To Dance on Sands by Marta Becket
On my recent trip to Death Valley I stopped by the Amargosa Opera house. The thought occurred to me that even though I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know about Marta Becket and her work there, and like many people have a deep emotional appreciation for her desert practice, I couldn’t do a credible job of describing her to another person to save my life! Please join me at 7 pm on Monday April 1st when we will discuss her autobiography To Dance On Sands by Marta Becket. I look forward to the gaps in my knowledge being filled by her own words.
To get to Kjtel’s house from downtown JT go east on Hwy. 62, turn left on Sunburst, right on Golden, left on Border and keep your eye out for Pole and then Del Oro street signs. Turn right on Winters (sign is on left side of road) and drive about 6 miles and turn left (north) on Bourland Pass. Kjtel is the fist driveway on the left. From 29 Palms, take Hwy. 62 west and turn right (North) on Lear. After about 6 miles, turn left on El Sereno, which is what Winters is called in 29 Palms. Drive about 2.25 miles and turn right on Bourland Pass. Kjtel is the first driveway on the left. Due to the recent rain out here, Winters is pretty rough in spots, so take it slow!
—Kip
Every month from October 2014 until March 2020, Kip’s Desert Book Club gathered on the first Monday of the month at 7:00 pm in the home of a different resident of the Morongo Basin to discuss a book that in one way or another touches on the theme of “desert”.
Since the start of the pandemic, Kip has been hard at work making renovations to the kitchen and bathrooms at Copper Mountain Mesa Community Center, where he is the board President, and keeping their monthly USDA food drive alive. During this time, Kip’s Desert Book Club had largely been on pause, with the exception of a few virtual meetings. These virtual gatherings allowed us to welcome the participation of book club fans from beyond our local region.
Sixty-six books, more than seven years, and one pandemic later, Kip has decided to step back from being the primary book club organizer and join the rest of us as readers. Kip, we thank you for all the wonderful and eclectic desert books you’ve chosen over the years, as well as the unforgettable stories and knowledge you continue to share (if you know, you know!)
So, we are excited to announce that beginning in January 2022, our in-person book club will resume as the Desert Research Library Book Club (or DRL Book Club, for short). Each month, a member of the current Desert Research Library Artist Cohort will select a book from the library as that month’s book club selection.
