‘The unsolved murder capital of the world’
When Scot Key retired in 2008 after serving 12 years as district attorney, he said of Lincoln County, “In the decades prior, the county was ridiculed as the unsolved murder capital of the world.”
One of those unsolved murders was that of 16-year-old Katrina Chavez. She was a star at Hondo High School, a cheerleader, a volleyball player and a basketball player. The account of that unsolved and forgotten killing forms the most intense section of, The Enchantment of New Mexico, a new book by Dixie Boyle...
New Shoes in Juárez
Although Mexico ranks last in the rankings of the 34 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of educational achievement and although it has a much higher level of poverty than the US, public education isn’t free. Santa Feans Jim and Pat Noble and their powerful team of volunteers not only manage an orphanage in Palomas, Mexico – La Casa de Amor Para Niños – but they have also raised scholarships for some 300 youngsters there.
Recently, I tried to do my share in the Juárez area by helping several kids I know from my work at the mental asylum, Vision in Action...
Teacher Responds to PED Evaluation
I am a fifth grade general educator in Albuquerque and I recently completed my third year. At the end of this past year, I was given my evaluation results on, what I have deemed the “Worst Day of My Life”. I was given a score of “Minimally Effective”. I did not earn this score. I know in my heart, and without a doubt, that I am a “Highly Effective” teacher. I receive high marks on every observation, my students scored higher than all other fifth graders (at my school) during my second year, and I always give 150% to ensure my students receive the best education possible. Then why did I receive “Minimally Effective”, you ask? Ask Hanna and Susanna. Oh wait, they can’t give you a straight answer...
The Longest Night
I disliked my job from the first day, but until that long night in April 1968, I didn’t hate it.
I wanted to cry that night with the reams of copy pouring onto the desk in front of me, stories of deaths and injuries, tears and screams, anger and sorrow, broken bodies and bloodied streets. I wanted to stop and think about what was happening, but there was no time. I wanted to stop and cry, but I could not...
Some Thoughts on δημοκρατία☆
From the adoption of nascent democracy during Greece’s Golden Age, around 460 bce to this day, the system has been considerably altered.
In Athens, the center of trade and the arts, the citizens voted for their government officials. The Council and the Assembly ruled. The Council was made of 500 members who were drawn by lottery from the population. Stop for a second and visualize that today.
The two groups met every ten days and any citizen could speak and vote at the Assembly. However, they would only convene if there were at least 6,000 citizens present. Imagine that...
Parents Respond to For-Profit Education Reform Lapdogs
As mothers helping to lead the fight against harmful policies inflicted on our children in New Mexico and Tennessee, we felt compelled to respond to the July 24 opinion piece written by education leaders Hanna Skandera and Kevin Huffman that appeared in the Washington Post.
In classrooms across New Mexico and Tennessee, standardized tests are taking away valuable classroom learning. Of the 174 days our children attend school in New Mexico, 76 of those days are impacted by some standardized test or another. In Tennessee, teachers estimate that at least 1/3 of the year is devoted to testing or test preparation...
Does it matter how many students are raped?
A young woman, a student at the University of New Mexico, gets into a BMW with three men, including two UNM athletes.
Later she shows up at her dormitory in tears and reports that she has been raped. Her lawyer says she was drugged.
The men say she had sex voluntarily with them. She says she blanked out because she was drugged. The investigation has been dropped at least temporarily.
This incident, which transpired in April, and the questions it raises are typical of many of the sexual encounters on campuses around the country. Was it a sexual assault? Was it rape? What should the university, the police and the district attorney do about it?...
Emerging Voices: Anna Jenkins
Curator's note by Stevie Olson: This week we have an intriguing short story by Anna Jenkins. She uses Raymond Carver’s style in “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” to construct her own version. I love her attention to detail throughout the piece and her use of dialogue to pull the reader into lunch-table conversation. Her pieces gives the reader a peek at what teenage girls may talk about when they talk about love. Anna, thank you for sharing your piece with us, and good luck in your final year of high school...
Texans, New Mexicans Team Up for a Sustainable Economy
On a blazing July day, the temperature in El Paso’s Union Plaza District was almost as hot as the brassy sounds of the local musical group Riboflavin that entertained the crowd at the Downtown Art and Farmers Market (DAFM) with bursts of jazzy R&B.
A great portion of the fresh produce sold at the El Paso market is actually grown just across the state line in southern New Mexico’s Dona Ana County. While the legal battle between Texas and New Mexico over use of Rio Grande water has been in the news as of late, the DAFM is an instance of cooperation between Tejanos and Nuevomexicanos in harnessing land and water for mutual benefit...
The New Immigration Crisis
Governor Rick Perry orders 1,000 National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border. President Obama urges the Presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to focus on their “shared responsibility” for the influx of migrant children from their countries. But where are Governor Perry’s troops going to go and what are they going to do? And what responsibility does President Obama think we have for this crisis?...