So, you noticed the alpaca on our cover. Cute little fellow, eh?
That’s Jesse, and he lives somewhere near you. Like the rest of us, with few and far-between exceptions, he’s no Maricopa native. Our cover model is as Peruvian as a plate of ceviche.
But that’s where the similarities between us end.
Alpacas are highly social critters that have best friends and sworn enemies. Some are extraverted, others introverted. They’re known to be clumsy and messy, and they play pranks on each other, always getting into trouble. They have no concept of personal space. They hold grudges. They spit when they’re mad and they drink gin when they’re happy (for real, look it up). They’ve adapted over time to endure intense sun rays.
Maricopans, on the other hand… oh, wait.
OK, so we’re a lot like alpacas, after all. British author Fiona Cameron Lister wrote last year that there are five life lessons we can learn from alpacas. Firstly, the challenge is to be open to learning from it.
Like the city did with its Wild West Music Fest last year. If you’ve been reading InMaricopa for any significant length of time, you’ll know the wild-ish, not-at-all-western festival went off with a hitch. After announcing the music would return this year, we’ve heard only crickets.
Justin Griffin, in this edition, discovers how the city is learning from its mistakes in its efforts to bring the festival back a second time.
The second of Lister’s axioms is to feel the fear and do it anyway. Alpacas don’t like change, and Maricopans are resistant to it, too. But Tom Schuman tells us how one local woman’s leap of blind faith made her a world champion in sport.
The third lesson we can learn from alpacas is to fully relax at the drop of a hat. I enjoyed seeing where my neighbors took their summer holidays this year, and here in the first month of fall (according to the calendar, not the weather), I’m also excited to share these memories with all of you.
Fourth on the list: It’s more fun with friends. Being social creatures, alpacas are keen to hop on all the latest camelid trends. Similarly, high school student-athletes in Maricopa are joining one of the nation’s newest and fastest-growing sports in larger numbers than ever before. Meanwhile, thanks to a new law, adults are getting excited to build casitas and hang out in larger numbers at home. Jeff Chew will tell you more.
Finally, alpacas teach us to practice stoicism.
As prey animals, they work hard to hide their weaknesses from the world. We do, too. But in this issue, Monica D. Spencer will show you how vulnerability and confronting your weakness can be a powerful thing.
I hope you’ll enjoy these stories and more.
As always, thank you for reading InMaricopa.
ELIAS WEISS MANAGING EDITOR
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