Text 32449, 70 rader
Skriven 2013-01-09 21:15:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Arcosanti 65
====================
Arcosanti is Soleri's showpiece, way out in the desert,
maybe halfway to Sedona and likewise only half as crazy.
You get off the Interstate around the Agua Fria National
Monument, and the road turns into this pitted dirt thing
that does (bad) wonders for the disposition and the
suspension of the thankfully rental car. It seems like an
eternity, but it's actually only a couple miles, when you
reach what from the outside looks like a junkyard or a
squatters' colony. As you approach, some order appears,
though it's a kind of disorderly order. You are admitted
only with a guide, which is sensible, because once inside
you get the impression of someone's big old estate, which
I suppose it sort of is.

Everywhere, evidences of the philosophy of the place: the
arch-based design, the rough back-to-the-earth surfaces,
the orientation to the sun (the ostensible reason being
to take full advantage of the warmth in winter and maximal
shading in the winter. An everybody-knows-everybody feel,
possible in a tight-knit community of under a hundred but
who knows what the vibe would be if the place had been
developed to its fullest, with 5000 bodies in 25 acres,
which would make it one of the most densely populated
places on earth. I don't know if Soleri the visionary
visualized issues like the need for at least a little more
psychological space than that or more practical ones like
sewage.

Our guide, an attractive and energetic young east European
woman, had been there studying for over five years and was
still bright-eyed enthusiastic, which is good, as if the
old guy can still find hard-working and bright visionaries,
there might still be hope for the project, which from the
looks of it is in maintenance mode if that. I think that
recruiting handy persons may be necessary to keep up the
slightly crumbly-looking physical plant. She made a good
case for the concept and a wistful one for the reality.

The hour tour took a bit longer than that.

--

Deer Valley Rock Art Center was our last stop before flying
out. It's a huge concentration of petroglyphs unfortunately
very close to urban development: unfortunate in that some
vandalism has apparently occurred, and permitted access to
them is very limited. The consequence, of course, that I can
see few if any of them. This was a major crossroads in
native travels, but who knows what the symbols mean (part of
the romance of them). Graffiti? Religious imagery? Meet me
at the next mesa at ten? It is known that they were the work
of various native tribes, including the Pima and the Hohokam
and perhaps others, over the span of over a thousand years.
Despite what little I could see, I was moved by visiting.

The site is owned by the government and run by ASU, which
does a nice job.

We dragged our butts through prerush hour traffic to get to
the airport; being a little early, we went in search of a
bar - the one I knew about was long gone in a now-deserted
area. We gave up, deposited the rental, and took the bus to
the airport, where beer and wine, though not plentiful by
any means, were available.



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