Bisbee, Arizona

John Wise and Amanda Goff in Bisbee, Arizona

Just two weeks before these photos were taken, Caroline and I were still living in Germany. To celebrate our move to America, my mom and her husband brought us down to Bisbee, Arizona, along with my little sister, who had recently turned 13. In this picture, we are geared up for a train ride into an old mine to discover deep, dark secrets and maybe some treasure.

Copper Queen Hotel in Bisbee, Arizona

I took this photo as I thought this old hotel was incredibly cool and that Caroline and I should come back one day to stay a night. It turned out that my mother-in-law Jutta would join us on that return visit.

Caroline Wise in Bisbee, Arizona

Why is this the best photo I took of Caroline in a dark alley is beyond any recollection I have of this weekend.

John Wise in Bisbee, Arizona

Skinny with a red beard and ponytail, that didn’t last all that long.

LSD

Acid Doodle by John Wise in Frankfurt, Germany

Remember when you would take acid frequently and find yourself with pen and paper? Did you ever find God on the blank page? I did. As for the content, I’ll try to interpret it. I’m a pig but also God as I create my own reality through the experiences I live with. Into the top of my head, chaos rains into my mind while I greedily lap it all in with my lolling tongue that’s ready to eat the universe. My eyes are in ecstasy as they attempt to comprehend the magnitude of stimulation bombarding me in an unfiltered moment of naked truth.

Below, there seems to have been a closer connection to the mundane or trouble breaking through to the truly ecstatic. I can’t explain the “No change” nor the “Entry Level Accounting” notes, but the Psychic TV cross suggests this was possibly drawn between 1989 and early 1990. The person depicted feels like a self-portrait, and the two things that stand out for me are the swirls at my mouth and the “Come Forth” words below and left of that. So many years later, I’d venture to say that this has to do with reality being a manifestation of language and that we must bring it into being by speaking it, even when delivered by ugly mouths.

Acid Doodle by John Wise in Frankfurt, Germany

Back in those days when LSD was a common recreational adventure where I was trying to stitch together the parts of the universe that were unfathomable, I would often have writing/drawing materials at hand in case the inspiration struck me to doodle. These two were simply a couple of drawings that were scanned from out of the archive. There are other notebooks where other stuff is hidden away; hopefully, one day, they’ll find their way into the somewhat permanent digital record. I’m counting on you, archive.org.

Honeymoon in the Grand Canyon

Caroline Wise in the Grand Canyon National Park 1994

Caroline Engelhardt of Frankfurt, Germany, became Caroline Wise just 72 hours before taking this photo on a hike into the Grand Canyon National Park. This could be considered our honeymoon, though we were feeling that the entire trip to America with Uwe Schmidt, Connie, Klaus Singer, and Jo Lincke was a kind of party honeymoon with friends.

Klaus Singer, John Wise, and Jo Lincke at the Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

We were supposed to return to Germany two days after this, but the Northridge earthquake on the 17th at 4:30 in the morning, just hours before our flights to L.A., changed our plans, and we ended up staying in America for a few more days until things calmed down and got caught up in Los Angeles.