In which I am left stranded

By Zach Hively

Are you in northern New Mexico? Come say hi this weekend! I’ll be set up with my publisher, Casa Urraca Press, in the artists’ mercado at the El Rito Studio Tour.  

I am my own man. You can’t pin me down to any one taste, or any single allegiance. Like Neil Young said, “I don’t sing for nobody.” Because he is always right and I agree with everything he does, I believe in staying true to myself and only myself.

One of the things I do to stay true to myself is to purchase every new Neil Young album, which I’ve done since 1999 or so, when you could get them at a magical place called Hastings. I listen to them the whole way through, in my own uninterruptible sanctum, liner notes in hand. 

These rituals used to happen with CD releases, though for the last ten or fifteen years I have adapted, like any good American does, to the latest cutting-edge technology for most new album drops. Neil Young puts out enough new music that the modern large-format liner notes that come with these newfangled vinyl records are probably the main reason I still don’t need glasses.

For this latest record with Crazy Horse, called Fu##in’ Up, I was feeling nostalgic for the CD format. Not least of all because it is cheaper, while still provoking a certain tactile satisfaction I have yet to glean from old-school streaming. I sliced open the cellophane, popped a beer, and slid the still-as-yet-unsmudged CD into my--

—into my--

—into nothing, because I no longer own a CD player.
That’s okay. An impromptu road cruise also affords a superlative first-listen experience. I jumped into my car and fed that now-slightly-smudged CD into my--

—into my--
—into my realization that CD players are not, and have not been, standard automotive features since sometime in one of the Obama administrations.
What a world we live in. CDs (the investment ones) are sitting at 5% interest rates, which incidentally is probably the current-day percentage of households with functioning CD players.

Now, I hardly live a life of American excess. I have only two vehicles, for instance, and the one without Bluetooth capabilities plays cassettes, but only in one direction these days.

Yet technology has left me behind in even this most fundamental way, if neither my car, nor my other car, nor my computer, nor my other computer, nor my stereo, nor my alarm clock, nor my telephone, nor I, with the world’s knowledge at my fingertips, can play a single CD, once heralded as both a durable and a portable audio medium.

But I, as my own man, refuse to change my ways just because technology doesn’t support them anymore. Besides, it’s nothing a quick trip to Radio Shack can’t fix.

Thank you for reading Zach Hively and Other Mishaps. This post is public so feel free to share it.
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OLNEY, ILLINOIS - Nestled in the heart of the Midwest, the city of Olney, Illinois, is known for its historic charm, friendly community, and a unique ecological marvel - its population of white squirrels.

These snowy-furred creatures have become a beloved symbol of the city and hold a special significance for residents, visitors, and wildlife enthusiasts alike. Unlike their commonly seen gray or brown counterparts, white squirrels are a rarity, making Olney's abundant population all the more astonishing.

The white squirrels of Olney are not albinos, as many initially presume. While they sport a coat of pure white fur, their eyes are not red but instead hold a deep, dark hue. This distinguishes them from true albinos in the squirrel world, making them a unique sight to behold.

The story of how these distinctive creatures came to call Olney their home is shrouded in mystery, with various local legends offering differing accounts. Some say they were brought to Olney as a novelty in the late 19th century, while others believe they were a natural mutation that thrived in the town's welcoming habitat.

Regardless of their origins, the city of Olney has embraced these white squirrels with open arms, implementing ordinances to protect them and promoting their presence as a local attraction. The city even conducts an annual squirrel count to monitor the population and ensure their continued survival.

Today, Olney is officially recognized as the "White Squirrel Capital of the World," a title that the community wears with pride. The city park offers an ideal location to spot these fascinating creatures, and visitors are encouraged to partake in "squirrel tourism," an opportunity to learn about and appreciate the unique wildlife that calls Olney home.

The white squirrels have even influenced local culture and art, with numerous businesses, events, and art installations around the town featuring the beloved creature. From the annual White Squirrel Festival to the paintings and sculptures that adorn the city, the influence of the white squirrel is as woven into the fabric of Olney as its historic buildings and friendly residents.

In conclusion, the white squirrels of Olney, Illinois, are a unique treasure, embodying the charm and uniqueness of the town. They serve as a testament to the city's commitment to preserve and cherish its unique ecology, inviting visitors from across the country to witness a true natural wonder. So, if you ever find yourself in the Midwest, make sure to pay a visit to Olney, the white squirrel capital of the world.

By: [Your Name]

​If you're paying attention you might have noticed how weirdly written that article is. Especially the end where it says: By: [Your Name]

That's because I didn't write it, AI did, specifically, ChatBox AI. That particular app uses ChatGPT, a common AI program used all over. I entered a basic request to write about the white squirrels, particularly from Olney Illinois. White squirrels are fairly rare, found in only a few places, and one place, Olney, is quite near where my cousins live. My brother and I stopped down there for a quick visit and stayed at the Best Western in Olney, which is way better than the one in Flora.

The squirrel was a lot of fun to see, and Olney was a charming, small Illinois town with friendly people and a great coffee shop. The AI article is technically accurate, if not a bit embellished.

By Jessica Rath

​Well, not really, but close. You may recognize Rick Hilsabeck as an oil painter who participates in the Abiquiú Studio Tour, but did you know that he also was a highly successful professional singer, dancer and actor on the Broadway Stage? He and his wife Sarah Pfisterer toured for many years in the first national tour of The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with Rick in the role of the Phantom and Sarah as Christine. Other Broadway shows they starred in were Billy Elliot, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Show Boat, Phantom of the Opera,  and many more.
How does one end up in sleepy and isolated Abiquiú, after being used to much applause from national and international stages? Abiquiú’s artist community will readily understand Rick’s motivations; after all, he has been a painter all his life and is fascinated by the light and the colors here. But I was curious to find out what else inspired Sarah and Rick to move to New Mexico, and they kindly agreed to an interview.
 
Both Sarah and Rick grew up in the Midwest. Rick is from Chicago, and even as a young boy he loved to paint. He’d regularly visit the Chicago Art Institute where he particularly enjoyed Impressionist art and color.  In high school  he caught the theater and music bug, as he told me, and singing, dancing, and performing took precedence – but he still always painted as well.
 
“We spent a lot of time in Boston, Chicago,  and in the New York City area. Our careers were spent working on the Broadway stage and in New York CIty. We also traveled all over the place”, Rick explained. 

​“Several years ago, I took a 10-day painting trip with my teacher to Ghost Ranch, which made me  fall in love with Northern New Mexico”, he continued. He decided that some day they would return. They  raised their two daughters in Connecticut,  and when the girls had graduated from high school and were ready for college, Sarah and Rick could realize their plan.
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“We've always loved Abiquiu. But we thought it'd be difficult to find something there. We looked for a long time …”
 
“We were looking at the Santa Fe region”, Sarah continued, “and we were almost ready to throw in the towel. We gave ourselves another two weeks. And that night I was looking through the listings, and this house came on the market, and that’s how we ended up here!”
 
Tell me a bit more about your theater life. When you say you were touring, what were you doing exactly?
Sarah answers:  “Well, we played opposite each other in The Phantom of the Opera; he was the Phantom and I was Christine. We were in the First National Company and we toured all over: Chicago, Washington DC, Dallas, Atlanta, Denver… and all over the country. We would stay in one city for months at a time; for example, we played Chicago for nine months and were in Boston for about six months. It was a great way to see the country. I left Phantom to play Magnolia in Showboat on Broadway and then to reprise the role of Christine in Phantom of the Opera, also on Broadway.  Prior to his Broadway Musical Theatre career, Rick was a founding ​member and principal dancer in Chicago's Hubbard Street Dance Co”. 

Sarah and Rick have two daughters who are both in college now. “When they were younger, we wanted to be home for them”, Rick continues. “So, following our regular Broadway theater work, where we had to go into the city for an eight-shows-a-week schedule, we decided to shift our careers in order to be home more often. We opened a Performing Arts School (Wiremill Academy) in the town where we lived in Connecticut, outside of New York City. We did that for 11 years. The pandemic shut us down, like it did to a lot of places. And that  set our timetable forward at least a couple of years”.
 
Sarah found a position as the Arts Program Director at the New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe. I asked her to tell me more about her job.
 
“Well, New Mexico School for the Arts is a public charter school, open to students from all over the state of New Mexico. It’s a high school, grades nine through 12. Thanks to a lot of tireless work on the part of the President of NMSA, Cindy Montoya, generous donors, and the State of New Mexico,  we have a residence; next year, we will have a seven-days- a-week program, enabling our students from further afield to be able to be here the whole time and not have the burden on the families of traveling four or five hours each way, twice a week. Our students have their rigorous academic classes from 9:10 until 2: 05. And then from 2:15, to 4:55, they have their classes in their arts block. We have five different disciplines: we have creative writing, dance, music, both instrumental and vocal, theater, and visual arts. And if a student is with us for four years, they graduate with over 2000 hours of mastery arts training. We have a 100% college acceptance rate, 97% of our students go on to college, or they take a gap year. And so we feel really wonderful serving the students and families of New Mexico.  I have the privilege of overseeing the five arts programs”.
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When was that school established?
“In 2010. Next year will be our 15th year. Bill Richardson signed it into law. We're grateful to the state of New Mexico and to our very, very generous donors. We have a wonderful board of directors and we have donors who are so generous with both their time and, of course, financially”.

Sarah continues: “It's a public charter school, and students attend at no cost. The Art Institute, which is the part that funds the arts programming, raises over $2.7 million a year to fund the arts. But for the students it's a public school and it's tuition free. The state funds the Charter School’s academic programming. The Art Institute is a non-profit organization”.
 Rick adds:  “It’s really a unique thing. As Sarah was saying, an amazing amount of support comes not only from the families and the arts donors and supporters, but the state and the city are quite proud of the program. So it's a pretty great thing”.

I bet you have many applications – how do you choose who will be admitted to the school?
“We have a workshop model now where students apply”, Sarah explains.  “We evaluate them on passion, promise and aptitude. They come for three hours, they create something, whether it's  something in writing or something in visual arts, a sculpture or drawing, or they learn something theatrical or learn a piece of music – everybody creates something. And then we evaluate   our students' passion, promise, and aptitude”.

I’m impressed. Sarah found this great job that allows her to be involved with the arts and to educate young people, and Rick is able to pursue his painting career.

Rick, tell me a bit more about your painting.
“I didn't always have the kind of time that I have now. But it always was a dream of mine. And so, again, all of the pieces kind of fell in place. The color here, and the light and the air are all reasons why there are lots of artists here. Something drew me to that light. I work in oils, I do a lot of landscapes,but I also paint lifes, abstracts and abstract landscapes”.

​Sarah and Rick have lived in Abiquiú for just about two years now, but they have already formed many close friendships and feel they’re part of the community. They can ask their neighbor across the road if they need anything. They appreciate that everybody welcomes them and  is friendly and helpful. I’m not really surprised: they’re both so open and warm, people simply return what they receive. Maybe there will be an Abiquiú Theater in the future?
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Thank you, Sarah and Rick, for a lovely interview.

By Zach Hively

For the Birds

This isn’t the sort of thing you’re supposed to say out loud. It could jinx you, or keep you from getting laid. But I’ll say it anyway, because I am neither superstitious nor insecure, even if I should be: I am doing a Big Year.​

Big Year, for those of you with love lives and other social interests involving human beings, is the attempt by amateur birders to spot and identify as many species of birds in North America as possible within a calendar year. We do this in hopes of becoming professional birders; although no one has yet accomplished this leap, we imagine the sponsorship deals must be lucrative.

Many birders go all-in on their Big Years. Plane tickets, motel rooms, chartered watercraft, loads of those little bird-identification books in which none of the illustrations quite match the little sucker you definitely probably spotted flitting into that tree over there, unless it was a discarded Ruffles bag or maybe a leaf: Big Years are not cheap.

Unless you do them my way.
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As I write, the year is more than one-third complete. I have already knocked out many of the more exotic birds, like the raven, the crow, the robin, and the rock pigeon. It took me until April to spot a turkey vulture, but I got one. So please bear these specimens in mind—along with more generally familiar finds, like whatever kind of grackle lives in Walmart parking lots—when I tell you that I am all the way up to 18 species so far. And counting!

Unlike every other Big Year birder, I have accomplished these one-and-a-half-dozen feats without the aid of a single bit of travel. Well, okay, I traveled once. But I didn’t see any birds there. I am confident that no other Big Yearer can say THAT in mid-May.

Strictly competitive-hearted people might ask me why I am even bothering with this Big Year nonsense when there are much wealthier and more retired birders out there with current tallies in the several hundreds. To them, I might answer that Big Years are on the honor system and therefore any one of my fellow birders might be cheating. I might also answer that the sort of Big Year they imagine requires far more planning, patience, and interest in birding than I currently have.

That said—I think I am nonetheless likely to win under any reasonable calculation of birds-per-mile or birds-per-dollar.

I mean, obviously, if you discount all those backyard birders in more bird-hospitable zones where the abundance of water and foliage and insects means you can’t even walk across your backyard swamp without stepping on a living, not a plastic, flamingo. Factor in my specific geography, along with my specific age bracket, socioeconomic status, BMI, and need to submit a column about SOMETHING this week, and I am the odds-on favorite to crush this Big Year on a birds-per-effort basis.

Big Years aren’t all about winning, though, unless of course I win. Even the winners don’t receive anything much beyond bragging rights and probably a nod on some blog somewhere. There is no Olympic qualifying round of birding, no Nike deal (yet!), no guarantee that you won’t feel compelled to come back and best your own record the next year, or the year after that, or the year after that, like some sort of under-appreciated Tom Brady.

Big Years are much more of an experience, a Zen art, a chance to live out the dreams many people have had their entire lives since signing up for AARP. They provide learning opportunities aplenty. For starters, Big Years are about breaking down stereotypes: birding is not purely for older people with nothing better to do with their 401(k)s. It is also for youthful people who cannot afford to do things that cost money.

Big Years are the sort of absolutely non-commercial, unproductive, anti-capitalist endeavors that remind us what really matters: Getting outside once in a while. Connecting with the world beyond our screens. Getting in tune with the cycles of living creatures beyond ourselves.

Remembering that there is an inquisitive, feeling, breathing being behind (or above) every splash of poop on my windshield that I just freaking squeegeed.

And absolutely, positively, they’re about getting laid. But not yet. Maybe next year. Can’t jeopardize the very real chance that, any month now, I’ll spot Bird Number 19.
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Thank you for reading this installment of Zach Hively and Other Mishaps. Please feel free to share it with your enemies.
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By Brian Bondy

A month or so back I wrote about driverless taxis, in particular, the Waymo driverless taxis in the Phoenix area. Last week, my brother and I took a Waymo to try it out.

My brother has been quite skeptical of these, and after seeing them on the streets, we were both still apprehensive, but also intrigued. Our opportunity came one evening and we decided to take a Waymo to a restaurant. I already had the app on my phone, it was very simple to use. Basically, it comes up and asks where you want to go. It assumes the pickup location is where you are, which can be altered.

The app gives you the price of the ride, and you press the button to summon the car, a final bit I unfortunately neglected to do. I realized several minutes later that I didn’t actually press ‘Enter’ so the price went up a dollar. Apparently, pricing is based on demand.

In this area, the house where I was staying was just outside the Waymo boundary, so we had a 5 minute walk to the Camelback Inn to meet the car. It tells me this on the app, and it gives a map for where the car will stop. We have 5 minutes, once the car arrives, to get in and start the ride. It also said the taxi was 18 minutes away.

We walked down to the Inn and waited. The app said the car was there, but we didn’t see it. Apparently, we were in the wrong spot. I spoke to a hotel worker and he kindly gave us a lift to the back of the hotel lobby where the Waymo was waiting. We got in, and as you can see in the first video, and it was weird. I mean, really weird. There’s no driver. Nobody is in the front seat.

​The car has a touchscreen in the back seat prompting us to start the ride, which I tapped. The car then slowly proceeded to make its way out of the labyrinthine parking lots of the Camelback Inn. It was very cautious driving there, on its way to the main road.

The car told us to fasten our seatbelts, signaled the turns, and avoided hitting cars and pedestrians. Once on the bigger street the car drove confidently, not aggressively, but definitely not like it was afraid, like its passengers were. It never exceeded the speed limit. We arrived at our destination in one piece, and again, it was very cautious inside the parking lot. We got out and the car locked itself up and drove off.   

Click to see how it all ends

​The return trip was similar. I requested the Waymo from the restaurant. It picked us up out front, where only it knew exactly where it would stop and unlock its doors. The only comment I can make on its driving was when it left that parking lot and went to cross a 6 lane roadway, I was a bit concerned at it crossing in front of a truck in the suicide lane that was trying to turn into the parking lot. I would have waited, but it did work out fine.

The ride back to the Inn was still exciting, but I have to say, a bit less so. The ride was ordinary, which is exactly what you’d want. It was still weird, and fun, but also, it was a just a taxi ride. The ‘driver’ was confident, and never went over the speed limit. There were some odd movements in the parking lot, but not concerning. One pedestrian seemed to see it was a Waymo and purposely didn’t move out of the way. Maybe that’s his thing, or maybe he doesn’t like Waymo. I would have moved faster than he did, but the Waymo simply moved around him.

Since I am all for driverless vehicles, I quite enjoyed the experience. I don’t know when they will get to the Abiquiu area, but for now, I guess I’ll have to drive my car all by myself.