Nathan Arizona

A Few Thoughts On the Wilderness

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Thinking as I watch the sun dew dripping off the naked winter trees. It’s a cold winter night, but the Earth is strong and beautiful. All is beautiful. Wish you were here… …I miss the summer, hiking in the narrows of Zion with my sweetheart, or watching the purple light of evening drape the desert sand… The wintry sun now softly whispers and the candled stars begin to rise in the eternal dome, not yet totally dark but primordial. The frigid wind wails through the branches of an ancient juniper skeleton. Dressed from head to toe like a redneck eskimo, …

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Be a Citizen Journalist & Know the Beauty

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The beauty of this world cannot be suppressed. A strong desire in humans to protect & defend their freedom also plays big role in this web of life. Certain inalienable liberties were gifted to us by the Creator and CANNOT be taken away or forfeited by any government or institution but sometimes we have to fight to protect them. There’s an evil on our planet that feels too unreal to acknowledge and is often grossly overlooked. However, it has always been there and instinctively challenges our freedom if it goes unchecked (think runaway government, greed, crony capitalism, etc) and so …

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Ending Greed

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Ending greed is a good goal. Greed is the disease plaguing our society as a whole and infects different faucets of life and culture. To name a few of these symptoms they include; racism, colonialism, imperialism, genocide, mis-use of religion, environmental destruction, fascism, forced-assimilation and tyranny, etc. Greed is a disease of the mind. It has nothing to do with skin color, one’s religious beliefs, where one comes from or who you are. This disease infects the mind. It’s an outlook on life. It has deep roots in Western Civilization that has been passed down through the generations… and it …

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Concerning Individual Beauty

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To me… Beauty runs much deeper than the friggin skin and much deeper than the human spirit; it is determined by someone’s outlook. Foolishness is ugly, and if you don’t have beauty in your heart and outlook, then you are an ugly person. It’s that simple to formulate!

Pain and Adventure

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There is a slight breeze coming through the window blinds and the face of sunlight creeps against the bedroom wall and edges down the hallway towards the bathroom. The blazing star begins another summer day as I drag myself out of bed and down the road. The Jeep starts up with a clogged fuel filter which needs to be changed this morning or today. There’s a few other problems that need fixing on the Cherokee but I take on each day without too much worry. I’m just need the next serious adventure. The neighbor’s window chimes dance in the wind …

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A Bittersweet Experience of Havasupai

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Havasupai, in the Grand Canyon, is not just a canyon and a bunch of pretty waterfalls. It has cultural significance as well as a lot of history surrounding the indigenous people that call it home, mainly the Supai. I’ll include my thoughts on the Supai people at a later time, in a different journal entry. This post is regards my experiences with Havasupai and how it is changing my outlook on life. Or perhaps, it has forced me to introspect about things I would not consider otherwise? Havasupai changed my life three years ago for better or worse in August …

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Finger in the Dam

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Some lazy mornings I don’t feel like writing but was instructed to practice daily to get anywhere prolific. It’s kinda like practicing the violin or piano in order to fine tune a talent. Writing is something I really enjoy doing but I have never done it for a wider audience. In my younger years, I would write a lot of poetry, essays and short stories; then I started drinking caffeine like a sailer and that dulled some of my senses until I curbed the intake recently after several years of abuse. I’m laying in my bunk, sleeping in and listening …

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Horse Sense

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I’m one of the last and youngest of a dying breed that has any lick of horse-sense left with which these newer generations cannot even mentally comprehend! All greenhorn city slickers can just ignore this status entirely because they don’t even have a clue. As Joe Dirt would joyfully chant; “Keep on keeping on.”

Longing For A Simple Life

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While I long for a simple life you cannot excuse the power of technology and the impact of it on our lives. I think of the revolutions going on in the Middle East and how Facebook and Wikileaks have restored the power of information flow to people. Technology has been able to unveil secrecy so that the truth may be told. Yes, our lives are getting much more technologically complex but I can deal with this evolution with the good it’s bringing into the world. I think the Creator has a had a hand in it. So I realize, nobody …

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First Southern Utah Leak: I Believe in Wikileaks

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Who gives a crap whether drama is useful or not or whether people try to tell you how to act, how to behave, how to conform. I really don’t give a rat’s butt when people tell me what to do, what to think, and what to believe. I believe in the truth and getting to the bottom of it at any cost. This is a cause that is worth fighting for. Organizations like Wikileaks are trying to keep world governments free and transparent. They are trying to be a voice & power for the people, to protect their liberties. Julian …

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My Experience As An Outlaw

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Let’s start a political movement. Several ideas keep flooding my head and I can no longer ignore them. I have a dream for America, and it’s starts in my local community. Conservative hill-billy Southern Utah, here I come. Consider me both conservative and middle-of-the-road but I have ideas that run deeper than civilization and I intend to focus this political energy into a grassroots movement. The first batch of issues I wish to address are as follows; government accountability & transparency, police misconduct, racism & discrimination in the community and asking the “hard questions” to politicians who we elect into …

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A Few Words To Me from My Father

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A Child…. When you start to talk about the wind in your hair…. I know it is because you are running from life… So run….. You are very talented though! You write like Edward Abbey… your pictures are breathtaking…. you play a mean flute tune… Your the best damn tour guide…. You are kind…. You are caring…. You’re so talented that you don’t see it…. you’re passionate…. and these things I am envious of…. They make you rich….. They make you unique…. and I could learn a thing or two from ya…. I proud of these things….in my son…

The World of the Green-Back Dollar Bill

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Technology in my world has a limited place. If all electricity shut off tomorrow, it would be the first day of an epic adventure that I have been looking forward to for all my life. That’s right, I see the ‘End’ as the beginning of an adventure, and definitely a new way of life! I’ve been living my life in such a way to survive this cataclysmic change headed our way. This is what would make me an anarchist to some people but a peaceful one at that. I don’t believe in any form of violence except against the most …

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Heading to Delta Tomorrow

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In the morning, I am getting up early and driving three hours to Delta to sell some Alabaster to a rock shop there. Yup, that’s how I am going to pay the rent this month. My favorite stretch of highway is between Milford and Deseret, Utah, which is seventy miles without services and very desolate. If I have enough time to spare this will mean plenty of desert landscape shots through my lens tomorrow. On another note, I’m heading to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with my best friend, Omar and a few ladies this weekend. Hopefully we’ll stop …

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Early Morning Drive

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About 5 AM this morning I threw on Levis and Redwing boots and rushed into the early February cold before the hint of dawn. As I fired up the Jeep it was so frigid that I quickly retreated into the house waiting for the engine to warm up. The day before, after church, I drove into the desert to plow in four-wheel-drive through fresh snow and get a good scenic view of the aftermath of a big blizzard that had moved through on Saturday. After turning on a random dirt road, I drove about 50 miles cutting fresh tracks in …

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My Hat’s Tipped to Libya’s Freedom Fighters

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Libya becomes bloodbath as Moammar Gadhafi begins lose grip on power. I support the Libyan people in the uprising against Gadhafi’s regime. For me, the serious unrest is reminiscent of a scene from the movie, Braveheart, where Sir William Wallace screams FREEEEEDOM right before losing his head after a long, arduous and disheartening struggle. Let this be a reminder that freedom often comes with a lethal sacrifice in human blood. Gadhafi is an evil man who is not going to give up without a deadly fight. I can feel the courage, and the thirst for freedom that Libyans are feeling. …

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Gazing into the Firelight

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My heart is quiet as I listen to the dark winds moving in from the west as the sun drops in the crimson purple abyss. There is a soft twilight mixed with the smell of cold juniper frost and the sound of a monster walking in the woods. The branches of the pinions creak as the night envelops the desert hills. My imagination takes a journey into the past, to the most ancient times, and I can see them flint-knapping and throwing unused chips of augite into the dirt. One old man is building a fire that grows strong and …

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Decolonizing America?

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It’s not impossible for Uncle Sam to change his outlook & decolonize. In fact, I think he could change his whole opinion & quit seeing the world from the typical ethnocentric, westernized standpoint. Our multi-cultural nation could enter an enlightened renaissance never seen before in the history of civilization!

My Life is a River

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It’s 1 A.M. in the morning and I am inspired to write. Why is that? This thought came into my head because I no longer suffer from the writers block. All of a sudden I feel inspired to write. Life is like a river. I’m a desert rat and river rat and this is how I live. The desert canyon country is my dwelling. Because life is a river, I do not know whats around the next bend in the canyon or when the next major rapid is going to challenge my raft. So I spent the whole evening watching …

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The Howling Wind Tells the Story

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Do you ever listen to the wind, the silence, the rattling aspen leaves? Have you considered the end of the world, lately? Today feels very uncertain. The final throws of summer are dying; crickets still sing at night. Off in the distance I listen to the hum of the freeway, diesels and cars fly down I-15. Sunflowers are dangling in the wind bright as yellow day. I watched the purple sun vanish through a dark slit in the sky and celebrated a friend’s birthday at a local Japanese restaurant called, Ninja. When I came home this evening, I cracked open …

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On the Railroad Tracks

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Let the starlight capture your gaze tonight where happiness never sleeps and dreams never soften. A heart that is pure cannot deny the truth of what was real, and I love life because of what may be? Never forget the memories as they come and go and flee…

Owls, Coyotes, Memories and Dreams

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My Amigo, Omar and I traveled out to Milford, Utah. We stopped off at an old abandoned mining mill and smelter out in the boonies. There inside a decrepit torn building with a partially collapsed roof, we saw a Great Horned owl which flew out of the ruins and then returned a few seconds later. It wasn’t very far above our heads, about 15 feet and It landed up in the roof rafters. It looked back down on us with ruffled feathers and a quiet stance. This has been apart of a strange series of events that I’ve noticed over …

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Life Requires Deep Roots

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I’m like the coyote, often careless, reckless, and naive even in my late twenties. Okay, I have to confess something publicly, I acted out on my insecurities. It was very reckless and I may have said some mean things. I didn’t realize they may be taken that way until after I reread the words. Be careful what you say to another human being. Words are like tooth-paste. Once it’s out of the tube, it’s hard to get back in. I am sensitive, irrational, illogical, and dream too much. Empathy is not always my strong point hence why I need to …

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My Strong Heart

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First off, I finally have something to write about and it concerns my earlier life. This is what I call introspection. When I was in grade school I hopelessly teased, ridiculed, and made fun of. In the sixth grade I wore a hat that proclaimed, “I love my Grandpa!” The other school children made fun of me because I dressed like a country boy and was living in Salt Lake City at the time. Basically, I was country when country wasn’t cool and I didn’t jive with city kids. I wasn’t good at sports, neither. So the combination made me …

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Aliens and Country Store Ice Cream

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We drove out to Area 51 in the middle of the night which turned into a big misadventure. Actually, it wasn’t a misadventure at all. Well it was, but it wasn’t. And it wasn’t even my idea. You see, there’s this girl I was studying with at Southern Utah University and after we finished up she suggested that we drive to Area 51 in Southern Nevada in the middle of the night. I don’t think she realized that I would do such a thing. Most guys aren’t crazy. Well, she’s crazy and I realized how much fun it would be. …

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The Adventure and Misadventure Ramble

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The beauty of life cannot be controlled or pushed. There is joy in the indescribable and mysterious. When you journey into unknown places the mystery never fully reveals itself. For many seasons I have explored vast distances and realized how grateful I am for experience. I have loved every adventure and misadventure. Every adventure has its story, definition and teachable moment. Listen to the things that are fading in this world and let’s not forget the beauty around us. Let’s not let apathy and ignorance ruin our spirits or let the mass production of western materialism deteriorate our lives. You …

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Nate’s Definition of Racism

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Racism isn’t just random acts of hate; everyone is infected with it. Racism is ignorance and peoples’ refusal to walk in the shoes of people who are different than them. Racism is apathy and a refusal to learn both sides of the story. Racism is the refusal to ask hard questions. Last of all, I see a racist as someone who believes so strongly in race that they fight extra hard trying to defend a false construct.

Be the Captain of Your Ship

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Life is good but how do you rid yourself of bad behavior like procrastination? It’s not healthy or desirable. The worst kind of activity is unproductivity. Life is about setting goals and progress happens one step at a time. It’s not a simple matter because it takes a conscious effort and some faith. Being on Earth every day is the ultimate experience but it’s hard to know the outcome. My father always said; “the choices you make now will ripple into your future.” I’ve felt the ripples of my choices and they were unanticipated. NATE, you’re time on this planet …

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My Random Cowboy Life

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It’s time for me to call it quits on being a summer tour guide. That means staying home and having a real social life. For the past five years, I have been either traveling or working somewhere on a ranch! It’s spectacular but I’ll admit even the best adventuring grows old. I want a family someday and it isn’t going to happen if I’m always moving. The desert and the road trips are amazing but I’m ready to anchor myself and get down to business with dating. I’ll type my thoughts daily and get in the habit of doing so. …

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