Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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“Progress” is a word liberals grabbed to avoid the “liberal” label that those on the right have soiled so effectively. Feel free to call me either; better that than to embrace the stagnation of conservative thinking. The reality is, we all want progress. OK, there are exceptions - like the Proud Boys, who prefer supremacy to equality and anything over liberalism - but for the rest of us, we want our society moving forward. The divisions come when it’s time to talk about what that really means. By definition, “progress” is simply “forward moti...
The other day I attended a special meeting on crime. I came away thinking that we’re actually making progress. I say that despite reports that show a sharp increase in violent crime these days. FBI data show a 25% increase in homicides nationwide in 2020, and this year is looking about as bad. The reasons are debatable. Some blame the pandemic and its economic and social disruptions; others, the continuing proliferation of guns; and still others say it’s because law enforcement agencies have been on the defensive ever since George Floyd’s murde...
With a pandemic bearing down, Christmas is a bit subdued this year. That makes it a good year to curl up in bed with a Christmas book or plop down on your couch for a magical Christmas movie. I must admit I’ve read very few Christmas books, except as a young daddy. That’s when I delved into certain children’s classics such as “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” or one of the many Berenstain Bears’ holiday stories out there. Of the few Christmas-centric “chapter books” I remember reading, Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” is undoubtedly my favo...
Here we are again, about to enter into the abyss of a 30-day legislative session. It’ll be one of the fun ones, when lawmakers will get to spend-spend-spend. It must be refreshing for legislators who, not so long ago, had to cut-cut-cut their way through hard times and a tax-averse governor. Nowadays, state coffers are flush with oil and gas revenues and there’s enough money for increases everywhere, to state agencies all over the place. In a press release from the governor’s office last week, a $7.68 billion budget proposal was annou...
I have a dog in the house. He doesn’t live here, he just came to visit. And I have a family of feral cats living in my back yard. The momma cat claimed squatters rights, having lived here before I moved in. She’s always around, living her feral life just outside my reach. And, yes, I fed her, so now she owns me, as do her three almost-grown kittens. I had a plan for the momma cat first. A spay-neuter clinic was coming to town, so I reserved a spot and started planning her capture. I coaxed the kittens with cat food into a back room, then qui...
Back when you could do it with little or no hassle, I remember casually walking across the bridge (and therefore the border) between downtown El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. As I left the U.S. side, lively Spanish music filled the air, slowly fading into the background as I made my way across the border. But by the time I had reached the south side of the bridge, I could hear music again — only this time, it was American-style rock ’n’ roll filling the streets of Juarez. When I heard people explaining the overlapping nature of these two borde...
Up until recently, it’s been pretty much a seamless takeover. Worn out by Susana Martinez’s can’t-do/won’t do policies as governor toward issues like clean energy, full marijuana legalization and public education, voters made their voices heard in New Mexico with the resounding election of Michelle Lujan Grisham last year. Since then she’s been pushing the state in a far more progressive direction — touting education reform as her top priority. Last month, however, Lujan Grisham took an unexpected turn when she fired her Public Education D...
Like a lot of Americans, I got caught up in the 50th anniversary of our first moon landing. My moment was on CSpan3, where I channel-surfed into Reel America’s Moonwalk One, a dated NASA documentary that tells the story of the first U.S. mission to the moon. Now there was a moment when America was great. It encourages me to know that when our nation really applies itself, we can do incredible things. Going to the moon in 1969 — when computers were as big as houses, digital technology was still a baby, and the moon was made of cheese for all we...
We are about a year away from legalizing recreational marijuana in New Mexico. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has already set the wheels in motion for its passage at the Roundhouse next year, and if the state is ready with the regulations, it could conceivably become legal on July 1, when a lot of new laws take effect. That’s my prediction — legal pot will be selling in New Mexico by this time next year. Whether legalized marijuana will hit the streets next year or the year after, it’s coming, and probably sooner rather than later. Lujan Grish...
Recycling has always been a feel-good issue for the casual environmentalist, but it’s turning out to be even less than that. It’s becoming less practical and affordable. Silver City and Taos are just two New Mexico examples of how solid waste authorities are finding it too costly to recycle — and a big part of the problem, it turns out, is China cleaning up its act. Sierra magazine recently ran a cover story about the condition of our recycling efforts, painting a bleak picture of just how ineffective we’ve been. Have you heard of the Great P...
I took advantage of a long holiday weekend to travel up to the Continental Divide, where I camped and explored some of the highest points in Colorado. “Civilization” came to me through the radio, particularly National Public Radio. Like New Mexico, Colorado has NPR-member public radio stations all over the state, so I was never far from reception. I would be bordering on insanity if I had been listening all the time, but there was a lot of drive time between here and the Divide, so I tuned in — in between stops at some of the most spect...
Healthcare is a right. Raise your hand if you agree. The reality is, America is divided on this question. We’re not talking about emergency care here. I think most people with an ounce of compassion would agree that if someone’s life is in immediate danger, they should be treated before being asked how they’ll pay for their care. No, the debate is over the broader question of whether a person has a right to healthcare if they become sick or disabled, whether they can afford it or not. The irony, of course, is that just about every prosp...
Just when you think the Trumpettes have been banished from the Land of Enchantment come candidates who are already tugging on the president’s coattails, hoping to find redemption down south for the state’s beleaguered Republican Party. After the shellacking the GOP took in New Mexico last year — Democrats won every statewide and congressional race on the ballot, and took or held on to 72 of 112 seats in the state Legislature — Republicans are in search of a race they can win. Their greatest hope lies in the 2nd Congressional District, which w...
If I had to assign a genre to Rudolfo Anaya’s latest book, “Chupacabra Meets Billy The Kid,” I’d say it’s of the Western / science fiction / fantasy / Chicano literature / historical fiction genre, as if there’s such a thing. Maybe “unique” is a better description, because that’s certainly the way this outside-the-box tale reads. And to the contrary, I’d describe its Guadalupe and Lincoln county settings as realistically descriptive … well, except for the wormhole along the Pecos. Anaya, best known for his groundbreaking book, “Bless Me, Ulti...
One of my great regrets is not learning another language. I took Spanish in high school for a couple of years, but didn’t practice it enough over the years to go beyond the few words I’ve recalled since moving out here to New Mexico. And when I married into Japan, I found that my tongue just didn’t work right for Japanese, so I got discouraged and quit. I often joke that I am in fact bilingual — I know both English and Southern — but that’s just me covering up my own lack of knowing a real second language and explaining away the twang in my...
New Mexico is building itself up with some new, cutting-edge infrastructure. First, there’s Facebook and its $1 billion data center at Los Lunas. It’s creating a need for some expensive improvements to New Mexico’s energy infrastructure. The data center needs a lot of electricity and plans are in the works to build a transmission line on top of an existing line with less transmission capacity, at a cost of $85 million. As it stands, the state’s Public Regulation Commission has ruled that Facebook must pay $39 million of that cost since it’s th...
Today’s topic is change. It makes the world go round, but a lot of people hate it anyway. Change is inevitable, and yet the older we get, the more we’re inclined to resist it. It can be evolutionary or revolutionary, and it always has its share of detractors and proponents. Change is seldom without controversy. By its own definition, it causes friction. And nowadays, it comes at a blinding pace. More changes have come to the human experience in the last 50 years than has occurred in a thousand years prior. We barely have time to get used to...
I just finished doing a final read of high school seniors’ summaries. That’s something my newspaper compiles from surveys we pass out to the soon-to-be graduates and then publish on the eve of their commencement. It’s uplifting to read about these teenagers’ hope and dreams for the future — and worrisome because of what they’re going to face as adults. They may not realize what they’re facing in the world ahead. These are small-town youths, filled with the optimism that comes from supportive parents, grandparents and others who love them. Th...
About this time every year, parents all over New Mexico swell with pride as their daughters and sons walk across the graduation stage — and wave goodbye. The walk is ceremonial; the wave, at least for small towns, is figurative. As the urbanization of America continues, fewer of these young men and women will be staying in or returning to their hometown, simply because the opportunities they seek aren’t there. Some of them will choose to carve out a life in their hometown, while many others will move on. Their futures depend in large part on...
You may not be aware, but our pre-primetime way of life is undergoing a big change. Jeopardy! is being transformed. Like many Americans, I’m a fan of this game show, which I like for brain teasing entertainment value. I’m not a regular viewer because my work doesn’t always allow me to be at home in time (it airs at 6 p.m. weeknights here in New Mexico). Millions of Americans, however, tune in regularly — more than 10 million daily, according to one Nielson report. TV Guide lists Jeopardy! as the biggest game show of all time. It has been on...
If Donald Trump wants to convince the public that the Mueller report vindicates him, he needs to keep us from reading the report ourselves. Or even part of it. Just a couple of hours of reading its summaries and conclusions (which I did over the weekend, and look forward to reading it entirely when time permits) will leave you seriously concerned about Russian meddling and downright disgusted with how badly Trump has behaved since taking office. But don’t take my word for it. Go to justice.gov/sco and click into “Report on the Inv...
Tom Udall’s announcement that he won’t seek another term as U.S. senator really brought out the politics in New Mexico. Already, two Democrats have announced they’ll seek to replace Udall, and there’s plenty of speculation about others interested in vying for the crown jewel of statewide office. Let’s consider only a few. First to announce was U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján, who has come a long way in the 10 years he’s been the House. I remember being wholly unimpressed that first time he ran in 2008, when his father, the late New Mexico Speaker of t...
There’s nothing like a good outing to bring a family together. If you want to go on a leisurely drive to somewhere for a daytime adventure, with some wide-eyed young’uns in tow, you certainly don’t have to leave New Mexico. Space requires only a mention of a few, but you can easily google any and all that grab your attention. Northeast When we lived in Las Vegas, the largest town in this quadrant of the state, we discovered that a drive away from the mountains could turn up some real gems. Mills Canyon up in the high plains near Roy is one o...
When America’s youth began to rebel against the Vietnam War, it was because young men were being drafted. They were on the cutting edge of the issue, so they rose up in defiance. Something similar is happening now, only it’s not one particular war, nor is it just one nation’s youths. This time, it’s climate change and young people all over the world are demanding change. Maybe you’ve heard in the news about Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old Swedish girl who, outside her home country’s parliament, staged the first school strike for the climate. Fo...
Depending on your political persuasion, this was either the best or the worst state legislative session in a long, long time. According to nmlegis.gov, the New Mexico Legislature’s website, there were 477 bills, memorials and resolutions passed during the 60-day session that ended earlier this month, which is down from the 507 bills passed in 2017, the previous 60-day session. There may have been fewer bills passed, but they’re packing a bigger punch. From the environment, to the minimum wage, to a whole new department to address the needs of...