Arizona State University - Sun Devil Spark / Sahuaro Yearbook (Tempe, AZ)

Page 12 text:

Two dozen people work methodically in the northeast corner, dismantling blocks of white ashen earth with paint brushes and dustpans. 6-Mesa Grande Site Mesa Grande messy and by Richard Howland There is a time warp in the city of Mesa. lt can be seen any Spring afternoon. Between a sprawling hospital and a row of antiseptic white apartments is a service road which ends at the burial place of time itself. With hands and faces white from fine chalky dust, like French actors in a surrealistic play, two dozen people work methodically in the northeast corner, dismantling blocks of earth with paint dustpans. Clouds dry fog, hover in much of the near- absorbed in the white ashen brushes and of dust, like the air while by noise is haze of heat. The muted scraping sounds of shovels and brooms are sporadically drowned out by the engines of motorcycles and minibikes, which falter in concert. Erratic heat waves wash the air with broken images that chase the motor- cycles over an acre-large mound rising irregularly from the ground. The mound is pillow-marked by ridges and dirt piles, laced by rain gutters and bike paths, and littered with drink cans and candy wrappers. ltseems hardly portentous of anything more than dust. However, some people in the northeast corner walk dutifully back and forth be-

Page 11 text:

FOREWCDRD: More people have mentioned to me this year their belief that yearbooks are going out than I ever would have dreamed in September. It used to bother me considerably at first, especially since I've spent several years working on what people now think is a dying business. Now I think it's sad that most don't feel as excited by the idea of a book as I. I've seen so many fine ones: UCLA Southern Campus 1969, lthat was a vintage yearig ah, and the Kent State books, particularly volume 56, it was a masterpiece. And of course the Sahuaro lthat's sa-hwar-row , Mr. Allnutti. The Sahuaro has seen better days, admittedly, but I can remember the first time I saw one, icough, cough, the old gaffer grinds up his sawdust memory againi. I thought the layouts were the haute couture of yearbookery. I love the process of producing a yearbook, particularly the final steps. And to be able to hold in your hands something that was created through such a complicated process is a thrill beyond comparison. This book is a very different one from what you may expect to see. I've omitted many things, lincluding that supreme waste of space, the division pagei, and expanded the journalistic content considerably. Once I decided on a format, and secured the kindly assistance of john Coyne and his Magazine Writing classes for the contributors, the process of severing ties to a traditional approach continued quite naturally. I did not select the articles on the following pages with any intention of conveying a philosophy, either traditional or radical. I merely wished to show as many of those small groups of dedicated workers on this campus who are actually doing something as possible. CSM 5

Page 13 text:

fore-runners l i l 'JPY 'mir Q? :riff A, -'C- ., .. .L ' ,fw-,,, -,J - -.J . X492- tween their working area and a trash heap of mangled modern construction material where Arizona State University trucks are parked, with Anthropolo- gy Department stenciled on the doors. The trucks look more like prospector's mules than trucks. They come every Saturday. Bikers occasionally come down from the mound in small groups to ask the people in the northeast corner what 'lu -47' g'5Wf4?f a:.ff ' X 5, .L K 'iii I they're doing. The bikers are informed that Indian ruins are being explored by ASU stu- dents in AN231, a course in archaeological field methods. The site, Mesa Grande, is similar in style and time period to the famous 1000-year-old ruins of Casa Grande on the Gila River, which historians believe was one of the exag- gerated Seven Cities of Gold that Spanish explorer Coron- ado sought vainly inthe South- FN A 1,1 1' .- g i:,.I: 'f lf- 4. , , fx Al, 'Viv , . 4 ,i' in ii -i ' Mesa Grande Site-7 1 'I , - ' 7 A-' :si