The Bisbee Deportation

Nearly 100 years ago, a quarter of Bisbee's population rounded up and deported another quarter of Bisbee's population. It was known contemporarily as "The Great Wobbly Drive" if you were sympathetic to the 'patriots' who rounded up their neighbors. It is now known as the Bisbee Deportation of 1917.

It started with a strike at the mines, where miners wanted safer practices in their inherently dangerous jobs, and a fair wage system in which the same work would warrant the same pay. It ended with almost 1200 Bisbee citizens being abandoned in Hermanez, New Mexico. What happened in between  - and why - is still debated.

For a critical analysis of the events, click over to my essay on the Deportation and its causes, here https://archersbones.wordpress.com/2016/04/26/bisbeedeportation/

Also, if you're in town, you can check out the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum's exhibit on the Deportation. They're open 10-4 every day.

The University of Arizona has a great web exhibit, too. You can find it here http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/bisbee/index.html

Jim Harrison, Scarface, and Bisbee

Two days ago, on 28 March 2016, the world learned that author Jim Harrison had died in his home in Patagonia, Arizona. New York Times author Margalit Fox has done a wonderful article describing the life and personality of Harrison, which you can find here.

In 1984, Thornton, along with the other directors of the Bisbee Poetry Festival, invited Harrison to participate in the (then annual) festival. His response, shared by Thornton on the 29th of March, sums up his humor quite succinctly.

(Scarface, in fact, is not an autobiography of Jim Harrison.)