South Bisbee Goodbye Part Two: Winter 2012 - Summer 2013

On June 2, 2012, the mining corporation Freeport-McMoRan gave the enclave of South Bisbee five months to vacate home some had lived in most of their lives. When I took my camera through the tunnel into that little community, I had no idea of the extraordinary people I would meet - nor that my shaky, on-the-spot videos posted on YouTube over the ensuing months would form the only record of a time and place that is gone.

Mrs. Mabel Farley, who had come to South Bisbee as young miner's wife 63 years before; who could not conceive of a corporation that was not a person: ( In her words, Freeport McMoRan, "Must be a very mean man."
Ralph, who drew parallels with the Bisbee Deportation of 1917;
David, who had spent 40 years creating a maze of gardens around his dream home;
Steve and Ardella's dream house;
Bruce and Marilyn's Hippie Mansion;
Sara, who always spoke her mind and dearly loved her tiny miner's shack;
Terry, who had worked for the company for 40 years and just had this one task to overseee before he could retire on his pension.
And, finally, there was Heide - whom Sara named The Hero of South Bisbee - the lone homeowner who refused to sign Freeport's relocation agreement, and whose resistance bought the community one last year of life.