fain Park in Prescott Valley, and Watson Woods.

(Jay’s Bird Barn, No. 113, 1046 Willow Creek Road, 928-443-5900, RSVP)

“Sustainability Issues in Arizona: A Moral Responsibility?”

• 5 p.m. Thursday: Matthew Goodwin discusses sustainability issues facing Arizona. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500) “Wildlife Wonders of Maasailand” • 7 p.m. Thursday: Walt Anderson, Prescott College professor, discusses Northern Tanzania, home of the “Great Migration” of large grazing mammals and the dramas of predation that accompany herd movements, plus its abundance of birds.

(Prescott College Natural History Institute, 312 Grove Ave., 928-350-2280)

Multi-day

Modern-day meditation • 6:50 p.m. Dec. 3 & 17: An active, four-part practice for today’s demanding lifestyle: Open. Calm.

Think. Act. (Deva Healing Center, 520 W. Sheldon St., 619-917-1337, first class free, $10)

“Boots & Burgers: An Arizona Handbook for Hungry Hikers” • 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7: Arizona travel writer and humorist Robery Naylor discusses his love letter to Arizona disguised as a hiking and dining guide.

(Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000) PHOTO: Robert Naylor displays "Boots & Burgers." Courtesy photo.

7

“The Music of WWII” • 2 p.m. Sunday: In recognition of Pearl Harbor Day, Erik Larson discusses the music of the World War II-era. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

10

Highlands Center member holiday celebration • 4:30 p.m. Wednesday: Highlands Center for Natural History board, staff, volunteers, and members gather for music, merriment, food, and drink. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928776-9550, RSVP by Dec. 5)

Prescott Area Boardgamers • 5 p.m. Dec. 10: Play board games.

(Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, Bump and Elsea conference rooms, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

8 • EVENTS • DECEMBER 2014 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

13

“Have a Local Christmas!”

• 11 a.m. Saturday: Buy locally made, one-of-a-kind gifts. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000) Pinot Noir wine tasting • 4 p.m. Saturday: Taste Pinot Noir wines from all over the world. (The Raven Cafe, 142 N. Cortez St. 928717-0009, $14)

14

“Remember When” • 2 p.m. Sunday: Elks Opera House Guild members show off their Edwardian Fashions. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

26

Tap Takeover • 4 p.m. Friday: Oskar Blues Brewing Co. tasting event. (The Raven Cafe, 142 N. Cortez St. 928-717-0009)

Community Yoga • 5:15 p.m. Tuesdays & Thursdays, 10 a.m. Saturdays: Free community alllevels yoga class for people from all walks of life. Come heal your whole self. No experience necessary.

(Deva Healing Center, 520 Sheldon St., DevaHealingCenter.Org) Mindfulness meditation • 6:30 p.m. informal sit, 7 p.m. formal sit Tuesdays: Meditation group open to people of all faiths and nonfaiths followed by optional discussion. (601 Miller Valley Road, park in back, PrescottVipassana.Org) Scrabble group • 1 p.m. Thursdays: Play Scrabble and Upwords. (Prescott Public Library, Bump and Elsea conference rooms, 928-777-1500) Drop in chess • 2 p.m. Saturdays: Play chess, all ages and skill levels welcome.

(Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

December’s art-full events :niarB thgiR Events

Art

Poetry discussion group • 1 p.m. Wednesday, Dr. Janet Preston’s monthly poetry discussion group. (Prescott Public Library, Elsea Conference Room, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

Arizona Print Group • December: Arizona Print Group art show. (The Raven Cafe, 142 N. Cortez St. 928-717-0009)

3

“An Essential Relationship: Amateurs & Professionals in Central Arizona Archaeology” • From Dec. 6: Exhibit celebrating groups of individuals who’ve pursued archaeological activities in Central Arizona since the 1920s.

(Smoki Museum, 147 N. Arizona Ave., 928-445-1230, $5-$7)

4

Poets’ Cooperative • 6 p.m. Thursday: Share your work with other poets in a supportive atmosphere. (Prescott Public Library, Elsea Conference Room, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

5

Prescott Opera Gala • 5:30 p.m. Friday: Second annual event features professional singers and an accompanist from Phoenix’s Arizona Opera. (Prescott Center for the Arts, 208 N. Marina St., 928-445-3286, $25)

6 12 17 20 21

The Improvitionians • 8:30 p.m. Saturday: Improv comedy at 5,000 feet. (Stage Too, North Cortez Street alley between Willis and Sheldon streets, 928-445-3286, $5) Acker Night Musical Showcase • 6 p.m. Friday: 27th annual music fundraiser night featuring … well, A LOT of musicians. (Downtown Prescott, AckerNight.Com) Open mic poetry • 5:30 p.m. Wednesday: Poet Dan Seaman emcees monthly open mic poetry. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

“Storytellers” • 10 a.m. Saturday: Storytellers from Southwest cultures share their stories. (Smoki Museum, 147 N. Arizona Ave., 928-445-1230, $5-$7) “The Navajo Creation Story” • 5 p.m. Sunday: Char Kruger, Navajo culture educator, weaves the tale of the Navajo creation story.

(Smoki Museum, 147 N. Arizona Ave., 928-445-1230, $65)

26

4th Friday Art Walk • 5 p.m. Friday: Monthly art walk including more than 18 galleries, artist receptions, openings, and demonstrations. (ArtThe4th.Com)

21 Handel’s “Messiah” singalong • 3 p.m. Sunday: The Friends of Music Chorale sings Handel’s “Messiah” with audience members. Conducted by Dr. Will Fisher, Yavapai College professor emeritus. Proceeds generate scholarships for Yavapai College music majors.

(Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-533-8897, $15-$30) IMAGE: Final bars of the “Hallelujah” chorus from Handel’s “Messiah,” 1741. Public domain, manipulated.

Multi-day Mt. Artists Guild Christmas Bazaar • 10 a.m. Saturday & Sunday, Dec. 6 & 7: Annual holiday sale. (Mountain Artists Guild & Gallery, 228 Alarcon St., 928-445-2510)

Theater & film “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” • 10 a.m. Dec. 13: Via satellite, The Metropolitan Opera’s presentation of Wagner’s epic comedy about a group of Renaissance master singers whose song contest unites a city.

(Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928776-2000, $12-$30)

“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” • 7 p.m. Dec. 18-20, 2 p.m. Dec. 20 & 21: A couple struggling to put on a church Christmas pageant are faced with casting the Herdman kids — probably the most inventively awful kids in history. (Prescott Center for the Arts, 208 N. Marina St., 928445-3286, $10) “Alice in Winterland” • 6 p.m. Dec. 19 & 20: A wintery tale about, indeed, a young girl named Alice. Via The Dance Studio. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000, $15) “The Nutcracker” • 6 p.m. Dec. 21: Via satellite, the Bolshoi Ballet performs the famous ballet based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story set to iconic music by Tchaikovsky. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000, $10-$15)

Juried Student Exhibition • Through Dec. 13: Fall juried student exhibit including printmaking, painting, watercolor, jewelry, sculpture, ceramics, and digital representations. (Yavapai College Art Gallery, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2031) “Holiday Wrap” • Through Dec. 20: Annual Christmas craft show. (Prescott Center for the Arts, 208 N. Marina St., 928445-3286) “Eclectic Works in Various Media” • Through Dec. 23: Annual show featuring eclectic works in various media. (’Tis Art Center & Gallery, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223) “Miniatures” • Through Dec. 23: Mountain Artists Guild member miniature show curated by Judy Lewis. (Mountain Artists Guild & Gallery, 228 Alarcon St., 928-445-2510) “2015 Winter Photography Show” • From Dec. 26: Annual seasonal photography show. (’Tis Art Center & Gallery, 105 S. Cortez St., 928775-0223) “A Strand of Fiber to a Grain of Wood” • Through Dec. 30: Functional and fun fiber art by Jo Manginelli and explorations in wood and mixed media by Anne Legge. (’Tis Art Center & Gallery, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223)

9

Alan Dean Foster’s

Perceivings

By Alan Dean Foster I don’t mean to particularly pick on Froot Loops. Or instant coffee, or pretzels, or the potato chip flavor of the moment. Or Wheat Thins, or ice cream. It’s just that anymore it seems that they all have something disgraceful in common. They lie.

Yes, that smiling Cap’n Crunch and grinning Count Chocula and even neighborly Juan Valdez and his patient donkey are liars. But they’re not bold-faced liars. Their prevarications are subtle and carefully thought-out. I’m speaking of the art of visual deception, of consumer product prestidigitation, of how contemporary manufacturers strive to convince your mind and your eyes that you’re getting something you’re actually not. It’s been getting worse for years now.

Humans

are a very visual species.

We possess an excellent memory for observed objects. Nowhere is this predilection more evident than in the supermarket. We grow up tagging along with our parents as they shop. Without realizing it or intending to do so, we mark for future reference the size, shape, and contents of familiar containers. This is what the equivocators among present-day manufacturers rely upon: visual memories that are ingrained in our consciousness.

Like most of us, I’ve known this has been taking place for years, but it didn’t really hit me until

In the eye of the Froot Loop I was perusing the ice cream section and saw, bravely emblazoned across a container of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey, “Still a pint!” So I did a little investigating and, sure enough, found all kinds of discrepancies in that one department.

Like a “pint” of Haagen-daz that was actually 14.5 oz. Or “half-gallon” sizes that contain 1.5 or 1.75 quarters (Blue Bell, à la Ben & Jerry’s, is bold in proclaiming “Still a half-gallon!”)

How

do manufacturers get away with such patent double-dealing?

By using the same methods as stage magicians. Both fool and confuse you by relying on your visual memory. One assumes that a container that appears to hold a pint still does so.

When this approach fails to persuade, producers will change the packaging. Large cylindrical halfgallon containers will be replaced with fancy new oblong packages that contain less product. But if they’re all stock side-by-side in the half-gallon section, a shopper will assume the new packing will hold the same amount as the containers they have replaced. To divert your attention, and focus, the manufacturer will often plaster “New and Improved!” across their redesigned packaging, much as a magician will wave one hand to draw the eye away from the other hand that is performing the actual trick.

Sometimes it’s not even necessary to change the packaging. A manufacturer will simply stop listing contents, replacing them with the presumably more informative “nutritional information.”

Studying all these details occupies the shopper’s thoughts to the point where they forget to check the actual amount of food they’re buying. My favorite method of visually fooling the shopper has nothing to do with changing the packaging so much as it does with simply reducing the contents.

10 • COLUMN • DECEMBER 2014 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

When

was the last time you bought a bag of chips that was noticeably more than half full? Or pretzels? Or loose crackers? Why have cough drop manufacturers switched to bags instead of boxes? The box may be the same size as the one your parents bought, but contains less food. The bag of cough drops may be bigger than the box it replaced yet contains fewer drops. This deception fools not the eye but the mind.

It’s also usually accompanied by the manufacturers of dry foods all-time favorite exculpatory line: “Contents may have settled while shipping.”

True enough. Of course, there may also have been less in the way of contents to start with. If I ever opened a bag of loose crackers, or cookies, and found it full, I think my brain would seize up from the shock.

Medicine and not food is the worst offender.

You know to what kind of packaging I refer. A box, containing a bottle one-third its size, which in turn is less than half full. One day I reckon we’ll be down to a fist-sized box that holds a thumb-size bottle than has seven pills in it. The label, invariably written in the smallest print allowable, will truthfully declare, “Contains a full week’s dosage.”

As opposed to saying, “Contents: seven capsules.”

So

be alert while shopping for that pound of bacon that weighs 12 oz., that bag of Cheetos that contains more air than the food item itself, and the 2-liter bottle of soda that holds notably less than 2 quarts. You’re no longer on the savanna gathering seeds, and you need to forget your eyes and use your mind.

I’ve found that shopping while maintaining a persistent sense of outrage is also helpful. ***** Alan Dean Foster is author of more than 120 books, visitor to more than 100 countries, and still frustrated by the human species. Follow him at AlanDeanFoster.Com.

Scale and feather images via All-Free-Download.Com; Kellogg’s “Star Wars” cereal fair use.

Illustration by 5enses.

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES Micah Riegner cross-pollinates art and science

By James Dungeon

It’s

hard not to have a guttural reaction to scorched chaparral, especially in Yavapai County.

Recent history aside, its stark contrast with verdant foliage is a siren’s call, tempting the eye along a push-pull of contrasts.

“Bare-eyed Antbird.”

Watercolor by Micah Riegner.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 >>> 5ENSESMAG.COM • DECEMBER 2014 • PORTFOLIO • 11

COUNTERCLOCKWISE, FROM BOTTOM LEFT: “Hermit Thrush,” sketch by Micah Riegner; “Yellow-billed Tit-tyrant,” watercolor by Micah Riegner; Micah Riegner, courtesy photo; a bobcat follows a coyote in Prescott, photo by Micah Riegner.

... FROM PAGE 11

Linger, though, and you’ll miss something special.

“Down the way: a coyote standing in the middle of the road,” said Walt Anderson, a Prescott College professor, recounting a field trip with his “Interpreting Nature Through Art and Photography” class.

“It was rather peculiar, standing there on a high-traffic road,” said Walt, who, until then, had been pointing out the impacts of the Doce and Yarnell Hill fires. “Then, out came the bobcat.”

It was a singular moment. The kind that clarifies your place in the natural world. Blink. And it’s gone.

Only one of Walt’s students —the one who alerted him to the coyote — was present enough to snap a photo.

“That was Micah Riegner,” Walt said. “What can I say? He’s always prepared.”

At 21-years-old, Micah’s already an accomplished international birder and tour guide who’s worked with expeditions that have documented new species of birds in the Amazon.

He credits much of his success as a naturalist to the influence of art.

“Whenever you sketch something, it forces you to spend more time looking at it,” Micah said. “Then, suddenly, you

12 • PORTFOLIO • DECEMBER 2014 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

can see subtle things you didn’t see before.”

In much the same way, there’s more to Micah than meets the eye. He’s a Prescottonian, born and raised, who not only blurs the line between art and science, but shatters the town/gown illusion that pervades the city.

Don’t buy it? Spend some time with him and see for yourself.

Influences The elder son of Veronica Behn and Mark Riegner, Micah grew up with the great outdoors as his backyard.

“We were always camping and hiking,” Micah said. “My brother Gabriel and I would look for salamanders and frogs and whatever else we could find.”

His father, Mark, recalls a pivotal moment when, at age 9 or 10, Micah wanted to hike to the White Spar rocks with his brother — without their parents.

“They had walkie-talkies so they could communicate with us every five or 10 minutes,” Mark said. “We were a little nervous about letting the boys walk alone, but it was great experience for them.”

In addition to innumerable hikes in and around Prescott, Mark also took his family on sojourns to Costa Rica and Mexico while teaching field

courses via Prescott College.

“We’ve always traveled a lot,” he said. “And Micah’s always shown a real attention toward nature.”

Although his parents introduced him to birding in passing, it was Micah’s neighbor who sparked his passion for the pastime.

“I consider Kathy Wingert a mentor,” said Micah, who was about 13 or 14 when he started attending Prescott Audubon Society meetings. “She led bird walks at the Highlands Center and would bring me along to help out.”

As he discovered, birding in Prescott yields an overabundance of opportunities.

“Because of migration, you’ll see a lot of different birds throughout the year here,” Micah said. “There are always new things to see and hear — new behaviors, new bird calls.”

As a devout naturalist, he kept a field journal, which included sketches. Art, however, was not something new for him.

“I remember drawing as early as kindergarten and first grade,” said Micah, who flourished at Mountain Oak School, a Waldorf-style charter school.

(Incidentally, his father is one of the school’s founders.)

It was at Prescott High School, though, under the tutelage of Mike

Murphy, that Micah honed his drawing skills. Those art classes changed the way he looked at birds.

“Normally, you watch a bird then move on,” Micah said. “When you sketch it, it forces you to spend time looking at its wing shape, how the tail is shaped, head proportions, and other details.”

By sketching and painting watercolors of birds, Micah learned, for instance, the differences between Cooper’s Harks and Sharp-shinned Hawks. (Note for non-birders: This isn’t easy.)

It wasn’t until he enrolled in Prescott College and took a class with Walt, his academic advisor, though, that he became more sensitive to aesthetic values.

“Through photography, I learned a lot about composition, which has really informed my watercolors,” Micah said. “Still, you can’t get too inventive, because you’ve got to keep things accurate and natural.”

Extra(ordinary)curricular activities If you ask Micah about being a naturalist and artist, he’ll offer a few anecdotes, but he won’t necessarily detail his accomplishments — not even in an interview for a story about him.

Micah will mention his bird watercolors and drawings … but he’ll gloss over the fact they were used as the poster art for an annual Birding Spree at the Highlands Center for Natural History a few years ago.

Micah will mention doing ornithological research in Brazil with a team from Louisiana State University, and that the leader, Bret Whitney, discovered a new species of bird based on its vocalization … but he’ll neglect to mention his own uncanny knack for identifying bird calls.

Micah will mention he was a birding guide at the renown Cristalino Lodge … but he’ll forget to mention the time he helped a German tourist find every bird on a seemingly impossible wish list — including species that hadn’t been spotted there in years.

Micah will mention doing more ornithological research last summer on mixed-feeding flocks of birds in Peru at the edge of Manú National Park … but he’ll barely note spotting an incredibly rare species of canid.

Micah’s Prescott College advisor said such storytelling lacunas are par for the course.

“Did you ask him directly?” Walt said. “He’s very humble, so you’ve got to do that.”

If you want to hear bragging, you

could try his father, but you’ll have to settle for demure, Atticus Finch-like pride.

“He’s really making his own path,” Mark said. “It’s been very gratifying to watch him develop in this way, and to see the support from Audubon members and my close associates at Prescott College.”

He’s transitioning from seeing Micah has a student to a colleague, he added.

As for the future, Micah’s so immersed in what he’s doing now that he only envisions himself doing much the same in two decades.

“I’d like to be doing research and leading tours,” Micah said. “Hopefully I can continue doing artwork, too.”

Although it’s part of his academic and professional life, birding will likely always be part of his personal pursuits, too, he said.

“Birds are the most conspicuous aspect of any environment,” Micah said.

“They’re pretty interesting to watch; that’s why I do it.” ***** James Dungeon is a figment of his own imagination. And he likes cats.

Contact him at JamesDungeonCats@ Gmail.Com.

13

News From the Wilds Prescott weather Average high temperature: 51.7 F, +/-4.2 Average low temperature: 21.7 F, +/-3.5 Record high temperature: 78 F, Dec. 2, 1926 Record low temperature: -9 F, Dec. 24, 1924 Average precipitation: 1.66”, +/-1.64” Record high precipitation: 6.96”, 1965 Record low precipitation: 0”, 9.6 percent of years on record

Black Phoebes stay in the Mogollon Highlands through the winter, keeping warm by fluffing out their breast feathers. Photo by Ty Fitzmorris.

Max daily precipitation: 3.13”, Dec. 30, 1951 Source: Western Regional Climate Center

By Ty Fitzmorris

The

coldest season has come round again, and the wilds have entered the depth of their quiescence. But though the nights are at their longest now — the longest of the year is on Dec. 21, the Winter Solstice — the coldest and toughest parts of the winter are still to come. December is slightly warmer and bears a bit less rain and snow than January, when the days will be already growing longer again.

This lag between the darkest and the coldest times is a result of the thermal qualities of the air masses in the atmosphere, which hold their temperature long after incoming solar radiation has declined. It is for this reason that the warmest parts of the summer are typically after the Summer Solstice, and that the coldest parts of the winter are after the Winter Solstice.

As

a result of low temperatures and lack of sunlight, plants and insects now enter the depth of their winter diapause, when almost no activity is to be found. These two groups are the primary food sources for almost all of our species, so their somnolence brings extreme hardship for birds and mammals, the two groups that remain most active.

Only the most resourceful and innovative can find food during this time, and often creatures are more desperate because of this. Predators, such as Cooper’s Hawks, Sharpshinned Hawks, Coyotes and Bobcats, become more daring in their attempts to catch small birds and rodents, and as a result prey species become more adept at avoiding their predators. Many birds band together into mixed-species foraging flocks (see the High Mountains, Ponderosa Forests, Pine-Oak Woodlands, and Riparian Areas sections on p. 15), while rodents spend more time in near-hibernation in their dens after

14 • FEATURE • DECEMBER 2014 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

storing food for the last several months. Larger herbivores, such as Mule Deer and Pronghorn, live off of stored body fat for the next few months, and stay on the move to avoid predators. For all species, this season is the time of highest mortality.

But

even in this darkest time of year the astute observer can find the first glimmerings of spring. In the lowlands and deserts a few insects and relatives will appear on sunny days — harvester ants maintaining their colonies and gathering seeds, Mourning Cloak butterflies flying in river bottoms, and wolf spiders hunting for other small arthropods. Our deciduous trees, though leafless now, begin swelling at their leaf-buds, growing what will become their spring flowers and leaves, while some, such as the Arizona Alder, grow their entire pendant flowers. Female River Otters are nearing the end of their preg-

nancies, and moving towards their dens, while Black Bear wait in their hibernacula, also about to give birth.

As in the great never-ending cycle of birth, growth, mating, dispersal, and death, the darkness of winter enfolds the seeds of spring. ***** Ty Fitzmorris is an itinerant and often distractible naturalist who lives in Prescott and is proprietor of the Peregrine Book Company, Raven Café, Gray Dog Guitars, and is a founder of Milagro Arts, a community arts nexus, all as a sideline to his natural history pursuits. He is also the curator of insects at the new Natural History Institute at Prescott College. Contact him at Ty@ PeregrineBookCompany.Com with questions or comments.

News From the Wilds, too A very brief survey of what’s happening in the wilds ...

By Ty Fitzmorris Skyward High mountains • Pine Siskins, Red Crossbills and Cassin’s Finches may appear from the north during especially cold years, often finding and flocking with House Finches and Lesser Goldfinches. This behavior helps migratory species learn the distribution of food in places they are unfamiliar with.

Visit: Maverick Mountain Trail, No. 65.

Ponderosa Pine forests • Dark-eyed Juncos arrive in force from colder lands to the north and join with Bridled Titmouse, Mountain Chickadee, Brown Creeper, and several species of nuthatches to form mixed-species flocks. These species stay together for months, and apparently gain protection from having many eyes of different types looking for predators. They avoid competing with each other by dividing up the microhabitats of trees — look for Juncos foraging on the ground, Chickadees in the tips of branches, nuthatches foraging in a downward spiral around trunks, and Brown Creepers foraging in an upward spiral.

Visit: Miller Creek Trail, No. 367.

Pine-Oak woodlands • Bushtits are very active when the weather is calm. These tiny, mouselike birds are distinctive in that they forage in large flocks, but the birds trickle from one tree to the next in a slow but continuous stream, chiming continuously with beautiful calls.

Once they have landed, these birds search each tree assiduously, gleaning many thousands of insect larvae, thereby keeping many insect species under control.

• Several species of harmless spiders move into human dwellings, the most obvious of which is the Giant Crab Spider (Olios giganteus), which can often be seen running on walls and ceilings.

These spiders are totally non-venomous, and can easily be relocated to the outdoors by trapping them under a cup carefully so that they aren’t injured.

Visit: Little Granite Mountain, No. 37.

Bald Eagles overwinter comfortably at Willow Lake, living off of migratory waterfowl. Photo by Ty Fitzmorris.

Pinyon-Juniper woodlands • Raccoons spend long periods — up to three weeks at a time — in their dens. Dens are typically in trees, though in the higher elevations Raccoons may excavate burrows. Dens can sometimes be found because of nearby latrines, large deposits of scat.

This year’s young stay in the den with their mother for their first winter.

Visit: Tin Trough Trail, No. 308.

Grasslands • Hawks continue to migrate from the north, escaping colder temperatures.

Look for Swainson’s, Rough-legged, and the very rare Northern Goshawk.

• Gunnison’s Prairie Dogs (Cynomys gunnisoni) begin their winter hibernation deep in their underground tunnels, and will emerge in March or April. This is the smallest species of prairie dog in North America and the only one in the Mogollon Highlands, and is one of the most important of all species in maintaining the health of our grasslands. Their burrows both oxygenate and nitrogenate soils, which fertilizes grasses and forbs. Prairie dogs are also important sources of foods for many other species, such as hawks, snakes, and Black-footed Ferrets. They are a “keystone species” in that they are one of the species that forms the basis of their ecosystem.

Visit: Mint Wash Trail, No. 345.

Riparian areas • Waterfowl of many different species, including Pintail, Ruddy Duck, American Widgeon, Gadwall, Greenwinged Teal, Shoveler, Canvasback, and Bufflehead, have arrived in our lakes by the thousands, and are easily observed as they feed from now until early spring. Rare birds, such as loons, ibis, some goose species, and several kites, appear in the lakes in midwinter, blown off course by winter storms sometimes thousands of miles away. Notice that some species dive while others “dabble,” or upend. The divers tend to feed in the deeper areas, while the dabblers stay closer to shore. It is partly because of the importance of Willow and Watson lakes near Prescott to North American waterfowl that they have been designated as Important Bird Areas, which affords them some protection.

Visit: Willow Lake Loop Trail, off of Willow Creek Road in Prescott.

Deserts/Chaparral • Some very few last flowers persist, such as Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata) and Cliffrose (Cowania mexicana), providing nectar for a few species of butterflies, native bees, and flies.

• Kit Foxes, the smallest and most furtive of our foxes, begin their mating season.

Visit: Agua Fria National Monument.

• Dec. 6: Full Moon at 5:27 a.m.

Prescott time. This full moon passes directly overhead toward midnight, much higher in the sky than the Sun was at noon yesterday. The underlying reasons for this are somewhat complex — at the Winter Solstice our position on the Earth is leaning its furthest away from the Sun, so the Sun is at its lowest in the sky at noon. But when we rotate around to midnight (where we’re facing directly away from the Sun) the Moon is high in the sky, since our position on Earth is aimed more directly at it.

• Dec. 11: Conjunction between the Moon and Jupiter. The Moon passes within five degrees of Jupiter, rising in the east around 10:30 p.m.

• Dec. 13: The Geminid Meteor Shower peaks after midnight.

This shower is considered to be the brightest and most numerous of the year, with between 60 and 120 visible meteors per hour. This meteor shower is one of the youngest, only appearing in Earth’s skies in 1860, and growing brighter and more numerous until now. Best viewing is from a dark location after midnight, and the suggested pairing is a hot toddy with cinnamon.

• Dec. 21: Winter Solstice at 4:03 p.m. The Earth is at one of its two yearly extremes with regard to the angle with which the poles face the Sun. The Northern Hemisphere is tilted at its maximum away from the Sun, which we experience as the shortest day and longest night of the year.

• Dec. 21: New Moon at 6:36 p.m.

• Dec. 22: Ursid Meteor Shower.

This relatively small shower undergoes a dramatic periodic increase, from its usual five to 10 meteors per hour to over 100 meteors per hour.

While astronomers are not decided on the cause of this periodicity, it seems that it happens every eight years, and might occur next in 2016.

Dark viewing conditions resulting from the New Moon should provide good viewing conditions, however.

15

Game theory

plexity. There are a couple of staples that we call “gateway games” because they introduce people who’ve never played these types of games into the more advanced games. At my first meeting at the library in 2009, I played one of those gateway games called “Ticket to Ride.” I remember it well because I actually won the game and, five years later, it’s still one of the games that we’ll play to introduce new players to the group. You can even find that one in stores like Target now. ... It’s a game that’s not very complex, that almost anyone can play, where you place miniature trains on a map of the United States.

Prescott Area Boardgamers don’t just roll the bones

By James Dungeon [Editor’s note: The following interview was culled from conversations between the reporter and Jeff Whitham, of the Prescott Area Boardgamers. The group meets every other Wednesday at the Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500. Check the calendar online at PrescottLibrary.Info] How do you describe the Prescott Area Boardgamers to the uninitiated?

Basically, we’re a group of players who meet to play board games every other Wednesday at the Prescott Public Library. By board games, I don’t mean traditional games like “Monopoly” or “Sorry!” — the kind we all played when we were younger.

We play what we call modern games or Euro-games. They’re called Euro-games because most of them come from Europe, and these kind of games have been around for about 20 to 25 years. These games are different from those older, traditional games in that there’s less luck and

A group of Prescott Area Boardgamers enjoy the game “Trajan” at the Prescott Public Library. Courtesy photo. randomization, no player elimination, and more options, which means you have more paths to victory. Players can usually recover from a bad start, and player interaction exists, but isn’t as devastating, meaning you can’t really knock another player out of the game. There’s a term we use for this: multiplayer solitaire. It’s as if you’re playing your own game but there’s some annoyance from other players.

How long has the group been around? And how long have you been involved?

It was formed in January of 2009 as the remnants of a group from a game shop, “I’m Game,” in Chino Valley that closed in late 2007. I didn’t get involved until September or October of 2009, and I got involved because I saw an article

in the (Prescott Daily) Courier. …

I used to play a lot of games when I was a teenager, though the ones available then were more of the war games like the Avalon Hill titles and the like. These newer style games didn’t come out until the 1990s, and I’d played a couple of them, but not many. When I moved to Prescott, I’d stopped playing games because I didn’t know about any groups that did that, so I was out of the loop for a decade. Then I saw the article. I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I’d always loved board games since I was a child, so I went to find out.

What’s the learning curve for these kind of games?

There’s a wide variety between games, not only in genre or in themes that they cover, but in com-

What’s a game at the opposite end of the spectrum?

“Agricola.” That’s a game where you’re trying to build your own farm and you have to worry about planting crops, raising animals, making pastures with fences, growing your family, so you have more workers for your farm, upgrading your house, and so on. Then, you need to buy ovens to bake your bread, fireplaces to cook your vegetables and animals - all so you can feed your family.

There’s a website, BoardGameGeek.

Com, that lists over 70,000 games.

For each game, it gives a description of the game, the components, the number of players that can play, reviews, strategy tips, rule clarifications, and lots of pictures of the game.

This is obviously something that can be quite involved. How casual or formal is the group?

It’s a very casual group, and we’re always willing to teach a new game to newcomers. We help out new players, especially, and don’t go all-out or cutthroat because we want people to have a good time and to

$5 off any service ≥$30!

Call 778-0860 & schedule an appointment today!

515 E. Sheldon St., Prescott, www.erasalonandspa.com

16 • FEATURE • DECEMBER 2014 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

LEFT: Two Prescott Area Boardgamers try their hands at the tactical card game “Dominion.”

RIGHT: A group of Prescott Area Boardgamers enjoy “Ticket to Ride” at the Prescott Public Library.

Courtesy photos. come back. Unto that end, when somebody new comes in, we look at what games are being played, both the person’s interests and experience level. To be honest, most people haven’t played these kind of games before, so we usually start with “Ticket to Ride” or another fallback like “Alhambra,” which is a tilelaying game.

And in terms of play time?

There are some really short games that take as little as 15 minutes, then there are games that can go on for hours and hours. Because we’re in the library just under four hours, we don’t play anything too long. I’d say the average game takes somewhere between one and two hours.

What’s the level of social interaction in these games?

There are interactions related to the play of the game and interactions that are simply general conversation.

If you look at what kind of games are common these days — video games and computer games — there’s very little social interaction. Board games harken back to games with real

people, with face-to-face interactions. Even those older, traditional games are social events, and bringing that aspect back, I think, is very positive. There are two things I ask a new person when they come to the group: Why did you come in the first place and, if they come back, why did you come back? One of the two most common answers is, “For the social interaction.”

The other one is, “Because I had to think.” That’s one of the great innovations of these Euro-games — that you have so many options.

And because you want to make the right choice, or the best choice, or a good choice, you have to think about it at each juncture. In “Monopoly,” you roll the dice, move your token and either pay somebody, choose whether or not to buy a property, or follow the directions on a card. There’s not much

strategy involved. I’m a computer programmer, and what I really love about these games is that each one is a series of puzzles, of problem solving, that involves an overall strategy and individual decisions.

What kind of membership does the group have?

It depends on how you want to define membership.

We have 138 people who are official members, which means they’ve given me their email address and I send them a biweekly reminder about the meeting at the library. In 2014, we had 46 individual people show up, but the average is 13 or 14. In 2013 we averaged 11.5, so we’re up slightly. In terms of age, the youngest we have is 18 and the oldest is around 75, and the average is pretty much in the middle between 50

and 55, which includes myself. I’m 54. We don’t have a lot of younger people — people in their 20s — and I think a lot of that’s because they’re playing more computer games or video games, and maybe they haven’t been introduced to these kind of games.

How can someone get started with your group?

First, they should check the schedule on the Prescott Public Library website to see which Wednesday we are meeting. Then, they can show up at 5 p.m. and look at what games are being setup for that evening.

However, if they can’t make it at 5 p.m., they can contact me via email JHWhitham@Hotmail.Com or telephone, 928-775-7279, and I’ll schedule a game to start about the time they plan to attend — yes, we are very accommodating for new players. ***** James Dungeon is a figment of his own imagination. And he likes cats.

Contact him at JamesDungeonCats @Gmail.Com.

Doggie Delight Pet Grooming 616 Miller Valley Road Prescott, AZ 86301

Tues-Sat: 8am-5pm

17

True as steel Matthew McIntosh shapes Avertosh Salvage Steel Art

By Robert Blood [Editor’s note: The following interview was culled from conversations between the reporter and Matthew McIntosh, artist and co-owner of Avertosh Salvage Steel Art. See their reclaimed salvage art at Pennington’s Antiques, 177 N. Cortez St., 928-4453748, or online at Avertosh.Com.] What kind of pieces does Avertosh Salvage Steel Art create?

We mostly do wildlife and aquatic scenery on salvage steel and metal.

I’m more of the wildlife side, and Travis is more into the sea stuff. We do functional pieces, mostly — a lot of big lamps and fire pits and signage. It’s really up the individual, though. People come with ideas and we just run wild with them. We’re about 50/50 between commissions and things we’re interested in. Most people find us through friends, family, or online at Avertosh.Com.

How did Avertosh come to be?

Well, I’d done construction all of my life. Then I got in a car accident in 2001 and broke my neck and back in six places. It was a single-car accident. A friend and I were racing around — I was being a typical stupid 21-year-old — and he died in the accident and I was incarcerated for around 11 years. While I was in prison, I started drawing a lot and thinking about what I wanted to do when I got out. I’ve always loved working with steel , and with metal and welding, and liked the idea of salvage. I’ve been into going to junkyards and working on old cars, old trucks, and picking up vintage things when I could. So, anyway,

coupon s i h t n i n Tur

$5 off

for urchase p n u g y n a “WE CAN’T SAY NO” • BEST PRICES PAID 703 E. GURLEY ST., PRESCOTT, AZ 86301 WWW.THEGOLDGUYONLINE.COM BEST PRICES IN THE U.S.

928.776.4653 18 • FEATURE • DECEMBER 2014 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

when I was released I met a guy who was my brother’s close friend, Travis Averill. My brother said he was like my twin. … Without even knowing me, he bought me a bunch of tools so I could start working. He’s just a

Matthew McIntosh and Travis Averill of Avertosh Salvage Steel Art create “Ravensphere.”

Courtesy photos.

really generous, good-hearted guy.

In a short while, I acquired a contractor’s license from my oldest friend’s father, and I ended up hiring Travis to be my boss, so we made it a partnership. I’d told him about wanting to do metal work, and he said we should just go for it. I started going to night classes for the welding program at Yavapai College. We were working out of Flagstaff, commuting every night to go to school. And I started putting every nickel I had in the bank to get equipment to start doing this. We started buying old junked-up propane canisters and old pressure tanks — anything we could use to make fire pits, and lamps, and whatever else anybody might want.

We started drawing stuff and cutting it all up. We work together so well, we don’t often have to say a word to each other. It’s almost eerie. … It’s been a little over a year since we started.

What was the transition from construction to art like?

When it comes to construction, you’re constantly worried about the job you’re on — whether or not you’re going to make or lose money on it, whether or not you’ll get the next

job you’re bidding on — you’re just constantly stressed out. So, when we went into this, we figured we’d downsize everything we had and just start doing it in a way we didn’t have to worry. It’s so much more peaceful.

It’s almost meditative, just sitting there, being focused on what you’re doing. It’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done on a personal level. As far as the financial level, it’s an uphill battle, but that’s how it’s going to be for any new business. We keeping making stuff and building up inventory. We have some pieces downtown in Pennington’s Antiques now, too. We don’t have a shop front — that’s an ultimate goal, for sure. We’d love to have a place with UV screens where people could watch us cut metal.

Is it hard to translate a drawing into a piece via torch work?

The drawings we do are very twodimensional, basically just black and

white, which makes it pretty easy.

We cut them with an X-ACTO knife or razor and transfer it to the metal with spray paint, like a mask. From there we might have to redraw here and there, but it’s pretty straight forward.

What’s one of the more difficult parts of the process?

The most dangerous part of the job is preparing the used propane tanks, and they’re probably our most common medium.

When you cut into one, there’s no guarantee it’s completely empty. You just kind of pray to god you get it right the first time. If you’re wrong, you won’t know about it until it’s too late.

It’s funny, I put my hands over my eyes even though I know it won’t do anything to help if something goes wrong. The first time we cut into one, I called my wife and told her I love you and told Travis to stand 200 feet away just in case, but he didn’t.

Obviously it went well.

This may seem obvious, but why’s that dangerous?

The metal can hold gas vapor, even after you rinse it out a couple of times. There’s no guarantee you’ve gotten it all out. Most people fill them with nitrogen, which is inert, so they don’t explode. We don’t have a ready source of that, so we introduce CO2 instead, through a pipe to our truck exhaust. It’s the same principal — you’re hopefully getting rid of all the oxygen and replacing it with an inert gas so you don’t explode.

It’s one of those “in theory it should work” things, but you never know. ***** See more of Matthew McIntosh’s art and find out more about Avertosh Salvage Steel Art at Avertosh.Com. See Avertosh Salvage Steel art at Pennington’s Antiques, 177 N. Cortez St., 928-445-3748.

Robert Blood is a Mayer-ish-based freelance writer and ne’er-do-well who’s working on his last book, which, incidentally, will be his first.

Contact him at BloodyBobby5@ Gmail.Com.

Announces A New Name

Same Friendly Staff, Two Great Locations, One Name: SWC SWC Prescott

New Patient Special

FREE GRAM with the Purchase of 1/8th

123 E. Merritt St. Prescott, AZ. 86301 928-778-5900 Mon-Sat 10:00-7:00 Sun 12:00-7:00

Follow Us On

SWCARIZONA.COM

SWC Tempe 2009 E. 5th St. Ste. 11 Tempe, AZ. 85281 480-245-6751 Mon-Sat 10:30-6:00 Sun 12:00-6:00

19

Diagnosis: Technology

Cyber threats that hold your files hostage could be ‘the new normal’

By Paolo Chlebecek

Most

people ask you, “How are you feeling?” Not many ask, “How’s your digital health?” Now more than ever, we have rich digital lives. But are they safe? Can they be compromised?

With the ever-growing threat of cyber terrorism and malevolent software looming over our cyber shoulders, how can we keep our world of data safe? We’ve discussed aspects of this topic in earlier articles, but now it’s time to dig a bit deeper.

As of this month, a new version of the “CryptoLocker” ransomware virus called “CryptoWall 2.0” has infected 625,000 victims worldwide, encrypting 5.25 billion files and collecting more than $1.1 million in ransoms, according to a threat analysis from Dell SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit researcher Keith Jarvis.

This virus maliciously encrypts your data effectively rendering it unusable unless you pay the ransom amount of $200 to $2,000 — and in one case $10,000! Even if the user pays the ransom, there’s no guarantee that the attacker will provide the decryption key needed to unlock the files.

Instead, once they get your credit card, they take out as much as they can and keep the info so they can steal more later.

Sorry folks, it gets worse.In an interview, Jarvis said that he expects “to see ransomware that ‘destroys files’ become the new normal.”

How

Not-so-regal ransoms

does it spread? According to Symantec a world leader of antivirus products, “The (CryptoWall) trojan is mainly distributed through spam campaigns, compromised

websites, malicious ads, or other malware. The emails usually contain a malicious attachment and include a message attempting to convince the user to download the file. The email could claim that the attachment is an invoice, an undelivered package notice, or an incoming fax report. If the user opens the attachment, then their computer will be infected with CryptoWall. The Trojan may also arrive through other threats that have already compromised the computer.”

You’ve heard this advice before: Use antivirus and anti-malware software, don’t open attachments, and backup, backup, backup. One of my customers lost everything — emails, documents, pictures, you name it. They had a very reliable anti-virus, but it didn’t stop the virus. What saved them was a backup (albeit old) from an external drive.

Backups

can really save you, especially if you have more than one. Start with an online service like Mozy or Carbonite, and then repeat it with a local backup to an external hard drive.

When creating backups, be sure you can save several versions of the files. Meaning, it will store more than one copy that’s older than the most current file. This way, if a backup of the infected files is kept, you can restore the uninfected or clean version rather than reinfect your computer. If you’re unsure of how to do this or need help with keeping your digital world working, please consult a reputable professional.

Try to be very careful out there in the digital realm. Try to stay healthy and virus-free.

Nerdology Dell SecureWorks spotted the first iteration of CryptoLocker in September of 2013.

It's pretty easy to get rid of CryptoLocker itself, but the files it encrypts are pretty much kaput.

Incidentally, ransoms can be paid in multiple currencies, including Bitcoin, though payment doesn’t n ecessarily end the nightmare.

NEW NOISE

-No Usage Limits-No Contracts Required-Free Install Options-Fast Local Support-

We will work with you.

***** Paolo Chlebecek is founder and owner of PaoloTek, which he started in 2003. He loves dogs of all sorts and oddly finds himself driving around town between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. every weekday. Wave hi when you see him or contact him at Paolo@PaoloTek.Com.

20 • FEATURE • DECEMBER 2014 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

LiterallyinBaskets.Bandcamp.Com

Gene Twaronite’s

The Absurd Naturalist

By Gene Twaronite Recently, I signed up for a DNA test at one of those ancestry sites. It was a little pricey, but the idea intrigued me. Since my family originated in Lithuania, I fancied there might be some kings or brave knights of old, or at least a wizard (vedlys) or two in my background.

After sending in the usual saliva swab, I waited anxiously for the results. Months went by without a reply. Finally, I decided to call the company.

I had to go through three different people before I was transferred to the head honcho.

“Yes, Mr. Twaronite, we have your lab results here. You may want to sit down for this.”

I did not like the sound of this. The last time someone used those words was when the police called to tell me that my stolen car had been located at the bottom of the La Brea tar pits.

“Your

ancestry is most unusual, Mr. Twaronite. In fact, we would like to perform some additional tests on you. If you give permission, you might even appear in a research paper. Would you be willing to come down to our office?”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on. What do you mean unusual? Are my genes abnormal? Is there some kind of disease I should know about? Am I gonna die?”

“No, you’re not going to die, at least not yet.”

“What is it then? Is it something about my ancestors? OK, so maybe I’ve got some bad dudes in my background. Whatever it is, please tell me!”

“When we started comparing your DNA matches, there was nothing at all surprising in your recent background. You have a few matches in old Vilnius — a 17th-century tavern keeper on your maternal side, and an undertaker and gypsy on

A nice cave with a view your paternal side — and some more recent relatives in Kaunas. But as we plotted farther back, your genes simply went off the charts. You’ve heard of Neanderthals, Mr. Twaronite?”

“An early human that ran around Europe and Asia during the last Ice Age, right? Muscle-bound guys with big brows, lived in caves. So what are you saying — that I’ve got a few Neanderthal genes in my background? I guess it’s possible that some of my ancestors might have messed around a bit — hey, we’re all human. Now that I think about it, I remember reading somewhere that all modern humans have a few of their genes kicking around in us. So what’s the big deal?”

“Yes, most humans of European or Asian ancestry possess a small percentage of Neanderthal genes, somewhere around 1 to 4 percent. Indeed, as much as 20 percent of the Neanderthal genome may exist in human populations today. But yours is a special case, Mr. Twaronite. Let us just say that in your genetic makeup Neanderthals are exceptionally well-represented.”

“Are

you saying that I’m some kind of alley-oop? I can assure you, I don’t look like that at all. What kind of percentage are we talking about?”

“Near as we can figure, it’s close to 63 percent.

So far as we know, no other human possesses such a high percentage of Neanderthal genetic material.”

“So what you’re telling me is that my ancestors not only hooked up occasionally with Neanderthals — they had the hots for them.

Does that make me some kind of freak?”

“Not at all, Mr. Twaronite. Neanderthal genes possess many fine qualities advantageous to human survival, such as resistance to certain diseases and the ability to adapt to cold climates. You should be proud of your lineage.

Indeed, your genetic signature matches up closely with a group of Neanderthals living along the Baltic Sea in Lithuania approximately 35,000 years ago. They were probably some of the last living members of their species.”

“I

guess that makes me a bit of a caveman.”

“Well, I wouldn’t put it quite that way. While some Neanderthals constructed elaborate huts, many did make use of the limestone caves common to much of Eurasia. These were not simple caves, mind you, but highly organized homes, with separate spaces devoted to sleeping, eating, and socializing. Despite the popular stereotypes, these early humans shared much in common with our own species. Their brain size was similar to our own. They fashioned complex tools, and even buried their dead. Let’s just say you’re more Neanderthal than anyone alive today.”

“You know I have been feeling some strange urges lately. It seems to be getting warmer and warmer around here. Sometimes I feel like heading north to a colder climate. Meet some new people. Find a nice cave with a view.”

Column ©Gene Twaronite 2014 ***** Gene Twaronite’s writing has appeared in numerous literary journals and magazines. He is the author of “The Family That Wasn’t,” “My Vacation in Hell,” and “Dragon Daily News.” Follow Gene at TheTwaroniteZone.Com. “The Absurd Naturalist” logo by Jonathan Devine.

5ENSESMAG.COM • DECEMBER 2014 • COLUMN • 21

Dr. William Christmas, a man of considerable ego and self delusion, decided in the early 1900s that airplane wings should be flexible and not rigid. Amazingly, he managed to get financial backing to build his futuristic aircraft without a blueprint. Whereas his “Christmas Bullet” looked like an airplane, it was completely unsound. The prototype shed its wings and killed the first pilot to fly her. After advertising his second plane as the “safest, fastest, and most controllable plane in the world,” Christmas watched as another pilot died flying it for the first time.

ODDLY ENOUGH ... In 1923, Christmas managed to get $100,000 from the United States Army based on a supposed patent he had on an aileron. The money was paid without anyone checking on the validity of the (likely unprovable) claim. He died rich at 94 in 1960. *****

The BE9 “Pulpit” was built by the Royal Aircraft Factory in 1915. The gunner was located in a basket compartment in front of the propeller. Because of the location of the engine and propeller, the gunner and pilot couldn’t communicate at all.

ODDLY ENOUGH ... The gunner had to hold onto his gun for dear life, lest he become sucked into the whirling blades that spun only inches from his head.

The Pulpit never saw mass production. ***** Russell Miller is an illustrator, cartoonist, writer, bagpiper, motorcycle enthusiast, and reference librarian. Currently, he illustrates books for Cody Lundin and Bart King.

Bellydance Classes with of New Moon Tribal Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced classes held at Lotus Bloom Yoga Studio

www.ustadzaazra.com

22 • FEATURE • DECEMBER 2014 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

Huckeba Art Gallery 227 W. Gurley St. Prescott, AZ 86301 928-445-3848

www.huckeba-art-quest.com charlesnjill@yahoo.com

Where ancient meets abstract

r

deva

get

h

•

ud

on a n e B om W ealing c

te en

For

Q •

y t i Y l oga a u

a sanctuary for women and teens DevaHealingCenter.org • 520 W. Sheldon (next to Prescott College)

All classes donation based