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will work around mealtime, breakfast at Sandra’s, lunch at West End Deli, and dinner at El Sombrero. henever I return to my parent’s For the next day, you select the next three places, and home in Crystal, I step inside so forth. The comfort foods served in local restaurants and into the smell of stew and are what make Gallup home. Sure, there are newer frybread, freshly brewed coffee, chain restaurants that have changed the geography the burning of oak in the stove, of Gallup, but everyone knows that it is all about the and into the sound of KTNN in chili. You know you are home when the chili is as the background. Nothing more is needed to know that spicy as you had remembered. I am home and that is where I belong. It might sound Another thing that remains true and notable is like a cliché, but it is true: you can take a person out Gallup’s deep-rooted pride. Not only are we very of a place, but you can’t take a place out of the person. patriotic, but we also have a distinct community That is pretty much the case for any place, even identity. Our population includes all walks of life, Gallup. Time may pass by and cause us to change, but and it is getting more difficult to see who is in the our homes remain true and steady. minority. Gallup has always been ahead of time in A lot has happened over the years and a lot has understanding what it meant to “be in this together.” In changed, but those of us who live in or near Gallup Gallup’s short history, we have stood together through will say that Gallup has kept its homely feel. Anyone the “rough justice” of The Gallup 14, the influx of who returns to Gallup, whether you call it home or Hollywood in the 1930s, the 1942 refusal of Gallup not, will be thinking, “where to eat?” Your schedule By Michele Reeves
No Place 48
March 2021
