Approaching Dust Storm - Flickr Connected
As you can see, I've got the link to Flikr working. I've had a great deal of fun today uploading photos, tagging them, titling them, describing them. It will be wonderful to have this public archive--I hope that the current trend in free tools continues, and that we (as a group of people) continue to critically evaluate the roll and worth of such incredibly open appraoches to digital (intellectual) property.
Anyway (enough philosoblabba), the photo to the right was taken during an approaching dust storm, and what was particularly incredible about the experience was the amazing and complex contrast between the blue sky beyond the mountain and the darkness sweeping in on top of us. Lauren and I were at IKEA when the storm came up, and I remember walking through the parking lot with the wind pushing the carts around, and my hair.
Dust storms during monsoon are pretty common (July - late August) and people tend to shrug their shoulders, but on this particular day there were a number of neighbors out in the street, pointing at the sky, smiling, and in awe. Phoenix is an indoor culture--too hot most of the year to be where it is not air-conditioned--and so it's nice to see neighbors out of their houses, approximating 'community' more completely than simply being a cluster of houses next to a mountain.
