The classic image of the desert in novels is of someone stumbling upon a mirage at dawn and believing that what they were seeing is something tangible or even monumental, only to see it vanish in the harsh light of the day.
At our reading of The Nature of Desert Nature Wednesday night, poet Homero Aridjis also read from the intro to his novel, La Zona de Silencio. Homero reminded us how much imagery of deserts is about illusions, allusions, hallucinations AND hard truths, glaring disparities, failure or death.
But when we reckon with these issues in the desert, they give us clarity and propel our lives through the power of humility.
It appears that a third of Republican Party is still suffering from the mirage that Trump has won and that despots can do anything they wish.
The harsh light of truth will come and the game will be over. Then comes the cleanup and the healing. Trump and his proxies have senselessly cut a 60 foot wide wound along the border for hundreds of miles, and its effects have begun to ripple out into both countries, causing additional pain and putrification.
Now is the time to begin to sow it up, to clean up (or out!) the bad actors, and humbly work day by day to rid ourselves of all of our own illusions so that we can get on with supporting life, not generating more death.
