Greater Phoenix [antikvár]

By HUGH Downshenever I'm away from home-that is, away from e Phoenix area! find myself fieldin? the same pie and unanimous question over and over in:"UJhy on earth?" Or, in even shorter form, Phoenix?" This question always seems to he accompanied hy wrinkled brows, pursed lips, and suspicious looks, r The answer to these questions is also simple and unanimous. Simple in that I have made this part of Arizona my home because I like it. Several aspects of my personality never run out of reasons to expand on this notion of actually enjoyin? the place I call home. The list is not only endless, hut endlessly chan?in?. There is so much more to this desert city than outsiders can ima?ine that when I try to start detailin? the various charms and quirks and hot spots and trends that make Phoenix unique, I inevitably end up surprising whoever it was who asked "lllhy on earth?" in the first place. ^ find, over the years, I have learned to be patient. Outsiders think that Phoenix is a dusty and hot backwater, a cowboy town that clin?s to its Wild West heritage. Sa?uaros. Rattlesnakes. Gun racks in every truck (and everybody rives a truck). (1 quaint place to vacation, perhaps, but not a place for civilized people to live. I'm happy to say that not all of these ima?es are phony, you can, after all, wear a pn in public, and pointy, lizard-skin boots do qualify as dress shoes (I have worn these with a tux). But such images are becomin? the stuff of