Hey there, Secular FAM and happy summer! It’s graduation season, and Pride month is right around the corner. Kids are out of school, and if you’re anything like me, you try to hit the road once the Phoenix metro area hits triple digits and hightail it outta Dodge.
That’s just what I did, and this past weekend, I spent Saturday in Kingman Arizona for their weekend Pride event. Apparently, this is their SIXTH annual Pride event, and there were dozens of vendors and organizations tabling at the event. There was a DJ, a stage, multiple performers, and crafts for all ages.
On a side note, a past Secular Star (2024), Deneh Dennison, organizer of Bullhead City Pride and the Pride Center, recently passed. She was a trailblazer for LGBTQ+ folks in Mohave County and she will be sorely missed.
It was super fun. I was worried there would be some kind of protestors or ne’er-do-wells, but during the Saturday that I was there, no such knuckleheads revealed themselves. I didn’t come back on Sunday, so for all I know, the bigots came after Sunday church service.
Instead, I saw a community that seemed pretty tight-knit. There were local artisans, vendors, nonprofit groups, mental health agencies, and my personal favorite: bakers and chefs. There was a woman named Sarah across from me tabling next to her mother (who sold quilts, blankets, and those cool soup bowl cozies).
Sarah had a regular 9-5 job in healthcare, but had an unbelievable amount of baked goods, jams, eggs, and other foodstuffs displayed in her booth. Her culinary side hustle was to fundraise for her teenaged daughter’s soccer endeavors. It’s a cool story. Basically, it’s an entire family of badass women, and Sarah’s daughter is on an Olympic-level track to dominate in women’s soccer. No big deal.
Whenever I travel, I like to know about the local industry and history. What brought people to this region? Why did they stay? What are the demographics? Who are the elected officials? How do national policies affect local politics? What private entities fund the dark forces of fascism in this little hamlet?
You know, all the normal stuff people think about when they travel.
Turns out, the Big, Billionaire, Bigot Bill has really hurt the people of Mohave County. (I was in Yavapai a few weeks back, and I heard similar stories there).
Most people up there work in healthcare, manufacturing, and the tourism industry. A resident from Kingman told me that recently a cabinet manufacturer there laid off the entire third shift due to tariffs.
My Pride neighbor and countless other healthcare workers in attendance told me that the sweeping cuts to Medicaid have put massive strains on the systems there. Some folks told me that many mental healthcare supports virtually disappeared overnight, leaving veterans, individuals experiencing homelessness, and those with substance-use issues without services.
She also shared that there has been an influx of retirees moving from California and the Pacific Northwest. She said that the healthcare system there is already strained and fragile. Now, with new residents, cuts to Medicaid and the strain that puts on rural hospitals, the delays in healthcare for simple things like X-rays or routine screenings have become outrageous. She told me that it can now take up to a month for folks to receive basic services like these. That is, unless they want to drive to Las Vegas or Phoenix.
Just like I did a few weeks back when I visited Peeples Valley in Yavapai County, I wonder if the people there (+35 Trump in 2024) or in Mohave (+55 Trump in 2024) realize that the reason why their healthcare is less reliable, gas is more expensive, or that many are now forced to choose to pay for groceries/rent/prescriptions/utilities is because of their voting choices.
From what the people in Kingman told me this past weekend, many there seem to have buyer’s remorse. People said their neighbors have quietly removed their MAGA merch in the last several months. Apparently, the Mohave County book bans have people pissed and ready to organize. Some of us are old enough to understand that the good guys never ban books.
That gives me hope, Secular FAM.
There seems to be a divide between rural and urban America, but it is entirely manufactured. If we pay close enough attention and remember that our only real enemies in 2026 are the billionaires and the cult members who carry water for them, we’d probably be quicker to recognize our commonalities rather than our differences.
After Kingman and Mohave County, I planned a road trip through wine country, through the Redwoods, and up the Pacific Coast. For an “atheist/humanist” like myself, it was spiritual AF, and the journey continues.
I’ll try to share updates as I’m able, but so far the takeaway is that we’re all way more similar than different, and the dickheads who seem to want to make everyone’s lives worse really are in the minority, and they’re severely addicted to being miserable. Or enraged. Or both.
Much as they want us to believe that the world outside of our comfy living rooms and narrow worldview is scary and dangerous, it’s just the opposite. And if only they’d open their eyes and hearts, they’d see just how beautiful the world is.
