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ROCK ON
Cheers to Gabe Gomez for calling out D Numbers as three of the most amazing and talented musicians in the 505 [Ruckus, March 21: "
"]. The Lightparade CD release party at the SF Brewing Co. was nothing short of epic. THEY FUCKING ROCKED IT. Santa Fe loves D Numbers, serio.
Best of Santa Fe 2007: Best Hugs: Brian Mayhall. (And how.)
Lisa Miles
Santa Fe
RIGHT ON TARGET
Once again, Zane, your weekly column has hit the bull's-eye of a raw nerve in this increasingly divided community [Zane's World, April 4: "
"].
Almost 10 years ago, in his essay "On Santa Fe and Las Vegas, [Nev.]" art critic Dave Hickey speared the venomous snake on the table and prophetically declared that of the these two main "contrapositive dialectic utopian cities" in America, Santa Fe would provide the "Shangri La" for "an upper crust guardian liberal establishment" and "become a theme park for America's professional classes." Are we there yet? Ask any disgruntled "local" or "young artist," and I think you'll get your answer.
In another recent Business Week "best of" category, the nation's No. 1 "up and coming" neighborhood is Dorchester, Mass., which, not unlike another blue-collar neighborhood I grew up in just outside of Boston, has suffered three decades of poverty and urban blight, causing it to be cheap for the poor and artists to live in. Of course once the artists achieved critical mass, and there was nothing else affordable left in the metro area, "inner-city impoverished and minorities" become, in appealing real estate nomenclature, "ethnically and culturally diverse," and the café-condo-loft "rehab" horses are now on the track.
As the shuffled-about Gen X "creative class" children of Santa Fe's 1980s "post-divorce self-searching/involved new-age bohemian transplanted baby boomers," we too became fond of the Land of Enchantment when we were younger, and as adults have struggled to establish our own families here.
Perhaps Business Week's declaration that Santa Fe is the No. 2 US location for artists to relocate to is nothing more than a national dolmen in the real estate business world, akin to raising the flag over Iwo Jima. Symbolically, it is the triumph of artists as the conscripted (and, yes, sometimes willing) foot soldiers, reluctantly abetting an (unfortunately) very successful "economic development" model called "creative class gentrification" or, worse, "cultural colonialism." If what's left of accessible Santa Fe is to remain "un lugar para todos," an unprecedented community-wide social will of sensitivity, brutal honesty and, yes, introspective humility is needed.
The question is: Do we really have it?
Matthew Ellis
Santa Fe
WATER WAR
Oh my God, it is unbelievable. You finally do an in-depth article with information from both sides [Cover story, April 4: "
"]. That is new. Maybe it is a return to real journalism. And then you screw it up with a stupid title. "The Big Suck?" Huh? What is the matter with you? How about something like "Who gives up their water next?" or "Why do the cities deserve more water and the farmers less?" or "If water usage is going to be reprioritized, who gets to do it?" You morons. Pull your heads out.
A Hart Allex
Penasco
MAKING THE GRADE
I am a fan of Seth Biderman's columns [First Person, March 14: "
" and Feb. 14: "
"]. As a teacher with 45 years of experience, I especially appreciate his respect for and dedication to his challenging students. His thoughtfulness and hard work are also extremely important. Thank you for running these commentaries. I turn to them first when reading the Reporter.
Mara Taub
Santa Fe
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REMEMBER OLIVIA
I would like to invite friends and acquaintances to a memorial celebrating Olivia Tsosie's life. The memorial will be from 10 am to 2 pm on Sunday, April 15, and will be held at the Nancy Rodriguez Community Center on Caja del Oro Grant Road between the Southside La Familia Clinic and the Agua Fria Fire Station. Please come to share memories, friendship, laughter and tears. There will be a short video presentation at 10:30 am of Olivia talking about her life and maps showing the remote places she had traveled in the world-from the Four Corners area in 1952 to the Galapagos in 2006.
For more information or directions, please call 470-4288.
Joseph M Annon
Santa Fe
DANGEROUS DRIVING
May I respectfully submit a suggestion that the "person in charge" and the staff of the City of Santa Fe Public Works Department drive the streets of Santa Fe with their eyes wide open and observe the potholes; call them what you choose: abyss, cave, cavern, cavity, chasm, crack, crater, den, dent, depression, dimple, excavation, furrow, gouge, grave, grotto, gulf, hell, hole, hollow, indentation, mine, perforation, pit, pockmark, pothole, puncture, rabbet, rock shelter, score, shaft, subterrane, subterranean, tomb, track, trench, trough, well.
Driving the roads, streets, boulevards, avenues, anywhere legal to propel a vehicle in Santa Fe-very few are the exception-is like maneuvering through a field of land mines. I submit Don Gaspar between Paseo de Peralta and Berger as merely one example-the list is too long.
It is not safe to be aware of the bicyclists, pedestrians, drivers running lights and stop signs, children playing, dogs running at large, skateboarders, in-line skaters, drivers under the influence, et al., while attempting to save one's tires and alignment at the same time. Factor in attempting to "document" all the holes while driving and I foresee too many accidents to come.
The few patches could be compared to closing a caesarian with a band-aid and no sutures.
Sloan Cunningham
Santa Fe
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