EDITOR'S LETTER

In 1965, we were blacklisted in the Soviet Union. We got the news from Walter Schroeder, a subscriber in Rosamond, California. A day or two later, there was a story in The New York Times. According to the paper, the censors at the Kremlin considered our magazine "provocative literature clearly intended to conduct hostile propaganda among the Soviet people."

Nyet, no place could be so beautiful, they sneered.

Ironically, Joseph Stalin's daughter was a paying subscriber at the time, and her father was once the recipient of a gift subscription a collection of magazines he may have held in his iron fist. Nevertheless, the Soviets shut us out.

In response, Raymond Carlson, our editor emeritus, wrote a stinging editorial. In addition, politicians and business leaders came to our defense. And so did nationally syndicated columnist Inez Robb, who wrote: "Let's not be beastly to the Russians in the matter of Arizona Highways. Let's face the fact that to the uninitiated this monthly publication exudes a faint tincture of snake oil. If all Americans unfamiliar with the Southwest find it difficult to credit the publication's magnificent color photographs, how can we expect the comrades and the commissars to be of firmer faith? And, in truth, it is subversive. Once you are hooked on Arizona Highways, it is habit forming you begin to believe, and then you want to go, go, go. Yes, the Russians would do well to keep it out of their country."

With hindsight, the ban was ridiculous. Or cockamamie, as Barry Goldwater might have said. But that was then. Today, more than 50 years later, we're viewed far more favorably in that part of the world. In fact, one of our most loyal readers lives in Zlatoust, a city in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia. His name is Vladimir Anisimov, and on February 27, 2017, he sent me an email. In Russian.

After running his words through Google Translate, I figured out that he'd seen a promo ad for our new diner mugs, and he was hoping to get his hands on a "Tombstone." Up to that point, I don't think we'd ever sent any heavy pieces of porcelain to the former Soviet Union. Well, now we have, and I've since gotten a second email from Mr. Anisimov: "Dear friend Robert! On July 17, I will celebrate the day of my 65th birthday. Your mug, which I received today, will be considered a gift for my birthday. Thank you!!! With all my heart I wish you all the best, creative successes, let your magazine always be as colorful and interesting as it is now. Sincerely, Vladimir."

His email came on a day when the temperature hit 108 degrees at the world headquarters of Arizona Highways. There wasn't a lot to smile about that day, but Mr. Anisimov's sincerity and gratitude made me smile. I think it would have made George Avey smile, too.

Mr. Avey was our longtime art director he served in that role from 1938 to 1972 and he created the "Tombstone" artwork for a map that we published in 1940. It was one of at least a hundred kitschy illustrations on the map. Last year, three of them, including "Tombstone," ended up on diner mugs. And later this year, we'll be introducing three more. One of which will feature the Chiricahua Mountains, a place Natt Dodge described in March 1943 as "a panorama of deep canyons and sharp ridges lined and studded with a spectacular array of immense perpendicular rock figures."

Although it's been nearly 75 years since he wrote those words for us, they're as useful as ever in depicting one of the most spectacular landscapes in Arizona. You'll see some of that landscape in this month's portfolio. That's what most photographers shoot down there the broad panoramas. But not Eirini Pajak. She prefers a macro lens, and she likes to point it at flowers. Violets, irises, pinesaps those are some of the wildflowers featured in She Has Amazing Focus. In all, there are more than a thousand plant species in the park. There's a lot of wildlife, too. "Occasionally, the tracks of a bear, cougar or wild turkey are found," Mr. Dodge wrote. He goes on to list several other mammal species, including skunks, badgers and foxes, but there's no mention of jaguarundis.

 

Huh? Jaguarundis?

You're right to be curious. The name conjures a pack of fictional predators in a Stephen King novel, but jaguarundis are real. They can be found throughout Central and South America, they've been "documented historically" in the Chiricahua Mountains, and there's a steady stream of sightings around the state. However, as Matt Jaffe writes in A Little Cat Goes a Long Way, no one has ever photographed a jaguarundi in the wild in Arizona. In the minds of the skeptics, that's proof that the cats don't live here.

Nyet, they sneer. Nevertheless, we remain hopeful. And if there is a jaguarundi out there, and we get a quality photograph, we'll be putting it on our front cover. We might put it on a diner mug, too.