Read: Of Time And Change

Frank Waters is a legend in these parts, but I found this book to be a bit different from what I expected. Not bad, mind you, just different. Of Time and Change is billed as a memoir, but the majority of the book was about other artists who spun in the same circles as Frank Waters. I truly enjoyed the actual memoir portion of the book, far more than the detailed interactions with the fellow artists of 1930s, 1940s New Mexico. In fact, I made a substantial list of those other folks mentioned in the book, and that list alone will keep me busy for months if not years to come. And Waters is an interesting dude. I feel like I need to go find the actual memoir, or perhaps a biography.

Paris, Rome, New York, Taos. Yes, that is legit. Taos, New Mexico, at the time was magnet for art and literature. Waters lived in an old adobe with an outhouse and he bathed in an irrigation ditch behind the house. Think about that for a minute when you get testy about having to wait for your $7 latte. Waters has been called “The Grandfather of Southwestern Literature” and did run with a legendary cabal of artists and fellow writers. So, don’t get me wrong. I like this book but I want to hear more about Frank from Frank. Just the stories of his daily life had me riveted.