By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — Spring is finally officially here, and our thoughts turn, not so lightly, to … cleaning supplies?
No matter how lightly you take it the rest of the year, there’s something about the advent of spring that weighs heavily on the average woman’s conscience.
At least, women of a certain age. I think most of us who are Boomers and beyond grew up in households with moms who were spring cleaning fanatics.
They may not have actually vacuumed and dusted attired in crisp shirtwaist dresses, high heels and pearls, like TV stars Donna Reed and Harriet Nelson — and Barbara Billingsley and Jane Wyatt, the moms in “Leave it To Beaver” and “Father Knows Best.”
But they saw it as a realistic and admirable goal, and never could quite understand why we found it so silly.
I thought it might be a Midwestern syndrome, but I’ve found the spring cleaning compulsions hit me every year in March, even in high desert country, when it’s the worst possible time for major cleaning.
It probably makes sense to deep clean in other parts of the county, when the snows are melting and combining with April showers to wash everything clean. You can wash the curtains and hang them outdoors on lines with the rugs, throw open the windows and refresh everything with fragrant spring breezes.
Here, however, instead of fragrant breezes, we have ferocious, dust-laden winds.
And if you’re new to the region, and still think the winds and occasional half-hearted droplets of rain have any scouring and cleaning potential …
Well, just take a look at your car after a stint in a spring storm, one of the rare ones that yields a bit of moisture. It’ll end up polka-dotted with gray-brown dust, the sticky kind.
And our ubiquitous, sticky dust is the main reason to skip, or at least delay, spring cleaning marathons.
I learned the hard way. My first year, I did it all. I scrubbed the tiles and rugs, waxed the floors, washed the blinds and curtains and even washed and polished all the windows, inside and out.
The next day, the first of the spring storms started, with a little bit of rain, winds that reminded me of my last hurricane-filled years in Florida, and dust, lots and lots of dust.
Dust that spotted my gleaming windows. Dust that creeps in, like poet Carl Sandburg’s Chicago fog, on little cat feet … and small grandchild feet and big adult feet.
Dust that also seeps through the best insulated door and window frames. Dust that sticks with peanut-butter-to-roof-of-the-mouth tenacity to just about everything, even the blades of fans you turn on in every room, hoping to drive it away.
It also makes people crabby, and in concert with desert blooms, aggravates our spring allergies.
But in my more cheerful moments, I try to remember that we have it better than many places I’ve lived. The winds really are not as bad as the Florida hurricanes or the Midwestern tornadoes and snowmelt floods. And the dust isn’t anywhere near as sticky, irritating and voluminous as the volcanic ash that buried us in the Pacific Northwest, when Mount St. Helens erupted.
The sensible thing is to move our megacleaning events to a calmer season, like summer or winter.
But old habits die hard and when I was notified of a spontaneous spring visit, my instincts were still to pull out all the stops and get back into the full-tilt spring cleaning mode that seems hardwired in my DNA.
Then I remembered my patina philosophy.
So I may run the vacuum, change the sheets, polish a mirror or two and flick a dust cloth here and there, just to keep my hand in.
Then, I’ll explain to my guests that what they are seeing is not dust, but a fine, weathered patina I’m cultivating, a patina that is prized by Santa Fe snobs and top decorators throughout the Southwest.
Or, for now at least, that’s my story and I‘m sticking to it.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com; (575) 541-5450
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Organic Easter
By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — This year, I’m in the mood for a minimalist, low-impact, labor un-intensive Easter.
Homemade is usually earth-friendly and it’s also the least expensive way to go in tough economic times.
It may also be the most fun, and the best way to generate fond memories that last a generation.
I’ve been touched, and privileged, over my years in Las Cruces to witness some wonderful traditions, like watching viejos and viejas share the techniques of making traditional palmas, used in Palm Sunday services, with younger generations at Tortugas Pueblo.
Philly Dickson told me how much it meant to her to share those experiences as a young girl, and in all the years since.
She’ll miss the friendly, creative gatherings this year, because of a health issue, “But I’ll be there in spirit, and somehow, no matter what, enough people always seem to show up to get everything done,” she said.
Some Las Crucens go with more contemporary ideas, but that homemade spirit is still what they’re after.
When I was talking to Rhoda Mitchell for today’s story, she told me about some unique eggs she made with her kids.
“I would draw little cartoon characters, Pocahontas and other Disney characters, on their eggs. One year, we had all the NFL teams on eggs,” she said.
But there were never any prefab Easter baskets. It’s a family tradition to pick out all the treats and assemble custom candy and treat assortments for the kids, one year, in a little red wagon for each child, “and then the Easter bunny leaves them, like Santa Claus,” she said.
That’s how it was in my house, too.
Every year, mom would show us how to blow the gooey contents out of eggs, which we’d save for scrambled eggs or a quiche. It was not an easy task. Most years, if I remember right, we’d max out at about two apiece and then we’d decide to move on and dye the hard-boiled eggs.
I remember the dye pellets and powders and little decals and crayons. The results were never quite as impressive as the pictures on the little Easter kits. But we were very proud.
And we relished the leftover purple and pink and green and yellow deviled eggs, to snack on for days after the Easter feast, kind of a kiddy version of a St. Paddy’s day green beer blast. The eggs were almost as delicious as the first bite of your chocolate bunny’s eartips and as satisfying as consuming a hoarded stock of your favorite color of jelly beans. (I was partial to the minty green ones.)
I’ve wondered how a perfumer would sum up the aromas of an American Easter: ham, hard-cooked eggs, slightly stale candy, hot cross buns and fresh spring flowers and new grass. Irresistible.
But the true meaning of Easter does not elude childhood perceptions. Some of my first vivid memories of church ceremonies are indelibly joined with the traditions and displays: Easter lilies, the little Sunday School lessons and pledge envelopes with crosses, waving the palms we made out of green crepe paper ...
The crucifixion was a vital and necessary part of the sermons, lessons and passion plays, but somehow, in those kinder, gentler, pre-Mel Gibson “Passion of the Christ” days, the focus seemed to be on the hopeful, palm-waving preludes and the triumphant resurrection, rather than the crucial but gory and heartbreaking second act.
I thought about that as an adult one Caribbean spring, on a ship off the shores of Granada, as I watched their traditional Easter kite flying rites, symbolizing Christ’s ascension to Heaven.
I like the eggs and the bunnies. But if I had to hard-boil it down to the crucial elements of Easter for myself and my loved ones, I think I’d go with a crucial trinity of symbols: the palms, the crosses and the kites.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — This year, I’m in the mood for a minimalist, low-impact, labor un-intensive Easter.
Homemade is usually earth-friendly and it’s also the least expensive way to go in tough economic times.
It may also be the most fun, and the best way to generate fond memories that last a generation.
I’ve been touched, and privileged, over my years in Las Cruces to witness some wonderful traditions, like watching viejos and viejas share the techniques of making traditional palmas, used in Palm Sunday services, with younger generations at Tortugas Pueblo.
Philly Dickson told me how much it meant to her to share those experiences as a young girl, and in all the years since.
She’ll miss the friendly, creative gatherings this year, because of a health issue, “But I’ll be there in spirit, and somehow, no matter what, enough people always seem to show up to get everything done,” she said.
Some Las Crucens go with more contemporary ideas, but that homemade spirit is still what they’re after.
When I was talking to Rhoda Mitchell for today’s story, she told me about some unique eggs she made with her kids.
“I would draw little cartoon characters, Pocahontas and other Disney characters, on their eggs. One year, we had all the NFL teams on eggs,” she said.
But there were never any prefab Easter baskets. It’s a family tradition to pick out all the treats and assemble custom candy and treat assortments for the kids, one year, in a little red wagon for each child, “and then the Easter bunny leaves them, like Santa Claus,” she said.
That’s how it was in my house, too.
Every year, mom would show us how to blow the gooey contents out of eggs, which we’d save for scrambled eggs or a quiche. It was not an easy task. Most years, if I remember right, we’d max out at about two apiece and then we’d decide to move on and dye the hard-boiled eggs.
I remember the dye pellets and powders and little decals and crayons. The results were never quite as impressive as the pictures on the little Easter kits. But we were very proud.
And we relished the leftover purple and pink and green and yellow deviled eggs, to snack on for days after the Easter feast, kind of a kiddy version of a St. Paddy’s day green beer blast. The eggs were almost as delicious as the first bite of your chocolate bunny’s eartips and as satisfying as consuming a hoarded stock of your favorite color of jelly beans. (I was partial to the minty green ones.)
I’ve wondered how a perfumer would sum up the aromas of an American Easter: ham, hard-cooked eggs, slightly stale candy, hot cross buns and fresh spring flowers and new grass. Irresistible.
But the true meaning of Easter does not elude childhood perceptions. Some of my first vivid memories of church ceremonies are indelibly joined with the traditions and displays: Easter lilies, the little Sunday School lessons and pledge envelopes with crosses, waving the palms we made out of green crepe paper ...
The crucifixion was a vital and necessary part of the sermons, lessons and passion plays, but somehow, in those kinder, gentler, pre-Mel Gibson “Passion of the Christ” days, the focus seemed to be on the hopeful, palm-waving preludes and the triumphant resurrection, rather than the crucial but gory and heartbreaking second act.
I thought about that as an adult one Caribbean spring, on a ship off the shores of Granada, as I watched their traditional Easter kite flying rites, symbolizing Christ’s ascension to Heaven.
I like the eggs and the bunnies. But if I had to hard-boil it down to the crucial elements of Easter for myself and my loved ones, I think I’d go with a crucial trinity of symbols: the palms, the crosses and the kites.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Artistic talent spans generations in the Mesilla Valley
Artistic talent spans generations in the Mesilla Valley
By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — For the Love of Art Month is officially over for 2010, but every day is prime time for art lovers and artists in this region, where art seems to be in our DNA.
I’ve lived here long enough, now, to know several generations of artists from the same families.
As it happened, this February was an especially vivid reminder of our gifted residents.
I had a chance to catch up with Carolyn Bunch, whose portraits of Borderland women have established a distinctive style and influenced generations of artists who were lucky enough to have her as a teacher, first in regional schools and in later years in her studio classes in the galleries she ran with her husband, Henry Bunch.
She’s also the mom of Tony Pennock, whose water tank murals have set another style trend, maybe even qualifying our region as the imaginative historic water tank mural capital of the world.
Tony’s kids are also helping to carry on the tradition. His son Myles, 22, recently helped Tony complete his latest mural near the site of the old Las Cruces landfill.
And there’s a multigenerational performing arts dynasty or two in the works, too. Tony Award-winning playwright and filmmakaer Mark Medoff and his wife Stephanie have some talented kids and grandkids who have shown up in stage and screen roles. Their daughter, opera singer Jessica Medoff Bunchman, continues to win awards and rave reviews from the likes of the New York Times. She’s based in New York and tours in a cabaret act she created with her pianist husband Michael Bunchman.
Also a hit in the Big Apple is nationally renowned concert pianist Jeremy Denk, who may have gotten some of his dramatic flair from his dad, Joe Denk, a frequent star in local theatrical productions.
The multitalented Divens, singer-songwriter-musician-playwrght- artist Bob, his brothers, physician-author Ben and photographer Jack, all grew up in Las Cruces with the late, great William Diven, a teacher and author whose winning credits included a singing triumph on the “Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour,” in its day a kind of precursor of “American Idol.”
Sometimes the artistic talent manifests itself in new ways. Playwright, educator and Alma d’arte/Court Youth Center cofounder Irene Oliver-Lewis grew up with talented fashion designer mom Cecilia and dad Fred Oliver, nationally known for his furniture and architectural skills.
And they’re related to a whole clan of talented primos y primas (cousins) that includes national award-winning writer Denise Chávez, artists Fred Chilton and Beverly Chávez-Floyd.
There are enough visual, performing and literary artists to festoon every branch of a very creative tree … or maybe a grove or small forest.
I keep meaning to do a chart, in fact, like one I attempted some years ago while visiting the New Mexico home base, in San Patricio, of the Hurd-Wyeth tribe, which includes famed artists Andrew, Jamie and Henriette Wyeth and Peter and Michael Hurd … and many other talented primos.
When the Doña Ana Arts Council’s CAP (Career Art Path) kids exhibit the creations each summer, I always seem to find some familiar names and faces, like the kids of Olin Calk, the sculptor-educator who created our city’s signature giant roadrunner.
And there’s lots more young talent burgeoning in the creative groves: poets, painters, novelists, playwrights, dancers, singers, musicians, actors, multimedia artists …
Is it the water or the DNA or some magical high desert creative alchemy?
Spring is prime time to check out new talent at exhibits and performances, from NMSU to local schools, theaters and galleries.
Go exploring. You might discover the latest talent in a fecund family, or the beginning of a whole new creative dynasty.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com; (575) 541-5450
By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — For the Love of Art Month is officially over for 2010, but every day is prime time for art lovers and artists in this region, where art seems to be in our DNA.
I’ve lived here long enough, now, to know several generations of artists from the same families.
As it happened, this February was an especially vivid reminder of our gifted residents.
I had a chance to catch up with Carolyn Bunch, whose portraits of Borderland women have established a distinctive style and influenced generations of artists who were lucky enough to have her as a teacher, first in regional schools and in later years in her studio classes in the galleries she ran with her husband, Henry Bunch.
She’s also the mom of Tony Pennock, whose water tank murals have set another style trend, maybe even qualifying our region as the imaginative historic water tank mural capital of the world.
Tony’s kids are also helping to carry on the tradition. His son Myles, 22, recently helped Tony complete his latest mural near the site of the old Las Cruces landfill.
And there’s a multigenerational performing arts dynasty or two in the works, too. Tony Award-winning playwright and filmmakaer Mark Medoff and his wife Stephanie have some talented kids and grandkids who have shown up in stage and screen roles. Their daughter, opera singer Jessica Medoff Bunchman, continues to win awards and rave reviews from the likes of the New York Times. She’s based in New York and tours in a cabaret act she created with her pianist husband Michael Bunchman.
Also a hit in the Big Apple is nationally renowned concert pianist Jeremy Denk, who may have gotten some of his dramatic flair from his dad, Joe Denk, a frequent star in local theatrical productions.
The multitalented Divens, singer-songwriter-musician-playwrght- artist Bob, his brothers, physician-author Ben and photographer Jack, all grew up in Las Cruces with the late, great William Diven, a teacher and author whose winning credits included a singing triumph on the “Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour,” in its day a kind of precursor of “American Idol.”
Sometimes the artistic talent manifests itself in new ways. Playwright, educator and Alma d’arte/Court Youth Center cofounder Irene Oliver-Lewis grew up with talented fashion designer mom Cecilia and dad Fred Oliver, nationally known for his furniture and architectural skills.
And they’re related to a whole clan of talented primos y primas (cousins) that includes national award-winning writer Denise Chávez, artists Fred Chilton and Beverly Chávez-Floyd.
There are enough visual, performing and literary artists to festoon every branch of a very creative tree … or maybe a grove or small forest.
I keep meaning to do a chart, in fact, like one I attempted some years ago while visiting the New Mexico home base, in San Patricio, of the Hurd-Wyeth tribe, which includes famed artists Andrew, Jamie and Henriette Wyeth and Peter and Michael Hurd … and many other talented primos.
When the Doña Ana Arts Council’s CAP (Career Art Path) kids exhibit the creations each summer, I always seem to find some familiar names and faces, like the kids of Olin Calk, the sculptor-educator who created our city’s signature giant roadrunner.
And there’s lots more young talent burgeoning in the creative groves: poets, painters, novelists, playwrights, dancers, singers, musicians, actors, multimedia artists …
Is it the water or the DNA or some magical high desert creative alchemy?
Spring is prime time to check out new talent at exhibits and performances, from NMSU to local schools, theaters and galleries.
Go exploring. You might discover the latest talent in a fecund family, or the beginning of a whole new creative dynasty.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com; (575) 541-5450
Artistic talent spans generations in the Mesilla Valley
Artistic talent spans generations in the Mesilla Valley
By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — For the Love of Art Month is officially over for 2010, but every day is prime time for art lovers and artists in this region, where art seems to be in our DNA.
I’ve lived here long enough, now, to know several generations of artists from the same families.
As it happened, this February was an especially vivid reminder of our gifted residents.
I had a chance to catch up with Carolyn Bunch, whose portraits of Borderland women have established a distinctive style and influenced generations of artists who were lucky enough to have her as a teacher, first in regional schools and in later years in her studio classes in the galleries she ran with her husband, Henry Bunch.
She’s also the mom of Tony Pennock, whose water tank murals have set another style trend, maybe even qualifying our region as the imaginative historic water tank mural capital of the world.
Tony’s kids are also helping to carry on the tradition. His son Myles, 22, recently helped Tony complete his latest mural near the site of the old Las Cruces landfill.
And there’s a multigenerational performing arts dynasty or two in the works, too. Tony Award-winning playwright and filmmakaer Mark Medoff and his wife Stephanie have some talented kids and grandkids who have shown up in stage and screen roles. Their daughter, opera singer Jessica Medoff Bunchman, continues to win awards and rave reviews from the likes of the New York Times. She’s based in New York and tours in a cabaret act she created with her pianist husband Michael Bunchman.
Also a hit in the Big Apple is nationally renowned concert pianist Jeremy Denk, who may have gotten some of his dramatic flair from his dad, Joe Denk, a frequent star in local theatrical productions.
The multitalented Divens, singer-songwriter-musician-playwrght- artist Bob, his brothers, physician-author Ben and photographer Jack, all grew up in Las Cruces with the late, great William Diven, a teacher and author whose winning credits included a singing triumph on the “Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour,” in its day a kind of precursor of “American Idol.”
Sometimes the artistic talent manifests itself in new ways. Playwright, educator and Alma d’arte/Court Youth Center cofounder Irene Oliver-Lewis grew up with talented fashion designer mom Cecilia and dad Fred Oliver, nationally known for his furniture and architectural skills.
And they’re related to a whole clan of talented primos y primas (cousins) that includes national award-winning writer Denise Chávez, artists Fred Chilton and Beverly Chávez-Floyd.
There are enough visual, performing and literary artists to festoon every branch of a very creative tree … or maybe a grove or small forest.
I keep meaning to do a chart, in fact, like one I attempted some years ago while visiting the New Mexico home base, in San Patricio, of the Hurd-Wyeth tribe, which includes famed artists Andrew, Jamie and Henriette Wyeth and Peter and Michael Hurd … and many other talented primos.
When the Doña Ana Arts Council’s CAP (Career Art Path) kids exhibit the creations each summer, I always seem to find some familiar names and faces, like the kids of Olin Calk, the sculptor-educator who created our city’s signature giant roadrunner.
And there’s lots more young talent burgeoning in the creative groves: poets, painters, novelists, playwrights, dancers, singers, musicians, actors, multimedia artists …
Is it the water or the DNA or some magical high desert creative alchemy?
Spring is prime time to check out new talent at exhibits and performances, from NMSU to local schools, theaters and galleries.
Go exploring. You might discover the latest talent in a fecund family, or the beginning of a whole new creative dynasty.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com; (575) 541-5450
By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — For the Love of Art Month is officially over for 2010, but every day is prime time for art lovers and artists in this region, where art seems to be in our DNA.
I’ve lived here long enough, now, to know several generations of artists from the same families.
As it happened, this February was an especially vivid reminder of our gifted residents.
I had a chance to catch up with Carolyn Bunch, whose portraits of Borderland women have established a distinctive style and influenced generations of artists who were lucky enough to have her as a teacher, first in regional schools and in later years in her studio classes in the galleries she ran with her husband, Henry Bunch.
She’s also the mom of Tony Pennock, whose water tank murals have set another style trend, maybe even qualifying our region as the imaginative historic water tank mural capital of the world.
Tony’s kids are also helping to carry on the tradition. His son Myles, 22, recently helped Tony complete his latest mural near the site of the old Las Cruces landfill.
And there’s a multigenerational performing arts dynasty or two in the works, too. Tony Award-winning playwright and filmmakaer Mark Medoff and his wife Stephanie have some talented kids and grandkids who have shown up in stage and screen roles. Their daughter, opera singer Jessica Medoff Bunchman, continues to win awards and rave reviews from the likes of the New York Times. She’s based in New York and tours in a cabaret act she created with her pianist husband Michael Bunchman.
Also a hit in the Big Apple is nationally renowned concert pianist Jeremy Denk, who may have gotten some of his dramatic flair from his dad, Joe Denk, a frequent star in local theatrical productions.
The multitalented Divens, singer-songwriter-musician-playwrght- artist Bob, his brothers, physician-author Ben and photographer Jack, all grew up in Las Cruces with the late, great William Diven, a teacher and author whose winning credits included a singing triumph on the “Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour,” in its day a kind of precursor of “American Idol.”
Sometimes the artistic talent manifests itself in new ways. Playwright, educator and Alma d’arte/Court Youth Center cofounder Irene Oliver-Lewis grew up with talented fashion designer mom Cecilia and dad Fred Oliver, nationally known for his furniture and architectural skills.
And they’re related to a whole clan of talented primos y primas (cousins) that includes national award-winning writer Denise Chávez, artists Fred Chilton and Beverly Chávez-Floyd.
There are enough visual, performing and literary artists to festoon every branch of a very creative tree … or maybe a grove or small forest.
I keep meaning to do a chart, in fact, like one I attempted some years ago while visiting the New Mexico home base, in San Patricio, of the Hurd-Wyeth tribe, which includes famed artists Andrew, Jamie and Henriette Wyeth and Peter and Michael Hurd … and many other talented primos.
When the Doña Ana Arts Council’s CAP (Career Art Path) kids exhibit the creations each summer, I always seem to find some familiar names and faces, like the kids of Olin Calk, the sculptor-educator who created our city’s signature giant roadrunner.
And there’s lots more young talent burgeoning in the creative groves: poets, painters, novelists, playwrights, dancers, singers, musicians, actors, multimedia artists …
Is it the water or the DNA or some magical high desert creative alchemy?
Spring is prime time to check out new talent at exhibits and performances, from NMSU to local schools, theaters and galleries.
Go exploring. You might discover the latest talent in a fecund family, or the beginning of a whole new creative dynasty.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com; (575) 541-5450
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