Living in Arizona

Brenda Starr and I walked some more of the Rillito Park Path this morning.  We wore tee shirts.

The wildflowers are blooming, and my yard is ablaze with random, disorganized color.

I spent the afternoon re-potting and installing and pruning and straightening and cleaning the containers.

It wasn't too cold to be in the shade in the courtyard nor was it too hot to be potting roses in the sunshine out back.

I have a stack of large print mysteries on the bookshelf, books that my library always seems to have on hand.  I can drive twenty-some minutes and be on campus for a class or a lecture or an exhibit or a recital or downtown for a concert or a great meal..... and there's always parking and it's usually free.

Did I mention that I was outside all day today?  Did I tell you the part about the tee shirt?

I have to keep focusing on these things, denizens, because this state is in the hands of people who are turning it into something unrecognizable, something which may call itself government by the people but which, most certainly, it is not.

My State Representative was on Facebook all night, updating her constituents.  She was exhausted. She was being asked for a vote on a budget neither she nor anyone outside a select few had reviewed. Meanwhile, the Governor and his cronies ate cheese pizza and watched it all unfold.

School superintendents and students and Chambers of Commerce and local governing bodies and University presidents were up in arms up in Phoenix this week.

It made for lovely political theater .... and not much else.

Governor Ice Cream's notion of transparency in government reminds me of Daddooooo when someone was blocking his view.  "Your father made better doors than windows," he'd say, and his line of sight would be restored as the offending human moved out of the way.

Governor Ice Cream's father was an excellent door maker.  Unfortunately, he had no intention of stepping out of the way.

There are perks in the budget designed to benefit those legislators who were inclined to vote Nay.  If it's good for your district but bad for the state as a whole, what do you do? On this issue, it's very clear where certain legislators landed.

Without listening, without consulting, with nothing but the arrogance of power, our state's Chief Executive has, once again, made me embarrassed to be a resident of Arizona.

The tee shirts help.... but just a little.