I glanced at the recent cover blurb, “What
Happened to the Anasazi?” and felt a familiar and weary irritation
(HCN, 10/3/05: Out of the Four Corners). I continue to believe the
only adequate response to that question is: “Ask the Hopi, the
Paiute, the Havasupai, the Hualapi. They will tell you.” Then, I
read the sidebar to the piece, “Anasazi: What’s in a Name.”
My irritation faded. I read the whole piece, my mind open to the
writer and to his subjects: Susan Ryan, respect and the threads
that weave across time and between people.
Craig
Childs’ humility — in the face of connections far older
and more irresistible than our conjectures — is surpassed
only by that of Ryan. I’m grateful for Childs’ capacity
for deep listening, and for writing the hard beauty of paradox.
Here is the crux of his work and Ryan’s, this sentence: “She
is merely the next in line, a woman mindful of small acts, making
sure that the rooms are buried so that her presence, too, will fade
with time.”
Thank you.
Mary
Sojourner
Flagstaff, Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Connections across time.
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