Single What? Female...

Standin' on the corner...

Yes, I stood on the corner in Winslow, Arizona first thing this morning. (for those who do not know the signifigance, listen to the Eagles's song "Take it Easy".) I got off the train and in my search for breakfast, I found "the corner" and took pictures. And then I camped out at coffee shop The Seattle Grind, enjoying a fantastically rich cinnamon roll, hot chocolate and conversation with the girl behind the counter. Brianna has never been asked "what are you?" nor has she asked the question. She's never really thought about it and is used to the diversity in her small town.
As I prepared to call a cab to the Super 8 where I am staying, I found myself chatting with Peggy, the Hopi representative of Winslow. She says she's still figuring out what she is. For her the question goes beyond just background; it is more about a constant struggle for Native Americans: finding the balance between traditions (such as how she would not let me record her or take a picture as it is against tribal tradition) and retaining culture, and finding ways to move some of her more tradition-oriented people into "urbanization" and dealing better with other cultures. She studied at UC Berkeley a while back and it was her first time seeing so many different people in the same place and working together...and she liked it. Promoting and encouraging Hopi culture comes first - her brother is a museum director and helped with the new Smithsonian Native American Museum - but there is also promoting education. Though she believes it's harder now with this particular administration as there is even less trust in the government now than there previously was. She can't wait for the election stuff to be over and, like everyone else, for change.
Anna, another coffee shop employee, does get asked "what are you?" all the time, when folks do not just assume she is Mexican. She is Navajo and German and is stupidly pretty. "It's a pretty diverse area here..." so it's more curiosity and not so much an issue. And then there's the woman who runs the "Take It Easy" gift shop opposite "the corner" who said to me "'What are you?' I don't even know what you mean! I mean, I guess I'd just say that I was American. I mean, that's what I am. Or maybe Scottish as that is what I am descended from...".

And now to fun facts about Winslow:
*The last of the Harvey houses, the La Posada hotel is located here.
*80% of the Native American population lives in this area. There are reservations on each side of the town, primarily Hopi and Navajo.
*We all know about "the corner" and there is a even a park being built in honor of it.
*The Turquoise Room at the La Posada has some of the best food I have ever had. The combination of Native American and Mexican flavors is truly nothing I've had before and boy howdy does the chef know how to work with them. Sweet corn and black bean soup with a chipotle cream drizzle, Pika bread (the flakiness of filo dough without the butter and made with blue corn, flower, seeds and baked flat on a hot rock with ashes) and Hopi hummous (made primarily with sunflower and other seeds), their Killer Vegetable Platter that includes sweet corn pudding, a Goblano pepper stuffed with three cheeses (sorry vegan friends), polenta, black beans, grilled corn on the cob with spices, mixed veggies, tofu and tomatillo sauce...and then there was the quince pie with mesquite scone and vanilla bean gelato that threw me over the edge and my stomach committed the absolute felony of not allowing me to finish it. Go to Winslow, stand on the corner, then go to the Turquoise Room, ask for Ali to be your server and eat ridiculously well.

Tomorrow, it's Albuquerque and something close to the end of week 3...

posted by funkweee @ 8:39 PM