Woodpecker Illustration (detail) from Alejandro Canelos' book The Neotenic Queen.
Art by Rachel Ivanyi
August 22, 2024
Featured on the August 22, 2024 edition of ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT with host Mark McLemore:
- Less than 10 miles from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is the Pinyon Plain Mine, from which truckloads of uranium was shipped earlier this summer. The mine's owners say this process is imperative to eliminate fossil fuel usage, it also has sparked protests among conservationists and indigenous communities connected to the land. Ryan Heinsius from KNAU reports on this story. Further reporting on this topic will occur this September as part of AZPM's podcast Tapped.
The Pinyon Plain Mine, formerly the Canyon Mine, is located on a 15-acre plot on the Kaibab National Forest less than 10 miles from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It's Arizona's only active uranium mine and is within the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni—Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.
Ryan Heinsius/KNAU
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(From left) Carletta Tilousi, Dianna Sue White Dove Uqualla and Stuart Chavez at Red Butte, a mountain sacred to the Havasupai Tribe. It's in the south section of the proposed Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument.
Raymond Chee
Dozens of protestors, led by Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, First Lade Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren and other leaders, marched along the northbound lanes of Highway 89 in Cameron on Fri, Aug. 2, 2024 against uranium hauling through the reservation. The highway was part of the route taken by trucks from the Pinyon Plain Mine near the South Rim of the Grand Canyon three days earlier when they began uranium ore transportation through a large swath of the nation.
Ryan Heinsius/KNAU
- Nature writer and outdoors adventurer Rebekah Doyle shares an essay about her perspective on “Monsoon Magic”. The monsoon recordings featured in Rebekah's piece were courtesy of Alex! Jimenez and Logan Phillips.
Salvia lemmonii on the slopes of Carr Peak.
Courtesy of Rebekah Doyle
Clouds over Tanque Verde Ridge.
Courtesy of Rebekah Doyle
Downpour as seen from the east ridge of Carr Peak, Huachuca Mountains.
Courtesy of Rebekah Doyle
- And, the premiere of Concussion: The Play, a new “Ten-Minute Drama” from author Alejandro Canelos. It is about woodpecker parents dealing with their son's "failure to launch", and the teen himself who is plagued by headaches that keep him from living up to his hard-headed father’s expectations.
Woodpecker illustration for Alejandro Canelos' book The Neotenic Queen.
Art by Rachel Ivanyi
Twenty-four plays, for reading or performing. In ten minutes or less. With Ten-Minute Dramas, Alejandro Canelos gets right to the point.design by Gabriela Fleming
(Left to Right)Betsy Kruse Craig, Alejandro Canelos, and Matthew Staples in the AZPM studio recording Canelos' ten-minute drama "Concussion"
Arizona Spotlight airs every Thursday at 8:30 am and 6:00 pm and every Saturday at 3:00 pm on NPR 89.1 FM / 1550 AM. You can subscribe to our podcast on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, or the NPR App. See more from Arizona Spotlight.
Web page by Alecia Vasquez.
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