Hallelujah , it finally rained !

ON THE COVER :

The Line Up by Diana Simard 2022 - Oil with mica dust on wood , 6x6 inches

Born in Northampton , Massachusetts in 1979 . Diana Simard received her BFA in Painting and studied printmaking at the University of Massachusetts Amherst . Her work is primarily in oil painting and monotype , which she develops through a long process of layering . She is particularly interested in light and landscape , mostly naturecentered but with some elements of human presence . The light and expansive horizon of the Big Bend region continue to inspire her work . The Line Up is part of an ongoing series of paintings based on observed moments she finds most moving . The artist lives and works in Marfa , Texas .

FALL EDITION • OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2022

PUBLISHER Riley Stephens publisher @ cenizojournal . com

DESIGN / PRODUCTION Ceci Marquez

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Subscribe online at CenizoJournal . com or email publisher @ cenizojournal . com or call 432-614-4074 x . 801 .

SUBMISSION

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Danielle Gallo editor @ cenizojournal . com

We ’ d like to feature your work in the Cenizo Journal . Contact Danielle Gallo at editor @ cenizojournal . com for submission information or mail to PO Box 227 , Marathon , Texas 79842 .

Cenizo Journal is published four times per year . © 2022 Cenizo Journal . Copyright of all art and images contained within are retained by the image owner and are used with permission .

As I ’ m writing these words , the Rio Grande is swift and swollen , roiling by at nearly 6,000 cubic feet per second . People are rafting Santa Elena Canyon , sections of which were bone dry a matter of weeks ago . Cenizos are blooming in bright , multi-colored patches of pink , white and purple on the road to Rio Grande Village , and about halfway between Marathon and Fort Stockton there ’ s a vast lake of yellow wildflowers a few miles east of Highway 385 , shining surreally in fingers of sunlight stretching down through the dark clouds .

Those horrible weeds with the sticky heads we get up here in North Brewster County — you know the ones , that destroy socks utterly for those unwise enough to brush against them — shot up in my front yard in a matter of days and are outpacing the height of my children in spite of the weed whacker . All the pollinators are in a frenzy , as are the denizens of the region : the pollinators desperate to feast before the famine arrives , the denizens with seasonal allergies and sinus infections . We are watching our pomegranates like hawks , ready to snatch them off their branches at the first sign of splitting .

The mosquitoes are legion this fall in a way I ’ ve seldom experienced here . There are clouds of them , like those I remember from childhood in the great forests of the north . I ’ ll count a score of tiny ones , nearly invisible , nearly undetectable except for their soul-crushing whines , clustering around my ankles on the porch . They don ’ t seem to bite much . The big , fat , slow ones , on the other hand , are insatiable . At least they ’ re easier to swat .

It ’ s been a hard few years of dryness . We seem to be off our pattern , with these long chilly springs stretching into May , summers devoid of monsoons , sodden flooding falls , winter freezes and feet of snow . I ’ m hoping for a mild Fall , maybe a white Christmas and a balmy New Year devoid of insects .

This issue of Cenizo is just the sort of thing to have around on a rainy day . From riding the famous thermals around Marfa in the 1960s to riding motorcycles through the region ; the early days of Marfa Public Radio , and the current state of the Marathon aquifer ; contemplating the changing leaves , and collographs .

We hope you enjoy this issue . And we want to wish everyone a lovely final quarter of 2022 , with gentle rains , slow mosquitoes , well-insulated pipes and joyous holidays .