Wash and Fold

"Girls in the Mix"

Phoenix, AZ

Flowers for You

Imperial Valley, CA

 

Imperial Valley lies south of The Salton Sea running in a narrow stretch between to Mexico.  It’s been called the land to the South, a bridge between Mexico and the US, a new country with a great future.  Such words have filled developer’s brochures since the early 1900’s.  I found a much different place.

The Imperial Land Company headed by George Chaffery sold tracks of land to anxious settlers.  He sold them rights to water for $7,500 each, building a short canal to carry water to the parched land.  The source of the water was the Colorado and in public domain.  Chaffery retained control of the water once it flowed into the canals.  It was one of the great developer schemes of all times.  Chaffery went on to develop water systems in suburban Los Angeles.

Agriculture remains a rich legacy for the valley but the Imperial Land Company and other developer schemes such as Salton Sea never lived up to expectations.  Today, unemployment is 22.7% and per capital income is only $20,703.

The rise and fall of hopes in the valley have left a rich photographic landscape in towns like El Centro and Brawley.  There I found hard working people trying to scratch out a living.  Many of the restaurants in the area open at 4am accommodating workers on the beginning of long days.  There is much to learn here about life as it really is, about hope and willingness to push on.    

Bird

Bird

 

I dreamed of a Bird

That flew to me.

I did not know

What it could mean?

 

My days were a mess

It was a world without

Things that made sense.

But there was the quiet Bird.

 

I dreamed again of the Bird

That flew to me.

And learned it was enough just to be.

                   

                          young '13

 

"A Brush with Time"

 

 

"A Brush with Time"

(Found art - Goodwill Cargo Trailer)

                                  Kat Young '2/13



Jackson Street

Light reflections and sounds

Flowing down to me,

From where China Town and

Black Town and White Town meet

On the door step to the City.

 

Listen – to the sound of

Trucks running to unload cargo,

Buses carrying people to work

And Autos fighting for a lane.

 

All muffled into an uneven roar.

Echoed off a thousand buildings

Used to store, sell, service and sleep in.

Lovers, lifers and libbers.

All are waiting there

With hopes and dispairs.

At the top of the Electric Stairs

To Jackson Street.

                                    Young ‘79

                                                                    "Angles on a Gray Day"

                                                                               Driving Range Larry

The "Finery of Golf"

Golf today is played on refined courses often designed by big names in the industry such as Palmer, Faldo or Norman. We have come to expect first class facilities and fairways manicured to impress. These courses come with the pressure to dress and equip to match the venue. I grew up on a 9 hole golf course that offered none of these, Hidden Valley in Cottage Grove, OR. It was a beautiful setting among giant oak trees but never a perfect golf course. The greens keeper worked overtime to keep the vital greens and surrounding turf green, the rest went brown. It was a pleasure to stumble across a similar rough neck golf course named Greasewood between Salome and Wenden, AZ. A nine hole par 32 golf course that wandered between cactus, bare desert, electric poles and scrub brush. Still the place had great spirit. It was built in the 1920′s and dedicated for Dick Wall Hall, a famous humorist in the area. He had mapped out an imaginary course going from Harqua, Hala and Harcuvar mountains in the area which visioned golfers cavorting about in the vast desert valley between. Greasewood cost for nine holes is $9. For $2 more, you can play the unfinished back nine which is out in the desert. The day I was there, local farmers, snow birds and other locals were all engage in a scramble tournament. A bareque was being prepared for them after the contest and Larry was guarding the driving range. Perhaps there more to enjoying golf than the finery of the new courses.