February 1, 2005
Tucson, Arizona, USA

10:34am I'm on the couch at Joanna's house. Her 18 year old son Alfie lives here too. He's tall with big red hair, plays guitar and his sport is fencing. Their old dog, wolfie, is nuzzling me looking for love.

Guito, Kenni's friend, hooked me up with Joanna, so I'd have a place to sleep close to the Gem Show main drag, which is just on the other side of the highway. I met Kenni three years ago at the Common Ground Fair in Maine. It is all about who you know.

I can't write much now, cuz I want to get over there and start making a mobile from the Cholla cactus and barbwire I found at Kenni's creative quiet soul ranch, and Terra Sante--a land trust/artist community where we gathered Saturday night around a fire and watched a couple slide show presentations about natural building forms and evolutionary art.

Sunday morning I collected Cholla in cool clean desert air, then Kenni and I when to a diner for breakfast burritos, which the waitress traded for a dragonfly. On the way back to Tucson we stopped at Terra Sante and I spoke with Solar Bob, who enlightened me on many things, such as Stirling engines and a power plant in the desert with mile-long mirrors that have been around for 30 years--bought by Enron before it went bankrupt. He says the government is building 96 coal burning plants in Nevada, which will make more electricity than all of California uses, and it is all going to Yucca Mountain-- said to be a nuclear waste dump, but may be a cover-up like the chemical spill in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Solar Bob thinks they may be building a secret undergroundcity.

I'm noticing something more and more. People who are opinionated don't tend to listen. Solar Bob is a very smart man. He talks very calmly. I watched two men with strong views interact with him, and they wouldn't let him finish his sentences. And same with the fundamental Hari Krishna at the temple last week. After the singing and dancing, a bunch of us talked as we sat around eating dinner. The brother was explaining all the precise steps one needs to take to know God. The guy wouldn't shut up and listen to anyone.

The native American medicine songs I sang in at the hippie sweat that day and the Hari Krishna chanting I did with them that night was what it is all about for me--being in harmony with the spirit in those around me--finding common-unity. I didn't come looking for answers to be sent down from above. The answer is love. It is here and everywhere; we just gotta open up.

The past two Sundays I've attended the co-op houses potluck, fire and jam. Three houses rotate. Good times--great people. Tucson has a lot of good things going.

Yesterday morning, I woke at the house of some kids I met at the potluck, and found the Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment, one of my favorite books, and spent some time reading. It reminded me that enlightenment is all about one's level of love. Am I permeable, open to others light? Or am I dense, in fear, in darkness--with mind's eye focused inward?

I've been smiling a lot lately. It is attracting beautiful people. I've been listening. People love to share and tell me amazing things.

As for my to do list... last week I spent a few days at the Star School, near Flagstaff, and spoke with the parents of the Navajo kids who are going to Roblito, Mexico with me in March. It will be a dozen 8th grade students, living with host families for a week.

The other thing on the list was Prescott college-- they are sending me info about their BA degree.

And another awesome connection... a man named Brain called me out of the blue, asking wants me to help him build a national Scouting program that is co-ed and for adults--called Star Scouting America.

Time to go to the show and get creative.