Yours Sincerely

Comments and questions from around the state, the nation, and the world.

Dear Editor, As I write this letter it is two days before Christmas. Earlier, I walked into the mailroom and there on a table lay the November 1982 issue of Arizona Highways. I picked it up and suddenly I was home for the holidays, and not as lonely as I'd been the minute before. I have travelled most of the state while a 10-year resident of Mesa; from Monument Valley to Yuma, Lake Mead to the Chiricahua Mountains. I was reminded of long days spent hiking in the Huachuca Mountains, the thrill of first stepping into the Bird Cage Saloon (Tombstone, Arizona), and wandering through Boot Hill Cemetery. I was also very deeply saddened to learn of the pass-ing of Ted DeGrazia.

I have spent three of the past four years in Africa (1981 spent in Arizona, of course), which I love for the same reasons I love Arizona-unparalleled beauty, unspoiled wilderness, kind and generous people.. I fear greatly for what creeping civilization might do to them both.

Dear Editor, One of my more pleasant memories is of my introduction to Arizona Highways. Without going into a great deal of discus-sion, the story is as follows: For the past 45 years, I have been employed as a steel mill electrical engi-neer and as far as I was concerned, the world revolved around this job. On many occasions the duties were not all that great. Major maintenance and repair work was always scheduled for holiday downtime, including Christmas. One Christmas Eve many years ago, I found a copy of Ari-zona Highways (a Christmas issue of sev-eral years past) in the maintenance shop. The Christmas story and art work so impressed our crew that we built a Christ-mas tree from pipe and decorated it with colored lights. It was mounted on the high-est point of the roof. It really lit up the place! Management was not too happy about it and our future with the company looked bleak. However, the community presented the company with a letter award-ing them first place for the best Christmas decoration for that year, thus getting us off the hook.

Each season as the Christmas issue arrives, I appreciate more and more your efforts in turning out this fine magazine, especially in a world so very difficult to understand. Thanks for a job well done.

Dear Editor, To be honest, I have never been compelled to write to any publication in the time that I can remember. But when I saw the "Seasons Greetings" issue, I couldn't help myself. I am a marine stationed in Hawaii, and although it's beautiful here, I am home-sick for the world's most beautiful gift to mankind. When I saw the pictures...well, I can't really express the feelings. I have arguments with many people from all over the world about true beauty. To win I only need to show them the pictures in Arizona Highways. Your magazine has been the inspiration for at least three people I know to move to Arizona. I would just like to thank you as I renew my subscription.

Dear Editor, Throughout my young life, Arizona Highways has broadened my appreciation and understanding for art. The February, 1983 issue is no exception. The article on Dan Namingha introduced me to a new dimension in Southwestern art -expression of spiritual heritage. Not only do these paintings convey personal direction, they blend dynamic colors into a subtle harmony.

I thank Mr. Namingha for sharing with us his cultural talent!

Dear Editor, I'm supposed to be living in paradise! I think everyone is wrong. Everytime I get our Arizona Highways, I cry for that beautiful land of the Southwest. Keep printing away and as the palm trees sway, I'll dream of arid lands.

Dear Editor, I have been an Arizonan for 30 years, although I have lived in other places around the world from time to time as my business requires. For the past three years, I've been living in Japan and much as the series "Shogun"

Probably tended to give many Americans a misconception about Japan as it is today, so the popularly aired "Westerns" have provided the Japanese with a lot of misconceptions about today's Arizona. Nothing I can imagine (short of an actual visit to our magnificent state) helps correct these often wildly erroneous concepts better than my monthly Arizona Highways. Circulated among my office staff and local friends, they not only dispel the popular notion that Arizona is nothing but a vast desert overrun by Indians chasing cowboys (or vice versa), but also prove that Arizona has a truly amazing variety of landscapes and climates, rivaled by few, if any, other states. The Japanese are intensely proud of their country, with its pristine coastlines, cedared forests, and towering Mt. Fuji. But they are also awed by the expansive beauty of Arizona which, thanks to Arizona Highways, is now a bit better understood by at least a few of them. Keep up the excellent work!

Dear Editor, Last June a busload of us seniors went on a tour which led us through your great state and included a night at the Grand Canyon. Your magazine shows so many different views of the Canyon at different times of day and night, and every season of the year. While there, we witnessed still another view of the sunset and sunrise. Thanks for all the magazine brings into my life, making life more abundant.

Dear Editor, Speaking as a professional geologist, your February issue on the Painted Desert/ Petrified Forest was a small masterpiece! One of the best examples of popular science I've ever seen in print.

(Back cover) Baboquivari. Here among the towering cliffs and crags lives the Papago's Elder Brother, l'itoi, the spirit of goodness, in the land which, according to legend, is the center of all things. Of Earth and Little Rain, the Papago Indians, by Bernard L. Fontana. David Muench photo (Inside back cover) A young rain dancer from the village of Santa Rosa, on the Papago Reservation. Although Catholic in Faith, as a result of the Spanish missionary program of the 18th century, the Papago go right on thinking and behaving in ways uniquely their own.