Desert Lady Diaries

Born and raised in Minnesota, Cindy Daigneault says a high school radio station job shadowing experience inspired her to seek out a career the radio business. After high school, Cindy attended the Brown Institute of Broadcasting, one of few women entering the industry at that time. She was immediately hired from the Institute by the owner of a new radio station in Wisconsin. One particularly bitter winter, Cindy decided she'd had enough cold and snow and contacted a radio consultant to help her find work in a warmer climate and was offered work at a station near Ventura, CA. Cindy packed her new Monte Carlo and her Siamese cat and headed west. Not long after arriving, Cindy met her husband, who also in radio and they were married a short time later. An offer to lead and create sales team at a radio station in Joshua Tree came Cindy's way and she and her husband decided to check it out. As they drove up the Yucca grade, Cindy remembers looking around at the landscape thinking, "What is this place?" Ultimately, Cindy and her husband were both offered jobs at the Joshua Tree station and they accepted. At that time, Cindy says the monument wasn't as big a deal as it is today Making friends and finding their way into the community wasn't difficult - it was keeping friends, who were from military families, that was rough - particularly on her kids. In this episode, Cindy shares the series of circumstances that led to she and her husband applying for a license for what is now Community Radio Z107.7, KCDZ in Joshua Tree. Cindy also has an interest in cruising and travel. She became the owner of a travel business in early 2020, but has been taking groups of travelers to Paris, Barcelona, the Caribbean and many other destinations for years. On those trips, Cindy would flex her photography muscles. Her office is filled with photos from her travels and she has exhibited her work in galleries in the desert and in Los Angeles. KCDZ 107.7 FM on the web - where you can listen live Follow KCDZ on Instagram

Jessica Bennett's first desert experience was a program in her Washington State high school called 'desert school'. Growing up in lush Seattle presented allergy challenges for Jessica and she immediately took notice of a change while visiting the eastern Washington desert climate. A series of bachelorette parties brought Jessica to Palm Springs and some of those trips found her coming up to the hi-desert to experience Joshua Tree National Park. The more time she spent in this part of the desert, the more she found to appreciate. The landscape, the 'hippie vibe', the people inspired her to continue exploring. After continuing to visit and spending money on vacation rentals, Jessica suggested to her husband they just get a place of their own here in the desert. Like many, the house was purchased site unseen, with a friend from Los Angeles riding out to perform due diligence. After the purchase, Jessica and her husband experienced some of the challenges new property owners in the desert inevitably face. Break ins, theft and contractors who misrepresent themselves or fail to show up. As an aspiring journalist, Jessica left Seattle, attending college in Boston -interning at the Boston Globe - then heading to NYC to pursue work in journalism. While interning in NYC, she also 'did time' waiting tables. Having grown up on the west coast, raised by a father who was raised in NYC, Jessica didn't realize how much of his 'city attitude' was embedded in her until arriving in NYC and feeling like she'd found her people. Jessica landed a staff job at Newsweek and she's been there ever since. Jessica explains her role as gender editor with the NY Times and why the role is necessary in today's journalism landscape. In this episode, we touch on the toxicity of the new 'cancel culture', the future of analog magazines and newspapers and the vital role of local newspapers. Jessica also shares the inspiration for her two books, 'Feminist Fight Club' and 'This is 18: Girls' Lives Through Girls' Eyes'. We also talk about her inspiration for championing women and how her role as a journalist gives her a platform to speak out. Learn more:

• Jessicabennett.com
• Twitter: @jessicabennett
• Instagram: @jessicabennett

Elena Yu started making trips to the desert with her pre-school classmates and their climbing dads. She recalls loving their regular trip to Coyote Corner to pick out rocks. Placing them in a little velvet back made it seem like rocks were something important to collect. A competitive swimmer in her youth (discussed in the Diary Unlocked portion of the interview), Elena studied various mediums of studio art at UCLA from 2012 to 2016. After graduating in the spring of 2016 with her summer internship in the arts ending, Elena came across a job listing to work for Joshua Tree non-profit High Desert Test Sites (HDTS) and artist Andrea Zittel in Joshua Tree. As a one year paid internship with housing, Elena felt this would be the perfect way continue her work in the art world and to re-connect with Joshua Tree and explore it in a deeper way. All of the sudden, she was in a house in 29 Palms w/out any neighbors and a mountain for a backyard. At that moment, she never expected she would have stayed for four years - and has no current plans to leave. In this episode, Elena gives us a brief overview of HDTS (a non-profit formed by artist Andrea Zittel and others), A-Z West, Andrea Zittel's personal practice and the roles Elena continues to play in the various organizations. Early on in her first year, Elena recognized that though she had a great deal of interaction with the HDTS resident artists, she hadn't really inserted herself in the local community. After about a year, Elena said she started to feel a bit lonely and began to make a conscious effort to reach out to folks in the community who were pursuing similar interests to form deeper connections. One of those activities was rock-climbing. Elena recently had the opportunity to go out and climb again with some folks she hadn't connected with in a long time. The art and climber community doesn't typically intersect in the desert. This recent experience has motivated her to reach out to a few folks she knows in the arts community that do climb and perhaps tag along with them to renew her skills and make more intimate friendships. We also talk about the economic advantage of living here, particularly for folks in her age group who also work in the arts.

Turiya Autry grew up on the west coast in Monterey Bay, eventually traveling up the coast to Portland where she lived for 20 years and raised her children. She now finds herself on a different west coast - in Florida. Turiya's first experience with the desert was on the third anniversary of her mother's death. Turiya's mom loved going to Vegas and Turiya decided taking a trip to Sin City would be a good way to honor her mother. Wanting to further explore the desert in more raw form, Turiya booked a three-day bus tour that included visits to the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. It was on subsequent trip to Las Vegas that she met her current love partner, who was a Marine at the time. Eventually, he got orders to Twentynine Palms and Turiya started doing research into what she might find in this desert. In this episode, Turiya shares some of her favorite things about desert living as well as how she found her artistic desert community. In January of 2020, Turyia participated in 'Live from Joshua Tree', a popular spoken word fund-raiser for a local non-profit, Mil-tree. We wrap up the discussion expanding on a quote on Turiya's website which serves as a lead-in to a conversation about how wanting for others what we want for ourselves could make the world a much better place for all of us. Turiya is a poet, playwright, youth engagement specialist, mixed media artist and public speaker. As adjunct faculty, at two universities, she's taught 20 unique courses across various departments. She's provided performances, workshops, classes and residencies to over fifty K-12 schools, over two dozen colleges, and hundreds of venues nationwide. More than two decades as a teaching artist has provided the opportunity for Turiya to inspire, support and showcase tens of thousands of students' creative expression and laid groundwork for the citywide high school slam competitions in Portland as well as a regional middle school slam in Oregon. Her poetry collection, Roots, Reality & Rhyme, bridges the personal and political, the mythic and the real and set the stage for her theatrical, multi-media, one-woman show. She's produced and hosted radio shows, worked as a reporter/photographer for a SoCal newspaper, stage managed as well as acted in various theater productions. A fierce advocate of independent publishing, she has produced several collections of her own poetry, including Poetic License in 2020. Over the years, she's also produced over 50 unique chapbooks showcasing others' writing. www.TuriyaAutry.com

Born and raised in South Orange, NJ - in the shadow of NYC - Merilee Kuchon's early life was very suburban and urban. Merilee was about five or six when she had her first desert experience. Aunt Franny and Uncle Pete, who lived in Encinitas, put Merilee in the VW Bus and drove down to Anza Borrego. Merilee says, "It blew my mind." In 2004 Merilee was working at High Times Magazine in NYC. Though the job had some perks, Merilee was tired of sitting behind a desk. Having experienced 9/11 up close and personal, she realized that experience had not only changed NYC, but also changed her. Merilee convinced her then boyfriend to quit his job and go with her on a year long road trip of the Southwest and Mexico. Before heading out on that trip, a former punk-rock friend from Jersey wrote Merilee, inviting her to come visit him in Joshua Tree while she was traveling. Merilee stayed in JT for about a month – back and forth to Mexico, playing music, eating and playing poker. She made her way back to NJ, continuing to make trips back out to Joshua Tree in the four years that followed. While back in NJ she met her love, Doug. They lived in Texas for five years, playing in a band and operating a co-op deli before making the move to Joshua Tree. Life in Austin was not fulfilling. In making the decision to move to Joshua Tree the first time, Merilee knew she needed to work and decided it would be cooking. Years earlier, while still working at High Times, Merilee went to French Culinary Institute on the weekends just for fun and to learn. After getting settled in Joshua Tree, Merilee put a 'private chef' resume up on craigslist and immediately got a response from a drug and alcohol rehab facility down the hill in Indian Wells. While in Texas, she had a job as a deli manager for a food co-op, adding management skills to her culinary training. This all worked together to help Merilee – and her business partner Rosa Ficara (Ep 128) - to open Roadrunner Grab + Go deli in Joshua Tree. In this episode Merilee shares the experience of applying for the deli space- adjacent to the Joshua Tree National Park Visitors Center - preparing to open, the menu, the staff and the good feeling of being able to employ local folks. Follow Roadrunner Grab + Go on Instagram: @roadrunner.grabandgo

Growing up in the Coachella Valley, Adriana recalls feeling completely alien spending summers in mountainous Columbia with extended family. One of Adriana's favorite places in Columbia is the Museo del Oro. Each visit to the museum brought her closer to her culture and eventually inspired the art she creates today as Pura. In this episode, Adriana shares memories celebrating holidays together with other Columbia families in the valley and the joy and comfort of enjoying their traditional foods together. Adriana left the Coachella Valley for college, seeing there weren't many opportunities for those who stayed. She attended St. Louis University, where she received a full dose of winter - and is still not over it. After graduating, Adriana was working in sculpture and metal work and was looking to set up her studio. The equipment was pretty expensive, steel was going up in price and after looking at all the costs involved, Adriana decided to take her art in a different direction. She began to reflect on her attraction to metals which found her diving deep into researching gold and it's connection to her roots. Adriana continues studying her deep ties to Columbia, incorporating gold into her work as the artist, Pura. Adriana loves to create street art but has yet to find a mentor to take her out to create it. She explains why the experience can be intimidating for female artists to do on their own. Adriana was recently stepped into a leadership role with the Wyld Womxn organization – an artist feminist collective in the Coachella Valley. Website- https://www.speakinsmoke.com/ Instagram & Twitter @puraprojects

Michelle Castillo is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, educator, and community organizer living on Cahuilla Land, also known as Coachella Valley, CA. Michelle founded the feminist creative collective, Wyld Womxn and socially engaged food + art + memory project, Lola's Kusina, and is one of the co-founders of Bayanihan (buy-uh-nee-hahn) Desert. Through social practice, alternative spaces, and meaningful exchanges, she uses the arts as a tool to cultivate, bridge, and create more inclusive communities. Michelle uses her leadership and voice to serve and uplift marginalized communities. In 2018 Michelle was honored as one of six female community leaders by Palm Spring Life's 'Women Who Lead', women who benefit the community and serve as role models in business and life. In this episode, Michelle talks about growing up close to extended in an inter-generational household and how that inspired her Lola's Kusina project. We also talk about the inspiration for Wyld Womxn, which began when Michelle returned to the desert, having left to grow and find an arts and culture community, as well as a community where the leadership was more diverse. On returning to the desert Michelle found many of her peers, who had also left for similar reasons, seemed to also be finding their way back to the desert, to give back to the community and make the spaces they'd experienced that weren't yet available in Coachella Valley. We discuss the importance of honoring those who came before us in this desert, the indigenous peoples whose land this was before the white man came and colonized it and taking time to understand who those people were and educating ourselves about their culture and customs. Michelle shares her experience with micro-aggressions, macro-aggressions and provides some guidance around what white people can and should do to encourage and lift up marginalized minority voices. Michelle also provides some advice for folks who are multi-passionate and shares suggestions on getting all those projects in their heads and hearts up and running and out into the world. Engage with Michelle: www.instagram.com/lolas.kusina www.instagram.com/wyldwomxn www.wyldwomxn.com www.instagram.com/bayanihandesert

Rosa Ficara was born in Scafati, Italy- one of nine children. In 1973, despite a bit of a language barrier, Rosa began a long-distance, letter-writing romance with the love of her life, Gioacchino, who brought her first to Connecticut, then to Yucca Valley, CA in the early 80's. At the age of seven, Rosa and two of her sisters were taken to a convent to live with nuns because it was difficult for her mother to take care of all the children. Rosa's mother visited weekly and once Rosa turned 17, she was able to re-join the family. At 18, Rosa's sister-in-law had family friends living in Connecticut who were friends with Gioacchino Ficara, a single Sicilian man. Her sister-in-law sent him a picture of Rosa and they began talking and writing letters. In March of 1973, Gioacchino went to Scafati to meet Rosa with papers in hand with intentions to marry. Rosa's family had a hard time understanding him because he spoke Sicilian dialect but Rosa somehow understood him. On April 27, 1973 they were married in Scafati and had their wedding photos in the ruins of Pompei. Gioacchino left to the U.S. to have immigration papers in order. On August 15, 1973 Rosa flew to Connecticut to start her American life with Gioacchino. In 1980, Rosa and Gioacchino left Connecticut with their two daughters Rosa and Carmela to start a new life in the desert - Yucca Valley. Rosa and Gioacchino came to join family Paolo (Gioacchino's brother), Pina his wife, and Rosa (Gioacchino's mother). Eventually Ignazio (Gioacchino's yonger brother) and his wife Roberta would move to Yucca Valley as well. Gioacchino and his brother Paolo started Ficara Paving. Rosa and Gioacchino had two more daughters, Maria Anna & Jacqueline. Life in the desert was all about family, food and hard work. The first few years were difficult because of the language. It got easier as Rosa adapted and learned the language. It was different being in the desert - so different from Connecticut and Italy. It took a while to get used to it. In this episode, Rosa tells us when she arrived in Yucca Valley there was one grocery store, a Safeway, that didn't even carry baby food or diapers. Gioacchino worked hard with his brother. He passed away in 2011 at the age of 68. It has been difficult for Rosa, as she misses 'Jack' so much. Now a grandmother of five, Rosa continues to cook and bake Italian food. Rosa continues to reside in Yucca Valley, tending to her garden and her chickens and is the only one of her nine siblings to have left Italy.

With turtle as her spirit animal, Supinda Sirihekaphong says wherever she is, is home. She was in awe of the colors and the sky on her first trip to the desert. Born in southern California and raised in New York City, Supinda has also lived in Thailand, Philadelphia and studied abroad in Australia. Supinda says living in all these different places has helped her learn to appreciate wherever she is, allowing her to put down roots and call where ever she is home. While living in the Bay area, Supinda worked in the sphere of higher education. A change in the leadership of that institution, left Supinda without a job after 10 years. Supinda interviewed at many other institutes of higher education. Interviewing without new offers coming her way, Supinda began to think perhaps her time in the academic world was over. She thought about what other paths might be interesting to her, eventually giving it up to the universe to bring her a sign. The next morning she awoke from a dream in which she was supporting someone in labor. She called friends – those trying to get pregnant and those not trying, and none of them were. Supinda took this as the sign she requested. While continuing to interview for roles in higher education, Supinda completed a doula training program. While in the program, Supinda was getting opportunities to support doula clients. When all three of her clients went into labor on the same weekend, Supinda was able to support each of them. Looking for a yoga class over the last Thanksgiving holiday, Supinda walked in to a local studio, Instant Karma. The studio owner happened to be there that day and Supinda introduced herself as a registered yoga teacher, who could perhaps fill in for the studio's regular teachers during the upcoming holiday. Supinda was invited to do a yoga demo and was brought on board to teach. When the studio was forced to close for Covid, Supinda was able to assist the studio in putting classes online without skipping a beat. In this episode, Supinda says even while serving as a doula and yoga instructor, it's important to her to be involved the community. Which is why running for a Trustee position with the local community college appealed to her. Supinda believes her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Social Justice is particularly useful in this role at this time. Follow Supinda's campaign on Facebook: @supindasiri4cmccdtrustee Donate to Supinda's campaign: https://www.crowdpac.com/c/drsupinda4cmccdtrustee Volunteer for the campaign: https://forms.gle/C1s3VGfJT1g3wiQT6

Artemis first experienced the desert as a five year old visiting her godparents home in the desert. And again, a few years later on a visit to see her stepbrother in Nevada. Artemis remembers staring out the car window, admiring the stars and the quiet open spaciousness. Artemis is a licensed marriage and family therapist, pursuing her doctorate in clinical psychology, specializing in trauma informed care education. She is also a women's empowerment coach, yoga teacher, writer and poet. About three years ago, Artemis lost her career, her relationship and was homeless. In flight mode, she was hopping from place to place before landing at her godparents home in the desert. What began as a week and a half 'visit', turned into a couple of years when Artemis finally faced herself. She discovered she had unresolved trauma and had developed an eating disorder. Compelled to stop in at a desert church, divine intervention took over setting Artemis on a two-year journey, stripping away her masks and rebuilding a solid foundation for herself. In those two years Artemis spent a lot of time in the desert alone. She stepped into her gift of spoken word, writing, performing and hosting a radio show. While getting back on her feet, there was a lot of grieving, before eventually moving into her own place. Artemis was hired by a private therapy practice and obtained her non-profit management certification. In this episode, Artemis describes the desert as a safe place where she was able to surrender, heal and step into who she is – which included coming out into her queerness. She is particularly passionate about ensuring disenfranchised, low-income folks have access to quality mental health care. To that end, Artemis joined he the 'It's Your Time Program' sponsored by the Coachella Valley Women's Business Center. The program helps female entrepreneurs lay the groundwork to start their businesses off on the right foot. Artemis recently left the desert and returned to Sacramento. Being closer to the state capital will allow her to be more involved in the policy work necessary to make real social change. Check out the coaching from Artemis at: Embodyucoaching.com And follow on her on Instagram Listen to the Let's Talk About Race Podcast with Diane Wong here If you'd like information on the Racial Justice Collaborative visit: racialjusticecollaborative.com Tickets to the September 26 event (10a-3p) can be obtained at this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sitting-in-the-fire-ii-restorative-circles-tickets-118061782971