A Life on and Off the Navajo Nation

An important Op-ed by Diné writer Wahleah Johns, I split photo duties with my homie and personal idol, Adriana Zehbrauskas.  

This was pretty tough. To be totally ethical and super safe, I spoke to no one and visited none of my friends in Dinetah. I left Phoenix at 2am, to get to the border of the Diné nation just as their curfew ended at 5am, and to catch sunrise  there. There was snow still on the top of Mt Humphries which reminded me why the Diné call it the Abalone Mountain. I was thinking about the pre-Colombian trade routes that must have existed for abalone to be common enough in the high desert to name a mountain after their alabaster shells.

I drove up and circled Black Mesa and as I began to finally head south again, a bad storm kicked up near Round Rock which almost pushed the car off the road. That’s where I made that final image: a total stroke of luck.