2014-01 5enses

Celebrating art and science in Greater Prescott January 2014

Volume 2, Issue 1

Alan Dean Foster sews up art and science to a T

Ty Fitzmorris

leaves a light on for dark days in the wilds

Jimmy Polinori weighs in on New Year's fitness

Dale O'Dell

dons a celestial hearing aid

And much 2 more!

Jeff Robertson & co. keep sight of the Big Picture

5enses

Copyright © 2014 5enses Inc. unless otherwise noted.

Publisher & Editor: Nicholas DeMarino Creative Director: Jimmy Polinori Copy Editor: Susan Smart Read a new 5enses the first Friday of every month.

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

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

In which:

Plus

Matt Dean

4 5 6 7 10 11 12 13 16

takes an airfield trip to Glendale and meets some flyboys at Luke Air Force Base.

Ruby Jackson

thinks outside the big box and takes in some laughs, children’s art, and gelato.

17 18 22 24 25 26

Ty Fitzmorris squirrels away some wily wildlife wisdom for the long winter.

Dale O’Dell

goes out of his body and into his mind at The Monroe Institute.

Robert Blood

Mike Vax

Helen Stephenson

Paolo Chlebecek

Heather Houk

Gene Twaronite

Jimmy Polinori

Jacques Laliberté

discusses sports, acting, and the pursuit of perfection with actor John Pinero.

spots some familiar faces amongst the cast of a indie film that commences screening this month.

catalogs seedy missives and daydreams about springtime gardens.

can’t wait to share New Year’s weight loss tips that change the sea without rocking the boat.

Alan Dean Foster gives the shirt off his back to fashion a noetic bridge between art and science.

Jill Craig

discusses promotion and storytelling with Jeff Robertson and Zack Drake of Big Picture Video Production.

Jill Craig

gets on the fast track to ferreting out what caused a mangy menagerie of trails.

tracks down the prestigeful source of those omnipresent snaps, crackles, and pops.

searches high and low for keywords, tips, and tricks to better Google the masses.

proves that the clothes don’t just make the man — they also make the naturalist, naturally.

January 2014 • Volume 2, Issue 1

8 20

Left Brain/Right Brain

Find out what’s going on in Greater Prescott

Sad to say

The science of depresssion

ModRods

Doodles by Jacques Laliberté BELOW: Two boys in Eldoret, Kenya receive Wheelchair Distribution wheelchairs via American Wheelchair Foundation. Photo by James Robertson.

See Jill Craig’s story on Page 13.

seeks sullen beauty and frigid fascinations in the cold light of day.

COVER: Jeff Robertson sets up a Big Picture Video Production shoot for Humboldt Unified School District in 2011 at Bradshaw Mountain High School.

Photo by Zack Drake.

Illustration and design

by Jimmy Polinori.

�ENSESMAG.COM • JANUARY ���� • CONTENTS • �

Bird Watching (No, The Other Kind)

By Matt Dean

Above

irrigated fields and suburban home construction, the afterburners of four F-16s light as they accelerate into the hazy desert sky. Two F-15 Eagles follow with a thunderous twin-engine growl as they climb for altitude. Ground crews attend to hundreds of parked fighter aircraft while keeping a watchful eye on the tarmac for damaging pieces of “Foreign Object Debris.”

At the foot of the White Tank Mountains, west of Phoenix, Luke Air Force Base begins another training day.

Back in November, I was fortunate enough to tour Luke Air Force Base with the Prescott High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. The group of at least 40 students and six adults assembled in the early morning cold outside Prescott High School. The crowd that climbed aboard the bus was sleepy but starry eyed. Two hours later, the air was electric as the “big yellow” rolled up

Having a field day

Five F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft of the 58th Tactical Training Wing fly over Luke Air Force Base on Jan. 1, 1987. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Bob Simons, public domain. to the front gates of a full-fledged U. S. Air Force base.

Luke Air Force Base, now located on the outskirts of Glendale, has been a premier training base for F-16 pilots for some 30 years, turning out

es! c n a n e t r u pp Amazing a s! e i b e e r f l u f Fanci als! i r e t a m s u Marvelo Celebrate the first year of 5enses for a chance to win fabulous prizes!

What actor is mentioned by character or movie in every 2012 5enses science guide?

Email 5ensesMag@Gmail.Com with the answer, your name, and contact info by Feb. 1 t0 be entered in a drawing for one of three incredible prize baskets.

Visit 5ensesMag.Com for contest rules and prize descriptions.

Winners will be announced in March’s 5enses.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

The Art Store, Alan Dean Foster, Jacques Laliberté, Prescott Farmers Market, Dale O’Dell, Snap Snap, & Prescott Arts Journey for prize donations.

� • FEATURE • JANUARY ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

topnotch dogfighters and ground attack pilots. But beginning in the spring of 2014, the storied base will turn another page. It still will function as a training base, but now for the Air Force’s latest multi-role fighter aircraft endeavor: the F-35.

The air base dates back to March of 1941 when the Army Air Corps determined that the desolate Arizona desert would be an excellent location for fighter aircraft training.

Luke Field was christened and soon became the foremost fighter pilot training center. During World War II alone, it turned out nearly 12,000 graduates. Luke Field was deactivated after the war but brought back online during the Korean War to train fighter escort pilots in the F-84. Since then, pilots at Luke have learned how to master F-100 Sabres, F-4 Phantoms, F-15 Eagles, F-16 Falcons. And, soon, the F-35 Lightning.

The first stop on the tour was the K-9 training facility. While the airmen and their dogs put on an impressive display, heads from the crowd snapped up and to the right as 16s and 15s rumbled off the runway nearby. The students anxiously awaited pilots and planes.

The big yellow’s next stop was in front of a building emblazoned with the emblem of the 309th “Wild Ducks” Fighter Squadron. As we entered the building, lanky men in flight suits were receiving lastminute briefings before heading to

the flight line.

The walls were adorned with slogans and memorabilia from the squadron along with numerous schematic and photograph posters of the F-16. One pilot, who either drew the short stick or was the junior pilot, introduced himself as our tour guide.

The pilot led us to a room down the hall to the “Heritage Room.” It was, among other things, a haven for additional “Wild Ducks” souvenirs. And there were beer taps. This, apparently, is where young fighter pilots learned to fly as they shared a drink and discussed the day’s training sessions with their mentors.

At this point, the Prescott High School Junior ROTC cadets were geared up for the tour finale on the flight line. We were given disposable earplugs and told to make sure not to distribute any of the packaging — potential Foreign Object Debris — near the aircraft.

The whiny hiss of turbofans, the smell of burning jet fuel, and numerous heat mirages greeted us as we neared the flight line. Resting under canopies to protect the aircraft from the punishing desert sun, a vast field of F-16s engaged in various stages of flight preparation.

The 16 at the front of the line, marked as a general’s, sat dormant and unattended. The cadets got up close and personal with this one.

They peeked in the cockpit — no pictures, please —and peered down the aircraft’s cavernous air intake. They even got to kick the tires.

Between the earplugs, idling engines, ceaseless ground crew activity, and the reverberating screams of jets taking off, we hardly heard a word our pilot guide said. However, the grins on the cadets and chaperones faces proved more than adequate to appreciate the technological prowess and power of the U.S. Air Force. ***** Matt Dean is a Prescott native and a teacher for Prescott High School’s online program who enjoys spending time with his family and walks with the dogs. When he’s not aircraft spotting, you can find him steadily working on projects at his home and property. Contact him at Matt.Dean@PrescottSchools.Com.

Around ...

... the Corner

January hijinks aA

Cuppers Coffee Bistro in The Shops at Pescott Gateway offers myriad sweet treats. Photo by Ruby Jackson.

By Ruby Jackson I try to shop local whenever possible. However, holiday shopping necessitated a trip to Prescott Valley’s Kmart. In line, I heard customers commenting on how they thought the new Walmart Supercenter opening this month in Prescott Valley was going to negatively impact other chain stores. Though decidedly not a fan (I’ll spare you my anti- Walmart rant), the fact that our adjoining burgs of Prescott and Prescott Valley can potentially sustain three Walmarts and a Sam’s Club within a seven-mile radius truly mystifies me.

It also perplexes me that folks might wait in line before 5 a.m. for a chance to win a card entitling them to a free McDonald’s Big Mac each week for a year, special sauce or not.

The new McDonald’s at Prescott’s Frontier Village opens 5 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 4. The first 100 customers get the Big Mac card. Technically, since the price of a Big Mac is nearly $4, you’d receive around $200 of Big Macs in a year, which is no small fry.

Suffering from post-holiday blues?

The Second City’s production “Happily Ever Laughter” at the Yavapai College Performing Arts Center on Sunday, Jan. 19 should have you rolling in the aisles.

The famed Chicago-based company has been in the business of funny since 1959. Alums include Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Mike Myers, and Jason Sudeikis as well as comedic icons Jim Belushi, Gilda Radner, Dan Akroyd, and Bill Murray. Tina Fey called it “the best job I ever had” which says a lot since the pay sucks. It’s basically a stage-based

superstar training program, and audiences have the privilege of being part of the creative process since improv is still an important part of the show. Tickets are $20-$37.

The ’Tis STEPS Children’s Art Show will be on display at the ’Tis Art Center & Gallery Jan. 2-14. If you’ve ever been surprised at what comes out of the mouths of babes, you’ll be equally enlightened by their art which has a distinct lack of pretension, thus differentiating it from the works of their elders. The ’Tis Art Center STEPS Children’s Art School program has provided free art classes to area children since 2011 and continues that philanthropic endeavor in April of 2014. Free tuition and art supplies — with both beginning and advanced classes — are available to children 4-11. Visit TisArtGallery.Com to register.

I don’t drink coffee, but I do have a sweet tooth which keeps me semi-regularly patronizing area coffee houses. Cuppers Coffeehouse recently expanded their business to include Cuppers Coffee Bistro in The Shops at Prescott Gateway adjacent to Trader Joe’s. Paying homage to the definition of bistro, its décor attempts to incarnate a small Parisian restaurant, right down to the Eiffel Tower on the wall.

It has a simple, understated flair — unapologetically minimalist. The bistro’s fresh new menu has more of what I would call real food, with full breakfast offerings, and sandwiches, crêpes, and melts. Baked goodies (handmade on-site) are plentiful, and the fully stocked case of gelato and sorbetto (also handmade on premises daily in small batches) encourages one to start with dessert.

If you can wait, I recommend starting off with a main menu selection.

I sampled a chicken pesto sandwich and Italian melt to great satisfaction.

The sweet pommes dessert crêpes (sautéed cinnamon apples with candied walnuts) were superb, but the gelato — oh my, it was delicious.

Celebrated for its lower caloric and fat content over ice cream , gelato has been trending in recent years. I also tried the cioccolao Mèssicano (Mexican chocolate) and it swept me

off my feet. It’s refreshing to see a locally based establishment nestled into a strip mall, holding its own. ***** A native of the Windy City, Ruby Jackson is a freelance writer and collector of Norfin Trolls. In her spare time she is an aspiring actress (drama queen) and millionairess (donations gladly accepted). Contact her at RubyBJackson@Gmail.Com.

�ENSESMAG.COM • JANUARY ���� • COLUMN • �

By Robert Blood [Editor’s note: What follows are excerpts from a conversation between the reporter and John Pinero about the latter’s one-man play “Vince: The Life and Times of Vince Lombardi.”

The show is 7:30 p.m. Jan. 14-18 at the Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon Ave. Tickets for cabaret seating are $36.]

BLOOD: You bear a striking resemblance to Vince Lombardi.

PINERO: Well, I didn’t know I did until I put on the glasses and the makeup. All of this originally started with a play. I was taking an acting class here in the San Fernando Valley, and I was approached about playing Vince Lombardi in “Coaches,” by Buddy Farmer, which is about Bear Bryant, Vince Lombardi and Knute Rockne. I looked at it, went home, starting doing research, and we set it up.

The play had some success — we did it for the (California) Special Olympics at UCLA and a few other places.

One of the players, Willie Davis, who played for Lombardi, suggested I perform my part of it for

Serious play

Like I said, when there were only three people out there; “Do you want to do it?” And, I ask myself, “What would Vince do?” I’ve tried to speak with every player who’s played for Lombardi, and, to a man, they say, “When I’m faced with an important decision to make, I always think, ‘What would Coach Lombardi do?’”

BLOOD: How do you keep a character interesting and fresh for this long?

PINERO: You improve. You tweak things; you add things. That’s what keeps it alive for me. Another thing John Pinero as Vince Lombardi. Courtesy image. is that there’s a lot of interaction the Vince Lombardi Memorial Golf and went to the director, Richard between me and the audience. I play Classic (in Wisconsin). A lot of his Clayman, and we structured it as a 25 other characters in the play, by ex-players were there, there was a one-man play. We performed it in the way — his priest, his father — so silent auction, and, after that, they a 48-seat house, but a big audience there’s an Italian accent, an Irish announced a special guest. That was was 10 or 12 people. One Friday accent — and some of his players and me. And Ray Nitschke, who played night there were only three people. some of the people who influenced middle linebacker, he looked at me The producer, Edmund Gaynes, came him. So there’s a lot to work with. and he said to a friend, “The son of a backstage and asked me if I wanted But that interaction with the audibitch is still alive.” I did 20 minutes to perform it. I asked him, “Did they ence, that’s what really keeps it alive. there, and they stood up and cheered pay? … Yes? I’ll do it.” So I did it. And ... You know, I do this play for high and cheered. The whole time I was Mike Downey, of the L. A. Times, school kids and groups like that. researching the part, I thought, was in the audience, and he I was asked by Venice High “There’s a play in this,” but, right devoted a whole Sunday School once, they said Read an extended they’d really like me to then and there, I decided to do it. column to the play. The That was 1994. So I wrote the play next thing I know, I’m do it, but they didn’t interview with in Milwaukee for a have that much money.

John Pinero three-night event with a I asked how much they online at crowd of over 5,100 over had, the guy said, “I’m 5ensesMag.Com. really embarrassed, but that period. After that I was approached about we’ve only raised $8.” I doing a video with Arnold said, “OK. I’ll take it.” It’s Palmer — a motivational. So I sat not that I needed the money; I down and wrote “Vince’s Keys to Suc- just wanted to make sure they paid cess.” So, I’ve been doing the play and something for it. So I did it in front the motivational for the last 17 years. of them, and there was this one kid, a black kid, and I could feel his gaze BLOOD: Two decades? I imagine the on me the whole time. ... Two years show has changed a bit across that span. later, I’m in Santa Monica and I’m getting this business deal together.

PINERO: It changes every week. I This guy taps me on the shoulder keep trying to make it tighter and bet- and says, “You’re John Pinero, aren’t ter. I might read something, or talk you? I wanted you to know that you to a player or person who knew Vince changed my life.” I come to find out Lombardi, and it gives me ideas. The this is that kid who was staring at first time I did the play, a woman me the whole time. He told me that, waited for me outside. She was a after seeing me, he began to focus on schoolteacher. She told me, “I love things and work, and he saw results. your play, but you left out my favorite That’s the reward for this. line: ‘Practice does not make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.’” I told ***** her, “The next time you come here, I’ll Visit VinceLombardi.Net to find out put that line in this play.” And, so, the more about John Pinero and “Vince.” play kind of took on a life of its own.

I always felt there was something Robert Blood is a Mayer-ish-based (special) about the play. Even the freelance writer and ne’er-do-well director said, “Oh, come on, John,” who’s working on his last book, which, but I said, “No, I think something’s incidentally, will be his first. Contact going to happen.” And you get tested. him at BloodyBobby5@Gmail.Com.

� • FEATURE • JANUARY ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

Prescott Film Festival’s SCRIPT NOTES

‘Commencement’ redress

By Helen Stephenson to dance through life’s detours may be the

A promotional still from “Commencement,” which screens in Prescott via the Prescott Film Festival 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26 at the Yavapai College Performing Arts Center. Courtesy image.

4 Prescott’s 4th Friday

4FRIDAY

ART WALKS

’S

emy Award-nominated films as possible. Also, watch for details of the March 2 live stream of the Academy Awards.

The Pre-Oscar Cocktail Party precedes the broadcast.

COT T

best education of all.”

That’s the theme of (and closing line of the synopsis for) the new indie film “Commencement,” a dramatic comedy presented by the Prescott Film Festival that’s coming to the Yavapai College Performing Arts Center 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26.

Life is perfect for Christa Richmond. She finished college as the valedictorian and is ready to go out and conquer the universe.

But life has a way of throwing a person off their game plan. And that’s what happens to Ms. Richmond.

The film is written, produced, and directed by Steve Albrezzi, who is part of the directing faculty at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and a member of the Director’s Guild. Albrezzi is scheduled to attend the Jan. 26 screening.

The film is a Screen Actors Guild — SAG, if you’re in the biz — ultra-low-budget feature. That means the producers were allowed to use professional, union actors at the lowest pay the guild allows for their members. Consequently, they courted some talented actors.

You’ll recognize many of them: Marin Hinkle (“Two and a Half Men,” “Once and Again”), Arye Gross (“Grey Gardens,” “Minority Report”), Rick Gonzalez (“Coach Carter,” “War of the Worlds”), Alan Rachins (“Dharma and Greg,” “LA Law”), Jennifer Warren (“Slap Shot,” “Night Moves”) and Amelia Rose Blaire (“Grimm,” “90210”) Film students from USC also figured into the production of “Commencement.” Student Academy Award winner Charles R. Uy produced the film. His piece, “Waiting in the Wings,” won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Silver Medal Student Award for Drama back in 1997.

That same year, for the same film, he won the Director’s Guild of American Student Film award.

Buy tickets for “Commencement” — $8 general admission, $5 for students and Yavapai College employees — at PrescottFilmFestival.Com. Stay tuned to the Prescott Film Festival website for information about February’s Oscar Watch.

The festival plans to present as many of the Acad-

PRE S

“Learning

EVERY

***** Helen Stephenson is executive director of the Prescott Film Festival and collects old hats and Mary Poppins memorabilia.

When she’s not watching films or marketing the fest, you can usually catch her at the computer in her Prescott Film Festival office on the Yavapai College campus. Contact her at Helen@Prescott FilmFestival.Com.

TH

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

See Special Events

www.ArtThe4th.com

�ENSESMAG.COM • JANUARY ���� • FEATURE • �

Left Brain: January’s mind-full events

15

SAC Drone History • 7 p.m. Wednesday: Col. John Dale, U.S. Air Force, presents a history of the previously classified Strategic Air Commands’ drone reconnaissance efforts in China, North Korea, and the Vietnam Conflict. (ERAU Davis Learning Center, 3700 Willow Creek Road, 928-777-6985)

IMAGE: A U.S. Navy Lockheed DC-130A Hercules assigned to the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron VX-30 Bloodhounds at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, Calif., in 2004. This converted DC-130A drone control aircraft was the oldest C-130 in U.S. military service until it was retired in June of 2007. Public domain.

Events

8

Prescott Astronomy Club • 6:30 p.m. Wednesday: club members Marilyn Unruh and John Carter presentation, “Our Magnetic Sun,” and monthly meeting. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

11

Tres Rios birding field trip • All day Saturday: Prescott Audubon field trip to two Phoenix wetlands. (PrescottAudubon.Org, 928379-5953, RSVP)

Wintering raptors in Chino Valley • 7:45 a.m. Saturday: Local birder Zach Smith leads an exploration of Chino Valley agricultural and rangeland areas in search of wintering raptors including hawks, eagles, falcons, harriers, and owls. (Prescott College Natural History Institute, 312 Grove Ave., 928-350-2280) “Stage-Struck Soldiers” • 10:30 a.m. Saturday: Museum volunteer, historian, and author Tom Collins presentation about the rise of amateur military theatre at Camp Lincoln, Fort Whipple, and other territorial Arizona strongholds, with his wife, Wendy. (Sharlot Hall Museum, 415 W. Gurley St., 928-445-2133)

“One Foot in Hell” • 2 p.m. Saturday: W. C. Bryden shares stories from his memoir about addiction. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000) “Shade the Sharp Raven” • 2 p.m. Sunday: Diane Budden reads her children’s book about Shade, and Emily Corey, Shade’s keeper, presents two studies about ravens. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928-776-9550, $2-$5)

14

“Southwest Ethnogeology” • 6:30 p.m. Tuesday: Steve Semken, of Arizona State University, presentation about interpreting the earth through the lenses of culture and place and monthly meeting. Via Central Arizona Geology Club. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

16

Arizona Archaeological Society • 10:30 a.m. Thursday: Monthly meeting. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500) “The History & Geology of Meteor Crater” • 6:30 p.m. Thursday: “Impact” screening and Eduardo Rubio and Dereck Orgill presentation about the 50,000-year-old meteorite crash

� • EVENTS • JANUARY ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

site. Third Thursday Star Talk via Prescott Astronomy Club. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

17

“Social Justice, the Out-ofdoors, and Adventure” • 4:30 p.m. Friday: Dr. Maurie Lung keynote address. (Prescott College Crossroads Center, 215 Garden St., 877-350-2100)

18 25

Jin Shin Jyutsu Self Help Talk • 2 p.m. Saturday: Local Jin Shin Jyutsu professional Maggie Norton presentation. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

“Digging Up Prescott History” • 2 p.m. Saturday: Patricia IrelandWilliams, author of “Underground Prescott,” and Parker Anderson, author of “Cemeteries of Yavapai County,” presentation. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

26

Prescott Orchid Society • 1 p.m. Sunday: Monthly meeting.

(Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 928-777-1500)

Multi-day Prescott Area Boardgamers • 5 p.m. Jan. 8 & 22: Play board games. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 928-777-1500) Drop in chess • 2 p.m. Saturdays: Play chess, all ages and skill levels welcome.

(Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500) Bird walks • 8 a.m. TBA: Bird walks updated online at JaysBirdBarn.Com/BirdWalks. (Jay’s Bird Barn, No. 113, 1046 Willow Creek Road, 928-4435900, RSVP) Prescott Public Library vieweries • Through Jan. 31: Magic Machines in a Magic House and Smoki Museum. (Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

January’s art-full events :niarB thgiR

2

Events

Lotts, Sargent • From Jan. 8: Wood art by Judd Lotts and fiber art by Jennifer Sargent. (Yavapai College Art Gallery, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000)

Poets Cooperative • 6:30 p.m. Thursday: Share your poetry at this monthly meeting.

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

7 21

“Workshop Wonders” • From Jan. 9: Art show. (Mountain Artists Guild & Gallery, 228 Alarcon St., 928-445-2510)

Creative Writers Group •Noon Thursday: Creative writing and discussion group. (Prescott Public Library, Elsea Conference Room, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500) Creative Writers Group •Noon Tuesday: Creative writing and discussion group. (Prescott Public Library, Elsea Conference Room, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928777-1500)

22 24 25

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

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

Contra Dance 7 p.m. lessons, 7:30 p.m. dance Saturday: Contra dancing, newcomers and singles welcome, with caller Archie MacLellan and music by Arizona. (First Congregational Church annex, 216 E. Gurley St., 928-9255210, $4-8)

29

Professional Writers of Prescott • 5:30 p.m. Wednesday: Monthly meeting. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suite, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

Multi-day Writers workshop 9:30 a.m. Saturdays: Weekly critique group. (Prescott Public Library, Bump Conference Room, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

19

“Brothers Forever” • From Jan. 10: Mosaics and paintings by the late Glenn Smith and sculpture, photography, and furniture by his brother, Stephen Smith. (Prescott College Art Gallery a Sam Hill Warehouse, 232 N. Granite St., 928-350-2341)

“Happily Ever Laughter” • 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 19: This sketch and improv comedy show draws on 50 years of material from The Second City archives. (Yavapai College Art Gallery, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000, $20-$37) IMAGE: The Second City’s Red Group. Courtesy photo, manipulated.

Theater & film

“Vince” • 7:30 p.m. Jan. 14-18: John Pinero’s one-man show about football coaching legend Vince Lombardi. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000, $18-$36) “To Kill a Mocking Bird” • 7:30 p.m. Jan. 16-18 & Jan. 23-25, 2 p.m. Jan. 19 & 15: Scout, a young girl in a quiet Southern town in 1935, experiences dramatic events. Directed by Bruce Lanning. (Prescott Center for the Arts, 208 N. Marina St., 928-445-3286, $15-$19) “Man of La Mancha” • 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23: The classic tale of Don Quixote. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000, $25-$62) “Commencement” • 6:30 p.m. Jan. 26: Christa Richmond delivers a valedictory speech, then discovers the next 24 hours is the beginning of her real education. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000, $5-$8)

“Raisin’ Hell with Molly Ivins” • 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31: Gail Mangham’s one-woman show about the life, times, and views of Texas’ iconic newspaper columnist, political commentator, and humorist Molly Ivins.

(ERAU Davis Learning Center, 3700 Willow Creek Road, 928-777-6985) Sunday cinema • 1:30 p.m. Jan. 12, 19, & 26: “Ravens,” about the world’s most intelligent birds, “Anna, Emma, and the Condor,” about a family’s fight to save the California Condor, and “Microcosmos,” a visually stunning nature documentary. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928-776-9550)

Art “Primary Colors” • From Jan. 6: Explore the significance of color in book arts, fiber art, and sculpture. (Prescott Center for the Arts, 208 N. Marina St., 928-445-3286) “Fresh Impressions” • From Jan. 8: Art show. (Mountain Artists Guild & Gallery, 228 Alarcon St., 928-445-2510)

STEPS art show • Through Jan. 14: STEPS School for Kids mezzanine art show from 2013 students. (’Tis Art Center & Gallery, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223) “Steeling My Emotions” • From Jan. 15: Steel work by Lin Hall and paintings by Pamela Henry art show. (’Tis Art Center & Gallery, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223) Winsell • From Jan. 15: Relief prints and woodcarvings by Bob Winsell.

(Method Coffee, 3180 Willow Creek Road, 928-777-1067) The Sante Fe Indian School • From Jan. 18: Art from Pablita Velarde, Harrison Begay, Blue Corn, Narciso Abeyta, Quincy Tahoma, and others. (Smoki Museum, 147 N. Arizona Ave., 928-445-1230, $6-$7) “Winter Photography” • Through Jan. 22: Annual photography show. (’Tis Art Center & Gallery, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223) “Piece & a Poem” • From Jan. 23: Annual art and letters show. (’Tis Art Center & Gallery, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223) Curtis • Through Jan. 26: Early- to mid20th century photos of Native Peoples by Edward Curtis. (Phippen Museum, 4701 Arizona 89, 928778-1385, $5-$7)

�

Planting the seed A catalogical approach to enjoying January

By Heather Houk With a new year upon us, something wondrous has started to arrive — the 2014 seed catalogs!

I recognize that some of you might not be as excited as me. Some of you, dare I say, probably don’t even get a new batch of seed catalog each and every January. Please allow me to explain my jubilation.

Every January, when seed catalogs begin arriving in my mailbox, I get my first glimpse of spring. Or, to be more melodramatic, I get my first glimpse of the hope that spring will yet again arrive and grant us perfect weather and just the right amount of rain for the freshly turned soil that gardeners and farmers around the country will savor as they plant the first seeds of the season.

Page after page of humble, extremely wellphotographed fruits and vegetables give me hope

that I, too, can have sweet, juicy watermelons and tender snow peas, if only I just believe. Those perfect (F1) hybrid Jersey Supreme Asparagus crowns and those intriguing heirloom Cherokee Purple Tomatoes will bring me the best garden ever, if only I just believe.

So, I sit in my warm house drinking my perfect cup of coffee and flip page by page while my son sleeps and the sun comes up on a cold and snowy morning. And I dream of spring with all the hope promised in the seed catalogs.

I might order something new this year. I have always wanted to try growing German Queen Tomatoes — they certainly look spectacular — or maybe it’s time to broaden my flower garden with Velvet Queen Sunflowers. (I do love their rich, dark velvety color.) Perhaps I’ll try a queen-themed garden.

Then again, I might just enjoy the gorgeous pictures, lose track of where I put that catalog sometime in February, and then shop the farmers markets. Just like last year, I’ll see which hard-working farmer

grew my favorite Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes and which one was smart enough to get their garlic planted last fall so the crop would be ready by spring. Is it sweet corn season yet?

Ah January, how you delight me with your promise of warmer, tastier days to come. ***** Heather Houk is the Prescott Farmers Market’s managing director. For more information, contact her at Heather@PrescottFarmersMarket.

Org. Visit PrescottFarmersMarket.Org to find market times and locations, vendor bios, and ways to get involved.

Psst. ...

Forgot to buy a 2014

Got an extra 2014

calendar? Use an

calendar? Save it for

old one with identi-

a year with identical

cal dates such as:

dates such as:

2003

2025

1997,

2031,

1986,

2042,

1975,

2053,

1969,

2059,

1958,

2070,

1947,

2081,

1941,

2087, and 2098.

1930, 1919, 1913, and 1902.

�� • COLUMN • JANUARY ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

brain food

CUISINE

... and a healthy New Year

By Jimmy Polinori — The Culinary Composer Each year, nearly half of all Americans make New Year’s resolutions. The No. 1 resolution, not surprisingly, is weight loss and a healthier lifestyle. Though intentions are genuine, most will fail.

The mistake often made involves extreme measures and restrictions that are simply not realistic. I speak from experience. At the age of 23, I weighed in at a scale-tipping 400 pounds. After enduring countless crash and fad diets, I found the road to my 200-pound weight loss paved with consistency, moderation, and patience.

Fifteen years later, I have kept obesity at bay. However, the last few years have posed a challenge due to severe illness that required heavy doses of medical steroids and painkillers. Though clinically necessary, the medicinal combination has packed an unwanted 40 extra pounds onto the usually lean frame I’d maintained after the initial loss.

So here I am, ready to battle the bulge once again, and I’m reminded of my nutritional coach, Tyler Mayer of The Diet Doc Phoenix. ...

“Restrictive diets don’t work. Lasting results are achieved by slowly reducing intake while balancing your macro-nutrients. The body and brain require certain quantities of protein, fats and carbohydrates in moderation in order to maintain optimal weight and health.”

To help all the weight loss warriors in 2014, I’ve paired Tyler’s science with my culinary skills and devised the Savvy Lifestyle Series.

Slowly replace some of your meals, snacks, and habits with these balanced options. You’ll feel better and naturally make better choices.

Restrictive diets don’t work.

Lasting results are achieved by slowly reducing intake while balancing your macro-nutrients.

The body and brain require certain quantities of protein, fats and carbohydrates in moderation in order to maintain optimal weight and health.

- Tyler Mayer, Nutritional Coach The Diet Doc Phoenix

For more information on Tyler Mayer’s programs visit

TheDietDocPhoenix.Com

Get more healthy tips and recipes at

Facebook.Com/TheCulinaryComposer

Prescott’s finest submarines since before downtown traffic Make your own Almond Butter as a healthy alternative to store-bought peanut butter

415 W. Goodwin St., 778-3743 M-F 10:30-2:30, Weekends closed

�ENSESMAG.COM • JANUARY ���� • COLUMN • ��

Alan Dean Foster’s Perceivings

By Alan Dean Foster While Perceivings is nominally a column about art or science, I do try once in a while to speak to a subject that manages to combine the two.

LED art, for example, or the optics of color perception. Every once in a while, though, something so universal, so widely accepted, something that combines both art and science throughout the world, strikes me as so blatantly obvious that it’s a wonder to me that I hadn’t thought of it before.

I am referring, naturally, to T-shirts.

The internet, cell phones, television — as a means of communication and art they have nothing on the humble T-shirt. Plain cotton shortsleeved shirts existed before they were turned into works of art, of course, but it took the advance of science to turn one of the simplest articles of clothing ever invented into a means for mass communication and the world-wide distribution of art.

The

U.S. Navy first issued the undergarment we have come to know as the T-shirt in 1913, but it didn’t fulfill its destiny as a means of artistic expression until the 1960s. In the decade prior, they initially became a venue for advertising starting with a company called Tropix Togs and its far-seeing founder Sam Kantor. As a licensee for numerous Walt Disney studio characters, Kantor discovered that printing Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, et al. on plain cotton shirts was a means of printing money that would not draw the attention of the Treasury Department.

The advent of rock ’n’ roll saw the appearance of not just band members on T-shirts but an explosion of psychedelic artwork that culminated in the procedure called tie-dying, wherein the shirt became the art and vice versa. Tie-dying owes a great deal to the Southeast Asian art form known as batik. In a wondrous twist of irony, this is a development that has come full-circle, as any

We are all art traveler to the region is likely to return home with a T-shirt that has been transformed with batik.

That’s world commerce for you.

Contemporary T-shirts feature appliqués as often as printing. The result is that today, anyone can put anything on a shirt. You can wear anything from the Grateful Dead to Goya, Rammstein to Rembrandt. Via your clothing, you can proclaim your interest in everything from fine art to low art, from a favorite beer to a favorite gear (if cars are your thing). While innumerable T-shirts flaunt little more than words, those that feature not just art for art’s sake but advertising and individualized art are required to go through a printing or heat application process that, until recently, didn’t even exist.

Take

a step back in time. Contemplate clothing, be it elaborate or workmanlike, and what it looked like prior to the introduction of the printed T-shirt. Shirt or jacket decoration was for the wealthy who could afford elegant stitching, lace trim, gold thread, and detailed embroidery. Yet, even those kings and nobles who could pay to have jewels and medals strung from their waistcoats had no way to say much about anything other than themselves. “I am well-off” was about the extent of what a shirt could proclaim. Today, for a few bucks, anyone can wear any design that can be imagined, on a T-shirt. Elizabeth the Great wore pearls, but she couldn’t easily say on her gown, “I am a pearl”… much less “King Philip II sucks” or “The Armada is going down.” .” Accompanied by appropriate artwork, of course.

Here we see that not only is the T-shirt a venue for art; it has morphed yet further into a delivery vehicle for political art.

I’m not talking about shirts that shout political slogans. I’m not even referring to those that combine art with politics, like the famous image of Che Guevara that adorned so many shirts back in the ’60s. Forget smart bombs. Abjure cruise missiles.

The T-shirt has been one of the most formidable weapons ever wielded by the US of A. Because, even in places where American television is banned, where expressing certain

�� • COLUMN • JANUARY ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

political opinions can get you thrown in jail or worse, the American T-Shirt is omnipresent and omnipotent. It may not feature an image of Uncle Sam, or the Declaration of Independence, but in China, you’ll find an astonishing number of T-shirts that feature art declaring them “Chicago Office, FBI,” or “US Army Ranger,” or “Property of the Chicago Bears.”

How many T-shirts do you see, anywhere in the world, that say “People’s Army Rules!”? Or “I love Karl Marx”? Exactly. (Groucho, on the other hand …)

In poor countries, the printed T-shirt is perhaps the most ubiquitous article of clothing, and the vast majority of these arrive as second or third or fourth hand-me-downs from the United States, purchased in huge quantities by sharp middlemen. Via the T-shirt, we have been flooding the Third World with our art for the past half century without even the KGB cottoning to what was going on. Call it stealth clothing.

So

there you have it. The science of T-shirt printing allows the universal distribution of art, which, in turn, leads to the triumph of democracy.

Not even Ben Franklin saw that one coming. ***** 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.

Arabic silk screening graphic by Arab-Ency Wiki, Creative Commons 1.0, manipulated. Illustration by 5enses.

Moving pictures Jeff Robertson & co. keep sight of the Big Picture

By Jill Craig

A

pair of over-sized computer monitors perch on a large, otherwise spartan desk.

The monitor on the right offers a frozen frame of something like translucent strands of fabric. A large black rectangle of textured soundproofing leaps from the wall behind the desk.

The monitor on the left offers rows of video clip thumbprints including a variety of angles, close-ups, and wide shots. A chunky couch roosts against the opposite wall.

Below the thumbprints, three or four horizontal lines hold seemingly random numbers and images. An assortment of video equipment broods around the rest of the room.

And, each occupying a chair in the new Big Picture Video Production office in Prescott, Jeff Robertson and Zack Drake stare at the pair of monitors.

Drake finishes setting up the duo’s most recent project — promotions for Prescott artist Annie Alexander. He’s been busy editing each thumbprint, which is actually bits of video, into smaller, more selective movements. Each instant has been strategically placed into a narrative that runs along the horizontal spaces on the left-hand monitor.

Drake hits play and the end result, a three-minute promotional video, dances across the righthand monitor.

What looked like fabric reveals itself to be long strands of Alexander’s high-quality handmade paper hanging from the ceiling of a white studio space. The paper creates a jungle of finely textured, organically colored vines. In the background, a dancer moves freely, weaving in and out of the paper as birdsong and flute eeks into the mix.

It’s a short video, but it transforms the paper into a utilitarian tool, a living expression of the artist.

CONTINUED ON PAGE �� >>>

aA

Jeff Robertson, co-owner of Big Picture Video Production, notices some miscellaneous debris on his shoe during a 2010 American Wheelchair Mission shoot in Northern Israel. Photo by Randy Hale.

�ENSESMAG.COM • JANUARY ���� • PORTFOLIO • ��

LEFT TO RIGHT: Jess Kozel explores Annie Alexan Jeff Robertson interviews Ana

by Big Pi the recipient of a Wheelcha poses for a phot

... FROM PAGE 13 Robertson says it’s his responsibility to take whatever their clients ask for — in this case, the fairly obscure concept of hanging paper — and translate it into a moving picture. His clients’ role is, in his words, to create a “balance of creativity and business.” Robertson’s role is to produce a good video.

Robertson, the owner of Big Picture Video Production, seems like the kind of guy who follows his heart.

The 20-odd years his company has been directing and producing videos in Northern Arizona, Robertson has found himself drawn to “stories that matter.”

Big Picture’s online repertoire showcases videos produced for regional

hospital, residential camps, contractors, school districts, and nonprofits. This breadth of work highlights Robertson’s ability to tell great stories, capture an audience’s attention and, hopefully, inspire change.

Frame by frame “Every cut is creative,” says Drake, who’s been working with Robertson since he was a teen in high school.

Drake started by taping his skateboarding buddies and ended up doing odd jobs for Robertson.

“At the time I was doing a lot of traveling for the Wheelchair Foundation,” Robertson says. “Zack was such a quick learner that I began leaving him in charge of the studio while I was gone.”

14 • PORTFOLIO • JANUARY 2014 • 5ENSESMAG.COM

After working together for eight years, Robertson and Drake’s deep respect and admiration for each other is clear. That same sense of devotion and heart, they say, is what drives every project Big Picture takes on.

It may seem like there would be few opportunities for a video production business to “do good” in a community this small, but Robertson and his wife, Joanne — who jointly own the company — try to tap the heart of each community with each client’s story.

If you ask Robertson and Drake about the most important facet of their work, the answer comes quickly and assertively.

“It’s the heart we put into every video,” Robertson says.

“We just want to see video happen,”

Drake seconds.

Their craft is challenging in today’s technology-saturated world, though — what with the onslaught of social media website and user-friendly video interfaces. Anyone with a smart phone can take video and share it quite readily. It’s a double-edged sword, though.

“The quality of video that people are willing to accept has changed,” Robertson said. “It’s harder to convince our clients that they should invest in well-produced high-definition video.”

The heart of the matter In 1999, a little more than a decade after starting Big Picture Video Production, Robertson was asked to produce a four-minute video about providing wheelchairs to needy people

s a paper forest planted for a 2013 promotional video for artist nder by Big Picture Video Production, photo by Annie Alexander; abelle Hernandez for an American Wheelchair Foundation video icture Video Production in 2013 in El Salvador, courtesy photo; air Distribution wheelchair via American Wheelchair Foundation to in front of a fleet of similiar chairs in 2013 in Eldoret, Kenya, photo by James Robertson. in Romania.

The video was so evocative that the client used it to jumpstart what is today known as the Wheelchair Foundation — an organization dedicated to giving a wheelchair to every child and adult who needs one worldwide.

To date, the foundation has visited more than 110 countries and gifted just under a million wheelchairs.

Meanwhile, in 2002, Chris Lewis, Jerry Lewis’ son, founded the American Wheelchair Mission — an organization with a similar mission, although it focuses on the Americas and has a different donor base.

Big Picture Video Production has found loyal customers in both organizations and, in the effort of furthering their missions, has traveled with them

to shoot on-location videos at locations near and far.

It’s a gig that could easily become formulaic, but Robertson and his team pride themselves on taking the time to get the feel for each country and its needs.

Each shoot has its own story; Robertson says it’s up to him and his crew to find and record it.

It might be the moment when a man is carried off the bed of a truck by his family; it might be the moment when a 6-year-old boy crawls around using just his hands to get around; or it might be the moment when someone who’s lost his or her legs and has depended on community members to carry them from place to place finally finds strength and independence from

the gift of a wheelchair.

It’s about human emotion, Robertson says.

“When you see the person being carried out of their house and put into a wheelchair for the first time, you have to scramble up the highest point you can find to shoot from as literally the entire village comes out and follows that person down the street,” he says.

“It’s very powerful. That’s the kind of story we look for.”

Jill Craig is the former education director of the Highlands Center for Natural History. She now fills her days wandering the wilds with her twin newborns and writing about their adventures.

***** Visit Big Picture Video Production online at BigPictureVideo.Net to see videos or contact Jeff Robertson about video projects.

15

Highlands Center for Natural History’s Outdoor Outings

Cold trails

By Jill Craig

It’s

quiet and serene. The sun has risen illuminating a sparkling landscape of white snow.

The green Ponderosa needles, shaken clean by the wind, are the only flare in an otherwise monochromatic world. Old Man Winter’s first storm has blown through and left a stunning, muted canvas behind.

Wildlife still wanders in the early hours. It seems nearly impossible that anything would dare to expose itself to such cold temperatures, but not all creatures have the luxury of a southern winter getaway or a cozy hideaway fueled by an abundance of stored fat. Some animals have to search for food every day.

It’s best to go out before the warming sun warps the freshly fallen snow

and distorts the track-laden canvas.

There are a few birds that remain in the area winter-long, and you can find evidence of them by following the path of the tiny tracks they’ve formed as they hopped from shrub to ground to shrub in search of seeds — or perhaps insect larvae tucked in the furrowed bark of a Gamble’s Oak.

I

trace one such path to a snow dune created by a fallen bow of pine. A small opening near the ground reveals a patch of perfectly dry ground. I imagine a handful of tiny grey birds (or, maybe, brown birds) hunkered down, their meager body heat insulated by the soft blanket of snow captured on the pine needles of their nightly shelter.

Much larger tracks intersect with the bird’s path. These ones are about

as large as a fist and faintly heartshaped. The trail leads into a small open area where the remnants of warm season grama grasses, seeds intact, stand tall and capture trickles of sunlight.

Peering ahead a few yards, I spot several accompanying tracks. In their stead, I imagine a pack of Mule Deer — several doe and two young fawns — that have probably been roaming the area for months now.

The tracks scurry out of the small meadow toward a thickly covered stand of oak and straggly pines. I wonder what startled them into seeking the cover of dense vegetation. I continue on in search of the cause of their startling escape, but find nothing.

Further down the trail, I spy another set of tracks: the front set is small, round impressions and the rear set is elongated ovals.

I know these tracks belong to a Cottontail Rabbit. There are plenty in the area, and they prefer to move in the silky morning light when shadows conceal their movement

from swift nocturnal predators.

Rabbits move from the underbrush in quick runs toward more cover.

My

eyes follow the rabbit tracks until they disappear into denser vegetation where I’m drawn to another set of small tracks.

The trail is slender and each round step is as near perfect as the line they make in the snow.

I know these small tracks belong to a house cat. Could this be the prowling critter that caused so many of the scurrying tracks I’ve found?

Perhaps, but the crystalline story melts into obscurity as the sun covers the wintery canvas like a fresh coat of gesso. ***** Jill Craig is the former education director of the Highlands Center for Natural History. She now fills her days wandering the wilds with her twin newborns and writing about their adventures.

Skyward

By Ty Fitzmorris

Night skies Jan. 1: New moon at 4:14 a.m.

Jan. 2: The Quadrantid Meteor Shower is at its peak after midnight.

This usually mild-mannered shower will make for a great show this year because the peak is during a very young waxing crescent moon, which sets early, leaving darker skies for viewing. The Quadrantids can produce up to 40 meteors per hour appearing to radiate from the constellation Bootes.

Jan. 5: The giant planet Jupiter is at opposition, atwhich point it appears full from the Earth. This occurs when the Earth is directly between Jupiter and the Sun, which also brings Jupiter to its closest point to the Earth. This is the best time to

view Jupiter and its four brightest moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto (all named for paramours of the Roman god Jupiter). Best viewing is with a medium-sized telescope, but even binoculars will reveal hints of the red bands of Jupiter’s storms and its four brightest moons.

Jan. 12: ISON Meteor Shower.

Shower. This is our newest shower, and might continue to be a regular occurrence around this time of year. As the Earth passes through the tail of the ill-fated Comet ISON (which broke up going around the Sun in November), the comet’s dust-trail will fall into the Earth’s atmosphere. Some scientists believe, however, that this new shower will not generate many actual shooting stars, but will, instead, create a general rippling of the atmosphere. This might manifest as a proliferation of noctilucent clouds, a rare cloud form that glows blue and green at night, or it might cause small, dim meteors to appear. The

�� • FEATURES • JANUARY ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

nearly full moon will cause challenges to viewing, but some meteors and noctilucent clouds should be visible.

Jan. 15: Full moon at 9:42 p.m.

Jan. 30: New moon at 4:38 a.m. It is unusual to have two new moons in one month, and it will happen twice this year, now and again in March.

Typically this black moon, as it is sometimes called, only occurs once every 2.7 years, as often as a blue moon, the second full moon in one month.

Highlight: The brightest stars in the night sky are visible in winter, and are not only a beautiful sight, but are the easiest to learn the names of.

The totem of winter stars is the constellation Orion, which contains two of the sky’s brightest stars, Rigel and Betelgeuse, and is one of the more recognizable shapes of all constellations. Orion is followed through the sky by his hunting dogs, Canis Major, whose brightest star, Sirius,

is the single brightest star visible from Earth, and Canis Minor, whose brightest, Procyon, is the seventh brightest. Look also for Capella (in Auriga), Castor and Pollux (in Gemini), and Aldebaran (in Taurus), forming the Winter Hexagon.

Prescott weather Average high temp: 50.7 F, +/-4.3 Average low temp: 21.3 F, +/-4.2 Record high temp: 73 F, Jan. 5, 1927 Record low temp: -21 F, Jan. 22, 1937 Average precipitation: 1.74”, +/-1.74” Record high January precipitation: 7.79”, 1916 Record low January precipitation: 0”, 3.7 percent of all years on record Max January daily precipitation: 2.97”, Jan. 22, 2010 Source: Western Regional Climate Center

News From the Wilds

By Ty Fitzmorris

It’s

January, and the long quiet of winter now reaches its coldest and snowiest period in the Central Highlands of Arizona.

Every animal has a set of strategies for making it through this time of scant resources and dangerous temperatures ranging from hibernation (female Black Bears) to growing thicker coats (Bobcats and deer) to staying in well-stocked dens (ground squirrels, chipmunks, and beavers).

Insects and herbaceous plants have adapted their lifecycles such that only their eggs and seeds overwinter. Meanwhile, trees decrease photosynthesis (either by dropping leaves or by insulating them with thicker coatings) and alter their chemistry (increasing lipid content and membrane permeability) to decrease risk of frost damage. In many cases, these adaptations, both physiological and behavioral, are remarkably complex.

But glimmers of the coming Spring continue as well. Some animals “plant their seeds” for the coming year, including Bears, Otters, and Great Horned Owls, who are all giving birth. Many wind-pollinated trees are in flower, while the broad leaves of cottonwoods, alders, and ash are gone, thus allowing pollen to travel farther without as many obstacles. Unfortunately, many species of juniper are included in this, which makes the next several months the peak allergy season for humans in the Central Highlands.

January, with its snowfalls and floods, is one of the best times of the year to study the activity of mammals through tracking in fresh snowfall

Raccoon tracks, like this one, are among the easiest to identify and show well on wet soil in January. Photo by Ty Fitzmorris. and clean riverine sand. Not only does this season present us with the best tracking substrates, but mammals are particularly active during the breaks between storms searching for food.

A small area of pristine snow or mud can yield amazing tracks and fascinating stories.

***** Ty Fitzmorris is an itinerant and often distractible naturalist who lives in Prescott and runs Peregrine Book Company and Raven Café as a sideline to his natural history pursuits. Contact him at Ty@PeregrineBookCompany.Com with questions or comments.

A brief survey of what’s happening in the wilds ...

High mountains • Snow covers the high mountains and melts slowly, trickling through the soil to recharge large underground lakes called aquifers. Aquifers recharge at extraordinarily slow rates, however, and typically only from this type of gradual melting.

Snow will cling to the north sides of the mountains for many months, feeding our rivers and aquifers through the spring.

• Black Bears give birth, usually to two cubs, born blind. Cubs will stay in dens with their mother for several more months, and forage with her through the next year before establishing territories of their own.

Visit: Mavrick Mountain Trail, No. 65.

Pine-Oak woodlands • Williamson’s Sapsuckers begin migrating north. These woodpeckers make holes in the bark of Ponderosa Pines and other conifers and wait for insects, mainly ants, to be drawn to the sap.

• Javelina (Pecari tajacu) conclude mating season, which began in late November.

Visit: Little Granite Mountain Trail, No. 37.

Ponderosa Pine forests • Great Horned Owls finish nest building and lay eggs.

• Northern Goshawks, the rarest of the Accipitridae, reside in the region for barely more than a month before heading back north. These larger cousins of Cooper’s Hawks are generally denizens of the deep wilds, but can be seen across the region now.

Visit: Miller Creek Trail, No. 367.

Grasslands • Mixed-species flocks of sparrows, including Brewer’s, Sage, Lincoln’s, Chipping, Savannah, White-crowned and Black-throated, forage together for grass seeds and insect eggs, larvae, and pupae. Over the next two to three months, some species begin migrating back to summer breeding grounds to the north, some migrating as far as Alaska.

Visit: Mint Wash Trail, No. 345.

Pinyon-Juniper woodlands • Junipers begin flowering, aggravating the allergies of humans and non-humans alike.

• Gray Fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) begin mating, which lasts until March.

Visit: Tin Trough Trail, No. 308.

Riparian areas • River Otters give birth in riverside dens and Beavers begin mating nestled in their lodges.

• Arizona Alders (Alnus oblongifolia) begin flowering. These beautiful trees don’t typically cause allergies, though they may exacerbate those caused by junipers. Notice that alders bear two different flower designs: small, round, cone-like growths and long, pendant droops. The cones are the female flowers, which capture the pollen from the long male flowers. Some types of cone actually manipulate air currents, pulling pollen inward in small whirling vortexes.

• January’s storms knock migrating waterfowl from the sky. They often settle in lakes to wait for clearer weather. Exotic species brought into the area in this way include Tundra Swan, Ross’s Goose, Blue Goose, Common Loon, and, extremely rarely, the small, uncommon Brant and the larger Greater White-fronted Goose, one of which has already been spotted on Willow Lake within the past year.

Visit: Willow Lake Loop Trail, from the Willow Creek Road entrance.

Deserts/Chaparral • Packrats (Neotoma spp.) begin mating.

Packrat nests can be extremely old, with some continuously inhabited for as long as 50,000 years. These species have been instrumental in reconstructing climate and vegetation patterns over the past 15,000 years through the research of Thomas Van Devender, of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Van Devender discovered that, when excavated, some Sonoran Desert packrat nests revealed needles of Ponderosa Pine and other conifers suggesting large-scale upslope migration of plant communities.

• Desert Mistletoe (Phoradendron californicum), a parasite of acacias, mesquites, palo verdes, and buckthorns, bears redwhite fruit. These fruits are eaten by many species of birds, but primarily by Phainopeplas (a relative of the flycatchers). The berries cannot be easily defecated, so birds must rub themselves on branches, thereby distributing the fruit to its preferred germination site. Healthy trees reject mistletoes by growing bark around the infestation site.

Visit: Agua Fria National Monument.

5ENSESMAG.COM • JANUARY 2014 • FEATURE • 17

Happy hour at the Focus 21 bar My (out of body) experience at The Monroe Institute Story & illustrations by Dale O’Dell

It

the experience necessary to understand the answers.

Little Dale looked at my wrist and said, “I like your watch.” I’ve always collected watches, and I asked him if he’d like to have it. “No,” he said.

Holding up his arms, watches on both wrists, he continued, “See? I’ve already got two. They stopped a long time ago and besides, there’s no time in this place, anyway.”

Finishing our conversation, he jumped off the barstool and onto a tricycle, which he rode right into the nebula and was gone.

Then I met Salvador Dali, and we had a conversation that was as surreal as any of his paintings.

And then I noticed my wife in ankle-deep stage fog. We danced and Eric Idle sang the “Galaxy Song” from “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life.”

As the song ended, I heard Bob’s voice in my head, the scene faded, and, a few minutes later, I was back in my body, sitting up in my bed at The Monroe Institute.

Everything I’ve described happened in an altered state of consciousness. I’ll tell you how I got there and about Bob — and what The Full Service Certifications & Renewals Monroe Institute is — but I know many of you won’t believe me. That’s OK. This is pretty far outside most people’s comfort zone.

Prescott - Prescott Valley It seems less than Cottonwood - Flagstaff one-tenth of 1 percent of Earth’s population is interested in this Must present coupon at clinic appt. one coupon per patient vein of consciousnessno cash value. recent med records required. expires 2-28-2014 expansion, which is too bad because I think if,

was happy hour at the nearly empty Focus 21 bar.

As I entered the elegant and darkened bar, a man opened huge, floor-to-ceiling drapes and the place flooded with light. It came from a spectacular nebula outside the wall-not-a-window, and it infused the room with a glow unlike anything I’d ever seen.

I took a seat at the corner of the bar but the bartender stayed away; he knew I wasn’t there to drink.

I was seeking answers and I’d only brought questions.

Moments later, I engaged myself in conversation. This wasn’t an in-my-head conversation; it was a conversation with a little boy who’d materialized on the barstool next to me. That little boy was my 5-year-old self.

As we talked, my younger self unraveled insights about things I’d forgotten about my childhood.

Personal things. He said that since I’d brought questions, he’d brought knowledge. And he offered that knowledge because, after 50 years, I’d gained

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maybe, 15 percent of us experienced these things, we could change the world for the better.

Journeys Robert “Bob” Monroe was a radio engineer who’d, after experiencing spontaneous out-ofbody experiences, intensely studied the phenomena. His audio experience and scientific aptitude led him to create Hemi-Sync —short for Hemispheric Synchronization — a system that, using headphones, a tone of one frequency is played into one ear and another slightly different frequency is introduced into the other. The brain tries to reconcile the signals, which creates a third tone that synchronizes the brain’s hemispheres. By varying frequencies, Monroe found he could induce different states of altered consciousness.

That’s the short version. There’s much more detail on The Monroe Institute’s website. Because the Hemi-Sync system proved quantifiable, consistent, repeatable, and safe, Monroe founded The Monroe Institute in Faber, Va. to facilitate these altered states of consciousness and more.

I read Monroe’s first book, “Journeys Out of the Body,” back in the 1980s and later read his two follow-up books. I’d bought some of his early cassette tapes, experienced the Hemi-Sync process myself, and always thought that I’d go to the institute for training “someday.” So, after years of contemplation, my wife and I enrolled in the “Gateway Voyage” program held off campus at the Casa de Maria retreat, in Santa Barbara, a day’s drive from Prescott.

Practice The six-day intensive program was a totalimmersion experience. After arriving, we didn’t leave the facility until it was over. Our lodgings

were an austere room with two twin beds, a desk, a chair, and a bathroom. There were no phones, TV, or radio and only one small wi-fi hotspot (read: no distractions). Our meals were catered by excellent onsite chefs. All of our physical needs were met so that everyone could concentrate on the altered-consciousness experience.

There were 18 students and two facilitators.

Among the former there were 14 women and four men — women seem to be more open to this sort of thing. My wife and I were the only couple among the younger students. We were all seekers and, thankfully, the group appeared devoid of any New Age wackos.

It’s strange the group was so old. It occurs to me that this sort of thing would be most beneficial to people in their late 20s and early 30s, to people who can use the information over the course of their lives.

Each day, we gathered for breakfast at 8 a.m.

Then we’d meet in the lounge, where we were briefed on the morning’s exercises. After that, we’d return to our rooms, where we’d listen to the hemi-Sync audio using headphones. We all did the exercises simultaneously courtesy of a nifty FM transmitter. Upon completing each exercise, we met for a debriefing.

We did two exercises between breakfast and lunch, took a break, then did two more in the afternoon, ate dinner, and then did one more before bedtime.

Over the week, we experienced more than 20 hours of altered consciousness.

Focal points Monroe was fond of acronyms, mnemonic shorthand, and visualizations.

He described varying degrees of altered states as “Focus Levels.” This is an arbitrary reference system that makes discussion easier. Put simply, the higher the number, the further one is removed from normal, everyday waking consciousness.

We began the week with the body asleep, mind awake state — not unlike Transcendental Meditation — and ended at Focus 21. At Focus 15, for instance, the sense of time ceases. At Focus 21, awareness seems to expand. It’s the bridge to other so-called “energy systems” and is quite profound.

I had difficulty with the bridge concept and, in turn, perceived the Focus 21 state as some kind of cosmic bar.

More advanced Monroe Institute courses advance to the Focus 27 level. The “Gateway Voyage” program is a prerequisite.

During the week, all of us reported similar experiences: weightlessness, floating out or above our physical bodies, meeting with guides — often called “guardian angels” by religious folks — and experiencing various colors, sensations, precognitions, lucid dreams, meetings with dead people, and remote viewing.

Each of us had personal breakthroughs. Mine came the second night. I was so absolutely freaked out and emotionally fried that I couldn’t attend the debriefing and skipped dinner. I had a private talk with the lead facilitator who assured me that

what I’d experienced was actually rather mild compared to some people, which greatly allayed my fears. Lucky for me, one of my fellow students, a gentleman just shy of his 80th birthday, was a hypnotherapist who worked with me and really helped me to understand what I experienced.

Oddly, the process had a detoxifying effect on some of us. By the second-to-last day, I had the sniffles and a scratchy throat, and I’m someone who doesn’t get sick often. Odder still, I felt great the next day. Really great.

Revelations One evening we did a group exercise in remote viewing, which, in New Age terms, is often called astral projection. It’s a process through which people can see objects or places without actually being there.

This is not new.

It’s a technique developed in the late 1970s by two physicists at Stanford Research Institute. They pioneered a method that made the process teachable to almost anyone. The U.S. government intelligence agency actually commissioned a team of remote viewers — aka psychic spies — in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s.

(No, I’m not kidding. It’s “Stargate” and there are official documents to prove it.)

The Monroe Institute got involved to assist remote viewers in quickly getting themselves into a calm mental state.

We did two brief remote viewing exercises using a coordinate system developed by the late Ingo Swann. We were given latitude and longitude coordinates and asked to describe or draw what we saw at those locations. It turns out I’ve got a talent for this and returned about a 70 percent success rate. But it got even weirder for me.

During our debriefings, we shared our experiences and analyzed them. During three separate debriefings, I kept describing seeing some kind of form, like a spreadsheet. Since I have absolutely zero interest in accounting, I was confused. When we got home, I went through a week’s worth of mail and found a card from the Post Office.

A registered letter had come while we were out of town, and I had to go to the Post Office and sign for it. When I picked it up and opened it, I almost excreted a brick — the envelope contained the exact form I apparently saw while remote viewing days earlier in California.

Back at The Monroe Institutes main campus in Virginia, it just so happens that the former government psychic spy

who was number 001 teaches remote viewing. I may just have to pay him a visit this spring.

Return What I’ve written barely scratches the surface of what we all experienced.

There was much, much more, and a lot of it was profoundly personal. It was an amazing experience, and I’m glad I did it now instead of waiting until I became an old man, or not at all.

We all have this potential.

Perception is kind of like a radio dial, and most of us only know a few stations. In that class, our bandwidths were expanded. In essence, the Hemi-Sync process gave us tools to tune into stations beyond our standard radio’s dial.

There’s much more than what our five senses (pun intended) show us.

As the saying goes, “We’re all spiritual beings enjoying a temporary physical existence.” We can, and do, all experience different states of consciousness. Brain scans confirm this on myriad levels. As for expanded states of consciousness, I’d argue these are wonderful states we owe it to ourselves to explore.

You can get there quickly, like Carlos Castaneda, through the use of powerful (sometimes dangerous) drugs, or you can spend a lifetime, like a Tibetan Monk. But, with the aid of controlled audio technology, I’m now convinced you can get there in about two days.

And once you’re “there,” the only thing you’ll find is the real you … and, maybe, the rest of the universe. ***** Find out more about The Monroe Institute at MonroeInstitute.Org. Dale O’Dell is an author, photographer, digital artist, and Prescott resident. As an artist, he’s known as a surrealist which is an oddly appropriate occupation for one well-versed in ufology and the paranormal. His artwork can be seen at Van Gogh’s Ear Gallery and at DalePhoto.Com.

��

Sad to say

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Basketry

with Liz Block 2 p.m. Saturdays Feb. 15 & 22, March 1 & 8 $125. Four sessions.

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Once

holiday hubbub and hoorahs taper off, we fanciful folks are left staring down the barrel of overzealous resolutions, credit card debt, and either a hefty hangover or an overly resilient cold — maybe both — to say nothing of the dismal weather forecast.

Gloomy propositions and premonitions abound, but that’s no reason to stay down in the dumps.

Want to mangle or at least manage your melancholy? Science has you covered.

The information in this guide was dutifully drawn from scientific studies, data, and reports on said scientific studies and data (and, in some cases, reports on said reports on said scientific

studies and data). It’s been summarized and edited into sound-bite-style prose for easy perusal, although, if you’re looking for the cold, hard facts, you’d be better served by examining the original data yourself.

Some of this information can help brighten your blues. Other tidbits only serve to further refine your moody color palette for comparison’s sake.

With any luck, the observer effect will be ever in your favor.

You experience the world through sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Why not drag your five senses through the mud to make yourself feel good about feeling bad?

Touch Feeling touchy lately? That’s not just a metaphor; depression can actually lower your pain threshold. That’s because a chronic bad mood or attitude dampers the level of neurotransmitters, including serotonin, in your body. As such, you literally become more sensitive, according to an article

on WebMD’s Depression Health Center (among a host of corroborating sources). The effect is particularly pronounced with back pain.

But don’t go correcting your posture to stave off irritation because you’re actually better off slouching. Sitting up straight strains your back and

potentially leads to chronic pain according to a November 2006 study headed by a doctor from Canada’s University of Alberta Hospital and presented at 2006’s annual Radiological Society of North America meeting. Technically speaking, a 135-degree body-thigh posture is the best “biomedical sitting position.”

issue of Public Health Nutrition and involved an average of six-months of study of nearly 9,000 people in the University of Navarra Diet and Lifestyle Tracking Program’s SUN Project. Fast foodies proved 51 percent more likely to develop depression than people who ate little-to-no such items.

Incidentally, if, in a desperate attempt to feel anything, even pain, you bite your tongue

until it bleeds, you don’t need to worry about losing your ability to taste certain flavors. That chart you doodled on in gradeschool health class — the one with sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and savory regions of taste buds — is misleading, if not outright wrong.

Although you have five different types of taste buds, they’re not clustered on particular parts of your tongue.

Thanks again, public school.

Taste It’s well-established that depression can, among other things, decrease your appetite.

If your dulled palate preludes french fries and croissants — we frowning dieters hate you, truly — you may find yourself feeling inexplicably better. That’s because eating fast food and processed pastries appears to increase your risk of depression. The definitive study was published in the March 2012

�� • GUIDE • JANUARY ���� • �ENSESMAG.COM

Sound It’s time to face the music: If you’re having trouble hearing, you’re better off with a hearing aid than without one.

Skeptical? Multiple studies have confirmed that, among a pool of older people with hearing loss, those who have hearing aids report fewer depression symptoms and higher quality of life than those who don’t. The findings of one such study, published in the August 1990 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, were echoed in a July 2012 study in Geriatrics & Gerontology International. The scientists from Italy’s University of Genova who conducted the latter study further found that hearing aids improved caregiver-patient relationships. Their patient pool was a scant 15, though, but that could’ve been because

hardly anyone heard their call for volunteers.

Hearing loss-related depression isn’t just a concern for older folks.

Hearing-impaired children generally report more depression symptoms than their normally hearing counterparts according to a study from the Netherlands’ Leiden University Medical Center published in the October 2011 issue of the International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology. Moreover, “degree of hearing loss, socioeconomic status, gender, and age were unrelated to the level of depressive symptoms,” which means there’s no reason to wait for your hearing to worsen (or until after you get a sex change or fulfill an arranged marriage) to reap the healthful benefits of a hearing aid.

Sight If you’re depressed the world doesn’t just seem grayer — you may be perceiving less contrast. According to a study published in the July 2010 issue of Biological Psychiatry, depressed people scored much lower on black-and-white retinal-response contrast tests than control subjects. The researchers, from Germany’s University of Freiburg, gath-

ered similar results for depressed people both on and off antidepressants. Although the tests had objective elements, participants’ inherently subjective responses cast some doubt on the findings. Even when it comes to seemingly black-and-white matters, it appears there are always gray areas.

Smell A handful of studies have shown that depression may decrease smell sensitivity. Acute depression, however, may physically reduce the size of the part of the brain associated with smell, i.e. the olfactory bulb.

That’s one possible reading of a landmark study by scientists from Germany’s University of Dresden Medical School published in the August 2010 issue of Neuroscience. Granted, co-morbidity doesn’t necessarily translate to causality, but there’s supporting evidence waiting in the wings.

In a study published in a 1997 issue of Pharmacologyand Therapeutics, scientists from Ireland’s University College, Galway confirmed that removing rats’ olfactory bulbs gives them a serious case of the blues. If human physiology is analogous, you, too, may expect to experience “hyperactivity in an enclosed arena, such as the open-field; enhanced nocturnal hyperactivity in a 24-hour home cage activity monitor; (and) deficits in memory, as shown by passive avoidance behavior and in the Morris maze and the eight-arm radial maze.”

FROM LEFT, OPPOSITE: “Poems of Sorrow and Death” detail, restored by The Graphics Fairy, source unknown; image from “Expressions of Grief” from Charles Darwin’s “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,” 1872; both images public domain.

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Mike’s Musical Musings

Incidental music?

Not so incidental

By Mike Vax Having just been through the holiday season, we are reminded that music is a huge part of our lives.

Can you imagine Christmas without Christmas carols, or Hanukkah without the dreidel song, or New Year’s Eve without “Auld Lang Syne”?

I think people take music for granted. After all, we hear it everywhere: in elevators, stores, hotel lobbies, at sports events, bars, and on and on. It’s there in movies, TV shows, commercials, and even in cars while we drive.

Have you ever thought about where all that music comes from?

It had to be recorded somewhere at some time, right?

Thanks to the computer age some pop music bands, rock bands, country bands, and even jazz groups record at home in their living rooms.

Many such recordings are basic, sound-wise, at best, but some come out rather well. It depends on the knowledge and expertise of the person doing the recording.

More advanced recordings, however, are done in recording studios and can get very complicated. And very expensive. A typical professional recording studio might charge anywhere from $50 to $500 an hour.

Keep in mind that many albums take anywhere from 10 to over 100 hours or more to record once you consider the main tracks, overdubs, vocals, and the final mix.

Years ago, before digital recording, we used tape to record. It was even more tedious. Not only did you have to keep rewinding the tape to an exact spot to do overdubbing, but, in order to fix mistakes, you had to use a different track and then mix the new part in to the overall song later on in the process. If you wanted to make a cut in a tune and say, add a better section that had been recorded on another take, the recording engineer had to actually cut the

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tape with a razor on either end of the fix and then splice the tape back together. It was a very scary process, as you could lose the whole take of that tune if it was done wrong. Then you’d have to start all over. On some recordings, mixing and fixing, ended up taking more time than the actual recording process.

Today, because there’s no tape and everything is done in computers, it’s easy for a skilled engineer to plug in even a single note. He or she just has the musician play that note while he or she pushes the right button on the mixing board. It’s done in an instant.

The only problem with these easy fixes, with fixing out of tune notes or whatever the case me be, is that the music becomes more impersonal. It’s less real.

For me, modern recordings are less like real performances, especially in the pop music field. In a way, it’s a shame because young people listening to music today can’t understand that a live performance isn’t always

certain number of minutes or even seconds such that it coincides with what’s going on on screen. It has to build with the action or set a calm mood as needed.

Once the music is written, the composer goes into the recording studio — the director and producer are usually there — and hires as many musicians as are needed to play the compositions. These studio musicians are the world’s best sight readers. And, of course they are: After all, time is money, especially in an expensive recording studio and with top studio players, who command nice wages.

The original soundtrack music you hear has never been seen by the musicians playing it before. It’s put in front of them and the composer or conductor talks it out very quickly.

When the red light goes on, the computer is running, and musicians perform the music … perfectly, the very first time. Not like what you remember in which school band, where you rehearsed for weeks before putting on a concert, eh?

As soon as a clip is recorded, new music is passed out and the process repeats again for the next scene on

— and shouldn’t always — be exactly like a recording. One of the things I love about jazz music is that improvised solos are never identical. Every performance is different.

And what about soundtracks: Have you ever thought about how that music is recorded? I’m talking about the music you hear behind those exciting scenes, love scenes, or anything else that’s especially happy or sad in a movie. Note: I’m not talking about movies that simply play lots of old songs in the background. Some of the movies that use those really make me mad because, as a musician, I know the producers use such audio clips to save money and avoid paying musicians to record new music.

That exciting original music you hear behind your favorite scenes is created by so-called studio musicians.

First, a composer views clips from the movie to get an idea about what kind of music needs to be written.

Film music has to set mood and fit a

the docket. It’s an amazing process to watch. Oh, and, by the way, many times musicians don’t even know what movies they’re working on at the time.

Hopefully, this exploration has given you a bit more appreciation about what we, as musicians, go through to record the music we all hear every day. Stop and listen. Stop and appreciate that background music. It’ll give you a deeper appreciation of the excitement and feelings that draw you into a movie.

Want to try something interesting?

Watch a horror movie on TV and mute the sound during the really scary parts. Not as scary, are they? ***** Mike Vax is a Prescott-based jazz musician and educator. As his column progresses, he’d love to hear your questions, comments, and ideas for future columns. Contact him via his website, MikeVax.Net or at VaxTrpts@AOL.Com.

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Diagnosis: Technology

By Paolo Chlebecek

There’s

more information out in the world than, quite possibly, ever before. That makes it all the easier to get lost in a sea of data when you’re scouring the Internet.

So, how do you best find what you’re looking for? Like any task, it’s best accomplished with the right tools. I’m referring, of course, to search engines.

As of September of 2013, Google ranked No. 1 with 66.9 percent of search market shares.

Microsoft’s Bing came in at No. 2 with a flat 18 percent before Yahoo, which was No. 3 at 11.3 percent. The bottom of the list was rounded out with Ask and AOL, at 2.5 and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Yahoo has been around since

Seek, & ye shall find 1995; Google didn’t get started until three years later, in 1998. Since then, Google has surpassed all other search engines in usage, not to mention public profile. It’s even in the dictionary.

I must confess, I didn’t like Google when it first came out. I found it overwhelming. Searches often resulted in too many (and too generic) results. Its search bots and algorithms have improved vastly since then. Still, a few tricks and tips can make it even better. Most of the information that follows applies to most search engine platforms, but we’ll concentrate on the most popular of the lot, Google.

All search engines work from an index. This ensures that results are displayed quickly. Otherwise, searching every datum on the Internet would take far too long to be practical.

This being the case, its important to understand and use keywords.

Every word you include affects a

search, so brevity is important. A search for “the weather in Prescott, Arizona today” will yield answer but it’ll also net you plenty of things you don’t want. Search for “prescott weather” or “prescott wx” instead; it’ll save you some typing and yield better results. Notice the lack of capitalization on Prescott? Google ignores capitalization. The same goes for punctuation.

Simplicity helps. If you’re looking for dry cleaning services in Prescott, it’s best to search for something like “dry cleaning 86301.” Avoid generic terms like “document,” “paper,” “information,” or “company” as search engines tend to ignore them. For instance don’t search for “dow jones yearly averages,” not “dow jones companies.”

Quotes are another tool. For instance, if you search for the phrase “yellow brick road” with quotes around it, you’ll get closer to the Emerald City. Without the quotes,

you might end up reading about an Elton John song. Most searches don’t need quotes, however.

If you want to exclude specific results from your search, the minus sign is your new best friend. By searching for “corvette stingray -1976,” for instance, you’ll ensure few of the search results contain references to the 1976 model.

Keep in mind that it’s OK to scroll down and look through more results — even a few pages, as need be. Moreover, Google has a help section at Support.Google.

Com/WebSearch with more tips. ***** Paolo Chlebecek is founder and owner of PaoloTek, which he started in 2003. He enjoys technology of all kinds and, in his spare time, likes to go on adventures with his wife and fourlegged children. Contact him at Paolo@PaoloTek.Com.

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Gene Twaronite’s The Absurd Naturalist

By Gene Twaronite In order to succeed as a naturalist, you must learn to dress like one.

This requires paying attention to the latest styles in fabrics, designs, and ensembles.

The well-dressed naturalist neck out with an old reliable turtleneck.” I prefer the roomy loggerhead sea turtleneck. The new side-necked turtle design, though, is a little bizarre for my tastes. Good old moleskin smocks are always in style. Seersucker suits, however, are out for now, though sapsucker suits are perfectly acceptable.

In addition to their utility, bush or birding vests add a certain layer of authenticity to your outfit.

They feature all kinds of handy pockets for holding essential field equipment —sunglasses, binoculars, field guides, gin flasks, etc. One company advertises an all-cotton vest “already broken in for comfort and the look of an old hand well-versed in the lore of the road.” You can’t pay too much for that look.

Of course, for those whose budgets are limited, T-shirts are always in style. The long john shirt, preferably long-sleeved, is quite smart and is available in various designer colors like fuchsia and autumn sunset. Theme shirts are quite the rage this year; you certainly won’t go wrong sporting a chic tree frog, orchid, or Tyrannosaurus, or perhaps one from your favorite zoological garden or aquarium.

One should be cautioned, though, against wearing that old Hooters or Alice Cooper shirt.

The amount of clothing you wear is largely dictated by environment.

For most occasions, cotton is a sensible fabric — whether it be in the form of a frock made from “luxurious, heavyweight cotton from Lancashire” or in an elegant “padre shirt” or “lotus pants.” Cotton shorts or trousers are always nice, preferably with drawstring waists and hip pockets. This year’s favorite colors include apricot, powderblue, and, of course, russet.

You can usually get a pretty good idea of the latest naturalist swimsuit fashions from the travel ads in nature magazines. There, you will find photos of places like the Bahamas, Aruba, Tobago,

It is vitally important to look your very best whenever setting out into the field, be it the Amazon Rainforest, Antarctica, or even your own backyard. All too often, a lack of success in nature study can be traced to a poor choice of clothing.

There is nothing worse than a shabby naturalist.

A good way to keep up on the latest fashions is to scan current nature and conservation magazines such as Audubon and Natural History to see what smart naturalists are wearing in the field.

There you will see glossy photos of stylish people wearing colorful shirts and blouses, pocket-filled vests, parkas, cardigans, and nicely tailored khaki pants and shorts, as they pose with the latest nature-watching gadget. I should point out that magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Esquire are far less reliable indicators in this regard.

Or you can watch TV shows on Nova and Animal Planet or reruns of “Wild Kingdom” to see professionals emerge from swamps and jungles with their outfits spotless and perfectly pressed.

Turtlenecks are a great choice.

As one com“The Home Naturalist,” by Harland pany Coultas, an adaptation of promises, “you “Das Buck der Sammlungen,” won’t be

by Otto Klasing, cover detail, 1877. stickArtist unknown, public domain. ing your

and Tahiti, where smart naturalists can be found during winter months.

One vital piece of clothing often overlooked is a hat. Not only will a hat help to complete your outfit and identify you as a serious naturalist, it will protect you from the sun. It can also serve as an invaluable piece of equipment. The kind you choose is largely a matter of taste. Some prefer the 10-gallon, John Wayne-style, or the ever-popular fedora popularized by Harrison Ford in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” A pith helmet can be quite fetching. And nothing quite equals a top hat for both elegance and room to spare for carrying equipment and specimens.

The young Charles Darwin is said to have once run out of containers while out collecting insects.

Having discovered a particularly rare specimen of beetle, the hapless scientist was forced to carry it home … in his mouth. From that day forward, he acquired an immediate taste for hats and was never caught dead without one. © Gene Twaronite 2013 ***** Gene Twaronite’s writing has appeared in numerous literary journals and magazines. He is the author of “The Family That Wasn’t,” “My Vacation in Hell,” and “Dragon Daily News.” Follow Gene at TheTwaronite Zone.Com.

�ENSESMAG.COM • JANUARY ���� • COLUMN • ��

god





w i nte r

I am not from the East or the West, not out of the ocean or up from the ground, not natural or etheral, not composed of elements at all.

I do not exist, am not an entity in this world or the next, did not decend from Adam or Eve or any origin story.

My place is placeless, a trace of the traceless.

Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two worlds as one and that one call to and know, first, last, outer, inner, only that breath breathing human being.



‘Only Breathe’ from The Essential Rumi

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nest sleep dream rest seek transform wa k e

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