I remember standing in Melbourne, Australia a few years ago. This city has everything: live music, art, theater, gardens, food, etc. I was thinking about whether I should move there. Luckily I did not.

However, I got a strange uneasy feeling about the place. I could not put my finger on it until much later. I realized that I could never live there because it is finished. Somebody else, long ago, defined that city. There is very little to add.

This is why I love Phoenix and Arizona. Despite many of the challenges we face, this is our place to define and our identity to create. It is all ours if we want it.

In that spirit, I was particularly interested in the work of writer Joey Robert Parks and others with their 26 Blocks project. They describe it the best:

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN… if 26 of the best writers in Phoenix were paired with 26 of the best photographers in Phoenix?

AND WHAT IF… you asked them to create their work within certain boundaries (writers: 500 words or less, any genre; Photographers: up to four pictures in one image, any style) and to capture the past, present or future of 26 randomly selected downtown Phoenix city blocks?

There actually is a great deal of interesting history in Phoenix and so many stories to tell. Could there be some future “Phoenix sound”, like there was a Seattle sound? Will there be writers and artists who speak uniquely of Phoenix?

I think so.

Look for  26 Blocks to be a future feature of a Get Your PHX event, as they roll out their work over the course of this year.