Tom - This week on Arizona Illustrated, an unusual sculptor takes us on a ride of Western futurism.

Jimmy - My muse beside my wife is that the golden age of American manufacturing.

I call myself a severe reconstructionist.

Tom - Keeping children and relatives together with kinship care.

Christe - Kinship care is an at home placement for a child.

And as opposed to them going to like a traditional foster home or even a group home, they join a relatives home.

Tom - The compelling back story of one local EMDR therapist.

Sarai - It's important for other people of color to be therapists because often times minorities don't trust white clinicians.

Tom - And our Field Notes series returns with this year's superbloom.

David - It's difficult to remember a time when I didn't appreciate flowers, when I didn't think about them several times a day.

(Wailing Guitars) Tom - Hello and welcome to an all new episode of Arizona Illustrated.

I'm Tom McNamara, and we're joining you from Himmel Park in the Sam Hughes neighborhood.

Jimmy Descant is a Tucson based sculptor and assemblage artist who takes found objects from the past to comment on the present.

And he does it in a style he calls ‘Western Futurism.

(Jimmy) My muse, besides my wife, is that the golden age of American manufacturing.

Twenties to the sixties, when things were just built heavy duty and with design inside and out.

Taking apart a typewriter or a washing machine.

And then finding pieces inside that are beautiful.

These people were given jobs a regular paycheck, but they never got to sign their work.

And I think about all the pieces that go into the whole.

I'm Jimmy Descant.

I call myself a severe reconstructivist.

My style is Western futurism.

Those are terms that you wont usually see in an art book.

I'm completely self-taught artist.

When I became an artist, I didn't really want to know art history.

I knew the big names and stuff, and painters always affected me more than anything.

But I'm not that good at painting.

Later on, when I wanted to know, then I found out about Pablo Picasso's assemblages from 1900 that he was working on hardware, you know, wood and hardware.

And then a guy named Marcel Duchamp, who, you know, did a famous urinal and a bicycle wheel on a stool.

So as I learned about other sculptors and assemblage, it was thrilling because I had found it myself.

I was born in Michigan, where my mom was from.

My mom and dad got together in the Air Force, but my dad couldn't hack it.

It was just too cold So I grew up in New Orleans.

One day I saw an ad in the paper said rock band needs road crew willing to travel.

And that was it.

I, like, got a job with this band.

And then I did roadwork for ten years, right at that time.

I had found a vintage vacuum cleaner at a flea market, and it looked just like a Buck Rogers rocket ship.

When I found the vacuum cleaner.

I just had a calling, so I took an old beauty shop chair apart and put wings on it and put it on a stand and put lights on it.

I quit the road life with the bands, like on a dime.

I said, That's it.

I'm staying home and I'm going to be an artist.

And then I got into music festival in New Orleans and that was like my first show and sold out and my first vacuum cleaner ever sold went to a Matt Groening, who created The Simpsons.

He was talking about this TV show.

He's working with robots and rocket ships and stuff, and it turned out to be Futurama.

I had this drive to be a live art performer and put myself out there on stage.

Two, one two three.

I'd been a roadie and I'd played guitar onstage with bands sometimes when I wasnt a really good musician.

[hard rock music] I don't do any welding in my work.

It's all bolted together and cold connections because everything comes from different places.

[hard rock music] And then I came up with the phrase Western futurism and taking the rocket ship kind of ascension and putting it into the Western art about cultures and peoples land use water, use.

Right now there's a sculpture park and I have a ten foot rocket ship out there in a show called Joy.

The rocket is called the Strength of the Sky.

The dedication is actually to John Herrington in 2000 to who was the first Native American in space.

And then just this year, 2023, a woman named Nicole Mann was the first Native American woman in space.

And it's for positivity and ascension.

That's where the title Strength of the Sky comes from.

This is the first piece I built in this house in my studio, it's called Red American America.

I'm using the parts that were manufactured for American progress, and in the same time the American progress, Manifest Destiny was destroying tribes across the nation.

I use a lot of steam irons in my work as well, and it's metaphors for heat and pressure, and especially the southwest desert.

I don't use any real guns or bullets or bombs in my work, but in the American West, this is definitely a part of the expansion and the oppression.

I use old vintage baseball catcher's mask to represent that masking of who you can be in public and who you can be in private.

Since I got to Arizona, I came up with this series of the shape of Arizona and Mexico.

A lot of times my work has one big metaphor and 50 small ones all mixed in.

The title is La Familia Humanidad.

I hammered out the shape of Arizona and Mexico and I recreated the Arizona flag in my style.

And then taking old vintage screwdrivers to make more of a headdress feeling these screwdrivers that I collected at yard sales and thrift stores over the years.

A lot of times I don't even wash these because they were used by mechanics and regular people for years.

And they all have their own feel.

And then the border I made out of vintage railroad tracks.

Crossing the border, over the wall, under the wall, without whatever it takes for people to see their families and get their culture, which is not defined by a line, takes a lot to get it all.

But people love looking at it, seeing what what parts I use and what I'm saying.

But most of the time as an artist you dont know.

You never hear all the good and bad coming back to you.

You have to let it out there in the world.

Tom - In the world of adoption.

Kinship care refers to the care of children by relatives rather than foster parents.

Now, maintaining close family ties through kinship care has led to better outcomes for children in the Arizona Department of Child Safety System.

Yet these families don't receive the same financial support that foster families do.

Enter Seeds Community Center, which is providing support to kinship families.

(Christe) The foundation of all of our programing revolves around our kinship dinners that we hold monthly.

Since this is a kinship group, are you the sole caregiver?

Do you have a partner?

Kiddos?

How many kiddos?

Are they biological?

Are they adopted?

Are they kinship?

It's an opportunity for families to come.

We provide dinner.

We provide childcare.

We have volunteers who step in and cook meals every month.

And then the kids are able to go and be cared for.

For those of you, it's your first time.

The first part of our time together is more free form, checking in.

How are things going?

Kinship care is a out of home placement for a child, and as opposed to them going to like a traditional foster home or even a group home, they join a relative's home.

(Patricia) In our situation, my husband and I are not related to the kids, but my daughter is because she's adopted and it's her half biological siblings.

So it's a little different that I think most kinship placements work.

They're not related to us, but they're related to our daughter.

(Jose) We're blood relatives taking care of the kids in their time of need.

But at the same time, we're seen through the state's eyes to be up and above with how we parent.

(Nikki) We kind of both decided, even if we're able to have our own kids, we still wanted to adopt children from the foster care system.

We both have experience with like I've have had family who were adopted by other families because of DCS.

(Christe) Studies have shown that about a third of all foster care placement in the United States are with kinship families.

Here in Arizona, it's just a little less than half.

About 45% of all foster care placements are with a kinship family.

(Christe) SEEDS Community Center is a micro nonprofit here in Tucson, and our main focus is supporting kinship families.

We're going to be talking about how to manage stress from your kiddos behaviors.

I'm not sure if anybody needs help with that.

Our mission is to equip our neighbors to flourish.

And so what we're thinking about is how can we connect them to community resources that they need?

(Patricia) I made a post about a kinship question, and I think Christe might have seen that and like invited us to the kinship dinner.

I was like, Oh, this sounds amazing.

Like other specifically kinship families that are maybe going through the same stuff.

I need that.

(Christe) For kiddos who are placed in kinship homes, studies have shown that they actually have better outcomes overall.

(Nikki) You have that prior relationship to where they know that you are a safe person for them already.

They already have that instilled in them that you're you're a safe one, youre one who's going to love and provide and care for them.

You have an upper hand as opposed to other like fostering children who you have no prior relationship with because you're aware of what trauma they've gone through or what has happened to them.

(Christe) It's also shown to increase cultural connection to their family, to their culture that they have been a part of for their entire life.

(Jose) A bond is already established and that goes a long way.

(Christe) There's also more probability that they will be able to stay with their siblings if they are placed in a kinship home than if they were to go to a traditional foster family or to a group home.

(Patricia) I know there are a lot more resources when you're a licensed foster home and, you know, like the stipends higher and stuff like that.

When it's family, it's treated more like this is your obligation.

Just by the state.

There are definitely less resources.

We had to go searching a lot for kinship resources.

(Nikki) I feel like with kinship, it was kind of just given to us like, oh, here you go.

Here's the paperwork saying you guys have physical custody.

And that was really it.

There's no real guidance or training or preparation of like how the system works.

We feel very, felt like left in the dark on a lot of things, especially when it comes to resources that are available to us and to the kids.

(Christe) In 2022, new legislation has come about to provide more financial support for kinship families, and they receive about half of the financial support that a traditional foster parent would receive.

But it's still not quite enough to help with all of the different varying financial obligations that come with having a child join your family as opposed to in foster care.

You know, the state is asking a foster family, will you take in this kid?

And then we'll provide that additional financial support.

(Patricia) And you could get that call at any time and say, we need someone to take in these kids.

And the two we have are her two youngest biological siblings.

They were taken into care by DCS, so they asked us to take the kids in and our daughter's like, they're my brother and sister and I don't want them to end up in with strangers or in a group home.

We need to take them in.

Good game yall.

(Christe) Specifically with kinship care, you've got the added pressure or complexity that goes alongside with knowing the biological parents.

[Parent Speaking] (Christe) You're also emotionally tied to whether or not that biological parent regains custody, where as a a traditional foster parent is a little bit further removed from that.

(Patricia) It almost puts you in a little bit harder place because if it's strangers and you're in foster care, you can say, I can't do that right now, but the connection makes it a lot harder to say no.

I think that's the biggest thing with kinship is it's not just like society obligation.

You feel that sense of obligation too.

(Jose) It is rewarding, but at the same time, just understand this is a selfless position you got to put yourself in, you know, like like these kids do come first.

Like, it's not about you anymore.

It's about them.

[Parent Speaking] (Patricia) It's super awesome just to hear that other people are going through those struggles that we're going through because it can feel very lonely.

(Nikki) It was like a huge weight lifted off of us just to get it off our chest, just to say it and get it out there.

[Parent Speaking] [Christe Speaking] [Parent Speaking] (Christe) We create a safe place for people to have an opportunity to vent or to talk through what life is like for them right now, but also provide needed training that they might need.

Two essential tips to avoid triggering and being triggered by your kids.

That they can walk away with to say like, okay, I've gotten another piece of help.

[Parent Speaking] (Patricia) Plus just like being with other adults because we don't get that a lot either.

So, you know, like, we don't have a lot of time with three kids.

And I know a lot of people had more kids than that.

So I think all of us just enjoy the time talking to other adults, going through things we're going through and just, you know, the community of it.

(Nikki) One night she got mad and told him like, mom is a liar.

And hes like, why would you say that about Mom?

She's like, cause she said, or she doesn't have any luggage.

[Laughter] Tom - This next story is the first in a series where well spend time with mental health professionals to learn more about them and their practice.

Here we interview Sarai Perguero who specializes in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR therapy.

Her experiences in childhood led her to want to help those who struggle with their identities and with issues of marginalization Sarai - Focus on one sense that feels calmest.

Man - Ok. Sarai - Taste, touch sight...

Pick one... and just notice how it feels.

I grew up in Thailand as a Hispanic and highly religious person and I felt really invalidated as a kid.

That's how it was growing up.

It can sometimes feel like I don't belong places because I moved back eventually.

Another level of that is English is my second language.

So sometimes I didn't know words or I didnt know any of the references I didn't know any of the cool pop songs that everybody knew.

So I felt isolated.

But then Im Hispanic, but I don't look like all the other Hispanics, so I'm not Hispanic enough for the Hispanic kids.

But I'm not black enough for the black kids.

But I'm not white enough for the white kids.

And so I felt like in order to prove to myself and to prove to other people that their emotions and their experiences are valid, I had to become a therapist.

It's important for other people of color to be therapists, because oftentimes minorities don't trust white clinicians.

And so what that leads to is my waitlist is full and I just can't help everybody.

And I would say that that's how it is for most every other person of color therapist out there as well.

I'm trained in EMDR therapy that helps you reprocess your traumatic memories and restructure any negative beliefs that you may have about yourself or the world.

Man - I was conversating with a after the experience, and I was not as disconnected.

Whereas prior, I feel like I was not even there to really remember or be present with the conversation.

Sarai - Okay.

Scale of 0 to 10, 10 being the worst distress that you can imagine.

How distressing does this incident feel to you now?

Man - I would say... three and a half, maybe a three?

Sarai - Whatevers in that three and a half or that three, I want you to take a moment and put it in your container.

Man - Ok. Sarai - Lock it up, nice and tight.

The EM in EMDR therapy is the eye movement, and that's part of the bilateral stimulation that helps keep you grounded whenever you're reprocessing the traumatic memory.

And the reprocessing is the R. The D in EMDR therapy is the desensitization part that helps you feel like you can have the traumatic memory without feeling so ungrounded anymore.

There are different types of bilateral stimulations that can be utilized.

Theres the eye movement, which can be done by following a dot on a screen or a light bar.

It can be also done by following my fingertips.

There's also tapping that can be done by doing butterfly taps by yourself.

You can tap on your legs.

When the pandemic happened we all had to become telehealth therapists overnight.

And now you can offer telehealth therapy to people in any state that you're licensed in.

And so access to care alone has just widened.

But associate clinicians are expected to work long hours, and they're often paid really poorly.

And this often leads to burnout and poor mental health.

And because of that, I've seen my colleagues struggle and oftentimes they'll quit the profession before they become independently licensed.

And I believe that's an issue that needs to be addressed.

The main thing that's changed about my view on life and the world is that trauma does not discriminate on wealth, class, ethnicity or race.

I think sometimes people are intimidated to go into therapy because they feel like they're going to be told what to do and they're going to be made to do something that they're not comfortable doing.

They're in control.

They can say, I'm I don't want to do this.

I'm not comfortable talking about this trauma that happened to me yet.

I don't feel safe.

That's okay.

If you're not, you don't feel safe yet.

Then we'll get there.

Tom - Next up, Arizona Illustrated producer David Fenster takes us up to Picacho Peak State Park to check out this year's superbloom.

But David didn't always like flowers.

In this installment of his Field Notes series, he reflects on the transformation of his relationship with Flora.

David - It's March, and I'm here at Picacho Peak State Park for the Superbloom.

I didn't always like flowers.

I used to think they were ostentatious and uninteresting.

I had recently become obsessed with mushrooms and fungus, and the flowers were Hollywood movies, mushrooms were experimental films.

There was no exact moment I can remember when that changed, but it was around the time when I met Laura.

She lived in a converted one car garage in Venice Beach, California.

The little shack was surrounded by a lush garden.

Our friend Steve lived in a tent by the rosemary.

We all tended to the garden in our own ways.

The flowers in this garden slowly eroded my ignorance.

The Jasmine.

Mr. Sims.

Pride of Madeira.

This year in Arizona, we had abundant winter rains.

The California poppies are everywhere, named after the state where I fell in love with flowers.

I make the strenuous climb to the top of the peak to see the poppies from above.

They are rivers of orange, following the paths of water.

That woman who lived in the shack surrounded by the garden is now.

My wife.

And it's difficult to remember a time when I didn't appreciate flowers, when I didn't think about them several times a day, when I didn't make pilgrimages to see them.

Tom - Before we go, here's a sneak peek at a few stories we're working on.

Joaquin - We have a saying in Mexico when it comes to river restoration.

Speaking spanish - Mejor castor que tractor its better a beaver than a tractor.

Why do I need to be doing restoration when a beaver can do it better than we do?

And they're free.

And they, they propagate and they're cute.

How can we work with beavers for restoring watersheds?

Restoring rivers in the Sonoran Desert?

The San Pedro River is such an interesting system.

It starts in the in the region of Cananea, Sonora And Cananea is a mining town, and it flows north across the border somewhere south of Sierra Vista.

Grant - Paragon is a company that does life support in extreme environments.

So anywhere where the environment is trying to kill you, we keep it from killing you.

Robert - We do a lot of multi-discipline and multi-characterization tests.

We do everything from fluids, gases and basically environmental changes.

So in this chamber are able to replicate a lower pressure environment similar to a capsule of a spacecraft.

Grant - So it's a very complex, a very high tech mini spacecraft that people are walking around in.

Tom - Thank you for joining us in Himmel Park.

I'm Tom McNamara, and we'll see you next week for another all new episode of Arizona Illustrated.