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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMetro Creative Connection\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
By Ray Hightower | Columbia, Missouri<\/p>\n
I first traveled to Phoenix in November of 2018. That\u2019s when I fell in love with the Valley. I didn\u2019t make it back until November of 2024 and nearly cried when I had to leave. I could tell my roots were shifting.<\/p>\n
I was there again this July. I wanted to experience the heat. Coming from the Deep South \u00a0\u2014 where 98 degrees feels like you\u2019re boiling in a cast-iron pot of bigotry, repression and the bitter memories of a war that people just can\u2019t seem to let end \u2014 116 dry degrees on the streets of my favorite city in the world was the most amazing and exhilarating thing I\u2019d ever felt.<\/p>\n
Phoenix has become home. I don\u2019t have to force it, explain it or overthink it \u2014 it just is. Every minute that I\u2019m back in Mississippi, I am homesick for the Valley. The people, the culture, the vibrancy, the food (my God, the food!).<\/p>\n
This trip I was a local. I went to the Downtown Farmers Market and talked to nearly all the vendors. I walked the streets in the City Scape area, always staying on the sunny side. I sat at the friendship garden and listened to the birds. I made friends at local restaurants.<\/p>\n
It was freedom for me. Now I\u2019m saving money, not for another trip, but for a move. I\u2019m ready to come home.<\/p>\n
I am an optician, a customer service professional, a writer, a perpetual optimist and a baker with a small home-based business. I can\u2019t wait to see what life brings in Phoenix, and what I can do there to give back.<\/p>\n
To the people of Phoenix and Arizona: thank you. You gave me back the spark that I was almost ready to let go out.<\/p>\n
Please submit comments at\u00a0yourvalley.net\/letters<\/a> or email them to AzOpinions@inusua.org.\u00a0We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our\u00a0Civility Guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Metro Creative Connection By Ray Hightower | Columbia, Missouri I first traveled to Phoenix in November of 2018.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":210928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-210927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-phoenix","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115170367681023932","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}