They used to call Shoshone Falls the Niagara of the West. Nowadays, at least in the late summer, it’s a weak and measured trickle, carefully portioned out to build the oasis that’s earned The Magic Valley its name. The loss of the water in the waterfall is simply the cost of turning southern Idaho’s parched desert into farmland. In 1837, Washington Irving described the area as “a land where no man permanently resides.” I took that sentiment to heart and left when I was nineteen.

Today, the Magic Valley is made of granola bars and Greek yogurt. Clif Bars, and Chobani Yogurt, two of the area’s most successful employers, have turned local resources, as well as immigrant and refugee labor, into global success. But in recent years, as more of the area’s refugees have come in from African and Middle-Eastern countries, the Magic Valley has become a national flashpoint for racism and fear; fueled by inflammatory reporting about a “Muslim takeover” from Breitbart news and others. Bright Spot is an exploration of the Magic Valley, and the many fears and mythologies that collide in this place the younger me decided that I would rather be from, than be.