I'm covered in scratches from Chollos and Prickly Pears because I spent the last 3 days with the legendary Cody Lundin in the Superstition Wilderness, on an aboriginal living skills course. Fantastic experience, I'll never bother with a tent again.

It's one of the introductory excercises at the design program in which I am enrolled, the idea being to stimulate a roots level understanding of the natural cycles and basic materials that go into ecologically consious design, be it architecture or otherwise.

But the most profound (if unintended) excercise here in Prescott is dealing with live in the American suburban condoplex. Although the town of Prescott is pretty nice, we've been lodged in this god-awful complex 15 miles away, in a small strip mall near the airport. For the first time in my life, I am completely powerless without an automobile, although there is a circle-k a short walk away that is well stocked with junk-food and Budweiser. Welcome to America. I accept this situation on philosophical grounds that to understand the problems this country faces sometimes you have to experience them first-hand. Anyway, I'm doing a lot of jigsaw puzzles.