2017-10 5enses

Dale O’Dell

waxes poetic about the Great American Eclipse P. 16

P. 12

OCTOBER 2017 | VOLUME 5, ISSUE 10 | 5ENSESMAG.COM

5enses

October MMXVII • Volume V, Issue X ~ cras es noster ~ Copyright © 2017 5enses Inc. Contact us at 5ensesMag@Gmail.Com & 928-613-2076 Visit 5ensesMag.Com & ISSUU for more

In which: Mara Trushell

4 16 5 18 6 7 + 10 11 8/9 12 20 14 22 Dale O’Dell

finds fall flowers and minds the myriad messengers they fascinate

Russ Chappell

eclipses his previous work and takes a snapshot of culture and meaning

Sean Goté Gallery

Justin Agrell

fishes for a seabird near the water and nets a doubly distinct monger

Robert Blood

Publisher & Editor: Nicholas DeMarino Copy Editor: Reva Sherrard Featured Contributors: Alan Dean Foster, Ty Fitzmorris, Reva Sherrard, & Russell Miller Staff Writers: Justin Agrell, Robert Blood, Russ Chappell, James Dungeon, & Mara Trushell

finds safety in 1s and 0s and tips the digital scales in your favor

talks life and death, and especially death, with Stephen Jenkinson

Peregrine Book Co. staff

bookmarks choice, savory pages and caters sumptuous, illuminating plates

Alan Dean Foster

discusses self-preservation and beats off art critics with a selfie stick

Reva Sherrard

returns to some not-so-happy hunting grounds and envisions catastrophe

James Dungeon

celebrates those who’ve passed and takes in Prescott’s Week of the Dead

Ty Fitzmorris

takes a cue from the wilds and calms down as nature curtails her tales

Here & (T)here

Discover events in and around Prescott and the surrounding area

Original Art, Jewelry, Furniture, Oriental Carpets, Stained Glass Lamps, and Collection of Eclectic Stuff

Prescott Peeps

• 702 West Gurley • 928-231-9069 •

Oddly Enough

COVER: “Calaveras Skulls,” photo by Tomas Castelazo in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico. Creative Commons 3.0. Find out more about Prescott’s Week of the Dead events on P. 12.

Celebrate someone who’s making our community an even greater place

Smart, quirky comics about the strange-but-true by Russell Miller

TRAX

The Inaugural Watercolor Exhibit at ‘Tis

Records

“Works in Watercolor 2017”

October 26—November 21 4th Friday Artists’ Reception October 27th 5:00 – 7 :00

234 S. Montezuma St. 928-830-9042

Turntables & quick special orders Buy/Sell/Trade new & used vinyl & CDs

In the ‘Tis Art Center Main Gallery 105 S. Cortez St. Prescott www.TisArtGallery.com

[.xob eht edistuo kniht ]

5ENSESMAG.COM • OCTOBER 2017 • CONTENTS • 3

Plant(s & friends) of the Month Photos by Mara Trushell

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: A honey bee (family Apidae) enjoys the nectar of a Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus); a pair of Metallic Woodborers (Acmaeodera sp.) greet each other on a Fleabane (Erigeron sp.); a wasp (family Pompilidae) scavenges a Horsetail Milkweed (Asclepias subverticillata); a Lady Beetle (Coccinella sp.) sleeps under a Common Sunflower; a crab spider (family Thomisidae) has a snack under a Fleabane (Erigeron sp.). Courtesy photos.

4 • FEATURE • OCTOBER 2017 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

D

By Russ Chappell ouble-crested Cormorants are large, expert fishermen with a diet of fish supplemented with insects, crustaceans, and amphibians. They pursue underwater prey with powerful kicks of their webbed feet, and if they catch a crustacean, they strike it on the water until the legs break off, then flip it in the air, and catch it head first for easier swallowing.

They have goose like bodies, long, loontype necks, and thin, strongly curved bills, approximately the length of their heads.

Adults are brown-black with yellow-orange facial skin, and the immature birds are browner with paler necks and breasts. They have aquamarine-colored eyes and bright blue inside their mouths. During breeding season, adults display double crests of white or black scruff y feathers on their heads, thus their name.

When not fishing, they rest on branches, rocks or the shore with their wings spread to dry, since their feathers contain less preen oil than other water fowl. This is a minor inconvenience that contributes to their underwater speed and maneuverability.

Double-crested Cormorants usually reside near large bodies of water, however many form breeding colonies near small ponds and travel up to 40 miles to a quality feeding site.

Bird of the Month

Double-crested Cormorant Creative Commons 2.0, by Ken and Nyetta, via Flickr.Com.

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isted as “uncommon transient and casual summer and winter visitors” in Professor Carl Tomoff ’s “Birds of Prescott, Arizona,” they raise two broods a year with up to seven chicks per brood.

A male attracts a mate by locating a nesting site where he stands, breast down, bill and tail up, showing off his double crests and brightly colored neck and eyes. He grunts and waves his

outstretched wings then greets his mate with an open mouth displaying its bright blue color.

Both mates contribute to nest building, the male collecting materials and the female doing the construction. A nest is made of small sticks and flotsam, and lined with grass, 18 to 36 inches in diameter and 4 to 17 inches deep.

Adding this species to your “big list” may be as easy as visiting an area lake, where you may witness these expert fishermen at work. Happy birding. ***** The Prescott Audubon Society is an official chapter of the National Audubon Society. Check them out online at Prescott Audubon.Org.

Russ is a member of the Prescott Audubon Society and enjoys photographing and studying the large number of species in our region, and learning to be a better steward of our beautiful natural resources.

5ENSESMAG.COM • OCTOBER 2017 • FEATURE • 5

A life & death matter

Stephen Jenkinson talks about dying wisely

By Robert Blood [Editor’s note: The following interview was culled from conversations between the reporter and Stephen Jenkinson, teacher, author, and subject of the documentary “Griefwalker.” Jenkinson is in Prescott for three events.

He’s speaking 3-4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10 at Peregrine Book Co., 219 N. Cortez St. He’ll be at a screening of “Griefwalker,” 7-9:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10 at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Davis Learning Center, 3700 Willow Creek Road, $25. He’s giving one of his signature talks, “Die Wise: Making meaning of the Ending of Days,” 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at the ERAU Davis Learning Center, 3700 Willow Creek Road, $115. Find out more and purchase tickets at OrphanWisdom.Com.] You’re known for speaking and writing about dying and death.

How did you get into that?

Well, I’m not employed by anybody; it’s an arbitrary call in that sense. I don’t have a job title or anything like that. The entire enterprise is self-appointed.

The intention is to call into deep question the prevailing attitudes in the death trade. It’s a task I’ve given myself.

What can people expect from your talks?

You’re asking me about people’s expectations and that’s for them to answer, not me. The easiest way to say it is that I’m not in the customer satisfaction business. I’m not selling anything. What people’s expectations are, I couldn’t begin to guess. I could say that even if you don’t work in the death trade per se, that the work of caring for dying people — sooner or later someone in your life, and eventually you, will go through it. I proceed from that point.

This is not a special interest group. Death is democratically distributed and the capacity to do it should be just as widely distributed.

From your days as the director of children’s grief and palliative care in Toronto to now, how has your own view on death evolved?

I’m not aware that it’s evolved that much. I guess it comes down to this: One of the occupational hazards of working in the death trade is that seeing death, seeing it so many times, so many iterations of it, you could grow accustomed to it. People say to me, with all of this under your belt you must be OK with dying. I say get behind me, Satan. Why should anyone have the obligation to be OK with dying? When the time comes, I’m certainly going to have some objections. The more dying you see, the more fond you can grow for being alive, as I’ve found myself doing. … The longer I talk about these things, the more enamored I am of being around. I’m sure that will ebb if the bodily functions dictate, but as I stand here, I’ll tell you, I’m wildly fond of being alive.

Was there a precipitating incident in your life that led to this calling?

I understand that, for most people, personal experience is the start. In my case, there was nothing in particular, though. I found myself, from the very beginning, to be a cultural worker, not really a psychological worker. I mean that in terms of death at the level of a society, not at the level of an individual psyche. I came to that conclusion because 95 percent of the people I worked with died badly by any sane measure of the word “badly.” Not the patient, not the family, not the practitioner — nobody chose that. So how do you account for this enormous pandemic? Death is no one’s idea of a good time, and almost no one benefits from it. Well, Big Pharma, to a degree, but I don’t consider that to be the conspiracy some people think it is. There’s something at the level of culture that’s detonated by dying but not created by it, that plays into the hand of personal autonomy, personal mastery, and the sanctity

6 • FEATURE • OCTOBER 2017 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

Stephen Jenkinson. Courtesy photo. of the individual. It’s the mythic aspiration of the West and it comes to wreck and ruin when you’re dying. If your orientation in life doesn’t include your dying, then it’s no surprise that when it comes to your dying you become adversarial and fight it until you finally succumb to it. That’s the repertoire I saw. Nobody’s personal story delivers them from that. So, it seems to a tidal wave at the cultural level.

If that’s the primary conceit for where we’re at, what ideas, then, can people reexamine to change that?

I think one of them is that dying is something that happens to you. People refer to it like they’re talking about the weather. “What are you going to do?”

At best, that’s what we’re working with. And, in truth, dying is only what you do, not what happens to you. English forces you to say “you die.” You can’t craft that sentence using the verb “to die” in the passive sense. It’s only an active verb in our language. And yet, for some things, they happen to you.

With cancer, you “have cancer,” you don’t “do cancer.” But you “do die.” Our grammar is whispering to us that dying is something to be undertaken not endured. If there’s such a thing as doing it well, a skillfulness, then that’s something to explore. … I guess the second thing is that the language of coping permeates the death trade. They offer strategies like the famous five stages and so on. All of this comes from the presumption that dying is inherently traumatizing and therefore has to be coped with. If you’re intellectually honest with yourself, the only thing traumatizing about it is dying in a deathphobic culture. It’s not the dying process itself.

Where do you think these presumptions come from? You mentioned a grammatical basis, which speaks to pretty deep-seated ideas.

It’s from being in a culture predicated on spontaneous mass migration. As strange as that may sound, that’s the history of North America. There’s some-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 21 >>>

Peregrine Book Co.

Staff picks

Catered by Reva Sherrard “The Ice Virgin”

By Hans Christian Andersen This recently translated novella by the master of the modern fairy tale contains passage after passage of exquisite beauty and psychological profundity that made me understand, for the first time, Andersen’s enduring place in world literature. A Swiss alpinist most at home in the mountain wilderness courts a sophisticated village girl, in defiance of the ferocious Ice Virgin who waits to claim him as her own. ~ Reva “The Outrun”

By Amy Liptrot A woman returns to her childhood home in the windswept Orkney Islands

to recover from devastating alcoholism in this sensuously vivid memoir. To save herself Liptrot throws herself into astronomy and cold-water swimming with compelling determination and openness to the chilling natural beauty of the remote islands. ~ Reva “Taco Loco”

By Jonas Cramby A cookbook that takes you to the streets of Mexico and introduces the very best of their street foods: Tacos!

Learn to make all the essentials and enjoy the beautiful pictures. ~ Susannah

“Sacré Bleu: A Comedy d’Art”

By Christopher Moore Always a good one for laughs. A little bit of art, a bit of history, intrigue, and mystery. A fun and easy read, but packed with enough wit, weirdness, and cleverness to keep readers immersed. I won’t spoil the surprise. ~ Susannah “The Stories of Paul Bowles”

By Paul Bowles & Robert Stone Bowles writes with ruthless unsentimentality, creating chilling and ironic stories that haunt you long after you finish reading them. ~ Lacy

“Pachinko”

By Min Jin Lee An engrossing, emotional, and richly detailed story that spans both world wars. Follows four generations of Koreans on their journey and the struggles of surviving in exile from their homeland — it all feels painfully real. ~ Susannah

“I Love Dick”

By Chris Kraus A young woman’s infatuation with a man she barely knows spins out of control not long after it begins. Funny, strange, and hard to put down. ~ Lacy

“Desert Solitaire”

By Edward Abbey No other author I’ve found writes more eloquently about the Southwest — in this tribute to the wilderness, Abbey is the Thoreau of the desert. A funny, mesmerizing, and insightful look into the land we rely and live upon. ~ Susannah

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

ART WALKS 2017 Jan. 27 Feb. 24 March 24 April 28 May 26 June 23 July 28 Aug. 25 Sept. 22 Oct. 27 Nov. 24 Dec. 22

Tuesday, October 31, 2017 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm Bring your family and friends, dress in costume for a fun safe Trick-or-Treat night!

Bring your flashlight to see the nocturnal animals after the sun goes down.

Light concessions, coffee, and cocoa will be available!

$4.00 for members, $6.00 for non-members

See Special Events 1403 Heritage Park Rd.; Prescott, AZ 86301 • www.HeritageParkZoo.org Phone: 928.778.4242 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported by the community.

www.ArtThe4th.com

5ENSESMAG.COM • OCTOBER 2017 • FEATURE • 7

Here & (T)here

Find out what's happening in and around Prescott Talks & presentations

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“A Man Would Be a Fool to Take a Chance on Me” • 5-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5: Writer Liz Warren discusses the life of her grandmother, Violet M. Irving, who spent most of her life in Skull Valley as the postmaster and owner of the general store. (Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500, PrescottLibrary.Info)

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“The Way of the Shaman in the Red Lands” • 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7: Raymond Tarpey discusses the aforementioned topic as well as Atlantis through the lens of the Mayan calendar. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000, PeregrineBookCompany.Com)

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Prescott Audubon bird walk • 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 13: Monthly bird walk. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928-7769550, HighlandsCenter.Org, PrescottAudubon.Org)

Jay's Bird Barn bird walks • 8 a.m. Oct. 13, 19, & 28: Local, guided bird walks. Via Jay's Bird Barn. (Jay’s Bird Barn, No. 113, 1046 Willow Creek Road, 928-443-5900, JaysBirdBarn.Com, RSVP)

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“The Art of Brewing Your Own Kombucha” • 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 14: Explore the whys, how-tos, and purported benefits of this DIY ancient elixir. (Nectar Apothecary, 219 W. Gurley St., 928-445-4565, NectarApothecary.Com, $30)

“Living History Adventure” • Saturday, Oct. 14: A monthly peek back at territorial Prescott.

(Sharlot Hall Museum, 415 W. Gurley St., 928-445-3122)

Prescott Farmers Market • 7:30 a.m.-noon Saturdays, May through October: Weekly farmers market featuring local food and more. (Yavapai College Parking Lot D, 1100 E. Sheldon St., PrescottFarmersMarket.Org)

“Wicked Prescott” • 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21: Parker Anderson tells tales of swindlers, confidence men, and outlaws. (Phippen Art Museum, 4701 AZ 89, 928-778-1385, PhippenArtMuseum.Org)

Groups & games

Professional Writers of Prescott • 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25: A monthly Professional Writers of Prescott meeting. (Prescott Valley Public Library, 7401 E. Civic Circle, 928-864-8642, Catalog.YLN.Info/Client/En_US/PVPL)

“Nature, Love, Medicine” • 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14: Tom Fleischner discusses his new collaborative book, plus appearances by contributors Edie Dillon and Melanie Bishop. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000, PeregrineBookCompany.Com) IMAGE: Tom Fleischner, courtesy photo.

“Día de los Muertos Celebration” • 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 29: Experience Arizona’s Southwest and Spanish influences with mariachis, Ballet Folklórico, authentic foods, children’s craft booths, art, music, drinks, and a rousing cemetery procession. (Smoki Museum, 147 N. Arizona Ave., 928-445-1230, free admission)

“Starry Night” • 7-9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14: See the clusters, galaxies, nebula, and double stars. Via the Prescott Astronomy Club. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928776-9550, HighlandsCenter.Org, PrescottAstronomyClub.Org)

Nature, health, & outdoors “A Celebration of the Seasons” • 9 a.m.-noon Mondays and Wednesdays, Oct. 2, 4, 9, 11, 16, & 18: Local artist Diane Iverson teaches a series of colored pencil workshops. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928-776-9550, HighlandsCenter.Org, Prescott Audubon.Org, $25 per class, $132 for the series)

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“Caves & Karst of the Grand Canyon” • 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10: Ben Tobin, National Park hydrologist, discuses the Grand Canyon. A monthly Central Arizona Geology Club meeting. (Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500, CentralArizonaGeologyClub.BlogSpot.Com)

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Prescott Indivisible • 6-7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6: Monthly meeting of a non-partisan group which seeks to promote a progressive and inclusive agenda in support of human rights and the environment.

(Granite Peak Unitarian Congregation Education Center, 882 Sunset Ave., 928-443-8854)

"Halloween ComicFest Day” • Saturday, Oct. 28: Fifth annual “Halloween ComicFest Day” featuring free comic books plus events and contests throughout the day. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-4459000, PeregrineBookCompany.Com)

Saturday Night Talk Series • 7 p.m. Saturdays: Talks on bringing traditional spiritual ideas and practice into everyday life, via Vigraha and Sukham Seminars. (Vigraha Gallery, The Courtyard Bldg., 115 E. Goodwin St., 928-771-0205, VigrahaSacredArt.Com, $5)

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“Boo at the Zoo!” • 6-9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31: Bring your family and friends, dress in costumes for a fun, safe, trick-or-treat night, and bring your flashlight to see nocturnal animals. (Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary, 1403 Heritage Park Road, 928-7784242, HeritageParkZoo.Org, $4-$6)

Chino Valley Farmers Market • 3-6 p.m. Thursdays, June-October: Weekly farmers market featuring local food and more. (Olsen's Grain parking lot, 344 Arizona 89, Chino Valley, PrescottFarmersMarket.Org)

“I Was Born Here” • 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19: Prescott native Mick Shepard shares his memories of “the greenest apples, fastest sneakers, and greatest summers that ever bloomed.” A Third Thursday Dinner & a Program event. (Phippen Art Museum, 4701 AZ 89, 928-778-1385, PhippenArtMuseum.Org, $25-$30)

“OK By Me” • 5:30 p.m. p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27: Poet Sheila Sanderson discusses her latest book of poetry. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000, PeregrineBookCompany.Com)

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“Halloween Happening Family Night” • 5-7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27: A nature-themed Halloween celebration. Guests can have their faces painted, listen to stories by the campfire, dissect owl pellets, go on scavenger hunts, and meet local wildlife with the Heritage Park Zoo. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928-776-9550, HighlandsCenter.Org, $2-$5)

Prescott Valley Farmers Market • 3-6 p.m. Tuesdays: Weekly farmers market featuring local food and more. (Harkins Theatres, 7202 Pav Way, Prescott Valley, PrescottFarmersMarket.Org)

“Pure Land” • 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15: Journalist and author Annette McGivney discusses her book about the most brutal murder in the history of the Grand Canyon. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000, PeregrineBookCompany.Com)

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discusses her book about her journey through breast cancer.

(Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000, PeregrineBookCompany.Com)

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“Eclipse Balloon Launch” • 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19: Jack Crabtree, with NASA Eclipse, discusses the NASA Space Grant High Altitude Balloon Launch and photographing the moon's shadowing during the August 2017 solar eclipse. A Third Thursday Talk via Prescott Astronomy Club. (Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500, PrescottAstronomyClub.Org)

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“A Clearing in the Distance” • 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 20: Discuss Withold Rybczynski's book about Fredrick Law Olmsted, who built, among other things, Central Park in New York City. A monthly Natural History Institute Book Club meeting. (The Milagro Building, 125 N. Marina St.)

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“Ethnobotany Fest: A Celebration of Edible & Medicinal Plants” • 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21: Learn about the plants of the Central Highlands and the ways that people use them. Participants can taste prickly pear cactus, make poultices, and go on guided walks. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928-776-9550, HighlandsCenter.Org, $2-$5) “We Walk Together” • 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21: Prescott author Diane E. Greer

8 • EVENTS • OCTOBER 2017 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

7

LAN party • 10 a.m. -10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7 : Play multiplayer computer games like “Killing Floor,” “Rocket League,” “Counterstrike,” and “Tribes.” A monthly Prescott PC Gamers Group Event.

(Step One Coffee House, 6719 E. Second St., Ste. C, Prescott Valley, PPCGG.Com, $10)

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“Death Café” • 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12: People gather to eat cake, drink tea, and discuss death with the objective “to increase awareness of death with a view to help people make the most of their (finite) lives.” Hosted by Dani LaVoire. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000, PeregrineBookCompany.Com)

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“Deep Well Ranch: Impact on our Aquifer & the Verde River” • 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, Oct. 14: Gary Beverly talk. A monthly Citizens Water Advocacy Group meeting. (Granite Creek Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation building, 882 Sunset Ave., 928-445-4218, CWAGAZ.Org)

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GYCC LGBTQ Coalition • 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17: Monthly general meeting open to all LGBTQ and allies in Yavapai County with guest speakers.

(First Congregational Church, 216 E. Gurley St., Facebook.

Com/LGBTQYavapai)

PFLAG Support Night • 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20: Monthly support night for LGBTQ+ community and those who love and support them or desire to do so. (First Congregational Church, 216 E. Gurley St.)

NAZGEM Support 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27: Monthly support group meeting for members of the transgender and beyond gender binaries community as well as family, friends, and youth. (Granite Peak Unitarian Congregation Education Center, 882 Sunset Ave., Facebook.Com/LGBTQYavapai)

Performing arts

Visual arts

“Fiddler on the Roof” • 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28-30 & Oct. 5-7 & 12-14; 2 p.m. Oct. 1, 8, & 15: Experience the music, dancing, humor, tragedy, romance, and timeless traditions that define faith and family. Directed

by Frank Malle. (Prescott Center for the Arts, 208 N. Marina St., 928-445-3286, PCA-AZ.Net, $14-$23)

“Prescott Area Artists Studio Tour” • 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 6-8: The 10th annual free, self-guided tour providing masterful demonstrations of far-flung mediums including wheel-thrown and hand-built ceramics, woodworking, painting, jewelry making, mixed media, sculpture, metal art, wearables, and glass from more than 60 juried artists at more than 50 studios, an additional 37 non-juried members at four art centers, plus a raffle. Brochures and maps available at sponsor’s location. (Mountain Artists Guild & Gallery, 228 N. Alarcon St., 928-776-4009, PrescottStudio Tour.Com)

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“Norma” • 9:55 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7: Via satellite, The Metropolitan Opera’s production of Vincenzo Bellini’s bel canto tragedy. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000, YCPAC.Com, $12-$24)

Folk Music Festival • Oct. 7 & 8: Join more than 200 musicians from around the Southwest for a weekend of folk music, both new and traditional in the 39th year of this annual festival. (Sharlot Hall Museum, 415 W. Gurley St., 928-445-3122, $8-$15) Benefit Barn Dance • 7-7:30 p.m. lesson; 7:30-10 p.m. dance Saturday, Oct. 7: Contra dancing, via Folk Happens. Open calls, open bands.

(First Congregation Church, 216 E. Gurley St., 928-925-5210, FolkHappens.Org, $4-$8)

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“Ghost Feast” • Wednesday, Oct. 11: A dinner-theatre-inspired evening of tapas and “Ghost Talk TOO!” teasers on the El Gato Azul patio. (El Gato Azul World Bistro, 316 W. Goodwin St., 928445-1070, $30, RSVP)

“Die Zauberflöte” • 9:55 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14: Via satellite, The Metropolitan Opera’s production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s sublime fairy tale that moves freely between earthy comedy and noble mysticism. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000, YCPAC.Com, $12-$24) Beckyfest • 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14: Annual fall festival featuring a full-day celebration of women in music and art.

(Prescott Athletic Club, 1 Kingswood Drive) “Escape the Abandoned Lunatic Asylum” • 6 & 8 p.m. Oct. 19-22, 26-29, & 30, with noon, 2 p.m., & 4 p.m. shows on Oct. 21, 22, 28, 29, & 31: You’re locked in with friends, family, colleagues, and strangers, and you have one hour to escape; solve puzzles, find clues, and crack codes.

(Prescott Valley Performing Arts Family Theater, PV Entertainment District, 2982 Park Ave., 928-583-4684, Prescott ValleyPerformingArts.Org, $20, limited space per group)

“Ghost Talk TOO!” • 6, 7:30, & 9 p.m. Oct. 21,22, 27 & 28: Period costumes, creepy props, mood lighting, eerie sound effects, spooky sets, special effects, and more adorn a series of vignettes in this multi-genre ode to Arizona history and folklore. Directed by Erica Muse, written by Parker Anderson. (Prescott Center for the Arts Stage TOO!, alley between Cortez and Marina streets behind PCA, 928-445-3286, $10-$13)

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Open mic poetry • 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25: Poet Dan Seaman emcees monthly open mic poetry. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000, PeregrineBookCompany.Com)

“Le Corsaire” • 6-9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25: Via satellite, The Bolshoi Ballet’s production about the pirate Conrad, who falls in love at first sight with the beautiful Medora, the ward of the slave merchant Lankedem’s bazaar. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000, YCPAC.Com, $10-$15)

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Contra Dance • 7-7:30 p.m. lesson; 7:30-10 p.m. dance Saturday, Oct. 28: Contra dancing, via Folk Happens. Calls by Archie Maclellan, music by Chupacabras. (First Congregation Church, 216 E. Gurley St., 928-925-5210, FolkHappens.Org, $4-$8) Social dance classes • Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, & Sundays: Learn the Argentine tango, West Coast swing, tribal belly dance, Lindy hop swing, flamenco, and Latin dance. (Flying Nest Movement Arts, 322 W. Gurley St., 928-432-3068, FlyingNestStudio.Com, prices vary) Performance dance/movement arts classes • Wednesdays & Thursdays: Learn contemporary dance, movement for life, and normative movement. (Flying Nest Movement Arts, 322 W. Gurley St., 928-432-3068, FlyingNestStudio.Com, prices vary)

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4th Friday Art Walk • 5-7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27: Monthly art walk including artist receptions, openings, and demonstrations at more than a dozen galleries. (ArtThe4th.Com) Prescott Center for the Arts Gallery • Oct. 2-Nov. 2: Art show featuring Día de los Muertosthemed pieces.

• Noon-3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28: “Sugar Skull Decorating” workshop, decorate a sugar skull, fun for all ages, familyfriendly event, supplies provided, $3 per skull.

(Prescott Center for the Arts, 208 N. Marina St., 928-4453286, PCA-AZ.Net)

Arts Prescott Cooperative Gallery • Oct. 1-26: “Felt So Good,” featuring fiber and jewelry artist Anne Marston.

• Oct. 27-Nov. 22: New art by acrylic painter Vivian Farmer, opening reception is Oct. 27, 4th Friday Art Walk.

(Arts Prescott Cooperative Gallery, 134 S. Montezuma St., 928-776-7717, ArtsPrescott.Com) Art2 • 4th Friday Art Walk participant. (Art2, 120 W. Gurley St., 928-499-4428, ArtSquaredPrescott.Com) The Beastro • 4th Friday Art Walk participant. (The Beastro, 117 N. McCormick St., 928-778-0284, TheBeastro.Org) Huckeba Art Gallery • 4th Friday Art Walk participant. (Huckeba Art Gallery, 227 W. Gurley St., 928-445-3848, Huckeba-Art-Quest.Com) Ian Russell Gallery • 4th Friday Art Walk participant. (Ian Russell Gallery, 130 S. Montezuma St., 928-445-7009, IanRussellArt.Com) Mountain Artists Guild • Aug. 28-Oct. 27: “America the Beautiful” gallery show.

• Oct. 30-Dec. 22: “Holiday Show” gallery show.

(Mountain Artists Guild, 228 N. Alarcon St., 928-445-2510, MountainArtistsGuild.Org) Mountain Spirit Co-op • 4th Friday Art Walk participant. (Mountain Spirit Co-op, 107 N. Cortez St., 928-445-8545, MountainSpiritCo-Op. Com)

TisArtGallery.Com) PHOTO: “Golden Goddess” by Laurie Fagen. Courtesy image.

Thumb Butte Distillery • 4th Friday Art Walk participant. (Thumb Butte Distillery, 400 N. Washington Ave., 928-443-8498, ThumbButteDistillery.

Com) Van Gogh’s Ear • New art by Jody Skjei, opening reception is Oct. 27, 4th Friday Art Walk. (Van Gogh’s Ear, 156 S. Montezuma St., 928776-1080, VGEGallery.Com) PHOTO: Sculpture by Jody Skjei, courtesy image.

Random Art • 4th Friday Art Walk participant. (Random Art, 214 N. McCormick St., 928-308-7355, RandomArt.Biz) Sam Hill Warehouse • Student, faculty, and alumni exhibitions. (Sam Hill Warehouse, 232 N. Granite St., 928-350-2341, PrescottCollegeArt Gallery.Org) Sean Goté Gallery • New art and décor, plus guest art in the parking lot on weekends. 4th Friday Art Walk participant. (Sean Goté Gallery, 702 W. Gurley St., 928-445-2233, SeanGote.Com) Smoki Museum • 4th Friday Art Walk participant. (Smoki Museum, 147 N. Arizona Ave., 928-445-1230, SmokiMuseum.Org) ’Tis Art Center & Gallery • Sept. 15-Oct. 14: “My Life Needs Editing: Six Artists’ Quest for Color, Texture, & the Meaning of Life,” featuring art by the Laughin’ Giraffe Crew, including Mary Kaye O’Neill, Carol Hunter-Geboy, and Linda Scott, with special guest artists Curt Pfeffer, Anne Smith, and Michael Geboy.

• Sept. 21-Oct. 24: 2017 Fall Photography Exhibit.

• Oct. 15-Nov. 14: “Adorn Yourself 2017,” featuring wearable art creations by Barb Wills, Joan Knight, and Laurie Fagen, opening reception is Oct. 27, 4th Friday Art Walk.

• Oct. 26-Nov. 21: “The Inaugural Works in Watercolor Exhibit,” featuring, of course, works in watercolor, opening reception is Oct. 27, 4th Friday Art Walk. (’Tis Art Center & Gallery, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223,

Yavapai College Art Gallery • 4th Friday Art Walk participant. (Yavapai College Art Gallery, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-445-7300, YC.Edu)

9

Everybody was here

A portrait of the artist(’s self portraits)

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By Alan Dean Foster hy selfies?

I mean, I already know what I look like. That’s what mirrors, hairstylists, bad home videos, and good grandparents are for. Why go to the trouble of taking a picture of myself in front of Big Ben, or a rainforest river, or six drunken fake Spidermen in Times Square?

Why not just take pictures of each place? Doesn’t inserting oneself in front of the presumably interesting locale spoil the picture?

I reckon it’s because humans have always had this incorrigible desire to validate their existence; first through art, then graffiti, and today via the ubiquitous selfie. Regardless of the form it takes, the selfie declares, “I was here! I existed. I meant something — even if only for the brief time it required to paint this image, etch these words, or take this snapshot.” Selfies are an expression of the id and a desire to find permanence in an impermanent universe.

Much to humanity’s surprise, like so many things over time these intensely personal expressions quite inadvertently become history and art.

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hat’s not to say the shaky quickie pix of you and your date smooching on Whiskey Row at one on a Saturday morning will some day appear in a celebrated visual history of the 21st century — but it might. A lot depends on the lighting, what you’re wearing, your makeup, what’s visible in the background, and a lot more. What becomes art and history is determined not by us but by what future generations decide is important. We can never know when a selfie might prove invaluable to the future. That rum-soaked individual photobombing you might turn out to be an important scientist — or axe murderer, or politician. The building site that currently houses a bar or hotel might in the future become a center of great learning. One never knows.

I suspect that the Cro-Magnons who left us the great cave paintings at Lascaux, France, were not attempting to create the first great art. They were doing selfies. One can imagine them squatting by torchlight, painstakingly layering the visual magic on stone walls that our generation would come to view as an artistic miracle, all the while arguing over whose nose was too big. In a procession of hunters, did one disgruntled individual sneak back in at a later date to insert his own figure, his own selfie, in the front of the line? Did they delete their hand painted images as frequently as we do ours with our cell phones? For sure — selfies one

Alan Dean Foster’s

Perceivings

BELOW: Vincent van Gogh immortalizes himself in “Self-portrait as a Painter,” 1887-1888, and, apparently, through the power of public domain, wields an anachronism to capture the moment apud progressus.

10 • COLUMN • OCTOBER 2017 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

and all.

On the island of Mainland (yes, that’s what it’s called) in the Orkney islands lies a Neolithic cairn, a tomb some 2,800 years old. In roughly 1,000 C.E., the Vikings broke in and stole pretty much everything (hey, you know … Vikings). But they left behind selfies, in the form of graffiti. The best preserved runic writing in Europe. What do these hand-carved selfies tell us about these bold seafaring warriors? Pretty much the same things selfies tell us about ourselves today.

“Ingigerth is the most beautiful of all women,” reads one. Another tersely describes sex in terms familiar to anyone today. But most, like “Haermund Hardaxe carved these runes,” is straightforwardly the Viking version of a selfie. Nothing changes. People don’t take selfies to remember themselves: they take them so other people will remember them, and what they’ve done.

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recall the first time I saw a bus disgorge a load of Japanese tourists at the Grand Canyon. They spent a few minutes (maybe seconds) eying the canyon before turning their cameras on themselves. I learned that seeing the Canyon wasn’t nearly as important as being able to prove to the folks back home that the travelers had been to the Canyon. The selfie as proof of social status.

I imagine the motivation was the same with those unknown artists who painted themselves onto the walls of the caves of Lascaux, the same with good ol’ Haermund Hardaxe, and the same with those young folks out late on a Friday night on Whiskey Row. That’s just humankind for you.

We’re all one big selfie.

And if we’re fortunate, in the end some of us end up as art. ***** 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.

Myth & Mind:

Restless riders

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By Reva Sherrard n 1127, the chronicler of Peterborough Abbey in central England recorded an alarming event. Both monks and local townsfolk “saw and heard a great number of huntsmen hunting. The huntsmen were black, huge, and hideous, and rode on black horses and on black he-goats, and their hounds were jet black, with eyes like saucers, and horrible. ... [In] the night the monks heard them sounding and winding their horns.” (From the “Peterborough Chronicle,” translator G. N. Garmonsway) Witnesses reported this frightening spectacle for weeks; it began in midwinter and only ended at Easter. This was not a mortal cavalcade. The people of Peterborough had seen the Wild Hunt.

These were troubled times for England, and Peterborough Abbey was no exception. Only 10 years previously, some drunken monks had been responsible for a fire that destroyed their library; seven years later a succession crisis would plunge the country into cataclysmic civil war, and fill the chronicle’s pages with accounts of tortures inflicted on the common people. The conquest of England by William of Normandy in 1066 had violently uprooted Saxon society, traumatized the island’s patchwork of Germanic and Celtic cultures, and threatened the language with extinction. Taxes to enforce the new order came directly from those who could spare the least. Starvation was rampant. This was the age that gave rise to the legends of Robin Hood, the thief who stole from corrupt nobles so the poor could live.

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ittle wonder, then, if spectral terrors as well as mortal ones plagued the English; at least, so thought the Peterborough chronicler. In his account there is no question why fiendish huntsmen were visiting his abbey. King Henry I, William’s son, had just appointed his own cousin to the lucrative abbotcy, an act of peremptory nepotism that violated both earthly and heavenly laws in the eyes of the Peterborough monks. More than an omen, the Hunt’s appearance was a sign of the derangement of cosmic order.

But the phenomenon was not usually a political statement in the many centuries and cultures in which it has figured, from the early Middle Ages throughout Europe up to the last century in rural Sweden and Norway. It could appear as a portent of ill fortune or the death of the one who saw it; in Scandinavia, where it was oftener heard in passing than seen, it could simply mean a change in the weather (a weightier matter to farmers in boreal regions than to we in temperate climes).

It was called the Old Army, the Ghost Army, the Cortège of the People of Death in Spain; Oskurre-

“Åsgårdsreien,” painting by Peter Nicolai Arbo, 1872, public domain. ia (“screaming ride”) in Norway; the Dead Hunt, Caccia Morta, in Italy; Odin’s Hunt in Sweden and Wotan’s Army in southwestern Germany and Switzerland. In some places a marching army was seen, presaging war, or battle heard clamoring in the clouds, while in others a howling, horn-winding band would hurtle past through the air — and woe to any unlucky enough to be in its path.

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hy the Dead Hunt, the People of Death, the deadly omens?

Unlike the majority of mythical characters, the members of the Hunt are not deities or fairies.

Where led by Odin, he is said to be not a god but a king who hunted on Sundays, and who with his horse and dogs was doomed at death to hunt eternally for breaking the Sabbath. A German leader of the Hunt, Count Hackelberg or Ebernburg, was likewise cursed for the foul deeds he committed while alive. Though it keeps him from peace, the curse is no deterrent to his criminal activities: in tales he tends to pursue young women instead of game animals.

A similar story sprang up after the demise of a 17th-century Devon squire, one Richard “Dirty Dick” Cabell, a devoted hunter who in life gained a reputation for evil behavior and was rumored to have murdered his wife. Ever afterwards he could be spotted riding hard over the moors at the

head of a pack of terrifying ghostly dogs. Sound familiar? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle heard the local legend from a friend and adapted it as the core of his novel “The Hound of the Baskervilles.”

In medieval England, the doomed hunter could be Cain or Herod, notoriously wicked biblical figures; later he might be Dando, a man who in a savage temper sold his soul to the Devil for a drink of water. In these cases, the Hunt’s leader is someone cut off from life yet bound to the mortal world still, incapable of passing on to the next phase in the soul’s journey: outcasts of natural law and spiritual order. To the Peterborough chronicler, the Hunt was a symptom of the dispossessing of the English by their Norman conquerors and the dismantling of their world, a sign of things awry. But where did the restless riders come from, and how did the stories begin? If the Wild Hunt intrigues you, look for its return in midwinter.

In the meantime, as Halloween approaches and the world of the dead opens to ours, keep an ear out for horns on the wind. ***** Reva Sherrard works at Peregrine Book Company, studies Old Norse religion, and is writing a novel.

5ENSESMAG.COM • OCTOBER 2017 • COLUMN • 11

Chance of a ghost

Week of the Dead offers variety of haunts, old & new

By James Dungeon

‘Day of the Dead’ art exhibit & ‘Sugar Skull Decorating’ workshop [The “Day of the Dead” art exhibit is Oct. 1-Nov. 2 at Prescott Center for the Arts Gallery, 208 N. Marina St., 928-445-3286. The “Sugar Skull Decorating” workshop is 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, also at the PCA Gallery, and costs $3 a skull. Find out more at PCA-AZ.Net. In the interim, here’s an interview with Sukey Jones, lead curator for the “Day of the Dead” art exhibit.]

What kind of art is in the ‘Day of the Dead’ show and what exactly is the Day of the Dead?

There’ll be art representing various iconography and symbolism related to the Mexican Day of the Dead. ... Based on what we’ve had before, there’ll be photographs, watercolors, oils, and some three-dimensional art. We’re also hoping that, again, we’ll have art from Prescott’s sister city in Mexico, Caborca. It’ll be the fifth year for that. The Day of the Dead was traditionally celebrated in central and southern Mexico, and it combined the Catholic holiday of All Souls Day and All Saints Day with earlier indigenous traditions that honored departed loved ones. Now, it’s a celebration that’s spread to most of Mexico. It’s Nov. 1 and 2, and people believe that during those days the gates of heaven open up to let the souls of children and adults visit the Earth again.

People prepare special festivities and altars in their homes to entice those loved ones back. Candles and marigolds and favorite foods and bottles of tequila and hot cocoa and even toys for the children — you decorate the altar with anything you think will bring your dear ones back for a visit and make them happy.

Could you describe the typical iconography of Day of the Dead?

The marigolds are a big one. People make arches out of them as kind of a gateway. The smell is suppose to entice loved ones to return. The candles are

supposed to light the way back, as well. There’s also papel picado, this brightly colored tissue paper, that’s basically made into banners. And then there are, of course, the sugar skulls. We’re doing the workshop on Saturday, Oct. 28 for the fourth year in a row. It’s proven very popular with couples, families, and individuals of all ages. People get really into it.

It’s a folk art tradition. You get to play with colorful icing and glitter and decorate your own sugar skull. … With the skulls, I’d just say it’s not a scary thing.

The sugar skulls, well, really, the whole sugar art thing, was brought to Mexico by Italian missionaries.

They made sugar art for religious festivals — including angels, lambs and various religious symbols. The skulls represent a departed loved one.

How has the art show changed since the show began?

When we first started, five years ago, the art we got didn’t always match the theme because Day of the Dead was something that not all of our local artists were familiar with. It’s been fun over the last few years, how people are learning more about it and how wonderful an idea it really is to celebrate those who’ve passed. It’s a day of remembrance. It has absolutely no relationship with our Halloween. I should probably repeat that: It has absolutely no relationship with our Halloween. It’s a day of remembrance, though it’s not exactly remembrance in the way we think of here. People in Mexico spend the day having picnics at grave sites, cleaning tombs, playing cards, and listening to local mariachi bands.

It’s very festive. It’s not supposed to be sad or mournful. *****

‘Historic Cemetery Walk’ [The “Historic Cemetery Walk” is 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 at Citizens Cemetery, 815 E. Sheldon St. Tickets are $10, $15 per couple, and $5 for children under 5. Find out more at Yavapai.

US/YCC/Citizens-Cemetery or contact the Yavapai Cemetery Association at YCACitizens@Gmail.Com or 928-713-8807. In the interim, here’s an interview with Julie Holst, chairperson of the Yavapai Cemetery Association.]

What exactly is the ‘Historic Cemetery Walk’ and how long has it been going on?

It’s the 10th year of the Historic Cemetery walk.

We have reenactors at grave sites around Citizens Cemetery. A member of the Yavapai Cemetery Association leads groups on tours around the grounds, and at each of the five sites, a reenactor in period clothes tells the story of the person in that plot.

What exactly is the Yavapai Cemetery Asso-

12 • FEATURE • OCTOBER 2017 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

ciation, anyway?

Our organization was founded in 1995, and we preserve and protect the historic aspects of the cemetery. That means all the historic headstones. All the money we take goes strictly for that purpose as well as improvements to the cemetery. It’s repairing a lot of dilapidated headstones and ordering markers for some of the unmarked graves. Today, the group has about 100 people and a seven-member coordinating council.

What can you tell us about this year’s walk?

I’ll tell you about some of the cemetery residents coming out this year to tell their stories. One is Gussie Palmer, who will be reenacted by Donna Morgan. Gussie’s is a particularly tragic story: the story of a mother who unintentionally discharged a fatal shot to her young son while oiling her pistol.

She was born Sept. 6, 1880 and died Nov. 25, 1891, which, as I say that aloud, makes me realize that has

Día de los Muertos celebration [The Día de los Muertos celebration is 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 29. with a procession to Citizens Cemetery sometime between noon and 1 p.m. at Smoki Museum, 147 N. Arizona Ave., 928-445-1230. Find out more at SmokiMuseum.Org. In the interim, here’s an interview with Cindy Gresser, executive director of the Smoki Museum.]

Could you give us an overview of the event?

We’re going into our seventh year of the event here at the Smoki. It was brought over from Sharlot Hall Museum by Jody Drake. The event’s continued to grow and increase, it’s really exciting to see so many kids get involved. Día de los Muertos is a celebration of life. It’s a day in which we remember our loved ones and remember their place in our lives. Even if it’s someone you admired, not a family member, you celebrate the life of that individual. We encourage people to create ofrendas, which are altars to their loved ones who are gone. Traditionally, these altars include four elements: earth, air, fire, and water.

There’s almost always a candle, a plant — usually a living flower, but sometimes a representation of that — water or their favorite beverage, as well as their favorite food. The idea is to bring back the memories of these people.

How has the event changed over the past seven years?

I think the biggest change has been the acceptance of the celebration within our area. We have La Tierra involved as well as Prescott’s sister city in Mexico, Caborca. We’re focused on creating connections regardless of that Southern border we have.

At Smoki, our mission is not specific to a particular time. We’re about the people of the Southwest and that goes into northern Mexico. We’re getting a lot

to be a typo. There’s also Farrell Tiernan, who will be reenacted by Monte Crooks. He was a well-loved, adventurous Irishman known around town for spinning a tale. He’ll be talking about his time in Alaska while serving as a member of the First Command.

There’s no date of birth for him, but he died Feb. 24, 1909. Some sources put his age at 69, but our research puts him more around 81. Sometimes people die and no one had access to records or anyone with information. Name misspellings are common. Dates of birth and death — there are almost always discrepancies with those. And there’s Edith Ruffner, who’ll be reenacted by Melissa Ruffner, who’s actually a descendant of hers. She’s going to tell the story of this funky miner’s widow who once wrote to the Arizona Journal Miner that she “would and could” do a man’s work to support her orphaned children.

She was born in 1880 and died Oct. 13, 1917. *****

more of Prescott’s Hispanic community on board, and they’re happy they have a place in the area they can embrace their heritage and holidays.

What would you tell someone who’s interested in coming who’s never been to such a celebration before? What should they wear and what do they need to know?

We encourage people to dress up. This is a fun party, a day to put on your makeup and dress like a sugar skull. It’s a free event to the public, there’s food here, and vendors, an open bar with margaritas and beer, though we suggest donations, and performances from Ballet Folklorico, a mariachi band, and, hopefully, Why Not? Bellydance troupe. And make sure you’re there for the procesión. It’s a procession over to the Citizens Cemetery, probably between noon and one, where we pay homage to all the individuals who crossed over right here next to the Smoki.

The flowers come from a lot of places, but especially Allan’s Flowers, Safeway, and, we hope this year,

Sprouts. It’s really a beautiful thing. The mariachi band leads us over there. For one day a year, there are several hundred people over in that cemetery talking with our folks that have gone on before us.

How do this and other events tie into the “Week of the Dead” celebration in Prescott?

It’s several organizations coming together for “Week of the Dead” including Prescott Center for the Arts, the Yavapai Cemetery Association, the Smoki Museum, as well as the West Yavapai Guidance Clinic.

We’re working together to promote these feel-good events that help people deal with the notion of death and how to handle it. I think it’s beneficial for the community, at large, and it’s great to see all these organizations come together to offer the public a really wonderful series of events.

Hey, what about Ghost Talk?!

Check out P. 19 for interviews and more info.

*****

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: A scene from the 2016 Día de los Muertos celebration at Smoki Museum, photo by Cindy Gresser (see many more at 5ensesMag.Com); an archival image of Farrell Tiernan who’s being reenacted at this year’s “Historic Cemetery Walk,” via Sharlot Hall Museum Archives courtesy of the Yavapai Cemetery Association; sugar skulls decorated at a Prescott Center For the Arts Gallery workshop, courtesy photo.

13

News From the Wilds Weather Average high temperature: 72.2 F (+/-3.8) Average low temperature: 37.3 F (+/-3.5) Record high temperature: 92 F (1980) Record low temperature: 13 F (1935) Average precipitation: 1.06” (+/-1.23”) Record high precipitation: 7.82” (1972) Record low precipitation: 0” (10.3 percent of years on record) Max daily precipitation: 2.4” (Oct. 6, 1916)

Source: Western Regional Climate Center

Young Bobcats leave their parents this month and begin the search for their own territory. This is the time when they have their most encounters with humans. Photo by Ty Fitzmorris.

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By Ty Fitzmorris ctober in the Mogollon Highlands is one of the great turning points of the year — the warmth and activity of summer drops into the lower deserts and valleys as the cold of the coming winter (borne by heavy, cold air) slithers down the creek beds from the uplands. The evening air carries a sliver of ice and brings smells of wood smoke and high mountains, while the days are filled with dried grasses and the last of the year’s butterflies, native bees, and flowers. The monsoon showers have finally passed, leaving a wave of activity in their wake — insects laying eggs, plants setting seed, birds migrating, and mammals preparing winter stores and putting on fat for the coming time of scarcity.

In October, the second dry season of the year typically begins as the heat-driven summer monsoon pattern, which draws moist air masses north from the Gulf of California, shifts to the

storm-driven winter pattern based in the Pacific Ocean, where massive storm systems catapult smaller, moist low-pressure troughs across our region, bringing snow and rain. And, during this changeover, the skies over the Mogollon Highlands tend to stay clear, though it is also during this time that the Pacific hurricane season is at its peak, and some of these hurricanes move through our region dropping sometimes large amounts of precipitation.

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ctober reliably brings our first frosts, and temperatures become increasingly intolerable for many of our insects and spiders, who utilize a range of winter adaptations in response. The tarantulas create dens in which to hibernate, ants gather provisions into large underground storerooms, and Monarch Butterflies migrate south to the frost-free Mexican forest, though most invertebrates simply conclude their egg laying and die, leaving their eggs, which

14 • FEATURE • OCTOBER 2017 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

are specifically adapted to extreme temperatures and drought, to bear their next generation in the spring. As insects diminish, so do the creatures that rely on them as food. Many of the birds, most notably warblers and swallows, have already migrated south to areas with more prey, as have some of our bat species. Hawks, predators of insect predators, migrate southward through our region now in increasing numbers, following broad valleys and grasslands as they look for rodents, who are, in turn, busy now gathering seeds and catching the last insects.

For many animal species, this is the time when nearly grown offspring are leaving their parents to establish new territories. Young Bobcats, badgers, River Otters, Gray Foxes, Abert’s Squirrels, Porcupines, and several species of skunk will all be looking for their own territories now, finding food for the first time by themselves.

Among the birds, young Great Horned Owls, Roadrunners, Lesser Nighthawks, and Mountain Chickadees are all dispersing into new ranges.

Encounters between humans and many species are more common during this time, since young are relatively unpracticed at avoiding humans. Of course, as with virtually all of our wild species in the Central Highlands of the Southwest, the only risk to humans in these encounters results from animals being harassed or aggravated. Generally, a quiet and respectful approach will be rewarded by some degree of trust and can lead to extraordinary observations. ***** Ty Fitzmorris is an itinerant and often distractible naturalist who lives in Prescott and is proprietor of the Peregrine Book Company, Raven Café, and Gray Dog Guitars, all as a sideline to his natural history pursuits. He can be reached at Ty@PeregrineBookCompany.Com.

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

By Ty Fitzmorris

• Golden Columbines (Aquilegia chrysantha) bear seeds.

Visit: Bell Trail, No. 13.

High mountains • Elk continue their rut and the bugling of males can sometimes be heard in more remote areas.

• Porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum), which stay near to Aspen trees in our area, continue mating while their young establish their own territories.

• Pregnant female Black Bears search out winter dens, which are often in old mine shafts.

• Gambel Oak and Aspen leaves change color and fall.

Visit: Dandrea Trail, No. 285.

Ponderosa Pine forests • Young Abert’s Squirrels (Sciurus aberti) leave their parents and establish their own territories.

These squirrels have a fascinating relationship with Ponderosas, eating the tips of the growing branches, but also eating, and thereby distributing, the truffles and mushrooms that grow on their roots. These fungi help their host pines to gain nutrients they otherwise couldn’t extract from soil.

• Ponderosas continue to shed needles as they do every year around this time, losing 40 percent of their needles over these several months.

• The leaves of New Mexico Locust (Robinia neomexicana) change to a beautiful yellow, as do those of Arizona Walnut (Juglans major).

Visit: Aspen Creek Trail, No. 48.

Pine-Oak woodlands • Young tarantulas disperse into new areas and can sometimes be seen in large numbers. These large spiders are harmless unless harassed, in which case they release mildly irritating hairs from their abdomen, which can cause slight stinging.

• Acorn Woodpeckers, one of the very few social woodpecker species, gather acorns with alacrity, storing them in characteristic granaries — trees (and sometimes telephone poles) into which the woodpeckers have carved holes for acorn storage.

Visit: Miller Creek Trail, No. 367.

Pinyon-Juniper woodlands • Four-O-Clocks (genus Mirabilis) continue to flower on rocky slopes.

• Feathered Fingergrass (Chloris virgata), a distinctive, hand-like native grass, appears now in many habitats, bearing its seeds, though many have been eaten by finches.

• Junipers still bear some of their blue-white seedcones, which grow increasingly important in the diets of birds, rodents, and sometimes Coyotes.

• Goldfinches, House Finches, and many species of sparrows forage in mixed-species flocks.

Visit: Juniper Springs Trail, No. 2.

Orange-crowned Warblers migrate southward through the Mogollon Highlands, now headed to their wintering grounds in central and southern Mexico.

Photo by Ty Fitzmorris.

Grasslands • Young Short-horned Lizards (Phrynosoma hernandezi) leave their parents and disperse in the early part of the month. This is the best time for encountering the small young of this ant-eating species, though they should be handled with care, as they are capable of spraying a defensive toxin from their eyes. This defense is most often used on dogs and Coyotes, however, and the defense humans usually see is simply a flattening of the lizard’s body, an attempt to look larger.

• Several species of hawks migrate through grasslands, riding thermals (large rising columns of warm air) during the afternoons. Look for Roughlegged, Ferruginous, Swainson’s and Red-tailed hawks, as well as Turkey Vultures, with several species sometimes in the same thermal.

Visit: Mint Wash Trail, No. 345.

Riparian areas • During fall evenings, river drainages are often colder than surrounding uplands, as cold air from higher ground flows down them. For this reason some rivers that drain off of high mountains will be the first areas to freeze, and leaves change here first, beginning with Black Walnut and Velvet Ash trees, which drop their last leaves this month.

• Young Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) disperse into new areas, and some will migrate south through our rivers. These gangly fishing birds will sometimes migrate in large groups, occasionally up to 50 or 100 individuals, and are thought to travel as far south as Venezuela.

Deserts/Chaparral • Paloverdes, Velvet Mesquites (Prosopis velutina), and Wright’s Silktassel (Garrya wrightii) bear their seeds now, as do Southwestern Coral Beans (Erythrina flabelliformis), the poisonous seeds of which are sometimes used for jewelry.

• Ocotillo leaves change color and fall for the second time this year. These strange plants have photosynthetic bark, however, so they will continue to photosynthesize through the winter.

• The queens of our one species of bumblebee, Bombus sonorus, fly now in their nuptial mating flight and shortly afterward will look for overwintering refuges where they will remained buried singly through the freezes of the winter. Bumblebees can produce propylene glycol, a natural antifreeze, within their blood, which prevents them from being killed by freezing.

Visit: Algonquin Trail, No. 225.

Skyward • Oct. 5: Full Moon at 11:40 a.m.

• Oct. 8: Draconid Meteor Shower. Unlike most other meteor showers, the best viewing of this moderate shower is in the early evening, with meteors appearing to radiate from the constellation Draco to the north. The waning gibbous Moon will rise around 8:30 p.m., which leaves only two-and-a-half hours after sunset for the darkest skies and best Draconid viewing. Two other meteor showers are also nearing their peak now — the Southern Taurids and the Delta Aurigids, increasing the likelihood that meteors will be seen, even with the bright Moon.

• Oct. 19: New Moon at 12:12 p.m.

• Oct. 21: Orionid Meteor Shower. This is one of the year’s brighter meteor showers with up to 20 bright meteors per hour (including some bright fireballs), and in the dark skies after the New Moon the viewing should be superb. This peak is not on only one night, however, but is a broad period during which the Earth passes through the tail of the Comet Halley, which was last in our solar system in 1986 and will pass through again in 2061. The meteors are at their best after midnight, as our point on the Earth rotates into its path of orbit around the Sun.

15

Everything under the Sun

A journey to and from the 2017 total solar eclipse

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Story, photos, & illustrations by Dale O’Dell iven that the occurrence of a total solar eclipse is about once per continent per human lifetime, it’s highly likely that during your lifetime an eclipse will happen over the landmass on which you live. And you should see it. An eclipse is a unique astronomical event that you should witness at least once, even if you must travel a great distance. There’s nothing comparable.

It can’t be overemphasized: Each and every human being should see at least one total solar eclipse.

I was already planning another photo shoot when I first learned about the 2017 solar eclipse. I’d be photographing land art installations featuring automobiles including “Carhenge” in Alliance, Neb. The Aug. 21 total solar eclipse would span the entirety of the North America, and I wondered whether the shadow would fall over Nebraska. Yes, it would!

The Moon’s shadow would traverse the sky directly over Alliance. I scheduled the trip and planned on shooting both “Carhenge” and the eclipse.

I taught myself about solar filters, protecting my eyes and my camera’s sensor, exposure data, and all of that. I read books and astronomy websites.

Many experts were saying the same thing about optimum viewing locations: The highest probability of clear skies was in the middle of the continent like in, you know, Alliance, Neb. Since it looked like I’d have company, I tried to book a room 10 months beforehand. Too late. Lodgings in Alliance and nearby Scottsbluff were totally booked — and at “special eclipse viewing” rates of $400-$900. Luckily, I found a room at a lessthan-extortionate price 30 miles away, in Bridgeport. The Scottsbluff newspaper reported Alliance, population 8,500, expected 10,000 eclipse visitors. This was going to be a solar Woodstock.

Doing eclipse research, I rediscovered mythology surrounding eclipses. Primitive man didn’t understand eclipses and ascribed them supernatural causes. Hopefully — and despite national antiscience sentiments — no one still believes that

eclipses are the Sun being eaten by a frog, wolf, or dragon. Nor do people believe that the Sun is being stolen by dogs or bitten by a bear. Despite our scientific knowledge of orbital dynamics, there’s still plenty of pseudoscience out there. Notions like the disruption of Earth’s magnetic field and people’s bodily systems may have some validity, but ideas about evil omens, life-changing events, and enhanced emotions have no scientific basis.

Before leaving, I rehearsed photographing the Sun using a timer set to two-and-a-half minutes, i.e. the duration of totality. Just how many photos could I shoot in 150 seconds? There’s nothing quite like the pressure of photographing something that’ll fry your eyes if you look at it — especially something that only comes around every 100 years, lasts fewer than three minutes, and that you really can’t practice for.

16 • COLUMN • OCTOBER 2017 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

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riving through Colorado, signs warned of “heavy eclipse traffic,” but I rolled into “Carhenge” at 10:30 a.m. the day before the eclipse without incident or delay. A tenth of a mile up the highway, a farmer had made his bean field available to campers for $45 a day. I happily paid and claimed a spot on high ground.

My fellow campers and I were surprised to have free wi-fi. Verizon even trucked in portable cellphone towers so we could all update social media in real time. There were souvenirs, t-shirts, food, and ice and water for sale. In Alliance, itself, there was a tribal powwow, softball games, and rock bands. The churches put out food for eclipse travelers.

By late afternoon Sunday, the bean field was nearly full. White legs paraded by. City Dads

struggled with brand-new tents.

There must’ve been $100 million of Canon, Nikon, and Celestron glass pointed skyward. On Sunday, the Alliance airport had a fly-in breakfast and was overwhelmed by 250 private planes. A certain famous actor/pilot was allegedly there, but I didn’t see Han Solo or the Millennium Falcon. Camping next to me were Alex and Austin, a couple of guys from Bismark, N.D., fully prepped with beer and eclipse glasses. Janice and her two daughters were nearby setting up multiple telescopes and cameras. There was HalterTop Hanna, the unwashed hippie chick laying out crystals to be “charged” under “eclipse light.” Shaman Sam looked ready for a photon bath — whoa dude, put on a shirt! I also met Sonny (his real name), an “eclipse-chaser” who proudly proclaimed, “This is my tenth eclipse!”

Most people I spoke with traveled 250-500 miles to see totality. After the eclipse, I talked to the proprietor of Bridgeport’s Meadowlark Hotel who’d taken reservations from China, Japan, Australia, France, England, and Austria. Crowd size estimates were about 5,000 around “Carhenge.” The estimate was 20,000 eclipse viewers for the entire Alliance area.

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n eclipse day, we awoke to a fright: fog. Well, I thought, if I don’t get the shot it’s not my fault. Janice, my camper neighbor came over, tablet in hand. “I’ve got a NOAA weather app here that says the temps dropped last night,” she said. “We hit the dew point and this is just ground fog that ought to burn off in an hour.”

She was right. (Thanks again to the farmer for the free wi-fi.) The fog scare made the eclipse even more precious.

While the weather cleared, the Bismark boys made a coffee run and we began Eclipse Day fully

I

caffeinated. Another guy wandered through the campground selling cinnamon rolls. Excitement grew as thousands of tripods, cameras, telescopes, and binoculars were set up. My setup included three solar-filter-equipped DSLRs and a video camera. I was well-rehearsed and ready.

Someone yelled “first contact,” and we peered sunward through eclipse glasses to see a tiny notch taken out of the Sun by the Moon. I shot photos about every 15 minutes to document the progression. Without looking at the Sun through

eclipse glasses, you really couldn’t tell anything extraordinary was happening. Janice was struggling with camera alignment, and I assisted her. Later, a panicked man came by asking for tape, duct tape, anything. His homemade, 3D-printed solar filter holder had broken at just the wrong moment. I handed him a roll of duct tape. Finally, the light changed, darkening slightly, as if a cloud had passed over the Sun. Solar filters came off cameras and everybody got ready. …

Totality.

t was dark, sunset all around. Birds quieted and crickets chirped. It went from midday to twilight in an instant.

It was weird and spectacular. Through my telephoto lens, I saw the diamond ring, the Sun’s photosphere, the solar flares, prominences, and everything. I got the shot!

Totality was magic, an incredible sight. Twoand-a-half minutes later, third contact and totality were over, the landscape brightened, and the Moon began to uncover the Sun. The crowd cheered.

Wow. Just wow.

The temperature had dropped about 10 degrees during totality, but we only noticed afterward as it warmed up again. I continued photographing the eclipse, but many were taking down tents and packing up to leave like it was the eighth inning of the ballgame and they were going to beat the traffic. (They didn’t). The guy with the broken solar filter holder returned my duct tape with a big hug. “Oh man, you saved the shot, thank you, thank you, thank you!” I was happy to help, and I’m happy he got the shot.

Never travel without duct tape.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 >>>

All photos and illustrations

by Dale O’Dell. Also, that’s Dale O’Dell, top middle.

17

Playing it safe

Tips & tricks toward better cyber security

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By Justin Agrell ith all of the news of hackers hacking and identities being spirited away, you might feel a little uneasy about your knowledge of proper security measures.

I’ve compiled a collection of advice to begin you on your quest to becoming more hacker resistant and, hopefully, allow you to sleep a little better at night.

We begin with a stern look and finger-wagging toward those who are over-broadcasting their lives on social media. While this mostly applies to younger, less wary generations, it helps if you’re leery of providing personal information to websites. While stalking is certainly a scary consideration, most of us are far more likely to either have our identity stolen or our house robbed when the world knows we’re out and about eating delicious delicacies and snapping senseless selfies. There’s nothing wrong with posting every meal and adventure online — just make sure you limit who can view your content.

Many websites and services use security questions as a form of authentication. These days, figuring out Fluff y’s name or what schools you’ve attended is trivial. Private investigators have never had it easier, and it’s up to you to choose those questions that don’t have easily discoverable answers. Also consider — and I’ll try not to shock you too much — that you can fib, jumble answers, or just enter gobbledegook for security questions.

As long as you record the answer or use some other trick to remember what you submitted, this option is a far better solution.

Your password is your first line of defense. I’ve written about password creation techniques before, so I won’t go into detail here, but the most important thing to remember is to not use the same password more than once. When using important websites, only check them at home or at other trusted locations and never, ever check them on unsecured public wireless networks. Everyone has a camera in their pocket these days. Use saved passwords if you must to avoid someone recording you in public and being able to decipher your passwords. When you enter pin numbers when purchasing items or visiting ATMs, lightly touch extra keys so that your heat signature doesn’t give away your pin. (Yes, some hackers can tell the exact order of your pin from how warm the keys are.) Lock your phone and use a long pin or your fingerprint to unlock it to keep people out. Swipe patterns leave streaks on your phone’s screen and can be guessed quite easily.

to grab the card reader and give it a little tug. That simple trick might save you the trouble of dealing with the aftermath of a stolen card number.

O Two-bit Column

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hred, burn, or otherwise destroy important documents. Don’t think that just because you have thrown a document away that it magically disappears and takes your sensitive information with it.

Some of the best hacker stories are about digging around in Dumpsters. Computers and copiers are included in this. If you must get rid of one, take it to a computer shop to have the drives wiped securely.

Most places won’t even charge you.

When an email has a link, just open a browser and go to the web-page manually. This will make you immune to almost every kind of phishing scheme. In your web browser, you have a little less control over links but at least try to hover your mouse cursor over the link; it may show the location it’s pointing to. If it’s not what you expect, then don’t follow the link. Blocking ads with plug-ins like uBlock Origin and denying malicious scripts with add-ons like NoScript also stops most adbased attacks in their tracks.

In the physical world, banks and credit card companies have started issuing debit and credit cards with radio-responsive identification. This enables a hacker with a strong enough antennae can read your card number right from your purse or wallet. You may not have one of these cards yet, but I still recommend you get a radio-blocking wallet/bill fold/purse so you’re already protected.

The most common card skimmers that hackers use aren’t attached well. When you go to fill up your gas tank or retrieve money from an ATM, remember

18 • COLUMN • OCTOBER 2017 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

ne of the less popular methods of security is obscurity. Don’t use the most popular things and you’re less of a target. Hackers want their attack to work on as many devices as possible.

The current most popular desktop operating system is Microsoft Windows. If you want to immediately improve your safety, you can simply change operating systems. Likewise, moving off of the most used search engine (Google) or web browser (Google Chrome) can only help you.

When you go shopping online, it’s important to use trusted sites. Sites like Amazon, Ebay, and Newegg have taken large strides in fighting for your safety as a consumer. Once you have sites you trust, make sure to bookmark/favorite them and use the bookmarks to open them. After you’re done spending money at your favorite site, make sure to take a glimpse at your bank account. You may cringe, but double charges and strange transactions need to be monitored to make sure you haven’t been compromised.

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fter all of that, if you still aren’t at ease, you can try these last few things. Make a habit of regularly checking for security updates for your software and operating system, switch to a DNS host that has built-in security like OpenDNS (see OpenDNS. Com), and look into a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service to further lock things down.

Good luck on your security adventure. That’s right: No joke, no witty banter, just good luck. ***** Justin Agrell has been a certified IT technician since 2005. He loves Linux, adventure motorcycling, and computer gaming. To get in touch, just email him at Justin@U4E.US.

... FROM PAGE 13

‘Ghost Talk TOO!’

New, old stories playing in a new venue Why shift the focus away from, say, legends and tall tales?

Partly, it’s because I’m a local historian and I value historical accuracy. I like to know what actually happened. Basically, what we’re doing is telling eerie stories of old Yavapai. It’s not alleged hauntings, but kind of darker stories, like 19th century murder cases. We’re having the characters kind of coming out to the audience as ghosts because it’s Halloween, but they’re not representing so-called real, local hauntings.

[‘Ghost Talk TOO!’ is at 6, 7:30, and 9 p.m. Oct. 20, 21, 27, & 28 at Prescott Center for the Arts Stage TOO!, alley between Cortez and Marina streets behind Prescott Center for the Arts, 928445-3286. Tickets are $10-$13. The event is a collaborative fundraiser sponsored by PCA and West Yavapai Guidance Clinic Foundation. Proceeds benefit PCA’s Youth Scholarship Program and youth programs of West Yavapai Guidance Clinic. Find out more at PCA-AZ.Net. In the interim, here’s an interview with Erica Muse, director of “Ghost Talk TOO!” and Parker Anderson, playwright of “Ghost Talk TOO!”]

Have those kind of stories been part of previous “Ghost Talk” productions?

In a way, it’s kind of going back to the original way the program was when it originated at Sharlot Hall Museum, where it was created by a lady named Jody Drake. She did it with largely historically accurate stories. It ended because some people there felt it unseemly for a museum to be doing such a thing and they put the kibosh on it.

Then Prescott Center for the Arts took it over and Karen Murphy wrote and directed the show and turned it into this big, elaborate, fun production.

So, what we’re doing is more of a throwback to how it originally started.

The new name, I assume, alludes to the change in venue?

Muse: It does. PCA decided to do something different with Ghost Talk this year. Obviously, it’s an allusion to Stage TOO!, but we also wanted to get across that it’s a continuation of “Ghost Talk.”

When Karen Murphy stepped down, people were afraid it was going to end, but it’s still going strong after a decade.

What can you tell us about this year’s show?

This year, our writer, Parker Anderson, has gone with things that are very historically accurate. He isn’t using any stories that are just legend or urban myth. Everything can be backed up by historic documents. So, some of the traditional Prescott ghost stories that have been involved in the past will be missing, but, instead, there will be some new and exciting stories unfolding. … I don’t want to give away too much, but one has to do with Jerome, and the scope has widened from Prescott to all of Yavapai County.

What’s the structure of the show?

There’ll be 10 to 15 individual vignettes, that is, ghost stories with actors acting as those characters. Some have narration, some have introductions, and some have interaction between characters, but ultimately most ghosts end up telling their own stories. … The show is more geared toward adults, and there are some adult themes, including one story about a prostitute.

How does the smaller venue of Stage TOO! affect the staging of the show?

It’s a completely different feeling to stage a show in a smaller, more intimate venue. The audience is right in the actors’ faces versus the distance of a stage. It’s a different kind of acting and a different kind of a set design. I’m used to working with a

A scene from “Ghost Talk” past. Photo by David Cottle. small black box and the audience in a traditional seating pattern that goes up at an angle where the audience is at a distance except for the front row.

This is going to be completely different. On stage, you have to be a lot bigger with your character and movement and facial expressions. If you’ve ever seen someone who’s gone from theater to film, it looks like they’re overacting a lot, and that’s because the camera is so close and they’re used to grand gestures and facial expressions. In this environment, you have to be subtler and reign in some of those impulses. ***** How did you end up as the playwright for “Ghost Talk TOO!”?

Anderson: Well, Karen Murphy did it for several years and she’s decided to retire from it. Erica is directing it, and I’m the playwright now. Karen always did a lavish, kind of musical production that was just plain fun. This year, it’s going to be a much smaller production with historically accurate stories.

What kinds of stories will be told?

We dramatized a variety of stories. There are a couple of local cases that lead to legal hangings on the Courthouse Plaza, a few characters who died under mysterious circumstances, and, in fact, two stories were deemed suicides. We actually utilize their suicide notes. Now, that may sound morbid, but these stories are over a century old and both men were not known to have families or descendants. … There’s a combination of some well-known local stories and some that aren’t as well known.

Are most of the performances monologues?

There’s some interplay between the characters, but there are a lot of monologues. As a nod to how we’re having the characters coming out and addressing the audience as spirits, and the fact that it’s Halloween, as of this point it’s going to be narrated by a talking skull. … It’s a smaller production for a smaller house. It’ll be more intimate than recent versions. I’d like people to come away from it saying that they had fun and enjoyed it. *****

5ENSESMAG.COM • OCTOBER 2017 • FEATURE • 19

... FROM PAGE 17 By about 1 p.m. it was just a regular day again, except that I was standing in a hot bean field with 10,000 new friends. I packed up, bade farewell to my eclipse buddies, and bugged out. Ten miles later, I found that traffic I’d skipped the day before and spent the next three hours driving 30 miles to Bridgeport.

After check-in and a much needed shower, the memory cards from the cameras went into a secure case and into my shirt pocket, never to be away from my person until I returned to my studio in Prescott. The images on those cards were more precious than gold. Then I was off to the bar and dinner. The long drive home gave me a lot of time to process what I’d witnessed.

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n eclipse is a fixed astronomical event.

The solar eclipse that just happened was going to happen exactly as it did no matter what, even if there were no conscious entities on Earth to witness it. This is where it gets interesting. Not to be a nihilist, but nothing has any intrinsic meaning on its own and all meaning ascribed to the eclipse is applied by human observers. So, in terms of meaning, we get out of it whatever we bring into it. The New Age types got their crystals charged or chakras cleansed (or whatever). The scientific types gathered data and perhaps a greater understanding of the universe’s clockwork. Others were merely curious, satiated by a new experience.

For some, it was an excuse for a party. For kids, it was a day off from school or at least some time outside. Everyone got something positive out of it, and with those good feelings multiplied by 10,000 or 20,000 souls, well, that’s palpable positivity.

I experienced a range of feelings. Immediately

realistic cause of fatigue. As a photographer, I’d after totality, I was profoundly exhausted. Was successfully met a unique technical challenge and, my fatigue caused by a sudden change in gravity or energy? Did the eclipse itself cause my sudden as an artist, generated new imagery for future works. I’d witnessed tiredness? Possibly.

But, more likely, the Visit 5ensesMag.Com for more a beautiful temporary light event more culmination of planimages and technical info incredible than a Pink ning, preparation, Floyd concert. I’d met travel, discomfort, and

by Dale O’Dell. interesting folks and the anxiety of only shared a communal having two-and-a-half experience. minutes to get a photo, actually getting the photo, Moreover, I’d felt my place in the universe. then suddenly being fulfilled might be a more Seeing the eclipse underscored my humanity. I’d perceived this rare, fleeting thing and made it permanent in my memory. It was significant because I saw it, and it was real because others saw it, too.

I perceive, therefore I am. The eclipse would’ve occurred even if no one had seen it, but without witnesses there’d be no meaning, no wow factor.

Wow. Wow times millions of witnesses.

To conclude, I’ll reiterate my initial thoughts. I really mean them. ...

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iven that the occurrence of a total solar eclipse is about once per continent per human lifetime, it’s highly likely that during your lifetime an eclipse will happen over the landmass on which you live. And you should see it. An eclipse is a unique astronomical event that you should witness at least once, even if you must travel a great distance. There’s nothing comparable. It can’t be overemphasized: Each and every human being should see at least one total solar eclipse.

20 • COLUMN • OCTOBER 2017 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

***** See more of Dale O’Dell’s photography and digital art at DalePhoto.Com.

... FROM PAGE 6

its root, and I think we can get somewhere, or die trying.

thing in that sequence of events where people more or less left everything they knew and allegedly went seeking something. But what they actually were doing was fleeing. That’s the foundation story of North America. It’s flight. They left behind things. Yes, some things better left behind like feudalism and chronic poverty, but it’s a package deal, and they also left behind the old boneyard and all their associations with a homeland that’s never been reconstituted.

I think that led to our current regime, our foundation of freedom, and of being self-determining.

Well spoken! And, through that, we return to the idea about language surrounding death. What needs to change there?

Well, the principal business at hand seems to be to craft a language wherein the realities of dying appear. And, with some humility, I can say I’ve done that. Now, why did I even attempt to do such a thing?

Because care of dying people is where euphemisms go to enjoy long, healthy lives. There are a lot of subtleties here, you see, and subtlety is all you really have. Broad strokes are great for demographers and politicians, but for the rest of us human beings who have to live as human live, god lives in the particulars. That’s attributed to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, isn’t it? He meant it architecturally, though it applies to the architecture of life. The broad strokes don’t exist in life. The broad strokes don’t cover where you are this day and the next day, and those are the places where you properly act. It’s akin to that ’60s idea of thinking globally and acting locally.

It’s funny how discussions of death inexorably lead to discussions of life.

You employ the same language when you’re talking about either, and properly so, because dying is what you mean by life. It’s in there, too. I’m asked fairly routinely about the after-life, being no expert on the matter, but the phrase bears some scrutiny. The word “life” encompasses anything and everything. How could there be an “after” if “life” is the whole thing. That’s not just semantics; it’s a question of inclusivity. So, when you’re talking about your life, you certainly also include its end. Death is a condition of life that, in the matter of your living, is basically non-negotiable. The kind of person you were up to that point pretty much dictates how you’ll deal with your death. Dying doesn’t imbue some kind of revelatory insight. I really saw that in the death trade. Death magnifies and intensifies what’s already there. I’ve seen very few death bed conversions to wisdom or sanity that were heretofore unprecedented.

What’s the central premise of your “Die Wise” talk?

Well, it’s the stuff we’ve been talking about. If you’ve got to put it in broad strokes, then I guess it’s about grief, and dying, and the great love of life.

FROM TOP: Cover of “Die Wise,” a book by Stephen Jenkinson, cover of “Griefwalker,” a documentary about Jenkinson. Courtesy images,

So, if you were in charge of one big switch, of changing people’s minds regarding death, what would it be?

First of all, if you just look at the phrase “changing your mind,” you’ll see how ludicrous the whole idea is. Who’s doing the changing if the mind is being changed? Is there some part of you not included in the “mind”? Where does that change take place? Is there some unchanged thing that’s dictating the changes? Under scrutiny, that whole thing breaks down. … The character of the modern era is that we’re in a time when we’d rather be defeated than persuaded. That’s a tragic, but a very accurate observation to make. I think, rarely did I see a circumstance in which people voluntarily changed their belief system for the sake of dying well. What I saw was that, under the pressure of the moment, retrenching became the order of the day. That’s how the old language seeps back in. Can it ever go otherwise? I guess — and I’m answering the question as I see it — is to make the case for how bad that is. That might be a mandatory prerequisite for things to ever change. Good luck selling that door to door. This is a solution-addicted time. If you don’t have five steps or 12 stages, or four pillars, or whatever, then you’re going to lose your audience. Well, I would say you lose the audience you never had. I guess my subtler purpose is to try to articulate things that could use some changing. Of course, I secretly have a few ideas about what I’m doing, and that’s one of them. Another is going all over the country and making the case for something no one is really seeking. It’s a strange enterprise and not all that promising. In a room of — you choose the number, whatever, really — I count on the possibility that there’s a quorum of people whose unhappiness about death is not personal.

That’s my constituency. Those are people whose unhappiness is cultural at

Could you unpack that a bit?

Let’s start with death. It’s the deal. It’s not the cancelation of the deal. It’s what you said yes to when nobody asked you if it was OK. How you honor that deal is important. … It’s in the cards, though. It’s a given. Death is not an execution; it’s a reality of life, and it begs the question of how it’s approached. It’s, “What does it ask of me?” not “What is it doing to me?” Grief, then, you could say, is one way of articulating how unavoidable our deal with life is. You can imagine things otherwise, but that’s all you can do. Your life will come to an end, regardless. By the great love of life, I mean loving being alive. Your loving people in life does not extend their life or your life by even an hour. There’s grief in that. You have to find some reason to love being alive other than trying to extract more life as a consequence of that love. … There are so many things that add up to a great love of life. But that love minus grief, minus an understanding of how things end and the propriety of that ending — I’m not sure you could say that’s loving all of life. Something about being alive is that it’s granted with the condition of the ending of everything you hold dear. To the extent I’m selling anything, that’s probably it. ***** Stephen Jenkinson is in Prescott for three events. He’s speaking 3-4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10 at Peregrine Book Co., 219 N. Cortez St. He’ll be at a screening of “Griefwalker,” the documentary about him, 7-9:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10 at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Davis Learning Center, 3700 Willow Creek Road, $25. He’s giving one of his signature talks, “Die Wise: Making Meaning of the Ending of Days” 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at the ERAU Davis Learning Center, 3700 Willow Creek Road, $115. Find out more and purchase tickets at OrphanWisdom.Com.

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.

5ENSESMAG.COM • OCTOBER 2017 • FEATURE • 21

Not-asholy days

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s an adult, you could wear a costume every day if you really wanted to. As such, there’s no reason to limit regalia to one holiday this month. Consider celebrating ...

Oct. 1: World Vegetarian Day. (Nice to meet you.)

Oct. 6: Mad Hatter Day. (A little mercury goes a long way.)

Oct. 7: World Smile Day. (Miles of smiles.)

Oct. 12: International Moment of Frustration Day. (No planning necessary.)

Oct. 14: Be Bald and Be Free Day. (Like the eagles.)

Oct. 15: White Cane Safety Day. (Be aware.)

Oct. 16: Dictionary Day. (Look it up.)

Oct. 22: Make a Difference Day. (That about sums it up.)

Oct. 23: National Mole Day. (There are 6.02214179 x 1023 reasons to celebrate.)

Oct. 30: National Candy Corn Day. (A corny joke goes here.)

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un manufacturers have shown amazing ingenuity in the making of firearms throughout history.

Concealed weapons have taken the shape of pocket watches, whip handles, smoking pipes, flashlights, belt buckles, gloves, helmets, shields, and umbrellas. There is even a surviving example of a Spanish flintlock key pistol.

ODDLY ENOUGH ... Possibly the weirdest, if not the most dangerous demonstration of hidden weaponry is a set of German tableware made in 1715. Talk about “shooting your mouth off.”

C

*****

arlisle Castle in the English county of Cumbria has been a working castle for nine hundred years. Three hundred years ago, after the fall of the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, over three 300 Scots and Irish prisoners were brought and held here. The prisoners, tried for treason, were sent South to be hanged, drawn and quartered. Others were sold as slaves. During the summer of 1746, while awaiting trial, as many as 90 people were held in a single dungeon. In desperation for water, many prisoners were reduced to licking the moisture that collected on the vault walls in order to stay alive.

ODDLY ENOUGH ... These damp stones were visited so often that permanent tongue grooves were worn into them and can still be seen to this day.

They are known as the “licking stones of Carlisle Castle.” ***** Russell Miller is an illustrator, cartoonist, writer, bagpiper, motorcycle enthusiast, and reference librarian. Currently, he illustrates books for Cody Lundin and Bart King.

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Mon-Sat 10:30-6:00 Sun 12:00-6:00

Ghost Talk Too

Oct 20, 21, 27 and 28; shows at 6:00, 7:30 and 9:00 pm Ghost Talk Too brought to you by Prescott Center for the Arts and West Yavapai Guidance Clinic Foundation

Ghost Feast

Oct 11, at El Gato Azul, Reservations Required, 928-445-1070

Day of the Dead Art Exhibit

Oct 2 – Nov 2, PCA Gallery, 208 N Marina, Prescott, 928-445-3286

Historic Cemetery Walk

Oct 28, 10 to 2, Citizens Cemetery, 815 E Sheldon St, Prescott, 928-713-8807

Dia De Los Muertos Celebration

Oct 29, Smoki Museum, 147 N Arizona, Prescott, 928-445-1230