All across the Four Corners region of the United States, visitors will often come across a half-kitsch, half-spiritual figure known as Kokopelli. The popularity of the Kokopelli figure crested across the Southwest during the early 21st century, but its origins lie before the dawn of the historical record. And with more than a thousand years of history behind it, the largest and most imposing likeness of this mythic flute-playing figure can be found in a roadside Starbucks parking lot near an interstate exit. Before Kokopelli was a kitsch attraction, it…
