2013-04 5enses by 5enses

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5enses Celebrating art and science in Greater Prescott

2013-04, Volume 1 Issue 4

Raison dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Art: The wit & whimsy of Raina Gentry

Alan Dean Foster embraces his inner luddite Ty Fitzmorris ponders a preponderance of nature And much2 more!

5enses In which:

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2013-04, Volume 1 Issue 4

Copyright © 2013 5enses Inc. unless otherwise noted. Publisher & Editor: Nicholas DeMarino Copy Editor: Susan Smart Read a new 5enses the first Friday of every month. Visit 5ensesMag.Com, Facebook, & Twitter for more. Contact us at 5ensesMag@Gmail.Com or 928-613-2076.

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Ruby Jackson gears up for chalky, spacey, and earthy events.

Eric Moore entertains a colorful seasonal visitor.

Helen Stephenson boldly goes where you, too, can get your nerd on.

Ty Fitzmorris talks about the birds and the bees (and the butterflies).

Alan Dean Foster can’t find an app to express his disdain for apps.

Wyatt Frazee dirties his hands with a Messier subject.

James Dungeon talks art and inspiration with Raina Gentry.

Gene Twaronite keeps things in perspective, naturally.

Jill Craig savors the unsaved daylight hours.

Jacques Laliberté & Nancy Ibsen outsource their artwork.

PLUS

Left brain/Right brain Le Find out what’s going on i Greater Prescott in

Death, eath, Taxes, Ta & IRS Zombies The science of inevitability y

COVER: “Robot Love 5,” a painting by Raina Gentry. THIS PAGE: Detail from “The Dual,” a painting by Raina Gentry.

5ENSESMAG.COM 5ENSES SMAG.COM • 2013 APRIL • CONTENTS • 3

Left Brain:

April’s mind-full events

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“BUCKEY” BOOK TALK

• 12 p.m. Tuesday, a discussion about thee hisk matmat tory, mystery, and parallels between dark ts and ter and cyber security; via College of Arts Sciences Colloquium Series. (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, AC1, 3700 Willow Creek Road, 928-777-6985)

• 2 p.m. Sunday, author Fred W. Veil, grandson andson dso ic facts fa of star pitcher Buckey Veil, shares historic nee from the early days of baseball. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

• 7:30 p.m. Saturday, see the Whirlpool irlpool rlpool Galaxy, Galaxy piter, r, and Owl Nebula, Beehive Cluster, Jupiter, omy Club. Cl double stars; via Prescott Astronomy (Vista Park, 1684 Sarafina Drive)

SKIRTING TRADITIONS TALK

“VITAL LIES” BOOK TALK K

• 5:30 p.m. Sunday, author Edward rd d F. Berger ate of educaeduca invites conversation about the state St tion. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

PROFESSIONAL WRITERS OF PRESCOTT PRESCOT

• 5 p.m. Wednesday, play board games. (Prescott Public Library, Bump Elsea conferonference rooms, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500) 77-1500) 7-1500

• 2 p.m. Sunday, journalists Mary Jane Phillippi Shoun and Pam Stevenson discuss their experiences as women in media. (Sharlot Hall Museum, 415 W. Gurley St., 928-445-3122, $3 members, $5 nonmembers)

PRESCOTT ASTRONOMY CLUB

CENTRAL ARIZONA GEOLOGY Y CLUB

PRESCOTT AREA BOARDGAMERS

“THE BUFFALO SOLDIERS” RS” TALK

• 6 p.m. Wednesday, monthly meeting. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suites, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

• 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, monthly meeting. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suites, es, s, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

• 5 p.m. Wednesday, play board games. (Prescott Public Library, Bump and Elsea conference rooms, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928777-1500)

• 1 p.m. Saturday, reenactor Sgt. Bill McCurtis lryy soldiers; portrays African American cavalry en Museum, Museum a Heritage Conversation. (Phippen 4701 Arizona 89, 928-778-1385)

“BUCKEY” BOOK TALK

THIRD THURSDAY DINNER ER R LECTURE

PRESCOTT AREA BOARDGAMERS MERS ERS

HISTORICAL APRON TALK

• 1 p.m. Thursday, performance artist Bobbe obbe bbe en’s Schafer discusses vintage aprons, women’s s-70ss fashion, and U.S. culture from the 1940s-70s. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suites, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

NATURAL HISTORY INSTITUTE OPEN HOUSE • 2 p.m. Thursday, see Prescott College’s new Natural History Institute and John James Audubon prints, with guest speaker Dan Campbell, retired director of the Natural Conservancy in Arizona (Prescott College, Natural History Institute, 310 Grove Ave, 928-350-2280)

ROTARY DYNAMICS TALK • 5 p.m. Thursday, Donghui Zhang discusses rotary dynamics; via Honors Program. (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, DLD Davis Learning Center, 3700 Willow Creek Road, 928-777-6985)

PRESCOTT BIRD WALK

• 8 a.m. Friday, Eric Moore leads a Granite ite Basin bird walk. (Jay’s Bird Barn, 1046 Willow Creek Road No. 105, 928-443-5900)

SAVING THE WILD WEST TALK • 5 p.m. Friday, Scott Poppenberger, Arizona Game and Fish wildlife biologist, discusses the North American Conservation movement. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928-776-9550, $5 donation, registration required)

NEED SOME NARRATIVE? Check out Ruby Jackson’s column on page 6.

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STARRY NIGHTS

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“DARK MATTER & CYBER SECURITY” RITY RITY”

• 4 p.m. Wednesday, Fred W. Veil,, grandson of star pitcher Buckey Veil, shares historic oric facts fa Prescott Pubfrom the early days of baseball. (Prescott lic Library, Founders Suites, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

• 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Marsha Painton inton presents he Phippen “George Phippen and the Birth off the 701 Arizona 89, Museum.” (Phippen Museum, 4701 928-778-1385, $20, catered dinner)

“THE BERLIN AIRLIFT” TALK

• 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Drs. Deidre Hunter and Steven Leshin discuss the Lowell Amateur Research Initiative “Little Things,” a multiwavelength project aimed at understanding what drives star formation in dwarf irregulars; via Prescott Astronomy Club. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suites, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

• 7 p.m. Wednesday, Tom Cossaboom, retired U.S. Air Force historian, discusses “The Berlin Airlift,” a documentary for which he was executive director, chief interviewer, and more. (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Davis Auditorium, 3700 Willow Creek Road, 928-777-6985)

“YUNNAN PROVINCE, CHINA’S HINA’S BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT” T” TALK TAL

• 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dr. Ed Grumbine mbine bi discusses Yunnan Province, the mostt biologibi l i cally and culturally diverse corner of China. (Prescott College, Natural History Institute, 310 Grove Ave., 928-350-2280)

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HUMPBACK WHALES TALK ALK LK

• 7 p.m. Friday, naturalist Brent Nixon disdis hales.” cusses “The World of Humpback Whales.” (Yavapai College Performing Artss Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-776-2000, $10)

PRESCOTT BIRD WALK

• 8 a.m. Saturday, Bonnie Pranterr leads a Whit White Spar Campground bird walk. (Jay’s y’s Bird Barn, 1046 Willow Creek Road No. 105, 928-443-5900) 928-443-5900

CITIZENS WATER ADVOCACY GROUP • 10 a.m. Saturday, Filmmaker Gary Beverly shows his film “Viva la Verde!” and talks about current Verde River issues. (Granite Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 882 Sunset Ave., 928-445-4218)

“THE IMPROBABLE JOURNEY” BOOK TALK • 1 p.m. Saturday, author and artist Gerry Metz discuses Lewis and Clark’s travels. (Phippen Museum, 4701 Arizona 89, 928-778-1385)

MYSTERY NOVEL WRITING TALK • 2 p.m. Saturday, Sylvia Nobel, author of Kendall O’Dell mystery series, shares her experience writing suspense novels. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

4 • EVENTS • 2013 APRIL • 5ENSESMAG.COM

THIRD THURSDAY STAR TALK

PRESCOTT BIRD WALK

“CALL OF THE WILD” TALK ALK

• 7 p.m. Tuesday, Walt Anderson, n, naturalist, ottt College enviartist, photographer, and Prescott scusses Arizona ronmental studies professor, discusses wildlife and the Granite Dells lakes. (Prescott College, Crossroads Center, 220 Grove Ave., 928-350-4505)

• 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, monthly meeting. (Prescott Public Library, Founders erss Suites, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

“RIGHTFUL PLACE” BOOK TALK • 2 p.m. Saturday, Amy Hale Aucker shares her book and cowboy poet and musician Gail Steiger plays songs from his forthcoming album. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

28 Multiple 19 days 20 PRESCOTT ORCHID SOCIETY CIETY

• 1 p.m. Sunday, monthly meeting. ng. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suites,, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

• 8 a.m. Friday, Bonnie Pranter leads eads a Watson n, 1046 Willow Woods bird walk. (Jay’s Bird Barn, Creek Road No. 105, 928-443-5900) 00)

GRANITE CREEK CLEANUP NUP

• 9 a.m. Saturday, annual Granite te Creek co community cleanup; via Prescott Creeks. eeks. eks. (Granite Creek Park, 554 N. Sixth St., 928-445-5669) 8-445-5669)

EARTH DAY & WILDFIRE EXPO • 10 a.m Saturday., expo featuring educational booths about water and land conservation, recycling, walking and hiking trails, recreational venues, green building materials and home improvement projects, and wildfires; via Open Space Alliance and Prescott College. (Courthouse Plaza, 120 S. Cortez St., 928-717-1116)

“AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF MAYER” BOOK TALK • 2 p.m. Saturday, Nancy Burgess chronicles the story of Mayer. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

NATURALIST FIELD WALKS

• 10 a.m. Saturdays, discover more about local birds, geology, plants, and more. (Highlands Center for Natural History, 1375 S. Walker Road, 928-776-9550)

NATURALIST CITY WALKS • 10 a.m. Wednesdays, at select city trails, discover more about local birds, geology, plants, and more; call or check website for details. (HighlandsCenter.Org, 928-776-9550)

DROP-IN CHESS • 2 p.m. Saturdays, play chess; all ages, skill levels welcome. (Prescott Public Library, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

21 All April

SKIRTING TRADITIONS TALK

• 2 p.m. Sunday, journalists Barbara bara Bayless Lacy and Barbary Bayless Lacy discuss scuss their experiences as women in media. (Sharlot Hall Museum, 415 W. Gurley St., 928-445-3122, $3 members, $5 nonmembers)

MANAGING A WRITING LIFE TALK • 2 p.m. Sunday, Michaela Carter, Laraine Herring, Kristen Kauffman, and Susan Lang panel discussion and Q-and-A. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

PUBLIC LIBRARY VIEWERIES • Learn about the Thumb Butte Quilters, the art of Russell Miller, and the city’s water conservation efforts. (Prescott Public Library, Vieweries A-C., 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

stneve lluf-tra s’lirpA POETRY DISCUSSION GROUP

• 1 p.m. p.m Wednesday, Dr. Janet Preston’s group oy and discusses poetry; copies provided. enjoys (Presco (Prescott Public Library, Elsea Conference Room, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

EMBRY RIDDLE STUDENT READING • 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, students share their poems, short stories, creative nonfiction, plays, and more. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

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POETS’ COOPERATIVE

• 6:30 p.m. Thursday, share your poetry. ((Prescott Presco Public Library, Elsea Conference Room, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

“52 V VIEWS” AND “KEEPING EVEN” POETRY READING

• 2 p.m. p. Saturday, at Peregrine Book Co., Jim Na Natal and Sheila Sanderson read from their recently published works. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

“LARK: A COWBOY WOMAN’S RIDE” • 4 p.m. Saturday, Terry Earp performs a humorous, one-person play based on her 2004 documentary, “We Killed Our Own Snakes.” (Sharlot Hall Museum, 415 W. Gurley St., 928-445-3122, $10 members, $13 nonmembers, $15 door)

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MAD WOM WOMEN POETS POETRY READING • 6 p.m. Th Thursday, poetry readings and open c. (Presco mic. (Prescott Public Library, Founders Suites, 215 E. Goodwin St., 928-777-1500)

BEN’S FINE ART GALLERY BE RIBBON CUTTING

• 12 p.m. Fr Friday, one year anniversary ribbon cutting. (Ben’s Fine Art Gallery, 212 W. Gurley St., 928-420-0704)

ANDREW NORELLI LIVE • 8 p.m. Friday, comedian Andrew Norelli performs. (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, DLD Davis Learning Center, 3700 Willow Creek Road, 928-777-6985)

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“THE ONE DAY PLAYS” • 8 p.m. Saturday, actors, directors, playrights, and technicians t wrights, met the night before a stage these 10-minute plays. to create and (Prescott College Granite Performing Arts Center, 218 N. Granite St., $5) OPEN MIC POETRY :30 p.m. Wednesday, Dan Seaman emcees • 5:30 pen mic poet open poetry. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000) 4TH FRIDAY ART WALK Fri • 5 p.m. Friday, monthly art walk including more than 18 galleries and artist receptions. (ArtThe4th.Com)

REC RECYCLED MATERIAL ART DEMO Satu • 1 p.m. Saturday, Teresa Yvonne, local mosaic ishmash artist a mishmash demonstrates how creates art with recyc recycled and reclaimed materials using a hammer and tweezers. (Ben’s Fine Art Gallery, 212 W. Gurley St., 928-420-0704)

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C YAVAPAI COLLEGE STUDENT READING • 5 p.m. Tuesd Tuesday, Kristen Kauffman’s students read works of fiction and poetry with features including mad scientists, gears, feminists, space pirates, lace, and detectives; steampunk attire optional. (Peregrine Book Co., 219A N. Cortez St., 928-445-9000)

Multiple days “A THOUSAND CLOWNS” • 7:30 p.m. April 4-6, 11-13, 2 p.m. April 7, 13, the story of the unconventional Murray, uncle to his precocious nephew, Nick, directed by Randy Faulkner. (Prescott Center for the Arts, 208 N. Marina St., 928-445-3286, $7)

MATA ORTIZ POTTERY DEMONSTRATIONS • 11 a.m. April 13-14, pottery demonstrations by Lorenso Bugarini and Lucy Mora; film and lecture 10 a.m. Saturday; 2:30 p.m. firings both days. (Smoki Museum, 147 N. Arizona Ave., 928-445-1230)

SCI-FI MINI-FEST • April 19-21, science fiction convention including movie screenings, a dance, workshops, discussions, and a reading; featuring special guests Rod Roddenberry and Alan Dean Foster; via Prescott Film Festival. (Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, 1100 E. Sheldon St., 928-227-2304, PrescottFilmFestival.Com)

CHALK IT UP! PRESCOTT • 10 a.m., April 20-21, fifth annual chalk art festival; all ages, skill levels welcome. (201 N. Montezuma St., PrescottChalkArt.Com)

“ADVANCED CHEMISTRY” • 7 p.m. April 25-27, 1 p.m., April 27 and May 4, a pair one-act comedies that look at love and lust among the senior crowd, directed by Mary Timpany; via Readers Theater (Stage Too, Cortez Street alley between Willis and Sheldon streets, 928-445-3286; Chino Valley Senior Adult Center, 1021 W. Butterfield Road, 866738-5567; Prescott Valley Library, Civic Circle, 928-759-3040)

PRESCOTT JUGGLERS & HOOPERS • 5 p.m. Mondays, juggling. (Prescott College Granite Performing Arts Center, 218 N. Granite St., 928-350-3218)

IMAGE: Cyndi Kostylo chalks it up during 2012’s festivities of the same name; Chalk it Up! Prescott, courtesy photo.

All April YOUTH SCHOLARSHIP EXHIBIT • April 8-30, area middle and high school art students compete in an annual scholarship program. (Prescott Center for the Arts, The Gallery, 208 N. Marina St., 928-445-3286)

DANA COHN SHOW • April 13-May 4, paintings by Dana Cohn. (Ben’s Fine Art Gallery, 212 W. Gurley St., 928-420-0704)

“A PEAR IS A PEAR IS A?” • April 16-May 13, paintings and ceramics by Barbara Darr celebrating the beauty of the pear. (’Tis Art Center, Mezzanine Gallery, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223)

“OUR WORLD IN BLACK & WHITE” • April 18-May 16, photography by Dr. George Lewis and jewelry, sculpture, and mosaics by Mary Schulte. (Mountain Artists Guild & Gallery, Spotlight Room, 228 N. Alarcon St., 928-776-4009)

“A NEARLY FATAL ILLUSION” • Through April 20 photography exploring the intersection of art, science and nature, and chaos and climate by Deborah Springstead Ford. (Sam Hill Warehouse, Prescott College Art Gallery, 232 N. Granite St., 928-350-2341)

COWBOYS & INDIANS • Through April 24, art by Hopi artist and veteran Filmer Kewanyama. (Arts Prescott Cooperative Gallery, 134 S. Montezuma St., 928-776-7717)

PRESCOTT COLLEGE SENIOR EXHIBITION • April 24-May 4, art by Prescott College seniors. (Sam Hill Warehouse, Prescott College Art Gallery, 232 N. Granite St., 928-350-2341)

MEL MENDEZ SHOW • April 25-May 22, weavings by Mel Mendez. (Arts Prescott Cooperative Gallery, 134 S. Montezuma St., 928-776-7717)

“SPRING PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW” • April 25-May 20, annual spring photography show. (’Tis Art Center, Mezzanine Gallery, 105 S. Cortez St., 928-775-0223)

“ARIZONA’S SON” • Through April 28, photography by Barry Goldwater. (Smoki Museum, 147 N. Arizona Ave., 928-445-1230)

“HIS & HER” • Through May 4, abstracts paintings and impressionistic pastels by Marianne Vieregg and her husband, Keith Sanders. (Raven Café , 142 N. Cortez St., 928-717-0009)

“YAVAPAI COUNTY QUILTS” • Through June 2, centennial showcase of quilts created by Yavapai County residents. (Sharlot Hall Museum, 415 W. Gurley St., 928-445-3122)

Around ... ... the Corner By Ruby Jackson Chalk it Up! has become a favorite annual event for locals ’round these parts. Professional and amateur artists get to chalk up a square in what’s now the National Bank Plaza parking lot on the corner of Montezuma and Sheldon streets. The fifth annual extravaganza is 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 20 and 21. This event is fabulously free, and each participant gets a box of chalk to create their “family-friendly chalk drawing.” (PrescottChalkArt. Com) Prescott Film Festival is sponsoring a Sci-Fi Mini-Fest Friday through Sunday, April 19-21 at the Yavapai College Performing Arts Center. The featured film is “Trek Nation,” and special guest Rod Roddenberry will be on hand at the screening. The documentary explores his discovery of the legacy of his father, Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek. I’m by no means a Trekkie, but I do love me some vintage “Star Trek,” and the promised costume contest has me pondering busting out my Uhura outfit from Halloween past. One of my favorite sci-fi movies, “The Forbidden Planet,” is also screening along with other classics. The planned party atmosphere with games, special events and the Sky Party on Saturday evening with the Prescott Astronomy Club (those guys really know how to party!) has me saying QA TLHO’ — that’s “I thank you” in Klingon, but seriously, I’m not a Trekkie — in advance to Prescott Film Festival for shaking things up a bit. (PrescottFilmFestival. Com) The 10th annual Whiskey OffRoad is Friday through Sunday, April 26-28 in downtown Prescott. It’s hard to miss this threeday event as Prescott brims with mountain bikers and their kin. I’m not sure where they’ll all go in the nighttime hours now that CoJo’s is closed (R.I.P.), a particular favorite with this

bunch, but I’m guessing the Raven Café will be particularly lively. The full music lineup was TBA at press time, but I’m excited to see some new blood. (EpicRides.Com) Poor little Arbor Day seems to have fallen by the wayside in recent years with the increased celebration of Earth Day. It’s as if we Americans can’t take more than one “green” holiday in a given month. (It’s not even on my calendar, but Administrative Professional’s Day made the cut on April 24, two days after Earth Day is listed and two days before Arbor Day should be listed.) If you’ve got more green to give/live (despite homesteading in this fine red state) let me suggest a private viewing of “It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown” to inspire some tree-planting initiatives. Or celebrate publicly 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Friday, April 26, on the Courthouse Plaza with kindergartners and experts, who will share information about Prescott’s Centennial Witness Trees and “celebrating the diversity of our city’s oldest living residents.” Side note: Arbor Day was founded in 1872 in Nebraska City, NE by J. Sterling Morton. It’s estimated more than one million trees were planted that day, and in Nebraska, it’s still a civic holiday, traditionally celebrated on the last Friday in April. I cannot tell you if they celebrate Earth Day. The lecture circuit shows promise this month on a couple of fronts. Tom Cossaboom talks about the film “The Berlin Airlift” 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 10 at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Cossaboom, a retired U.S. Air Force historian, served as “executive director, chief interviewer, and historic content administrator, as well as travel coordinator” for the film, which covers the 200,000 flights made by Allied forces carrying supplies to the people of West Berlin from June 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949 in one of the first Cold War crises.

6 • COLUMN • 2013 APRIL • 5ENSESMAG.COM

IMAGE: “Rango and Me,” a chalk drawing by Willie Zinn, won best of show in 2012’s Chalk it Up!; Chalk it Up! Prescott, courtesy photo.

Author Fred Veil drops by the Prescott Public Library 4-5 p.m. Wednesday, April 10 to discuss his book, “Bucky: A Story of Baseball in the Deadball Era.” Bucky Veil, Fred Veil’s grandfather grandfather, was a “professional baseballer who played the game in the early years of the twentieth century” for the Pittsburg Pirates, and pitched in the first World Series. This was before steroids, aluminum bats, and even Babe Ruth — back when strategy was king, and passion ruled the field. It’s definitely a curve ball worth following. The Smoki Museum is hosting Lucy Mora and her husband Lorenso Bugarini again this year on Saturday and Sunday, April 13 and 14. The event features demonstrations on how to make Mata Ortiz pottery. Mata Ortiz pottery is traditionally hand-built without the use of a

potter’s wheel, shaped by hand hand, with designs implemented by brushes made from children’s hair. Beginning at 10 a.m., you can see everything from “clay work to design, and even a firing in the afternoon,” in addition to the show and sale. ***** A native of the Windy City, Ruby Jackson is a freelance writer and collector of Norfin Trolls. In her spare time she is an aspiring actress (drama queen) and millionairess (donations gladly accepted). Contact her at RubyBJackson@Gmail.Com.

Prescott: the final frontier Film Festival’s first sci-fi con celebrates science, science fiction, and film By Helen Stephenson

if you’d pass on seeing William Shatner belt out “Kaahhnn” on the big screen. As if you’d pass on meeting someone who’s donned one of the infamous red shirts. As if you wouldn’t fight off the herd of javelinas around your car to hear Alan Dean Foster read from “Splinter of the Mind’s Eye.” Prescott Film Festival is giving you yet another incentive to attend its inaugural “Sci-Fi Mini-Fest”: Rod Roddenberry, son of legendary Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, is visiting Everyone’s Hometown for a special screening of “Trek Nation.” The convention includes three days of film, star gazing and workshops April 19-21 at the Yavapai College Performing Arts Center. “Trek Nation” tickets are $10 ($5 for students of any school and Yavapai College employees). All other films are $6 ($3 ibid). Workshops and readings are free. Find out more and look up show times at PrescottFilmFestival.Com and YCPAC.Com. Films Rod Roddenberry’s autobiographical documentary “Trek Nation” screens Saturday. Rod was just 17 when his father passed away. This film is his personal exploration of his father — discovering who he was and the legacy he left behind. Other featured movies include “Forbidden Planet.” Originally written to be a low-budget film called “Fatal Planet,” the writer, producer, and special effects team pitched it to MGM. Investors said yes to their $1 million budget, which later nearly doubled. J. J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” will also screen, along with “Inception,” “Star Trek II: the Wrath of Kahn,” “District 9,” and “The Matrix.” Additionally, “Galaxy Quest” takes the screen. Fans of the film are divided: One group feels the

film goes over the top making fun of the original “Star Trek” TV series; the other group includes actor Patrick Stewart. “Of course I found it was brilliant. Brilliant,” Stewart said in a BBC interview. “No one laughed louder or longer in the cinema than I did.” Workshops On Saturday, actor David Frankham reminisces about his appearance as a red shirt in an episode of “Star Trek” along with his roles in “The Outer Limits,” “Men in Space,” and the Vincent Price film “Return of the Fly.” Also on Saturday, local filmmaker Jerry Chinn talks about working in the Visual Effects Unit on “Star Trek the Motion Picture.” According to Chinn, this film “was not only the first of the ‘Star Trek’ big-screen films, it also was the last major sci-fi/ fantasy film to use photographic visual effects, rather than digital effects.” This film was done the old-school way, using models and floating matte techniques. Sky gazing Saturday evening, the Prescott Astronomy Club sets up their telescopes for star gazing in the Yavapai College Sculpture Garden. Members will be there to answer questions. Reading In cooperation with the Yavapai College Library, Alan Dean Foster talks about “Splinter of the Mind’s Eye” 11 a.m. Sunday. Published in 1978, the book was written before anyone knew if “Star Wars” would be a hit or not, and also before anyone, including Foster, knew that Luke and Leia were siblings. “Splinter of the Mind’s Eye” was the first full-length “Star Wars” novel to be published after the release of that first film.

***** Helen Stephenson is the executive director of the Prescott Film Festival and collects old hats and Mary Poppins memorabilia. When she’s not watching films or marketing the fest, you can usually catch her at the computer in her Prescott Film Festival office on the campus of Yavapai College. Contact her at Helen@PrescottFilmFestival.Com.

5ENSESMAG.COM • 2013 APRIL • FEATURE • 7

The tech we don’t need By Alan Dean Foster

We’re

all gadget geeks now. Manufacturers know it. Advertisers know it. And those who live by selling us all the myriad technological developments we don’t need surely know it. I was put in mind of this when, for the umpteenth time, I found myself turning into the Willow Creek Road post office in the wake of a 4x4 SUV that, if its wheels were removed, might possibly fit into the cargo compartment of a 747. It wasn’t the size of this gas-guzzling behemoth that forced contemplation upon me. It was the speed with which it took the driveway: a velocity only slightly greater than that of a desert tortoise anxious to commence mating. Every monster 4x4 that enters the post office parking lot, each looking as if it possessed the ability to climb the steep side of Thumb Butte, was taking the driveway as if its undercarriage and suspension were no tougher than a chocolate soufflé just out of the oven. Hence, the inevitable question that echoes in my mind every time I am witness to this vehicular farce. Why? Why pay all that money for engineering and technical advances if you don’t need them and you’re never going to use them short of puttering up and down the hill in front of the Elks Opera House a couple of times on the rare occasions when a few inches of snow actually sticks to Gurley Street. Who needs a semi-military class machine to fetch kids from school and groceries from the market? My 4x4 commuters: You’ve been had. But then, we all have.

Perceivings Take

telephones. Or what used to be called telephones. Now they’re personal communication devices. Deviant as it may seem, I use my telephone to call people. ple. That’s all. I don’t need a phone ne to tell me the best way to get to San n Jose, how to bake cornbread, what’s at’s happening this week in Ouagadougou, gadougou, or why I should give a damn about anybody named ed Kardashian. My phone ne is so inexpensive I don’tt worry about losing it,, so retro I don’t have to worry about being mugged for it, and the monthly service cost is minimal. The tech pushers insist I need that $500 00 phone and $100/month nth service so I can have access to my email and the web anywhere, anytime. Except I don’t want access to my email and the web anywhere,

anytime. I want that access, you bet, but on my terms, when and where I’m in the mood for it. And I sure as Babel don’t want everyone else to have instant ac access to me. But, I am told, there are hundreds of thousands hun of apps available for these new (meaning out-of-date in six months) smartphones! And sm each app costs so little! Don’t you really, deep down, w want to know right now wha what the weather is in Moose Jaw Jaw, Saskatchewan? Sorry. I’m using that time to enjoy a cheese cheeseburger and fries. Very low-tech, but b ultimately more satisfying. There’s no app fo for grilled onions.

I had to come up with an ultimate example of overpriced, over-engineered, absolutely unnecessary tech for sale, I reckon I’d nomi-

Art. Science. Prescott. READ 8 • COLUMN • 2013 APRIL • 5ENSESMAG.COM

nate smart refrigerators. I mean, really smart refrigerators. The kind with video screens embedded in one of the front doors. The most “advanced” models can tell you more than you want to know about how your refrigerator and its contents are doing. In my ignorance, I thought all you had to do was open the fridge door and look inside. I don’t need a $200 color screen accessory to tell me that if there’s water pooling up in the bottom of the freezer compartment, the fridge is likely not in good shape. As if that wasn’t sufficient, some models allow you (via an app, natch) to monitor the condition of your refrigerator and its contents remotely. Now the high-tech add-on finally makes sense. I mean, how could I enjoy lying on a beach somewhere in the South Pacific without the ability to instantly ascertain how the celery back home is feeling? In contrast, it’s almost impossible to buy a refrigerator with a bottom freezer that, like our late, lamented, prehistoric GE, has a foot pedal that allows you to open it without risking rugby-class back injury. I suspect that’s because a foot pedal might cost a few dollars, its profit margin being considerably less than that to be derived from an integrated color smart screen.

Lastly,

I was going to talk about the computer-controlled smart toilets that are all the rage in Japan, but the ghost of my father-in-law, who was born in rural Texas in 1900, is already laughing so hard over my shoulder that I can’t get started. It’s a wonderful thing, advanced technology. But sometimes, like that chocolate soufflé, it’s something best taken in small doses. ***** Alan Dean Foster is author of more than 120 books, visitor to more than 100 countries, and still frustrated by the human species. Follow him at AlanDeanFoster.Com.

MORE @ 5ENSESMAG.COM

The wit & whimsy of Raina Gentry By James Dungeon

After

a decade of toil, Raina Gentry was ready to become a fulltime artist. But she was scared. “I had a mortgage, all these bills, no more student loans to tap into,” said the Prescott-based painter. “I didn’t know how to market my work and didn’t really have a body of work or focus.” She didn’t have a vision. After earning a bachelor’s of arts from the University of Arizona in 2002, Gentry returned to Prescott — the city she’d called home since 1990, when she moved from California to attend Prescott College. And she got yet another job. “I did what a lot of artists do: I got a job that’s related to art,” Gentry said. “But, as long as you have a day job, you’re not devoting your energy to your own art.” She made ends meet but couldn’t evolve. What’s a burgeoning artist to do?

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 >>>

IMAGE: “Jack,” a painting by Raina Gentr y. 5ENSESMAG.COM • 2013 APRIL • PORTFOLIO • 9

... FROM PAGE 9 Nature & nurture It’s not as if painting was an obvious career choice for Gentry. “Art wasn’t a big part of my childhood,” she said. “We didn’t go to museums or art galleries; we didn’t talk about art or anything like that.” But her mother and grandmother encouraged her interest in drawing, paint-by-number books, and watercolors. Gentry took art classes through high school, but at some point got discouraged. “I thought, ‘You know, this is not my thing,’ and I put everything away,” she said. After high school she got an associate’s degree in small business management from San Bernardino Valley College, held some stopgap jobs, and debated going to the University of California Santa Cruz. Then, in 1990, a friend told her about Prescott College. “I saw their course catalog, and that changed everything,” Gentry said. “I was a rock climber — an avid rock climber — and I thought outdoor education was it

for me.” That sounds odd, given her svelte frame, but Gentry’s animated gestures and solid gaze betray her rugged disposition. “Orientation cured me of that idea,” she said, describing the school’s infamous three-week backpacking trip for new students. “I just wanted to enjoy the outdoors myself.” She started taking environmental studies classes, and paid her way through school by crafting jewelry and organizing small art sales. “Early ’90s people were very creative,” Gentry said, shrugging off the idea that she showed unusual initiative. “At some point, it inspired me to get my watercolors back out.” Reframing Sales at art and craft shows spurred Gentry to create new art. New, but not necessarily original. “I had the same problem I had in high school, though,” she said. “I really couldn’t tap into my own imagination.”

10 • PORTFOLIO • 2013 APRIL • 5ENSESMAG.COM

Gentry graduated from Prescott College in 1994 with a bachelor’s of arts in environmental studies. She didn’t know what she wanted to do, but she wanted to stay. Eventually she got a job teaching at her alma mater. She settled into a routine. She settled into Prescott. “I’m not really sure how it happened, but it was 1999, and I decided I wanted to focus on art, to learn to make my own art,” Gentry said. She dropped everything and enrolled in the art program at the University of Arizona in Tucson the following year. “It was like a floodgate,” she said. “I had all this pent up creative energy that I never knew how to express before.” Gentry’s portfolio was prolific — two or three times the norm, by her own account. She earned her degree and returned to Prescott in 2002, but lacked the self-confidence to jump into fulltime art. Instead, she started a high-end faux finishing and wall mural business. The money was good, but she stressed over jobs and stagnated as an artist outside of

FROM LEFT, OPPOSITE: “Hydra” and “Fire on the Mountain,” paintings by Raina Gentry; Raina Gentry poses for a portiat in her home studio, and the robot sketch, now taped to her easel, that inspired some of her recent paintings, photos by 5enses.

work. In 2006, when she was in her early 40s, Gentry took a stand. “I needed to choose,” she said. “I was either going to focus one hundred percent on my artwork or I was going to figure out something else to do with my life.” Head first A big part of making art a full-time business is branding and marketing. For Gentry that included a strategic approach to everything from which galleries she showed in and how she presented herself online to the style and subject matter of her art. Her business background supported one approach: That she should pick a style and repeat and refine it over and over again. Her artistic mind, however, fostered a different idea: That she should follow her whims and experiment. While much of her work involved the human form, she began dabbling in depictions of nature and, eventually, animals. “I think I have five, six, maybe seven bodies of

work,” Gentry said with a laugh. “I might do six or seven paintings then take off on a totally new tangent.” One of those tangents is largely responsible for her current success. And it started with a robot. “It’s just the quintessential robot, right?” Gentry said, talking about a sketch she used as the basis for a series of paintings in recent years, a sketch still taped to her easel. The robots led her to alien landscapes, which she populated with boulders. Those fields of stones led her back to Earth, but retained that surreal style — a style of painting that’s come to define her work in recent years. You see the same underlying geometric designs and color scheme ploys in her depictions of nature, especially of trees. “The compositions are simple, but powerful,” Gentry said. “It’s moved from one thing to another.” In life, and in art, she’s found it best to follow her instincts. It hasn’t always been easy, and it hasn’t always been obvious, but it’s made Gentry successful. And happy. “I couldn’t have done this unless I was fully commit-

ted to art,” she said. “I finally decided, d ‘OK, ‘OK I’m going goi to do this.’” ***** Raina Gentry’s artwork has shown locally in several venues. Currently, you can see a variety of her paintings at the Ian Russell Gallery, on Whiskey Row, and the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery, in Jerome. Find Gentry online at RainTree-Studios.Com. James Dungeon is a figment of his own imagination. And he likes cats. Contact him at JamesDungeonCats@Gmail.Com. Visit 5ensesMag.Com in mid-April to see and discuss more of Raina Gentry’s artwork.

Outdoor Highlands Center for Natural History’s s Outings

Springtime Delights By Jill Craig

a fresh new antler, the branch is soft and velvety. It reaches for the sun’s photosynthetic rays. Tiny catkins on the tips of each tip will soon tempt hungry pollinating insects. This Lemonade Berry Bush (Rhus trilobata), a close relative of poison ivy, is a crowd pleaser from spring to late fall. Don’t worry: It’s not poisonous. The catkins produce a cluster of small, inconspicuous white flowers before the shrub leafs out. After pollination, each flower develops into a bright red-to-orange berry with a single seed. The berries are edible and taste like bitter lemonade, hence the shrub’s common name. Perhaps this growth will deter hungry herbivores. This Lemonade Berry Bush is a spring friend I look forward to seeing after a long winter. It’s one of many hopeful indications that spring is here. Another telltale sign of spring’s arrival is the lengthening of days. Winter is especially difficult for me and many others because the sun doesn’t lighten our days until the late morning and it sets so very early. In spring, though, I’m greeted with sleepy morning rays that evoke Joni Mitchell’s “Chelsea

Morning” — ah, where is my milk and toast and honey?

can thank these longer, sun-filled days to the tilt of the Earth’s axis. During the vernal equinox, the northern hemisphere inclines toward the sun allowing it to grace us with more daylight: 12-13 hours, or so. Days lengthen until the summer solstice, when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky and our days are at their longest. My favorite part of a spring day is dusk. Even after all those short, dark, insufferable winter days, there’s something inspiring about the fading light in spring as it casts deep shadows off the trees and darkens the space between peak and valley of our dear mountains. The earth, still moist from winter snows, emits a soothing, rustic scent. Having reached their springtime destination, songbirds sing and flit about in their breeding plumage adding to the evening’s romance. It’s an irresistible time of day — one that brings out the beauty of Prescott’s natural surroundings.

The

day after one of the Big Snows in March, Prescott was thrust into spring. I took

advantage antage of the warm weather and took my first spring g dusk walk walk. Dogs in tow, I beheld the melting of snow, sn the sprouting of forbs, and the flight of a Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa), a widespread, common butterfly with delicate, dark brown-red wings outlined in pale yellow. Had it sought refuge under loose bark during the snowstorm? I was awed that such a delicate creature could survive exposure to extreme weather. I know this species can overwinter here, but I don’t recall ever seeing one so soon after a snowstorm. My longing for spring’s warmth has ended, though I’ll keep an eye out for a last-minute storm or a late frost. I rest assured that tomorrow will be a little bit longer and warmer than today. And with it will come nature’s sweet delights. ***** Jill Craig is education director at Highlands Center for Natural History. She oversees all educational programming for the center and facilitates the Highlands Naturalist Volunteer Program. In her spare time, Jill can be found hiking in the Bradshaw Mountains with her two dogs and husband.

April’s orioles By Eric Moore

Prescott

is home to three species of orioles: Bullock’s, Scott’s, and Hooded. Bullock’s are the most common. Males are brightly colored with striking orange, yellow, black, and white plumage. Many homeowners make a special effort to attract orioles by putting out a variety of food sources for them during spring and summer. One of the simplest ways to attract orioles is to put out an oriole feeder with sugar water. Nectar is a big part of an oriole’s diet, just like a hummingbird’s. Another way to attract orioles is to put out orange halves and live meal worms. Orioles begin showing up in the Central Highlands in April, and leave for the tropics in August, so their time here is very brief. May you be so fortunate to enjoy orioles in your yard this year. ***** Eric Moore is the owner of Jay’s Bird Barn located at 1046 Willow Creek Road in Prescott, Eric@JaysBirdBarn.Com.

12 • FEATURES • 2013 APRIL • 5ENSESMAG.COM

IMAGE: Male Bullock’s Oriole; by Kevin Cole, WikiMedia. Org, Creative Commons 2.0.

News From the Wilds By Ty Fitzmorris

After

the long quiet of winter, April is the raucous, enlivening yawp of life in the wilds. We may still have snowstorms, but the majority of the month is sunny and warm with extraordinary proliferations of butterflies, returning migratory birds, native bees, flowering plants, and mammals in the thrall of mating and bearing young. For the attuned naturalist, this can be a time of deafening, beautiful noise, and more activity than easily followed. April is also the beginning of the three-month dry season. But water abounds, and the creeks continue to run with snowmelt from the high Bradshaw, Sierra Prieta, and Juniper Mountains. The soil is damp in most places and flowers thrive. Young mammals emerge from their dens and begin the long process of learning to forage and navigate their landscapes. And butterflies, the real vanguard of spring, fly in amazing diversity. Look for orange and black checkerspots, commas, and question-marks, yellow and blue swallowtails, dark, lowflying iridescent skippers, and soaring, gold-tinged Mourning Cloaks. April 20 is Earth Day, now in its 43rd year. You can join Prescott Creeks this Earth Day in their annual Granite Creek Cleanup. Registration is 8:30 a.m., and the cleanup is 9-11:30 a.m. Last year 650 volunteers removed 3.5 tons of litter from our watershed’s creeks. (PrescottCreeks.Org) Afterward, swing by the Earth Day Celebration at Courthouse Square. (YavapaiOSA.Org/EarthDay.Htm)

Canyon Treefrogs, like the one pictured here, are emerging from their winter refuges. Photo by Ty Fitzmorris.

***** Ty Fitzmorris is an itinerant and often distractible naturalist who lives in Prescott and runs Peregrine Book Company and Raven Café as a sideline to his natural history pursuits. Contact him at Ty@PeregrineBookCompany.Com. High mountains • Snow remains, melting slowly. • Black Bear cubs emerge from dens with their mothers and begin learning to forage for grubs, leaves, and roots. Visit: Maverick Mountain Trail, No. 65. Ponderosa Pine forests • Acorn Woodpeckers breed and tend young. These woodpeckers nest in colonies, and tend the young of other, often related, nestmates. • Coyote pups emerge from their dens, though siblings remain together for up to a year before they disperse. • Valerian begins flowering. This plant is extensively used as a muscle relaxant, sedative, and soporific.* Visit: Granite Mountain. Pine-Oak woodlands • Black, Gray, and Arizona Oaks change color and drop last year’s leaves, growing soft, lighter-colored ones. • Ornate Tree Lizards (Urosaurus ornatus) sun on rocks and the sides of Ponderosa Pines. • The buds of Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus) begin flowering in warmer areas.

Visit: Trails No. 326 & No. 392 north of Thumb Butte. Pinyon-Juniper woodlands • Mexican Free-tailed Bats return, following the wave of emerging insects north. No other animal species consumes more insects in North America; each bat consumes up to 80 percent of its body weight per night. • Lemonadeberry (Rhus trilobata) ﬂowers. This species gets its name from its tasty, though sour, berries.* Visit: Tin Trough Trail, No. 308.

• The Black Hawk, one of North America’s rarest hawk species, returns, establishing nests and breeding. • Swallows, like Violet-Green, Roughwinged, and Barn, return from overwintering in Central and South America. • Canyon Treefrogs (Hyla arenicolor) emerge from their winter refuges. Visit: Granite Creek Trail, downtown.

Grasslands • Spring butterflies abound in dazzling diversity. Look for fritillaries, sulphurs, blues, duskywings, and swallowtails. • Many flowers bloom. Look for the small yellow flowers of Barberry (Berberis haematocarpa) and the fragile white flowers of Evening Primrose (Camissonia brevipes). Visit: Mint Wash Trail, No. 345.

Deserts/Chaparral • Sugar Sumac (Rhus ovata) flower. It’s named for its sugary sap, which has been used as a sweetener. The berries, though edible, are sour.* • Iridescent tiger beetles emerge from their pupae and begin hunting flies and other insects. They often fly ahead of hikers, landing and running, and can be seen with binoculars. • Dayflying moths (Litocala sexsignata) proliferate and fly in clouds of thousands. This is one of the few moth species that only fly during the day. Visit: Lower West Spruce Trail, No. 264.

Riparian areas • Creeks run with some algae growth, and water-striders hunt for other insects on the water’s surface.

* Always consult a trained professional before ingesting wild plants. This information is not intended to promote consumption of any plant.

April weather Average high temp: 66.9 F, +/-3.9 Average low temp: 34.3 F, +/-3.2 Record high temp: 88 F, 2012 Record low temp: 11 F, 1899 Average precip.: 0.92”, +/-1.13” Record high April precip.: 6.9”, 1926 Record low April precip.: 0”, 1899, 1945, 1962, 1966, 1989, 1991, 1993, & 2008 Max daily precip.: 3.4”, 1917-04-17 Max April snowfall: 9.8”, 1964

April skies April 10: New moon at 2:35 a.m. April 21: Lyrid meteor shower peaks. Though typically one of the brightest showers of the year, it’ll be somewhat washed out by the moon. Look for the best, brightest shooting stars after midnight. April 25: Full moon at 2:57 p.m. It’ll rise a little after sunset. April 28: Saturn is at opposition, i.e. brightest, with the Earth directly between it and the sun. This is the best time to view Saturn’s rings and moons through a telescope.

5ENSESMAG.COM • 2013 APRIL • FEATURE • 13

News From the Wilds By Ty Fitzmorris

After

the long quiet of winter, April is the raucous, enlivening yawp of life in the wilds. We may still have snowstorms, but the majority of the month is sunny and warm with extraordinary proliferations of butterflies, returning migratory birds, native bees, flowering plants, and mammals in the thrall of mating and bearing young. For the attuned naturalist, this can be a time of deafening, beautiful noise, and more activity than easily followed. April is also the beginning of the three-month dry season. But water abounds, and the creeks continue to run with snowmelt from the high Bradshaw, Sierra Prieta, and Juniper Mountains. The soil is damp in most places and flowers thrive. Young mammals emerge from their dens and begin the long process of learning to forage and navigate their landscapes. And butterflies, the real vanguard of spring, fly in amazing diversity. Look for orange and black checkerspots, commas, and question-marks, yellow and blue swallowtails, dark, lowflying iridescent skippers, and soaring, gold-tinged Mourning Cloaks. April 20 is Earth Day, now in its 43rd year. You can join Prescott Creeks this Earth Day in their annual Granite Creek Cleanup. Registration is 8:30 a.m., and the cleanup is 9-11:30 a.m. Last year 650 volunteers removed 3.5 tons of litter from our watershed’s creeks. (PrescottCreeks.Org) Afterward, swing by the Earth Day Celebration at Courthouse Square. (YavapaiOSA.Org/EarthDay.Htm)

IMAGE: Canyon Treefrogs, like the one pictured here, are emerging from their winter reguges; by Ty Fitzmorris.

***** Ty Fitzmorris is an itinerant and often distractible naturalist who lives in Prescott and runs Peregrine Book Company and Raven Café as a sideline to his natural history pursuits. Contact him at Ty@PeregrineBookCompany.Com. High mountains • Snow remains, melting slowly. • Black Bear cubs emerge from dens with their mothers and begin learning to forage for grubs, leaves, and roots. Visit: Maverick Mountain Trail, No. 65. Ponderosa Pine forests • Acorn Woodpeckers breed and tend young. These woodpeckers nest in colonies, and tend the young of other, often related, nestmates. • Coyote pups emerge from their dens, though siblings remain together for up to a year before they disperse. • Valerian begins flowering. This plant is extensively used as a muscle relaxant, sedative, and soporific.* Visit: Granite Mountain. Pine-Oak woodlands • Black, Gray, and Arizona Oaks change color and drop last year’s leaves, growing soft, lighter-colored ones. • Ornate Tree Lizards (Urosaurus ornatus) sun on rocks and the sides of Ponderosa Pines. • The buds of Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus) begin flowering in warmer areas.

Visit: Trails No. 326 & No. 392 north of Thumb Butte. Pinyon-Juniper woodlands • Mexican Free-tailed Bats return, following the wave of emerging insects north. No other animal species consumes more insects in North America; each bat consumes up to 80 percent of its body weight per night. • Lemonadeberry (Rhus trilobata) flowers. This species gets its name from its tasty, though sour, berries.* Visit: Tin Trough Trail, No. 308.

Grasslands • Spring butterflies abound in dazzling diversity. Look for fritillaries, sulphurs, blues, duskywings, and swallowtails. • Many flowers bloom. Look for the small yellow flowers of Barberry (Berberis haematocarpa) and the fragile white flowers of Evening Primrose (Camissonia brevipes). Visit: Mint Wash Trail, No. 345.

Deserts/Chaparral • Sugar Sumac (Rhus ovata) flower. It’s named for its sugary sap, which has been used as a sweetener. The berries, though edible, are sour.* • Iridescent tiger beetles emerge from their pupae and begin hunting flies and other insects. They often fly ahead of hikers, landing and running, and can be seen with binoculars. • Dayflying moths (Litocala sexsignata) proliferate and fly in clouds of thousands. This is one of the few moth species that only fly during the day. Visit: Lower West Spruce Trail, No. 264.

Riparian areas • Creeks run with some algae growth, and water-striders hunt for other insects on the water’s surface.

* Always consult a trained professional before ingesting wild plants. This information is not intended to promote consumption of any plant.

April weather Average high temp 66.9 F, +/-3.9 Average low temp: 34.3 F, +/-3.2 Record high temp: 88 F, 2012 Record low temp: 11 F, 1899 Average precip.: 0.92”, +/-1.13” Record high April precip.: 6.9”, 1926 Record low April precip.: 0”, 1899, 1945, 1962, 1966, 1989, 1991, 1993, & 2008 Max daily precip.: 3.4”, 1917-04-17 Max April snowfall: 9.8”, 1964

April skies April 10: New moon at 2:35 a.m. April 21: Lyrid meteor shower peaks. Though typically one of the brightest showers of the year, it’ll be somewhat washed out by the moon. Look for the best, brightest shooting stars after midnight. April 25: Full moon at 2:57 p.m. It’ll rise a little after sunset. April 28: Saturn is at opposition opposition, i.e. brightest, with the Earth directly between it and the sun. This is the best time to view Saturn’s rings and moons through a telescope.

5ENSESMAG.COM • 2013 APRIL • FEATURE • 13

Death, taxes, & IRS Zombies: The science of inevitability Let’s be honest: March is always a crapshoot.

Consider March weather. It’s cold, then it’s hot, then it snows, but then the clouds clear, and you get a sun burn. The vernal equinox doesn’t guarantee spring. Pair that with schizophrenic holidays — two that straddle or hop between months, and one that starts with libations and ends with green vomit — and you’ve got an erratic, unpredictable month. But now it’s April. Ahh, April. Now that’s a month you can count on. It’s going to get warmer and drier. Migrating birds will return to Prescott for days, weeks, or months. And so will mountain bikers. And tourists. And then there are the holidays. April Fool’s Day is the first, and an alarmed loved one will forward you a satire newspaper story in a fit of panic. You’ll swear you’re filing your own taxes this year, then struggle to find an accountant on Tax Day Eve. And you’re bound to forget Buddha’s birthday, two earthy holidays, and recreational drug use day. You can try to fight it, but April is a month of inevitabilities. But science has you covered. The studies, factoids, and oddities below can help you deal with certain inescapable facets of the human condition. They’re drawn from actual scientific studies and data, although some details and caveats have been omitted in the interest of brevity, entertainment, and copy deadlines. A lot of these studies deal with the inexorable decline of your faculties because, well, there’s scant more inevitable than death. There’s no reason for all the doom and gloom though. So cheer up, accept what life gives you, and try to have some fun in the interim. You experience the world through sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Why not use those five senses to navigate life’s inevitabilities?

Sight If you’re one of the roughly four percent of the general population who’s got a lazy eye (amblyopia, if you want to impress your optometrist), there’s a bright light on the horizon. Turn around and walk away from it: Darkness may correct your vision. Ten days of total darkness appears to revert your eyes to an earlier, more flexible stage of development that can correct lazy eye, according to researchers from Canada’s Dalhousie University in February 2013’s Current Biology. No kittens were harmed in this study, but that’s only because they all got their vision back. Once you’re seeing things clearly again, it’s only a matter of time until you see something that conjures up strong negative memories and fear. You can’t erase those images from your mind, but you may be able to sever the fear association with them. Every time you see an image, your memory is activated and appears to become malleable for a short period during which you can recast it, separating the image from the emotion. Researchers from Sweden’s Uppsala University describe a technique unto this end in the September 2012 issue of Science. Their study

Sound involved shocking people when they saw banal things like landscape paintings or pictures of fruit and then showing them the same images without a shock either right away or after a couple of hours. The window of opportunity for reprogramming memory is short; say, maybe 10 minutes. You might be able to rig up a similar experiment at home using the first paragraph of this section and the picture of the pirate cat below.

14 • GUIDE • 2013 APRIL • 5ENSESMAG.COM

“It’s a small world after all. It’s a small world after all. It’s a small world after all. It’s a small, small world.” If the results of a “Scientific American” poll posted online in November 2011 are any indication, that Disney song is now stuck in your head. (As a matter of posterity, it’s called “It’s a Small World After All.”) If that didn’t do the job, turn on a radio or TV. Sooner or later, a song or jingle is going to get stuck in your head and repeat itself ad nauseam. If you want to get rid of that earworm, do something challenging, but not too difficult. It can’t be automatic, like riding a bike, tedious, like computing the value of π by hand, or too complex, like finding a use for left over Ikea furniture parts. This sanity-saving advice comes from Western Washington University researchers as presented in a December 2012 issue of Applied Cognitive Psychology. If you’ve got the other kind of earworms, though — i.e. earwigs, any member of the insect order Dermaptera — you might not want to waste time on sudoku puzzles or turn-based strategy video games.

Smell If you feel like you’re losing your sense of smell, take solace in the fact that it’s probably not your fault. Blame smell loss on derelict p63, a gene that’s responsible for the neurons in your nose, among other things. It stops your olfactory stem cells from differentiating, i.e. turning into something else other than olfactory cells. As you get older, a genetic trigger may reduce p63, and you’ll lose the capacity to replace dead or damaged nose neurons. Incidentally, nose neurons only live about a month or so. All of this comes from researchers at the University of California Berkeley, as presented in a December 2011 issue of Neuron.

Maybe you’ve never had that great of a sense of smell. And maybe you’re a psychopath. In one recent study, people who scored high on tests for psychopathic traits — being manipulative, callous, erratic, or criminal, or like that guy in “The Watcher” — were much more likely to fail to tell the difference between smells, according to research from psychologists at Australia’s Macquarie University published in the September 2012 issue of Chemosensory Perception. If you’ve got spare time, consider researching which commercial scents saw a sales boost following the media frenzy that followed this study. It’s all about correlation.

Touch Whether through injury or circumstance, there’s probably going to come a point in your life when you have to use your non-dominant hand. It might feel awkward to use your off hand, but it’s actually stimulating your brain. There’s plenty of research to support this — everything from brain scans to extensive studies. The effect likely has a reverse learning curve, though, as your control attenuates and your motions become more acute. Still, reflecting on your increased neural activity can help distract you from just how infuriating it is to write with your off hand when your dominant hand is in a sling.

Taste You can try and try again, but Brussels sprouts may never taste good to you. If so, that could be because you’re one of the roughly 75 percent of people who can taste phenylthiocarbamide and 6-n-propylthiouracil. These related chemicals are responsible for the bitter taste in cabbage, raw broccoli, black coffee, and dark beers, among other things. And, as we all know, a taste for bitterness is easier to acquire when stimulants or depressants are involved.

If fatty foods are too good for you to resist, it might be because you can’t taste the fat in them. It’s common knowledge that we can taste five things: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and ummami. But we can also taste fatty acids, according to research from Australian and New Zealand universities published in July 2010’s British Journal of Nutrition. Here’s the sticky widget: People with higher fat sensitivity ate fewer fatty foods and had lower body mass indexes.

FROM TOP, OPPOSITE: “Exciting Sport,” illustration from “Through Hell With Hiprah Hunt: A Series of Pictures and Notes of Travel Illustrating the Adventures of a Modern Dante n the Infernal Regions; Also Other Pictures of the Same Subterranean World” by Arthur H. Young, 1901, public domain; a vintage children’s book illustration, public domain, plus eye patch; “Main Display Case,” by Victuallers, WikiMedia.Org, Creative Commons 2.0, plus ice cream. 15

Prescott Astronomy Club Presents ...

Astronomy 101: M’s the Word By Wyatt Frazee

“M81

anybody?”

That’s not a bingo caller; it’s an astronomer. “I have M81 in my telescope if anyone cares to take a look.” It’s Saturday night, and I’m at a star party. I contemplated taking a peek, but my telescope’s trained on M41, a beautiful open star cluster. That’s when it dawned on me that to many folks, and even to some of the people at the star party, all this M-stuff is educated gibberish. Let me introduce you to the Messier Catalog. It’s a list of objects that, quite simply, aren’t comets. The French astronomer Charles Messier compiled this list multiple times in the latter-18th century to help fellow comet hunters. It includes a variety of celestial objects today known by different names. There are other classification systems but, to modern amateur astronomers, this list of M-numbers is pretty much “Astronomy 101.”

Charles

Messier was born in Badonviller, France on June 26, 1730 and lived until April 12, 1817. (Yeah, he powdered his wig.) He was interested in astronomy from an early age, and, at age 21, moved to Paris to work under French Navy astronomer Joseph-Nicolas Delisle. Delisle instructed Messier on the importance of accurate observations — a discipline of exactness that later helped the success of the Messier Catalog. Believe me, it’s no fun trying to observe something you can’t find. A quarter-century before Messier was born, Edmond Halley predicted that a comet would return

near Earth’s orbit in 1759. He was right, and that comet was dubbed Halley’s Comet. A few years before its mid-18th century arrival, Messier began looking for it, but he ran into trouble. Messier noticed a number of faint, fuzzy objects that resembled comets, but didn’t move through the sky as comets should. He started compiling a list of these objects to help himself and other comet hunters. (Incidentally, the next arrival of Halley’s Comet is predicted for July 28, 2061.) The original catalog, published in the early 1770s, included 45 objects. The final edition, published in 1966, long after Messier’s death, included 110 items.

The

Messier Catalog includes one asterism, one double star, 39 galaxies, 29 globular star clusters, seven nebulae, 26 open star clusters, four planetary nebulae, one star cloud, and a single super nova remnant. Although Messier cataloged a large number of galaxies during his lifetime, it wasn’t until the early 1900s that we understood what they actually were. And it wasn’t until much more recently that I appreciated the history of those M-names. My current personal favorite is M42. It’s also called Orion’s nebulae. And through my telescope, it reminds me of bird wings. ***** Wyatt Frazee is manager at Think4Inc, vice president of the Prescott Astronomy Club, a science student at Yavapai College, and a hopeful future science teacher.

IMAGE: A 1910 image of Halley’s Comet, the celestial object that in large part, centuries earlier, inspired the creation of the Messier Catalog; WikiMedia.Org, originally published in The New York Times article “What the Recent Visit of Halley’s Comet Showed,” public domain.

STARGAZING? Check out Ty Fitzmorris’ sky forecast on page 13. 16 • FEATURE • 2013 APRIL • 5ENSESMAG.COM

Maintaining a natural perspective

The Absurd Naturalist

By Gene Twaronite

Developing

an appreciation for the natural world offers many benefits, not least of which is that it keeps us from going insane. Did you ever have one of those days when you’ve just been fired from your job, and you come home to an empty, filthy apartment only to find a note from your girlfriend telling you she’s leaving you for a body builder in Samoa? And you try to grab some beer and find there is none because someone has stolen your refrigerator? Then your doctor calls with some really, really bad news? Keeping your chin up under such circumstances is no easy task unless you are an unfeeling machine or have the intestinal fortitude of Job or, better yet, have learned to maintain a natural perspective.

natural perspective is a way of seeing things in terms of our relationship to that larger time frame and sphere of existence we call nature. In the aforementioned case, for example, instead of dwelling on your crappy karma, you can take heart that you are still alive as opposed to the estimated 150-200 species of life that go extinct every 24 hours. And you can be thankful that you’re not living during the infamous Permian-Triassic extinction event, when some 90-96 percent of all species of life on Earth bit the dust, so to speak. The human species is still around, so far, and soo are you. So be of good cheer. er. Not being extinct definitely has its advantages. Or you might consider that your

probable lifespan is considerably longer than any species of mayfly, whose lifespans range from 30 minutes to a day. And while you might think winged m male ants (or drones) lucky in that they spend or sp their entire ntire lives eating and mating, g, take heart that few live ve longer than several al weeks. Remember, mber, you could have been born a gastrotrich trich — a tiny ny aquaticc animall that lives ves only three hree days. Unlike these hese other organisms, you still have plenty of time left eft to screw up again. ain. Just don’t get too cocky y about this. Most trees will live you. And so will ive longer than you some animals, such as certain tortoises so and fi shes. There is even a kind of ocean an clam said to live 400 years.

its tiny fraction of total energy output and allow you to soak up some rays at the be beach. At this th rate, you might ask, could the sun burn itself out before you ddie? Not to worry. It is estim timated that the sun has at least another 4 or 5 billion years be efo f re it uses before up all of its hydrogen.

Of course, long before that, there may be a few other issu is ue of concern. issues A the ssun gradually uses up As its hydrogen hydrogen, it will slowly become bbrighter br ighter and a larger, so much so th hat in aabout 1.1 billion years it will that comp co mpletely dry d out the earth’s atmocompletely sphere, m making all the world’s real estate virtually worthless. And in 2-3 billion years, temperatures on earth will become too hot even for those with oxygen tanks. A And after that, the sun will probably expand into a red giant, engulfing all the inner planets including Earth.

whatever happens to you in this miniscule time span we call a life, don’t worry. It can’t be as bad as being swallowed up by a red giant.

You

might also give g thought to ol’ ssol — the source of lif life on this planet, not to mention menti suntans, wrinkly skin suntans skin, and skin cancers. can Scientists estimate that it has been around for about 4.5 billion years, going through about 500-600 metric tons of hydrogen each second just so Earth can intercept

© Gene Twaronite 2013 ***** Gene Twaronite’s writing has appeared in numerous literary journals and magazines. He is the author of “The Family That Wasn’t,” “My Vacation in Hell,” and “Dragon Daily News.” Follow Gene at TheTwaroniteZone.Com.

5ENSESMAG.COM • 2013 APRIL • COLUMN • 17

What you needing : 3 sheets paper of squares; scissor tool; open-mind a en on; flexible fingers.

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18 • FEATURE • 2013 APRIL • 5ENSESMAG.COM

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