Arizona
Published in Jurnalul Naţional
(Romania) on 20 November 2011
by Matei Vişniec (link to original)
The name of Arizona seems to come from the word “arid.” Aridity, however, does not stand for monotony. Any trip through Arizona means, first and foremost, crossing monumental landscapes. A drawing of a cactus appears on many license plates. Arizona takes pride in its cacti, which it has turned into a symbol. I was also impressed with the cacti in Arizona; some measuring five or six meters in height, cacti are real statues planted by nature in a desert that is, in fact, teeming with life. I had never imagined, before I arrived in Arizona, that the desert can be so… full of surprises. Arizona’s desert actually stands for abundance, abundance of vegetation species, mineral and volcanic fragments, as well as a vibrant collection of colors and hues.
In one way or another, each one of us is imbued with the landscapes in Arizona. American movies have managed to colonize our subconscious with the myth of the Wild West. John Ford filmed most of his movies using Arizona’s natural backdrop. Other filmmakers working in the Western and “road movie” genres have followed in John Ford’s footsteps. Arizona is a huge park of cultural phantasms. When drivers look at the expanse riddled with shrubs and cacti, something seems to be missing from the picture: the character of the cowboy or the Indian, or the pioneer caravan passing eagerly and heroically towards the West. In America, foreigners generally feel like they are part of a movie. The immense trucks that roar as they pass you by are somewhat familiar and, as soon as you see one, you tell yourself, “What do you know? It looks just like the one in the movie Duel.” As soon as you notice a gas station rising between the sky and the desert at a crossroads, you think, “I know this one too, from Forrest Gump (or Thelma and Louise or Easy Rider…).” Only a few towns in Arizona are unable to boast that they were the setting of a movie. I, for one, cannot forget the bewilderment I felt in a Flagstaff hotel, where, as I discovered, some of the bar scenes in the famous movie Casablanca had been shot.
To a certain degree, almost every tourist who flies from Europe to Phoenix, the Arizona state capital, will choose the Grand Canyon as their first and main destination. I was no exception. I even took up one of the guide’s suggestions and woke up at five in the morning in order to be able to see a sunrise from the edge of this incredible geological and metaphysical phenomenon… It seemed to me that the Grand Canyon was no longer a part of nature, but a sign… Someone, something, or that primordial laboratory where the idea of beauty was first imagined carved this rift (whose depths reach 2,000 meters in some places) in order to recount a myth. All those who visit the Grand Canyon can feel the mythological vibration of the earth’s lacework, which no one thinks should be translated into words.
Nevertheless, Arizona has several canyons, and all have their mystery. If I were to give a piece of advice to someone with the time and ability to move easily through Arizona, I would tell them not to miss the Canyon de Chelly. While I was there, on the edge of that tender abyss, an elderly Native American sold me a small statue representing a humpbacked character playing a flute. He also explained to me the character was Kokopelli, the deity of a few populations that are now long gone. Kokopelli is still depicted on vessels, clothes and jewelry, always concentrating on his flute, yet, according to the legend, this deity once exterminated his own people, because the people prayed to him too much. A strange legend, unique in its own way. A god that becomes angry because of too much adulation should be food for thought. Do we not excessively praise money nowadays?
The city of Phoenix, the Arizona state capital, is said to have been built on the remains of a civilization that already existed 300 years before Christ. An irrigation channel remains from that era and is rightly considered the city’s vital structure even today. The city was later reborn not from ashes, like the phoenix, but from the intelligence used to drain water in the middle of the desert. Nowadays Phoenix has over one and a half million inhabitants, a great number of which are retired persons. It is similar to a huge garden where well-off people come to hide. When they retire, Americans, or at least the ones who have the necessary means, seek refuge in cities like Phoenix, where the sun can be seen about 300 days a year. And because there are a lot of elderly people needing care in Phoenix, Romanians have also made their way to the region during the past 10 years: Their number is approximately 80,000, according to a Romanian working as a waiter in a restaurant.
In one way or another, each one of us is imbued with the landscapes in Arizona. American movies have managed to colonize our subconscious with the myth of the Wild West. John Ford filmed most of his movies using Arizona’s natural backdrop. Other filmmakers working in the Western and “road movie” genres have followed in John Ford’s footsteps. Arizona is a huge park of cultural phantasms. When drivers look at the expanse riddled with shrubs and cacti, something seems to be missing from the picture: the character of the cowboy or the Indian, or the pioneer caravan passing eagerly and heroically towards the West. In America, foreigners generally feel like they are part of a movie. The immense trucks that roar as they pass you by are somewhat familiar and, as soon as you see one, you tell yourself, “What do you know? It looks just like the one in the movie Duel.” As soon as you notice a gas station rising between the sky and the desert at a crossroads, you think, “I know this one too, from Forrest Gump (or Thelma and Louise or Easy Rider…).” Only a few towns in Arizona are unable to boast that they were the setting of a movie. I, for one, cannot forget the bewilderment I felt in a Flagstaff hotel, where, as I discovered, some of the bar scenes in the famous movie Casablanca had been shot.
To a certain degree, almost every tourist who flies from Europe to Phoenix, the Arizona state capital, will choose the Grand Canyon as their first and main destination. I was no exception. I even took up one of the guide’s suggestions and woke up at five in the morning in order to be able to see a sunrise from the edge of this incredible geological and metaphysical phenomenon… It seemed to me that the Grand Canyon was no longer a part of nature, but a sign… Someone, something, or that primordial laboratory where the idea of beauty was first imagined carved this rift (whose depths reach 2,000 meters in some places) in order to recount a myth. All those who visit the Grand Canyon can feel the mythological vibration of the earth’s lacework, which no one thinks should be translated into words.
Nevertheless, Arizona has several canyons, and all have their mystery. If I were to give a piece of advice to someone with the time and ability to move easily through Arizona, I would tell them not to miss the Canyon de Chelly. While I was there, on the edge of that tender abyss, an elderly Native American sold me a small statue representing a humpbacked character playing a flute. He also explained to me the character was Kokopelli, the deity of a few populations that are now long gone. Kokopelli is still depicted on vessels, clothes and jewelry, always concentrating on his flute, yet, according to the legend, this deity once exterminated his own people, because the people prayed to him too much. A strange legend, unique in its own way. A god that becomes angry because of too much adulation should be food for thought. Do we not excessively praise money nowadays?
The city of Phoenix, the Arizona state capital, is said to have been built on the remains of a civilization that already existed 300 years before Christ. An irrigation channel remains from that era and is rightly considered the city’s vital structure even today. The city was later reborn not from ashes, like the phoenix, but from the intelligence used to drain water in the middle of the desert. Nowadays Phoenix has over one and a half million inhabitants, a great number of which are retired persons. It is similar to a huge garden where well-off people come to hide. When they retire, Americans, or at least the ones who have the necessary means, seek refuge in cities like Phoenix, where the sun can be seen about 300 days a year. And because there are a lot of elderly people needing care in Phoenix, Romanians have also made their way to the region during the past 10 years: Their number is approximately 80,000, according to a Romanian working as a waiter in a restaurant.