2020 Desires and Predictions

No matter what we ask you, Santa Fe, you tell us what you want to tell us anyway. This year does not break with tradition. Why should it? You don't need SFR to remind you the gym will be crowded this week until our -resolution-making neighbors go back to their snooze buttons and Pop-Tarts.

In our first issue of 2020, let us instead allow your neighbors to issue the reminders. We sent the newspaper staff to the city's places of work and play to talk about the coming year. We asked everyone to name their desires and predictions. Some talked about values and lofty ideas, others concrete plans and specific goals. There was plenty about the pending political scene, and a bit about art, culture, the economy and even a dance party or two.

The 1920s saw the rise of art deco, with shorter skirts and shorter hair taking center stage for women who had newly won the right to vote. How will history describe the 2020s? Are we already running headlong toward the brightness when we know the only clear vision is hindsight?

Happy New Year, neighbors.

"I was just thinking about how we're on the cusp of a new decade, and it's exciting. Because of the climate at the moment, I think there will be a lot of eco-anxiety going on … Sustainability will be a hot issue. I think there'll be some who become more actively involved. Many climate deniers will selfishly keep denying it for their own gain. I'm hoping the refugee crisis wanes, but I don't think it will. I'm hoping people stop eating—or eat less— beef. My hopes are optimistic, but I'm a realistic person. On a more personal note, because I've been showing the work of artists and running a new business, I haven't had time to paint, so I'd like to do more creative work and also have more time to read and just generally relax. In Santa Fe, we're different from the rest of America in many ways. I see positive change, more diversity, which is what I'd like—I'm from London where you live on a street with people from 50 different ethnic backgrounds. The local government is largely Democratic, and that's a good thing for things changing in a positive way. I just love Santa Fe and I can't imagine leaving. I wish there was a bit more business vibrancy here in terms of jobs for young people, to keep more young people here."

—Francesca Yorke,
owner of FOMA Gallery

"I just predict it'll be a great year. It's gonna be a fabulous year. I'm going to be optimistic about it, I'm not gonna take any negative vibes in to the new year. I try to stay as positive as possible, y'know? Big things are gonna happen for me. 2019 was crazy. We had some ups and some downs, but it's over—we're going into a new decade. The roaring '20s are coming back. Santa Fe needs a strong nightlife that the gay community can get behind. In 2020, Santa Fe needs a gay bar. A place where the community can come out and feel safe and wanted and have fun. Once we get that back, the economy will burst. The gays will come into town and start spending money left and right, but if there's nothing to do, they're not coming."

—Calvin A Fields, 
badass bitch

"I guess my hope, not just for New Mexico, but for the whole country, is that people move away from traditional thinking and start thinking outside the box in how we educate our young people and how we upskill our incumbent workers. And my big hope in New Mexico is the Legislature expands the proposal of free college for all to include all kinds of programs, like certifications and digital badges and internships and apprenticeships …My prediction is that it's very hard for people to change, and we're talking about changing mindsets, and so my prediction is that change in the education space and the workforce training space is going to be slower than a lot of us would hope, but I'm seeing people like [Deputy Secretary for Teaching and Learning for the New Mexico Public Education Department] Gwen Perea Warniment bring real glimmers of progressive thinking to bring real innovation to the education space in new Mexico, which we desperately need …"

—Sarah Boisvert,
founder of Fab Lab Hub

"2020 is my year of commitment … First off, I'm getting married, and there's not really a bigger commitment than that. Professionally, I'm committing to my Bad Hippie brand. This is the year I prove to myself and others that I can run a kitchen, write a menu, and call myself 'chef.' Politically, it's also the year I commit on America—or not. I don't care who our next president is, so long as Trump isn't elected to four more years. As a Jewish man, that'll be my sign to call it quits on the 'land of the free' and seek a new life/fortune elsewhere. Maybe I'm a quitter, but I'm gonna go practice the democratic values of self governance somewhere people actually value them. Plus, I like speaking Spanish, warm weather, and hate winter months and short days, so heading south looks promising. As far as predictions go: 1.) Santa Fe gets voted NM city with best roads—shout-out to the mayor. 2.) Meow Wolf continues the trend of actually hiring the locals they claimed their company was created to employ. 3.) Sasella wins best fine dining restaurant with Chef Gerrit [Bravata] at the helm. 4.) NM legalizes recreational cannabis. 5.) With legal cannabis, every other stat in the state dramatically improves, from DWI deaths to literacy to teen pregnancy. 6.) Legal mushrooms are proposed at state Legislature but it's like the worst bill ever. Like legit just says 'we could eat 'em if we want! #legalmushrooms'"

—Josh Lochner,
head chef at Santa Fe Tennis and Swim Club

"My prediction is that the arts and the creative sector are going to be more and more important to how we address, communicate and solve both our city issues and our broader global issues in the world, because we need artists now more than ever. My desire is to increase citywide collaboration to address our great challenges and opportunities and for Santa Fe to become a model for that type of problem solving in the world."

—Cyndi Conn,
Creative Santa Fe executive director

"I'm feeling very optimistic about the new year, definitely. Every year, that's the name of my game, you know—I'm 82 years old and I say to myself, 'Lord Jesus give me another year with my business' … My dad founded [Aranda's Plumbing] business in 1947, right here in the barrio. I'm the second generation and we've been active every year since, constantly doing business in Santa Fe. Now we've got the third generation running the business with my son, Patrick.

My concern this year is of course to keep up with my responsibility; we have 10 people that make a living out of this business and that's a responsibility that things go well, we want to succeed in our own little way, you know.

Last year was a little rough for me, I had the worst scare of my life when I had a little heart attack late in January … My prayers this year are for my health, the health of my workers and my family, and that we have a beautiful year and stay competitive because there must be as many plumbers these days as there are lawyers, people would probably rather be a plumber as the joke goes around here. You gotta be good to survive in this business, and every year we're just trying to find ways to be a little bit better."

— Ray Aranda,
Aranda's Plumbing, Heating & Supply

"2020 is going to be, potentially, on a national level, pretty bruising politically, and perhaps a little disheartening, and so I think my desire is that people, and myself included, can focus on our local engagement and our local politics, because that is where we can get a lot of hope and have a lot of progress …Sometimes we can just feel bummed out about what is happening on the national level, and there is just so much good we can do locally."

—Alex Hanna,
Invisible City Designs owner/creative director

"My desires are for a less partisan country. I hope we can actually remember that we are Americans first before we're Republicans or Democrats. And my prediction is Zozobra will rock out his '80s fashion at the biggest '80s dance party the world has ever seen."

—Ray Sandoval,
Zozobra executive chairman

"2020 is overshadowed by battles. They're not the typical military wars. They're the mental and emotional conflicts which people deal with by being couch potatoes. But watching TV will not calm the internal dissonance. The results will show up in your medical bills. There's a promise of victories, but they come with a price tag. The costs include psyching up yourself and then others to respond to what your brains and spirit are telling you to do, which is operating as a thinking, spiritual human being, going beyond your normal limitations and keeping close tabs on what's happening in our governmental structures, which are crumbling, not the buildings but the concepts by which they should operate democratically. The year ahead is a transitional one for the social structures in our society. 2021 will be about renovations and building new social institutions. In 2020, we'll be looking at what has permanent value in our governmental structures and what has to be eliminated. A collective vision for our future is emerging, but not yet clearly defined. It's important to have a vision of our collective needs. We need to act responsibly towards it, or be willing to live in a deteriorating dream."

—Merrylin LeBlanc,
KSFR

"I am an optimistic person, for that reason my predictions and desires are focused on positive results for my community. My predictions for 2020 are: Colombia is going to win the American Cup for soccer, the US is going to have a better president, and Capital High School DECA [club] is going to win one category in the state competition in Albuquerque. My desires for 2020 are: A better payment for teachers and employees in the educational sector, leaders more aware and doing something about global warming and more options with good quality for infant care in Santa Fe."

—Juan Acevedo,
Capital High School teacher

"I guess my predictions and desires are the same. My desire is for more POC spaces in Santa Fe that nurture alternative narratives and give room for more creativity. My desire is to see the Alas De Agua Art School Building fully funded. My desire is to see more sober spaces where we can have compassionate conflict and go deeper in our conversations and healing around historical trauma and utilize the arts to create said spaces. My desire is to see more queer spaces, more Native spaces, more bridging across race, class, gender. Definitely want to see way more diverse murals in a town full of artists. More funding going towards BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and Persons of Color] artists. More panels, discussions, articles; documentaries involving artists doing grassroots works in Santa Fe and New Mexico in general. I predict and desire more radical love, radical community love, radical self care love—did I mention radical love? So radical, it's just normal."

—Israel Francisco Haros Lopez,
co-founder Alas de Agua Art Collective

"This year could be a tough one … It's strange times because our world is a little iffy on kindness right now and how to think about it, especially when it comes to differences between people. I would like the world to not think of kindness as a weakness and for everybody to go forth and just be kind to each other, it's amazing how far that can go.

Let's all start by practicing kindness in our own community. If there's a change you want to see out there in the world, find a way to do something locally that makes your community stronger. I think if we all thought about that it would be a great way to start the new year.

For me personally, I'm just happy that [the Video Library] is still here and will still be here in 2020. That's something to celebrate."

— Lisa Harris,
owner and founder of Video Library

"We're blessed to have a very healthy young family and we're looking f-orward to watching them grow and continue with school, I guess your average kinds of things. We don't really do New Year's resolutions, we kind of maintain our resolutions throughout the year.

If you want to achieve something, you need to start with being honest with yourself, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and come up with a goal to improve those a little bit every day. We're still at the very beginning here so we've got a lot to learn; these are our first two kids. We're small business owners and we hope that that will show them a little bit of what's possible in your community. We just hit our one-year mark [since starting Honey Moon Brewery] on Dec. 6."

"I guess we hope to become better business owners and that being young adults in Santa Fe who own a business will inspire other businesses to open and flourish, and that Santa Fe is open to supporting that kind of thing."

—James Hill and Ayla Bystrom-Williams,
owners of Honeymoon Brewery, and sons Finn and Liam

"As our sights turn to our second year of filling the large shoes of former owners Tony and Gayatri Malmed, our intention for 2020 is to continue to cultivate Spirit of the Earth, and invest our creative energies in Santa Fe. We want to deepen our relationship with this rich and diverse community. We've always been committed to excellence in craftsmanship, and carrying forward the legacy of Spirit of the Earth has been an evolution of that commitment.

Our hope for this year is that we can help people to find a medium of self-expression through our curation. In a world increasingly motivated by speed, ease and technology, we'd like to see ourselves as an antidote, creating connective experiences through objects of adornment for body and space."

— Sophie Segar and Owen Maher,
owners of Spirit of the Earth

"My desires are to continue my life along academic roads that fulfill me, which probably means getting out of Santa Fe. I predict that I slot into a program after a year at home and either Bernie gets elected and my debt gets erased or the collapse happens."

—David Carroll,
Violet Crown worker

"1.) I am not making any resolutions because I don't really believe that there is a strong enough punctuation mark between December and January that necessitates me changing the person that I am and I really want to just like the person I am today and not some future self. 2.) In terms of predictions, I don't know what's going to happen. But my hope is that no matter what drama plays out on a national stage or with our leaders in this upcoming year, we all find the courage to do our best every day to help each other and make sacrifices for what's right, not what's easy."

—Bridget Love,
high school assistant principal, Santa Fe Indian School