Ajo was the perfect town to end the trip in. It was a very picturesque town in a beautiful area with a rich history. The mural project was awesome to see, in my town we have an alley called “art alley” with a lot of murals as well, and I love the use of otherwise empty space to voice ideas and contribute to art in the area. The art also simply creates a more beautiful, enticing space. I also enjoyed the tour and thought it was interesting and impressive how the Sonoran Desert Alliance was working to revive Ajo through many different ways. The Culley school was a beautiful, cool building and I could imagine myself staying there in the small desert town for a year attempting to write a book. The refurbishing of the school for low income housing was a cool way to attack the problem of homelessness and poverty as well as utilize a space that would otherwise be empty. The local farming was exciting and impressive because in America today most people are extremely disconnected from their sources of food, and to implement growing and connectedness in schools and in the community will help re-connect Ajo to their food. This is especially important with the extremely high amount of Native Americans with diabetes from the shift in diet to more western, processed foods. Planting and eating original foods that were grown in the desert has been seen as a deterrent or solution to the problem. The food and the shops in Ajo were cool as well and I enjoyed the whole of the town.
I thought it was really interesting how Ajo is re-purposing all sorts of large buildings (like the Curley School) in their community. Also, I agree that the art alley was awesome. My favorite mural was the one comparing the border wall with the O’odham to the Berlin wall.
I agree man, I thought Ajo was a really cool town. It seems that they are on an upward trend that is really exciting with the town being revitalized by art and culture and music. It’ll be exciting to see how things progress from here. It seems like Ajo bridges the gap between having a connection to the Tohono O’Odham but also having a connection to the outside, non-reservation lands. It therefore was cool for us to experience because it can be a place for many people to learn about the Tohono O’Odham and traditional ways of life in the Sonoran Desert, with organizations like Ajo CSA.
I think Ajo could also provide the opportunity for some Tohono O’Odham to start businesses and enterprises where they might not have had the opportunity otherwise due to logistics on the reservation. You see this with people like Sterling at Ajo CSA, and I’m hopeful that others on and off the reservation will come to Ajo and help with its revitalization.