Jun 11, 2019
Experiencing a lunar eclipse at the Columbia
River Gorge in Oregon was Miriam's first experience with desert.
She shares a memory of standing in the open space, and having the
realization that she was living in outer space. Not viewing it as
something 'out there', but as something she was a part
of.
Art
school brought an interest in film and the next thirty years were
spent as a freelance art director for television commercials. The
job took her from Portland to New York City to Los Angeles. And
though she'd made friends and built community in Portland and NYC,
Miriam found Los Angeles a more difficult place to connect to her
community. She loved working with the cream of the crop production
teams, but needed to find a place to fit in and unwind from the
'24/7 lock and load high' of television production. At that time
Miriam and a partner decided to go in on a house together in Joshua
Tree - the partner backed out - Miriam bought her place and never
looked back. She continued to work in LA, making the drive out to
JT immediately after she was 'wrapped' on Fridays - then hauling
back in at three or four a.m. on Monday mornings.
Four
years ago, Miriam left LA to reside permanently in Joshua Tree. The
week after closing on her home, as she traveled up the Morongo
Grade, Miriam saw the chaos and calming community response that was
brought on from the Sawtooth Fire.
In this
episode, she describes the experience as both
beautiful and frightening, which made her realize this was going to
be a completely different experience than she'd ever lived
before.
To get
to know people and the area, Miriam went on the Highway 62 Open Studio Art
Tours, an annual event in the Morongo Basin. She
recommends it as a great way not only to meet people, but to see
the geography and topography of the area.
Since
coming to the desert, Miriam has become a committed supporter of
conservation organizations, as well as an involved activist within
her desert community, informing herself about the detrimental
effects of solar farms and panels as well as the flu from
domesticated goats and sheep that is having a devastating effect on
the local populations of big horn sheep.
In
addition to her rental properties, Miriam
recently purchased and renovated a commercial property in downtown
Joshua Tree, which will hold a bakery, a sundries store with
stationery, gifts and home decor and an as yet to be announced
secondary business from an already successful local entrepreneur.
Miriam is proud to have all local residents filling the storefronts
and talks about the solutions she found to some of the challenges
in working with the County.
At the end of the episode, I
mentioned a local Experimental Music production was looking for
women who are interested in participating in these performances. If
you or a female you know is interested, please refer them to:
phogmasheeen@earthlink.net.