From CHS I went to Prescott College for a year (Rob Bell was my roommate) and then to the UofA before dropping out after a few semesters. (After a 28 year absence from academia I bit the bullet and completed my Bachelor's with Prescott and then completed a Masters in American Indian Studies at the U of A. in 2002).

From 70-81 I was married to Ulla Lehtonen, the exchange student from Finland, now working for NCARB in DC. Though I still live in Tucson,I now happily spend almost half the year (the unbearably hot summer part!) in Santa Fe, where Emmi, my other half (a painter) has a home and studio and I have a second shop, just off the Plaza.

I am inexpressibly proud of my three children - Kim (35, and now a Sergeant in the Marines teaching a the Naval Justice School!), Yuri (23, graduate of the UofA working for ADOA, married to Jill, a reading teacher) and Santiago (17 1/2) - and am absolutely crazy about my grandson (b 2003) and granddaughter (b 2007).

The last 30+ years I have been running the shop my father started, being amazed and delighted by my children, doing volunteer work, and writing books and articles on various facets of Southwest Indian cultures, cross-cultural communication and Intellectual Property Rights. I've also been fortunate enough to travel - to Vietnam with my daughter, to the mountains of Siberia (via China and Mongolia) with my oldest son, and to Lapland in the winter with my youngest son, as well a Scotland, Guatemala, British Columbia, France, Sweden, Holland, Belgium, England, Spain, Thailand, Andorra, Finland, USSR (1971) Russia (1983), Switzerland and Omaha, Nebraska (just checking to see if you were paying attention). I get itchy feet again just listing them...

Mark Bahti
mbahti@zianet.com