New Mexico Mercury

Insight New Mexico - Chris Wilson

V.B. Price talks with historian, professor and award-winning author Chris Wilson about rethinking and re-branding cities in an effort to survive and what Albuquerque can glean from Santa Fe's historical re-branding success.

All American family

When the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote 2600 years ago that “character is fate,” he set the conditions for centuries of intense introspection on the part of perhaps millions of people. What is character? How is it formed?  How does it direct one’s life? Are we born with it?  Does it grow in us through the direction of wise and loving parents and friends?

Zach Wahls, a sixth generation Iowan, told the Iowa Legislature a few years back when it was contemplating banning same-sex marriage, that “not once” in his l9 years had he “ever been confronted by an individual who realized independently that I was raised by a gay couple. And do you know why?” he asked the legislators.

“Because the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character.”...

The End of Checks and Balances

El Machete

New Mexico’s tempest in a teapot

The 15 New Mexico behavioral health provider organizations that have been accused of Medicaid fraud by their Human Services Department have been put in an impossible position. The state has tried them and found them guilty in the press and the patients they serve and the staff they employ are understandably frightened and angry.

The accused agencies have been defunded, meaning they are no longer reimbursed for providing care for the most vulnerable in their communities — persons with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders. These persons, as well as the staff are worried, demoralized, and uncertain about the future. All as a result of a process that seems to be designed to deflect accountability from the state...

Fiddling and Fighting While Rome Burns

The state's most vulnerable citizens bear the brunt of the latest behavioral health dustup; one of many in a troubled saga.

Breaking the Cycle

"ABQ the Plan" needs to refocus its vision inside the 50 mile loop, embracing the city's cultural richness and backing local dollars.

The Coconut Massacre

Mexico’s long bout of violence has introduced many new words into the popular vernacular. Among the linguistic additions is the word “youthcide,’ meaning the systematic, mass killing of young people. A recent slaughter in the southern state of Guerrero could be a textbook example of the ongoing loss of young lives from violence.

On Friday, July 5, an estimated 200-250 people buried seven young boys and men in Coyuca de Benitez, a rural municipality located about a half hour’s drive from Acapulco in the Costa Grande region. The victims were all found shot to death in a local coconut orchard the previous day...

Pearce, Fossil Fuels, and Climate Change

How culpable are the Republican Party and Congressman Steve Pearce for the environmental havoc being wreaked in New Mexico and throughout the world?

A kerfuffalo revisited

Thank you to all my many kind readers who have sent extravagant gifts and money orders to my secret offshore post office box in the wan hopes that I not write about you, which brings up UNM Psych. Prof Geoff Miller who posted the immortal tweet, “Dear obese PhD. (sic) applicant…”

Remember him? He was conducting research, when he twitterooed that fat slobs need not apply. The University was disturbed because Geoff was not following procedures and getting the appropriate prior approvals for his research.

Turns out the tweet was not the giant kerfuffalo I feared, but another minor academic tremor...

Dr. Feather and too many pina coladas

During prancercise this morning I happened to be thinking obsessively about former New Mexico senator-to-be Dr. Feather Wilson. Dr. Feather plays a rather tepid banjo.

During her candidacy she aired a TV spot that appeared every fifteen minutes for three months.  Dr. Feather was seen strumming about two chords after which the camera panned in on her big folksy smile, so the viewer knew-- Dr. Feather is not just an expert in schmoozology and international hoi palloi, she’s a bona fide country fried human being...