isio n V
YOUR FREE ENTERTAINMENT MAGAZINE
MAGAZINE
DECEMBER 21, 2017
Cover Contest Winner: Heather Donahue ‘Roswell Library’
AWARDS: VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE EVENT OF 2017 ALSO INSIDE: ‘AN AFTERNOON WITH GROUCHO,’ CALENDAR, FROM THE VAULT ‘WINTER FOREST’ BY ELMER SCHOOLEY, ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS IN ROSWELL, PHOTO CONTEST AT THE GALLERY, S.E. SMITH’S ‘WRONG TURN TO ROSWELL,’ THE HISTORIC STUDIOS AND LOOKING UP
Content
Awards Vote for your favorite event of 2017 Art - Classifieds Art From the Vault: ‘Winter Forest’ by Elmer Schooley Calendar
Roswell Daily Record’s
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14 7, 10
Contest Second annual Cover Contest winner
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Photo Contest at The Gallery
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Culture ‘An Afternoon With Groucho’
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The Historic Studios at Berrendo Road listed in the National Register of Historic Places
History Once upon a Christmas in Roswell
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The mystery of the still
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Thursday, December 21, 2017 Volume 22, Issue 12 Publisher: Barbara Beck Editor: Jeff Tucker Vision Editor: Christina Stock Copy Editor: Misty Choy Ad Design: Sandra Martinez Columnists: Donald Burleson, Jan Dunnahoe, Lynda A. Sánchez, S.E. Smith, Sara Woodbury Get in touch with us online Facebook: PecosVisionMagazine Twitter: twitter.com/PecosVision Pinterest: pinterest.com/VisionMagazine Email: vision@rdrnews.com www: rdrnews.com/wordpress/vision-magazin For advertising information, call 622-7710 Correspondence: Vision Magazine welcomes correspondence, constructive criticism and suggestions for future topics. Mail correspondence to Vision Magazine, P.O. Drawer 1897, Roswell, N.M. 88202-1897 or vision@rdrnews.com Submissions: Call 622-7710, ext. 309, for writers’ guidelines. Vision Magazine is not responsible for loss or damage to unsolicited materials. Vision Magazine is published once a month at 2301 N. Main St., Roswell, N.M. The contents of the publication are Copyright 2017 by the Roswell Daily Record and may not be reprinted in whole or part without written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. One copy of each edition is provided to 13,000 weekday subscribers to the Roswell Daily Record in the third Thursday newspaper of each month. An additional 3,000 to 5,000 copies are made available free of charge to county residents and visitors and select site newsstands, and direct mailed to non-subscribers in the retail trade zone. Subscriptions are available by mail for $2 a month or free through subscription to the Roswell Daily Record. The Roswell Daily Record and Vision Magazine are represented nationally by Paper Companies Inc.
On The Cover
Story S.E. Smith’s ‘Wrong Turn to Roswell’ 12 UFOlogy Looking Up
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Winner of the annual Holiday Cover Contest: Heather Donahue
Submitted art The winning painting by Heather Donahue has the title “Roswell Library.”
Contest
Second Holiday cover contest Landslide win for Heather Donahue
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sen by judges from the advertisement department, the editorial department of the Roswell Daily Record and two local artists. The public and fans of the participating artists
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“Home of the Roswell Revolution” 2601 W. 2nd Roswell NM 88201 575-625-1000
Submitted Photos Top right: Second place for the Vision Magazine Holiday cover contest went to “Ornaments” by Gena Cacy. Bottom left: Third place for the Vision Magazine Holiday cover contest went to “Nativity” by Gena Cacy.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY HANUKKAH HAPPY KWANZAA
and a healthy and happy
By Christina Stock Vision Editor or the second annual Vision Magazine Holiday cover contest, 29 paintings and photos were sent in from local artists of all ages. The 10 best were cho-
had the chance to vote daily for their favorite artwork, which was displayed for a week at The Gallery, 233 N. Main Ave. With 32 vo te s, th e artwork of 14-year-old Heather Donahue won in a landslide. Second and third place go to Gena Cacy. Cacy’s photo “Ornaments” received 21 votes and her photo “Nativity” received 12 votes. We want to thank all artists for participating this year and good luck for the next contest. Our next edition of the Vision Magazine will be in 2018, until then ...
New Year 2018!
Count Down to Christmas at
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First
United Methodist Church 200 N. Pennsylvania Roswell, NM
fumc-roswell.org
(575) 622-1881 Photo courtesy of the Historical Society for Southeat New Mexico Archives Main Street Roswell. Date unknown, but probably around the turn of the century.
Candlelight Christmas Eve Services 5PM & 11PM
Come and experience the warmth of Christ’s love this holiday season.
History
Once upon a Christmas in Roswell Researcher Georgia B. Redfield’s finds and interviews about Christmas in the early days of Roswell. By Jan Dunnahoo Volunteer archivist with the Historical Society of Southeast New Mexico
T
he following excerpt was an article written, in part, for the Roswell Daily Record, Dec. 23, 1951, by Georgia B. Redfield. In 1936, the Federal Writers’ Project hired Roswell resident Georgia B. Redfield, an unemployed writer of local history, to collect stories and facts on her community. Redfield’s interviews are secured in the WPA New Mexico collection, Museum of New Mexico, The Palace of the Governors, Fray Angélico Chávez History Library, Santa Fe, the Library of Congress and at the
Historical Archives of Southeast New Mexico. There were only a dozen or so pioneer settlers living in a little cattle trading post, called Roswell, on Christmas 1877. Captain Joseph C. Lea with his wife, Sallie Wildly Lea and little son Wildly, had come the fall before that Christmas 74 years ago and had purchased the two adobe houses built in 1869 by Van Smith and Wilburn. They were a store and a dwelling, called a hotel, that had dormered window and attic sleeping quarters. Both buildings were situated in what is now
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the 400 block of North Main Street, across the street west from the county courthouse square. Cattle grazed there and drank from the first irrigation ditch that furnished the water from North Spring River for the stiff little cottonwood posts planted where there is now a smooth, tree-shaded lawn. There had never been any special Christmas celebrations in those first houses when they were occupied by Van Smith, save chicken fights and gambling games promoted by Smith who is known as “a gentleman gambler.”
Apparently there was not much reason for any rejoicing and Yuletide happiness that Christmas long ago, in the bleak little settlement, with its three or four adobe houses, the three neighboring dugout houses, with mud roofs, southeast of Roswell and the old, original adobe house on the famous Jingle-Bob ranch. The new girl would liven things up in the neighborhood, was probably the thought of Sallie Lea, whose name was the same as Sallie Chisum’s. So the gently reared Southern belle wife of Captain Lea, trimmed her dimly lit burning oil lamps, and stood on a soapbox and white washed dull colored adobe walls, preparing perhaps for an early visit from the young girl arriving that day, and to make more cheerful looking holiday surroundings for her husband and their little son. Little Wildly Lea, The Ballard children, and two in the Mart Corn family were the only ones known, to whom old Santa made his visits that Christmas Eve in 1877. While now in 1951 there are 8,000 children in Roswell, most of whom riding in a 3-milelong parade of luxurious automobiles, passed down the former deeply rutted street, (the buckboard used to drive, in front of the site of those first adobe houses, now gone) to receive presents from a modern Old Saint Nick. During the third week of 1877 a little caravan including James Chisum, brother of John, his young daughter Sallie, and two sons William and Walter, left their home in Denton, Texas, and headed west along the plains, for the Jingle
Bob ranch in New Mexico. Extra cattle hands drove the saddle horses and 50 head of stock. On December 20, a hand picked band of straight shooting cowboys had started out from the Jingle Bob ranch to meet the Chisum outfit at Horsehead Crossing, below the present city of Carlsbad. They were to protect the little caravan from the raiding Indians, always lying in wait for herds of cattle and horses, crossing the Pecos. As the anxious hours of waiting passed on Christmas eve John Chisum sat close beside a mesquite burning fireplace. Chisum would be uneasy until he knew that his brother and family had come safely through the hostile Indian infested area on the Pecos and Black River country. The party arrived safely, however, around 11 o’clock that night, but so tired and homesick there was no thought of it being Christmas eve. Nearly 50 years after words Mrs. Sally Chisum Robert at an old timers meeting told that she was so homesick and bone tired on her arrival that she wanted nothing better than to “lie down on the floor and howl.” John Chisum and Frank locked the tired livestock in the ranch corral and he and the exhausted travelers went to bed and slept soundly through the night. On Christmas morning the family was amazed to find that all of the cattle and horses that they had brought safely over the long trail we’re gone and the see
Christmas
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September Maddie & Tae, Inn of the Mountain Gods
2017 Awards
Robert Irvine, Inn of the Mountain Gods
Join in and vote for your favorite major music concert, theater play and main event. Place one vote for each category. The events listed had to be open for the public, as well as advertised or having a write-up in one of the Vision Magazine editions covering events from January to December, 2017. The events are listed below and sorted by event date. Out of all readers sending in their votes, one lucky winner will be drawn who wins a gift certificate from a Roswell restaurant of their choice in the amount of $25. Deadline to send in the Vision Awards sheet is Jan. 18 by noon. The drawing will be held on Jan. 19. For more information, email vision@rdrnews.com or call the Vision editor Christina Stock at 575-6227710, ext. 309. Music/Concert: (Vote for only one music event) January Mark Chesnut & Joe Diffie Inn of the Mountain Gods February Secret Circus’ “The Beginning is Near” release party, Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art Sawyer Brown Inn of the Mountain Gods Tyler Farr, Inn of the Mountain Gods Gregory Page’s Valentine’s Special, Ocotillo Performing Arts Center, Artesia Granger Smith, Inn of the Mountain Gods
Jon Pardi & Aaron Watson Inn of the Mountain Gods Cat Clyde & Susto, Pecos Flavors Winery + Bistro May Kyle Park, Cinco de Mayo Festival REO Speedwagon, Inn of the Mountain Gods Bobby Flay Inn of the Mountain Gods Tony Furtado, Pecos Flavors Winery
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Inn of the Mountain Gods
March
George Lopez, Inn of the Mountain Gods
Daughtry, Inn of the Mountain Gods
October Charlie Daniels Band and Marshall Tucker Band, Inn of the Mountain Gods Scotty McCreery, Inn of the Mountain Gods Carnaval Fantastique, Inn of the Mountain Gods November Charley Pride, Inn of the Mountain Gods December Santa Fe Opera Holiday concert, AMoCA Flying J Wranglers “White Mountain Christmas,” Ocotillo Performing Arts Center Midwinter Holiday, Ocotillo Performing Arts Center
June
City Rockfest 2017, Estelle Yates Auditorium, Artesia
Three Dog Night, Inn of the Mountain Gods
Jeremy Camp, Pearson Auditorium
The Oak Ridge Boys, Inn of the Mountain Gods July
Theater (Vote for only one theater play) March “The Music Man,” Way Way Off-Broadway Theatre Company at Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell “The Good Doctor,” Roswell Community Little Theatre April
Dokken & Lita Ford, Inn of the Mountain Gods
Clay Walker, Inn of the Mountain Gods
For King & Country, Inn of the Mountain Gods
The O’Jays, Inn of the Mountain Gods
“Shrek The Musical,” Neverland Theatre Company at the Pearson Auditorium
Pianist Kirill Gladkovsky at AMoCA
August
June
April
Warrant with Winger, Inn of the Mountain Gods
“Along came Mary,” Studio+ at the Pearson Auditorium
Justin Shandor, Inn of the Mountain Gods
see
38 Special, Inn of the Mountain Gods
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Awards
Continued from Page 5 “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown,” Roswell Community Little Theatre Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” Way Way Off-Broadway Theatre Company at ENMU-R PAC “Into The Woods,” Way Way Off-Broadway Theatre Company at ENMU-R PAC “Peter And The Starcatcher,” Neverland Theatre Company at The Liberty Club September “Once Upon A Mattress,” Roswell Community Little Theatre October “When The Party Is Over,” Christian Outreach Ministries of Roswell “Guys and Dolls,” Way Way Off-Broadway Theatre Company at ENMU-R PAC “An evening with Edgar Allan Poe,” Ocotillo Performing Arts Center, Artesia
“A Christmas Carol,” Ocotillo Performing Arts Center
Roswell Galacticon, Roswell Mall July Fort Stanton LIVE!, Fort Stanton
Event (Vote for one event only)
RAiR Andrea Jespersen’s opening exhibit, RMAC
February First guitar solo contest, Stellar Coffee RAiR exhibit & dinner, Claudia Bitran, “Titanic — A Deep Emotion” AMoCA Valentine’s Mystery Dinner Theater, Roswell Museum and Art Center Baby Boomer Business Expo & More show, Roswell Convention & Civic Center
End of Summer Bash, Inn of the Mountain Gods August Red Dirt Black Gold, Artesia Heritage Dinner, Roswell Convention & Civic Center September pARTy after hours, RMAC
March
Chile Cheese Festival, Roswell
Artfaire Art & Crafts Show, Roswell Convention & Civic Center
Brews, Blues & BBQ, Inn of the Mountain Gods
A Taste Of Jazz, AMoCA
October
Denim & Diamonds, Roswell Convention & Civic Center
RAiR Beyond the Gift of Time, Roswell
April
Art in the Park, Central Park in Artesia
November
Roswell Film Festival, Galaxy 8 movies
Dia de Los Muertos, Lincoln
“Something Wicked This Way Comes,” Neverland Theatre Company at The Liberty Club
Oldtimers Balloon Rally, Roswell
December “A Christmas Story,” Roswell Community Little Theater “Believe,” Studio+ and Neverland Theatre Company at ENMU-R PAC
Roswell Jazz Festival November
June
Pecos Valley Potter’s Guild show, Roswell Convention & Civic Center
Zia Fest, Roswell Adult and Recreation Center Smokin’ on the Pecos, Artesia
RAiR opening exhibit of Rachel Grobstein, RMAC
UFO Festival, incl. parade, UFO Museum, Roswell Incident, Pet & Human costume contest, laser show and Challenges to ET
Holly-Day Magic, Art and Craft Show Roswell Convention & Civic Center
Send the Vision Award Sheets to: Roswell Daily Record - VISION AWARDS 2301 N. Main St. Roswell, NM 88201 Or drop it off at the above mentioned address from Mo-Thur, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Fr, 8 a.m. - noon. Deadline: Jan. 18
6 | V i s i o n M a g a z i n e | Thursday, December 21, 2017
Christmas Fantasy Fair, Roswell Convention & Civic Center HeART of Winter Show, Berrendo Middle School A Victorian Christmas, Historical Archives and museum
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YOUR PHONE NUMBER
Calendar Roswell Ongoing until Dec. 23 A Season in Bethlehem The Gospel Village presents the 13th annual A Season in Bethlehem. The public can feed live Nativity animals, listen to Christmas music and Christmas lights. A new gingerbread church baking contest is open for interested bakers. Rules and entry blanks are available at the Roswell Chamber of Commerce. The outdoor event A Season in Bethlehem is located at 2603 S. Eisenhower Rd. For more information, call 575-420-7554. Alamogordo Dec. 21 Live music Roswell’s own, Marie Manning, is performing with Khai French at Patron’s Hall, 1106 New York Ave., at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free of charge. For more information, email films@flickingercenter.com. Artesia Dec. 21 A Christmas Carol The Artesia Arts Council present “A Christmas Carol” at the Ocotillo Performing Arts Center, 310 W. Main St., at 7 p.m. For more information, visit artesiaartscouncil.com. Roswell Dec. 21 Roswell Kids Art Program Spring registration is now open for theatre class as part of the Roswell Kids Art Program. The class fills up fast. Only 30 students for the class, which starts
Jan. 23. Students will be working on the production of the “Mystery Club, Cases 1 & 2.” Performance will be held April 20 and 21. For more information, visit roswellkaps.org. Alamogordo Dec. 22 Open Mic Night The Open Mic Acoustic Instrument Night at Patron’s Hall, 1106 New York Ave., takes place at 5:30 p.m. starting with the signup. Only for acoustic instruments. For more information, email Keri Mack at films@flickingercenter.com.
Artesia Dec. 22 Christmas Toy Drive The Changing Lives Coalition is holding its Christmas Toy Drive. Donations are accepted at its office, 702 W. Chisum Ave. Volunteers are still needed. For more information, visit changinglivesnm.com or call 575-7367024. Carlsbad Dec. 22 Ha Ha Holiday Comedy Show The Ha Ha Holiday Comedy show, featuring comedians Bianca Carrasco, Joe Rodriguez
and George White, takes place at Milton’s Brewing, 108 E. Mermod St. at 7 p.m. For more information, visit its event page or call 575-689-1026. El Paso Dec. 23 Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker Celebrate this Christmas with the experience taking North America by storm. Marking the 25th anniversary tour, Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker features over-the-top production and world class Russian artists, larger than life puppets,
nesting dolls and hand-crafted costumes that bring the Christmas spirit to life. The performance will be at The Plaza Theater Performing Arts Center, 125 Pioneer Plaza, at 3 p.m. For more information, visit its Facebook event page or visit nutcracker. com. Ruidoso / Mescalero Dec. 29-31 Wait For What?! in concert The music duo T David Wiggins and Elane Wiggins are known as Wait for What?! They are going to
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Culture
Ready to misbehave and laugh
Frank Ferrante brings Groucho Marx back to life for “An Afternoon With Groucho” By Christina Stock Vision Editor “If you’ve heard this story before, don’t stop me, because I’d like to hear it again.” Groucho Marx (18901977) sked how Ferrante became interested in the comedian work of Groucho Marx, he said, “I saw a Marx Brother’s Film when I was 9 years old and I never laughed so hard. He was so free and wild and outrageous, as were his brothers Harpo and Chico. It took my breath away, it exhilarated me to see them. How they behaved, or misbehaved, I should say. “When you are 9 years old and playing by the rules, like most of us do and did, it’s a thrill to see grownups behave this way,” Ferrante said. “It catapulted me into the local library. I started
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Submitted Photo Frank Ferrante as Groucho Marx.
700 A West Hobbs Street Roswell, NM 88203 Ph: (575) 755-3310
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Membership as low as $10 a month 8 | V i s i o n M a g a z i n e | Thursday, December 21, 2017
researching the Marx Brothers. Not only the Marx Brothers, but all comedians of that era. That became really a study for me, an obsession. The comedians of that era, from Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, W. C. Fields, and it continued to expand my love for comedy performance. I wanted to be an actor because of it.” Ferrante became an actor, director and producer described by The New York Times as “the greatest living interpreter of Groucho Marx’s material.” In a phone interview with the Vision Magazine editor, Ferrante shared some of his memories of how his career began. “The son of Groucho Marx, Arthur, attended a performance that I did at the University of Southern California in 1985,” Ferrante said. “I invited him to what was my senior project at USC. That was the beginning.” After all these years, there is still surprise and amazement in Ferrante’s voice, when he recalls, “Arthur attended as did Groucho Marx’ daughter, Miriam and Morry Ryskind who co-wrote some of the Marx Brother films. They all showed up on my campus. This is 33 years ago. The show went really well.
“Arthur Marx was a playwriter and he told me, ‘If I ever do a show about my father again, I’d like to use you.’ Ferrante graduated and the call came indeed to perform for Ryskind. Ferrante originated the off-Broadway title role in “Groucho: A Life in Revue” by Arthur Marx, portraying the comedian Groucho Marx from age 15 to 85. “That was really the beginning of my professional career,” Ferrante said. For this role, Ferrante earned New York’s Theatre World Award and an Outer Critics Circle nomination. He reprised the role in London’s West End and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Comedy Performance of the Year. Ferrante played the Groucho role in the off-Broadway revival of The Cocoanuts and has played Captain Spalding in several productions of Animal Crackers winning a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for his portrayal at Goodspeed Opera House and a Helen Hayes nomination in Washington D.C. at Arena Stage. In Boston, he played the Huntington Theatre in the record breaking run of “Animal Crackers” that landed Ferrante on the cover of American The-
atre magazine. Today, Ferrante has performed the Groucho role for more than 2,500 times in more than 400 cities around the world. Recently, he returned from his second tour to Australia, visiting 33 cities in an eight-week tour. “T h e y lo ve d it o ut there and I loved working there,” Ferrante said. “It is just a reminder that Groucho’s humor cuts through culture and various demographics. I love seeing it.” Ferrante said that he is looking forward to returning to New Mexico. “The last time I was in New Mexico, maybe 10 years ago, there was a woman in her 90s in the audience and there was a 7-year-old boy sitting right next to her,” he said. “They were both laughing at the same jokes, the same improv I was doing and that was enheartening. It was very affirming for me to see that this persona (Groucho) works. This woman had seen the Marx Brothers on stage in the ‘20s. When I saw this kid laughing and her, it made my day. I’ll never forget it.” The audience in Artesia can expect a laughout-loud show with the best of Groucho Marx and a lot of interaction. “You don’t necessarily have to be a Groucho see
Groucho
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The Historical Studios at Berrendo Road, ca. 1970.
Submitted Photo
Culture
The dream of one man impacted Roswell and the Southwest The original Roswell Artist-in-Residence compound, known today as The Historic Studios at Berrendo Road, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places By Christina Stock Vision Editor n Aug. 7, The Historic Studios at Berrendo, formerly known as the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Compound, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. When driving by The Historic Studios at Berrendo Road, at the corner of Montana Avenue, most people might enjoy the unusual look of the buildings, but only a few people know how this little complex changed not only the face, but the soul of Roswell. The story of the artist
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compound goes back to the late ‘40s, when Donald B. Anderson purchased the land, which at the time had only a farmhouse and two barns on its property. The old farmhouse served as the first artist residence and the barns were rehabilitated as a printmaking studio and wood shop. The decommissioning of Walker Air Force Base in 1967 was a devastating blow to the community and it nearly wiped Roswell off the map. Anderson saw a way to fulfill his vision. He purchased between ‘67
and ‘75 the simple but sturdy military houses as surplus from WAFB to turn them into homes and studios, organized around two courtyards on his property. He completed the compound in 1975. “He had this brilliant idea to try to create community by bringing these houses in on this piece of property he had and then inviting artists to come,” Diane Marsh said. Marsh is a former RAiR grantee and today’s director of the studios. “Now the compound is completely grown up, we are surround-
ed, but in the old days, there were no houses, no pecan trees, nothing,” Marsh said. “You could see all the way to Capitan. I was here then when it looked like this in 1980-81. “Don Anderson really changed the face of the community here in terms of art and indeed in the Southwest,” Marsh said. “Also, when he first envisioned this idea of an art community, it was just personal to him to bring the artists here. It really was his love because he is an artist as well as an oilman. “He is a creative individual, he created this vision of a place. Now there are hundreds of these art communities around the U.S. Then, it was only a handful and this was and still is by far the most generous of them all,” Marsh said. With the help of resident artists, Anderson developed and professionalized the RAiR program. He funded the program, which provided five artists with a one-year residency, a stipend for living expenses, and an unlimited stipend for materials. Anderson welcomed artists’ families and increased the living stipend for each family member. The program provided artists with the gift of time, a full year to focus on art without the distractions of everyday life. According to Marsh, this was and is very unusual. Most programs are not only much shorter, but they require artists to give a piece of art. “We (the RAiR foundation) actually purchase it from them, which helps them,” Marsh said. “This is really the gift of time.”
More than 200 artists have been invited to Roswell through this program and their stay here has enriched the lives of the Roswell community, and Roswell has enriched their lives as well. When those artists leave, they take a piece of Roswell and Southeast New Mexico with them, becoming ambassadors and telling the world about the small town with the big heart for the arts. Marsh remembered her first stay as RAiR grantee. “When I first came here in 1980, I was working in New York City,” Marsh said. “I had a loft in lower Manhattan, I was working there and was an artist. I dreamed of getting this grant (RAiR) as do many of the artists today. This is just one of the best grants in the country. So, I got the grant, I was only 24 years old, and I came here in 1980 for a year. “Roswell was a much smaller town, very small, very quiet,” Marsh said. “It was a
Main Street town. All the businesses were on Main Street. You parked on Main Street and went to Sheplers Western Wear, all the little stores on Main Street. We didn’t have a big mall, these things didn’t exist; the fast food restaurants didn’t exist. We ate a lot at local restaurants, which was great. Lots of wonderful little local restaurants. It was very different. “People would go out south of town to the Urban Cowboy Bar for country and western dancing. When I came with the artists, it was a particular time, and we got very involved in the country/western dance. We bought cowboy boots. We also signed up for horseback riding lessons. I rode for a year, and this fostered my love for horseback riding,” she said. “At the end of my year in 1981, I went back to Manhattan to live and work for six more years,” Marsh said. “I wanted to leave Manhatsee
Studios
on page
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FARMERS COUNTRY MARKET Del Norte - Plains Park - 2nd & Garden
For Week of Dec. 25 - Jan. 9
Winter Break!
Have a safe and happy holiday season. See you next year!
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Calendar
perform on Friday in the 1852 Treaty Room at 8 p.m., on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Wendell’s Lounge and on Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Wendell’s Lounge at the Inn of the Mountain Gods, 287 Carrizo Canyon Road, at 6 p.m. For more information, visit the Facebook page of Wait for What?! Hobbs Jan. 6 Playhouse Gala The Community Players of Hobbs are hosting their annual awards banquet and gala honoring those who have gone above and beyond during the 2017 performance season. The event is going to be held at Lea County Event Cen-
ter & Fairgrounds, 5101 N. Lovington Hwy. For more information, visit communityplayersofhobbs.com or call 575-393-0676. Roswell Jan. 7 Sunday Funday The Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico is continuing its Sunday Funday All-Stars 2017-18. The Gonzales family are presenting their work. All Sunday Fundays are free of charge and open to the public. The event is child-friendly and hosted in the archive facility, 208 N. Lea Ave., at 3 p.m. For more information, call 575-622-8333. Hobbs Jan. 11 Disney Live! presents “Mickey And Minnie’s Doorway To Magic”
The Lea County Event Center, 5101 N. Lovington Hwy., hosts Disney Live! “Mickey And Minnie’s Doorway To Magic.” The show reveals mesmerizing worlds of unforgettable Disney moments and grand illusions. The show starts at 4 p.m. For more information, visit leacounty.net. Carlsbad Jan. 15 Fee Free Days Carlsbad Caverns National Park The public is invited to experience all national parks, incl. Carlsbad National Park, without entrance fees. For more information, call 575-2361356. Hobbs Jan. 20 Championship Bull Riding The 2018 Hobbs Tuff Hedeman Championship Bull Riding takes place at the Lea County Event Center, 5101 N. Lovington Hwy. Tickets are on sale now. For more information, visit selectaseatlubbock.com or call 575-3912900. Roswell Jan. 28 New Mexico School for the Arts The public is invited to the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, 409 E. College Blvd., at 2 p.m. for a free performance of the students from the New Mexico School for the
Arts. The students present their works in music, theater, dance and visual art. For more information, call 575-623-5600. Cloudcroft Feb. 9 to 10 Mardi Gras in the Clouds The annual Mardi Gras in the Clouds has this year the theme “Love and Magic on The Mountain.” The events include Cajun cooking contest, children’s parade and mask contest, including baby contest and dance on Friday. On Saturday, there will be a scavenger hunt, cake walk, battle of the bands and the official parade. For more information, visit coolcloudcroft. com/mardigras/ Carlsbad Feb. 9 A Night to Shine The Night to Shine is sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation and takes place at 7 p.m. at the Carlsbad Civic Center, 4012 National Parks Hwy. This event is a prom for those in our community with special needs. For more information, visit its Facebook event page. If you would like your event listed on the entertainment calendar, please email vision@rdrnews. com or call 622-7710 ext. 309.
Photo Contest
Saturday Feb. 10
Kathie Butts Photo
Artist Kathie Butts, The Gallery, 233 N. Main St., is announcing the first photo contest to take place in 2018. “I got the idea when I saw all those entries at the State Fair,” Butts said. “We never had a photo contest and there is so much talent out there.” There will be several categories including a separate youth class for participants up to 18 years of age, then 18 to 99 and up. Photos can be black and white and/or color. “We are going to have a panel with judges from out of town,” Butts said. “Deadline is Jan. 13 by email or drop off your thumb drive or CD with us. “The winners and honorable mentions will be put up Feb. 10 and the photographers are invited to be present,” Butts said. For more information, email patlaube@msn.com.
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Christmas
Drylander’s Christmas Four days before Christmas out on the BAR U A case of the lonesomes had hit the whole crew. Though mostly young fellers who’d drifted out West Plumb off from their homefolks, it must be confessed That comin’ on Christmas, them lonesomes took hold. As the dadblasted weather turned stormy and cold. With the trail snowed too deep for a town gallyhoot. Their chances for Christmas cheer weren’t worth a hoot. There’s be stock to tend to — some strays like as not — And not much for Christmas but beans in a pot. Now family homes in them days long ago Was scattered plum thin as old-timer’s know The feelin’s ‘twixt nesters and range-ridin’ men Was often plumb hostile. So here it had been Till just before Christmas homesteader O’Toole Took a notion that he’d put a boy on a mule To spread the good word that on Christmas Eve night His house would be warm, and with candles alight, His missus and him would both welcome that crew Of snowbounded cowhands out on the BAR U. They said there’d be fixin’s and maybe a chance There might be some music and maybe some dance. So the cowboys rode over in spite of the snow, With the mercury hangin’ about 10 below. Another farm family from off up the draw Showed up in a wagon not just pa and ma But also three daughters. Believe it or not, On that Christmas Eve all feuds was forgot! And in that snug house on the drylander’s claim Five frostbitten cowhands were sure glad they came. For the best Merry Christmas, them buckaroos found, Is always the one where there’s women around; And if you ain’t guessed it, ‘twas Missus O’Toole Who’d made the old man put that boy on a mule! S. Omar Barker (1895-1985)
Continued from Page 4 corral gates were still locked. The Indians, skulking in the shadows, didn’t dare attack the outfit and the sharpshooter cowboys. They had sneaked quietly in, when the ranch inmates were asleep, lifted the gates from the hinges, and had driven all the horses and cattle away. That first Christmas on the Drinkle Bob ranch in 1877 was a dreary time for the Chisholm family. Little Sallie, who was called “Queen of the Jinglebob Ranch” by the cowboys, could not be comforted. She’s promised a new home and a big blowout with another Christmas rolled around. The years 1878 and 1879 were hard ones, however, with Indians stock raids and white cattle rustling, so not until Christmas, 1880, was the promise of a big party in a new home fulfilled. The new 12=room adobe house, although not quite completed, was made ready for the promised Christmas celebration. The long table, always hospitably laid for guests, was made longer. It stood in the new dining hall, laden with barbecued meats, baked hams, and sal-
ads, and cakes and pies, of every description. Round up and ranch cooks had labored for days preparing for the holiday feast that would continue through the day and all Christmas night. Guests who came from thro ugh out th e plains country, from Las Cruces, Lincoln, Fort Sumner, arrived in wagons, buckboards and on horseback. Little Sallie was happy in her new Christmas finery, and even her uncle John and her father forgot the recent troubles, and were happy. At the evening dance stomping and tingling of spurs on heavy cowboy boots kept time with the music of the violin played by Rufe Dunnahoo, and the banjo
Vision Magazine |
of Will Lumbley, wellknown musicians of that era. There was never another gathering so fine and happy, as that first one on Jingle Bob Ranch, on that long ago Christmas of 1880. “Ladies to the center, doce do, all join hands and away we go,” called the prompter, for the happy dancing throng, that danced until the early hours, and the first Christmas party in the new ranch home was over.
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Thursday, December 21, 2017
| 11
‘Wrong Turn to Roswell’
W
ith today’s edition we welcome a new contributor to the Vision Magazine: New York Times, USA TODAY, international and award-winning bestselling author S.E. Smith. Smith’s contribution to literature encompasses science-fiction, fantasy, paranormal and contemporary works for adults, young adults and children. She enjoys writing a wide variety of genres that pull her readers into worlds that take them away. Her visit in Roswell a couple years ago inspired her to write “Wrong Turn to Roswell,” which will be published for the first time as a series in the Vision Magazine, starting with the first two chapters. Life is always interesting when you live in Roswell, New Mexico. Episode 1: Don’t Push that Button! Space: As in Outer Space “Dad is going to be
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Episode 1: Don’t Push that Button! Episode 2: Science Fair Project By S.E. Smith furious with you,” Carbon stated, moving to sit down next to her twin brother Iron in the cockpit of their family spaceship. “No, he won’t. He just told me not to blow us up,” Iron retorted. Carbon shook her head and wiped at a smudge of dirt on her dark tan trousers. Sitting back in the seat near the navigation station, she watched her brother with a wary expression. He looked like he had been playing with the controls again from the number of flashing lights on the console he was trying to hide. “Do you need help?” she asked dryly. Iron turned and glared at her. “No, I do not need any help,” he retorted sarcastically. “I’ve got this.” “You don’t look like you have it,” Carbon replied with a wince from an alarm that briefly filled the air with an ear-piercing screech. Iron quickly silenced it. “Just because I don’t read all of the manuals first doesn’t mean I don’t know what each thing does. I watch mom and
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dad,” he said in a defensive tone. “I think you should admit that I’m smarter than you are and leave it as your only defense,” Carbon chuckled when two more lights started flashing. “Don’t push that one.” Iron flashed her an irritated glare. “If you’re so smart, then why is the hot oil dispenser not working?” he demanded. Carbon flushed and stuck her long, green tongue out at her brother. “It shorted out. Dad was the one who told me to turn on the heating coil. He was the one who forgot to put oil in it first, not me,” she replied with a sniff. Iron glanced up at the panel monitoring the recharge station. He had 28 hours to go before their parents woke up. He could fix the mess he had made — with a little help. “Maybe you could turn off a few of the lights,” Iron reluctantly suggested. Carbon shook her head and grinned. Rising from her chair, she trailed a hand along the back of it before stepping toward the door. Iron knew he was in trouble from the expression on his sister’s face. “Nope, you are totally on your own now. I can’t wait to see how long you get grounded this time,” she laughed. “Argh! You can be such a pain sometimes,” Iron groaned, turning back to gaze at the console with a feeling of panic. “I can do this. I just have to remember the password to my documents folder and pull up the manual.”
12 | V i s i o n M a g a z i n e | Thursday, December 21, 2017
Before he could focus, another light started blinking. This one was flashing red and yellow. In annoyance, Iron reached forward and pressed the button. His eyes widened when he felt a sudden surge of power from the ship, and he was pressed back against his seat. The sound of his sister yelling his name barely registered as the console lit up brighter than a supernova. Iron could feel the energy draining out of him as the spaceship shot forward. To keep from being thrown out of his chair, he gripped the arms tightly and braced his feet firmly against the floor. Two things flashed through his mind before everything went dark: First, that was a very beautiful blue-andwhite planet up ahead, and second, he was going to be so grounded for life when his parents woke up. Episode 2: Science Fair Project Roswell, New Mexico “Beep, grrr, snort.” “Knock it off,” Alan Whitehead snapped, looking over at the boy next to him. “Come on, Alan. Don’t be such a grouch,” Matt Stone complained. Alan watched Matt pull his hand away from the dusty console. Matt might be three months older than Alan, but he acted like he was three years younger. At 12, they were almost the same height, though Matt weighed twice as much as Alan. “We need to find something for the science fair on Monday,” Alan
snapped with a glance over his shoulder. “There’s tons of stuff we can use. It isn’t like anyone really cares if what we bring works. Mr. Gabon would be impressed that I turned anything in at all!” Matt replied, bending over to pick up a box that was under the table. “I don’t know why he made me your partner. We don’t even like each other,” Alan stated, lifting a dirty finger to push his glasses that slid down on his nose back up. “I know why. My dad is on the city council, and Mr. Gabon wants to host the UFO festival next year. My dad told Mr. Gabon that if I passed this year he could be the Master of Ceremonies. What about this? Can we use this for anything,” Matt asked, turning to look at Alan. “You know that helmet probably has brain-eating alien spiders in it, don’t you?” Alan retorted dryly. Matt snorted, and the noise sounded suspiciously like the one from the console. Alan rolled his eyes. He wasn’t kidding about the helmet — well, not entirely. From the cobwebs hanging down around Matt’s face like the stringy hair of a long deceased skeleton, Alan suspected there may be more than spiders living inside the thing. “I think it’s cool,” Matt said, pulling the helmet off. White wisps of cobwebs and thick clumps of dust coated his dark red hair. “I can use it for Halloween.” “You don’t need a costume,” Alan started to
say before pressing his lips together. “There’s got to be something in this box that we can use. Let’s take it back to your house.” “Why do we have to take it to my house?” Matt groaned, tucking the helmet under his arm. “My mom will have a hissy-fit. I can hear her now. ‘Matthew, how many times do I have to tell you not to bring junk into the house. Yew, Matthew, there might be bugs in there. Harold! Look what your son dragged into my nice, clean house....’” Alan couldn’t keep the grin off his face. Matt was talking in a high voice and waving his left hand around before looking sternly at him and pointing a finger. Matt finished up his impression of his mother by placing a dirty hand against his face, leaving a perfect imprint on his freckled cheek. “I guess we could take it to mine,” Alan started to say in a reluctant voice. Matt’s eyes lit up, and he grinned. “Great! I’ll carry this if you take the rest,” he replied. Alan shook his head when Matt pushed by him and headed for the opening between the piles of junk stacked up at old man Yeller’s store. Episode 3: What’s That?! To be continued... To learn more about S.E. Smith, visit her website at sesmithfl.com and chat with her on Facebook at facebook.com/ se.smith.5
Studios
Continued from Page 9 tan. The Southwest was calling me; I guess Roswell was just calling me back. I really loved it.” “I came back to Roswell and Don Anderson at that time had another building in downtown Roswell, a loft building on Third Street. He had a building down there that he had built and three artists had loft spaces upstairs at the time. There was a giant 4,000 square foot space downstairs and various people lived there. When I came back from New York, he let me live there for another year. Just amazing. It was interesting to come from NYC and live downtown Roswell, because there was nothing happening in Roswell. Nobody was walking on the streets, it was a very quiet town. That was actually 1986. I was here for another couple of years. Marsh would leave Roswell several times, moving back in 2007 from Abique for good. In 2007, the Roswell Artist in Residence Compound relocated to new facilities on 60 acres east of town and the big question was, what to do with the old compound. The reason they built the new compound was because this was getting run down. The city was growing up until our edges and we were losing that sense of space and distance. They decided to build a new residence program and they had to think about what to do with this. They could have sold it, they could have done a lot of things, but the foundation decided to save it. Artists who just came off the grant didn’t want to leave Roswell, others wanted to return, but — as the saying goes — there are a lot of artists struggling and not everybody has enough money to stay in motels or rent on the regular market. Marsh’s idea to rent out the houses and studios for a low cost, subsidized by the RAiR Foundation, was found ideal. “Our goal, or my goal, through this program is to help artists,” Marsh said. “The foundation supports it, which is good. We did some fundraising at one point and we did have some generous donations at some point in order to put the new windows in. “Little by little, we started to fix the houses up, we put in new windows in the houses, not the studios yet. The houses all have updated heating/cooling — we have been doing a lot of maintenance and updating, done by the artists living here if possible. We kept the style inside.” In 2015, Reginald Richey, vice-chairman and architect on the Cultural Properties Review Committee of the New Mexico Preservation Division of the NM Department of Cultural Affairs, visited the Anderson Museum. Richey is in charge of finding worthy historic landmarks and suggesting to apply to get listed in the State Historic Register. “Susan Wink was the co-director with Nancy Fleming, who is now our museum director, of the Anderson Museum,” Marsh said. “Susan met Mr. Richey when he came into the Anderson Museum and suggested he might come visit me at the Historic Berrendo Studios. She knew I was interested in the possibility of placing our compound on the Historic Register. It was a long process. Asked what Marsh hopes for after being on the National Historic Register, she said, “I love having new people come and go. One thing that I am seeing that I was wishing it would happen, is that the artists who were here earlier in the grant to return and retire. This is a great place for artists who are older, who live in the community with other artists to have an affordable rent, because most artists are not well-off. The way I see the historic studios is that it is a community of artists who help each other. Some people have stayed here for several years, some have stayed for a couple of months, but everybody here has been part of the community. It is such a nice vibe and nobody interferes into anybody else’s life. But if you need help, there is always someone to help you. It is really nice,” Marsh said. “Of course, being recognized on the National Historic Registry is really a great honor and it speaks to the importance on what Don Anderson created here,” Marsh said. “This is a very important thing and he created it very quietly. He is very humble. He doesn’t really want this focus. He did it for his own reasons but what came out of it is pretty great. For more information about the The Historic Studios at Berrendo Road, visit its new webpage at therairfoundation.org/historic-studios-history.
The public is invited to “An Afternoon With Groucho.”
Submitted Photo
Groucho
Continued from Page 8 fan to find the show entertaining,” Ferrate said. “It’s really designed for those who like live comedy and I always make the assumption that many do not know who he is. So the show must work, if they know him or not. Many people today no longer know who the stars of the silent era were. Ferrate is bringing a national comedy treasure back into the limelight. “That is why it is such a joy doing this show consistently over the years,” he said. “In many ways, I feel like I am introducing a new audience to the subject matter and to great comedy — this brash comedy, this vaudeville style — that has impacted so much of the comedy people today. The further we get away from it, the more we need to remind ourselves, ‘What is funny? Where do we come from in the sense of humor?’
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“He (Groucho) is always the outsider, the little guy and he is always tearing down the powerful and those who have power over us, from lawyers, professors, doctors and politicians,” Ferrate said. “That never gets old and he is always holding up a mirror to us and to society in those films. Groucho is a truth teller. That is refreshing and that is why he is still with us and why people still talk about him and think about him. I don’t think anyone was better or funnier than Groucho Marx in the last 100 years in our country.” The public will have the chance to see Ferrante as Groucho on Jan. 14 at 2 p.m. at the Ocotillo Performing Arts Center, 310 W. Main St. For more information, visit artesiaartscouncil. com or call 575-746-4212.
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Thursday, December 21, 2017
| 13
Culture
From the Vault: ‘Winter Forest’ by Elmer Schooley
By Sara Woodbury Curator of Collections and Exhibitions Roswell Museum and Art Center
A
s we transition into the winter with its cooler temperatures and shorter days, let’s take a look at a seasonally-appropriate work: “Winter Forest” by Elmer Schooley (1916-2007). Born in Kansas, Elmer Schooley, known as Skinny to his friends, grew up in a farming environment in Oklahoma and Colorado. He majored in art at the University of Colorado. While there, he met and married his wife, artist Gussie DuJardin, and after college, both went on to earn their master’s at the University of Iowa. When World War II hit, Schooley spent the war in the South Pacific and in Japan, after enrolling in officer training school through the Army Air Corps. After
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the war, he took up a teaching career to support his family. Following a brief stint at New Mexico Western College, he taught for the next 30 years at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas. He was pivotal in getting a lithography program going there, and he was considered a great teacher by his students. Following his retirement, Schooley focused on painting. In 1977, he and DuJardin came down to Roswell to participate in the Artist-in-Residence program, and moved here permanently after the grant, becoming a much-cherished part of the Roswell community. Today, Schooley is best known as a painter, particularly for his large-scale, wilderness landscapes. These enormous pieces were developed over several decades, and were inspired in part by the distinctive color and brushwork of 19th-century French painter Pierre Bonnard. Schooley usually didn’t use brushes for these works, preferring rollers and other unconventional tools instead. What’s wonderful about these pieces is the way in which they straddle abstraction and representation. Yes, you’re looking at a field of flowers or a stand of trees, but you’re also looking at patterns, color and texture. Personally, they remind me of tapestries, woven with paint instead of
thread. Before the wilderness series, Schooley painted in a variety of styles. His earliest pieces from the 1940s are typically figurative with a social realist bent, but by the 1960s he was concentrating primarily on landscapes. As a printmaker, Schooley worked a great deal in lithography, though he also made several powerful, large-scale woodcuts. Like his earlier paintings, many of his lithographs are figurative in nature, often with people in profile or turned away from the viewer. “Winter Forest” is an outstanding example of the use of contrast in a composition. Schooley has placed us — as viewers — above the trees, giving us the vantage point of a bird. The forest itself gradually tapers out to a single tree in the front, with the myriad connecting branches forming a pattern-like network reminiscent of neurons or electrical networks. In contrast to the highly intricate forest, Schooley left the rest of the composition empty, evoking the blanketing effect of fresh snowfall. In this print, lithographic crayon and untouched paper harmonize, forming a striking composition that suggests the quiet beauty of wintry landscapes. Although done in the early 1960s, the work foreshadows Schooley’s ongoing interest with nature’s patterns
14 | V i s i o n M a g a z i n e | Thursday, December 21, 2017
“Winter Forest” by Elmer Schooley. and textures that are embodied in his wilderness paintings. “Winter Forest” is currently in storage, but it may make an appearance in 2018. I’m currently working on a checklist for an exhibition on lithography, and am looking through
several of Schooley’s prints for possible selections. This show is scheduled to open at the end of August, and will introduce visitors to the history and process of lithography through a selection from our works on paper collection. Keep your eyes
Submitted Art
open next year, as you may get the opportunity to enter the silent, contemplative world of “Winter Forest.”
History
The mystery of the still
By Lynda A. Sánchez
N
o one knew where the still came from. This was an artifact on display at the Phelps White home and Museum of the Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico, 200 N. Lea Ave. Since I was giving a program that included information about bootlegging, I thought, “Wow, this would be fun to have as a prop!” I asked the staff if that was a possibility and was told, “Sure, since you are giving our program, we can let you use the still.” Sunday came, and my good friend Tresa Jamison and the wonderful folks at the archives he lped m e set up. I noticed a tiny tag on one of the coils. Looking at it, I read a name that I knew, a name that was local to both Roswell and to historic Lincoln, New Mexico. Things clicked now — the name was Mann (Allene) — it had to belong to my neighbors. Decades ago, Tom Mann Sr. used to grow grapes in Lincoln. I also know his son, Tom Mann and figured I would give him a call and ask for the history behind the still. Tom laughed in his wonderful way and told me some more about this copper still that was probably made by Tony Leyba, a man who worked for his dad. I had met Tony when I first moved to Lincoln more than 45 years ago. He was one of those men whose droll smile showed a lot of
mischief. He had great stories to tell. It goes to show once again how history, heritage and our region can be full of real characters, and some hardy pioneer stock as well. There were many still operations in the early days of Fort Stanton, during the Lincoln County War and through prohibition times. The rumors of a bootleg whiskey and counterfeiting ring in Fort Stanton cave was given credence when Lily Casey Klasner wrote about the huge lumbering wagons of cracked corn sent from her father’s grist mill at Picacho to somewhere near Fort Stanton. Most believed the secret still was situated at the mouth of a cave or perhaps in one of the rooms we now know as washtub room. There were as many styles of stills as there were bootleggers or people who simply wanted to make their own brew that was more tasty than the commercial selections. Bootlegging was a common occurrence everywhere and in every state. Caves were some of the more common areas where such operations could easily be hidden. In our region it was illegal to sell alcohol to Native Americans and the military was always trying to curb the illicit hog ranches that sprang up overnight close to Fort Stanton. Tom Mann told me that, as far as we know,
there was nothing illegal about the still I used for the program, but, there is always that rumor when the word still is mentioned. We also had a doctor in Lincoln, Earl Woods, who grew his own grapes, made wine and got in trouble for doing so back in the 1930-1940 era. Some say that you could have run your car on the stuff. Tom’s dad was interested in many things related to agriculture, such as plant growing and making wine. He created a huge compost on property next to their home in Roswell that he also owned. He grew everything on that plot of ground. There was a small house on site and a large back yard. Many kinds of veggies were grown there. He experimented with just about anything that he thought he might be able to ferment: potato peelings, corn and grapes he grew in his own vineyard in Lincoln. Brandy may have been made instead of wine in this particular still. Tom asked me how in the world did I find out about that still. I told him and we both had a good laugh. I had a great prop for the talk and the mystery of where the still came from has now been solved. It now has a good resting place on the second floor of the HSSNM museum. Now we have a detailed storyline to go along with the artifact. Since that time, I
Christina Stock Photo Visitors are looking at the historic still, located on the second floor of the Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico Museum. have asked around and have learned about the numerous stills and bootleg operations in our neck of the woods. During the late 1920s, north of Roswell on one of the ranches, a plane landed with a cargo of bootleg liquor. They offloaded the boxes, and just as they got ready to fly out, the sheriff along with others came out of nowhere firing guns and trying to block the flight. They succeeded and the men were arrested. An undercover agent, a woman from El Paso, helped bring them down.
There was a regular bootleg trail through the Capitans, over to White Oaks and Carrizozo and back again toward Roswell. My father-inlaw also transported bootleg whiskey in an old Ford Model T truck. He got caught once, but with the crank for the truck, he smashed every bottle before they pulled him over on the side of the road. Many people during those lean years smuggled rotgut whiskey to earn extra dollars for their families. Later, he married, settled down and never ran
Vision Magazine |
whiskey again. Another friend’s grandparents had a still over in the Carrizozo region. One never knows where th e s e o l d - ti m e s ti l l s were. We can all smile about such things today, but at that time it was a pretty serious business. However, everyone came through it all OK as they say.
Thursday, December 21, 2017
| 15
UFOs and mythic archetypes
E
ver since the late 1940s when stories of unidentified flying objects began to circulate in earnest, people have debated whether these airborne mysteries are objectively real and genuinely unaccountable, or only some observers’ misperceptions of conventional aircraft or natural phenomena. Clearly some people do mistake blimps, clouds, birds, helicopters or meteors for UFOs, though many other sightings cannot be explained so easily. German psychoanalyst Carl Jung (18751961), who originated the term “archetype”
UFOlogy
Looking Up
By Donald Burleson
to denote a basic image or motif that recurs in people’s unconscious minds, wrote a book titled “Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies,” raising the rather intriguing question of whether UFOs may satisfy some sort of profound need existing in the human psyche. First, one should not be put off by the appearance of the word “myth” in the title. To Jung, a myth was not necessarily a factually false story as the word often suggests, but rather an account or narrative pattern that tends to recur in human experience. A prime example
is the myth of the death and rebirth of a god, as in the Egyptian story of Osiris, a much-retold narrative that runs through the folklore of a multitude of human cultures and literatures. Jung points out that most reported UFOs are disk-like, suggesting the archetypal mythic motif of the mandala (a Sanskrit word for circle). To Jung and many other psychoanalysts, the mandala is a psychic symbol of closure, completeness, order or fulfillment. Jung personally was inclined to reserve judgment on the question of whether UFOs (as anomalous objects) actually exist. By asso-
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ciating them with the archetype of the mandala, he was not saying that people merely invent them because they need to, but that whatever their origins, UFOs seem to satisfy a fundamental human yearning. To Jung, the circle or mandala represented a primal archetype in what he called the collective unconscious, a shared pool of basic lore with which humans seem to be hard-wired in common, and if diskshaped objects appear in the sky, the mandala archetype provides a universal potential for responding emotionally and intellectually to
those appearances. UFOs may be characterized as a myth, but only in the sense that they form a cluster of impressions widely affecting humankind over a considerable span of time. In terms of a balanced view, Jung makes an excellent point when he writes, “Should it be that an unknown physical phenomenon is the outward cause of the myth, this would detract nothing from the myth, for many myths have meteorological or other natural phenomena as accompanying causes, which by no means explain them.” But of course, if UFOs
do in fact amount to a genuine extraterrestrial visitation, piloted by creatures from another world, that, too, plays into the same human capacity for mythic coherence, the same suspicion that in some sense, we need for them to be there. They perhaps help to form our circle of closure and understanding. Happy holidays to all, and may your circle be complete.