Taliesin West, Phoenix AZ

     Frank Lloyd Wright was the most important American architect of the 20th Centurary.  His winter headquarters in Phoenix is Taliesin West,  His architecture gave structure to the concept of 'compress and release'.  When you go to a pro ball game, you are compressed in a tunnel before you get released by seeing a green, manicured lawn.  He
 was the first to use indirect lighting.  He 'unstacked' the boxes of European class-conscious living.  The democratic American spirit required a more open, free-flowing domesticate floor plan.
     Late in his career he was required to give testimony in court.  When asked his name and profession he replied, "I am Frank Lloyd Wright.  I am the greatest architect in America".  That night his wife scolded him, "Why do you say those things?"  "Dear," he replied, "I couldn't help it.  They put me under oath".

Rough Riders Statue, Prescott AZ

Rough Rider statue outside Prescott, AZ, courthouse.  Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders fought in Cuba, that "splendid little war".  The territorial gains were fleeting.  The real gains, for good and evil, involved increases in American prestige among existing world powers.  The Rough Riders were a combination of polo playing Harvard grads and western cowboys, led by a person who understood the character of both!