Recently a new mural went up in Tucson. The mural is titled “Desert Colossus,” and it’s the tallest mural in the state of Arizona, at 153 feet tall. The artist is Joe Pagac.

To learn more about this mural, go to This Is Tucson:
https://thisistucson.com/tucsonlife/article_d85bbf92-fb73-11ef-abe2-af48f43bf646.html

Another good source of info about this mural and many others in Tucson is Tucson Murals Blogspot:
​ https://tucsonmurals.blogspot.com/

What got my attention was a post on Instagram about Pagac’s saguaro mural. It starts with “It's not just the tallest cactus, it's a symbol of white male supremecy (spelling) and if you need that explained to you, you're part of the problem.”

​Oh, please. This had me rolling my eyes. So I decided that this Second Wave feminist (that would be me) will do the “explaining" here.

First of all, an artwork that is shaped as tall and hard doesn’t necessary mean the artist is referring to an erect male penis, and by extension, “white male supremacy.”

The Instagrammer makes the argument that because of numerous social problems we face these days, artists should be painting murals that address what s/he considers real problems, problems that affect people, and artists shouldn’t be wasting time painting a desert plant, even if it’s a beloved icon.

Instagrammer goes on to say, “If your "art" isn't speaking up for people (especially in this political climate), you're painting for yourself not for the rest of us (but we still have to see it); that's like masterbating (spelling) in public.”

So this person thinks that s/he gets to define: 1) what the most important social problems are, 2) that these problems should focus on people (such as those migrants dying in the desert), and 3) if you don’t address those problems in your art, you’re an artist who is wasting our time...and worse, metaphorically forcing us to watch you pleasure yourself. Oh please (again).

We Second Wave feminists worked on issues such as reproductive rights (remember Rowe v. Wade?), employment opportunities for women, and problems like sexual assault and domestic abuse. Public murals were not usually on our agenda, nor did we typically demand that artists take up our cause.

Worse, this criticism of Pagac’s mural goes against what I personally consider important. This is, we artists should be supporting each other, not nitpicking and redefining what other artists do. It’s not Instagrammer’s place to impose his/her political values on the work of any artist. I hear abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler and Georgia O’Keeffe with her seductive paintings of flowers whispering in my ear. What about Frida Kahlo? She liked to paint herself again and again. Would they have passed Instagrammer’s demands on what is acceptable and “politically correct” art?

Although I agree with the Instagrammer that migrants dying in the desert is a tragedy, and yes, maybe we do need a black person in our mural every now and then, we have Tucsonans already addressing these issues. Humane Borders (https://www.humaneborders.org/) takes water out into the desert for those traveling migrants, which I think is more important than a mural. And we can go to downtown Tucson anytime and visit the Blue Lotus Artists’ Collective https://downtowntucson.org/go/blue-lotus-artists-collective.

I am of the opinion that it should be left up to the artist/muralist to decide which subject s/he wants to take on in his/her art. Instagrammer is not the arbiter of what is acceptable art. And equating the saguaro with male supremacy is a real stretch.

​Most important, though, is that the Instagrammer seems to have totally missed the real value of this saguaro mural.

Here’s what Joe Pagac said about his mural:
“I love to bring some of the Sonoran Desert that surrounds the city into the heart of it,” Pagac said. “I love painting nature larger than life so people can really appreciate it, and hopefully it inspires people to get out and hike in it a bit.”

Look at it this way. Pagac is thinking about the value of the natural world.  Currently, we’re experiencing a  deepening climate crisis. We’re not only  getting hotter, we in the U.S. are  experiencing weather extremes such as drought-caused fires, as well as intense   and numerous tornadoes and  hurricanes that lead to death and  destruction. And it’s getting worse by  the minute. Humans are severely  affected, as are all other living beings.  Also, some botanists think that the  saguaro won’t survive the climate crisis,  unless it can move as a species to higher, cooler altitudes, which it is slowly doing now. What about us humans? Where will we go?

On top of that, the get-rich-quick gang in the White House claims that this isn’t happening, that the climate crisis is a myth, and fossil fuels don’t have anything to do with it. Trumps’ Environmental Protection Agency announced recently that it plans to scale back or eliminate “rules limiting harmful air pollution from cars and power plants; restrictions on the emission of mercury, a neurotoxin; and clean water protections for rivers and streams." The Guardian, March 19, 2025.

The argument could be made, therefore, that Pagac’s mural is deeply important to the existential climate crisis that we all face. If people do appreciate his mural, and if the mural inspires them to get out into the desert where they begin to love and want to protect it, then he has provided us with a beautiful mural and a good message.

Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re In without Going Crazy. Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone

I’m not sure where I found this book. Maybe in a used bookstore? I can see that a previous reader had highlighted numerous sentences. I think maybe the subtitle “How to Face the Mess We’re In without Going Crazy” was what got my attention. I thought I would just flip through it, but, much to my surprise, this book turned out to be more important to me than ever I imagined.

What is Active Hope? Early in the book, the authors define it as: “Active Hope is a practice. Like tai chi or gardening, it is something we do rather than have. It is a process we can apply to any situation, and it involves three key steps. First, we take a clear view of reality; second, we identify what we hope for in terms of the direction we’d like things to move in or the values we’d like to see expressed; and third, we take steps to move ourselves or our situation in that direction.”.

The mention of gardening got my attention. I’ve been gardening since I was three or four years old, following my master gardener grandmother around from plant to plant. She taught me the plants’ correct names, how they fit into the scheme of botany, why they were important to us, and how to take care of them. I’ve had a garden almost every year since then. I have a garden right now. It’s doing well.

What is it about Active Hope that applies to a garden? Gardens are a lot of work. You have to prepare the soil, plant the seeds or seedlings, make sure everything gets watered and in the right amounts, and get rid of bothersome intruding plants (in my case, Bermuda grass). And all the while, you have no guarantee that your garden will turn out well. Despite all your work, you garden could be destroyed by a huge storm, a severe drought, or visiting javelinas that tear everything up.

You hope. You hope the garden plants will grow and thrive and produce fruit or vegetables or flowers. There is no way to know for sure that you’ll get what you want, but you have hope. Active Hope. So you keep on working toward your goal. You don’t give up.

I first learned about “global warming” and the coming climate crisis in the 1980s when I was working in the editorial department of a science book publisher. Needless to say, I was alarmed about where this was heading. I began talking about it. But it was pretty clear that people weren’t all that interested. Over time, people began to take it seriously, but then a large segment of society decided that our situation was and is hopeless. They have given up.

In the book, Macy and Johnstone list seven varieties of what they call “resistance” to Active Hope. The first one mentions those who that persist in saying that climate change isn’t all that dangerous. Sadly, there are still those who claim that. The three that got my attention are the final three: 5. It is so upsetting that I prefer not to think about it. 6. I feel paralyzed. I’m aware of the danger but I don’t know what to do. 7. There’s no point in doing anything, since it won’t make any difference.

I hear and read about the seventh “resistance” often from younger generations who have given up. They have no hope at all, much less Active Hope. How do we resist this despair?

Macy’s and Johnstone’s book has a lot of great ideas about how to accept and learn from the pain we experience from the climate crisis, how to begin to “see with new eyes,” and then how to move forward to work on the problem in a state of Active Hope. We don’t know if we’ll be successful but it’s time for us to have Active Hope and go forward. The authors want us to “dare to believe it’s possible,” then build a community of supporters around us, and learn how maintain “energy and enthusiasm.”

And for the record, there are a lot of us who haven’t given up, who are working toward caring for our precious Earth, and who have Active Hope.

This is a call to action to join them, to join us. This is a call to Active Hope.

Well, as expected, Trump has started his presidency with a flood of executive orders. Some are appalling, many destructive, some obviously illegal, and others just silly. The word “retribution” comes up again and again. I read this week that his Justice Department is now firing employees who worked on the criminal investigation case led by Jack Smith, which focused on Trump. Retribution.

Silly: Expecting Canada to become a U.S. state is silly, as is renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. I could go on.
​

Because of my long-standing interest in environmental  affairs and in the effects of the climate crisis, I am  particularly distressed at Trump’s overturning of  environmentally-related policies. He can think climate  change is a hoax if he wants to, but the climate crisis is  happening all around us. The Los Angles-area fires, made  far, far worse by climate-related drought and excessive  winds, are predicted to cost in the tens of billions of  dollars. Hurricanes are made much stronger and more  destructive by the climate crisis, and Hurricanes Helene  and Milton caused $217.8 billion in damage. Last year (2024) was Earth’s hottest year on record, and climate  scientists say the rising heat is contributing to extreme weather affecting millions.

 If we think we can avoid the worst of the climate crisis just because we don’t live in LA or North Carolina, think again. The permafrost in the Arctic is melting and releasing pathogens, both bacterial and viral, that could cause global pandemics which will be greater than Covid. Examples of pathogens released by permafrost melting are anthrax and botulism. https://www.science.org/content/article/permafrost-can-imprison-dangerous-microbes-centuries-will-arctic-thaw-release-them

​Going after migrants who come to the U.S. to create a better life for themselves is a major action being taken now by the Trump administration. The news is full of stories about individuals with no documentation who are given the choice of leaving America without their families, or leaving with their families. Think about how a child is affected by losing his mother who has been deported, or a child going to live in another country when all he/she knows is a family here, friends here, a school here, and a life here in the U.S.

I’m reminded of my grandmother who was brought to the U.S. as a five-year old and who didn’t have legal status much of her life until she married an American well into her adulthood. https://www.cjshane.com/blog/my-grandmother-and-the-border

 Particularly distressing and annoying is the harassment of our Native Americans happening now. The Navajo president, Buu Nygren, is receiving reports that tribal members are having “negative, and sometimes traumatizing, experiences with federal agents targeting undocumented immigrants in the south-west.” He is recommending tribal members carry “state-issued identification, such as a driver’s license, other picture identification, or their certificate of Indian blood, known as a CIB.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/27/navajo-nation-immigration-raids

Last I heard, those American Indians were here first. The Europeans are arguably the real “illegal immigrants.” And Trump is going after American birth-right citizenship, too.

​What about those pets of people who get deported from the U.S.? Here are guidelines for the trauma involved, how to plan in case this happens, and what to do to make sure the dog or cat is cared for and not just left out in the cold to starve.
https://www.visaverge.com/news/what-happens-to-your-pets-after-ice-raids-and-deports-you/

 What about you and me? How are we going to deal with all these not-so-great changes?
​
I’ve read that a lot of people are acquiring guns. That’s not my idea of a good solution. I don’t agree with some who think we’re headed for a civil war. Others are planning to leave the U.S., and some Americans have already left. Much scarier to me is the possibility that we could be entering a period similar to Germany in the 1920s and 1930s when Nazi fascism rose. For a lot of Germans during that period, the tyranny crept up until it was too late to leave and too terrifying to speak out.

​Before all else, we’re going to have to make an effort to keep our spirits up so we’ll know what to do when we’re called on.

 Here’s what I’m doing to keep my spirits up. Walking every day and practicing mindfulness every day to stay centered and calm. Doing a lot of art and writing stories, which I think is fun and centering. Having positive interactions with loved ones and neighbors. Gardening. My focus is on tomatoes. Photo (left) is of newly sprouted tomato seedlings.

Remember the song:  “Only two things that money can’t buy, True love and homegrown tomatoes.”  
​

​​ Supporting those of us engaged in what the Buddhists call “right action” is another way. For example, I give a financial contribution to World Central Kitchen whenever I can afford it. WCK is a group founded by chef José Andrés. WCK shows up when and wherever folks need a hot meal, regardless of politics. https://www.wck.org

There of plenty of other places to pitch in and help out. Your local animal shelter, community food bank, local environmental group, arts center, youth center, senior center or maybe helping out a neighbor with a ride to the grocery store are just a few.

We’ll get through these dark times together.

What are you doing to get you through the dark times? Feel free to leave a comment below.

​ A best place to visit in Tubac, Arizona, is the Cactus Wren Art Gallery. I connected recently with Gale Thomssen, the owner and director of Cactus Wren. Actually, Gale described herself as “owner/artist/slave.”

Slave? I think we all know what it feels like when you love something so much that you become devoted to its success, and sometimes a bit burdened, too. Gale does have six artists that assist her in running the gallery. 

​Gale tells me that Cactus Wren Art Gallery is five years old. The gallery currently represents eighty artists working in all mediums.

“The Cactus Wren artists must be Arizona artists,” Gale explained. “Their work must be different from what we currently have. I don't want competition among our artists. Artist are encouraged to participate in events and demonstrate. We are currently very full. But I keep a file of potential artists.” 

Gale is an accomplished jewelry artist herself, and she’s also busy with sales, advertising, the gallery’s web site, and also community relations, including serving as vice president of the Santa Cruz Valley Citizens Council. She’s also served as a former member Board for Chamber of Commerce.

 In May of 2024, Cactus Wren opened six artist studios in The Nest. These artists work in their studios about once a week. “The Nest is the room next to CWAG.” Gale explained. “We expanded and opened an entrance into The Nest” in the gallery.”

In addition, Cactus Wren hosts and participates in Chamber of Commerce events as well as Women Who Wine, Día de Los Muertos and Luminaria.

Are you an artist interested in becoming part of the Cactus Wren family. Gale says, “Artists interested in joining us send an email with photos of their work. We have all mediums.” As mentioned, all artists are Arizona artists, and must be unlike any other artist’s work in the gallery. Gale adds, “Artists are encouraged to participate in events and demonstrate. We are currently very full. But I keep a file of potential artists.” 

Here’s Cactus Wren Art Gallery’s website: https://cactuswrenart.gallery/

and Tubac will be hosting a Festival of the Arts February 5-9. Learn more here:
https://tubacaz.com/festivals/

I regret to inform artists and artisans in Tucson that the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona will NOT be hosting a spring artists’ Open Studios in 2025. In December, I spoke to David Gaxiola, Program Coordinator at the Arts Foundation. He told me that the Arts Foundation would not be sponsoring Spring Open Studios because staff members there are working an an app to be downloaded that will make it easier for everyone to find individual studios.

Frankly, I don’t understand this. There are eleven staff members at the Arts Foundation. They are all too busy to organize a Spring Open Studios tour? Really? About the app, I wonder about the necessity for an app, given that Google is happy to give you a red bubble on a map when you put in an address.
​

 Open Studios has been a problem for Tucson artists for nearly ten years, mainly after Debi Chess Mabie departed as director of the Arts Foundation. Attempts were made by local artists to organize area Open Studios, chief among them Heart of Tucson Art (HotArt), which provided a website and detailed information about participating artists  in midtown Tucson. See the HotArt logo on the left designed by Lynne East-Itkin.

​ Unfortunately, when Mabie left, the Arts Foundation turned Open Studios over to SAACA (Southern Arizona Arts and Culture Foundation). The director there made a concerted effort to have complete control over Open Studios, and in the process, provided no support for groups like HotArt. SAACA didn’t last long organizing Open Studios, and this twice-yearly art event made its way back to the Arts Foundation. However, the Arts Foundation has long been focused primarily on public art. Open Studios has never been a top priority, which probably explains why we won’t be having a Spring Open Studios in 2025. Too bad.

 When I was in elementary school, I was a regular visitor to our school library. One day, the librarian pulled me aside and told me that she had a book she thought would interest me. The book was a Nancy Drew Mystery.

I checked out the book, took it home, and started reading it. I was immediately hooked. Not surprisingly, I continued to read mysteries, and by the eighth grade, I had discover Sherlock Holmes. Thanks to the school librarian, this early interest led to a lifetime of finding and reading mysteries, and eventually, to writing them. I still read mysteries, but I also read fiction in most genres except horror. I’m not interested in being scared to death.

The book I read most recently was The Ministry of Time, which is classified as science fiction. But there’s a big romance the develops fairly early in the book. So you could call it a blending of sci fi and romance. However, like any good story, there are mysterious things happening throughout that book that develop eventually into some really suspenseful events. The book has its flaws, but it’s a fun read. I gave it four stars. And while reading it, I thought yet again that just about any good book in any genre has a mystery of some sort at its heart.

Nancy Drew is a teenage amateur sleuth, often accompanied by her two pals Beth and George (really Georgia but everyone calls her George) and Nancy’s boyfriend, Ned. According to the Wikipedia article about Nancy Drew, the books were conceived by Edward Stratemeyer. He wrote plot outlines and then hired Mildred Wirt Benson to ghostwrite the early volumes, using the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Stratemeyer was the author of the Hardy Boys books for boys, and he created Nancy Drew to appeal to girls. The Nancy Drew stories began to be published in the 1930s. Back then, there seemed to be a stricter division of what boys would like and what girls would like. Or not. These days, romance seems to be the preferred genre for a lot of woman and not so popular with men. On the other hand, men tend to prefer non-fiction, and if they read fiction at all, it will most likely be a sci fi space odyssey or maybe something historical.

Recently I stumbled upon a boxed set of four Nancy Drew stories at Bookman’s book store. I took boxed set home and began reading the first, Without a Trace. The book and characters are as I remember from my childhood. Nancy is a cheerful, curious and tenacious character who won’t quit until she solves the mystery, in this case the theft of an expensive Fabergé egg. The main difference is that the story has been updated to modern times. That means characters engage in web searches, send and receive emails and texts, and, in general, are regular users of digital devices.

The Nancy Drew stories are entertaining, not complex at all, and easy to read. Not surprisingly, Nancy doesn’t take up any difficult issues that we often see in fiction such as poverty, racism, sexism, etc. The books are directed at mostly white, middle-class readers. However, it is worth noting that any active, self-determining and smart female character makes for a good role model for young girls. If you get a chance to read one, please do. I think you’ll enjoy getting to know Nancy and her pals.
​
​Thank you to my school librarian.

Reading about this then was alarming, and for a brief while, I conducted workshops for my fellow Quakers about this growing problem. Yes, the problem is a lot worse now and getting worse by the minute. We also still have a certain percentage of the U.S. population that doesn’t believe climate change is real, or that it’s not that bad, and we have politicians who refuse to do anything about it.

Here’s what the United Nation Climate Action says about the causes and effects of climate change.
Climate Change Causes/Effects

Pay special to the last three “effects” which directly affect humans. They are Not Enough Food, Health Risks, and Poverty and Displacement. In short, we’re not going to get out of this easily. Migratory refugees are already heading north to the U.S., Canada, and northern Europe. As we’ve already seen on the southern U.S. border, refugees are a big political and social problem. Violent conflict and war often break out as the result of a local climate crisis. On top of all that, there are way too many of us humans. There are organizations devoted to getting contraception to women, especially in developing countries, but the list of reasons why the women cannot access or use contraception is long.

Why tell you all this bad news? I want anyone reading this to know that I am fully aware of how bad this situation is. Yet, I also consider the despair that is coming from recognizing this crisis, and thinking that there’s nothing that can be done is a big problem, too.

Summary: Imagine you are watching children play basketball. One of the kids on your team never shoots the ball. You ask why. “Because I won’t make a basket.” What do you say? My answer: “Yeah, if you don’t shoot, you definitely won’t make a basket. So shoot the ball!”

Same with the climate crisis. If you feel despair and give up, we are definitely 100% screwed. So read some “good news” articles about what others are doing. Then do what you can, even if it’s a tiny drop in the bucket. Shoot the ball. Who knows? Maybe it will go in the basket.

Here’s a list of websites devoted to good news. If you learn of any good news, let me know and I’ll share it.  Feel free to comment here or send me an email.


Bibliography of Climate Good News sites

Happy Eco News
https://happyeconews.com/

Environment America
https://environmentamerica.org/topics/good-news/

The Daily Climate
https://www.dailyclimate.org/Good-News/

One Tree Planted
https://onetreeplanted.org/blogs/stories/good-news-2023

          This is a photo of my grandmother, Albertina Césira Tomassone Arbrun. We spent a lot of time together when I was growing up, mostly outdoors. She taught me a lot about the natural world. She was an avid gardener, and I carry on her traditions in my own garden. She was very good to me and my sister.
            When my sister and I were in elementary school, my parents took our family, including my grandmother, on a vacation to visit national parks in the American West. When we arrived at Glacier National Park in Montana, we stayed in a cabin and did the things you usually do in a national park such as hiking, fishing, etc. Then my parents decided to take us across the international border into Alberta, Canada, to visit the Canadian national park there, Waterton Lakes National Park.
           Crossing the border was uneventful except for one thing. My grandmother did not go with us. She stayed on the U.S. side of the border. I asked why but received no real answer.
      Later when I was older, I looked into this. I discovered that my grandmother was an “illegal alien.” She was born in a small town in the Italian Alps on the road between Torino (aka Turin) and the French border. At that time, early 20th century, jobs were hard to come by so it was common for groups of Italian men from small towns and villages to go abroad for seasonal work. They became migrant workers in order to support their families. My great-grandfather, Antonio, had gone with fellow villagers to Argentina to harvest wheat where they were known as golondrinas, which means “swallows”, because they came and went with the harvest.
            The United States was the final place my great-grandfather came to work abroad, and this is where he stayed. He found a reliable job in a coal mine in eastern Oklahoma.  Antonio sent for his wife, Francesca (my great-grandmother) and his three daughters. Antonio and Francesca’s only son had died in infancy. I was told that Francesca did not want to leave her home and her extended family, but she had no choice. She lived to the age of 101, but she never returned to her Italian home, not even for a visit. My grandmother entered the U.S. at Ellis Island with her mother, Francesca, and her two sisters. My grandmother was five years old.
 
Dreamers
            My grandmother was now known as Alberta thanks to an Ellis Island immigration office who wanted her to have “an American name.”  When she was in her twenties, her parents applied and became U.S. citizens. My grandmother never applied. As a result, she was undocumented her entire life, which ended one month before her 90th birthday. She went to American schools, earned her R.N. degree, worked as a registered nurse, and she became the head of the nursing department in the hospital where she worked for several years before retirement. I don’t know if she ever registered with immigration authorities. Maybe she just pretended to be a U.S. citizen and no one ever questioned her. But she knew better than to go across the Canadian border because she could not provide documents that would allow her to return to her life in the U.S.
            My grandmother qualifies as a Dreamer: a person who was brought across the border as an infant or child, who grew up and was educated in the U.S., who works here and pays taxes. The difference between her and the Dreamers of today is that Dreamers currently have no path to become legal U.S. citizens. We need immigration reform.
 
The U.S.-Mexico Border Today
            This brings me to current events on the U.S. border. If you watch the news, there are thousands of refugees and asylum seekers showing up at the U.S. border with Mexico. The majority are coming from Central American countries, Venezuela, and Colombia. But asylum seekers are coming from many other countries now, among them Ukrainians to escape the war at home, and Russians to escape conscription into Putin’s war. These folks qualify for asylum, but they’ve been denied entry because of a Trump-era rule, Title 42, that was originally meant to keep covid-infected people out of the U.S.  The U.S. Supreme Court will decide on continuing or overturning Title 42 with a decision coming in June.
            Meanwhile, families are suffering in the cold, sleeping on the street on both sides of the border, scrambling to feed their kids and to find medical care. Their deepest hope is to be allowed to come across the border and to seek safely in an American refugee center, with the hope of beginning the legal process of re-building their lives in America. We need immigration reform.
 
What Can We Do?
 ~~Contact your Congressional representatives and ask/demand/plead for immigration reform. My two Arizona Senators, Kelly and Sinema, are both working on a plan for immigration reform.
 ~~Help in any way you can.  Donate money, supplies or time to a refugee-relief organization. I’m listing below two in my region. Check in your area to see what’s available if you don’t live in southern Arizona.
 
My grandmother would approve.
 
 
1. Casa Alitas, a project of Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, was founded in 2014, “Casa Alitas provides housing, food, clothing, toiletries, advocacy, and travel assistance.” Border Patrol brings asylum seekers directly to Casa Alitas.  https://www.casaalitas.org/

2. Voices from the Border, is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization based in Patagonia, Arizona.
https://www.facebook.com/VOICESfromtheBORDER/   Voices provides “asylum seekers in Nogales, Sonora, MX with free medical care & direct humanitarian aid.”  In other words, they are going across the border to help out those refugees who are stuck there until Title 42 is withdrawn. Voices has a terrific email newsletter, too, with lots of photos and stories. [email protected]
 
               

​Artist and activist Gretchen Baer spends her days creating her own works of art, and also she facilitates art happenings and art classes at Studio Mariposa. Mariposa means “butterfly” in Spanish, and this unique and wonderful art studio founded by Gretchen is located in Naco, Sonora, just across the U.S.-Mexico border from Naco, Arizona, and only a handful of miles from Bisbee. Here Gretchen tells us all about what she and the children at Studio Mariposa are up to these days.
​

​Gretchen, your website “About” page describes you as an artist and an activist. Does one approach dominate? Does art come first? Or does activism come first? Or do they work in perfect harmony?
 
Art comes first for me. I enjoy inspiring others to be creative too. I prefer positive action rather than protest whenever possible. For example, I am currently painting the Mexican side of the U.S. border wall with kids across the border. This is the second border wall I’m painting. What I love about it is that it sends a clear message in a way that transcends fighting and protesting. I can’t personally tear down the border wall, but I can help change minds. 

​Many of your paintings are scenes of Bisbee. How did you come to land in Bisbee on the Border after living back east for much of your early life? What are your favorite scenes to paint in Bisbee?
 
I grew up on Martha’s Vineyard, a small island and home to many artists. After graduating art school in the mid 80’s, I spent a year in Guatemala. I loved its color and simple way of life. Things were getting increasingly scary there with war, so when I saw Bisbee, passing through on my way back east, it reminded me of Guatemala…a mountain village with simple houses and artistic people. It also felt very familiar to me because I grew up in a small creative community. After another winter in Guatemala, and the situation there getting worse, I decided to move to Bisbee in 1988. With the exception of a few years at sea, I’ve lived in Bisbee ever since. My favorite view to paint is right out my studio window at Central School Project. Downtown with B mountain.

Tell us about your painted art cars and the activism associated with them.
 
I was first introduced to art cars in the early 90’s in Bisbee by my friend Kate Pearson. She had just seen Harrod Blank’s film “Wild Wheels” and had met Harrod. She got inspired and made her own and I soon followed. My first car was called “The Funk Ambulance,” which was an Oldsmobile 98 painted with lions, a big sound system, and disco lights.
 
In 1995 I moved on to painting a boat, and then a home built sailing raft my partner at the time and I built out of scrap lumber, logs and foam. We fashioned it into a painted dragon. We lived and sailed on it in the North-East for two years. It was hard living on the ocean so in 1999, I moved back to Bisbee.
​
It wasn’t until 2008, when Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy, that art cars became a vehicle for activism for me. I wasn’t a political person at that point, but I had been a big fan of Hillary for years and vowed if she ever ran for President I’d do everything in my power to help get her elected. I immediately set to work and created my group “The Hillary Clinton Army.” The point of the group was to support Hillary using art. I painted my car with Hillary images, glued items such as toys, marbles and anything that caught my eye, and hit the campaign trail. The Hillcar was a hit and soon became part of Hillary’s entourage, traveling from town to town all over the country. I joined Hillary’s campaign again in 2016, and the Hillcar traveled to many states once again!

​For a while, you had a noteworthy project on the Naco, Sonora, side of the border called Border Bedazzlers. Tell us about that and how it transformed into Studio Mariposa.
 
I am against the U.S./Mexican border wall, but rather than protest it directly, I chose to paint it with kids. I spent 6 years as “The Border Bedazzlers” painting the south side of the border wall with Mexican kids. We painted a full mile of border wall in Naco, Sonora. We turned something ugly into a giant canvas for art. Our painted border wall got torn down in 2016, shortly after Trump was elected. It was replaced with a metal slotted fence. I didn’t want to paint that fence, and always thought I’d like to start a kids’ free art center if I had a space to do so. I called an 80 year old border activist named Tom Carlson, and met him for coffee. The next day he gave me the keys to the old migrant center that hadn’t been used in a few years.  I opened Studio Mariposa on Trump’s inauguration day as my own small protest.

Studio Mariposa is an amazing project. Really amazing. I could ask a gazillion questions. Instead, please tell us what you’d really like for us to know about Studio Mariposa.
 
Studio Mariposa is a kids’ free art center located just across the border in Naco, Sonora. We are on our 6th year. Before the pandemic we had a weekly art day that around 100 kids attended. We offered all kinds of projects, from painting, clay, textiles, 3-dimensional art, and even our own kids’ band. During the pandemic we had to stop in-person events so we gave away free art supply bags for kids to make art at home. Around 400 kids picked up bags each week, and the art they made was astounding! A lot of kids really found their artistic voice at this time. Now we offer free outdoor classes and projects. We have a weekly outdoor painting class. We also paint murals around town, and as I already said, we have started painting border wall number 2.
We are made possible by donations, so please consider donating. Details are on our website, https://www.studiomariposa.org
​

​Do you have any interesting plans for your future?
 
I guess my biggest plan—or hope I should say—is to help put Naco, Sonora on the map as an art destination. There are so many fantastic young artists there and some great adult artists too. I totally believe in these kids’ power to transform the world. So come visit us sometime, meet some of these talented kids, and help us paint the border wall. I think you will see what I see. There are so many exciting possibilities for the future here!

​See Gretchen Baer’s art here:  https://www.gretchenbaer.com/
And Studio Mariposa here: https://www.studiomariposa.org  Be sure to watch the video
 

​Recently I made the decision to move all my art and book activities completely online. By that I mean I’m not even going to try to host live Open Studio events anymore, or participate in art or book fairs or art exhibit openings.
 
This decision is in response to the pandemic which I don’t see ending any time soon. Some folks have said that covid will become endemic “like the flu.”  “Endemic” is defined as a disease that is normally found in a population – like the flu. Since there are so many of us who have refused to get vaccinated, or who haven’t had access to a vaccine, that means the virus will be hanging around (endemic) and will continue to mutate. The big difference is that endemic flu is not as dangerous as endemic covid. Each year in the U.S. approximately 20,000 to 28,000 people die of the flu. In the past two years, 868,000 Americans have died of covid. That’s an average of 434,000 deaths each year from covid compared to twenty something-thousand from the flu. The word “endemic” should not be a comfort to us when we think of covid.
 
There’s much talk these days about “pandemic fatigue.” Looks to me like a lot of us are just sick and tired of adapting our lifestyles in the hopes of staying as safe as possible, especially if it means dramatically reducing social interactions. Some of us are living as we did before, going out (often unmasked), and engaging in “live” art and books events. Others, myself included, are living a reclusive existence even if we are fully vaccinated and boosted. We remain concerned about protecting ourselves from “break-through” infections and “long-haul” health problems, even when vaccinated.
 
Going on line with books is actually much easier than going online with art. There are a few big players in the online book market. Chief among them is Amazon. And there’s also Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and even more.
 
Art is another story. Finding websites that handle large artworks is more difficult and usually involves higher fees and expensive shipping. I’m still looking for an online market appropriate for my larger artworks, primarily oils on canvas.

​For smaller artworks and fine crafts, there are numerous online markets. I’ve had an Etsy site for a couple of years now. My Etsy shop is called “BajaArizona Treasures.” You’ll find small artworks, some jewelry, and malas there. The malas have been particularly popular. Link:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BajaArizonaTreasures
 
I’ve found Etsy to be commercially viable and pretty easy to use with reasonable fees. Etsy opened in 2005 so it’s huge with lots of sellers and lots of buyers. Consequently, it’s easy to get lost there if you’re a seller unless you advertise and engage in other marketing work to promote your shop. Etsy has been criticized for departing from strict handmade criteria and for allowing copyright and trade mark infringements of artists’ work.

Now I’m looking to expand. I’ve been researching other online markets. Just ask Google for “alternatives to Etsy,” and you’ll get a lengthy list, including Big Cartel, Bonanza, IndieMade, RedBuble, Shopify, and Zibbet.  There are also website platforms like Weebly and Wix where you can set up your own shop on your own website using one of these platforms.  Considerations when evaluating sites include ease of use, integration with social media, and how sales taxes are handled.
 
I went first to ArtFire, a Tucson-based online market. Unfortunately ArtFire closed down December, 2021, so my home-town choice is no longer an option.  So what else appeals? Here’s my short list of possibilities. Each one has a different approach.
​

aftcra:   https://www.aftcra.com/  This is a small market site, has very reasonable fees for artists (unlike some of the bigger sites) and it only allows American handmade goods, no cheap imports from Asia.

 IndieMade: https://www.indiemade.com/  This site has affordable fees, including a free 30-day trial, plus no product listing or transaction fees. Use IndieMade to set up your own artist website. For those of you who heard Seth Apter speak to the local PaperWorks meeting here in Tucson, here’s Seth’s IndieMade website. https://www.sethapter.com/  ​

​RedBubble:  https://www.redbubble.com/  RedBubble has a different approach. Artists send in images of their work. RedBubble prints the artwork onto various items such as t-shirts, throw pillows, and coffee mugs. 

Masha du Toit is an African writer of science fiction and fantasy. She was a finalist in 2017 and 2018 for a Nommo Award, a literary award presented by the African Speculative Fiction Society.
See Nommo Award. Masha and I met some years ago on the social media platform Google Plus (G+). 
​

​Masha, you are South African from Cape Town. Please tell us a little about yourself and your life on the other side of the world.
 
That's right.  I live in Cape Town, in an area called Muizenberg which is right on the coast, a famous surf spot with a beautiful nature reserve estuary that's within walking distance of my home. A wonderful place to walk dogs, with so many birds, and other small wildlife. I recently started learning to paddle the kayak, so I have a whole new view on the area from the water these days.
 
I teach online to make a living (writing fiction doesn't pay enough!) so I was working from home long before the pandemic. My husband Brendon teaches design at a school for the deaf. He's an artist and musician too, although these days all his creative energy is being consumed by teaching.​

​My beloved dog Pippin died more than a year ago and my heart is still not ready for another dog. But in the meantime I have two lovely rats, Maurice and Frankie, who entertain me with their sweet, clever, gentle ways. 

I know you’ve written fantasy stories in the past. Your most recent books have all been science fiction. Prior to We Broke the Moon, you wrote the Linked Worlds trilogy which began with The Babylon Eye. Why do you think you chose sci-fi as your chosen genre? Or did it choose you?
 
I've always loved reading sci-fi, even when I was too young to really understand a lot of it. Probably because my older brother Andries always made the books he was reading, like Dune, sound so fascinating. I actually find both fantasy and science fiction equally compelling as genres. One of the reasons I introduced the virtual reality game that the characters play in We Broke the Moon, is so that I would have a chance to write more fantastical scenes featuring monsters and magic. So in some ways, We Broke the Moon is a crossover between science-fiction and fantasy.

Science fiction allows me to explore themes such as how our technology reveals who we are, and how it changes us. Our technology is not neutral, but it's also not evil. I hope my stories don't fall into the "beware the killer robots will take over" trope of so much sci-fi. Our inventions are extensions of ourselves. While we've done a lot of damage to the world in the name of technological progress, I hope that we can use our inventions to fix the mess we've created.
 
In We Broke the Moon, we find ourselves on a giant korf ship floating through space after the humans onboard fled Earth as a result of the AI Wars. The korf ship is accompanied by fleets of smaller space ships, Brommer and Jatai ships. The humans on the korf ship have put severe limitations on the ship’s artificial intelligence (AI) system because they deeply fear releasing an AI system like the one they fled, a system that had become psychopathic and had attempted to kill all the humans. The human relationship to artificial intelligence (AI) systems is a major theme of We Broke the Moon. Tell us about your interest in artificial intelligence and how this interest came about.
 
I am fascinated by the way that we are both increasingly dependent on technology to survive and express ourselves, and yet we are also so deeply distrustful of it. Our technology has long been an extension of ourselves - think of how books and writing have increased our ability to store and transmit information for centuries, now. Books are part our minds and memories in a very real sense. 
 
Added to that our tendency to anthropomorphize objects and imbue them with life and personality, and the idea of sentient artificial intelligence becomes quite interesting. What if we can artificially create a sentient, self-aware being? Is it truly alive, in the same way that we are? Can it suffer? What does freedom mean, when you can code an intelligence within limits you decide upon? What rights does such a being have? How does that reflect our ideas about human, and animal suffering, and human, and animal rights? The questions are endless.
 
In We Broke the Moon, the characters are even more dependent on tech than we are, being on a ship in deep space. They have the same uneasy relationship with that technology. They are trapped in that situation, forced to confront this essential contradiction, or their tech that both sustains and threatens them. Maybe that is something we have to face too. Our technology gives us the power to change the world. We have to take on that responsibility, to try the best we can to answer the unanswerable questions we've created.
 
Your two main protagonists, Maksim and Io, are teenagers who are attempting to define themselves as well as find their place in the post-Earth world of the korf ship. Why did you decide to go with teens as protagonists?
 
Teenagers are fun to write because, by definition, they are going through such big changes. They are figuring out who they are in the world. They look at the world in a fresh way, deciding what they value, and what they want to change. That gives me, as a writer, the chance to explore the world in a way that might not be possible through the eyes of a more jaded, older character.
 
I also wanted to show the different generations' attitudes to technology. The adults, who have directly experienced the harm technology can do, are much more distrustful of it. The teenagers, less risk-averse, are more trusting of new experiences, more curious. Impulsive characters are a gift to a story teller! They make things happen.  
 
A key activity that these teens do for relaxation is to enter virtual reality settings to play games and engage in adventures. These virtual reality scenarios are very realistic and at the same time, fantastical. How did you manage to write so well about virtual reality?
 
The virtual reality game was my gift to myself as a writer who enjoys writing fantasy. Science fiction, especially when set on a deep-space ship, can easily become claustrophobic and limiting. Apart from the closed-off spaces inhabited by the characters, as a sci-fi writer you have to obey the rules of physics at least to some degree. The VR game allowed me to create luscious, expansive, immersive environments, and fantastical creatures. I tried to remember what it felt like, the first time I read stories of Narnia and Middle Earth. To conjure up that same sense of wonder, and create an immersive world to transport the reader out of their own reality. That was my hope!
 
The blurb of We Broke the Moon describes the book as “Hope Punk Science Fiction, a genre that focuses on friendship, love, and a hopeful, can-do approach to the challenges the characters face.” I did a little research and found that Hope Punk is defined as “weaponized optimism.” It has also been described as “part of a wider cultural and storytelling trend toward optimism and positivity in the face of bleak times.” Tell us about your view of Hope Punk and about your interest in writing in this manner.
 
I've become increasingly aware of the importance of stories. We humans constantly create and recreate our reality through narrative. The stories we tell ourselves about who we are, and why do what we do, to make sense of chaotic and unpredictable reality. 
 
Stories are essential to us. I understand the value of dark, cynical and grim stories, but I don't enjoy them. My ability to put myself in the story, to empathise with the characters is just too strong. I don't have the ironic detachment needed to enjoy tales of treachery and cruelty.
 
Life is hard and lonely at times. There's not much I can do to make things better. But as a writer, I might be able to create a small escape for a reader, to remind them of the power of friendship and kindness, so that after closing the book, they can go back into their life with a bit more hope, and strength, to face the challenges out there. That's what hope punk is for me. Not to create a sugar-coated version of the world - my stories do contain pain and sadness as well. Hope punk is about facing that darkness, holding up a small light in the knowledge that you are not alone.
 
Another theme in the book is the human relationship to the natural world. By that, we mean the natural world of Earth which humans on the korf ship no longer experience directly. What are you attempting to convey in this rather subtle theme?
 
The tension between human and nature is in all of my stories. Humans are part of the natural world, but we try to separate ourselves from it, to deny our animal nature. We do so much harm to the environment that keeps us alive. We feel so lonely, we are so proud of our unique abilities, and yet we are surrounded by creatures who are not so different from us. It's fascinating to look into the eyes of a dog, or a crow, or an octopus, and try to imagine how they see us.
 
We Broke the Moon is a sad book in some ways, as the humans are forever separated from Earth, the world that shaped us as a species. I hope to remind my readers that we are not there yet. We are still flying through space on the most magnificent of space-ships, the planet Earth, a self-sustaining life support system that will always continue surprising and delighting us, no matter how long we explore it. 

Also you are an artist and you created the covers for your books. What inspires your covers? 
 
Cover design is difficult! It's a combination of the creative and commercial. As a cover designer you are trying to create an image that will convey a very particular story, and attract readers who will enjoy it. The cover needs to be different enough to catch a reader's eye, but not so different that it stands out as odd or unappealing. I'm never really satisfied with my attempts.  But on the other hand, it's one of the advantages of self-publishing that I have the control to create my own covers, and am not at the whim of a publisher.
 
What’s next? Do you have another book in progress?
 
I am working on two books at the moment, a new experience for me. I've started on the sequel to We Broke the Moon. But I'm also finishing a completely different project that I started during lockdown. It's a light fantasy, working title Ray and the Cat-thing.It grew from my own need to find entertaining, joyful, escapist books during lockdown. It's an utterly self-indulgent story that includes all of the things I found myself longing for during lockdown, like hanging out with friends, or going on a care-free camping trip.
 
During our hard lockdown here in South Africa we spent several months where we were not allowed outside our homes at all, not even for exercise. We could get groceries and medication and that was it. The experience taught me some hard lessons in what I really value. Writing this story is my chance to escape and explore those things, if only in my imagination. 
 
Thank you, Masha. 

Tamara (Tammy) Poff is a Tucson artist, author, and teacher. Here she introduces us to her latest book, In the Company of Fiber Artists: Creative Inspiration for Creative Heddle Weavers.
  
Tammy, you are known as a fiber artist and weaver primarily working with the rigid heddle loom.  Can you tell us about weaving as a form of fiber art, how you were drawn to it, and what its appeal is for you?
 
Weaving is the foundation of fiber arts. I've read that evidence of interlacing thread on thread can be traced as far back as the Paleolithic era, 27,000 years ago. It surged as an art form in our time, from the 1950s onward, finding its way from a functional to an aesthetic purpose.
 
For those sensitive to fiber then, I think there is a primal call to express ourselves with this medium. As a knitter from age five onward, I can't remember a time when a skein of yarn didn't excite me. As a painter and a weaver, working with fibers allows me to respond to the materials differently than painting does. Weaving is another way of getting your hands dirty with yarn – it's a unique form of therapy.
 
One of my favorite (true) stories of "fiber therapy" was of a young man who bought eight knitting needle sets from his local yarn shop. When the shop owner asked what he needed eight sets for, he answered, "I'm buying them for my study group. We found that when one person reads the material, and the others knit, we get better scores on our tests!" As fiber passes through our hands in repetition, it quiets the everyday buzz in the back of our minds for multiple benefits.
 
So, it is the process that lured me in. I was a floor loom weaver in my art school days. As a wholesale yarn representative many years later, I saw a rising demand for the portability, accessibility, and quick results of the little loom. I devoured everything I could find to learn the rigid heddle from multiple perspectives, then developed some quirky little tricks of my own and taught 100's of new weavers from there. I taught in yarn shops throughout five states of the eastern time zone where I could see, close-up, what my new weavers struggled with and what they wanted. I never thought I would be writing patterns – writing books was just a joke I started. I would have to say that my students dragged me into this, and my network of loyal weavers internationally is what drives me onward.

​You've written three books now on rigid heddle loom weaving, the most recent of which is In the company of Fiber Artists: Creative Inspiration for Rigid Heddle Weavers. Tell us about this latest book.
 
With book three, I wanted to change course a bit.  I am known, since book one, as the designer who takes rigid heddle weaving beyond the traditional path to a more contemporary approach. My readers write me to say that they didn't realize that their simple weaving tool has so much potential. I wanted to continue that, but with a twist. I felt my weavers deserved inspiration to go further "beyond the rectangle," as my tag line implies.
 
Additionally, I wanted to pack more of what I value into this more expansive work – more creativity from diverse sources, more connection to our community, and more concern for our planet's future. So I researched and reached out to the eight national and international artists whose amazingly generous and inspiring response is the cornerstone of this book.
 
One of the strengths of this book, in addition to gorgeous illustrations and instructional material, are the interviews with several artists working in this medium. What did you hope to achieve by giving these different artists' perspectives?
 
The celebrity interview format to encourage new ideas has been available to most other seekers - authors, painters, sports lovers, and so on. I found a hole in what was available to inspire my weavers similarly.
 
I did not know at the onset, however, how much the genius of the artists interviewed would change my own direction. I feel like the patterns in this book are some of my best work because the pieces had to be worthy of the artist who inspired them.
 
My end game here was to light a little firecracker under my readers to get going, keep going, and try something new – something outside their comfort zone with more of their own genius involved. The response from my early readers has been overwhelming with all of the new ideas they are generating. In that sense, mission accomplished. I also hope to inspire weavers to think hard about their materials - what we are contributing to the planet and the community. Weaving uses a lot of yarn with a certain amount of waste. It's tempting to fall for synthetics due to the cost. Finally, we are beginning to understand the cost to our environment when we use these petroleum products, and we are finding affordable answers to that.

​
You have devoted considerable space to instructional material, including diagrams, charts patterns, and techniques.  Do you see yourself as much a teacher as an artist?
 
Well, my undergraduate degree is in Art Education. For mere survival, I spent decades in business instead. I feel like I've returned to my roots now. I didn't think I wanted to teach back then. I wanted to paint, so my graduate work was in fine arts, painting. My students seem to respond favorably to my teaching style. So apparently, that remains my calling, and I find that gratifying. I do want to build in some painting time, though.
 

​
I really loved all the great quotes that are tucked away in the text. Do you have a favorite?
 
My favorite is from Sophia Loren: "There is a fountain of youth; it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to life, to the lives of the people you love."
 
To me, this summarizes our reason for being. If I am remembered only for that, I am satisfied.
 
The chapter on Move Forward-Give Back is especially inspiring. Tell us about that, and in particular, the Linus Project.
 
As we feed our creativity, we generate a lot of stuff – stuff full of love, as I like to think of it. The process is a big part of the reward, and we can add to that reward by helping others in need.
 
I joined a knitting group here in Tucson that used to meet before the pandemic slowed us down. A chance to have a cup of coffee with other handcrafters feeds the soul. The group's organizer, Bev, is also the local coordinator for Project Linus. This national organization exists to donate handmade blankets of various sizes to comfort children in need.
 
I started by knitting a few blankets and sewing together a quilt. Then I realized that I didn't see anything about weavers in the requests. I thought this would be a perfect project for us. The challenge was to find fibers that would be soft, washable, natural, and affordable for weavers with a budget. I was excited to find some low-cost bamboo and lyocell yarns that work beautifully for my patterns.

​I was interested in your comments on sustainability in your latest book. Not only are you recycling yarns from cast off weavings, you also address the issue of synthetic materials in weavings, and also contamination of natural fibers. You call for use of "renewable fibers." Can you tell us a little more about that?
 
First, we must acknowledge that almost everything we do has an environmental impact. The other day I read that even a little text from our phones has a discernible cost to the eco-system. Each step toward a zero-carbon effect, while not perfect, is progress in giving this planet a longer life, not only for future generations but for the remainder of our lives as we see global warming effects in real-time.
 
Acrylic, nylon, and polyester have a considerable presence in the fiber world. These are plastics manufactured from petroleum that gained status in our mothers’ generation for their low cost, softness, and washability. We now know that they break down in the wash and in landfills and find their way into our bodies to destroy our health. As I say in the book, "Do we really want to wrap a baby in a petroleum product in the first place?"
 
Opting for natural fibers like cotton and wool appears to be a step forward. Still, the former is associated with excess water usage, toxic fertilizers, and pesticides, and the latter with methane contamination, animal cruelty, and poisonous chemicals in preparation.
 
Transforming plant material into rayons like bamboo and Tencel (brand name for lyocell) appears to be the answer for the future as these fibers are robustly sustainable and grown with very little toxic intervention. Alas, these too, have had a bad chemical footprint when we turn them into yarn.
 
Not to despair, weavers should give some serious thought to prioritizing natural fibers as a growing number of farmers join the movement of sustainable agriculture. Additionally, there are new manufacturing processes called closed-loop that reduce waste production and contamination. It's all about consciously taking steps in the right direction.

What's next for you?
 
As I mentioned, this book has kind of changed my direction. I have so many colleagues who do a great job of teaching new weavers how to use the rigid heddle, make a scarf, make a placemat, and all the basics.
 
While I'll always have the beginner in mind (I have an online course for beginners at weavingwithpoffstudio.com), the next big chapter in my life's book will probably be more deeply dedicated to this concept of finding inspiration for the weaver. I'm thinking about an online membership site for that purpose. And I want to get a little painting time in, too!
 







Websites:
Tamara Poff:
https://weaving-with-poff-studio.thinkific.com/
https://www.poffstudio.com/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/PoffStudio
 
Project Linus:
https://www.projectlinus.org/
http://www.projectlinustucson.org/
 
LINKS to Book and Book  Reviews.
 
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Company-Fiber-Artists-Creative-Inspiration/dp/099845902X/
 
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57060101-in-the-company-of-fiber-artists?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=Jnw2dZYiAQ&rank=1

Barnes and Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-the-company-of-fiber-artists-tamara-poff/1138864033?ean=9780998459028

Please meet Tucson author Kathy McIntosh. Kathy and I know each other from our membership in Sisters in Crime, a national organization for writers of mystery fiction.

Let’s start with your mysteries. You have two series, Havoc in Hancock (humorous suspense) and Adventure Calls (mystery). Tell us a little about each of these series including the settings, main characters, themes.
 
I began the Havoc in Hancock novels while living in Idaho.
I’d always loved Carl Hiaasen’s novels, so I set out to be the Carl Hiaasen of Idaho. His books, set in Florida, are generally about wacky characters trying to save endangered species. I enthusiastically recommend them, particularly his earlier books. 

​In Mustard’s Last Stand, an eco-activist called Roadkill recruits his screenwriter brother to help him fight a safari camp being set up on land once owned by their family. Lots of that, believe it or not, came from “real life.” My eco-activist daughter introduced me to the real Roadkill, a chatty and personable young man who dressed in the skins of animals he found on roadsides. Really. We had a delightful breakfast together and that spawned my idea for the book and for Roadkill, the character.
 
It happens also that at that time, protesters were fighting the establishment of canned hunts, where captive elk and other animals were hunted by sportsmen the grounds of the “hunt.” I switched zebras, water buffaloes and a former zoo lion for actual Idaho wildlife.
 
Roadkill gets help from four pregnant women and a recently fired Sears security guard on the hunt of a pill addict. 

​In the second of that series, Foul Wind, one of the pregnant women from Mustard’s Last Stand, Feather Sullivan, and her mother get into trouble at a wind farm near Hancock while trying to save her sister from a murder rap.
 
Once again the themes of environmental issues and family helping (or hindering?) family arise.
 
Environmental activists often use “forest names” when they don’t want to use their birth names. I chose Feather because in the first novel, she’s very pregnant and definitely not feather-like. The character is also a bit whimsical and rash at times, a bit like the flight of said feather.
 
I set the books in northern Idaho, in the fictional town of Hancock. One of the nicest compliments I had was from a reader who said Hancock reminded him of the town he grew up in, in northern Idaho!​

When we moved to Tucson some six years ago, I set my next series, Adventure Calls, about an eco-tourism company, in Arizona. The first, Murder, Sonoran Style is set in the Sonoran desert. (I think it has more dry humor than those in Idaho.) In that book, a former science professor becomes a partner in an eco-touring company and very shortly finds the dead body of a hated developer. Since he’s been killed with Gabe’s hunting knife, it falls on Gabe to find the murderer.
 
I read the first in the Havoc in Hancock book, Mustard’s Last Stand, which I found very amusing. Do you find humor difficult or easy to write?
 
I tried to write a serious book, but the humor kept popping in when I least expected it, so I gave up and allowed entry. That sounds as if it’s easy, but when my critique group suggests I add “a bit more humor” at a certain point, I find it very difficult. That’s when it seems forced rather than with the flow. I do think certain characters create their own humor, with their appearance, dialog, attitudes and behavior, but I have to be careful not to create stereotypes or rely on pranks or pratfalls too much. Finding the right balance in humor isn’t easy.
 
In April, I’m giving a talk on Zoom about humor in mysteries through Friends of the Kirk-Bear Canyon Public Library here in Tucson. So right now I’m exploring more about how others view and write humor in fiction. And I definitely am seeking out suggestions of favorite humorous mystery writers!
 
Mustard’s Last Stand also had a deeper environmental theme. Is environmental conservation a strong interest of yours?
 
All my books have an environmental bias. Conserving our environment is a strong interest of mine, something my parents instilled in me—a gift I’m grateful for.
 
You’ve contributed to anthologies for writers about the writing process. Tell us a little about that. 
 
I edit fiction and non-fiction to support my fiction writing, and I’m passionate about words and language, so I happily contribute to such anthologies when I can. My best piece of advice is to get your butt in the chair and get words out. Next best? Be sure to move around every half-hour so you don’t wind up with bursitis or other health issues!
 
You also seem to have a strong interest in cooking and recipes, and you’ve contributed to books about food. Tell us about that, too.

Confession: I’m even more interested in eating than cooking, and love to find new restaurants (pre-pandemic). However, I do enjoy trying out new recipes and sharing the good ones. Some of the cooking anthologies I’ve contributed to give the profits to charity, which is a way of giving back I’m happy to support.
 
The most recent cookbook my recipes are in is Recipes to Kill For, A Desert Sleuths Cookbook.

​
​We’re in a difficult time now because of the covid-19 pandemic. I enjoyed your January 2021 newsletter titled “Hope in 2021” which explored your insights into a trip to South Africa you and your husband took and what that had to do with the hope you experienced there. Can you give us some information about that as well?
           
In the Cape Town Flats, an extremely poor community outside Cape Town, I learned that people can surprise us with their kindness. That gives me hope for America’s future, as well. I also talked about a graduate of Caring Hearts High School, in Kenya, who wants to give back some of the blessings she received. That’s exactly what the founder of the school, Vincent Kituku, hoped when he started it: creating a community of educated young people who might one day make changes in their country.
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(Above right) Students from Caring Hearts High School working in a trash clear-up day at Tala, a small town near the school. Kathy and her husband are school donors.

I also wrote about some innovative approaches to water conservation being undertaken in Cape Town, South Africa, a town that in 2018 faced terrible drought. You can find my recent blog post on that subject on my website, www.KathyMcIntosh.com The post is https://kathymcintosh.com/hope-in-2021/
 
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What’s up next for you? Do you have another book planned or underway now?
 
I’m thrilled that the audio book of Murder, Sonoran Style, will be out this spring. I’m finishing up book two in the Adventure Calls series. This one features a secondary character from the first book, guide and chef Madrone Hunter, and is set in northern Arizona, in the town of Cottonwood. The title will be Murder, Cottonwood Style. I’m also bringing Roadkill into this book, to link the two series together. And because Roadkill was a favorite with readers of the first series.
 
Links:
 
Mustard's Last Stand: https://www.amazon.com/Mustards-Last-Stand-Havoc-Hancock-ebook/dp/B00GK73FC2/
 
Foul Wind: https://www.amazon.com/Foul-Wind-Hancock-Humorous-Suspense-ebook/dp/B015VNN31I/
 
Murder, Sonoran Style:
​  https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Sonoran-Style-Adventure-Mystery-ebook/dp/B07R8NLT26/
 
Website: https://www.KathyMcIntosh.com/
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I think it’s safe to say that we were ready for 2020 to be done and gone by last March or April. So here we are at the beginning of a new year with two signs of hope: 1) a Covid-19 vaccine will be widely available soon – that is, if our leaders can get it together and get the vaccine to us; and 2) Trump will be gone by January 20 (unless he tries to stage a coup which I wouldn’t put past him). Be prepared to defend American democracy from a proto-fascist.
 
Art:
How has this past year affected art and artists?  Artists are always looking for opportunities to show and sell their work. The year 2020 was the most challenging for artists in many years. Almost everything went “virtual.” We couldn’t have “live” Open Studio tours or popup events, and most galleries stopped having live exhibits and openings.
 
I turned to Etsy in an attempt to sell small artworks, among other things. I did indeed sell some small artworks, mainly in the Art:Flora and Art:Abstract categories. But the big surprise was the popularity of malas. FYI, a mala is a Buddhist/Hindu circular string of beads (kind of like a rosary) that is used in meditation to help concentrate and say mantras which are sort of like a prayer. A traditional mantra has 108 beads and an amulet attached. A lot of westerners wear them as necklaces.
 
At first, I thought that my buyers were using them as necklaces only. But I quickly found out that many are using them to meditate. That’s understandable. We’re all pretty stressed out because of the pandemic. To sit silently and say a prayer, mantra, or an affirmation helps calm the mind and body.

Etsy keeps very good statistics on who clicks on what and who makes an item a “favorite.” The stats told me that of every 20 “favorites,” 19 of them are malas. So Baja Arizona Treasures will be offering more malas in 2021. See more at Baja Arizona Treasures.
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​Books:
I could write a book (seriously) about what I’ve learned about the publishing industry in the past few years, and in particular, in 2020. Here’s a summary:

• The publishing industry is undergoing a change on the magnitude of when the printing press was invented (1436), and then later, when paper production became cheap enough to print newspapers and inexpensive books (late 1700s, early 1800s). These days, traditional publishers are consolidating and trying desperately to hang on to control of the book world in the face of greater and greater challenges from indie writers and publishers, the internet, and more.
• Indies (independent authors/publishers) face constant unrelenting discrimination from the “trads” (traditional publishers) who like to ignore indie writers, or disparage them as less than/not as good as trad-published authors. Fact is, some of the indies are the best writers out there.
• Some indie authors have been very successful. Several are making over $100,000 a year, and I know of one who made over $1 million last year. These authors usually are engaged in “rapid write-rapid release,” producing a 50,000 word book (not the typical 70K to 100K words) every six weeks or so. Almost always these books are in the genres of romance/romantic suspense or sci-fi “space operas.” (stories like Star Wars and Battlestar Gallactica). Also these more successful writers typically have a patron (usually a wife or husband) who pays the bills so that the writer can write. But most indie writers like me are spending more than we’re making trying to put books into production and then market them once they are published. Otherwise, the books just disappear, and no one knows they exist. The vast majority of indie writers don’t make much money at all, and are often going in the hole until they have enough books out there to start eeking out a profit. Trad-published authors aren’t doing much better. The publishers just are not providing the same level of support as they have in the past, especially in the area of marketing. Often trad-published authors have to provide these services themselves and at their own expense.

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•  A large secondary industry has grown up to “help” authors, which is another way of saying these “helpers” are making more money from providing these “services” than the authors are making from writing and publishing their books.
• I started writing to supplement my meager income. In the past, I had always been paid for my writing as a newspaper reporter and a freelance writer for magazines (locally, Zocalo, and The Desert Leaf). I was very naïve about making money by writing and selling books, especially fiction. I’ve concluded that the only way to succeed is: a) have enough money before even starting so that I can spend money on promotions and ads; and 2) follow the “rapid write, rapid release” method to produce as many books as humanly possible, preferably in romance or space operas. I don’t have lots of money to spend on ads and promos, I don’t want to spend 12 hours a day on a computer churning out books, and I don’t have a patron.

 
My conclusion: in 2021, I’ll be better off focusing on good physical health, spiritual and psychological wellness, and especially, having fun. So starting today and in 2021, I’m making art and writing books for fun. And hoping for the best.  

Feel free to comment. What are your plans for 2021?

Happy New Year!  

Home_Sunday morning, January 1, 2021