March 2014 Green Fire Times by Sun Publishing

News & Views

from the

S u s t ai n ab l e S o u t h w e s t

reclaiming

Española

Sustaining Our Local Economies C ultivating a F uture : Where Do We Go From Here?

March 2014

History of the Northern Valley of the Río Grande

North-central New Mexico’s Largest Circulation Newspaper

Vol. 6 No. 3

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Vol. 6, No. 3 •March 2014 Issue No. 59 Publisher Green Fire Publishing, LLC Associate Publisher

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Contents

Tewa Pueblos, Spanish Villages, Official Villa and Railroad Town: The History of the Northern Valley of the Rio Grande in New Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Reflections on the Española Plaza . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 10 Book Profiles: Española • Recognizing Heritage . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 8, 11 Honoring the Spirit of the Española Valley: A Tewa Perspective . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 13 Cultivating a Future: Where Do We Go From Here? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Tierra Sagrada . . .. . .. . .. . .. . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 14 What Does Public Health Look Like in Española? . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 17 Hispanos in the Valley of Sorrows . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 19 Reclaiming Española . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 20 Living the Dream of Cooperation and Friendship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Love in the Valley of Infinity. . .. . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 24 The Española Hunter Arts & Agricultural Center and Community Mural Project . . .. 25 Sustaining Our Local Economies. . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 27 OP-ED: Rethinking Northern New Mexico College . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 29 Academy of Sustainability Education Planned for Santa Fe . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 33 2014 New Mexico Legislative Wrap-Up . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 35 Newsbites . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. 10, 13, 25, 37 What’s Going On. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . 38

Española — A Microcosm Of Our Region

spañola is a microcosm of the wide border region of Mexico and the United States. It is the quintessential meeting place, albeit a chaotic and embattled one, of Latin American and Anglo civilizations. It is also the traditional homeland of the Tewa Pueblo people and their millennial civilization, which continue to honor the earth, its plants and animals, as well as the seen and unseen forces of the universe. No landscape could be more beautiful or befitting of this epic intersection. The valley is flanked by the reposing blue mountains of the Jémez and the towering grey stone Truchas Peaks. The Río Chama and Río Grande come together here to irrigate the valley and quicken it to life.

Skip Whitson

In Española these civilizations coexist, merge or clash, and retreat. Its earth, buildings and people bear the bruises and scars of the collision of worlds, the huge social changes and economic disparities. Not withstanding, Española’s greatest treasure is its towa, gente, people. In a world of perpetual cycles, the seed of their future is just now beginning to germinate, soon to flower. This is indeed cause for the continued cultivation of its soul and its soil.

Alejandro López, associate editor

COVER: A view of Española, february 2014.

photo by

Alejandro López

Green Fire Times is not to be confused with the Green Fire Report, an in-house quarterly publication of the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. The NMELC can be accessed online at: www.nmelc.org

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Tewa Pueblos, Spanish Villages, Official Villa and Railroad Town The History of the Northern Valley of the Río Grande in New Mexico Hilario Romero

o historian can write an accurate account of the area known today as the “Española Valley” without including the early ancestors of the Tewa Pueblo Indians and the centuries before their eventual migration to this lush valley in the 1200s. After all, the city of Española is located on the Pueblo Land Grants of both Okeh’Owingue and Kha’P’oo’Owingue (San Juan and Santa Clara pueblos). Also, the abandoned village of “La Cañada,” which was a small ranching village since the 1600s, was repopulated by the Tano people who migrated there from San Lázaro and San Cristóbal pueblos. Fifteen years after the Great Pueblo Revolt, La Villa de Santa Cruz de la Cañada de los Españoles Mejicanos was re-founded, in 1695, as the seat of government for all of northern New Mexico. And as we approach the year 1880, a railroad stop on the Denver and Río Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) was established after the pueblos of Okeh’ Owingue, Kha’P’oo’Owingue and the D&RGW negotiated a right-of-way. This railroad station would be later named after “la Española” (the Spanish lady) who opened a restaurant next to the station. From 1880 forward, the station and the town that grew around this right-of-way would be known by that name. It would extend, eventually, to the old villages of La Mesilla and San Pedro to the south, Okeh’Owingue and Los Ranchos to the north, Santa Cruz de la Cañada to the east, and La Vega de los Vigiles to the west. Context of a Complex Community People had been traveling through and creating communities in and around the spacious northern Río Grande valley for many centuries prior to the arrival of the first Spanish explorers. The first peoples were the Clovis pre-Cochise hunters and gatherers, followed by the Cochise peoples, who domesticated the turkey and dog and began to develop agriculture. These Pueblo ancestors fished in what we now call the Río Grande, hunted in the bosque del río, and followed the game that lived in this valley to the vast pastures above in all directions. The early ancestors were the first to trade with the people of Méjico who passed through this valley. Subsequently, their knowledge was carried on to the Anasazi, who slowly migrated into the Tsama (now known as Chama) and Ojo Caliente valleys where they established pueblos along the Río Tsama and Río Ojo Caliente. They came from Mesa Verde (now southwestern Colorado) and the Azteca Pueblo northeast of Farmington. They moved onward and settled at Tsi’Ping, Poshuwengueh and Kah’p’oo’in’ko’hu’u (Leaf Water) on the Río Tsama and established other smaller sites that extended north to Posi’owengueh directly above the Ojo Caliente springs. By the early 1200s, these hardy ancestors had made their way into the valleys at Puyé, Tsánkawi, Tsewadi and eventually along the Río del Norte, where the Tewas are located today. These early Pueblo people also migrated into the Río del Norte valley, due to the Dineh or Apachis de Nabajú and Yuta (Navajo and Ute) raids.

(as they were called during this time), providing detailed information on their agriculture, economy and customs, from Zacatecas north to Tuah Tah (Taos Pueblo). Soon the valley would accommodate a new group of pioneers searching for a fresh start on life, who were willing to make many sacrifices to survive in this special place. In 1595, Rey Felipe II de España (King Phillip II of Spain) approved a request from Antonio Mendoza, Virrey de Nueva España (vice-king of México) to settle La Frontera del Norte de la Nueva España (later to be called “Nuevo Méjico”). The Virrey set up a bidding process to establish a colony and to secure an “Adelantado”—a wealthy individual with leadership skills—to organize and equip (at the Adelantado’s own expense) a large group of soldier-colonists who agreed to undertake a long, dangerous journey to a distant land and settle among local tribal residents. Juan de Oñate’s bid was chosen, and he was named the Adelantado to lead the colonists north in search of a suitable place to settle. Oñate’s soldiers arrived in July 1598 at Okeh’Owingue and set up camp in the south plaza. Following the harsh winter, Oñate moved the colony to the other side of the Río del Norte at Yuqueyungue. They built a small plaza and church near the site, but the community struggled because of Oñate’s constant absence and neglect due to his hunger for gold, silver and other precious metals. This was demonstrated when the colonists at Okeh’Owingue ran out of staples and were fed by the Tewas in the fall of 1598. They ate guajolotl (domesticated turkey), camotl (sweet potato), maíz (corn—in many forms), calabacín (squash), calabaza (pumpkin), chile and a variety of other wild meats and vegetables. This was the first “Thanksgiving,” celebrated 22 years before the arrival of the first English immigrants at Plymouth Rock. continued on page 8

First Contact: Pueblos and Spaniards After the first encounter with the first Europeans to arrive in New Mexico, as early as 1537—when Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions passed through the southern part of New Mexico—the Pueblo people realized that they were not alone in their world and that new peoples had arrived from distant lands. Three years later, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado arrived with his 300 soldiers and 800 Indian allies, servants and slaves with orders to explore the Siete Ciudades de Cíbolo to verify the tales of gold and riches, report their findings to the Spanish leadership, and claim these lands for Spain. During his journey, Coronado visited Yuqueyungue and Okeh’Owingue, having followed the Río del Norte (as it was named at the time) into the valley of the Tewas. This part of the expedition included visits to Kha’P’oo’Owingue and P’o’Woh’Ge’Owingue (San Ildefonso Pueblo). Pedro de Castañeda, chronicler of the expedition, reported a substantial number of Pueblo people lived in these villages. Several other Spanish expeditions would follow 40 years later, in 1580, to report on the pueblos de indios

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Historic photo of the pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh

Green Fire Times • March 2014

History

continued from page 7

Juan de Oñate was initially absent due to the Pueblo de Haak’u’s (Acoma Pueblo) rejection of the oath of allegiance and aggression demonstrated by Juan de ZaldívarOñate, nephew of Juan de Oñate, who lost his life in a duel with the leader of the Acomas. The subsequent war with the Pueblo of Haak’u resulted in many Acoma lives lost at the hands of the brother of Juan de Zaldívar-Oñate, namely Vicente de Zaldívar-Oñate, Maese de Campo of the colonizing expedition. As described by Capitán Gaspar Pérez De Villagrá in his epic Historia de la Nueva Méjico, the soldier-colonists were left without leadership at San Gabriel, as it was named, and threatened mutiny as supplies dwindled. Juan de Oñate put down the mutiny and severely punished those he was able to capture. The soldier-colonists at Okeh’Owingue were also upset because Juan de Oñate was waging war against the pueblos, when his orders were to set up a colony. The colonists wanted peace, as they were the settlers. Oñate would eventually leave “Nuebo Méjico,” as they referred to it. Despite these problems with the new colony, when the first chapel was built, a celebration was held and the colonists reenacted the first play in North America. Los Moros y Cristianos (The Moors and the Christians) portrayed on horseback the overcoming of the Arab empire by the Christians of Spain.

Juan de Oñate was waging war against the pueblos, when his orders were to set up a colony. By 1608 Juan de Oñate was replaced as Gobernador de Nuebo Méjico by his son Cristóbal de Oñate, who became interim governor. Juan was recalled to México to answer for his behavior as gobernador during the 10 years he was in office. Life at San Gabriel, the first capital of Nuebo Méjico, 1600-1607, was extremely difficult because the settlers had to design the diversions of the Río Tsama and the Río del Norte and dig new acequias (irrigation ditches). They then had to clean, level and plow large agricultural fields and learn when, what and how to plant from their Tewa neighbors. Even though the Spanish settlers had knowledge of farming, they were in a new and unknown land and realized the help of their Pueblo neighbors was invaluable. They also shared seeds they brought from México and Spain and fruit tree sprouts for transplanting. The fields where they planted are still being used today for farming. The village that emerged from that time is now called Chamita. During this same timeframe, the Pueblos of Okeh’Owingue and Kha’P’oo’Owingue were planting crops in the area six miles south of Okeh and two miles north of Kha’P’oo’Owingue.

Española

By Camilla Trujillo Images of America Series - Arcadia Publishing (ISBN: 9780738579672) After retiring from 25 years as artist-in-residence at northern New Mexico schools, Camilla Trujillo spent a year interviewing families, collecting historical photos and writing a series of essays. The result is a 128-page photographic journal of the Española Valley. “Española,” Trujillo says, “had been a complex community of about 20 villages, three Indian pueblos and a small city.” The scope of her book ranges from “El Encuentro,” the first meeting between the Spanish colonists and the Pueblo inhabitants of the upper Río Grande—to the establishment of the first capital of New Mexico, San Gabriel del Yungue, with its river cobble foundations—to the American invasion in the mid-19th century—to the Manhattan Project and its economic interdependence with the Española Valley one hundred years later. The book’s final chapter, “La Cosecha” (The Harvest), focuses on historic local food production including molinos (flour mills) that were built over acequias or creeks, and apple and chile production, which was aided by the Chili Line railroad that served Española from 1880 to 1941. The book is available at Hastings in Santa Fe, the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market and the Palace of the Governors museum bookstore. In the Española area, it may be found at the Chimayó Trading Post, Cook’s Hardware and the Galería Santa Cruz. It may also be ordered online: www.arcadiapublishing.com/9780738579672/Espanola

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The church at Santa Cruz de la Cañada, 1872

Tsewadi, La Cañada & La Villa de Santa Cruz de La Cañada de los Españoles Mejicanos del Rey Nuestro Señor Don Carlos Segundo

Early Pueblo villages in the area now occupied by Santa Cruz, Cuartélez, and La Puebla on the Río Santa Cruz were very important to the Tewas. Other important settlements, including Tsewadi, were located in the hills above what would be later known as La Puebla, another in Cuartélez and many other smaller remains along the cañadas. These villages were settled in the early 1200s, and according to María Martínez, the famous San Idelfonso potter, were connected to the sacred place up-river, which María called “Tsi’ma’yo’po’kwi” (place of the good flaking stone near the pool). Some settlers from San Gabriel migrated to “La Cañada” in the early 1600s and established a series of rancherías in the valley along the Río de la Cañada, as it might have been called. They built houses and farmed the fertile lands along the river bottom and revived the dormant irrigation canals carved out by the early Tewas who farmed the area before them. Life was dangerous. Hostile tribes attacked these rancherías throughout the 1600s until 1680, when the Great Pueblo Revolt removed them from their homes as they ran for their lives to Santa Fé. These settlers escaped south to El Paso del Río del Norte (Ciudad Juárez), where they remained for 13 hard years trying to farm and ranch in a very harsh environment. The Tano people of the Galisteo area eventually migrated to “La Cañada” after the revolt, due to Apachi, Yuta and Dineh raids, and farmed the cañada until 1695, the year when Diego de Vargas granted the land to a mixed group of españoles-mejicanos and former La Cañada residents. The land grant was titled: “La Villa de Santa Cruz de la Cañada de los Españoles Mejicanos del Rey Nuestro Señor Don Carlos Segundo.” One year later, Diego de Vargas brought an additional 21 families and moved the Tanos from their villages, relocating them at Okeh’Owingue and other Tewa pueblos, but the majority of them left for the villages of the Moquis (today’s Hopis). This move caused friction with the Tewas, and the Pueblo Revolt of 1696 brought the Tewas together to fight the Spaniards led by the Pueblo of P’o’Woh’Ge’Owingue (San Ildefonso). The Tewas were able to keep the Spaniards from defeating them and also demanded concessions from the Spanish. Life during the first 10 years of the Santa Cruz land grant was difficult. The new settlers were not like the rugged pioneers who first settled the area. Diego de Vargas concentrated his governorship on the rebuilding of Santa Fé and fighting the Tewas. Miguel de Quintana, who came from México City at the age of 22, according to Fray Angélico Chávez in his genealogical work, Origins of New Mexico Families, lived the remainder of his life in Santa Cruz de la Cañada, had a large family, was a poet and composer of “coloquias” (cultural poetic two-person dialogues) and died in April of 1748. Many current Santa Cruz residents trace their lineage to him. La Villa de Santa Cruz de la Cañada was the second official “Villa” in La Provincia de Nuebo Méjico, with La Villa Real de San Francisco de Asís de la Santa Fé as the first and also the capital of the provincia. Santa Cruz de la Cañada would become the northernmost jurisdiction for civil and military government and church affairs and remain a center of major activity throughout the Spanish, Mexican and half of the Territorial Period. It became the seat of government for the Alcaldía by the same name, which covered all of northern Nuebo Méjico as far north as the San Luís Valley. The re-colonization began on the south side of the Río Santa Cruz, where the Tano Pueblos had relocated from their homelands in the Galisteo area during the time the Spanish were in exile. The first group of settlers, mostly from Nuebo Méjico, who continued on page 31

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Reflections on the Española Plaza

Story and photos by Thomas H. Guthrie

hen I tell people I find the Española Plaza fascinating, I often encounter disbelief. I hear that the plaza is an empty wasteland, a failed social project, or the unfortunate result of Mayor Richard Lucero’s grandiose dreams. I myself see the plaza as a complicated space where Nuevomexicanos are creatively coping with the region’s double colonial history and negotiating New Mexico’s place in the United States. Plazas were the heart of both Pueblo and Spanish town planning. Almost all the settlements around Española have plazas. Española, though, was a railroad town established in the 1880s. As such, it had a main street—the mark of Anglo-American enterprise—rather than a plaza. In 1941 the rail line that made Española a regional center for agricultural commerce was abandoned. Two years later, the government established what would become Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Española Valley has borne “the Lab’s” social and environmental costs ever since. Meanwhile, as northern New Mexico transitioned from an agricultural to a tourist economy, Española’s railroad origins became a liability. Española was less “modern” than Los Alamos but less “traditional” than the Pueblo and Spanish colonial settlements that attracted tourists. The city launched the Plaza project in the late 1980s in order

to remake its public identity. Converting a mercantile district into a Spanish-style plaza is difficult. After half a century of automobilecentered town planning and sprawl, it is probably inevitable that the plaza would function more like an urban

Misión-Convento and bandstand

The Bond House

park than a traditional plaza. Two major highways converge just east of the site, dividing the plaza from the rest of town. Original plaza plans promised “gardens, flowers, trees, lawns and greenery,” typical of public parks in wetter parts of the country. Maintaining even modest vegetation on the plaza has required steady irrigation. People complain that the plaza is deser ted. Yet se veral recent developments have increased its vitality and suggest its potential. A veterans’ memorial (completed in 2003) and a bandstand (2008) have partially relieved the plaza’s vast emptiness and attracted locals. And since 2010 the

Northern NM Regional Art Center Events

The Northern New Mexico Regional Art Center, a nonprofit organization based in the Plaza de Española, is under contract with the city of Española to provide arts education management services to the community. NNMRAC operates the Convento Gallery, a gift shop and visitor center on the plaza. The organization also provides after-school art, music/chorus classes year-round, including a Summer Arts Academy. On March 14, between 5 and 7 pm, there will be an opening reception for Río Rancho artists Jean Kempinsky and Dick Overfield. Their exhibition ends April 11. The annual NNMRAC Santo Niño Festival of the Artists will hold its benefit performances on April 17 and 18. Friday evening will see an opening reception in the Convento Gallery with a free showing of a film about the arts in New Mexico in the Misión on the plaza. On Saturday from 9 am-4 pm there will be artists’ booths, food, dance and music on the plaza. At 2 pm is a ticketed performance of the Española Valley High School Chorus and the NNMRAC Española Valley Children’s Choir, under the direction of Brian Wingard, music teacher at Española High School. There will also be a performance by local Pueblo dancers and a Hispanic children’s dance group. Tickets for the 2 pm performance are on sale. For information about NNMRAC, these and many more events, contact NNMRAC’s executive director, John D. Werenko, at 505.500.7126, or email director@nnmrac.org

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Northern New Mexico Regional Art Center has operated a gift shop and gallery in the Convento and offered art classes in the old post office (which closed in 2009). Two themes compete on the plaza: commemorating the Spanish colonization of New Mexico and celebrating the valley’s “tricultural”

The plaza exhibits bold, contradictory responses to colonialism. heritage. The “Arches of the Alhambra” commemorate Spain’s defeat of the Moors and Columbus’s voyage in 1492, two events that paved the way for the Spanish conquest of New Mexico. They thus symbolize European colonial dominance and a culturally and religiously purified Spain in the heart of the Española Valley. Water restrictions have f requently left the attached waterfall and fountain dry, though, diminishing the ensemble’s grandeur.

according to the Plaza Prospectus. Ironically, brothers Frank and George Bond, who came to Española in the 1880s, hardly embodied the spirit of harmonious coexistence the plaza celebrates. They acquired large land interests, became successful sheep merchants, and dominated Nuevomexicano ranchers. The crown jewel of the plaza is the Misión-Convento, an adobe structure completed in 1996. The Misión is a representation of the church Spaniards built in 1598 at San Gabriel, the first Spanish capital of New Mexico. Relocating the church from its original site at Ohkay Owingeh appropriates some of the region’s most important history for the city. In the 1990s the ACLU charged that the Misión, built on public land with public funds, violated the constitutional separation of church and state. The city countered that the building was not a church but

Three buildings planned for the plaza—a Native American Center, S panish Cultural Center, and Commemorative Spanish Colonization Center— have never been built, mostly due to insufficient funding. The Bond House, which over looks the plaz a, was supposed to serve as “a historical museum for the preservation of the Anglo culture and the mercantile business system,”

“Arches of the Alhambra,” Española Plaza.

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a museum. However, the installation in 2003 of reredos inside the Misión featuring images of New Mexico churches only further complicates the meaning of this intriguing building. The plaza is a national space. It received its first federal funding in 1989. Senator Pete Dominici, Congressman Bill Richardson, and other state and federal officials participated in the plaza’s dedication in 1990. The American flag raised for the dedication had flown over the US Capitol. An image of the Misión appeared on a 1998 US postage stamp commemorating the Spanish colonization of New Mexico. The Veterans’ Memorial Wall also renders the plaza an American national space. In 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama chose the plaza for a rally that attracted almost 10,000 people. Yet plaza ceremonies have also reasserted Pueblo, Spanish and Mexican claims to New Mexico. The next time you drive by the plaza, look for the flags of Spain and México flanking the U.S. flag.

Recognizing Heritage The Politics of Multiculturalism in New Mexico

Thomas H. Guthrie, University of Nebraska Press, 2013, 336 pp. In 2006 Congress established the Northern Río Grande National Heritage Area to recognize the 400-year “coexistence” of Spanish and Indian peoples in New Mexico and their place in the United States. National heritage areas enable local communities to partner with the federal government to promote historic preservation, cultural conservation and economic development. Recognizing Heritage explores the social, political and historical context of this and other public efforts to interpret and preserve Native American and Hispanic heritage in northern New Mexico.

The federal government’s recognition of New Mexico’s cultural distinctiveness contrasts sharply with its earlier efforts to wipe out Indian and Hispanic cultures. Yet even celebrations of cultural difference can reinforce colonial hierarchies. Multiculturalism and colonialism have overlapped in New Mexico since the 19th century, when Anglo-American colonists began promoting the region’s unique cultures and exotic images to tourists. Thomas H. Guthrie analyzes the relationship between heritage preservation and ongoing struggles over land, water and identity resulting from American colonization. He uses four sites within the heritage area to illustrate the unintentional colonial effects of multiculturalism: a history and anthropology museum, an Indian art market, a “tricultural” commemorative plaza, and a mountain village famous for its adobe architecture. Recognizing Heritage critiques the politics of recognition and suggests steps toward a more just multiculturalism that fundamentally challenges colonial inequalities.

Far from being a meaningless void, the Española Plaza exhibits bold, contradictory responses to colonialism. It advances a familiar discourse of multicultural coexistence e ven as it also tests the limits of Anglo liberalism. It celebrates Spanish colonization as a means of coping with American colonization, a strategy that ironically reinforces Anglo power by perpetuating the antagonism between Nuevomexicanos and Pueblo Indians. It confirms that northern New Mexico is an American region, destabilizing Anglocentric American nationalism and the sovereignty of the United States. And finally, in downplaying Española’s railroad origins, the plaza reasserts Indian and Nuevomexicano dominance in northern New Mexico. i Tom Guthrie is a cultural anthropologist who has worked in New Mexico since 2002. His book, Recognizing Heritage: The Politics of Multiculturalism in New Mexico, includes a chapter on efforts to commemorate Spanish colonization in the Española Valley. tguthrie@ guilford.edu

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Honoring the Spirit of the Española Valley

A Tewa Perspective Matthew J. Martínez

grew up at Ohkay Owingeh, a place that is situated in a vast landscape of mountain ranges, rivers and valleys rich in agricultural lands, and surrounded in a history of trickster stories and coyote voices. At the confluence of the Río Grande and Chama River exists a meeting ground of Tewa people who traveled from the north, from the earth and other emergence vessels to a place we call home—Ohkay Owingeh— place of the strong people. Nearby petroglyphs date back 10,000 years. Like a bead of knotted cords, the Río Grande weaves ancestral homelands of Posu Owingeh, Posi Owingeh, Puyé and many others villages that feed our valley’s memory and spirit.

The Río Grande weaves ancestral homelands that feed our valley’s memory and spirit.

Pueblo people have always been writing history, and we continue to be shaped by texts in pottery, weavings and petroglyphs that document migration patterns and seasonal markers. Often not fully knowing or understanding them entirely, we continue to call upon them in prayer, dance and ceremony for guidance. Our dance rhythms and motions are stories within stories. We are a people of stories. Through story life is created, and it is this poeh (pathway) we continue to follow. Remembering and honoring place is the essence of Pueblo people—townspeople. The place we honor also embodies the spirit of the greater Española Valley. Indigenous peoples are inherently connected to the land. We all have creation stories that include emergence from lakes and mountains. Everything is connected. Nothing is separate, meaning that rock people, cloud people, corn people, animal people and people people are all related. The notions of relations and relationality fundamentally define Pueblo people in how we experience the world. The Pueblos have always had a relationship with other indigenous

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The pueblo of Santa Clara in an early 20th-century photo by John K. Hillers

peoples. This is evident in our language through borrowed words, food and dress. Beyond the Southwest we traded coral and shells, which continue to be used in dance, as well as other items like macaw feathers. The Southwest was a trading hub for Mesoamericans and Puebloans between the 11th and 14th centuries. Mexica and other Nahuatlspeaking Mesoamerican people may have bartered beans for gems unique to the Southwest, such as turquoise. Turquoise is found as far away as Chichén Itzá, México, in a region where it is known that no turquoise mines existed. From a spiritual and cultural perspective, Pueblos have always practiced a way of life free of geographic borders but still remain situated within a localized homeland. Our directions are land-based. There is no concept of north, south, east and west per se. For example, as Tewa people our “east” is known as Than piye, where the sun rises. Our mountains define our boundaries; Tsay Shu Pin, Tsikomu Pin, Kuuseng Pin, Oku Pin, are all surrounding sacred mountains. Depending on their geographic location to mountain ranges, each pueblo has its own unique reverence for such places. Unlike other tribes that relocated or more “nomadic” tribes, Pueblo people are place-based. Just like the United States turns to the National Archives in D.C., or the Catholic Church to the Vatican in Rome, our Pueblo memory and archives are located here. Since time immemorial, we still return for knowledge and spiritual feedings to

these surrounding landscapes. Pin is the Tewa word for mountain, but it also means heart. In many respects, these are one and the same, as the heart of mountains is often the heart and soul of all ecological life.

connecting our life values conducive to our homelands. We are at a crucial state to not only remember, but, more importantly, to act and center our life on core values of sigicandi—love, care, respect. Ewanini Kuundawhoha. i

Tewa scholar Alfonso Ortiz stated, “One is not born a Tewa, but rather one is made a Tewa. Once made, one has to work hard continuously throughout one’s life to remain a Tewa.” This is ever constant, and remaining Tewa can be remembered and renewed in a variety of ways. One significant step is

Matthew J. Martínez, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Pueblo Indian Studies and director of the Northern Pueblos Institute at Northern New Mexico College in Española.

Northern Río Grande National Heritage Area Management Plan Approved Approval Brings Increased Funding to New Mexico The Northern Río Grande National Heritage Area (NRGNHA) management plan has been approved by the Secretary of the Department of the Interior. The approval makes the nonprofit Heritage Area eligible to receive up to $300,000 each year through the National Park Service. The funds will be used to help sustain the cultural traditions, landscapes, environment, languages and architecture of the area, which encompasses Taos, Río Arriba and Santa Fe counties. The NRGNHA board is comprised of community members who live, work and hold fast to the enduring cultural and heritage traditions that make the northern Río Grande area so unique, which is why it was designated by Congress in 2006. Extensive planning and outreach began in 2007. Founding member and former Heritage Area Director José Villa stated, “It’s important to the Hispano and Indio character that our kids get reacquainted with our heritage, so they understand and take pride in who they are.” Current Executive Director Tomás Romero said, “There are 49 heritage areas throughout the country, most of them in the East. This approval enables New Mexico and its multicultural heritage to take a prominent place in America’s history and story.” Board President and Taos Pueblo tribal member Vernon Luján said, “This plan sets the course for the NRGNHA for implementing cultural preservation, educational outreach and fundraising that will benefit our communities.” For more information, call 505.753.0937 or 505.660.5882, or e-mail riograndenhadir@ windstream.net

Green Fire Times • March 2014

Cultivating a Future: Where Do We Go From Here?

Comments to the Chama Peak Land Alliance, Los Ojos, NM

efore we discuss where we go f rom here, it ’s important for us to understand where we’ve been historically and how we’ve gotten to where we are today. The sobering reality is that northern New Mexico is in a deep crisis— economically, socially, educationally and psychologically. This current state of affairs has been caused by the cumulative effect of American colonial practices; by the collapse of traditional Hispano and Native American cultures under the pressure of modernity over the past 150 years; and by a fundamental and critical lack of visionary leadership by our Nuevo Mexicano leaders. The statistics and data that indicate we are in crisis are depressing: Río Arriba County leads the nation in per capita deaths from both heroin and prescription

drug overdoses. Our school systems are churning out youth unable to read, write or do math at a college level. Our lifestyles

We need to heal ourselves—economically, psychologically and educationally. suck: we suffer from high levels of obesity, diabetes, alcoholism, teen suicide. We are at the bottom of the barrel in almost every economic indicator for poverty. It’s not just Río Arriba County—this is true of all of the northern New Mexico counties. 1

How did we get to this point of dysfunction and cultural disintegration?

Let’s look at two major factors.

First, America’s invasion of México in 1846-48 was intended to create colonial riches and help US political leaders in

Tierra Sagrada Arturo Sandoval

I was born and raised in the Española Valley, which is my homeland—my Tierra Sagrada (sacred earth). I did not realize it then, except perhaps intuitively, but looking back over five decades, I realize now that I was raised as much by “place” as I was by family and by community. Our toys were “palitos de leña” that we turned into horses that we raced across the llano. In winter, we built our own sleds out of wood and covered the runners with thin strips of tin before propelling ourselves down the nearby hills. More than anything else, we used our imaginations and the place in which we lived to entertain and educate ourselves. My home was located a few hundred yards from the boundary with Santa Clara Pueblo. The greatest part of neighboring pueblo land was that it was open and undeveloped. I had a playground bigger than as far as I could walk in eight hours or even 10 hours. This playground was filled with piñón and cedar, crisscrossed with arroyos, singing with breezes that dried the sweat from my brow as I played with my brothers and my friends over the hills and in the arroyos. Every day, I saw rabbits, lizards, coyotes, rattlesnakes, owls, bluebirds, sparrows, worms. I saw and heard birds I still don’t know the names of, but whose songs echo in my dreams each night. I learned to swim in the Río Grande, where we built our own crude diving board above a quiet pool along the Río. There, we kept from drowning by dog-paddling our way furiously from one end of the pool to the other. We played Tarzan in the bosque, where it was eternally cool and dark throughout the hot summer days. I was raised by my parents, by my older siblings, by my tíos y tías, by my teachers, by my vecinos. But I was raised as well by my “place”—my Tierra Sagrada. I was hugged each night by the huge red-faced sun—embarrassed because he tired before I did—setting over my playground in the west. I was greeted each morning by the cu-cu-ru-cu-coo from the gallinero. Western breezes tickled me. Birds talked to me. Trees danced with me. Brujos prowled through my neighborhood at night, disguised as snakes and owls. “Place” dirtied my clothes, wrung sweat out of my boy’s body, made me late for supper, waited up all night for me, and made me whole. Arturo Sandoval was born in Santa Cruz de la Cañada, NM, and raised in Española, NM. He currently lives in Albuquerque, NM.

Green Fire Times • March 2014

the mid-19th century realize their dream of a Manifest Destiny. New Mexico was not immune to this colonial domination. Although some of us here in the north like to subscribe to the notion that northern New Mexico was a Shangri-La, a pastoral, idealized culture isolated from the mainstream impacts of US colonization, the reality has been starkly different. By the 1880s, for example, the Chili Line had been completed Arturo Sandoval at Ganados del Valle in Los Ojos f rom Antonito, Colo. to multiple negative impacts, but most Española. It is important to note this noteworthy to me were that: because it was an integral part of the capitalist exploitation of northern New • Nuevo Mexicanos were forced to Mexico. Capitalists like Frank Bond become itinerant, low-paid wage in the Española Valley turned most earners who worked picking crops Mexicanos in the Río Arriba area into in Colorado and across the West; to sharecroppers who raised sheep. At his work as sheepherders in Montana high point, Bond and other outside and Wyoming; and move away from American capitalists were shipping up sustainable ranching and farming; to 500,000 sheep per season north on the Chili Line to markets in Denver, • Traditional cultures lost access to Chicago and elsewhere. In that process, and use of natural resources that they exploited Mexicano and Native had been degraded to the point of American shepherds and converted not providing a sustainable lifestyle them into poor, underpaid laborers. So for norteños. As a result, we have not much so that beginning in the early been able to successfully live off the 1910s and through the late 1920s land for more than a century; and, and 1930s, people in the Río Arriba • Traditional norteño culture was were suffering from well-documented blamed for the degradation and loss widespread hunger and malnutrition. of grasslands, forests and watersheds. These outside American capitalists also This blame game continues today and degraded grasslands to a point of almost is the basis for much of current Forest no return. Once the rangelands became Service policies limiting norteño severely degraded, Bond and others access to grazing permits on public moved on to other areas of the West to lands and to the limited commercial continue the cycle of exploitation. timbering that still occurs. The same process of outside capitalist Second, Mexicanos/Chicanos/norteños investors exploiting local timber in Río Arriba suffer from a lack of resources also occurred during the educated, insightful, selfless leaders. same period. Mexicanos and Native What our Mexicano opinion leaders Americans of the Río Arriba became and elected leaders offer us instead is laborers, felling and preparing timber for a pastoral vision to solve the difficult use as railroad ties and other uses outside problems caused by 100 years of complex of New Mexico. Millions and millions modernity and capitalism. The vision of board feet of commercial timber were offered by our elected Mexicano leaders harvested from the Santa Fe and Carson is a back-to-the-future view. They say, National Forests, and neither forest has “If we can only get the land grants back, ever recovered from this exploitation. 2 if we can keep our acequias working, we can solve all of our problems.” The end result of these massive American capitalist economic activities in northern New Mexico created continued on page 15

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issues created by this pastoral narrative for Nuevo Mexicanos seeking a better future.

One is that to make the case for return of Spanish and Mexican land grants, Nuevo Mexicanos have to adopt a narrow view of New Mexico history and our place in it. That is, we must hold a narrow view of ourselves that ties us to Spanish colonial law and that imagines us as European colonizers; that view denies our Mestizo ancestry and, by extension, our deep social, political and economic interaction with the Pueblo and Native American world. It creates within us an identity crisis that disorients us psychologically and

We will have to work together to meet our basic needs on a local and regional basis.

alienates us from each other. It stops us from building economic, political and social alliances with Native America in a geographic area in which together we dominate demographically. It also requires us to ignore or gloss over the devastating impact Spanish colonial rule had on the original inhabitants of New Mexico and the reality that the brutal colonial conquest was done by our ancestors. 3 Second, while this pastoral vision of Nuevo Mexicanos creates support among American liberals because we are viewed as innocent tillers of the soil and respectful users of the forests, it limits our ability to talk about other critical issues like race and class. Once landgrant and acequia activists begin trying to discuss issues of race and class, we lose our liberal support and our chance to talk about the real issues we face. 4 continued on page 28

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Green Fire Times • March 2014

GREEN FIRE TIMES Needs a commission ad salesperson for the Albuquerque area. Please email résumé to: Skip@GreenFireTimes.com

Green Fire Times • March 2014

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What Does Public Health Look Like in Española?

Ana Malinalli X. Gutiérrez Sisneros

“T

he heart of northern New Mexico, where cultures unite,” says the website for the city of Española (http:// www.cityofespanola.org/). It is where I have chosen to live for the last 30 years and raise my two children, now grown. Why did I choose it? Well, there are many living cultures here, and languages are still spoken that I was hearing less and less of in Albuquerque. I am comfortable in Española; it is like a perpetual South Valley. It’s rural, there are still dirt roads, life is at a slower (and lower, for the cars that make us famous) pace, and we can have farm animals in our yards. (I live just on the line of the city limits, where this is true.) I first came to Española for a nursing job interview in 1983 at the PHS Española Hospital. I saw there that the patients in each room had several visitors, so I asked the nurse giving me a tour why that was. She replied that families are important for creating a healing environment, so four, five, six visitors per patient was not unusual. I liked that and got the job at the only hospital I have ever worked in during my 30-year career. This is how I got to see and know the health of the people, nuestros prójimos, whom I have come to love deeply. I gradually came to understand the many issues that affect health and the health disparities that continue today. So, what does the health of the public look like in Española? The Río Arriba County (RAC) Health Profile Update (2008, RAC Health Council and RAC Health and Human Services Dept.) says: “We define public health broadly to entail all aspects of the well-being of an individual, family or community to include body, mind and soul.” All aspects of well-being, in the holistic sense, would encompass chronic illnesses such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension and diseases of the mind, such as depression, anxiety and trauma-related issues, often diagnosed as PTSD. The health of the soul is affected by culture-bound syndromes such as susto (magical fright) and ataque de nervios (a nerve[ous] attack), as I have come to understand from oral healing traditions and in the DSM-IV, TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). What if a community member, for example, uses IV drugs to escape from incidents of incest and sexual abuse as a child (mind aspect of health) and contracts hepatitis C (physical illness), lives within the cycle of addiction, which is extremely difficult to heal from (mind and body), to a point that he or she

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is spiritually bankrupt (soul illness), only to die from cirrhosis a few years later? In trying to combat this issue, I learned in a UNM Health Education class last fall that Canada decided to improve the health of the public that uses IV drugs by setting up a clinic in Vancouver where people can reduce the risk of harm (premature death from overdose, decreased HIV and hepatitis C rates) by having clean places where they can go to inject their drugs. This place is called “InSite.” It is North America’s only legal, safe, drug-injection center. A banner outside the clinic reads: “InSite saves lives.”There is a 2013 CNN article on this important, brave, ($3-million/year) endeavor at http://www. cnn.com/2013/04/11/world/americas/ wus-canada-drug-safe-haven/

Education is the answer to poverty, and only ending poverty will improve health. Unfortunately, alcohol and drug abuse are found in nearly every community in the world, and if you look at New Mexico health data in the excellent NMDOH State of Health In New Mexico 2013 Report you’ll see correlations of low socioeconomic status and health (http://nmhealth.org/ ERD/HealthData/documents/NMDOHReport-SOHNM-2013.pdf ).

Northern New Mexico College, hoping to increase that 16.9-percent college degree rate in Española. Nursing is one of the most rewarding careers on the globe. Nurses have empathy for people, for social justice issues, and they work to create justice, to ameliorate the suffering of la gente. To live well and thrive we must eat well. How is that possible if the per capita income is so low? Even with disappearing public assistance and few jobs, it is possible, with a return to farming, to growing our own food. We were agrarian people, with little time to be depressed, anxious, drinking or drugging when we were busy working the fields.“The end of that work outside was the end of our mental health, so to speak,” says my friend Ben Tafoya. This is why the model of farming, the temazcal (house of vapors), the use of curanderismo and animal tending was born, as part of the treatment modalities at the HOY Recovery Program in the Lyden Valley area. This is also how the Delancey Street Foundation in Alcalde and the Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Council’s New Moon Lodge in Ohkay Owingeh operate: treatment is based on values of traditional living, relearning that work ethic that was once strong, now

changing in this generation. But in this generation, too, we are beginning again to grow our food, and we eat it fresh. Pues, gracias a Dios. The heart of northern New Mexico is its people, millennia strong, resilient to hardships, with many in good health. For those who don’t have health, they are still our familia, to be treated with dignity—this is how cultures unite. Río Arriba’s health is Río Arriba’s wealth. i Ana Malinalli X. Gutiérrez Sisneros, PhD(c), ABD, MSN, MAL AS, APRN, PMHCNS-BC, CCM, M.I.T., is a nursing doctoral candidate at NMSU. Her private practice in Española is called MalinalCo Nursing Consultants. She is also an adjunct faculty professor in NNMC’s ADN and RN to BSN Nursing Programs and the ¡EXITO! mental health counselor at NNMC. 505.690.0213, malinallix@nnmc.edu

So, what is the average per-capita income for a person living in Española, where 10,224 people in 3,992 households reside (2012)? It’s $19,059, and 26.3 percent of these people live below the poverty level, compared to the New Mexico average of 19.5 percent, or the US average, whereas, “in 2010, 15.1 percent of all persons lived in poverty.The poverty rate in 2010 was the highest poverty rate since 1993”(National Poverty Center, 2014, http://www.npc. umich.edu/poverty/). What is the average education level for a person living in Española? For persons age 25+ (2008-2012), 74.9 percent are high school graduates and 16.9 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/ states/35/3525170.html). To me, and to many, education is the answer to poverty, and only ending poverty will improve health, which is part of the reason I am a teacher. I am a teacher of nurses, at

Green Fire Times • March 2014

Green Fire Times â&#x20AC;˘ March 2014

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Hispanos in the Valley of Sorrows Overdoses and Suicides in North Central New Mexico W. Azul La Luz

The essence of that statement is exactly what the “accidental drug overdose” deaths are about. An epidemic of drug overdose deaths has been plaguing North Central New Mexico (the Valley) for more than a decade now. And all the institutions that should be looking at the problem as a public health issue are looking at it as only an issue of addiction and poor self-control.

The problem is a public health issue. New Mexico has had the highest per capita drug overdose death rate in the United States, about 18 per 100,000, for more than 10 years. The USA’s rates for the same period are about five per 100,000. North Central New Mexico (the Valley) has the highest per capita “accidental drug overdose” death rate in all of New Mexico, ranging from 42 to 72 per 100,000 over the course of the 11 years examined, from 1995 to 2006. What are the differences and similarities between victims of “accidental drug overdoses” and suicide victims in the Valley (as subjectively designated by the Office of the Medical Investigator)? How can we understand these high rates of suicide among the Valley residents? What are the race, class and gender structures that set the backdrop for the high rates of overdose and suicide? My research examined the social forces that may contribute to the overdose epidemic among the predominantly Hispanic population in North Central New Mexico. My analysis of 34 interviews of active illicit drug users and 10 interviews of family members and professionals in the Española Valley was anchored in sociological analysis, concepts and literature—Anomic Suicide (brought

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about by a loss of social and personal norms and values), post-Marxism (unequal distribution of wealth with a small number of people owning most of the wealth and the means of producing wealth), current sociological drug-addiction theory (the belief that addiction may be a physical illness that may be also brought about through social means), colonialism (colonization of a people by another more powerful group), historical/cultural trauma (the pain and suffering brought about through the destruction of cultural norms over a long period of time), and racial and ethnic inequality.

or combining substances when they are older. They know better.

The research design employed both qualitative and quantitative data, including data from the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator (19952006), historical analysis, participant observation, in-depth interviews, and autoethnography and positionality. This mixed-method approach allowed for the three-sided analysis of unlike data. I found that there was an overlap between the demographic—age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, etc.—profiles of suicide and overdose victims. I argued that the effects of colonization and “street-level trauma” (SLT), shocks of repeated strong emotional, psychological, physical blows, weaken and distort a person or even a group’s perception of the world around them. When untreated, SLT often leads to deathly personal action such as “accidental drug overdoses” and suicide. SLT leads to a condition I call “cultural-post traumatic stress disorder” (C-PTSD). C-PTSD may be shaped by the loss of arable land (despite high home ownership), loss of traditional and cultural norms, the whole-cloth invention of a mythological and superficial ethnic consciousness and loss of meaningful social bonds to community. When C-PTSD and SLT are coupled with a substance-abuse career, the combination of all three often proves lethal in Valley women and men over the age of 35. They learned “pharmacology” in their teens when they first began using; those illicit substanceusers that didn’t learn quickly don’t grow much beyond their teens. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom, rarely do they make an accidental mistake in dosage

policy. Public health programs must be implemented that do more than attempt to treat substance abuse. My findings strongly suggest that a community-level approach that includes an analysis of the intersecting structural, disciplinary, powerfully historic, and interpersonal

Further, treating drug overdose and suicide as a “personal trouble,” an individual-level problem in the Valley, is a major limitation of current health © Alejandro López (3)

lease picture this: you walk into a cancer ward in a hospital; with you is a knowledgeable oncologist. He looks around at the terminally ill patients, many of whom are in various stages of dying from their respective cancers in what would be horrific pain were it not for the large dosages of pain medication. The oncologist turns to you and says, “We really need to cure these people of their drug addiction.”

oppressions and resistance would shed light on the social forces that shape community health and viability. i W. Azul La Luz Báez, PhD, MA, MA, CCHt, is a medical sociologist, executive director of NuevaLight Enterprises and executive director of Silver Horizons New Mexico, Inc., based in Albuquerque. 505.795.5166, azul@ azullaluz.com

OP-ED: Drug Addiction in the Española Valley

Drug addiction in the Española Valley and northern New Mexico is a real concern. The addicts are mostly victims of heroin, cocaine, crack, alcohol abuse and painkillers. However, meth, which has become an increasing problem in the state, has affected many youth and people between the ages of 22 and 28. It is very discomforting that there are large percentages of unemployed youth and also young children that have succumbed to this. What is particularly distressing with this epidemic is that we have no consistent programs that have been effective to combat this destructive way of life. Help educate our community and volunteer your time. It’s a community issue! There are many signs of a person falling victim to substance abuse that can easily be identified. The fight against drug addiction needs additional resources and out-of-the-box solutions. Probate Judge Marlo R. Martínez is president/CEO of New Mexico Office Products, LLC in Española.

Efficient and resourceful. Wayne Steen ChFC CLU, Agent 3005 S St Francis, Suite 1E Santa Fe, NM 87505 Bus: 505-820-7926 wayne.steen.ssnr@statefarm.com

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Green Fire Times • March 2014

Reclaiming Española

Story and photos by Alejandro López

or the last week, I have experienced Española on foot and visited countless sites, including Santa Cruz, McCurdy, Fairview, Riverside, Cuartélez, Arroyo Seco, San Pedro, El Alto de Española, Corral de Piedra, El Guique, Hernández, El Duende, Ranchitos, El Llano and Santo Niño. As it turns out, Española, a centerless American commercial satellite, transposed to this community of old Native American and Nuevo Mexicano villages in the late 1800s (which, over time, it absorbed) is not one place, but many. Each has its own geography, history, architecture (or lack of ), set of old families and new, and, of course, its own income bracket with wild fluctuations. In the process of this walkabout I visited many places I have known since childhood, as well as a few corners and interstices of the valley totally unfamiliar to me. I was profoundly moved by the exquisite silence and solitude of the 19th-century building and grounds of the old morada of my native Santa Cruz. Here I was able to hear the commanding voices of my parents and the old folk who are no longer with us; those whose archaic Mexicano speech will never be heard again—for the language and the values embedded in it, unless we have the will to act, will unfortunately become extinguished. I was similarly inspired by the beauty and sanctity of the massive Santa Cruz Church, the largest adobe church in New Mexico, dating from the colonial period. It was the seat of missionizing campaigns to the encircling native pueblos on the part of Franciscan priests in the 18th century. Today it serves as spiritual and social hub for a sizeable part of the Nuevo Mexicano and Mexicano communities. What is saddening about Santa Cruz is that many of the old families that had persisted here for hundreds of years have, in recent times, either died out or succumbed to the idea of making money, sold, and moved away, leaving their ancestral homes in a state of disrepair or abandonment. Other properties, especially the old orchards and hillsides, have become featureless subdivisions that have caused the narrow, winding roads of the community to be clogged with traffic. This fountainhead of northern New Mexico’s Mexicano culture, the second oldest and most powerful villa of the Spanish colonial and Mexican periods, is now one of the epicenters of drug

Green Fire Times • March 2014

use and destitution in the valley. Santa Cruz is deserving of respect, love and attention. It will require careful assessment and restoration if it is ever to become a healthy living community and a symbol of regional self-sufficiency, beauty and vibrancy such as it was. In nearby McCurdy, I was pleasantly surprised by the sudden appearance of an old East Coast prep school-looking, two-story red brick building now serving as the McCurdy Charter School. It was built by Methodist missionaries early last century. In this and in the adjoining area of Fairview, there are a profusion of Protestant churches established soon before and after the Second World War. Their mission was to convert to their particular denomination, the already-Catholic populations of the region, as well as to serve the people who were moving here from other parts of the country. The Anglo populations responsible for building these churches also brought with them businesses, health clinics, doctors, and eventually they built what is now the Presbyterian Española Hospital to provide modern medical services to the area population. Unfortunately, the breakup of the community into myriad Protestant sects was one of the first processes of atomization to be experienced by the local native communities, as indeed was their relegation to the lowest rungs of the economic ladder through the substitution of an agrarian barter economy for a wage-earning one. This population, together with many communities of Catholic nuns from the Midwest who taught in the area Catholic schools, served as the model for la gente’s acquisition of the prevailing English-speaking cultural, linguistic and economic mores. The people of the Española valley learned them so well, that, for a least a century now, the valley has been exporting many of its most talented and prepared individuals to urban centers of the country where they exercise positions of leadership. The residential sections of this area of Española are among the most prosperous and kempt of any in the Española Valley, although numerous other attractive middle-class subdivisions abound in nearly every sector of the community. This notwithstanding, both the city and the valley are witnessing a virtual tsunami of closed and abandoned businesses, homes and properties that constitute both an eyesore and a source of demoralization. Addressing this issue certainly ought to be one of the principal challenges that the mayoral candidates and citizenry of the valley should concern themselves with at this time.

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As I approached Riverside Drive, the principal artery of the city, leading from one end of town to the other, I was taken aback by the deafening roar of traffic and, in the eveningtime, the display of so much neon and so many traffic lights that I have dubbed it “The Tokyo of Española.” It is a blinding and dizzying nightly spectacle. In this sector (near Allsups), with its string of locally owned businesses, national corporate franchises reign supreme. Running north all the way to Walmart in Ranchitos, you can find any kind of fast food, liquor, pharmaceuticals, car washes, auto parts, mechanic services, etc., but nary a clothing or furniture store. For pricier items, residents tend to make the trip either to Santa Fe or Albuquerque. As a result, the city loses out on tremendous tax revenues, and a once almost self-sufficient people similar to the Amish now supply almost nothing for themselves. The few food stores that exist on this route still do not keep Española and indeed all of Río Arriba County from having the official designation of a “food desert.” A locally based community food co-op on Mainstreet (Paseo de Oñate) and a seasonal farmers’ market on Railroad Avenue are helping to ameliorate this situation, together with a slow but steady movement in reviving local agriculture.

What in the world could have happened to create such surreal juxtapositions? Other places of immense interest in the Española Valley are the Camino de Paz Montessori School in Cuartélez, where I witnessed 15-year-old youths plowing fields with gentle but powerful Belgian horses. In fact, of anything that I experienced during the week, it was this school and its activities of animal husbandry, growing and producing food and taking it to market, coupled with meaningful and related academic challenges, that signaled the most hope for Española. But with a 64 percent graduation rate for females and 45 percent for males throughout Río Arriba County, it appears that mainstream schools in the area need to radically reinvent themselves and provide some kind of land-based learning and experiences for youth from land-based cultures. The alternative to this is the far costlier permanent

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rooting of drug use, burglaries and criminality among the growing sector of youth with dead-end lives. The rampant incidence of teen-age pregnancies signals that yet another generation is likely to suffer the same kind of unnatural, constrictive and pointless institutionalization that has so frustrated those who have gone before them. The transformation of the Española Valley from a “Valley of Sorrows” will require the multiplication of “Camino de Paz Montessori School” kinds of grassroots holistic initiatives. On the other side of town, Mainstreet, the Bond House Museum and El Convento were all very interesting, but for reasons other than those usually cited. On Mainstreet I met the courageous young Victor Villalpando, who, while rapping and dancing hip hop, filled the deserted street with his voice, passion and aspiration for a glorious existence for everyone. At the museum I ran into an old colleague, Senaida Hall, who was only too happy to show me a 19th-century exhibit of elegant vintage women’s clothing, when style and pizzazz were everything! From the Convento I was able to observe the restoration of the old Río Grande Café that, like so many other buildings in the city, had remained empty for a long time but is now experiencing the promise of a new life. A stop at the nearby Northern New Mexico College brought me into contact with a wonderful student and professor, who turned out to be, like myself, descendants of the Vigil clan from the cliffside village of Cundiyó, deep in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. When the three of us found ourselves quite naturally speaking in Spanish, we stopped and asked ourselves, “What keeps us ordinarily from speaking our native language?” That engendered a lengthy discussion, which we vowed to continue each week. A generation or two ago, conversation and dialogue were a part of everyday life in this valley, but now, finding ourselves encapsulated in our fast-moving cars and tethered to our jobs when not to our computers, cell phones and flat-screen televisions, we infrequently pursue this social art, which keeps us connected, thinking and above all, sane. continued on page 22

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Reclaiming Española continued from page 21

So shocking are the present changes in the landscape and way of life of the people that one must out of necessity ask, “What in the world could have happened in this valley to have created

Alejandro López with Tewa Translation by Vickie Downey (Tesuque Pueblo)

such distortive and surreal juxtapositions that cannot but remind you of the end of the world?” I believe that the answer lies not so much in this land and its people as in the national psyche and capitalist economy, whose tendencies are to level cultures and peoples it does not understand, sympathize with or whom it merely wishes to exploit. In this regard, the Española Valley and most of northern New Mexico is not much different from the Navajo or Sioux reservations that have undergone similar kinds of prolonged and profoundly painful disruptive processes. Quite often the poor resident of Española feels himself to be but a cog in a coercive, highly bureaucratic, mega-complicated, expensive, impersonal, stressful and highpaced apparatus that generates material glut when successful and when not, just emptiness. It is no wonder that the breakdown in the Española Valley is rife and on so many levels, for it is systemic. This place of brokenness begs yet another question, one which of necessity must be answered within the proximity of our own hearts and hearths: “What can we do as a community to plot the course of our future along healthier lines and not have to wait for solutions to drop down from the sky?” I believe that walking as much as we can through our communities, taking stock of the state of affairs, enjoining others in conversation and dialogue, and pinpointing jobs that need to be done for the enhancement of la comunidad en general is a good place to start. But, the real satisfaction of authoring a different story for our children and their children will occur only when we join hands and do that which we have pledged ourselves to do. i Alejandro López, a native of the Española Valley, is a writer and photographer as well as leader of service learning projects such as murals and other forms of public art.

Living the Dream of Cooperation and Friendship (In Tewa, Spanish and English)

Green Fire Times • March 2014

Wi thaaa, thayan day t´ oe maa ihaydi, navi pon don ku? i taa idi hedi oe yoekan heda oe aa kudi. Oe aa k´oe in ayyaa oe Kapo win heda in ayaa oe Santa Cruz win da nä’ i sawodi nan di da thaa hedi k’ema in di muu hedi dän pava wiyeh heda kuu a oe k’o togi, i panteh wingindi dan kú i. Dän man ya’a, pin da heda änshaa, i nan da i p’oe adi day tay paa’ i i nap´orkhuu I nap’oekhuu oe sogeh di, wina tayaa i khage’ nan di, i napoekhuu na pee i. way sebo.Hediho, wen kha haa shadeh wa, na bowa di. Hedi oe phategi, heda na k’oeyeh ihaydi na uu p’pe ihaydi, i khuu e heda i pava a di oe k’o toni. Hedi in shanki-i puwi, k’ema inadi. Un día tras muchas horas de trabajo, me eché en el pasto, me dormí y soné. Soñé que los niños del Pueblo de Santa Clara y de Santa Cruz que comparten esta hermosa tierra pudieran también compartir una gran amistad mediante el compartimiento de una comida basada en pan y maíz asados en el fuego de un horno común construido por ambos. Al unir nuestras manos mentes y corazones, hasta la tierra y el agua se convertirían en ladrillos. Con cada uno de los adobes que se colocara con un sentido de interdependencia y cooperación, el horno llegaría a nuevas alturas. Y como un poema o baile, a poco rato, se terminaría. Luego, dentro del horno, se prendería un fuego. Apagándose las brasas, el maíz y el pan se pondrían a asar hasta convertirse en el manjar de una fiesta entre amigos. One day after hours of work, I lay down on the grass, fell asleep and dreamt. I dreamt that the children of Khapo and Santa Cruz who share this beautiful land could also share a great friendship based on a shared meal of bread and corn baked in the fires of an horno built by both. By joining hands, hearts and minds even the earth and water could become building blocks. With every adobe set into place in a spirit of interdependence and cooperation, the walls of the hearth would quickly go up. And soon, like a poem or a dance, it would be finished. A fire would be lit and after the embers cooled, the gifts of corn and bread would bake in the common hearth to slowly turn into the mainstay for a feast among friends.

Reclaiming Española Photo Captions Page 20 (l-r): Victor Villalpando rapping on Mainstreet; corn and chile ristras; descanso; builder Lorenzo Galván; wood carver Manuel López of Chilí; Española Valley Jr. High School; traffic on Riverside Drive; youth learning to plow at Camino de Paz Montessori School; Isaiah Valdez weaving at the Española Fiber Arts Center; old Arrow Motel sign; newspaper seller Patsy Garcia; Santa Cruz Catholic church Page 21 (l-r): Española Farmer’s Market; Riverside Drive at night; view of the Santa Cruz Valley; carved wooden doors, Española Fiber Arts Center; Elder gentleman from El Duende; Diego López, filmmaker; service station; La Tierra Montessori School (Alcalde); descanso; trailer park; Aura from Colombia, S.A. and Martina Ellington from the Española valley, Lucía Sánchez at her place of work on Riverside Drive Page 22: Descanso close to the plaza near Santa Cruz church

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Up the road in El Guique, I stopped to pay my respects at a descanso along the road, one of hundreds erected across the valley where people have met their untimely deaths, mainly through auto accidents. Most have been precipitated by alcohol, a substance imported into the area by the truckload that we have come to accept as a necessary evil. Further north still, I took a secondary road that led me to the San José Church in Hernández, memorialized as it was by Ansel Adams’ most famous photograph, Moonrise Over Hernández in 1941, just before Los Alamos was established and its effects in the region felt. Were he alive still, Adams would be incredulous over the piles of modern debris that have covered up the once breathtaking site and made it totally unremarkable, were it not for the architectural power and simplicity of the now mostly forgotten church.

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Green Fire Times â&#x20AC;˘ March 2014

Love in the Valley of Infinity “We are now living for the promise of infinity”—Luís Peña Clarissa A. Durán

e are coming into a time of love and balance. We are being reborn spiritually via the Energy of the Divine Feminine. No, this isn’t a woo-woo piece on spirituality. This is a story of the heart of Española. We are a people of complex cosmology made of our European ancestors who came to México, created life with our Aztec grandmothers, whose progeny came to El Norte and created life with our Tewa ancestors. We are Yo Soy Joaquín[’s] everything and nothing. We are La Raza Cósmica. The greatest part of our cosmology is only now being born within us, through our work, into our community. The Española Valley and surrounding areas are experiencing a great coming together of organizations and individuals working to create community life balance through their actions filled with love and compassion. We are returning to the ways of our ancestors using new technology. Below are a few important examples of the reaffirmation of northern New Mexico culture taking place in Española. We gain resiliency to the mainstream modern economy by revitalizing our part in the Earth’s ecology. This includes the Earth’s economy. We are not consumers. We are creators, lovers and children of Cosmic Life. We don’t have a dependency on the world’s cash economy. We have a problem with that economy that began nearly 80 years ago with the influx of New Deal cash that Gov. Clyde Tingley brought to New Mexico in 1935. Prior to that influx, northern New Mexico’s economy was based on subsistence living and barter. Nearly everyone in our communities was land-rich and cash-poor. Moving away from that traditional economy and into the cash economy has created cultural conflict as depicted in the sidebar. i Clarissa Durán was raised and has raised two children in the agrarian San Pedro neighborhood of Española. She holds a degree in social work and is a community organizer and community systems engineer. She directs the nonprofit organization ¡El Tiempo! Nuevo México.

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Siete del Norte is creating a food hub for northern New Mexico through a $750,000 federal grant. Río Arriba County has partnered with Siete del Norte in seeking another $300,000 from the New Mexico Legislature. With over $1 million, Siete del Norte plans to revamp the old Hunter Ford buildings and create a commercial kitchen, outdoor farmers’ market, provide space for the Española Community Market (co-op), and Moving Arts Española. The food hub will aggregate local products and develop relationships with markets in order to sell the aggregated products. The next action directly related to the food hub creation is the Río Arriba County Annual Growers and Sellers Conference. It will take place on March 15 at the San Pedro Community Center in Española. Tewa Women United’s Yiya Vi Kagingdi (YVK), Community Doula Program: Engaging a doula or midwife and receiving the support of this program is an essential piece of regaining the status of giving birth/life back to the community. Full support of the pre-natal and post-natal mother, child and family is re-honored through this movement. 505.747.3259, www.tewawomenunited.org

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Programs at Northern New Mexico College give our community the opportunity to rediscover the prehistoric magic of engineering, biology, conceptual and theoretical math. Technology such as coding is a reminder of ancient codices. We create communication pathways for the seen and unseen worlds through code. STEM continues to explore the unseen and unknown often using “conventional” methods. A degree in STEM opens opportunities to not only work for a government agency, but to open a local business and hire local people in this mix of ancient art and modern science. 505.747.2100, www.nnmc.edu Española’s MainStreet Theater is open and across the street from the old Hunter Ford building. Classes are in process, plays and staged readings are being planned, and events are being held. Co-owners Rosalia Triana and Wendy Hassamer have created a space for our gifted youth and adults to strengthen our tradition of storytelling, through theater. They’ve also created a gathering space for our community. Last month, 1 Billion Rising for Justice Española held its day of events at the theater. 505.753.0877, mstheatre@windstream.net ¡El Tiempo! Nuevo México’s Chile Fest—held in conjunction with the Española Farmers’ Market, offers an opportunity to purchase local northern New Mexico chile that has been grown in the valley for hundreds of years. The event, which is held on Labor Day, includes free chile roasting and the new crop’s cook-off, followed by a community meal and music. 505.231.1433, www. eltiemponm.org

Statistics Evidencing Española Valley’s Problem with a Cash Economy

(US Census Data 2008-2012) Española New Mexico Persons below poverty level 26.3% 19.5% Bachelor’s degree or higher, age 25+ 16.9% 25.6% High school graduate or higher, age 25+ 74.9% 83.40% Per capita money income in past 12 months $19,059 $23,749 (2012 dollars) Earned Income Tax Information for Río Arriba County Brookings Institute, 2007: (www.brookings.edu/research/interactives/2014/county-eitc-map) Average EITC amount: $1,902 Rank: 1,417 Share of taxpayers with EITC: 22.2% Rank: 667 Health Statistics from New Mexico’s Indicator Based Information System (https://ibis.health/nm.us/): Teen Birthrate (Girls 15-17)—7th highest in NM—per 1,000 girls Río Arriba County: 39.4% New Mexico: 29.5% US: 17.3% Alcohol-Related Deaths per 100,000 population: (Rates are age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population.) Río Arriba: 116 (Highest in NM) NM: 52.3 US: Data not available measure description for alcohol: alcohol-related death: Definition: Alcohol-related death is defined as the total number of deaths attributed to alcohol per 100,000 population. The alcohol-related death rates reported here are based on definitions and alcoholattributable fractions from the CDC’s Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) website (http://apps. nccd.cdc.gov/ardi/Homepage.aspx). Numerator: Number of alcohol-related deaths in New Mexico Denominator: New Mexico Population Data Sources: New Mexico Death Data: Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics (BVRHS), New Mexico Department of Health. Population Data Source: Geospatial and Population Studies Program, University of New Mexico. http://bber.unm.edu/bber_research_demPop.html. U.S. Data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. http:// www.cdc.gov/nchs/

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The Española Hunter Arts & Agricultural Center and Community Mural Project Roger Montoya, Alejandro López and Renée Villarreal

n 2013, the New Mexico Community Fo u n d a t i o n’s C o l l a b o r a t i v e Leadership Program, in association with international community activist Lily Yeh, launched an arts and culture initiative fueled by highly participatory community building and intercultural collaborations. Ms. Yeh worked with community and NMCF partner organizations from various parts of the state during a series of workshops. Her approach is one of careful, deliberate and joyous application of paint, tile, wood and stone, often through the hands of children, in spaces that were once uncared for and unloved. She awakens the power of youth to reimagine and reshape their immediate environment to dramatically enhance the health, beauty and productivity of their communities, homeland, and ultimately, themselves.

Inspired by Yeh, the NMCF grantees and community partners decided to form a Cultura Cura/Culture Cures Collaborative to carry out an ambitious project. After much dialogue and planning, they chose to go to work in the heart of the Española Valley, an area characterized by a mix of ancient Native, Indo-Hispano and other cultures. The Valley was known historically as The Breadbasket of El Norte. Due to an intersection of complex economic, political, social and cultural

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forces, the area currently finds itself in a deep economic and social crisis characterized by disproportionate levels of poverty, unemployment, addiction, substandard housing, poor health, generally low educational attainment and environmental degradation. Yet, in addition to its spectacular natural beauty, the valley possesses immense cultural and historical continuity. Its cultures are known for their industriousness, strong sense of family and spiritual values.

A community arts & cultural center plus a “food hub”

Cultura Cura’s community servicelearning project has taken root at the emerging Hunter Arts and Agricultural Center on Española’s Mainstreet. The complex, a former Ford auto center, is owned by the city, but Siete del Norte, a northern New Mexico communitydevelopment nonprofit, will soon manage it as it is transformed into a community arts and cultural center with classroom, workshop and studio spaces for music, dance, theater and fine arts. It will also provide venues for public exhibitions, performances and gatherings. In a separate, adjoining space, plans are being developed for a food hub, equipped to receive, process, and make marketready locally grown produce. This may include a community kitchen, bakery and café, where people will partake in the foodstuffs that the facility produces.

Members of the Cultura Cura/Culture Cures Collaborative

The mural will highlight the traditional aspects of the Valley as the center of a rich agricultural region, and the responsible stewardship of the Earth (Nan in Tewa, Tierra in Spanish). The collaborative hopes that this project will benefit young people from local communities through related hands-on projects in which youth concurrently grow the food crops inscribed on the building’s walls (corn, squash, beans, chile and melons, etc.) at their schools, homes and other locations. The collaborative is motivated by its understanding that inspiring young people to tend plants and process their yields would not only add to the local pool of biodiversity and food and seed supplies available to the community; it would also facilitate physical exercise and engender a richness of mental, emotional and sensory stimuli. As a component of bolstering academic achievement, the project’s service-learning elements involving youth and children will include journeys into the natural environment to collect materials for the mural. The

group also hopes to inspire essays, poems, posters, videos, songs and plays. There has already been a groundswell of interest in the mural project among many local artists, and educational groups such as Ohkay Owingeh Community School and Khapo Kidz of Santa Clara Pueblo. The project’s design, although primarily focused at the Hunter Arts and Agricultural Center, makes provisions for creation of low-cost, modest-scale satellite projects at approximately eight local Española Valley school sites and other locations. i For more information on the Hunter Arts and Agricultural Center and Community Mural Project, contact Todd López: 505.579.4217, Todd.Lopez@nmfirm.com Roger Montoya is a community arts-andeducation activist and co-founder/director of La Tierra Montessori Charter School. Alejandro López was a student of Lily Yeh’s for several years, a worker in her inner-city projects and an organizer of her New Mexico workshop. Renée Villarreal is NMCF’s Director of Community Outreach.

Río Arriba County Food & Agri Council Conference • March 15

The imagination, energy and sheer determination to get the project moving has been led by La Tierra Montessori School of Alcalde and Moving Arts Española. Once dialogue between various potential stakeholders began to take place, it did not take long for NMCF, the city of Española, Siete del Norte, and the Northern Río Grande National Heritage Area to add their support.

The 3rd annual conference on Increasing New Mexico’s Small Farm Production and Food Hub Aggregation for Local Markets will take place on March 15 at the newly remodeled San Pedro Community Center in Española. Registration, along with coffee, atole and traditional pastellitos, starts at 7:30 am. The keynote by Aaron Parry, founder/CEO of Source Local Foods of Boulder, Colo., will be at 8:45 am. His talk is entitled, “Successful Transitions to Wholesale Markets.” Parry says that current supplies are meeting only 3 percent of the demand for locally grown foods.

The Cultura Cura Collaborative’s role is to facilitate creation of a largescale mixed-media mural along the lengthy west-facing exterior wall of the compound’s main building.

The conference is sponsored by Río Arriba County, the NM Acequia Association, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, NMSU Extension Service, Siete del Norte Economic Development Corp, and the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute. There is no charge for attendance. Lunch will be provided. For a map to the conference site and more information, email foodcouncil@lifeboatfoods.com or call 541.337.8595.

A panel of commercial and institutional buyers of locally grown, fresh produce will follow the keynote. There will also be a buyers’ panel for ranch, dairy and other livestock products, and a panel that will discuss the current development of the Española Food Hub project. In addition, the conference will feature a farm and crop planning session for fruit and vegetable farmers, as well as a tour and workshop featuring a high-production winter greenhouse operation in Sombrillo, NM.

Green Fire Times • March 2014

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Sustaining Our Local Economies

Christopher Madrid

e all want our local economies to thrive. We want a place where our youth can choose to live where they were raised because they can secure an acceptable standard of living worthy of their talents. We want fulfilling job opportunities for our citizens… we want the American dream to continue in our rural communities. Unfortunately, the recent economic trends remain unacceptable, which begs the question, “ What do we do about it?” In large part, we tend to place the responsibility for the economy on government and other non-government organizations, but in fact we have had remarkable consensus for some time now that entrepreneurs and small businesses actually drive our economy—not government. Hence, this allows us to further narrow the question to, “How do we best support our existing businesses and promote entrepreneurship in our rural communities?”

A systems approach coupled with strategic networking A Google search of related topics will offer tens of millions of hits indicating that we actually have the answers we need and, therefore, we need only to get on to implementation. Simply, choose the methodology that seems to make sense and get started! Unfortunately, many of the proposed solutions tend to resemble fad diets that sound good, offer great hope, offer inspiring anecdotes, make the promoters money, but in the end rarely live up to expectations. In truth, we do have a lot of clear empirical evidence on how to best support entrepreneurs. In fact, a Kellogg survey taken of successful businesses reveals that consultants get surprisingly low marks by the very recipients of their services. So enough about what remains uncertain. What do we know, and what can we do now? The same Kellogg survey indicates that successful businesses valued “access to capital”

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the most but also placed significant weight on peer-to-peer networking. Other empirical studies reveal that an entrepreneur’s propensity to network correlates as one of the highest indicators of success. Finally, one can make the case that effective networking also leads to greater access to capital. We all understand and participate in networking in a variety of ways. Typically, each individual or business employs a variety of networking techniques, often through various entities such as chambers of commerce and civic organizations that provide critical venues. In addition to networking, the research also indicates successful rural economies require a “systems” approach to properly align the “plethora of training, technical assistance, and financing programs to meet the variety of needs of entrepreneurs….” (See Energizing Entrepreneurs, Buttress and Macke). Hence, a systems approach coupled with strategic networking provides us with a starting point to more effectively support local entrepreneurs and thereby improve our local economy—in short, an effort to improve distribution in a manner that helps the entrepreneur more efficaciously get to the right resource at the right time.

Importantly, the program respects that they are the entrepreneurs, and as such they are ultimately responsible for their own destiny. Hence, the program’s facilitator or volunteer representatives do not ever tell them “what to do” or “how to do it.” The program simply employs best practices to leverage the combined social capital of its volunteers (our networks) to connect them to the optimal resource(s) at the right time. There are many resources available to our local businesses and entrepreneurs, but if they don’t know about them then they essentially do not exist. The Network Facilitation Program acts as the hub that can direct the entrepreneur to such resources, including access to capital. Thus, the program also promotes an overall systems approach, with the facilitator acting in the capacity of an “honest resource broker,” also offering strategic, peer-to-peer networking services, highly valued by the most successful businesses surveyed.

So if you are in business and could use additional support or thinking about starting a business, you can call the Española Valley Chamber of Commerce and receive the service offered by this program f ree of charge. Also, be looking for a monthly networking event to take place on the first Thursday of each month in Española. The communities of Taos, Mora, Las Vegas and Alamosa, Colo. also have sister programs established in service to their local entrepreneurs. i

Christopher Madrid is the director of Río Arriba County Economic Development. 575.753.2992, clmadrid@rio-arriba.org

Here is the good news: this is not a theoretical program in search of funding and eventual proof of concept. We have in fact been developing this program and accumulating best practices in northern New Mexico for going on 10 years. For now we call it Network Facilitation, and the Greater Española Chamber of Commerce has seen fit to implement this program in support of local businesses with funding from LANL (through the Regional Development Corporation) and the Greater Española Valley CDC. In short, it begins with the outreach component, where volunteers are trained to seize opportunities to engage local small business owners or prospective entrepreneurs and assess their needs. It’s actually a bit more involved, but ultimately we are simply asking them, “What do you need?”

Green Fire Times • March 2014

The pastoral narrative also shows an almost complete lack of critical thinking among Chicano/Mexicano leaders about how we dig ourselves out of the pit in which we find ourselves. Given the complex problems we face, where do we go from here? Before I share with you what we are doing, let me place what the Cooperative Development Center (CODECE) and the Center of Southwest Culture are doing in a larger global context. If what we are doing really is going to be sustainable over the long term, we believe it is important to consider two global economic themes currently emerging. We consider these themes as important touchstones for all of our work. The first major global theme is what author James Howard Kunstler calls “The Long Emergency.” Basically, he argues that world oil production is peaking and that the remaining oil left to be exploited is geometrically more difficult to find and extract. He argues that this long emergency into an oil-depleted economy will change forever everything about how we live. This post-modernity period, he believes, may occur as soon as 75 or 100 years from now. What that means is that we will have to find and fill our basic needs much closer to home; and we will have to work hard together to meet our basic needs on a local and regional, not national or international basis. The second major global theme we are tracking is emerging economies in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC), who as a group are showing consistent growth at a time when most nations have encountered recessions and deep uncertainty about future growth. Despite being in the wealthiest nation in the world, New Mexico can be characterized as a place that looks, acts and thinks like those economies that are poised to dominate within the global economy by the end of the 21st-century. It is in a unique position to leverage its current status in the world economy with its deep historical, cultural and political similarity to those nations that have grown significantly in the past decade. What that means is we have a chance to create sustainable 21st-century incomes for ourselves if we model our economic development efforts to mimic what is occurring in the BRIC economies. 5

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So, with those two larger global frames in mind, we began developing CODECE about five years ago and went into the field in early 2011. CODECE creates and supports sustainable lifestyles for Nuevo Mexicanos through three major economic lenses—organic agricultural co-ops, heritage and cultural tourism coops, and value-added housing initiatives. The cooperative model we use for all of our economic development work in Indio-Hispano communities assumes that integrating organic agriculture, cultural tourism and value-added housing into a comprehensive regional plan is a strong approach in trying to keep rural Nuevo Mexicanos in place but earning a 21st-century income.

Investing in our children’s education and paying for a family health plan are better steps on the path to justice.

CODECE’s economic development model is based on several factors: • Using existing land and water resources but applying them in new ways • Avoiding the need for major capital investment for success • Tying economic development efforts to those of the emerging global economies of the 21st century (Brazil, Russia, India and China) •R elying on collective groups of people instead of an individual entrepreneur to create sustainable businesses First, let’s talk about our organic agriculture cooperative model and what we’ve achieved to date. Most of the arable land still owned by traditional northern New Mexico IndioHispano communities—nearly 46,000 acres in Río Arriba County alone—is either lying uncultivated or planted with hay or alfalfa. Most Indio-Hispanos own small arable plots—between five acres and perhaps as many as 20 acres per farmer, tops. An acre of alfalfa produces about 50 bales; in northern New Mexico you can get from 3-5 cuts of hay or alfalfa per season. Alfalfa is selling for about $15 per bale. So, if you plant hay or alfalfa, you can expect to generate between $2,200 and $3,800 per acre. Out of this gross amount, you have to pay the baler, who charges about $2 or $3 per bale. So, for a 3-acre alfalfa

Green Fire Times • March 2014

cultivating a future

Moving People Española youth group performance

crop, a farmer can expect to generate a gross income of about $6,600 per season. In contrast, an acre of organic fruit or vegetables in northern New Mexico is currently generating between $20,000 and $45,000 per acre.So,for a three-acre organic crop, a farmer can expect to gross between $60,000 and $135,000 per season. You can see from this comparison that smallscale organic farming can provide a farmer with a fully livable 21st-century income. Small-scale alfalfa or hay growing cannot. To date, we have already incorporated four fully functional organic farmers’co-ops. We expect to collectively generate $40,000$75,000 in income from co-op farming efforts this year. Our co-ops have almost no investment debt because federally funded programs underwrite most of the start-up costs per acre. Our goal is to create between 25 and 35 organic farming co-ops in northern New Mexico communities within the next five to seven years. In our ecotourism program, we have incorporated two co-ops to date and are forming two others. Here again, these co-ops need very little capital investment to successfully become fully operational. Why? Because they are using millions of acres of public lands to roll out their camping, snowshoeing, hiking, horseback-riding, fishing, guiding and other lucrative outdoor activities. Again, we have merely changed the perception of Indo-Hispano villagers from seeing these public lands as obstacles to economic development, especially private sector development, and providing them a model that utilizes these public lands as a source of sustainable income for co-op members. Our third economic development program is value-added housing. Too

many of our people live in mobile homes and other substandard housing. We expect to build multi-family housing units that mimic the ancient plaza model— families living in clustered housing around a central small plaza. This model, we believe, will use the built environment to create the social behaviors we want our villagers to express—cooperation, collaboration, mutual aid. Even though we have been in the field for only a short period, several trends have emerged that make us believe we are on a good path. First, the concept of building businesses through co-ops instead of individual owners has resonated at a deep level among community members. Second, we have been incredibly humbled to find out that there is such a deep talent pool in the Indo-Hispano villages in which we are working. Our coop members have, in every instance, improved upon our ideas, implemented efficiencies of scale, and sought and found their own resources at an incredible level. They are thoughtful, hopeful, disciplined and hard working. Our small successes have not come without much difficulty. So far, we have lost co-op members to murder, suicide, alcohol addiction, mental health issues and other dysfunctions. Still, the model is proving to be resilient and adaptive. Besides creating these economic opportunities through our co-ops, our center is also committed to providing informal educational opportunities to traditional land-based communities here in the north. Through our la Carpa model, we expect to help people learn the things they need to learn to improve their lives immediately—whether it is continued on page 37

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OP-ED: Rethinking Northern New Mexico College

ere it not for the fact that Northern New Mexico College in Española has been the recipient of enormous sums of money from the state over its nearly 45 years of existence, and that few other institutions in the Valley can serve as a potent catalyst for positive community development in an otherwise impoverished region, its poor performance record could be overlooked. In just the last two years, Northern’s enrollment has plummeted, as students are voting with their feet by taking their tuition dollars to other institutions. Student migration has been prompted, in part, by a recent dramatic hike in tuition from $36 per credit hour to $114.50, with additional mandatory fees of $500-$600 slapped on top of this. The college could be justified in assessing such onerous increases if it were indeed offering an improved product. Instead there has been a wholesale elimination of programs and personnel and little or no improvement in course offerings or services that directly benefit students. Not surprisingly, NNMC was recently singled out as the state’s higher learning institution receiving the largest number of complaints. It appears that the heart of the problem today is the lack of community concern amongst its current leaders. There is no evidence of an ethic of service-minded leadership, nor is there a palpable love and excitement for learning and the furthering of human potential among them. It also appears that there is resistance by the college leadership to engage the community at large in genuine ways to create a vision and implement a plan for the college that meets the needs and aspirations of the area’s people. After 45 years in operation, the college is known more for its fiscal difficulties than for the strength of its academic programs. Its buildings and grounds exude an air of sterility and vacuity. Northern’s president and Board of Regents have taken the approach of eliminating longstanding programs, staff and faculty as quickly and ruthlessly as possible, while at the same time promising miracle cures that would come by building dormitories

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and by merely naming themselves “university” rather than “college.” NNMC is embedded in a distinctive geographic landscape. The population it serves is one of multiple cultural identities, each of which has distinct and specific needs. The college would do well to reflect on each of the realities that comprise our world and tailor its approach to provide meaningful and creative learning approaches in order to reach all of its students.

NNMC could become the community beacon it was meant to be. There are many in this community who believe in Northern as a precious resource that deserves to be salvaged. It is unfortunate that members of the current administration have proved themselves either unwilling or incapable of guiding the college and making it a productive resource for our state. There are numerous talented and deserving individuals in this area, young and older, who look to the college to provide them with the education and skills they need to be more productive and better serve their community. There are an equal number of committed citizens who would love to serve their community by participating in the mission of making the college a welcoming and enlightened space for students, citizens and employees alike. Despite all of the above, the community is not completely without hope. Recently, the governor appointed and the Senate unanimously approved two new members to Northern’s Board of Regents. The air is now one of anxious anticipation that a changing of the guard in the board composition will inspire a change of focus from status quo to that of open and compassionate management. Now is the time for Northern to fling wide open its doors to listen to community voices and make use of its collective knowledge in deciding how to provide excellent-quality training and leadership in the study of and

creative interaction with ecosystems, land grants, traditional communities in transition, forests, alternative energy, green building, permaculture, agriculture, food production and preparation. A strong sustainable agricultural initiative could greatly assist in protecting the area’s population as we face the reality of resource scarcity. With the help of a committed and compassionate college, this area could explore alternatives to “job creation” that have consumerism as the foundation and, instead, look at developing and sustaining the resources that are here. That means honoring traditional ways of knowledge and improving education in new sustainable practices. One such initiative could be the development of a progressive and dynamic business school with a mission to inspire students to take on the challenge of understanding the city and region’s elusive business climate and help them participate in the rebuilding of the economy. By engaging students in conducting incisive studies, interviews and dialogue, businessincubation models and decisive community service-learning projects, the college could inject vitality back into the community. Considering the age in which we live, the college must also choose to facilitate students’ entry into the global arena by weaving the strands of global cultures, languages, diplomacy, international politics and social work into its curriculum. Given that Northern was originally founded more than 100 years ago with the mission of training teachers to serve the region’s Spanish-speaking population, we must not overlook the possibility of founding a Spanish language center of national importance, along with working museums that reflect the many important aspects of northern New Mexico cultures. In this same vein, a vital and dynamic fine arts center that recognizes and promotes the traditional arts of northern New Mexico must be created for the benefit of the local communities. Instead of shuttering programs such as Spanish Colonial Furniture Making and Río Grande Weaving, the college needs to make space on its current campus for

Susan Meredith

them, so they are more accessible to a greater number of people. We must identify and define what the new technical trades and vocations might be for this area and in this age and offer them with inspired and competent personnel. Such an initiative could go far in reviving the school’s community mission of providing viable trades to members of the northern New Mexico community. But whatever it does, it is incumbent upon the leaders of the college to forge a collective will to care for, even love, serve and benefit the people and land of northern New Mexico. We must insist that they create a deeply meaningful and vital learning process in which the area’s greatest challenges are addressed and its greatest strengths and resources employed. Such a process might yet succeed in establishing a learning-centered climate that benefits the community instead of one in which individual egos and the bureaucratic machinery drive the majority of its functions eclipsing the best of what students, teachers, community have to offer. Poor, battered, glorious NNMC deserves respect, care, love and attention from us and from the community leaders amongst us if it is to survive the current challenges and re-make itself into the community beacon it was meant to be. To fail to do so is unconscionable. i Susan Meredith is a longtime resident of New Mexico and the former chief of staff at Northern New Mexico College. She is a writer, an editor and a fiber artist. She resides on her two-and-a-half acre farm in Española.

Green Fire Times • March 2014

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History

continued from page 8

By the end of the 18th century, Santa Cruz de la Cañada, as the seat of government for the Alcaldía de Santa Cruz de la Cañada, was the most populous area in all of La Provincia de Nuebo Méjico with a total recorded population of 8,859 according to the 1790 census, which did not include most of the pueblos and isolated villages of the Alcaldía. Santa Cruz de la Cañada at this time became the breadbasket of the northern provincia with many fields under cultivation and large orchards along both the Río Grande and the Río Santa Cruz. Between 1705 and 1770, groups of settlers from Santa Cruz de la Cañada migrated in all directions, as the population along the Río Santa Cruz increased and fertile land was less available. They went upriver to Cuartélez, Chimayó, Pueblo Quemado, Truchas and Las Trampas, west up the Río Tsama and north to Ojo Caliente, Embudo and Taos. The church at Santa Cruz de la Cañada was built during this period starting in 1733, with one steeple that remained until the arrival of Jean Bautiste Lamy, who replaced Bishop Zurbiría of Durango, Méjico, in 1854. Lamy added another steeple to the church on the left side, which has fallen three times. (This church is currently on the state and national registers of historic places and is a wonderful example of a Spanish colonial church.) A visitation was made in 1760 by Bishop Tamarón of Durango, Méjico. He remarked that the church was rather large but had little adornment. This encouraged the local santeros to begin carving reredos, bultos and retablos (altar screens, statues, and paintings on wood). It was in this Villa de Santa Cruz de la Cañada that the santero tradition emerged and prospered in northern Nuevo México.

The name “la Española” was chosen, referring to a Spanish woman who started a restaurant next to the railroad station.

The Revolt of 1837 broke out during the Mexican Period (1821-1846) when México declared its independence from Spain. The residents of Santa Cruz de la Cañada heard that the new governor, Albino Pérez, was appointed by Presidente-General Antonio López de Santa Anna, who had a plan to organize Nuevo México into a department instead of a territory, as it had been since 1821. It would be decentralized, and the wealthy Governor Pérez would appoint prefects in different regions to govern and report directly to him. He also proposed to set up a system for taxation in order to strengthen the military, provide for roads and other necessary improvements. A plan was developed by the leaders of the rebellion, centered in Santa Cruz de la Cañada and Chimayó to counter Santa Anna’s plan, and it was signed in Santa Cruz de la Cañada. The battle took place near the Pueblo de San Ildefonso (as it was referred to at that time). The Cañaderos y Chimayoses and some Pueblo warriors defeated the governor and his troops and chased them back to Santa Fé. Governor Pérez tried to escape during the night and was intercepted by a group from Santo Domingo Pueblo near the village of Agua Fría on the Camino Real. A priest from Tomé encouraged the residents surrounding Albuquerque to launch a plan, march to Santa Fé and remove the rebels. They were led by former governorgeneral of Nuevo México, Manuel Armijo. This army of 1,000 men marched north on September 10, 1837, and arrived in Santa Fé without a fight. The leader of the rebels, José “el genízaro” González, was in Taos visiting his family. Pablo Montoya led an equally large force of men to Santa Fé but realized that Armijo and his troops were better armed than his army, and a peace treaty was negotiated. Upon the arrival of the Army of United States of North America, the people of northern Nuevo México organized an army to fight Gen. Kearny and his forces, who

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San Gabriel Historical Society

escaped to El Paso del Río del Norte after the Great Pueblo Revolt, had some of the pioneer spirit and wasted no time in rebuilding the town at the same site where the Tanos had lived. The Tanos left a small chapel and a few houses in poor condition. However, a few years after the second group of 21 families from Méjico arrived in 1696, a flood would change the location to where it is today. Santa Cruz de la Cañada was abandoned for several short periods of time in its early history due to raids by the Yutas and Dineh (Utes and Navajos) and little support from the leadership in La Villa de San Francisco de Asís de la Santa Fé.

Española in the 1940s

arrived in Las Vegas in July of 1846. The Nuevo Mexicanos were unable to organize a fully equipped army to fight this large force. They waited a few months and on Jan. 19, 1847, in Taos, they captured and assassinated newly appointed Gov. Charles Bent and organized an army composed of men from the pueblos, Ranchos de Taos, Santa Cruz de la Cañada, Chimayó and other villages. They met the enemy at Santa Cruz de la Cañada (where the Sombrillo road meets the road to Chimayó). For the next 30 years, Santa Cruz de la Cañada would remain the seat of government for the newly organized county of Río Arriba, until it lost that status in 1880 to Tierra Amarilla due to politics. Support from the territorial government waned and left the Santa Cruzeños to organize and stabilize their economy through farming and ranching. Santa Cruz de la Cañada has been bypassed by population growth in the west by Española—first by the railroad, then by Española’s incorporation as a town. Finally, Santa Cruz has been swallowed up by Española’s limits, and the future will determine if it can continue as a parish or redevelop into an independent village.

The Denver and Río Grande Western Railroad and the Establishment of a Railroad Station

In 1880, the Denver and Río Grande Western Railroad decided to build a line south from their Conejos, Colorado Antonito Station to the northern Río Grande Valley of New Mexico. They completed it and then negotiated with the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad to run their narrow gauge south to Tres Piedras, then to Embudo and south along the Río Grande to the pueblos of Okeh’Owingue and Kha’P’oo’Owingue. The most difficult negotiations for the railroad right-ofway commenced at those pueblos. The D&RGW representative’s decorum was demanding, patronistic and unbending. However, the railroad representatives changed their attitudes and convinced the pueblos that their lease was fair and comparable with other leases they had negotiated. In 1880 they broke ground at their Antonito station and started preparing the ground for laying track. The route ran directly south to Pamilia, Volcano, No Agua (isolated stops), and onward to Tres Piedras, Servilleta, Ojo Caliente, Barranca, Embudo, Alcalde and into Okeh’Owingue and Kha’P’oo’Owingue, with the track on the west side of continued on page 32

Green Fire Times • March 2014

History

continued from page 31

Farmers and ranchers from the surrounding communities of Chamita, Hernández, Corral de la Piedra, San Pedro, La Mesilla, Santa Cruz de la Cañada, the pueblos of Kha’P’oo’Owingue and Okeh’Owingue, Alcalde, Los Luceros and Velarde began to bring their produce, livestock and other trade items to the station and sell them. A Spanish woman from the area started a restaurant next to the station. When a call was made to name the station, many locals mentioned that they referred to the restaurant as that of “la Española” and the name was chosen. The railroad line running from Antonito to Española would be known as the “chili line.” With the advent of the railroad and the wool industry, the population of Española grew from 150 in 1881 to 1,500 by 1900 (on the right-of-way pueblo land). In 1883, two brothers who emigrated f rom Canada arrived in Española with the profit they made from selling their wool-processing plant in Pueblo, Colorado, and opened another wool business in Española. George W. Bond and his brother Frank set up the little known Partido Partidario, a system to provide land for their Española’s first adobe post office, on Oñate Street sheep to graze. Landowners in northern New Mexico would use their common or land grant pasture to graze the Bond brothers’ sheep and supposedly receive a percentage of the wool profits. This resulted in overgrazing the valley and surrounding meadows and the brothers on occasion not keeping their end of the bargain. When overgrazing was prohibited, the brothers speculated on land grants like the Luís María Cabeza de Baca location (Valles Caldera in the Jémez Mountains). They grazed thousands of sheep in this large mountain valley with an abundance of pasture and made a fortune. They headquartered in Española and expanded their business interests all over New Mexico.

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San Gabriel Historical Society (2)

the Río Grande. Initially, the train was accepted as progress. However, those that were near the line complained of noise and squatters. Eventually it would become a boon for the surrounding communities. Shortly after the tracks were laid at the end of the line, the D&RGW built a railroad station. The right-of-way was about a quarter of a mile wide, and people began to squat on both sides of the track. This caused problems with the two pueblos that had leased the right-of-way. Eventually agreements were made and squatters were thrown off the land. However, they would be replaced by others seeking free land to build on.

A trestle bridge was swept downstream when the Río Grande flooded in 1922.

The Town of Española

By 1915, road transportation began to compete with the railroad and the boon began to dissipate. A slow exodus of people from Española occurred for the following 10 years. In 1922, the Río Grande at Española flooded, taking everything in its path. Bridges were destroyed and the bosque del río was left covered in silt. Three years later, Española, for a second time, applied for incorporation and became a town. The first high school in the valley was Santa Cruz Parochial in Santa Cruz de la Cañada in 1908. Española High School followed 12 years later in 1920. The major wars (WWI and WWII) attracted large numbers of men from the valley, and there were many who did not return. In the 1980s many of the historic buildings were torn down for an urban renewal project. However, in 1995 a move was made by the mayor and council to redevelop the downtown area, create a replica of a plaza, and bring the Mainstreet Program to Española. In 1998, the 400th anniversary of the founding of San Gabriel (eight miles north of Española) was celebrated as the first permanent European colony in North America. Actually, the village of Chamita is what replaced San Gabriel as a permanent colony. The Bond house, which was beginning to fall into ruin, was restored in 2000. In September of 2008, Barrack Obama came to Española, campaigning for the presidency of the United States. The valley and its residents have endured a long varied history. This general view with some detail is but a sprinkling of the important events and personalities that were recorded in documents, history books and oral history. i Hilario Romero, a New Mexican Mestizo (Spanish/Basque/Jicarilla Apache/Ute), is a former New Mexico state historian. He has spent the past 40 years in higher education, as professor of History, Spanish and Education, including at UNM and Northern New Mexico College.

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Academy of Sustainability Education Planned for Santa Fe

Kim Shanahan

eal sustainability can only be achieved if the social fabric of a local community is sustained. In one as fascinating, complex and beautiful as Santa Fe, that is not easy. The proposed reconfiguration of the South Campus of Santa Fe High around a concept to be called The Academy of Sustainability Education will engage Santa Fe’s diverse youth with rigorous, relevant, hands-on, project-based learning. It will weave sustainability into the fabric of their lives. Santa Feans who experienced Santa Fe High School more than 15 years ago, either as parents, as students or both, have clear memories of education on the South Campus. It was the site of a thriving and educationally diverse Vo-Tech program. It was a place where kids could go to learn specific stuff that often started them on their successful career paths. It was also often the place where kids who couldn’t read well or had “attitudes” could be around similar kids motivated by similar career goals and ambitions.Today we recognize some of those children may have one of 20 forms of dyslexia, or maybe ADHD, functional autism, or even PTSD from traumatic childhood experiences, especially poverty and hunger. So, these days, we can label and name the things that challenge learning, but careerbased education has been largely abandoned by America’s public schools, including (with a few notable exceptions) all secondary education in Santa Fe. And then we actually wonder why we suffer a near 50 percent dropout rate? Do we not recognize the obvious cause and effect? The Academy of Sustainability Education will bring back relevant education delivered in a radically different (but maybe not new) form called “project-based learning.”What is new, however, will be the pathways of study. There will be five, but they can and will overlap under the broad umbrella of sustainability: • Green Building, Architecture and Planning • Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Systems • Natural Resource Management and Agriculture • Automotive and Transportation • Public Policy and Education The South Campus represents millions of tax dollars invested and abandoned, but that could be resurrected in a true lesson of hands-on learning to sustain existing local resources. There are tens of thousands of square footage under roof and under-used. There are over 20 acres of wasteland, asphalt and scoured arroyos that can be made to bloom and feed with water harvested on the campus. The most exciting thing about the new academy versus what the old Vo-Tech devolved into being before it was finally abandoned—a dumping ground of abused and neglected children— is that the academy will also most certainly appeal to our kids who believe it’s their life mission to do everything in their power to save the world. Even “greening-up”professions like homebuilding and automotive will give a kid a belief that what they do and how they do it can have a positive effect on their community and the planet. That is a powerful message and a real incentive to stay in school, learn what interests them and graduate on time. And not just with a diploma but maybe even a degree or a certificate or college credits from Santa Fe Community College.

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There is no question that under the leadership of Acting President Randy Grissom, SFCC will fully engage with the academy. Indeed, it is seen as the place that will feed those students who will populate the college’s world-class technical career paths in Green Building, Bio-Fuels, Solar Thermal and Photovoltaics. SFCC’s Advanced Trades and Technology Center is an incredible investment in our community that should be paid back by college-bound kids set on 21st-century career paths. The academy is an ambitious plan on an even more ambitious schedule, if it hopes to open doors in August 2014, serving 250 students. It will take years before South Campus can be brought back to an even greener glory than years past. But because of a determined group of community members devoting countless hours of focus and attention, the school board has determined to make it happen. At a Feb. 10th study session of the School Board, a group that has been meeting regularly for the past six months to develop the concept and detailed plans for the academy made a presentation. Over 20 people spoke out in strong support, including teachers, students, business owners and concerned citizens. Five key people were responsible for the presentation. They have worked to hammer out the details with a much broader coalition of community members behind them, none more important than the Santa Fe High School teachers who have dreamed for years about a project-based learning environment centered on sustainability education. The five core community members are Paul Gibson, a recently arrived Santa Fean with 30 years of education consultancy behind him; Dana Richards, local educator and project-based-learning expert; Seth Biderman, native Santa Fe teacher and education thinker at the Academy for the Love of Learning; Dr. John Graham, 40-year professor of psychiatry at the UNM School of Medicine; and myself. Santa Fe High teacher Tammy Harkin oversaw the group’s work through the eyes of the teachers who will make up the school’s initial teacher corps. None of the academy’s ambitions would ever be realized without the full support and approval of all five school board members, as well as Superintendent Dr. Joel Boyd, along with his staff and administration. What will ultimately guarantee the success and sustainability of the academy will be the support of the community. And not just the “sustainability” community, but even those in our community who have not yet figured out how sustainability translates into their lives. Santa Fe needs this to succeed. i Kim Shanahan is executive officer of the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association.

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2014 New Mexico Legislative Wrap-Up Laura E. Sánchez

he 2014 legislative session is history, adjourning at noon on Feb. 20. Like many previous short sessions, it was a race to the finish on certain bills, while others languished in committees, held hostage by committee chairs in some cases but, more often, falling victim to the ticking clock. This year was a budget session, which means legislators were obliged to adopt a budget for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1. Bills introduced also had to be germane to the budget or the state’s financial matters. Any not related to the budget had to receive a message from the governor as a priority before legislators could act on it. To add to the challenges, two Democrats in the House were out sick the entire session, jeopardizing the already slim margin of 37 to 33 and leading to a 35-33 split. With such a razor-thin margin, it was all hands on deck for both sides of the aisle, and already close committees were sometimes split evenly down party lines. This resulted in different dynamics among the parties and very few bills passed along party lines alone. Sometimes it meant strange bedfellows, but then this is New Mexico politics.

Portal; HB124 (C. Trujillo) Home Energy and Water Efficiency; HB136 ( J. Trujillo) Electric Vehicle Tax Credit, and HB233 (Dodge) / HB304 (Brown) / SB191 (Griego) Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit. Most of these bills made it out of two committees. Only HB136, the Electric Vehicle Tax Credit, made it all the way through the House, but it was not calendared in the Senate Finance Committee. We also supported a variety of bills that increased support for investment in the hightech industry in New Mexico. Among these bills were SB59 (Keller) Tech Commercialization Gross Receipts, SB99 (Padilla) Investment in Tech Research Collaborative, and SB114 (Griego) Angel Investment Tax Credit. Unfortunately, none of these bills made it out of their first committee.

Of all the NMGCC-supported bills, only one, Senate President Pro Tem Papen’s SB9 One-Stop Business Portal, made it all the way through both houses and is waiting to be signed by the governor. This bill directs the Department of Information Technology (DoIT) to develop and maintain a web site that is free, user-friendly, searchable and accessible to the public in order to conduct certain business transactions electronically. The site is required to provide a single point of entry that allows users to access taxation information, make taxation filings and payments, access workers’ compensation information and make related payments. Business users would also be able to complete and submit applications for licenses, registrations, permits and other Members of the Las Cruces Green Chamber of documents issued by state agencies Commerce speak with Rep. Bill McCamley that are required for the transaction Bills are typically assigned to two of business in New Mexico. The site committees in each house after being could help users communicate with first- and second-read onto their customer service representatives during respective chamber floors. The bills must regular business hours and access the pass both committees to be considered New Mexico Sunshine Portal. The by all the members of the house of governor has until March 12 to sign origination, and then be approved, in legislation. Any not signed by this date order for the other house to consider the will be deemed pocket-vetoed. bill. Only bills that make it all the way through both House and Senate will end One notable measure for New Mexico up on the governor’s desk for signing. businesses and employees from this The New Mexico Green Chamber session was the almost successful passing of Commerce (NMGCC) supported of the Minimum Wage Constitutional several bills this session. Among them Amendment.The measure, SJR13, passed were SB09 (Papen) One-Stop Business the entire Senate and also passed the

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House Voters & Elections Committee, its only assigned committee in the House. The measure came up on the floor of the House on Feb. 19, and after much impassioned debate failed on a 33-29 vote. It needed a majority of the members, or 36, to pass the House, in order to go on to the voters in November. Another important mention is SM36, a Senate memorial sponsored by Sen. Michael Padilla, regarding the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge. The memorial asked our New Mexico congressional delegation, the US Department of Interior and the US Fish and Wildlife Service to work toward restoring funding and acquiring the remaining property for the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge located in Bernalillo County. While this short session was disappointing in terms of passing our proactive bills, the good news is that we also did not lose ground on any existing taxcredit programs that help our member businesses. We look forward to working on defending existing policies and expanding others to support local

Laura E. Sánchez at the Roundhouse

business, sustainable practices, renewable energy and the economic benefit of public land protection in the 2015 session. i Laura E. Sánchez is CEO of the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce. 505.859.3433, info@nmgreenchamber.com, http://nmgreenchamber.com

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cultivating continued from page 28

NEWSBITEs

how to balance a checkbook, or apply for Social Security benefits or help their children apply for college.

Grant Funding for Rural Business and Economic Development • April 1 Application Deadline

Using our informal education model, we hope to implement informal group therapy sessions that delve deeply into people’s personal experiences to find healing and self-centeredness. The elephant in the room for the work of building community in the Río Arriba is the issue of poor mental health. We cannot merely put money into people’s pockets and expect they will then live exemplary lives. The challenge is to see if we can convince people to make more money and not spend it on alcohol; instead, how do we work with each other to see that investing our incomes in our children’s education and paying for a family health plan are better steps on the path to justice we must have to ever achieve peace in our lives and in our communities. We realize that we know very little about all of these complex issues. But we believe it is important that we be active in trying to create hope. Broadly, here is what we believe needs to happen to make the Río Arriba a place that can sustain traditional peoples with a 21st-century income and an enlightened view of their role as gente de buena raza: • We need to nurture and recruit new leadership among our gente, who will provide the selfless, community-based vision we need to use existing government resources and structure to help our communities move forward, and to not use elected positions to enrich themselves and their families. • We need to formalize a local and regional barter system to help ourselves save cash for other needs. • We need to create local, small cooperatives that use existing resources to sustain themselves over time, without the need for major capital investment.

• We need to heal ourselves—economically, psychologically and educationally. It is way past time for us to sit around our kitchen tables together and figure out how to get ourselves out of the mess we’re in.

• We need to become critical thinkers; to learn how to analyze the socio-economic forces we face daily, to have an enlightened and broad view of our place in the world; we must act in ways that force fundamental reform and rejuvenate our political, economic and educational systems.

We must see ourselves as part of a larger regional movement for change but remain focused on our own families, our own work, our own communities. i Footnotes:

1. Michael Trujillo’s The Land of Disenchantment: Latina/o Identities and Transformations. 2. A ngela García’s Pastoral Clinic: Addiction and Dispossession Along the Río Grande. 3. J ake Kosek’s Understories: The Political Life of Forests in Northern New Mexico. 4. F ranz Fannon’s å. And the work of Albert Memmi, et al. 5. M anuel Montoya, Ph.D., Rhodes Scholar and professor at the University of New Mexico at the Anderson Schools of Business. Based on his (as yet) unpublished doctoral thesis on global economics.

Arturo Sandoval is president of the Albuquerque-based Center of Southwest Culture. The Center works to help develop healthy Indigenous and Latino communities through economic development initiatives, educational and cultural work. Sandoval was born in Santa Cruz de la Cañada and raised in Española, NM. 505.247.2729, vocesinc@aol. com, www.centerofsouthwestculture.org, www.vocesinc.com, www. cooperativedevelopmentcenter.org

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USDA Rural Development is accepting applications for the Rural Business Enterprise Grant program. The funds can be used to finance and facilitate the development of small, private, business enterprises— any private business that employs 50 or fewer new employees and has less than $1 million in projected gross revenues. The funds can also be used to pay for technical assistance for such things as feasibility studies, business plans, business development training, or to establish revolving loan funds. This financial assistance cannot be granted directly to a private business. The funding is available to public bodies, nonprofit organizations, public and private nonprofit institutions of higher education and Indian tribes to facilitate and finance the development of small and emerging private business enterprises in rural communities and cities up to 50,000 in population. Priority will be given to requests of $50,000 or less and will receive points for projects that support local food systems and value-added agriculture, minority- and women-owned businesses, access to capital markets, bio-based products or bio-fuels. Information can be obtained from the State Office in Albuquerque at 505.761.4953 or at: http://www. rurdev.usda.gov/BCP_rbeg.html

International Conference on Progress and the Indigenous Experience • March 13-15 in ABQ

The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) will host the first “Indigenous Intervention,” an international Indigenous conference on the concept of progress, at the Nativo Lodge in Albuquerque. The interdisciplinary conference will explore progress as it applies to art, business, culture, economics, education, health, history, land, literature, music, philosophy, politics and social theory. In the Indigenous world, progress has also meant assimilation, economic development, educational reform, cultural change, artistic expression, evolution/devolution, language revitalization or preservation, according to Stephen Wall (White Earth), conference organizer and chair of IAIA’s Indigenous Liberal Studies Department. “The idea is simply to bring people together to talk about ideas on issues that affect Indigenous people,” Wall said. “Both in our individual communities and worldwide the dominant society has had mass influence. It’s really important to create a forum to share information and learn from each other that there is a real need for intervention.” Presenters include staff members, instructors and faculty from the Denver American Indian Commission, IAIA, University of Arizona, Sustainable Nations, Syracuse University, University of Coimbra, UNM, and University of Saskatchewan, among others.The keynote speaker is multimedia artist and IAIA alumna Rose B. Simpson. One-day and full, three-day registration fees are available. A special undergraduate rate for students for the entire conference is $50. For more information or to register: 505.424.2376, swall@iaia.edu or visit http://www.iaia. edu/academics/degree-programs/indigenous-liberal-studies/indigenous-intervention-progress-conference

‘Climate Hub’ Will Help New Mexico’s Farmers and Ranchers Adapt to Climate Change

President Obama has named the Jornada Experimental Range in Las Cruces, NM, the US Dept. of Agriculture’s Southwest “climate hub.” As one of seven climate hubs across the US, it will provide information to rural communities in New Mexico, California, Utah, Nevada and Arizona to help them prepare for and try to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The climate hub will be a clearinghouse for resources and technology to help farmers and ranchers manage risks such as drought and wildfire and find the tools they need to adapt to the increasingly shifting climate. More than three dozen universities, as well as state and federal agencies, are partnering to share information through the hub. Climate change in the Southwest is a threat to the economy, to jobs and the way of life of families— especially those whose livelihoods depend on the land and a limited water supply. It has meant earlier and harsher fire seasons, warmer temperatures and less snow. More than 50 percent of the flow in the Río Grande is from snowmelt.

Soil Solutions Lecture and Workshop • March 12-13

Imagine you could grow almost anything you wanted with the soil in your yard, using less water and producing biomass that is virtually immune to pests and requires few costly inputs. Dr. Elaine Ingham, Ph.D., soil biologist, will be in northern New Mexico March 12-13 to explain how to do it. Here in New Mexico, shelter from wind and cold would be a part of the equation. It also involves understanding things like the ratio of bacteria to fungi. Ingham will discuss the microbiology of soil, the needs of crops and how to make composts and extracts to strengthen the soil food web. Knowing these sorts of things, we can become soil managers and tweak these relationships with biological solutions instead of chemical solutions to create the ideal soil composition based on what we want to grow.

Dr. Ingham will speak from 7-9 pm on March 12 at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Pavilion. Admission is $10. On March 13 she will teach a workshop from 8:30 am to 5 pm at Northern NM College’s main administration building in Española. The workshop is $99. For more information, call 505.819.3828, or visit www.carboneconomyseries.com

Green Fire Times • March 2014

What's Going On! Events / Announcements

March 15, 10-6 pm, March 16, 10-5 pm The ABQ Home Expo NM State Fairgrounds Manual Luján Complex

Seminars, exhibits. 505.796.0803, www. abqhomeexpo.com

ALBUQUERQUE

March 5-7, 8 am-5 pm 3rd International Meeting on Indigenous Women’s Health Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town

Healthy Generations: Integrating Traditions and Science to promote well-being. An opportunity for physicians, midwives, nurses, community providers and others who work with indigenous women to share, support, network, learn and build partnerships to improve the health of indigenous women and their families. 505.272.3942, kbreckenridge@salud.unm.edu, http://som.unm.edu/cme

March 5, 9:30-11 am Home Composting Basics North Valley Senior Center 3825 4th St. NW

Learn the science, materials and methods of drought-proofing your garden soil in order to grow vegetables, fruit and berries. Free. Composting classes at other locations on 3/6, 3/8, 3/20 ($7), 3/27. register@nmcom posters.org, nmcomposters.org

March 5, 5:30-7 pm Green Drinks Hotel Andaluz, 125 Second St. NW

Network and mingle with people interested in local business, clean energy and other green issues. Review of the 2014 Legislative Session with Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto and Rep. Christine Trujillo. Free. Presented by the ABQ & Río Rancho Green Chamber of Commerce. Next Green Drinks: April 2nd. 505.244.3700, Lindsay@ nmgreenchamber.com

March 11-13 7th Pathways into Health National Conference Hotel ABQ at Old Town

Cultural Attunement in Health Professions. Education and career development. A diverse group of individuals and organizations gather to cultivate a robust American Indian and Alaska Native healthcare workforce. General registration: $300; Students: $95. Elders: $75. 3/10: Film screening and reception. PathwaysIntoHealth@gmail.com, http://pathwaysintohealth.org/conference/

March 13-15 Indigenous Intervention Nativo Lodge

An international indigenous conference on the concept of progress presented by the Institute of American Indian Arts (See newsbite, pg. 37) Info/registration: http://www.iaia.edu/news/ iaia-hosts-indigenous-progress-conference/

March 14, 4-9 pm World Studio Opening 987 Cam. del Pueblo, Bernalillo, NM

New fine art gallery/healing center. Opening features visual arts, storytelling, music. worldstudionm@gmail.com, http://www.jamila productions.com/worldstudioopening

March 19 Registration Deadline Solitude and Solidarity Gutiérrez Hubbell House 6029 Isleta SW

A one-day retreat on 3/28 (7:30 am-4 pm) for women in the arts facilitated by Valerie Martínez and Shelle Sánchez. $65-100 sliding scale. 505.980.6218

March 22, 5-9 pm NM Scholastic Art Awards Warehouse 508, 508 1st St. NW

Student check-in at 5:30, awards presentation at 6 pm. 505.296.2738, www.newmex icoartawards.wordpress.com

April 3 USGBCNM 12th Anniversary Party

The US Green Building Council New Mexico supports the responsible evolution of a sustainable environment with education, advocacy and community engagement, and through verifiable, documentable results. 505.203.2323, usgbcnm.org

April 7-9 10th International Conference on Concentrator Photovoltaic Systems Hyatt Regency Albuquerque

An opportunity for suppliers of components and services to the PV and CPV industry to connect with experts and potential customers from all over the world; 400 people from more than 25 countries, including many corporate executives from global companies are expected to participate. Host committee: CFV Solar Test Laboratory, Fraunhofer USA, Sandia National Laboratories. www.cpv-10.org

April 9-10 Shared Knowledge Conference UNM Student Union Building, 3rd Floor

Regional event planned and hosted by students and partners of UNM. Presentations on a range of topics. Students from a variety of academic institutions and disciplines will share their scholarship, gain access to new ideas and develop professional leadership skills. Free. nuntuket@unm.edu

April 15-16, 8:30 am-5 pm Town Hall on Water Planning, Development and Use Marriott Pyramid North 5151 San Francisco Rd. NE

Help people from around NM create a concrete, actionable platform of water policy recommendations. Key issues include: Meaningful long-range and crisis water planning, NM’s aging water infrastructure, Conservation and reuse, Water development including desalination. Convened by NM First, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy organization. $100/limited scholarships. NMfirst.org

Daily Degrees of Change: NM’s Climate Forecast NM Museum of Natural History & Science, 1801 Mountain Rd. NW

With a focus on NM and the SW, this exhibit re-

Green Fire Times • March 2014

veals current and predicted impacts on humans, landscapes and ecosystems. Tickets: $7, $6, $4. Info: 505.841.2800, www.nmnaturalhistory.org

SANTA FE

Through April 1, 10 am-5 pm Heartbeat – Music of the Southwest Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

A celebration of sight, sound and activity for visitors of all ages. Over 100 objects relating to Southwestern Native music and dance are featured. 505.476.1250, http://indianartsandculture.org/

March 3-April 2 (M,W, 5:30-8 pm) Climate Masters Classes

3/3: Climate Change Communication with Eileen Everett, Ed. Dir., SF Watershed Assn; 3/5: Local Food & Agriculture with Tom Telehanty of Pollo Real, Dave Frésquez, a farmer in Española, or Don Bustos; 3/10: Renewable Energy Panel with Craig O’Hare, energy program specialist with SF County, Mariel Nanasi, Exec. Dir.,New Energy Economy, Janet McVickar of Got Sol; 3/12: Science with Dr. Craig Allen, research ecologist, Jémez Mtn. Field Station, USGS; 3/17: Water Ethics with Dave Groenfeldt, Water Culture Institute; 3/19: Biomimicry and communication through the arts with Noel Chilton and Karen Temple Beamish of ABQ Academy; 3/24: Consumption and Waste with Jessi Just, NM Recycling Coalition; 3/26: Permaculture with Reese Baker of The Raincatcher; 3/31: Green Architecture/Business with Amanda Hatherly, Dir., SFCC Energy Smart Program and Kim Shanahan, Exec. Officer, SF Area Homebuilders Assn; 4/2: Transportation with Esha Chiocchio, Dan Baker and others. Presented by the SF Watershed Assn: 505.820.1696, www.santafewatershed.org

March 5, 5:30-7 pm A Talk about the Academy of Sustainability Tomasitas

Paul Gibson and Dana Richards will explain the proposed academy, green jobs and businesses.

March 6 SFPS Science Expo Gonzales Community School Gym, 851 W. Alameda

9:30-11:30 am: Judging by students and judges; 5-6 pm: Family Science Expo Night; 6 pm: Award presentations.505.467.2515, kdillingham@sfps.info

March 8 Watershed Restoration Project Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center, Madrid, NM

Lend a hand and learn about erosion-control structures made with rock. Music/potluck gathering from 2-5 pm after work. RSVP: 505.780.0535, ampersandproject@yahoo. com, www.ampersandproject.org March 10, 6 pm

Living Life to the Fullest with Native Humor

Hotel Santa Fe SW Seminars lecture by artist, humorist, filmmaker Ricardo Cate (Pueblo of Kewa). $12. 505.466.2775, southwestseminars@aol. com, SouthwestSeminars.org

March 11 Registration Deadline Professional Landscaper Training

Qualified Water Efficient Landscaper training/certification. Learn “smart” irrigation technology and local soil and weather conditions. Training geared toward licensed professionals with experience. $75. Class dates: 3/18, 19, 25, 26. Exam on 3/27. 505.955.4223, Application: http://www.santafenm.gov/ educational_programs

March 11, 4-6 pm Eldorado/285 Recycles ECIA Conference Room

Eldorado area recycling advocacy group monthly meeting. All welcome. Next meeting: 4/8. 505.466.9797, eldorado285recy cles@mail.com, eldorado285recycles.org

March 12, 4-6 pm Seed Exchange Frenchy’s Barn

Presented by Homegrown NM. 505.955.2106, jbesparza@santafenm.gov

March 12, 7-9 pm Lecture on the Soil Food Web SF Farmers’ Market Pavilion, 1607 Paseo de Peralta

Presentation by Dr. Elaine Ingham. (See newsbite, page 37) $10. 505.819, 3828, www. carboneconomyseries.com

March 13, 6 pm Food & Film Evening Jean Cocteau Cinema

Screening of the award-winning Like Water for Chocolate. Local food prepared by Chef Patrick Gharrity of La Casa Sena. Tickets: $25 benefits Farm to Table’s Farm to Restaurant Program. 505.310.7405, nina@ farmtotablenm.org

March 14 Application Deadline “End of Days” Fashion Exhibit Nov. 2014-Feb. 2015 City of Santa Fe Community Gallery

NM Artists and Fashion Designers will explore what fashion will look like at the end of the world brought about by nuclear war, pandemic, water scarcity, supervolcanoes, bee colony collapse, or…? 505.955.6705, rdlambert@santa fenm.gov, www.SantaFe ArtsCommission.org

March 14, 7-9 pm Amy Goodman The Lensic, 211 W. San Francisco St.

An evening with the host/producer of Democracy Now. $15. Book signing. A benefit for KNME, KUNM and KSFR. 505.988.1234, TicketsSantaFe.org

March 16, 2-4:30 pm Geology Hike Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center, Madrid, NM

Hike around Ampersand’s 38 acres with local geologists Mary Morton and Scott Renbarger. $10 suggested donation. www.ampersandproject.org

March 20 La Bajada Mining Issue SF County Commission, 102 Grant Ave.

Discussion of the proposed mining project. Send comments to joselarra@co.santa-fe. nm.us, www.SaveLaBajada.com

March 21-23 Faith & Environment United Church of Santa Fe, 1804 Arroyo Chamiso

www.GreenFireTimes.com

3/21, 5:30 pm: All-age celebration (supper provided); 3/22, 8:30 am-12 pm: How to Sing, Pray and Act for the Earth. Keynote and children’s program, noon picnic & park cleanup; 3/23, 8:30-11 am: Worship for the Earth, 9:45 am: Earth care forum, childcare/children’s programs all morning. 505.988.3295, unitedchurchofsantafe.org

March 22, 12:45-3pm A Walk on the Santa Fe River

Conversation, art and reflection with Bobbe Besold, Valerie Martínez and Dominique Mazeaud. Free. Meet at the end of Constellation Dr. (off Airport Rd.) Bring snacks and water. bobbebird@gmail.com

March 26, 7 pm “Trashed” Film Screening SF Farmers’ Market Pavilion

Documentary follows Jeremy Irons’ expedition to destinations around the world tainted by billions of tons of unaccounted-for waste. $12/$10/students under 18 free. www.farmersmarketinstitute.org

March 27-28, 8 am-5 pm SW Jémez Mountain Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project Santa Fe Community College Jémez Rooms

3/27: All-Hands Monitoring Presentations will showcase results from 2013 activities. 3/28: Implementation Workshop will use information from monitoring to develop implementation strategies in the project area for 2015. Info: 505.438.5431, pashmead@fs.fed.us

April 1 Program Begins Herbal Medicine Intensive Milagro School of Herbal Medicine

250-hour program. Registration: 505.820 .6321, info@milagroherbs.com

April 2, 5:30-7 pm Sustainable Santa Fe Awards Eldorado Hotel

Presented by the SF Green Chamber of Commerce and the Sustainable SF Commission. Free.

April 2, 6-8:30, Weds. Through May 21 Business Development Series

Large-scale collaboration of local groups involved in education, conservation, multi-arts, environmental and social justice, and creative community engagement. Procession, music, poetry, visual arts, storytelling, performances, community participation. earthdaysantafe.info

First Saturday of Each Month, 10 am-12 pm SF Citizens’ Climate Lobby Natural Grocers, Community Room, 3328 Cerrillos Road

“Creating political will for a livable world.” maria@myearthprints.com

Santa Fe Recycling

Make 2014 the year to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as you can. City residential curbside customers can recycle at no additional cost and drop by 1142 Siler Road, Building A to pick up free recycling bins. At least 50 percent of curbside residential customers recycle now. Let’s take that number to 100 percent. For more information, visit http://www.santafenm.gov/ trash_and_recycling or call 505.955.2200 (city); 505.992.3010 (county); 505.424.1850 (SF Solid Waste Management Agency).

Española

March 13, 8:30 am-5 pm Workshop: Soil Food Web and Compost Tea Technology NNMC Main Administration Building 921 Paseo de Oñate

Presentation by Dr. Elaine Ingham. (See newsbite, page 37) $99. 505.819, 3828, www. carboneconomyseries.com

March 14, 5-7 pm Opening Reception Northern NM Regional Art Center, Española Plaza

Exhibit by Río Rancho artists Jean Kempinsky and Dick Overfield. Through 4/11.

March 15 3rd Annual Conf.: Increasing NM Small Farm Production, and Food Crop Aggregation for Local Markets San Pedro Community Center

Thinking of starting a business? Learn business basics to avoid costly time and money mistakes. Ongoing bonus sessions offered upon course completion. $159. Presented by WESST. 505.474.6556, rperea@wesst.ofg

Presented by the Río Arriba County Food & Agriculture Council and co-sponsors. (See newsbite, pg. 25)

April 4-5, 10-am-5 pm The Santa Fe Home Show SF Convention Center

Sponsored by the Española Fiesta Council and the Crisis Center of Northern NM.

Innovative solutions for better living. Remodelers’ showcase, SFCC Design Competition. Tickets: $5. 505.982.1774, santafehomeshow.com

April 10, 10 am-4 pm 11th Annual Business Expo and Job Fair DeVargas Mall, 500 N. Guadalupe

Showcasing the region’s business. Presented by the SF Chamber of Commerce. 505.988.3279, bridget@santafechamber.com, www.santafechamber.com

April 20-May 18 (Sundays) Beginning Beekeeping Plants of the Southwest

5-week course taught by Melanie Kirby and Mark Spitzig of Zia Queenbees. Over 20 hours of class and field instruction. $450 includes starter bee colony. www.ziaqueenbees.com/zia

April 26, 12-4 pm Earth Day at the Railyard Railyard Park

www.GreenFireTimes.com

March 22 Walk Against Bullying

March 30 Dinner with the Chef Camino de Paz Montessori School Santa Cruz, NM

Acclaimed chef of Arroyo Vino restaurant in Las Campanas Mark Connell and his team will create an elegant 3-course meal with ingredients from the farm. A benefit for the students’ trip to NYC.Tickets: $69/person, $124/couple, $248 table of four. daisy@caminodepaz.net

April 5 Walk Against Drugs

Sponsored by the Española Fiesta Council and the Crisis Center of Northern NM.

April 18-19 Santo Nino Festival of the Artists Northern NM Regional Art Center, Española Plaza

Benefit performances. 4/18: Opening reception in the Convento Gallery with a free showing of a film about the arts to follow in the Misión. 4/19: artists’ booths, food, dance and music on the Plaza. 2 pm ticketed perfor-

mance of Española High School Children’s Choir. 505.500.7126, director@nnmrac.org

Veterans Green Jobs Academy Northern NM College, Española

Workforce training and specific degree programs to support military veterans in fully accredited academic certificate and degree programs in areas of environmental science related to renewable energy, hazardous materials response, forestry, sustainable agriculture, wildland fire science, construction trades and others. A partnership with the NM Dept. of Veterans Services. For more info, call Dr. Biggs at 505.747.5453 or visit www.nnmc.edu/vetacademy.htm.

taos

Through March 28, M-F, 9 am-5 pm Contemporary Handwoven Art Exhibition Taos Town Hall 400 Camino de la Placita

Taos Arts Council and Weaving Southwest present a weaving and tapestry exhibition featuring more than 18 northern NM fiber artists. The show is funded in part by NM Arts, a division of the Dept. of Cultural Affairs and the NEA. 575.779.8579, pcf1947@yahoo.com, http://taos artscouncil.org/weaving-southwest-at-taostown-hall/, www.weavingsouthwest.com

March 7-9 Taos Pueblo Artist Winter Showcase Millicent Rogers Museum

Special exhibition/sale features 14 artists. Opening reception 3/7, 5-7 pm. Free. 575.758.2462, www.millicentrogers.org

March 7, 7 pm A Fierce Green Fire (Film) Harwood Museum, 238 Ledoux St.

The Battle for a Living Planet. Exploration of the environmental movement – grassroots and global activism spanning 50 years. $8/$6.

April 25-27 Health & Wellness Retreat El Monte Sagrado Resort/Spa

Author/surgeon/speaker Dr. Christine Horner is featured as part of this retreat to revitalize the body, mind and spirit. $1,295. 850.668.2222, adellinger@zimmerman.com, www.elmontesagrado.com

May 10 Start (Saturdays) Charm School for Beekeepers El Prado, north side of Taos

Workshops for enhancing one’s apiary management. www.ziaqueenbees.com/zia

HERE & THERE March 3-7 Stop Violence Against Native Women Hyatt Regency Tamaya, Santa Ana Pueblo, NM

March 13-16 Permaculture Voices Conf. Temécula, California

Permaculture experts from around the world will discuss the potential of permaculture to transform food systems. www.permaculturevoices.com

March 26, 10 am-3:30 pm Ghost Ranch Open House Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center, 1708 Highway 84, Abiquiú, NM

Sample tours, meet the new museum curator, learn about the new “Day at the Ranch Pass” and have lunch in the dining hall. A full-day of activities planned. info@ghostranch.org

March 26-28 GLOBE 2014 Vancouver, BC, Canada

13th biennial conference and trade fair on business and sustainability. Speakers include Amory Lovins, chief scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute; Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, chairman of the board, Nestlè; Hans Engel, CFO, BASF. 400 exhibitors from North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. 604.637.6649, www. GLOBESeries.com

March 29, 10:30 am Earthquakes in Our Backyard Pajarito Environmental Education Center 3540 Orange St., Los Alamos, NM

Class for kids and adults to learn how, where and when earthquakes occur around Los Alamos. Advance registration required. $10/$8. 505.662.0460, Programs@PajaritoEEC.org, www.PajaritoEEE.org

April 4-6 Earth Day Symposium Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center, Abiquiú, NM

The Gathering of Waters. A deep examination of our relationship to water. Ritual & ceremony will engage body, mind and spirit. 505.685.1000, GhostRanch.org

April 14-17 2nd Annual Native Food Sovereignty Summit Green Bay, Wisconsin

Collaboration for sustainability. Presented by the Oneida Nation, First Nations Development Institute, Intertribal Agriculture Council and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. www.firstnations.org/ conferences/2014/food/summit.html

April 15-18 7th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference Austin, Texas

“Powering Up” Three days of inspiring field trips, workshops, speakers and networking. Farmtocafetereiaconference.org

May 6 Give Grande New Mexico

40-hour advocacy training. The Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women: 505.243.9199, www.csvan.org

March 5, 7 pm Celebration of Albuquerque’s Wildlife Federation’s Centennial Pajarito Environmental Education Center, Los Alamos, NM

Kristina Fisher and Phil Carter of AWF will talk about the group’s history, show photos and documents, and provide information about current ecological restoration across NM. 505.662.0460, Programs@Pajarito EEC.org, www.PajaritoEEE.org

A 24-hour effort led by a coalition of community foundations to raise money for nonprofits across the state. To sign up your nonprofit or get information, email info@ givegrandenm.org or visit www.givegrande nm.org

Tree Seedlings Available

The NM State Forestry Division is selling sixty species of tree and shrub seedlings as part of the division’s Spring Conservation Seedling Program to promote healthy forests and watersheds around the state. The seedlings are available to landowners who own at least one acre in NM and agree to use the seedlings for conservation purposes such as erosion control or riparian restoration. 505.476.3325, www.emnrd.state.nm.us/SFD/treepublic/ ConservationSeedlings.html

Green Fire Times • March 2014

Green Fire Times â&#x20AC;˘ March 2014