REPORT FROM FLAG: XXX

The Rev. Dana Prom Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D. (8/8/07)


Flagstaff is a confluence of several distinct communities. First of all, there are the Indians, the Navajo and the Hopi. Their reservations are nearby. Their presence is felt. Obviously, they have little affection for the white man. They contribute to the local economy and are widely celebrated. However, they are treated almost as though they were third-world. They suffer from rampant poverty, poor education, and endemic health problems, particularly diabetes and alcoholism. They are very patriotic and have that peculiarly defiant pride of race found in the oppressed. They do not treat their dogs well, and although they claim to have reverence for the land, they do not treat the land well, either. Like everyone else, they are not always consistent.

Then, there are the old-timers who are about my age, the descendants of the early white settlers, a settlement which dates from just after the Civil War. The early settlement was largely shepherds, cattlemen, farmers, lumbermen, railroad men, and prospectors. The area around Flagstaff was called “terra incognita” and a place of brigands and prospectors by the second Territorial governor in 1865. The first territorial capitol was in Prescott and was a log house which is now a part of the Sharlott Hall Museum in Prescott, a worthwhile visit. Flagstaff was settled about the same time my grandfather, Brynjolf Prom, a retired Norwegian ship’s captain, was surveying North Dakota and Montana for the Great Northern Railway. He left the sea after his brother had been washed overboard during a hurricane in the Caribbean.

A third group is composed of governmental employees, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Park Service, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Naval Observatory, Arizona Game and Fish, and various state and local agencies in addition to the Lowell Observatory. They are bureaucrats and have a bureaucratic turn of mind which is rule bound. As human beings we either tend to seek security or freedom. We can’t have both. People who serve in governmental jobs are generally amongst the security seekers. The emotional consequence is often depression because bureaucracies are hierarchical which means subordination. The result is a bitterness resulting from a suppressed anger at the humiliation of subordination. On the other hand, the emotional price of freedom is anxiety.

A fourth group is the faculty of and people who work for Northern Arizona University. There is some cross-fertilization between the government people and university people. The university people are typical of university people and ecclesiastics everywhere, slightly condescending as though they know better which, of course, they don’t. They are invested in ideas and concepts. They also have chosen security which adds a touch of bitterness to their condescension. As anyone with a doctorate knows, getting one is often quite humiliating, modern universities no longer being communities of scholars, but rather educational bureaucracies.

Gretchen is part of a flourishing community of artists of potters, musicians, writers, sculptors, and painters. Some are obviously cross-fertilized with the art department university types, but for the most part they seem to be self-starters. As with many artists they see things in life differently than the mainstream, whatever that is.

As far as I can see, there are a lot of people in Flagstaff who do not contribute to the gross national product. They analyze, comment, try to understand, theorize, and criticize, but their products are all on paper, in hard drives, on discs, and in journals.

There are still a few farmers, lumbermen, cattlemen, railroad people, and shepherds, but the biggest producers nowadays are high tech manufacturers. Industry is somewhat inhibited because of a water shortage in Flagstaff. They, of course, cross fertilize with the university. W.L. Gore, for instance, is a large developer and manufacturer of medical devices.



Flagstaff is the medical and commercial center of rural northern Arizona with a large hospital and a prosperous business community. The city seems to thrive with both local consumers and tourists. There is quite a successful community of shops in downtown Flagstaff.

A fairly large Hispanic community seems to flourish in Flagstaff. Originally, a lot of the workers in the lumber mills were Hispanic or African-American. As a matter of fact, I helped plant some roses at the local African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Many of the original white settlers were from the Southern States just as many of the first settlers in Minnesota were New Englanders, both groups following the geographical parallels. One of the interesting things about the early settlers is that they report a much higher precipitation in the past than exists today with 10 to 20 foot snows. Apparently, global warming has been going on a long time before its recent discovery.

In the unincorporated land around Flagstaff, to the northeast, west, and south, there are scattered settlements of people who like the rural life, especially its isolation and horses. Often, they do not have water and have to “haul it” in large plastic tanks. One of them told me that the water costs a penny a gallon and, if hauled by someone else, four cents a gallon. In the local newspaper (Arizona Daily Sun) the other day, there was a delightful piece about a Mule Whisperer, a man and his wife who raise and train mules.

Finally, Flagstaff has a flourishing underclass. Just as addicts and drifters are drawn to Santa Monica, so they are to Flagstaff. They live in the woods in the spring, summer, and fall and in shelters in the winter. Although Flagstaff is generally a liberal community, one of the marginal steak houses and taverns in town sports anti-gay and anti-lesbian signs. Recently, there were reports of Molotov cocktails being thrown at the establishment, but the suspicion is that they were being thrown from the establishment out on the street. The bartender was arrested on suspicion of being drunk and on drugs. Flagstaff has never quite shaken its Wild West past with the result that we have a collection of marginal cowboy wannabes with broken down pick up trucks parked at bars rather than real cowboys with horses tied up at water holes. Same old rot gut served.

With the governmental employees, NAU faculty, artists, and high tech employees, there are a lot of interesting people doing interesting things. In addition to that, the weather is varied and enjoyable, the air clear, and the scenery magnificent.

Have a Happy Summer,
Dana