This Place is Real
Something happened in the last week. The desert became a real place, with roots and complications and connections. All of the parts that I have been experiencing; the crystals and magical people and strange plant life all exist in this actual place that is deeply whole and still, and quiet. I have spent the last few months traveling down sandy roads in unincorporated desert-parts, smelling creosote stickiness and feeling the vibrations of each singularity. Trying to know this place, to map it, to be in it. And it happened, it just happened, it is home, and I know ME in it, or at least I am starting to know how to know me here. Joshua Tree is full of active citizens who do not want a Dollar General store built at the corner of Sunburst and Highway 62, and politicians who hold meetings at Pie for the People. I also took a job at a local coffee shop, where I now make lattes for people from far and near in a checkered pink apron. The desert is changing me; it reflects me back at me, and itself too.
Katie Bachler was our first HDTS Scout, and was in residence from 2012-2013.
The HDTS Scout Residency is dedicated to learning more about the people and places that make up our diverse and ever evolving community.
During Katie’s residency, visitors were invited to drop into the HDTS HQ, the Scout’s home base, to meet Katie, who could be found making maps, hosting conversations, and baking bread – in between her off-site adventures around town and out in the field.
Katie had a lot in store during her time here, including:
- a series of talks featuring local experts
- joining together to create a web of knowledge
- a research library and archive documenting the many spaces, places, plants, and people that make up this special region
- casual conversations with drop in visitors over tea
- site visits and field trips around town
Katie engaged the community by instigating map-making and rag-rug braiding workshops, the Scout’s Book Club, Art in the Environment classes for desert kids, casual conversations, site visits and field trips—all shared in her Scout’s blog, which serves as the foundation for her book.
