Double Nickels

by Darin Lowery

I just had a birthday- um, YAY- and I’ve now hit fifty-five. Double Nickels. That’s me: mid-life, middle-aged, teetering towards my twilight years. Because I came into this world in 1955, they tell me it’s my ‘Golden Birthday’. It’s just a number. Go figure.

It is not just a number. It is a culmination of all of the numbers which have brought me to this point, which is, like, kinda old. I don’t feel old, and a few of my nicer friends and co-workers have said I still look okay and don’t smell like an old guy.

That’s a relief, I guess. … Continue Reading

The Five and Dive Tour : Summer Zen

It’s a fact that Arizona Summers are sizzling hot and, as a rule, most sane people will spend the next six months in a mall or on their couch in air-conditioned comfort in front of their Big Screen.

Not Bikers. Bikers are always breaking the rules.

Few things in life will keep one from riding. They’re like those mail carriers who brag:

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds”

Bikers? They have a different motto.

“Whatever it is, it’s better in the wind.”

So, this summer, long after the last of the winter visitors have left for cooler climes, and even lizards have disappeared under their rocks to get away from the heat, we’ve designed a Summer Road Tour for The Children of the Wind. … Continue Reading

Arizona Road Race

This was the scene this morning around 7am, as race organizers began sending off the groups of bicyclists according to their category.

by: Linda Gross

The Arizona State Road Race Championships are taking place today in Globe. The event is estimated to bring in over 400 riders in age categories from ten years to seventy years. This will be the fourth year that ProCon, the race organizer has held the event in Globe. Several years ago they held a 3 day event with a short course in Downtown Globe which blocked off streets. This proved to be too problematic for local residents and race organizers, so they have evolved into a one day event which takes place outside the Globe City Limits and utilizes the long stretches and hills between the junction of HWY188 and HWY60 and Roosevelt Lake. … Continue Reading

The trail of Cheap Tomatoes

By: Linda Gross

I recently got an email from a friend of mine who got it from HER friend in Ohio, who got it from some teacher in Arizona. It was titled Cheap Tomatoes. So I tracked the sources. It seems the initial impetus of this letter was a piece in 2007 by Eric Scholosser on tomato growers in Florida. Picked up later by the Economist, and then revived again in February of 2008 by bloggers who posted the letter. Attached is one bloggers response to some of the fallacies and misstatements. Now, fast forward to April of 2010, and this very same letter is now being circulated to support Arizona’s immigration law, SP1070.

It’s a letter that can make middle-class blood boil. The only problem is…it isn’t the truth, the whole truth…and nothing but.    … Continue Reading

A Short Cut…literally

by Darin Lowery

If you’re in your mid-fifties as I am, you may remember the old drug store calendars with the cute pictures: chimpanzees in pedal cars, little girls on the telephone, and my favorite- the shot of a little boy in a barber’s chair, tears streaming down his cheeks as he gets his first trim.

One last grasp- or gasp- at youth was all I asked. To let my hair grow long, the way it was in the late 60’s- wind waving it, spring rains wetting it- would somehow melt the years which separated me from the Summer of Love.

The LONG shot

The end result was worth it. After two years, a pelt of thick hair cascaded over my shoulders and down my back. This caused considerable comment, usually from short white middle-aged women wearing outdated turbans.

‘Ohmygawd, you have perfect hair. What a waste it’s on a man!’

Skater dudes gave me thumbs up, and at least twice a week someone wanted to either buy/sell/trade/share marijuana. Or worse. … Continue Reading

The survival mom

OK, so I’m not one of those survivalists that thinks the world is going to end at any moment, but an article in this weeks Arizona Republic caught my eye. The headline was “Peoria mom at the ready with full pantry,guns.” The article says the woman isn’t an alarmist. She just wants to be prepared “in case.” Well, I’m not so concerned about the BIG things as those minor events which come out of left field – like the snow storm several years ago in the middle of March(see below).

Although we’re not used to that much snow, what really became a problem and even had Walmart shut down, was lack of electricity. The snow and ice had knocked out all electricity in the area; which meant gas pumps didn’t work, heat pumps in homes were inoperable etc. You get the picture.  Not only did this strand alot of people, stretch emergency units to the brink and force us all to be creative in finding heat, food etc, it served as a wake up call to just what could constitute an emergency. … Continue Reading

Paublo Neruda Poet

Valentine’s Day is, among other things, a day for poets. One of the great poets, I would submit, is Paublo Neruda, who could describe his love of an onion with the same passion as he describes lovers in this poem.

Who is your favorite poet?

… Continue Reading

Monday Morning