Taos Woman 2014

2014

Women of taos/taosnews.com/women

Taos Woman/ introduction

M

In Taos, the woman thrives

any, if not most, realms of life in Taos revolve around women. It’s a somewhat surprising fact to some that feminine energy can thrive in such an isolated and sometimes harsh environment. But perhaps it’s just the perfect counterbalance we need here.

A few years ago, the town of Taos’ marketing campaign honored Remarkable Women of Taos.

Here at The Taos News, we felt this effort could, and should, be replicated more often, especially since it would take a long time to run out of inspiring and impressive women to highlight in our publications.

And not to plagiarize another of our publications, notably Unsung Heroes, we tried to choose women for this publication who hadn’t spent as much time in the limelight as others. It’s simultaneously an easy and impossible task. So many worthy women to choose from and so little space, relatively speaking.

There are hundreds of unique stories in Taos, and the types of profiles and essays that grace these pages could fill volumes. This time around, we decided to focus on women in four different fields, “arts and entertainment,” “business,” “community involvement” (a loose term for those who work in the nonprofit field or who volunteer their time and energy to the community) and “education.”

We hope you enjoy these stories and provide us with some tips on other great women who we can feature in the future, whether it be in another special section like this one or in the weekly pages of The Taos News. In time, we hope we can tell everyone’s story; in the meantime, here are just a few.

— Andy Jones, special sections editor

Stephen Trimble/www.stephentrimble.net

Virginia Romero, from the book “Talking with the Clay,” by Stephen Trimble. Romero had a long and impressive career as a potter.

Contents

Staff

Robin Martin, Owner Chris Baker, Publisher Joan Livingston, Editor Chris Wood, Advertising Manager Andy Jones, Special Sections Editor Marilyn M. Olsen, Designer Virginia L. Clark, Copy Editor Jennifer Taphorn, Production Manager Cover design: Jennifer Taphorn Cover photograph: Pennie Wardlow, by Tina Larkin

Arts and entertainment 6 Creative women in Taos 8 Teruko Wilde 12 Kate Mann 14 Las Comadres Cooperative Gallery

Business

22 Rose Vargas 26 Judith Rane 28 Liz Peralta

Community involvement 30 Pennie Wardlow 32 Dr. Sylvia Villareal 34 Ilona Spruce

38 Roberta Salazar 42 Jean Nichols

Education 44 46 50 54 58

Joleen Montoya Kate O’Neill Carla Chavez Susie Fiore Linda Santana

18 Women in business

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2014

2014

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Taos Woman/ arts

Women have always been part of the creative culture of Taos

By Andy Jones

F

rom the early days of Taos’ establishment as an art colony women were a big part of the scene.

From early 20th Century artistic matrons Lucy Harwood and Mabel Dodge Luhan to the countless visual artists, writers, musicians and gallery owners in modern-day Taos, this valley has offered a unique sanctuary for women to create. Artistic women in Taos were liberated long before the battle of the sexes.

Dodge Luhan famously played a big role in establishing Taos as a place without boundaries when gender and artistic spirit were concerned.

She offered shelter and encouragment to many famous women of the era: Dorothy Eugenie Brett, Georgia O’Keeffe, author Peggy Pond Church, printmaker Barbara Latham, writer Mary Austin, photographer Laura Gilpin, choreographer Martha Graham, author Willa Cather and her dear friend Frieda Lawrence, who came to Taos on the arm of her more famous husband, D.H. Lawrence, but who also found her own literary voice while living near Lama with her husband.

Some of her guests became lifelong Taos residents; some came in and just as quickly departed, but no doubt, Dodge Luhan’s famous parties helped inspire countless other women to join the ranks of the creative types.

Of course, the feminine creative spirit existed here long before East Coast socialites made it trendy. Taos Pueblo women had been painters, weavers and potters for 1,000 years in this valley.

Virginia T. Romero was able to turn her family tradition (pottery) into a long and distinguished career. And the historic books of Cleofas Jaramillo helped keep Hispanic traditions alive and well in New Mexico.

Other artistic pioneers in Taos included patron Dorothy Berninghaus Brandenburg, gardener and illustrator Virginia Walker Couse and the WPA muralist-turned world-class painter Bea Mandelman. Before she became the proprietor of The Taos Inn, Helen Martin designed and created scarves, shawls, dresses and wall hangings.

In the years that would follow the works of the Taos Founders, a diverse group of patronesses and artists alike would come to call Taos home.

Mabel Dodge Luhan was a matron of the arts during the 1920s and ‘30s in Taos.

File

Often overlooked, Duane Van Vechten painted still-life paintings that while not for sale during her lifetime, would become the basis of the original Taos Art Museum years after her death.

In the years that would follow the works of the Taos Founders, a diverse group of patronesses and artists alike would come to call Taos home. Perhaps most famously, Standard Oil heiress Millicent Rogers would move to Taos, and with her, bring an eye for beauty and an ability to collect and amass an astounding collection of art works, jewelry and fashion. Designer Martha Reed would later be able to count Dodge Luhan and Rogers as clients.

Other notable names included watercolorist Patricia Sanford, weaver Rachel Brown, artist Ann St. John Hawley, painter Dora Kaminsky, artist and editor Margaret Lefranc, cartoonist and painter Eva Mirabal, potter Mary Beatrice Blake Witkop, photographer Mildred Tolbert and painter/sculptor Melissa Zink.

Hattie Belle Castens Trujillo and Jenny Vincent both worked to keep traditional New Mexico music alive while Agnes Martin became one of the most famous painters of the abstract expressionist period.

The artistic tradition in Taos continues today, with poets and authors such as Erin Bad Hand, Mary L.R. Johnson, Dora McQuaid, Veronica Golos, Sandra Russell, Kathleen Burg, Natalie Goldberg, Anita Rodriguez, Mirabai Starr and many more.

And of course, visual art is still the primary source of expression in Taos County, with artists as diverse as photographer Kathleen Brennan, sculptor Deborah Rael-Buckely, painter Erin Currier, silversmith Jacqueline Gala, santera Lydia García, jewerly designer Claire Haye and weaver Teresa Loveless, among countless others.

In the worlds of art, music and literature, women are still drivers in the art scene, just as they were in the beginning.

taos woman/taosnews.com/woman

2014

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Photo by Elliott Martin, The Taos News

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Visit us and find out why weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been voted Best of Taos four years running..

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Courtesy Photo

Teruko Wilde

By Elliott Martin

W

Love and landscape

A story of determination

hile dreams might be made of hopes and aspirations, adaptability and determination makes them a reality. Teruko Wilde’s life experiences reinforce such a notion. A lifelong artist, Wilde’s professional career began 35 years ago but she started making a living off her art when she moved to Taos in 1986. Now an accomplished painter and business partner in Total Arts Gallery, she can look back

on the events that got her to where she is today.

Wilde, who was born in Nagoya, Japan, separates her life into three important parts: her childhood, family life and art.

Growing up in post World War II Japan was no easy feat. “They were extremely difficult times after the war,” said Wilde. Her mother, who was very independent, instilled the concept of keeping one’s pride. Even though they were poor and had to struggle to find food day to day, they never begged or even sought the government aid for which they qualified. Wilde said it was even harder on her

brother who was three years older. Eventually, her mother married a Japanese-speaking American and they moved to the U.S. Wilde later found out that her mother remarried so her children could have a better chance. Her lesson of holding one’s head high payed off, as Wilde’s brother went on to become a successful architect and her nephew followed in his father’s footsteps. These early life experiences and lessons also would later influence Wilde’s painting. She explained it gave here the drive to go farther and farther. Wilde continues Upon moving to the U.S. on page 10

Growing up in post World War II Japan was no easy feat.

“They were extremely difficult times after the war,” said Wilde.

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Taos Woman/arts

as a teenager, Wilde remembers feeling ashamed that she could not be a good student because she barley spoke English. Consequently, she memorized everything and ended up graduating high school with honors. She said that she was very good at math but did not know what to do with the skill. That was when she decided to do art.

She went to study at the University of Cincinnati and the Columbus College of Art and Design, both located in Ohio.

After school, Wilde married and had her daughter Emily. With her husband, she published an art magazine and a weekly newspaper. She said her husband was very talented, a good writer and a major piano player, but during this period of her life, she learned another important lesson. Personality is a major factor in the fulfillment of one’s dreams.

“You can’t make anyone successful unless they want it,” said Wilde. Of course lessons like these come out of hard times. She decided to get a divorce and pursue her dream of being an artist, which both her daughter and ex-husband supported.

Building on her start as an artist from Ohio, where she exhibited her work in college, Wilde moved to Taos. At first she charged very little for her pieces. After lots of hard work and perseverance, it all came together. In 1992, her show sold out, which provided huge amounts of encouragement.

“I don’t have to work in a restaurant as a waitress,” she remembers thinking at the time. Her representation in the galleries grew to the point where she was represented in nine different galleries. “I proved to myself that I had made it. I wanted to support myself through my passion, through my painting,” she said.

Wilde attributes being in her current position to the life experiences that taught her to push through, giving her the determination to keep going. She said by not being an extrovert, she had to learn how to stand up for herself, and talent alone was not enough. “Unless you have a strong backbone, you can’t survive in the art world,” she said.

Wilde always pursued her art alone. “I hate to do politicking,” she explained. Her independence, which she says runs in the family, directly influences her art. Even though she has a long list of artists she admires, she never wanted to copy them. She did say that the environment is a huge influence on her work. When she first came to Taos, she was Wilde continued from page 8

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Submitted Photo

Teruko Wilde, left, stands with her daughter, Emily, in front of the Total Arts Gallery. Apart from being an involved businesses partner with the gallery, Wilde is an accomplished painter. using watercolor and pastel. She was so impressed the gallery scene from another angle. She became by the sunsets that it influenced her to change her a businesses partner in Total Arts Gallery. Wilde medium to oil. explained that representing quality fine art is a “If I had continued to do watercolor or pastel, benefit and service to the community. “We are I would have never made it,” Wilde said. “I change contributing. That is the reason we still keep my style. [It’s] my personality. I like to keep changgoing,” she explained noting the difficult economy. ing.”

As Wilde looks ahead to the next phase of her The world around Wilde keeps changing too. life, she wants to focus on staying healthy and to Since the recession, she is going continue painting, which is her through hard times again, like in true passion. She said that at one the beginning of her artistic career. point she was aspiring to show She showed her work in Scottsdale, her work in a museum, but now Ariz., for 15 years but had to pull does not want to worry about it. out six years ago. “When you’re “So much politics, I don’t need young, rejection is a matter of fact. that false ego,” she explained, 33.3 percent of businesses When your older, it’s much harder,” in Taos are owned by women, saying that she is confident in she said. “I feel like I’m starting out herself. Instead, she is deterexceeding numbers for all over.” mined to continue contributing both state of New Mexico at With her equally strong talent 31.7 percent and the U.S. overall to the community by running the in business, she got involved in gallery. at 28.7. (2007 Census)

The facts about womenowned businesses in Taos:

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Ç°F -BSHFTU 4FMFDUJPO PG 0SHBOJD BOE -PDBM 'PPET JO 5BPT

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www.cidsfoodmarket.com 623 Paseo del Pueblo Norte t 5BPT

5FNQUJOH 5BLF 0VU 'PPET JODMVEJOH )PU 'PPE 4BMBE #BST 'SFTI 1BTUSJFT CBLFE CZ UIF OFX $JE T ,JUDIFO 5BNBMFT t #VSSJUPT t &ODIJMBEBT 3PUJTTFSJF $IJDLFO t #SJTLFU 3JCT 4VTIJ t 4BOEXJDIFT

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Taos Woman/arts

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Kate Mann finds new dynamics, different tempo in Taos

By J.R. Logan he transition from rock-star wannabe to mountain recluse was a seamless one for Kate Mann.

Mann spent years plugging away in the Portland, Ore., music scene, relentlessly promoting herself and playing any gig she could. By 2008, the singer/songwriter seemed to be on the verge of a big break. Her third solo album was getting great reviews, and the release party was one of the high points in her career to that point.

But an illness in the family pulled Mann back to Albuquerque, her hometown. While there, she and her partner drove north through Taos to a pine-studded, family-owned property in Lama. It offered solitude and beauty like she hadn’t thought possible.

Mann pulled up stakes in Oregon, left her band and the music scene she knew intimately well, and moved to an off-the-grid homestead on the flank of the Sangre de Cristos.

“It wasn’t my plan, but the path was just so clear,” Mann says.

Almost four years later, she has no regrets.

“The music thing has definitely taken a different turn than when I was living in Oregon,” Mann says.

“Now I just love where I live and I don’t want to go anywhere.”

Since diving into music full time in 2005, Mann has opened for popular musicians like Todd Snider and Jackie Green, and her songwriting has been recognized in international competitions. She describes her current music as “desert/gypsy/ Americana/rock,” but her inspiration comes from artists as diverse as ’80s hair metal bands and old cowboy singers.

Mann says she played in a series of bad bands after getting to Portland. Gradually the bands got better. She also struck out on her own to play open mic nights and build her solo chops. Her singing and playing got better. Her songwriting matured.

She was doing tours across the West.

In retrospect, Mann says a lot of her songs from that era were about someone trying to find their way. New Mexico, it turns out, was the direction she needed to go.

Dreadlocked and tattooed, Mann is easy-going and thoughtful. The mountain life suits her introverted side, and she’s embraced the stillness. Mann

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Courtesy Photo

Kate Mann has made a quieter life of music for herself in Taos. grew up in Albuqurque and lived in Portland for 14 years. She was always a city girl, but these days, a trip to the grocery store in Taos is overwhelming.

Now that she lives in a place where she’s more likely to see a bobcat than another human, life for Mann has slowed way down. Her days of late nights, long tours, and cold nights sleeping in her van are over.

It’s a welcome change of pace.

Rather than aggressively pursuing stardom, Mann, now 43, is becoming a fixture in the small but vibrant Taos music scene. She plays regularly at local haunts and hosts the open mic night at The Taos Inn. She recorded her 2012 album, “Rattlesnake on the Road,” at Don Richmond’s Howlin’ Dog Studios in Alamosa with the help of local musicians like Jimmy Staddler, Sara Softich and

Mark Dudrow.

“I feel like I’ve found this really sweet community here in Taos, of kindred musician spirits,” Mann says.

“Rattlesnack on the Road” is a slower, more mellow album than her previous work. It’s a reflection of her change in lifestyle.

Mann says she’s surprised that living in a remote place hasn’t led to more songwriting. Instead, she said hasn’t been inspired to write music. Sharing the mountain with her partner, dogs, cats, chickens and a horse has her more than occupied.

“I guess life is too good,” she says.

Mann’s music can be found at myspace.com/ katemann. Her music website, which includes a list of upcoming shows, is katemannmusic.wordpress. com.

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The Women of Brown & Brown

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Courtesy Photo

Las Comadres Gallery.

Women Creating Art

Las Comadres Women’s Cooperative Gallery serving Taos women since 1997

By Yvonne Pesquera

C

ooperations have existed since the dawn of commerce. There really is nothing new about people coming together to pool their resources and make joint decisions for the benefit of the organization.

Worldwide, there are rural collectives in agrarian societies, manufacturing coordinations in industrial regions, and even technology collaboratives in today’s high-speed Internet age.

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And here in the heart of Taos, you can find Las Comadres Women’s Cooperative Gallery, which has been in existence for 16 years.

“We have been — and still are — the only gallery in Taos exclusive to women artists,” says Jeanne Halsey, tinwork and beadwork artist. “Being part of a cooperative, rather than a privately owned gallery, gives an artist greater freedom in attaining her goals.”

The cooperative works like this: Each member contributes her own particular skill (such as bookkeeping, public relations, purchases, and website

maintenance) to the organization. In this way, Las Comadres Gallery is kept functioning economically with minimum reliance on outside services.

In 1997, jewelry artist Janeen Marie had the idea to form this all-women’s artist’s co-op to give the women of Northern New Mexico their own unique female voice. In addition to bonding over the commonality of gender, there was also an opportunity to celebrate cultural differences as this region is home to three diverse ethnic groups: Native American, HisLas Comadres panic, and Anglo. continues on page 16

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File Photo

Some of the artists at Las Comadres Women’s Cooperative Gallery.

Las Comadres continued from page 14

In her book, “Creative Collectives,” researcher Maria Ochoa wrote that “cultural citizenship offers a chance to better comprehend the processes that result in community building.” Ochoa continues: “The cooperative motivation is to create a space where people feel a sense of belonging and membership.”

Las Comadres Women’s Cooperative Gallery has a logo of light- and dark-skinned women holding a dove of peace. This symbol of inclusivity was designed by Amy Córdova, one of the original members and a renowned illustrator of children’s books.

“Each artist has her own personal style and approaches her work with dedication and excellence,” says Geraldine Liermann, gourd artist.

“We are proud to present work of such consistent quality.”

It’s an interesting business concept: “cooperation” versus “corporation.” Both are legal entities and both stand to profit from the sale of products.

But the major difference is in the management

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thereof: cooperatives are run democratically versus tion, and collaboration with each other.”

Las Comadres women artists have received a top-down hierarchy. positive feedback. Visitors are attracted to the For example, Las Comadres Women’s Cooperative Gallery is open seven days a week with each gallery because it is all women offering a friendly member rotating daily as a shop sitter. All busiand welcoming atmosphere. “Even our colors ness decisions are made at monthly meetings by make our own special statement,” says Halsey, quorum vote. And applying artists present their pointing out that instead of the traditional galwork at these meetings and are lery white, Las Comadres accepted by a juried process. chose warm oranges for the Donna Caulton, paintings and prints “A strong working bond interior. between our member artists is Jeanne Halsey, tinwork and beadwork “We have received kudos Mari Hawkes, potter fostered by equal and demofrom customers saying what cratic participation in all our a breath of fresh air it is to Geraldine Liermann, gourd art decisions,” says Liermann. see color as a background for Jo Anne Paulk, glass art In today’s global marartwork.”

Gail Russell, photo artist ketplace, artist cooperatives Las Comadres Women’s Dinah Baca Rosetta, Santa Clara naturemain relevant. “Our coopCooperative Gallery conral clay sculptures tinues to be a role model of erative circle of women artists Helga Haller, painter women working with women. is part of a leading edge in Suzanne Heald, custom clothing Visit the artists at their gallery creative businesses,” says Gail Karen Kerschen, author at the south entrance to the Russell, photo artist. “We look Judy Tafoya, traditional Santa Clara John Dunn Shops, right off toward a more sustainable way the Plaza. of life, and share work, inspira- pottery

Present roster of artists

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Courtesy Photo

Kimberly Webber

Re-inventing, juggling, tradition and passion

“W

By Cindy Brown

Taos Women in Business

omen in Taos are like baking flour; they hold everything together and are the starting ingredient to get things moving in the right direction,” says Linda Ochoa Knief, vice-chair of the Taos County Chamber of Commerce.

Knief has stayed alert to new business opportu-

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nities in order to thrive in Taos. In addition to being a real estate agent with Century 21, she founded Proper Care Homes Services to manage the needs of second-home owners.

Finding new opportunities has been a way of life for many women in business. Melissa Serfling says, “I’m a typical Taos woman — a true multi-tasker. I came to Taos almost nine years ago from California. I own Red Cat Melissiana — first antiques, then lingerie and now a floral shop with Margaret Palmer, the Floral Diva.” Serfling also

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expanded to include six vacation rentals.

Kelley Tredwin observes that women do a great job of innovating, growing their businesses and juggling family responsibilities. Tredwin sits on the board of the Taos Chamber and also runs Bee’s Knees Development and Communications. Like many women, Tredwin fell in love with Taos and decided to find a way to live here. She had visited Taos only once before she moved here from St. Louis.

“Mattress Mary” Domito, owner of Taos Life-

2014

Courtesy photo

Linda Ochoa Knief Style, came from San Francisco to visit an old friend. After returning home, she felt the strong pull of Taos and became obsessed with everything Taos. She moved here in 2004 and opened her first mattress shop, Sleep Sanctuary.

She continues to expand her store to include furniture and more. She is an active supporter of Stay Hearts Animal Shelter and Community Against Violence. She was recognized last year as one of the top 22 CEOs in New Mexico.

Some women business owners came for outdoor adventure. Marjorie Olsen of Salon Marjorie came here to be a ski bum. When she suffered an injury, she began to cut hair and founded Salon Marjorie soon after. Elana Lombard, owner of Mudd-N-Flood Mountain Shop on Bent St. says, “I have a passion for the outdoors, instilled by my mother who climbed peaks internationally and started taking me backpacking at age 6. I love sharing my enthusiasm for the outdoors with others, helping outfit them, and suggesting beautiful places to explore.”

Carrying on traditions

Some women carry on traditions by running long-standing family businesses. Lina and Olympia García are part-owners of Abe’s Cantina y Cocina in Arroyo Seco. Their father (Abe) took over the restaurant in 1944, inheriting it from his aunt. Lina says the restaurant is known for being family-run for so

2014

Lenny Foster

Kelley Tredwin many years and for their food, including the legendary burritos.

Another family-owned business is Vargas Tile, owned by Christine Vargas, Patricia Vargas, and Viviana (Vargas) Gonzales. Christine says, “We sell ceramic tile, along with the decorative Mexican tile, which is one unique product we offer.”

At Taos Pueblo, women are both artists and gallery owners. Jeralyn Lujan Lucero is a painter, sculptor, and potter in addition to owning a shop. Wahleah’s Taos Pueblo Gallery was started in the 1930s and continues today, featuring art made by Wahleah’s family. Mary’s Bakery, owned by Mary Concha and her husband Rodney, sells baked goods in the winter and a full range of traditional food like fry bread in the summer.

Patricia Michaels made news by being the runWomen in business continues on page 20 ner up on TV’s

In Honor of Our Women of Taos: You give life, sustain our culture and lead through compassion. Without you, Taos would be a lesser place.

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Taos Woman/business

Courtesy Photo

Melissa Serfling in front of her shop, Red Cat Melissiana.

Women in business continued from page 19

Project Runway last year.

Through her company, PM Waterlilly, Michaels interprets traditional designs in a new way.

Arts-oriented

In town, the arts and galleries have a strong representation of women owners. Women artists and gallery owners include Kimberly Webber who paints feminine archetypes. Webber says it is her deepest desire to offer sacred artwork that uplifts and empowers the viewer and the planet.

Shari Ubechel is the owner of Earth and Spirit Gallery on Bent Street where she showcases her colorful landscapes, space paintings, painted drums, guitars, and jewelry.

Susanna Starr says, “I didn’t really choose having a rug gallery in Taos — the business chose me.

Forty years ago I drove down a long dirt road, filled with pot holes, to a little-known weaving village outside Oaxaca, Mexico. Since then, Starr Interiors has steadily grown to include six showrooms. It’s been an important part of my life and a fixture in Taos for 40 years.”

Finding fulfillment

Passion for a cause has created many of the women-owned businesses in town, including love

20

Courtesy Photo

Loup Pons of animals. Liz Shaw is half-owner of 10,000 Wags.

“A number of years ago, I began to wonder what I could do that would give me a sense of fulfillment. I made lists of things that made me happy. It always came down to one thing — my love of animals. I wanted to be surrounded by them and care for them. I began a 12-year search that ended with purchasing a kennel in Taos,” Shaw says.

Faithful Spirit was founded by Loup Pons to help dog owners work with problem behaviors, including aggression. Delinda VanneBrightyn also runs a training business, offering community sessions and private lessons.

Another kind of enthusiasm motivates Wanda Lucero, who has been in the insurance business for over 30 years.

“I am passionate about what I do. I help my clients manage the risks of everyday life, help them plan for the future and the legacy they want to leave,” Lucero says.

Some uniquely Taos businesses include second-hand stores and those dealing with the metaphysical. Becky Holsinger is the owner of Pieces consignment shop. She says she opened the shop “on a whim with a belief in the need for pre-owned household goods and all of the ‘pieces’ came together in what has become a Taos institution for recycling goods.”

Nyna Matysiak of OptiMysm says, “OptiMysm came about in 2011 as I saw a need for a spiritual gift shop, and I love focusing on women-made products.”

These are just a few of the women business owners in Taos who hold our community together with their vision, passion, and commitment to both innovation and tradition.

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Taos Woman/business

Elliott Martin

Rose Vargas, the current main office manager at U.S. Bank, started her career in banking right after she graduated from high school.

Rose Vargas

The woman behind the bank

R

Vargas’ career is a

By Elliott Martin ose Vargas never thought her lifelong career would be in banking. But 40 years after she started out as a teller — right out of high school — Vargas is still at a bank.

She is currently the branch manager at the main office of U.S. Bank in Taos. Vargas moved to Taos with her family in 1973 from Oceanside, Calif., and graduated from Taos High School the following year. After graduation, she started working with First State Bank, which became First Community Banks and then was acquired by U.S. Bank in 2011.

22

testimony that hard work and determination are critical factors in success.

Vargas’ career is a testimony that hard work and determination are critical factors in success.

“When being asked to do something, ‘no’ really wasn’t a part of my vocabulary,” she says. Adaptability is another key trait.

“You have to have an open mind and you also need to be willing as an individual to understand

change, and embrace it as well, in order to be successful,” she says. Vargas attributes her early childhood to playing an important role in her ability to thrive in a changing environment. Since her father was in the Marines, they did a lot of moving around. Between constantly changing schools and making new friends, Vargas said, “I think that is one of the areas that has really helped me in my career... in banking, as a result of all the regulations, change is constant in our world.”

As Vargas notes, banking is a very regulated industry, which she said is not the fun part. The fun, she says, is interacting Vargas continues on page 24 with the customers and being

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2014

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Taos Woman/business

Vargas also says her

parents played an important role in her success. She says they taught her to believe in herself and to take the time to really listen, no matter who it was.

Elliott Martin

Rose Vargas behind her desk at U.S. Bank’s main Taos office.

Vargas continued from page 22

able to assist them with their financial needs.

“You develop the relationship over time. Our customers want to know each of us as an individual,” she says. This relationship can start at a young age for some customers, as the bank presents scholarships to high school students. Vargas said this creates an opportunity for her and her staff to watch the scholarship recipients develop. In fact, one young adult who received the scholarship ended up working at the bank.

Vargas also noted that working with businesses has been rewarding. She said it has been great seeing business customers’ needs grow as their businesses evolve.

“Before you know it, they are celebrating their 10th anniversary. They’re celebrating their 30th anniversary, so being apart of that is a really good feeling,” she said.

One particular customer interaction has stuck with her throughout the years. When asked by an

24

elderly customer how long she had been at the bank, she responded proudly that she had been there five years. As she originally never planned on staying at the bank for an extended length of time, she thought that was respectable. “Oh, you’re already part of the furniture,” the customer said.

Caught off guard, Vargas remembers thinking to herself, “what does that mean?” In hindsight, she says, “And here I look at where I am today. It’s going to be 40 years in May. Now I’m probably more considered like an antique, but antiques are priceless.”

In Vargas’ case, they are also anything but stagnate, relating back to her ability to work in constantly changing situations. “Given the length of time that I have been working here, I learn something new every single day. I never see myself personally as knowing everything. I do believe I bring a lot of experience and that being said, just having a conversation with customers, I learn from them,” says Vargas. “I don’t want to be dormant.

I want to come to work. I enjoy my job. I want to

make sure that I’m projecting that to my staff as well. They can feel it as soon as they walk through the door. That’s very important to me.”

As she developed her leadership skills, Vargas says she had great mentors. Eloy Jeantete, who initially hired her, the late Isaac Gonzales, who was her supervisor and Mike Stanford were a few people she says assisted in her professional growth.

“They played a very important role in developing me, being somebody who I felt I would want to be, if I had the opportunity,” she says.

Vargas also says her parents played an important role in her success. She says they taught her to believe in herself and to take the time to really listen, no matter who it was. With their support, she was not afraid to try new or different things.

This paid off when opportunities at the bank presented themselves. She said this helped her always approach new tasks with a positive attitude.

While Vargas is looking ahead to the next phase of her life, she is concerned with sharing what she has learned with those around her. “My goal everyday is to make sure that, while I’m still working toward retirement — the ultimate goal — that I’m developing each of my employees also to be successful,” she says.

Apart from spending time with her husband of 38 years, Mike, and supporting his artistic endeavors (oil painting), she spends lots of time with her three children and five grandchildren. Vargas also stays involved with the community. She is a board member for Habitat for Humanity, the Arts and Cultural District and is an advisory board member for the Taos Education Fund.

“I love being out in the community,” she says.

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Taos Woman/business

Tina Larkin

Judith Rane

Immersed in the arts and culture of Taos

I

By Judith Rane

have lived in New Mexico for over 50 years.

Together with my late husband, Taos painter Bill Rane, we lived in Taos for over 25 of those years and raised eight children.

Taos is a painter’s mecca, due to the intensity of light and to its renowned recognition of the arts. Many people live in New Mexico because they love and embrace the blended cultures of these native lands — from its cuisines, costumes, languages and religiosity to its agriculture and landscapes, mountains and rivers and animal joys.

Prior to coming to Taos I spent my professional career as a computer systems analyst for over 30

26

years, working for business, government, and academia.

In 1986, as a member of The Great Peace March, I participated in a 9 1/2-month walk across the United States for Global Nuclear Disarmament and Social Justice. Afterwards, I was part of International Peace Walk, sponsors of over seven Peace Walks in the former Soviet Union — the first of which, Taos had the highest per capita members with nine participants joining the Peace Walk from Leningrad to Moscow in the summer of 1987.

Bill and I opened RANE Gallery on Historic Ledoux Street in the late 1990s and operated it for over 10 years where many Ekphrasis Poetry events were hosted and where “Lighting Ledoux” was

birthed.

As an advocate for the arts, I was fortunate to join The Taos Art Association, (now called the Taos Center for the Arts), and serve as its executive director for a time. Currently I serve on several arts oriented boards — Taos Fall Arts Festival and the Taos Arts and Cultural District.

As a Member of SAG, (Screen Actors Guild) I served on the SAG New Mexico board and was the SAG liaison to the Taos Talking Pictures Festival for several years.

As an actor, I performed and studied with several acting companies and teachers in the area.

I appeared in “Breaking Bad,” “In Plain Sight” and “Lemonade Mouth”, all made for TV. Recently I

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2014

Michelle Chrisman

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was Gertrude in the SOMOS dramatic reading presentation of “Gertrude Stein and a Companion” by Win Wells and will be appearing in the upcoming Taos production of “Twelve Angry Jurors” by Sherman L. Sergel.

As a writer, I write haiku poetry and children’s books and have studied with several Taos writing teachers.

As a student, I have taken classes in: computer web design, art archiving, film making, and languages.

I have also studied and worked as a textile artist/weaver, have taught and tutored algebra, and have published and edited two art poetry books: “The Master’s Palette” and “The Master’s Hand” — presenting the artwork of Bill Rane.

As one can see, Taos offers a wide range of creative learning opportunities, in which one can participate and contribute to.

Currently I am president of the Taos Arts Council. The mission of the council is to promote, support and advocate for

2014

Prior to coming to Taos I spent my professional career as a computer systems analyst for over 30 years, working for business, government, and academia. all of the creative arts (literary, visual, tactile, musical, performing, etc.) in order to enhance the quality of life in our Northern New Mexico area. The council has, to date, sponsored several public forums and many art events at the Taos Town Hall ranging from paintings and textiles to poetry and photography.

The council encourages and welcomes community input and participation. The website is: taosartscouncil.org.

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Taos Woman/business

Tina Larkin

Liz Peralta, hard at work at her family’s Laundromat.

Liz Peralta

The many facets of a busy Taoseña

By Teresa Dovalpage

L

iz Peralta can be found at church (she teaches marriage preparation classes at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish), at Peralta Laundromat (the family business) and, in July, actively participating in the Fiestas de Santiago y de Santa Ana that she helped organize more than 30 years ago.

“I have a lot of energy,” she says. “And I love to meet people and talk to them.”

Peralta was born in Talpa and raised in Taos.

She attended Saint Francis Elementary School and Central Catholic High School.

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“My parents were Adelmo and Elvira Tafoya,” she said. “They were always supportive of their children’s education.”

Peralta was interested in fashion and style so she went to beauty school in Santa Fe and finished her cosmetology studies in San Diego.

“That was a fun time,” she said. “I enjoyed learning a new trade, but I also missed my husband, Alfred Peralta. We had just gotten married and he was in the Navy, on duty, while I was going to school in San Diego. I used to go to the harbor to watch the ships come in.”

The young couple lived in

San Diego for nearly a year and a half. Then they moved to Denver and finally returned to Taos in 1964.

“I was so happy to return to my town,” Peralta said. “Once here, I started working for Martha Schultz, who had a salon called Hair by Martha. I liked working there and using what I had learned in beauty school but in 1965 my hijita Laura was born and I quit working. It was hard to pay for babysitters!”

Later the couple had another son, Joey Peralta.

“And now we have four beautiful granddaughters and

“I have a lot of energy.

And I love to meet people and talk to them.”

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2014

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I tell these young couples how faith has made our The business marriage stronger.

I explain to them woman that a good When Alfred and Liz Peralta moved to marriage takes Taos, Alfredâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father three: you, your owned a Laundromat spouse and God located where Smithâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s now is. in the middle.â&#x20AC;?

two handsome grandsons,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The family keeps getting bigger.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We bought the business from him in 1970 and have run it up til now,â&#x20AC;? Liz said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In 1980 we bought the building we currently occupy and it became a home away from home for the whole family. Our daughter started working for us and she does a great job.â&#x20AC;?

The grandkids help too so the Laundromat has turned into a family business. It hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t only fed the Peraltas but has also provided them with plenty of friends. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We know most of our clients by name,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They are not customers anymore, they are nuestros amigos.â&#x20AC;?

The Council member Liz Peralta has always been active in the cultural life of Taos. She and her husband helped create the Fiestas Council in 1980. The other council members were MartĂ­n and Elma Torres, Robert GurulĂŠ, David FernĂĄndez, Andy ChĂĄvez, and Armando Jaramillo. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were asked to do that by Mayor Lovato because the event had been going on for years but it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t very organized,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We wrote the bylaws and did a lot of hard work to preserve the traditions of our town, bringing people together for the Fiestas and keeping the memories of our elders.â&#x20AC;?

The council also changed the eventâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name from Fiestas de Taos to Fiestas de Santiago y Santa Ana. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was originally a religious feast,â&#x20AC;?

Peralta said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget that we are honoring the patron saints of Taos.â&#x20AC;?

Peraltaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daughter, Laura Peralta, and two of her granddaughters, Cammy Archuleta and Jasmine Peralta, have been princesas. But 2012 brought

a nicer surprise for the Peralta family when Lizâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s granddaughter, Juliette Elizabeth Peralta, was crowned Reina de las Fiestas. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So we finally got a queen in the family,â&#x20AC;? said the proud grandma.

Peralta was part of the Fiestas Council until 2011. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am happy to see young people in the meetings now,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It means that we have done our work and the legacy of the Fiestas will go on.â&#x20AC;?

The teacher Liz and Alfred Peralta have been married 52 years.

They are very active at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish where she teaches marriage preparation courses. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I tell these young couples how faith has made our marriage stronger,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I explain to them that a good marriage takes three: you, your spouse and God in the middle.â&#x20AC;?

But classes arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always focused on theology and religion. Peralta also shows her students how to run their finances and the best way to work as a team. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I tell them that, even after so many years together, Alfred and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t purchase anything big without consulting it with each other before,â&#x20AC;? she said.

She is also the â&#x20AC;&#x153;head decoratorâ&#x20AC;? at the church and makes sure that the altar is properly arranged for every mass and special ceremony.

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Super abuela Besides her six grandkids, Peralta also has a great granddaughter, Cora Rose. They all keep her busy, particularly in the kitchen.

Her granddaughter Jasmine Peralta says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;She is a super grandma. Plus, she makes the best empanaditas ever.â&#x20AC;?

Liz Peralta nods. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Se lo comen todo,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They eat everything that I make.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;And she is so funny,â&#x20AC;? added granddaughter Jenna Peralta. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She always makes everybody laugh.â&#x20AC;?

Photo credit: Ian Sinon

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For advisement: taosbgp@unm.edu

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Taos Woman/ community involvement

A busy day with animal activist Pennie Wardlow

By Andrew Oxford

F

eed a pack of dogs at Taos Pueblo, investigate an allegedly unlicensed kennel in Llano Quemado, check on a horse in Tres Piedras who might need food and take a puppy from Cuchilla Road to Stray Hearts Animal Shelter — my morning with Pennie Wardlow promised to be a busy one.

But it was all in a day’s work for the Taoseña who crisscrosses the county as executive director of Four Corners Animal League.

“It’s about going where the animals are,” she said, steering out of a parking space at my office and dialing up the first in a slew of contacts who comprise a buzzing network of animal welfare advocates around Taos. “There are no boundaries.”

Then Wardlow’s contact answered the phone and she got down to business. Her phone hardly seemed to go silent as animal welfare advocates called to trade news about a stray dog who had puppies or efforts to trap an unspayed canine.

There were calls for help, too. One man struggling between paychecks asked for dog food. Another asked for hay to feed his horses.

A few promises down the road, Wardlow pulled up outside a residence on Miller Road in Taos Pueblo. The car was immediately descended upon by more than a dozen dogs, tails wagging.

“They know me,” she said, hopping from the vehicle to pull a hulking bag of dog food from the back seat and pour the kibble across the ground.

While the dogs chowed down, Wardlow received a warm greeting from a woman who emerged from the home As the two talked, Wardlow suggested neutering a few of the males but the woman said she would have to talk it over with her boyfriend.

Promising to follow-up, Wardlow was quickly back behind the wheel and driving toward Llano Quemado.

She heard about a man there who was buying and selling dogs without a license. If Wardlow could buy a pit bull puppy they were peddling, she would have evidence to turn them in to animal

30

Indeed, she is quick to dimiss any suggestion that her work is exceptional.

Instead, she says the network of Taoseños who have undertaken labors of love for the community’s animals is a broad patchwork of people.

control and find the dog a new home.

But her mission would require a bit of sleuthing first. She spoke on the phone with a few allies in the animal welfare community who had already visited the residence posing as prospective customers.

Wardlow seemed ready to buy but would leave empty-handed again. The alleged seller was not home.

With extra time before she was scheduled to meet a Cuchilla Road resident seeking help for a few stray dogs in her neighborhood, Wardlow decided to check in on a nearby hoarder.

Driving down State Road 68, I asked where she found the energy to tend to so many animals.

“It was a responsibility I had from when I was really little,” Wardlow explained, recounting how she cherished the three dogs who grew up with her as an outdoorsy child who spent long days in the woods of Northern New Mexico.

Then, when her parents died at the age of eight and she left the Taos area, it was animals she turned to most.

Returning to Taos 25 years later, Wardlow said she was compelled to act by what she — and many others — saw each day.

“There were always dogs dead on the side of the road,” Wardlow said, recalling the depressing sights she often saw driving into town from her Valdez home. “It was really bad.”

When Wardlow traveled to Seattle in 2001 for an animal welfare conference, she was plugged into the burgeoning movement promoting spay/ neuter — a practice uncommon in Northern New Mexico at the time.

Drawing on her own convictions and the energy of a broader activist community, Wardlow cofounded Four Corners Animal League in October of that year.

The group not only rescues animals but also

promotes humane care through educational programs in area schools. Four Corners Animal League is also working with the county government and animal welfare advocates in Santa Fe to bring a mobile spay/neuter clinic to Taos.

But Wardlow insists Taos is not particularly exceptional when it comes to animal care.

“Newcomers say they can’t believe the way people here treat their animals,” she told me. “It’s not that different. You just see more.”

Formerly a mail carrier in Huntington Beach, Calif., Wardlow said you can find cruelty — and compassion — anywhere.

Our morning together seemed to prove that.

Driving up a road south of Taos with a sweeping view of the Río Grande Gorge and mountains beyond, we arrived at a house surrounded by a fence and 40 dogs.

The home belonged to a man Wardlow described as a hoarder she had been working with to spay and neuter the dogs.

But it was not the most extreme case of hoarding Wardlow had seen.

She is still trying to find homes for three kittens rescued from a woman who had 86 cats.

Unable to reach the resident, however, Wardlow and I head to Cuchilla Road where an ally she had only previously spoken to by phone would meet us with a stray puppy.

“Everybody’s working together and helping each other out,” Wardlow said, referring to her contact on Cuchilla Road and the caller who was phoning in to coordinate another rescue.

Indeed, she is quick to dimiss any suggestion that her work is exceptional. Instead, she says the network of Taoseños who have undertaken labors of love for the community’s animals is a broad patchwork of people.

Steering onto a dusty path off Cuchilla Road,

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Taos Woman/ community involvement

Formerly a mail carrier in Huntington Beach, Calif., Wardlow said you can find cruelty — and compassion — anywhere. we pulled around and found the stray dogs immediately. Stepping from the car, Wardlow pets the friendly mutts before tossing them bits of ham from a bag in her backseat. She is always prepared with a few pieces of meat, leashes and flashlights. Wardlow also carried a camera that she whipped out at the sight of a black dog tied to a doghouse without food or water.

A neighbor — her contact — came over and said the dog may have gone days without food. Wardlow planned to report the canine to animal control but kept her distance when it began barking.

Scooping up and handing me the stray black puppy, Wardlow gave her contact dog food and a roasting pan — an ad hoc allweather water dish. The two talked about other loose dogs around the neighborhood and then we were on our way to Stray Hearts Animal Shelter, its next resident seated in my lap.

But first, Wardlow needed to field one more phone call. Also a Realtor, she had a few contracts to discuss.

Dropping off the dog at Stray Hearts and returning me to my office, there was no mistaking where her passion lay, however.

Her work far from done, Wardlow planned to take dog food to an acquaintance before buying a few bales of hay for an Arroyo Seco resident.

“That’s the only way this will work,” Wardlow said. “Be friendly and help out.”

Tina Larkin

Pennie Wardlow with a few of her friends.

2014

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Taos Woman/community involvement

Courtesy Photo

Dr. Sylvia Villareal

By Jim O’Donnell

W

Looking for solutions instead of just treating the symptoms

hen I arrived, Dr. Sylvia Villareal was on a conference call.

“Sit down. Sit down,” she said. She spoke to the people on the call then pressed the mute button while the others talked.

“One thing that makes me real upset is that we identify a problem and then instead of dealing with the problem we just give medicine to mask the problem. It is simply unethical to ID a problem and not do anything about it,” she said.

The group on the phone call was diverse

32

Dr. Sylvia Villareal

crowds of public health professionals discussing the impacts wood burning stoves have on children with asthma. They sought a way to move some of those homes away from wood stoves and toward a heating technology that didn’t have a negative impact on the health of the children in the house.

“Winter is a tough time for kids with asthma,” Villareal explained. “Houses get closed up and the fine particulates from wood burning stoves can cause a lot of problems.”

Dr. Villareal runs the Taos Clinic for Children and Youth. Located near Holy Cross Hospital on the south side of town the clinic serves about 27,000 children from all over central New Mexico.

Seventy percent of that population is on Medicaid and 30 percent are considered “special needs” of one form or another.

It’s a challenging space for a tiny clinic.

Full disclosure here: Dr. Villareal has been my children’s pediatrician since birth and we flat-out love her. She is a hero in my eyes. Everyone calls her “Dr. V” and she is the type that swoops into the exam room with an infectious energy that kids can’t resist. She makes everyone smile.

The 64-year-old head of the clinic has been on staff full time since 1999. She grew up both on the road as the daughter of a Villareal continues military family and later on page 36

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Taos Woman/ COMMUNITY involvement Planning begins months in advance, including selection of vendors who sell art and food.

Vendors must be from a federally recognized tribe.

Tina Larkin

Ilona Spruce leads the Taos Pueblo Tourism Department into the future.

Ilona Spruce

Promoting tourism while protecting the sacred

By Cindy Brown

â&#x20AC;&#x153;W

e are women and this is what we do. We have a sense of pride and protection for our village.

It is not just a job,â&#x20AC;? says Ilona Spruce, director of the Tourism Department for Taos Pueblo.

34

Spruce is speaking of herself and assistant tourism coordinator Noreen Mirabal. They are the public face of the Pueblo. Together, they work to provide information for visitors to the Pueblo to ensure a good experience for the visitors and those who live in the village.

Spruce oversees all aspects of the visitor experience, including the website, parking staff and tour guides. She coordinates busloads of tourists from all

over the world, including Italy, Germany, Japan and more recently China and Mexico. San Geronimo Feast Day, which is celebrated Sept. 30, is one of the biggest events managed by the tourism team. Planning begins months in advance, including selection of vendors who sell art and food. Vendors must be from a federally recognized tribe. This past year, the tourism team asked for photos of the work to be sold, so they could verify its integrity and authen-

taos woman/taosnews.com/woman

2014

She sees a new center as a place for the young people of the Pueblo to

ticity. For the 2014 San Geronimo Feast Day, more than 100 vendors are expected, selling arts, crafts, and food, including fresh produce grown by Native and local people.

One of the most important tasks of the tourism staff is to educate visitors on respectful behavior at the Pueblo. Cameras and other recording devices are not permitted on feast days. In the past, visitors have taken photos and recordings, which has led to the exploitation of the culture. The requirement to not take photos on feast days and other restrictions on cameras surprise many of those who have come to tour the Pueblo. Spruce notes that Taos Pueblo is designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and is one of the few that is a living community.

The periodic dances held at the Pueblo are sacred to the people.

“We want to share the dances with the community and visitors because they are so beautiful. Each dance is precious to us and we want to protect each one,” Spruce says. Rather than trying to figure out what the dance means to the tribe, she suggests visitors experience it for themselves.

Spruce attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. She began a master’s degree program in indigenous studies, with an emphasis on federal policy at the University of Kansas. But she missed the Pueblo and returned home after a semester.

Spruce was “scooped up” by the Economic Development Department at the Pueblo and started as an administrative assistant. She learned about the tribe and saw the opportunities for expanding economic development at the Pueblo. She had been a tour guide in college and knew a bit about the tourism department, but she began to find out more about its functions in marketing, managing events and operations.

She moved over to the tourism department and when the director resigned, Spruce became co-coordinator and eventually the director.

Those who have worked closely with her have praised her ability to coordinate with the community and create positive connections. Elizabeth Cunningham, who helped with the town of Taos’ 2012 Remarkable Women of Taos marketing campaign, says Spruce helped shape the project.

“Ilona’s presence in the planning ensured that we presented a broad spectrum of women from the Pueblo,” Cunningham says.

She notes that Ilona was identified as a “woman to watch” in the book “Remarkable Women of Taos.”

Pete Seibert at the Millicent Rogers Mu­­seum says Spruce worked with the museum to find an outlet for Pueblo ar­­tists during the annual spring closure of the village. The Taos Pueblo Artists Winter Showcase and Sale will be held for the second time this year from March 7-9.

“The show is a brand new creation, it had never been done before and it would never have happened without Ilona,” Seibert says. “She brings such great energy to the ‘dance’ of working together.”

For the future, Spruce tries to create ways for outreach efforts to be expanded. She envisions a visitors center that would allow people to learn about the Pueblo, including how to be respectful, before they visit the village itself.

She sees a new center as a place for the young people of the Pueblo to return to after college, so they can serve the tribe and also earn a living.

“I would love to see tourism flourish and give an opportunity to the students when they return,” she says. Most of all, Spruce hopes to continue to find a way for the Pueblo to share its beauty and history with the world, while maintaining the sacredness of the Pueblo way of life.

Visit taospueblo.com for more information about events and history at Taos Pueblo. The Pueblo is also on Facebook, or call the Tourism Department at (575) 758-1028.

return to after college, so they can serve the tribe and also earn a living.

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Taos Woman/ community involvement

Courtesy photo

The Taos Clinic for Children & Youth. in the lower Río Grande valley of Texas. After graduating as an MD from Stanford she went on to a residency at the University of Colorado in Denver before being named a Robert Woods Johnson Clinical Scholar in 1984.

“That experience as a clinical scholar has proven a valuable tool that most docs don’t have,” she explained. “That education and experience allows me quality analytical tools to look at an issue while skipping the gossip and rumor. I can look at objective data to find solutions. You need to identify an issue, find the tools then to impact the quality of life for these kids. This skill also allows me to reach out for grants to help with solutions — and lord knows we need money here.”

The data Dr. V is focused on for the population in Northern New Mexico centers on asthma, ADHD and obesity. The change to electronic records, decried by so many around the country has been a big benefit in Villareal’s eyes.

“With this I am much better able to access data on the kiddos we serve, track that data, compare it across a number of data sets and make forecasts.

It’s a huge help when we plan where to put our Villareal continued from page 32

efforts.”

One of the areas where she has placed her efforts is the formation of the Taos-based nonprofit ECHO Kids. Designed to expose local children to exercise, cooking, gardening and an overall healthier lifestyle. Thus far the nonprofit has created a swimming program with local Coach Taylor Jaramillo, a fitness program with AuraFitness, cooking classes for kids and soon a vegetable gardening class centered on children.

The clinic has struggled on and off for years but when asked what she is most proud of the last few years Dr. Villareal says without hesitation she is pleased with the clinic’s ability to become a viable business. “We are financially stable now and blessed with a great staff,” she says.

Still Dr. Villareal isn’t sitting back. She is looking forward with an eye on a time when she retires.

“I’m not going to be around forever,” she says, though it seems hard to believe. Her energy level is far higher than that of people half her age.

Reality is reality however. The hardship clinics in rural communities all over the country face is staffing. How do you get good people and how do you get them to stick around? How does a rural

clinic sustain itself for the long term? Medical staff like anyone else seeks stability for their families and the families they serve also desire a stable staff.

“The revolving door is hard on families,” Villareal explained. “You know, I was telling some people at Stanford that instead of sending new doctors to places like Africa, send them to us. Come to Taos. Come to rural America instead of Africa. We need them! UNM should do this too. They could require giving something to New Mexico for getting educa­­ted here. Pay back New Mexico by sticking around.”

Are there enough primary care providers? Can people get help when their children are sick? Will we train doctors to provide for their community?

Can we get every child covered with health insurance no matter what? These are the questions that keep Dr. Villareal awake at night.

I do go home and worry about these kids,” she says. “But I love the families we serve. I’ve become part of this community by becoming part of these families. That’s pretty darn satisfying for me.”

Then her phone rang and a nurse came in to ask her a question and I felt I’d better get out of the way. Dr. V had work to do.

One of the areas where she has placed her efforts is the formation of the Taos-based non-profit ECHO Kids. Designed to expose local children to exercise, cooking, gardening and an overall healthier lifestyle.

36

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Taos Woman/ COMMUNITY involvement

Tina Larkin

Roberta Salazar

I

Connecting people to the Earth

By Roberta Salazar

’ve always heard voices. Perhaps it started during summer visits to my grandparents’ farm at the edge of the plains in Rainsville, NM, where I was first touched by the voices of nature and my elders.

My grandparents were deeply connected with the Earth. They were “land rich and dollar poor.”

Although my grandmother was of Indian descent, she spoke only Spanish. She used remedios including her rolled cigarettes from a little cotton pouch of Bull Durham. When violent

hailstorms rolled onto their land, I vividly recall her stepping outside their small house into the flashing electrical storm, to hurl a handful of salt skyward and knife the salted air in a cross to cut the storm away.

Summers, I wandered with my Granpa Demetrio who whistled as he worked his land. He spoke only Spanish, and I English, but he exuded a grounded peacefulness and had a permanent, sun-blessed smile on his face. Autumns, my large extended family joined together like birds to harvest the food from orchards and gardens of this 3,000 acre farm with a river running through it. My

parents and grandparents lives centered on supporting community and loving the Earth. These events populated my memories and I was determined to be like my grandfather — connected to the Earth.

I dreamed of marrying a farmer and ended up with another outdoor lover, my life-long partner, Doug Bridgers, an extraordinary rock climber, river runner, skier, backpacker, and teacher. He guided me to many rocky summits including the Grand Tetons, Brazos Cliffs, and Yosemite’s Half Dome.

Each time I swore I ‘d Salazar continues never climb again, such was on page 40

When violent hailstorms rolled onto their land, I vividly recall her stepping

outside their small house into the flashing electrical storm, to hurl a handful of salt skyward and knife the salted air in a cross to cut the storm away.

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Taos Woman/ COMMUNITY involvement

my terror with heights. But the adventures were teachers of perseverance and faith. I learned I could accomplish things that appeared impossible.

My first degree in political science led to city jobs but the Earth’s voice beckoned, so I pursued a degree in wildlife biology. This resulted in extraordinary work experiences in national parks, national wildlife refuges, and BLM lands throughout the West.

The beauty of these wild places nurtured me, but the culture of these jobs forced me to develop a voice I never had. I was working in a nontraditional field for a Hispanic female, which was challenging enough, but too often, I was required to take actions destructive to nature. This violated my family’s unspoken law of honoring Earth.

I inadvertently became a whistle blower on one job, a matter of ethics, which resulted in a court order for a region-wide management change. After 17 years I left the government.

My husband, Doug, encouraged me to follow my heart. Sitting on the edge of the Río Grande my heart’s voice instructed me to work to connect people to the Earth.

With my son Noah as an inspiration, I developed a nature program for school children, which led to the creation of Rivers & Birds, a Taos-based nonprofit organization. Rivers & Birds has taken over 4,000 students on a nine-day nature immersion program focused on the interconnection of life through water.

With my mentor and co-founder, Jim Travis, I conducted bird surveys on government and Pueblo lands as well as statewide surveys of willow flycatcher and yellow billed cuckoo. The voices of children and the songs of our birds shaped this phase of my journey.

Later, voices of the Amazon’s Achuar elders connected with Rivers & Birds’ commitment to honor the interconnections of life. On one occasion I was honored to introduce 15 Taos youth to the Dalai Lama and nine Nobel Peace Laureates.

In 2008 a voice came to me saying “LONG WALK,” followed by a series of synchronistic events. A year later Rivers & Birds did many long walks for the Carson National Forest to assist it in a human-use survey of the Columbine Hondo Wilderness — a 300-mile journey filled with magical nature encounters.

This prompted the launching of the Columbine Salazar continued from page 38

40

Tina Larkin

Roberta Salazar Hondo Wilderness Campaign and joining the Río Grande del Norte campaign. These campaigns are unique for their diversity of conservation leaders including local Hispano and Taos Pueblo elders who are our greatest environmental role models in New Mexico.

Rivers & Birds is a collaborative journey for Mother Earth guided by nature. In Taos, the land and the ancient cultures have their own power-

ful and steady voices, bubbling up through the centuries in local people and finding expression in groups like Rivers & Birds.

I am honored, humbled, and empowered by everyone’s voice in Taos. I am surrounded by great love and compelled to seek ways of giving back.

I welcome all who would collaborate with Rivers & Birds in effecting Earth stewardship projects for our Northern New Mexico communities.

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Taos Woman/ community involvement

Submitted photo

Jean Nichols

J

Making community an artform

By Yvonne Pesquera

ean Nichols is an artist who came over the High Road in a bus in1968. Originally from New England, she found home in the small rural enclave of Peñasco. But rather than just live a solitary existence in the mountains, Nichols creatively set about serving the needs of her community.

Nichols’ life of service would make even the most ardent volunteer blush. Where few systems or institutions existed, she has used her creative tal-

42

ents to create hope, inspire art, and make beauty.

“As part of the Hog Farm commune, we were idealistically trying to make the world a better place,” Nichols says, recalling her early years as a hippie. “If I see a need, I want to help fill it. If there’s a problem, I am optimistic and think there’s got to be a solution.”

It all began in 1982, when she and her partner, Alan Siegel, started a nonprofit ambulance service (the Mountain Ambulance Service, better known as MAS) to fulfill a need in the Peñasco area. They ran this service for the area from Truchas to Hol-

man Hill, until Taos County took over the 911 service in 1986.

Even then, MAS still did transfers, special stand-by, and CPR and first-aid trainings for many years. To help relieve the stress of providing emergency services, Nichols started The Laugh Staff.

Her clown clinics are still an annual event at the Sipapu Ski Area.

By 1996, Nichols was inspired to open the Art for the Heart Studio, which she is still director of today.

“We operate on a shoestring budget, so I don’t

taos woman/taosnews.com/woman

2014

pay myself anymore,” she says. “Everything I do now is volunteer, not necessarily by choice, but because I want it to continue.”

At one time, the Art for the Heart Studio hosted after-school art classes for kids. But it is the Thursday afternoon women’s group, “Hersday,” that has been a constant fixture at the studio. Various women of all ages and from all over the local area come together to share a potluck lunch and work on art projects.

Nichols began offering the Hersday group as a chance for women to make art and at the same time meet with a Community Against Violence counselor to discuss any family or community problems.

“Making art is non-threatening, non-controversial,” Nichols says. “So for a while, the counselors met with the women at the art studio. From there, it just evolved.”

But pretty soon, it became obvious to Nichols that the group should be open to all women, not just one targeted population. “Art is for everyone,” she says.

In addition to helping people, Nichols is an environmental activist on all levels. For example, she once helped stop logging in her area and instead it became limited to local firewood sales.

Nichols gives the credit for that initiative to Alberto Castagna, though she did start La Comunidad, the environmental organization used to dialogue with the U.S. Forest Service.

La Comunidad is another project of MAS, which became an umbrella for whatever the community needed.

For example, the Picuris-Peñasco Community Coalition, the food bank, and annual health fair all operate under it.

As another major environmental initiative, Nichols started the ReUse Center in 1998.

The ReUse Center is a “neighborhood exchange” for household items that would otherwise be thrown away.

The center itself is built from recycled materials, such as shredded paper compressed into bales. The columns holding the roof are welded tire rims and the gables are filled with glass bottles.

2014

Nichols began offering the Hersday group as a chance for women to make art and at the same time meet with a Community Against Violence counselor to discuss any family or community problems.

At the center, reusable items are donated and kept out of the Taos County landfill. Other items find a second life in creative ways, either through art projects or out of necessity for home needs.

From the Reuse Center grew Nichols’s latest nonprofit project: UpCycledFashion.com. This e-commerce website shows just what happens when discarded fabrics are given whole new lives.

Moreover, local women are given whole new skills. The ultimate goal is to create jobs for women in rural New Mexico, so they can earn a living wage and retain the flexibility to work from home.

“But first we have to sell the fashions in order to pay the seamstress designers,” says Nichols. In addition to the website, UpCycled Fashion is hoping to get a mobile marketing van and of course, have more people visit the Art for the Heart Gallery to check out the clothes in person.

Seamstresses are trained on zerowaste principles and earn valuable skills that can help them foster entrepreneurial and innovation opportunities for themselves. This year with the help of some grants, UpCycled Fashion is training seamstresses and hope to do more, so they can really begin to have an impact.

“I’ve always wanted to be an artist,” says Nichols. “I’ve done the grant writing and the management. But in my heart, I am just an artist.”

“I’ve worked with Jean for a year,” says Anita Moss, director and designer at UpCycled Fashion. “I once Googled her and learned: Jean’s a legend.”

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Taos Woman/ education

I

Learning sometimes leads back home

By Joleen Montoya

knew I wanted to go to college. That was about all I knew. I did not know the first thing about how to get there. My parents were incredibly supportive, but they did not have the opportunity to attend college out of high school and were also in the dark about how to approach the application process. They had their own set of fears about financing my education and especially around my leaving home and possibly New Mexico.

I blindly chose schools based on their pretty brochures, geographic location, or some other random factor. I made my way through applications and essays and my parents plowed through the financial paperwork. Surprisingly, it was quite an emotional process. There were moments of conflict, fear and celebration as we stumbled our way through the maze together. By chance, I lucked into the right school and my time there dramatically shaped my life.

My college experience woke me up. It was the first time that what I was learning felt relevant to my life, to my own story. It was where I found courage to share my art, speak up and participate, and use my voice for something bigger than my own needs. It was a deliciously decadent experience to be in a place where my main job was to explore, learn and grow. I found it invigorating and also challenging to be away from home and sought little nuggets of familiarity to help me get through.

I was fueled by the rich friendships I forged with a handful of peers, relationships I developed with the maintenance staff and dining hall workers who called me “mija” and took the time to ask how my classes were going, and the ever-present reminder of the sacrifices my parents were making for me to have this privilege.

I never thought I would come home so quickly.

But the summer before my senior year of college, I interned at the Getty Center. Part of our internship was to meet with staff members and partake in informational interviews about their jobs and career paths. After watching an inspiring in-house film I contacted the filmmaker to learn more about her career. It came as a surprise to discover she was from Mora. Her innate understanding of Northern

Tina Larkin

Joleen Montoya New Mexico and our shared background was comforting, and affirming. As a young woman who was trying to figure out my path, I was taken with her accomplishments, worldliness and ambition. She told me, “Go out into the world, do everything you need to do and go home tired.” For some reason this struck a chord within me and inspired a gut reaction that had staying power. Instinctually, my silent response was, “… or, go home. Invest your time and energy in your own community, a community that means something to you. Treasure this time with your parents and grandparents and leave tired.”

When I graduated, I came home. It was satisfying to re-learn the landscape of Taos in a different way — to engage in the youth development field and nonprofit sector in a place with which I have such an intimate connection. I am now so very fortunate to spend my days working with the Bridges Project for Education. I have the honor of walking with students and families through their college application process. For me, the core of this

work is about access. I will not argue that college is for everyone, nor do I believe there is more value in attending than not. There are so many ways to build a life. I will, however, stand behind the fact that we don’t all have equal access to institutions of higher learning and this is primarily due to lack of information and support navigating the process. This is what our work at Bridges is about, and I am deeply grateful to be part of something that empowers people of all ages to advocate for themselves, explore their dreams and take charge of the trajectory of their lives and their families’ for generations to come.

“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.”

This quote by Cesar Chávez is one of my favorites. It epitomizes a shift that happened in my own life and a transformation I witness regularly through our work at Bridges.

Invest your time and energy in your own community, a community that means something to you.

Treasure this time with your parents and grandparents and leave tired.”

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2014

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Taos Woman/education

Jim O’Donnell

Kate O’Neill has helped UNM-Taos grow and prosper during its short time as an institution of higher learning.

Dr. Kate O’Neill

K

By Jim O’Donnell

Teaching others to fish

ate O’Neill has been fly-fishing since 2006.

“Excuse the pun but I just got hooked,” she said. “Fly-fishing is one of the more incredible ways to enjoy

New Mexico.”

The executive director of the University of New Mexico branch in Taos has a challenging job to say the least and stepping out into the wildlands of our state recharges her batteries.

“In the spring I like to head over to the lovely

waters of the Cimarrón. In the summer I tend toward the Costilla. Not long ago I was down in the canyon and saw two bald eagles just past Embudo Station.” She sighed. “Getting out there helps me to keep me balanced. I always come back ready and able to focus on my job.”

A native of tiny New Hope, Penn., on the Delaware River, Dr. Catherine “Kate” O’Neill first came to Taos in 1993 while on her way to California.

Instead of continuing on to Berkeley she settled into a job at the Taos Pueblo Head Start program.

“I’d compared the differences between children who had had the benefit of Head Start programs

versus those who had not when I was doing my studies at Harvard,” O’Neill explained. She not only felt the experience at the Pueblo was a good fit with her interests but also that she “was compelled by the experience of living in Taos.”

So she stayed.

It didn’t take O’Neill long before she was on staff at the University of New Mexico-Taos as adjunct faculty teaching American Studies and then as a full-time faculty member in 2003. She became the executive director in 2006.

“Not to overdue the fishing O’Neill continues on page 48 analogies here but I believe in

The subject of early childhood education remains a central theme for O’Neill.

The subject continually came up in the course of our conversation.

46

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Taos Woman/education

File Photo

O’Neill with UNM mascot Lobo Louie.

O’Neill continued from page 46

the old saying about teaching someone to fish rather than giving them a fish,” she said.

“So I always wanted to be in education. For me it is the most significant way to have an impact and help empower people.”

O’Neill describes her job as similar to that of an orchestra instructor. The position calls her to work in a wide-range of areas from curriculum to capital project funds, to joining state-wide committees and working with local public schools and integrating UNM-Taos into the community.

Conducting that diversity is evident in the diversity of what has been accomplished at UNMTaos over the course of O’Neill’s tenure. There is now a Green Jobs program at Taos High School that helps to build foundational skills to make area youth employable across a wide spectrum of alternative energy fields.

The Health Extension for Rural Outreach (HERO) program aims to get medical doctors to come back to the rural communities where they were raised.

The Klauer Campus has a 10-inch water and sewer line that connects with the Los Córdovas

48

treatment plant reducing pressure on area septic and water well systems.

These are just a sampling of what O’Neill and her team are up to.

“It’s the team that makes the difference for me,” she said. “I’m encouraged and inspired by the commitment to education from people in this community. So yes, I’m recharged by the solitude I need when I’m out on the river but I also get quite a lot of power from the larger mission we have here and the people in my team.”’

Next up, O’Neill wants to see the convention center buildings on Civic Plaza Drive put to use by the university as part of an overall revitalization of the town center. The hope is to have classes and programming right in the middle of town.

The subject of early childhood education remains a central theme for O’Neill. The subject continually came up in the course of our conversation.

“If students are behind by the third grade,” she pointed out “they fall further and further behind.

We want to prepare students and get them ahead of the game up front so we don’t have to do band-aids later on.”

To help achieve that goal O’Neill and her team created the “Kids Campus” at the Klauer Campus in Ranchos. Serving children up to age four the center is a resource for both faculty and staff of UNM-Taos with children and community members not associated with the University.

“The whole state needs to do more with early childhood education and intervention,” she said.

“It is something concrete we can do that pays dividends throughout the lives of these kids and as a society there really is nothing more we can do for our own benefit. They payoffs for all of us are huge.”

The other item that kept popping up was O’Neill’s praise of the people UNM-Taos serves, the students. She couldn’t stop pointing out how this student or that student had achieved something remarkable.

“We are blessed with amazing students,” she says. “The credit goes to them.”

“My hat is off,” she concluded, “especially to the mom’s with kids and jobs and classes. They are working so hard to do everything they can to get ahead both for themselves and their kids. It’s just remarkable. They inspire us. They recharge my batteries and keep me going.”

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Taos Woman/education

Tina Larkin

Carla Chávez teaching a class at Taos High School.

By Teresa Dovalpage

C

A passion for education

arla Chávez manages to fit in one day what would likely takes others 48 hours to accomplish.

Chávez teaches six science classes at Taos High School and another one through UNM-Taos. She served as a board member in the Bridges Project for Education for several years and currently volunteers as an advisor in different organizations. She also sings in the choir at Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish.

How does she manage to accomplish all that?

“I have been teaching for 10 years and learned to be very efficient with my time,” she said.

La familia Her family, los Martínez, is originally from Taos.

Chávez graduated from Taos High School and

50

Carla Chávez

attended Occidental College in California, where she majored in environmental biology. She moved to Boston for five years while her husband, David Chávez, was in graduate school. Then they moved back to Taos.

“David and I believe in giving back to our community,” she said. “We want to help the Taos youth succeed in life.”

Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist David Chávez is currently the Taos School Board president.

“He is an amazing man and has the same passion for education that I do,” she said. “I couldn’t do all the things I now do without his help and support.”

Carla and David Chávez have three children.

Aurelia is a freshman at Taos High School, Natalia is a seventh-grader in Taos Middle School and Sebastian, el bebe, is in kindergarten at Ranchos de Taos Elementary School.

“My kids and I share different interests,” she said. “Because they all have different talents.

Natalia and I are crochet buddies while Aurelia and I love to talk about books. Sebastian and I work together on projects about space when we have time at home. And we all cook together because the girls and Sebastian love to be in the kitchen.”

“We can always count on her,” Aurelia said. “If we forget something when we go to school, she will bring it to us, no big deal.”

“She is a good mom,” Natalia added, shyly.

“Very, very good.”

Passion for the classroom Education runs in Chávez’ family. Her grandparents on both sides were educators and one of her sisters, Renetta Mondragón, is a first-grade teacher at Ranchos EleChávez continues on page 52 mentary.

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Taos Woman/EDUCATION

Tina Larkin

Chávez with a group of her students.

Chávez continued from page 50

“She is a mentor for me in education and helps me tackle challenges in the classroom,” Chávez said.

Chávez loves being in the classroom. When she came back to Taos, Jim Gilroy, who had been her high school teacher, suggested she get a teaching credential.

“I did,” she said. “And Julianna Matz was a wonderful mentor, coaching me through my first years as a teacher.”

Chávez started teaching science classes at Taos High School in 2004.

“The classroom is where I spend a big part of my life now,” she said. “I enjoy talking to my students about science. I like to see them make connections, when they realize how what they learn in class connects with their life.”

Witnessing the evolution of the students as they journey from their teenage years to adulthood is one of the best parts of being a high school teacher.

“It’s amazing to notice how they change from their junior to their senior year and how they gradually become better students and more mature

52

persons,” she said. “I often get to see some of them again, at my UNM class.”

The most important thing for her, as an educator, is letting students know that she cares about their success.

“They need to know why you are pushing them to improve,” she said. “When they understand that you care about their future, they always respond.”

Volunteer work Chávez is an advisor for HOSA, a student organization for kids interested in the health professions. For five years she has been preparing them to compete in categories like nursing assistance, biotechnology, forensic science, clinical nursing, CPR/first aid, sports medicine and medical math.

“The student can explore the world of health care and get skills that will be useful to them in the future, whether they decide to go into a medical career or not,” she said.

Taos High School HOSA team has won first and second places at national competitions.

“This is all the kids’ work,” Chávez said. “I do lots of fundraising for the program but I am proud

to say that the students are also extremely committed. They are eager to learn.”

Two students, who are getting ready for the HOSA competition, weighed in on their advisor.

“She is a really good teacher, she is helpful and caring, smart and hardworking,” said Jolynn Mondragón. “You can ask her questions.”

“She also helps us understand different subjects,” said Jenna Peralta. “She is like a human Google. And she is very motherly. I feel I can trust her.”

Chávez is a member of the UNM-Taos Nursing School Advisory Board.

“I use my connections with the nursing community to help the students prepare themselves for nursing school,” she said. “On the other hand, I can give the nursing school instructors a better perspective of what’s going on with the high school students so they know what to expect when the students enter their program.”

Besides all that, Chávez works with Taos Soil and Water Conservation District, supporting and training the Envirothon Team and teaching high school students about natural resource management.

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53

Taos Woman/ education

Tina Larkin

Susie Fiore

Susie Fiore finds joy in sharing love of nature with children

By Elizabeth Cleary

R

acing mountain bikes and taking nature walks are leisure activities to most people, but for Susie Fiore, they’re part of a typical day at work.

Fiore founded the Field Institute of Taos (FITaos) in 1996. The program organizes nature-themed summer camps for children and organizes mountain bike races for kids of all skill levels.

Fiore’s love of nature dates back to her childhood. As one of six children, Fiore has fond memories of going camping with her parents and

54

siblings. She studied geology and archaeology at Colorado College, and eventually moved to Taos to work as a seasonal archaeologist. More than 25 years later, Fiore continues to call Taos her home.

“This place had really grown on me and into me,” she said.

Fiore spent time as an instructor at the children’s ski school at Taos Ski Valley, and from that experience she realized how much she enjoyed spending time with children. Eighteen years ago, she combined her love of nature and children and formed the Field Institute.

At camp, kids hike the trails at the Ski Valley, learn about aquatic wildlife at the Río Grande and

explore desert ecosystems at the Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado. Older children have the opportunity to go on overnight trips, and Fiore always emphasizes impact-free camping and exploring.

Fiore noticed that the kids at camp were always asking about her hobby, which is racing mountain bikes. So she got the idea to form a mountain biking club here in Taos, and Team FITaos was born. Fiore says she’s been racing mountain bikes since 2000, after a friend suggested she try a race. She didn’t think she would like it because she never thought Chávez continues of herself as competitive, but on page 56

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Taos Woman/education

She structures each day of summer camp so that

the kids just think they’re having fun, but in reality they are learning valuable lessons about biology and nature conservation.

Tina Larkin

Chávez continued from page 54

she couldn’t have been more wrong.

“I was hooked from the

first race,” she said.

Fiore says she’s always been a “kid person,” and while she always thought she would have children, it never ended up happening. So she and her husband, Sean Cassily, decided to adopt. Adoption agencies told them that adopting a healthy infant could take years, if it happened at all. So the couple said they would give themselves a year and hope for the best. Then one day, during a mountain biking trip in Moab, Utah, they got the call: A mother-to-be in California had selected Cassily and Fiore to be her baby’s adoptive parents. The couple met their son, who is now 4, when he was just an hour old.

Fiore and Cassily have enjoyed sharing their love of mountain biking and skiing with their

56

son, who Fiore says has taken to both passionately.

Sharing her love of the outdoors with all the children at camp is what Fiore says she loves most about her job. She structures each day of summer camp so that the kids just think they’re having fun, but in reality they are learning valuable lessons about biology and nature conservation. She says many kids don’t think they enjoy hiking, but they change their minds after they attend camp.

“We know how to make it fun and cool,” Fiore says.

Fiore cites the “No Child Left Inside” initiative, a nationwide effort to get kids playing outdoors.

She says research shows that when kids spend time outside, it helps in all aspects of their lives.

Behavioral problems kids struggle with in other settings, she says, tend to melt away when they

get out in nature. This is because when they’re outside, they’re not being told to sit down and be quiet, which can often be very difficult on a child with a lot of energy.

And because parents are often busy with work and other responsibilities, Fiore says she’s glad she can provide children with an opportunity to get outside. She even offers scholarships to families who can’t afford the camp tuition so that every kid in Taos has the opportunity to get the camp experience.

Fiore says nature is the most effective form of therapy for her, and she hopes she can show the kids at her camp how soothing being out in nature can be.

“If young people can find that connection to nature, when they’re older and they have those times that are really dark, they can remember that,” she said. “I know it helps me.”

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2014

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Taos Woman/ education

Linda Santana

National Corpsmember of the Year 2014

“L

inda Santana understands the technical skills, but truly embodies that the true meaning of Rocky Mountain Youth Corps’ work is personal growth and development,” says Maura Cassell, an RMYC Program Coordinator. “She is able to pass along this meaning of our work to her peers and she continuously serves as an influence and role model.”

AMERICORPS volunteer Linda Santana of Rocky Mountain Youth Corps was recently selected as a 2014 Corpsmember of the Year by The Corps Network (TCN). The voice of the nation’s 127 Service and Conservation Corps, TCN represents various Corps operating in every state and the District of Columbia. Corps enroll young women and men in meaningful community service every year. Each year TCN honors Service and Conservation Corpsmembers whose accomplishments and personal stories exemplify the positive role that the Corps experience serves for individuals and communities nationwide.

Santana was selected to represent more than 27,000 AmeriCorps members as one of six Corps Ambassadors for 2014. These individuals were selected based upon their exemplary leadership, and model performance as members of their respective Corps.

Santana came to Taos after serving two terms with the Montana Conservation Corps (MCC). During her time with RMYC, Santana has proven to be a phenomenal leader. She was the foundation for a crew that faced a great deal of adversity, including the loss of a supervisor. Santana became the natural leader the crew needed to succeed. Though the members of her crew did not always show respect for each other, Santana maintained a positive attitude.

As one of her supervisors said, “[Linda’s] personal standards and morals lead to a lifestyle comprised of healthy and admirable choices. As a mentor to many on her crew, Linda would offer solutions and alternative ways to spend social time, to her peers who would otherwise spend their time drinking alcohol.”

In the future, Santana hopes to become a bilingual outdoor educator. Working toward this goal,

58

Courtesy Photo

Linda Santana has found a niche for herself through her work at Rocky Mountain Youth Corps.

Courtesy Photo

Linda Santana was named Corps Member of the Year

by TCN.

she voluntarily took on the role of training specialist at RMYC. She worked closely with staff to develop and carry out a variety of creative programs, including a course in which she taught Corpsmembers how to identify and track animals. Santana has served as an ambassador for RMYC’s Conservation Corps program. She has spoken in front of the New Mexico State Legislative Committee about her experiences with both RMYC and MCC. “I want to work in an outdoor environment where I can teach others, our youth in particular, about the importance of our land, why we should care for it and protect it, and about the impact we as individuals have on it,” Santana says. “The Corps experience changed my life. It allowed me to get out of my comfort zone, learn more about other places and provided me with the opportunity to explore beautiful places in our country I may otherwise have never seen.

“It allowed me to work with a diverse group of people and learn technical skills, as well as soft skills, that have helped me grow as an individual.”

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