Monday, November 9, 2009

High Art: All Souls in Tucson


By Brenda Norrell
Photos by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
TUCSON -- For some it is Tucson's weirdest night, and there's lots of competition for that spot. For others it is a time to remember a lost loved one, and for others it is Tucson's Mardi Gras. At the All Souls Procession winding through the streets of Tucson Sunday night, everyone had a loss to morn and something to celebrate. Some had lost loved ones, others lost jobs, like the staff at Tucson Citizen who marched with a grave marker for their newspaper. For others it was a time to get together with all their fellow unemployed friends and figure out the weirdest ride or costume. Thousands marched through the streets, with marching bands, and a certain simplicity, sweetness and reverence.
As one mother told her child, not far from a large boa constrictor wrapped around a young man's shoulders, "They're partying for the people who died."
But the grand finale was unexpected. High in the night sky, dangling from a crane were acrobats dressed like leprechauns, with flowing firefly wings. There was lots of rolling balls of fire, one huge ball of fire high in the night sky, enormous balloons and glowing insects. The Flam Chen fire acrobats dangled like magicians from this enormous crane in the night.
The night was one of those perfect southern Arizona desert nights, a vessel of grace for all who survive the summer.
Censored News remembers our friend Sali Grace Eiler, young activist murdered in Mexico, those who walk and die in the Sonoran Desert, and all those in Palestine, Chiapas and elsewhere struggling for liberty, justice and freedom.

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