By Steve Fey

Just got back from a weekend in Sedona, Arizona. In case you wondered if the New Age Movement was still alive and kicking, a quick visit to Sedona will convince you that yes, indeed, it surely is. For instance, one day the mayor, wanting to find out what the many tourists who visit the area want out of their visit, referred to "channeling the wishes of the tourists." Sort of a quick little play on words. This fact was reported amongst the ads for spiritual advisors, palmists, and "Scientific Vortex" guides. What’s a Scientific Vortex? Buy one of the guides and tell me when you figure it out, will you? But, the mayor’s comment isn’t what I’m writing about.

What I’m writing about is a letter to the editor about the mayor’s comment. Somebody wrote in saying that the mayor shouldn’t mix religion with civic government. Thus demonstrating that even in the Age of Aquarius there are people so humorless that they’ll stomp on anyone who tries to make a joke. That’s my burden, I know for sure, and if you don’t laugh, you’re a part of the problem.

So anyway, Sedona is in a lovely setting deep down a canyon on the edge of the famous Mogollon Rim of Northern Arizona. The Rim, as it’s known, is a part of the Southwestern Colorado Plateau, most of which, for the record, is not in the State of Colorado. (None of it’s in Nevada, but that’s not why we moved here anyway.) You can watch the sun set from the Sedona Airport, unlike from any other airport I’ve ever seen. In most airports, of course, the sun never sets, but here in Sedona, thanks no doubt to the benign influence of all those Vortices, whatever they are, the sun sets beautifully every single day, even at the airport. The airport is a thousand feet up, by the way, so it’s not quite a deep in the canyon as the rest of the town.

Like I said, Sedona is pretty New Age in attitude, so I only had a choice of about thirty places to get bacon and eggs for breakfast. I guess Vegan sensibilities stop at the cash register or something.

During my weekend in the land of lotus-eating entrepreneurs, I discovered a few basic truths, to wit. For one thing, the pool at Fairfield Sedona is really nice, with more clean towels than you’ll ever be able to use. This on a weekend, no less. The sun is so hot that the pool gets hotter every day in the spring. Second, steak and eggs is just as good in a New Age resort town as in a "red state" backwater. That’s a valuable lesson for those interested in transcending political brouhaha, by the way. And finally, the Earth apparently rotates at much the same pace in Arizona as in any other place I’ve ever been. A bit of stability in an uncertain world, that.

Oh, and one more thing. Watching the news one night I learned that Flagstaff has proposed some ordinance aimed at keeping out a Wal-Mart because they "don’t want to become another Phoenix."

Like they even had a chance of that. Heck, they’re not even Republicans.