Hi friends. Oi—it’s been a while. My bad. I finished Grad School and my over-fried brain just couldn’t cope with the idea of deadlines, writing, or anything that closely resembled either of the two. I’ve missed you—your writings, your words, your images. I’m excited to dive back into this loving little bloggersphere. This past week …
Continue reading Did you know that Quiet makes a Sound?
McFarland, California. A small town of about 13,010, located in Kern County, straddling the 99. McFarland is known for a Cancer Cluster in the mid 80’s, which took the lives of over a dozen children, and its Cross Country Team, which ought to tell you something. When the best sport is running, you can’t help …
Continue reading One Rose in a One-Stop Town
Puke on a hot sidewalk. This is the smell of the Salton Sea. Rotten eggs, perhaps, is a more familiar notion. In 1906, attempts to bring water into the Imperial Valley from the Colorado River failed, and a strange little ocean was born in the desert. Contractors didn't account for the massive buildup of silt, …
Continue reading Puke on a Hot Sidewalk: The Salton Sea Chronicles, Part 1
There are dinosaurs. Out in the desert. A rare and extinct breed the size of Godzilla himself. In the city of Cabazon, which sounds a lot more exotic than it actually is. If you're driving down the freeway, on Interstate 10, you can't miss them. They roar at every passing car. Dinny the dinosaur and …
Continue reading Jurassic Adventures: Don’t Drink the Kool Aid
I love the stars that blanket the sky. Their shimmering surfaces, shrouded in winking flames. Perhaps I love them for the secrets they hold. Born from nebulae, living for millions of years before exploding into a supernova, what a glorious name for death. We become spirits that roam the earth, but they shimmer with the …
Continue reading Starry, Starry Night
There's a strange movement to mountain towns. Like everything in them is made of thick molasses, trickling slowly in summer, frozen into a solid mass of Amber come first frost. People mull about, scattered loosely along the boarded up lakeside docks, bundled up and smoking cigarettes, the thick smoke mingling with foggy breath. Twinkling lights …
Continue reading Amusement for the Soul
I didn't quite have a plan in mind. I had a map and a free week and an itch that needed scratching. A few places in mind, all of them far away. My trunk was full of camping gear my dogs lounged across the back seat. The windows were rolled down and I felt the …
Deep in the desert, haphazardly tucked a few miles off a highway that runs parallel to the dehydrated fish coated shores of the Salton Sea, lies a city. Not by definition as much as by name, Slab City is a reconstructed military compound, inhabited by vagrants, meth heads, veterans, cons, and women fleeing abusive relationships. …
Continue reading Where Fine Dust Lingers
The Wild Heart of Life 