I live in a tiny burgh called Waterflow, halfway between Farmington and Shiprock. About six miles east of the Navajo Reservation. It's not a town so much as former ranches made into small housing developments. My development has nice 3 bedroom homes, and my neighbors are great, hardworking people, usually employed by the government or the mines or natural gas production.
Yes, there is isolation, poverty and tumbleweeds present, but people also own half-million-dollar homes and largish estates. It's a mix. The oil boom has turned into the natural gas fracking boom. Yes, we have Internet, cable TV, etc., so we are not cut off from modern life.
Yes, there is definitely border-town racism in Farmington, Aztec and Bloomfield against Native Americans, but all my neighbors are Navajo folks. I am an Anglo and we seem to get along OK.
The crime is much, much less than the East Coast, IMO. There are racial tensions all over America, alas, and I don't think it's worse here than anywhere else. The poverty is extreme, and the isolation leads to really bad alcohol/drug use for people on the reservations. The DWI problem here is among the worse in America, if not the worst. You need to be a careful driver out here. Defensive driving is not enough - you need to be a little paranoid behind the wheel.
The beauty is stunning. I see red-tail hawks soaring over the bluffs across the highway. The ravens croak outside. The sunsets are lovely. The weather is great for older guys like me with minor arthritis. I can see mountains clearly 40 miles away, depending on the drifting smog from LA. The light is great, and because I shoot HP5 at 320 ASA exclusively, I have to stop down quite a bit when shooting outside, even with filtration.
It's peaceful, quiet, serene. I'm happy to live here. When I get "Four Corners Fever", I head to Durango, Colo., or Albuquerque for a civilization break. I do miss some friends and the great restaurants back East, but not living there so much.
Hope that helps.
I used to live in Egg Harbor City and also Port Republic in South Jersey, if you know where that is.
Where in the middle of nowhere, Creenus? I grew up east of Albuquerque and there isn't much representation online from folks in the southwest. Almost like the sticks and tumbleweeds of the southwest don't have internet or phone signals. 😉
I've always felt that Farmington and Aztec were an interesting and very sad blend of poverty, racism and class. These days with industry up there (natural gas?) having a little boom, there is more of a separation of wealth. On those busy highways, there exists the ease of movement of people and drugs. The latter affecting the former with both cause and "solution" for desperation beyond poverty.
Regardless the problems that area has, as all areas have some issues, I still love and miss the light of the southwest.
Phil Forrest
