Susana’s Brilliant Legacy
Make no mistake about it, Susana has learned a thing or two from her buddies the Koch bros. First she hired Catherine Torres to destroy the Dept. of Health. Since our wonderful gov. took office, case care workers who serve the most needy and helpless clients—folks with Downs Syndrome, the severely retarded, indeed anyone who can’t get by without help—these caregivers who are often family members, and are often the only support for the helpless, are now facing a huge paperwork increase to document in the minutest ridiculous detail every minute, every second, every nanosecond of their patient’s “progress"...
Hard Work Conquers All: Red Bull and the American Dream
Energy drinks have become a fixture in American culture, with 51% of college athletes drinking them. But little, if any, evidence exists that these drinks improve performance, and they can be unsafe. The World of Red Bull commercial implicitly claims that Red Bull helped professional athletes get where they are and can help you get there, too. Of course, the athletes, musicians, and dancers in the ad may not drink Red Bull at all and were paid by Red Bull to be in the commercial.
This sort of marketing of Red Bull can be dangerous because it preys on the hopes and dreams of young people who want to make it in really competitive fields...
I Pray Nadine Is Not In Syria
When I think of Syria. I think of Nadine.
I don’t know her last name. I met her when I was seven on a playground in Santa Monica. She told me she came from Syria. She had a beautiful smile and loved kickball. And her eyes were of the deepest brown and looked at me with what I felt was supreme kindness. She was sensitive and shy, but graceful and full of laughter. And she befriended kids who seemed to be alone. Obviously, I’ve never forgotten her. How could l?
She could still be alive. I pray she’s not in her homeland...
Will Syria Crisis Stifle Immigration Reform?
As the political crisis and debate intensify over Syria, immigrant advocates fear the issue of possible U.S. military action will delay comprehensive immigration reform in Washington.
Weekly Poem: In The Heart of Syria (A Hak-ku*)
Humanity is
never the most logical
option, just like love.
When U.S. Grant turned on Lew Wallace
Lew Wallace made the most ambitious effort of any New Mexico governor to reform our state’s errant political ways but famously conceded, “Every calculation based on experience elsewhere fails in New Mexico.”
Wallace was not just a territorial governor from 1848 to 1851. He was also one of the most celebrated novelists of his time due to the success of his historical epic, Ben-Hur. Before he was a governor or a novelist, however, he was a major general in the Union Army during the Civil War, where he became an arch-foe of his boss, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant...
Cereal, or Syria, or Whatever
I think we should just get in there to Swaziland as quick as possible before the UN can say diddle squat to tell Adam, or Sadam, or Asad, or Borat, or what’shisface to stop raising our gas prices and murdering his own people with postulations. We have lock-sure evidence he was the one who released sarin on all those folks who all look the same.
This is nothing like Iraq. This is nothing like Afghanistan. This is nothing like Viet Nam or New Jersey, for that matter...
The Sadness of Trayvon Martin
Sadness! Why is it that so many have lost their hearts and ability to think clearly in an America that grows more totalitarian and militaristic every day? Why do we confuse the victim and the executioner? George Zimmerman was acting in a militaristic manner and hunting with his gun. Travyon Martin was minding his own business and eating Skittles. Apparently being young, being black and wearing a hoodie makes one threatening and/or guilty-a target for all the George Zimmermans of America...
The Puebloan view of a lesser-known war
A Chinese restaurant’s fortune cookie proclaimed that “You have a charming way with words and should write a book.” Inspired, I taped that little slip of paper to the front of my desktop computer where I was writing.
The result is a historical novel, Winter of the Metal People, which took ten years to research, write, and rewrite.
Winter of the Metal People is about the Coronado expedition and the Tiguex War he fought in 1540-41 against Pueblo tribes — but it’s told for the first time from the Indian point of view...
The New Mexico State Fair for the 21st Century
It’s time to open the New Mexico State Fair 2013. The rides on the Midway will turn you upside down. Now let’s turn the Fair inside out and make it great fun next year - all year long!
The future success of the State Fair in Albuquerque depends on the Fair becoming more a part of Albuquerque, not more of a secure, gated entertainment compound behind its blank walls and parking lots. As a public venue, Expo New Mexico has a greater duty to the community than say, Disneyland. At the same time, Expo has a duty to deliver a first class entertainment experience to the citizens of New Mexico and the residents of Albuquerque beyond the slot machines of the Downs at Albuquerque...