By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES —I dedicated most of a recent Saturday to something I’d never done before: a Star Wars marathon in official order of episodes I through VI.
So maybe I had some lingering Darth Vader-Evil Empire vibes to walk off when I headed out for my usual Sunday hike. I don’t know how else to account for my first dog bite.
I love dogs and they love me. Just about every dog I’ve ever met seems to sense that I am a person who was pretty much born with a cookie bone in my outstretched hand, who grew up thinking of dogs as my brothers ... and later, as my children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, all an integral part of my tribe.
I’ve made friends with strange dogs in strange lands all over the planet. I’ve befriended feral dogs in Jamaica trained to attack intruders on site ... at night, in a jungle, no less. In Germany, I rushed in where angels fear to tread, with members of a host family that included a quaking survivor of a brutal dog attack that so traumatized him that even humans could smell his fear at the sight of a tiny terrier. I made it my mission to show his kids that dogs could be your friends.
And all went well, for more than half a century.
It was a bright spring Sunday, as I prepared to cross the street and saw a couple walking their two dogs. One was a friendly-looking blue heeler who strained at her leash and came toward me, I thought, to greet me. I stopped, stood still, and held out my hand for her to sniff. She decided to bite me instead.
The desperado dog’s vet confirmed that the dog has had all her shots.
The Blue Cross hotline nurse said I should be able to get by with antibiotic ointments and bandages, if all goes well from here. As we traversed her diagnostic Web site together, we learned that if it had been a cat, monkey or alligator bite, I could have been in real trouble. I haven’t encountered any alligator victims since my days in Florida, but I’ve known cat bite victims who dealt with arms swelling to double size and even a lengthy hospitalization.
I’m crabby from a week without swimming to wait for the wound to heal. But otherwise, the major injury could be to my confidence in what has been dubbed “the family St. Francis of Assisi genes,” by my son, whose friendly animal magnetism vibes are so compelling that hummingbirds have been known to light and linger on his chest.
What motivated the chomp? The dog’s “mom,” who was very upset by the incident, said her dog had never bitten anyone before.
I was wearing a black hat, sunglasses and camouflage pants that day. Could I have conjured memories of someone who was once mean to the dog?
I did a little research and learned from Dogster.com that “Australian George Elliott developed the blue heeler in 1840, mixing native Dingoes with Collies and other herding dogs.”
Did I somehow trigger that doggy’s inner Dingo? Or maybe she was trying to include me in a herd?
As people spotted my black-and-blue-forearm and word got around, I heard some interesting stories from other dog lovers.
“My experience with that breed is that they can be aggressive and will bite,” said Michael Lambright, who told a tale of a 40-pound blue heeler who attacked Michael’s then-150 pound English Mastiff ... and the heeler then bit his own owner who tried to break up the fight.
You never know. Michael said he was once nailed by his beloved Brutus, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, in what he called a “jealousy-pack demotion” issue involving a new human member of the pack in his household.
“It's the only time in my life that I’ve been bitten by a dog with bad intentions. Puppy nips don’t count,” Michael noted.
I know how he feels. And I am determined not to let one incident daunt my lifelong habit of meeting and greeting man’s best friends.
I got a warm reception from the next dog I met, a darling pup on the patio at Milagro, and plan to continue my policy of offering cookie bones to new and old doggy amigos at the Saturday Las Cruces Farmers & Crafts Market and whenever else I get the chance.
In an ideal world, I could even dream of a peaceful, companionable walk through our ‘hood with that little blue heeler. I would like to be able to someday say that I patted the hair of the dog who bit me.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
You ought to be in movies...and probably will be, sooner or later, if you live in Las Crucess
By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — Wags have christened us Cruceswood and Hollywood on the Rio Grande, or included us in New Mexico’s statewide designation as Tamalewood.
Maybe we should just stick to Las Cruces ... our own name is becoming synonymous with moviemaking.
It seems like the last couple of years have brought us hot premieres of films full of local spots we all recognize.
Last year’s summer blockbuster with familiar locations was “Indian Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and this year’s, if the trailers are any indication, will be the new “Transformers” movie ... and a little later, the U.S. premiere of “The Burning Plain.”
While perusing movie trailers online, I’m already catching glimpses of White Sands and Organ Mountains in the distance and there will soon be more where those came from.
There are rumors about possible productions with budgets in the $20 million range whose producers are expressing interest in filming here. No names have been divulged, but we’ll keep you posted.
And as you’ll learn in today’s feature on this page, another three independent films are committed and firming up plans for productions here this summer.
I used to say that just about everyone in Doña Ana County has written a book and many people are working on their second or third. That holds true, and some days, it seems like we’ll soon be able to make similar claims for multi-movie makers.
In fact, if a film crew hasn’t already come to a neighborhood, mall, ranch, national park, military base of scenic mountain vista near you, I’d say it’s just a matter of time.
And don’t worry about dressing seductively and hanging out at whatever the contemporary version of a soda fountain might be, waiting to be discovered. And frankly, I wouldn’t invest a lot of money sprucing up your car or property in hopes your pimped out ride or palatial home will be tapped by movie scouts.
In my experience those movies dudes like us just the way we are: they’re looking for authenticity and often, the more weathered the better. Shabby adobe chic is hot now.
While I was doing interviews on a location shoot for “Traffic,” filmmakers confessed they had chosen Las Cruces International Airport because they couldn’t find any actual Mexican airports that looked battered and “Third World enough” until they discovered our charming, sandblasted, potholed runways.
My son’s band was once tapped for a two-day cameo in a Madonna movie, but what really bought him extended on-set access time was the producers’ choice of his old car, which rated a couple of weeks of on-camera shots, along with access to gourmet craft services meals for all the boys in the band.
Soon, I may have some stories of my own to add to the family filmography.
While I was checking out summer movies being filmed here, Mark Vasconcellos shared the plot for “Beyond,” Rob Walker’s tale about “a down-and-out reporter in a small college town,” looking for a big story. The reporter uncovers a plot to take over the planet by “aliens who cannot take life shape in our atmosphere and have infiltrated the city and have been impregnating local women to produce hybrids.”
Then he made us an offer that we, being bullish on Tamalewood, just couldn’t refuse.
He asked if the Las Cruces Sun-News building could be used as the movie’s newspaper.
I told him the offer couldn’t have come at a better time, and if he’s interested in local extras, he might be able to save some money on makeup, costuming and even special effects, since newsroom staffers Shari Vialpando, Amanda Husson and Brook Stockberger are all expecting babies — all human, rather than alien or hybrid, as far as we know — around the time of the shoot this summer.
Producer Vasconcellos shot back an enthusiastic e-mail:
“Wow! Coikeeedink!”
Now we’re looking forward to our 15 minutes of fame ... or, at least, our building’s moment of glory.
Soon, stardom could come to you, or someone or something close to you. Mark Medoff is seeking an “older RV” to be the “hero car” for his new film “Refuge,” for instance, and you may have just the star vehicle he’s looking for.
You ought to be in movies ... and chances are you will be, if you live in Las Cruces.
It’s just a matter of time. Stick with us, kid, we’ll make you a star.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — Wags have christened us Cruceswood and Hollywood on the Rio Grande, or included us in New Mexico’s statewide designation as Tamalewood.
Maybe we should just stick to Las Cruces ... our own name is becoming synonymous with moviemaking.
It seems like the last couple of years have brought us hot premieres of films full of local spots we all recognize.
Last year’s summer blockbuster with familiar locations was “Indian Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and this year’s, if the trailers are any indication, will be the new “Transformers” movie ... and a little later, the U.S. premiere of “The Burning Plain.”
While perusing movie trailers online, I’m already catching glimpses of White Sands and Organ Mountains in the distance and there will soon be more where those came from.
There are rumors about possible productions with budgets in the $20 million range whose producers are expressing interest in filming here. No names have been divulged, but we’ll keep you posted.
And as you’ll learn in today’s feature on this page, another three independent films are committed and firming up plans for productions here this summer.
I used to say that just about everyone in Doña Ana County has written a book and many people are working on their second or third. That holds true, and some days, it seems like we’ll soon be able to make similar claims for multi-movie makers.
In fact, if a film crew hasn’t already come to a neighborhood, mall, ranch, national park, military base of scenic mountain vista near you, I’d say it’s just a matter of time.
And don’t worry about dressing seductively and hanging out at whatever the contemporary version of a soda fountain might be, waiting to be discovered. And frankly, I wouldn’t invest a lot of money sprucing up your car or property in hopes your pimped out ride or palatial home will be tapped by movie scouts.
In my experience those movies dudes like us just the way we are: they’re looking for authenticity and often, the more weathered the better. Shabby adobe chic is hot now.
While I was doing interviews on a location shoot for “Traffic,” filmmakers confessed they had chosen Las Cruces International Airport because they couldn’t find any actual Mexican airports that looked battered and “Third World enough” until they discovered our charming, sandblasted, potholed runways.
My son’s band was once tapped for a two-day cameo in a Madonna movie, but what really bought him extended on-set access time was the producers’ choice of his old car, which rated a couple of weeks of on-camera shots, along with access to gourmet craft services meals for all the boys in the band.
Soon, I may have some stories of my own to add to the family filmography.
While I was checking out summer movies being filmed here, Mark Vasconcellos shared the plot for “Beyond,” Rob Walker’s tale about “a down-and-out reporter in a small college town,” looking for a big story. The reporter uncovers a plot to take over the planet by “aliens who cannot take life shape in our atmosphere and have infiltrated the city and have been impregnating local women to produce hybrids.”
Then he made us an offer that we, being bullish on Tamalewood, just couldn’t refuse.
He asked if the Las Cruces Sun-News building could be used as the movie’s newspaper.
I told him the offer couldn’t have come at a better time, and if he’s interested in local extras, he might be able to save some money on makeup, costuming and even special effects, since newsroom staffers Shari Vialpando, Amanda Husson and Brook Stockberger are all expecting babies — all human, rather than alien or hybrid, as far as we know — around the time of the shoot this summer.
Producer Vasconcellos shot back an enthusiastic e-mail:
“Wow! Coikeeedink!”
Now we’re looking forward to our 15 minutes of fame ... or, at least, our building’s moment of glory.
Soon, stardom could come to you, or someone or something close to you. Mark Medoff is seeking an “older RV” to be the “hero car” for his new film “Refuge,” for instance, and you may have just the star vehicle he’s looking for.
You ought to be in movies ... and chances are you will be, if you live in Las Cruces.
It’s just a matter of time. Stick with us, kid, we’ll make you a star.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
Friday, April 17, 2009
Fun & games with your newspaper
By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES —Ah, newspapers. I read ‘em, write ‘em, frame ‘em, exercise with them, clean, garden, start fires, recycle and get crafty with them. They enrich and document our lives from cradle to crave. I hope we find a way to keep them going, in print, as well as cyberspace.
It’s become a routine: I get my copy of the Las Cruces Sun-News and head for the health club. I read it while I‘m on the treadmill, then I divide it into sections and use it instead of towels while I work out the circuit-training machines. Then I toss the paper in the recycling bins in the Sun-News parking lot.
An interesting note: Richard B. Scudder, chairman of our parent company MediaNews Group, earned his laurels as a newspaper recycling superstar as coinventor of the de-inking process that has been used in the manufacture of millions of tons of recycled newsprint.
Since my 20s (back in the Jurassic Age), I’ve been telling career day classes that I expect to outlive newspapers as we know them, and I don’t come of long-lived stock.
I figure that prediction came true nearly a decade ago, as much of the news business moved online. I love the range and flexibility and immediacy that has given us, but I must confess I hope the print product can hang in there for at least another decade, especially in places like Las Cruces, where we have a sizable Baby Boomer-and-beyond population.
And frankly, I’ve enjoyed sharing with my grandchild all the wonders of newspapers that you just can’t get online.
Sometimes, it’s a matter of record, I thought, as I collected a bunch of front pages from local and regional newspapers on the day Barack Obama was inaugurated and put them in an airtight container to pass on to Alex and maybe, his kids and grandkids someday. Newspapers could also be a sound investment — online prices for some editions skyrocketed within a day, I noticed.
I have friends who create a little archival package for newborns on their birthday or do Internet searches for newspapers published on the day, and if possible the place, or a loved one’s birth or marriage. The older the recipient, the rarer and more appreciated is the gift, she’s found.
There’s something about the real thing, framed or lamenated: birth and wedding announcements, a scrapbook of a budding thespian’s or a high school sports hero’s achievements, a news or feature story documenting a loved one’s honors, even a final obituary, that just would not be the same in any other medium. Hidden away on CDs, printouts from an online Web site ... somehow just don’t cut it in the historical artifact category.
Newspapers in print form are fun and comforting in so many ways. After you’ve read them, clipped and preserved what you want, you can even enjoy a little interactive activity — could Soduku and crossword puzzles ever be as much fun online? Do you real want to curl up in bed with your laptop or schlepp it along everytime you take a walk to the park, the beach or your neighborhood coffee shop, let alone on vacation?
And when you’re finished, those newspapers are useful for a lot more than lining bird or hamster cages, training puppies or wrapping fish and chips.
Consider our gardens: Newspaper can be folded into little containers for starting seedlings, which decompose nicely after planting. Shredded newspaper is useful in compost heaps and vital in projects like worm farming.
Use them as kindling for fires, or form them into more substantial fuel with tight rolling and a little water.
Fresh off the press, they are said to be handy as a clean surface if you have to deliver a baby in a traffic jam or someplace else where it’s not possible to boil water.
They are also great for polishing windows and chrome.
They’re cheap, handy padding when you’re packing to move or shipping gifts.
And they can be stylish gift wrapping, too. Wrap a kid’s gift in the Sunday comic section. With black ribbon or cord, even black and white sections can create a sophisticated package.
As we showed you in a recent feature, you can make kites out of newspapers. And most of us already know how to transform newspapers into hats and paper airplanes.
Ah, newspapers. I hope we find a way to keep them going, in print, as well as cyberspace.
In the interest of ecumenical multimedia cooperation, I did a little online research and discovered sites that will show you how to make all kinds of things out of newspaper, from beads and furniture to weapons, dancing dollies, handbags and decoupaged boots.
You get the idea — and if you have more ideas, please send ‘em along and I’ll include them in a future column (online and in print).
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES —Ah, newspapers. I read ‘em, write ‘em, frame ‘em, exercise with them, clean, garden, start fires, recycle and get crafty with them. They enrich and document our lives from cradle to crave. I hope we find a way to keep them going, in print, as well as cyberspace.
It’s become a routine: I get my copy of the Las Cruces Sun-News and head for the health club. I read it while I‘m on the treadmill, then I divide it into sections and use it instead of towels while I work out the circuit-training machines. Then I toss the paper in the recycling bins in the Sun-News parking lot.
An interesting note: Richard B. Scudder, chairman of our parent company MediaNews Group, earned his laurels as a newspaper recycling superstar as coinventor of the de-inking process that has been used in the manufacture of millions of tons of recycled newsprint.
Since my 20s (back in the Jurassic Age), I’ve been telling career day classes that I expect to outlive newspapers as we know them, and I don’t come of long-lived stock.
I figure that prediction came true nearly a decade ago, as much of the news business moved online. I love the range and flexibility and immediacy that has given us, but I must confess I hope the print product can hang in there for at least another decade, especially in places like Las Cruces, where we have a sizable Baby Boomer-and-beyond population.
And frankly, I’ve enjoyed sharing with my grandchild all the wonders of newspapers that you just can’t get online.
Sometimes, it’s a matter of record, I thought, as I collected a bunch of front pages from local and regional newspapers on the day Barack Obama was inaugurated and put them in an airtight container to pass on to Alex and maybe, his kids and grandkids someday. Newspapers could also be a sound investment — online prices for some editions skyrocketed within a day, I noticed.
I have friends who create a little archival package for newborns on their birthday or do Internet searches for newspapers published on the day, and if possible the place, or a loved one’s birth or marriage. The older the recipient, the rarer and more appreciated is the gift, she’s found.
There’s something about the real thing, framed or lamenated: birth and wedding announcements, a scrapbook of a budding thespian’s or a high school sports hero’s achievements, a news or feature story documenting a loved one’s honors, even a final obituary, that just would not be the same in any other medium. Hidden away on CDs, printouts from an online Web site ... somehow just don’t cut it in the historical artifact category.
Newspapers in print form are fun and comforting in so many ways. After you’ve read them, clipped and preserved what you want, you can even enjoy a little interactive activity — could Soduku and crossword puzzles ever be as much fun online? Do you real want to curl up in bed with your laptop or schlepp it along everytime you take a walk to the park, the beach or your neighborhood coffee shop, let alone on vacation?
And when you’re finished, those newspapers are useful for a lot more than lining bird or hamster cages, training puppies or wrapping fish and chips.
Consider our gardens: Newspaper can be folded into little containers for starting seedlings, which decompose nicely after planting. Shredded newspaper is useful in compost heaps and vital in projects like worm farming.
Use them as kindling for fires, or form them into more substantial fuel with tight rolling and a little water.
Fresh off the press, they are said to be handy as a clean surface if you have to deliver a baby in a traffic jam or someplace else where it’s not possible to boil water.
They are also great for polishing windows and chrome.
They’re cheap, handy padding when you’re packing to move or shipping gifts.
And they can be stylish gift wrapping, too. Wrap a kid’s gift in the Sunday comic section. With black ribbon or cord, even black and white sections can create a sophisticated package.
As we showed you in a recent feature, you can make kites out of newspapers. And most of us already know how to transform newspapers into hats and paper airplanes.
Ah, newspapers. I hope we find a way to keep them going, in print, as well as cyberspace.
In the interest of ecumenical multimedia cooperation, I did a little online research and discovered sites that will show you how to make all kinds of things out of newspaper, from beads and furniture to weapons, dancing dollies, handbags and decoupaged boots.
You get the idea — and if you have more ideas, please send ‘em along and I’ll include them in a future column (online and in print).
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
Friday, April 10, 2009
North & South (New Mexico) move closer
By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
SANTA FE — When I lived in Santa Fe, it seemed like a daunting distance from Las Cruces. And even now, it sometimes seems that a long morning’s drive can take you to a very different world, when you end up in the City Different.
But this spring, not so much. It was old home week in Santa Fe. Give or take a few feet of snow, of course.
After a few weeks in the 70s and 80s here, I was prepared to ignore the forecast of snow and cold in the north, but sure enough, the flakes started coming down around Soccoro and got thicker until Belen and tapered off in Albuquerque. I discovered old man winter had already made his last stand in the City Different and there were a couple of feet of snow blowing in blustery drifts when I met old Santa Fe amigos at the Pink Adobe and the exotically-appointed Inn of the Five Graces. I might have been in Morocco.
It was clear I was not in Las Cruces anymore.
But within a few hours, I began to wonder. At a Museum of New Mexico (MNM) reception at La Fonda, one of the first Las Crucens I spotted was J. Paul Taylor, now a member of the MNM Board of Regents, with his daughter Mary Helen Ratje He was among visitors from throughout New Mexico on hand for an informational weekend focusing on the museum system, including a tour of the brand new, New Mexico History Museum, slated to open on Memorial Day. Other Las Crucens there for the special invitational “museum ambassadors” weekend included Dr. Tom Gerend, Linda and David Kinkaid and Thais and Jim Noble.
New Mexico History Museum director Frances Levine stressed that this will be a museum for all of New Mexico, and issued a special invitation for groups from our area to participate in the opening ceremonies that will include a procession from the St. Francis Cathedral to the new museum at 10 a.m. on May 25.
There’s a burgeoning multicultural lineup for the celebration.
“We’ll have low riders from Northern New Mexico and a group of Chinese Lion dancers from Albuquerque. Everyone is welcome: school groups, historical societies ... I think there are almost 100 historical groups in New Mexico. Come and carry your banner or send it to us and we’ll get someone to carry it,” Levine said.
If you’d like information about participating, contact Dorothy Bracey at (505) 473 9646 or e-mail dhbracey@comcast.net
I headed out for dinner with old friends (Santa Feans-turned Las Crucens who have recently moved to Santa Fe again) and while we ordered a pizza, I ran into long-time Las Cruces artist Dave Rothermel.
He told me he’s opening a gallery in Santa Fe, DR Fine Art at 123 Galisteo St., a block off the Santa Fe Plaza.
“We’ll be opening May 1. I really like Las Cruces and plan to continue to spend time there, but the time seemed right for Santa Fe,” said Rothermel, whose latest gallery was in the Mercado de la Mesilla.
His “official opening” will be a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. June 5.
“The gallery will not only feature my own work but will include emerging and established artists. Special events and exhibits will include a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, famous celebrity artists, and selected works by noted contemporary artists,” David said, and promised to keep us posted on the details. To keep in touch, e-mail him at drfineart@me.com
The next morning, I hiked over to Santa Fe’s trendy Railyard District and on the way to the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market, passed by the Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, at 435 S. Guadalupe St., the new gallery of Ned Bennett and his wife Sandy Zane, the Southern New Mexico artist who exhibited here and owned White Raven Gallery in Las Cruces. Their current exhibits include the innovative “Waning and Waxing: The Resurgence of Encaustic” by the New Mexico Wax Group, and their Web site, www.zanebenettgallery.com, reports they will also be part of Art Chicago 2009 in May. If you’re in Santa Fe, check out their unique gallery space, which includes a sky-lighted, two-story central atrium, glass staircase and catwalk.
There’s a lot going on, with Santa Fe preparing to celebrate its 400th anniversary and our impressive state museum system commemorating some milestones of its own. Soon, I’ll be telling you about some intriguing fiestas and developments, and places to stay and things to do, if you’re making vacation plans. Or maybe just planning a little road trip getaway.
The north and south parts of the state seem to be getting closer all the time.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
Sun-News reporter
SANTA FE — When I lived in Santa Fe, it seemed like a daunting distance from Las Cruces. And even now, it sometimes seems that a long morning’s drive can take you to a very different world, when you end up in the City Different.
But this spring, not so much. It was old home week in Santa Fe. Give or take a few feet of snow, of course.
After a few weeks in the 70s and 80s here, I was prepared to ignore the forecast of snow and cold in the north, but sure enough, the flakes started coming down around Soccoro and got thicker until Belen and tapered off in Albuquerque. I discovered old man winter had already made his last stand in the City Different and there were a couple of feet of snow blowing in blustery drifts when I met old Santa Fe amigos at the Pink Adobe and the exotically-appointed Inn of the Five Graces. I might have been in Morocco.
It was clear I was not in Las Cruces anymore.
But within a few hours, I began to wonder. At a Museum of New Mexico (MNM) reception at La Fonda, one of the first Las Crucens I spotted was J. Paul Taylor, now a member of the MNM Board of Regents, with his daughter Mary Helen Ratje He was among visitors from throughout New Mexico on hand for an informational weekend focusing on the museum system, including a tour of the brand new, New Mexico History Museum, slated to open on Memorial Day. Other Las Crucens there for the special invitational “museum ambassadors” weekend included Dr. Tom Gerend, Linda and David Kinkaid and Thais and Jim Noble.
New Mexico History Museum director Frances Levine stressed that this will be a museum for all of New Mexico, and issued a special invitation for groups from our area to participate in the opening ceremonies that will include a procession from the St. Francis Cathedral to the new museum at 10 a.m. on May 25.
There’s a burgeoning multicultural lineup for the celebration.
“We’ll have low riders from Northern New Mexico and a group of Chinese Lion dancers from Albuquerque. Everyone is welcome: school groups, historical societies ... I think there are almost 100 historical groups in New Mexico. Come and carry your banner or send it to us and we’ll get someone to carry it,” Levine said.
If you’d like information about participating, contact Dorothy Bracey at (505) 473 9646 or e-mail dhbracey@comcast.net
I headed out for dinner with old friends (Santa Feans-turned Las Crucens who have recently moved to Santa Fe again) and while we ordered a pizza, I ran into long-time Las Cruces artist Dave Rothermel.
He told me he’s opening a gallery in Santa Fe, DR Fine Art at 123 Galisteo St., a block off the Santa Fe Plaza.
“We’ll be opening May 1. I really like Las Cruces and plan to continue to spend time there, but the time seemed right for Santa Fe,” said Rothermel, whose latest gallery was in the Mercado de la Mesilla.
His “official opening” will be a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. June 5.
“The gallery will not only feature my own work but will include emerging and established artists. Special events and exhibits will include a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, famous celebrity artists, and selected works by noted contemporary artists,” David said, and promised to keep us posted on the details. To keep in touch, e-mail him at drfineart@me.com
The next morning, I hiked over to Santa Fe’s trendy Railyard District and on the way to the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market, passed by the Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, at 435 S. Guadalupe St., the new gallery of Ned Bennett and his wife Sandy Zane, the Southern New Mexico artist who exhibited here and owned White Raven Gallery in Las Cruces. Their current exhibits include the innovative “Waning and Waxing: The Resurgence of Encaustic” by the New Mexico Wax Group, and their Web site, www.zanebenettgallery.com, reports they will also be part of Art Chicago 2009 in May. If you’re in Santa Fe, check out their unique gallery space, which includes a sky-lighted, two-story central atrium, glass staircase and catwalk.
There’s a lot going on, with Santa Fe preparing to celebrate its 400th anniversary and our impressive state museum system commemorating some milestones of its own. Soon, I’ll be telling you about some intriguing fiestas and developments, and places to stay and things to do, if you’re making vacation plans. Or maybe just planning a little road trip getaway.
The north and south parts of the state seem to be getting closer all the time.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Alternative occupations: kites & celebrations
Alternative vocations for professional wordworkers
By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — It has been said of baby boomers that we are the first generation to reincarnate repeatedly within a single lifetime.
Sometimes it’s called “reinventing ourselves,” as Baby Boomer Madonna has exemplified over the years.
Photographer John Flannery, recently summed up my work history this way: “veteran wordworker.”
Personally, I’ve been pretty happily settled into journalism from age 13, when I had my first paying gig for a Michigan daily, to the present, though I admit there are have been some jaunts into other fields over the decades.
I was a vice president for a couple of Florida’s largest advertising agencies and headed my own public interest public relations firm in metropolitan Portland, Ore. I’ve been an arts council executive in Palm Beach, Fla., coordinated a network of public, private and academic libraries, handled media relations for Michigan State University and Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, planned fiestas and concert series and even set up permanent and rotating art exhibits and musical performances at an international airport.
Believe it or not, all these,—and pretty much every gig I’ve had over the last half-century— have involved writing in some form.
No matter the job, the clients and situations, it has always fallen to me to tell the stories. I’ve written newspaper and magazine articles, media releases and public service announcements. And newsletters, display ads, radio and television commercials, headlines, billboards and even a few political buttons and aerial banners.
I’ve written three books: a biography, a novel and a mystery, and contributed to several other volumes over the years. I’ve written a documentary and several poems and songs (as you might expect, I’m stronger on lyrics than music).
When I worked with Ballet Florida, I was not leaping and hovering around en pointe, I was writing librettos, little summaries of the stories that inspired various ballets so the dancers would have some insight into characters like Salome.
I’ve collaborated on titles and phrases for medical abstracts and names for new restaurant chains and upscale housing developments.
Even on occasions when pictures should have been worth more than a thousand words, I’ve been asked to contribute a few well-chosen mots. Once, when I was gallery-sitting for a friend in Santa Fe, I got bored and rechristened a few of her paintings with some more poetic descriptions ... and was treated to lunch and a signed original when the renamed works all sold that week.
It’s been a life full of words for me, all right.
But sometimes, when I’m having a rough day, I reflect on that old Monty Python segue line: And now, for something completely different.
Stories in recent weeks have introduced me to vocations I didn’t know were out there.
Recent artist of the week Peter Miche told me about being a certified celebrant: which, according to the Celebrant USA Foundation Institute, involves “Creating, designing and facilitating ceremonies and rituals marking those important transitions in life, such as coming of age ceremonies, home blessings, house warmings and baby naming/blessings.”
Sounds cool, and I’m sure many of my festival planning and promotion and Palm Beach party planning skills would come in handy. But I suspect lots of words are involved in all those symbolism-rich ceremonies.
While interviewing Bruce DeFoor about the Ruidoso Kite Festival, I learned there are actually professional kite fliers who are sought-after for festivals throughout the planet.
So now, come what may, I am a wordworker with an alternative life style plan.
I can always turn pro on the international kite circuit.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — It has been said of baby boomers that we are the first generation to reincarnate repeatedly within a single lifetime.
Sometimes it’s called “reinventing ourselves,” as Baby Boomer Madonna has exemplified over the years.
Photographer John Flannery, recently summed up my work history this way: “veteran wordworker.”
Personally, I’ve been pretty happily settled into journalism from age 13, when I had my first paying gig for a Michigan daily, to the present, though I admit there are have been some jaunts into other fields over the decades.
I was a vice president for a couple of Florida’s largest advertising agencies and headed my own public interest public relations firm in metropolitan Portland, Ore. I’ve been an arts council executive in Palm Beach, Fla., coordinated a network of public, private and academic libraries, handled media relations for Michigan State University and Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, planned fiestas and concert series and even set up permanent and rotating art exhibits and musical performances at an international airport.
Believe it or not, all these,—and pretty much every gig I’ve had over the last half-century— have involved writing in some form.
No matter the job, the clients and situations, it has always fallen to me to tell the stories. I’ve written newspaper and magazine articles, media releases and public service announcements. And newsletters, display ads, radio and television commercials, headlines, billboards and even a few political buttons and aerial banners.
I’ve written three books: a biography, a novel and a mystery, and contributed to several other volumes over the years. I’ve written a documentary and several poems and songs (as you might expect, I’m stronger on lyrics than music).
When I worked with Ballet Florida, I was not leaping and hovering around en pointe, I was writing librettos, little summaries of the stories that inspired various ballets so the dancers would have some insight into characters like Salome.
I’ve collaborated on titles and phrases for medical abstracts and names for new restaurant chains and upscale housing developments.
Even on occasions when pictures should have been worth more than a thousand words, I’ve been asked to contribute a few well-chosen mots. Once, when I was gallery-sitting for a friend in Santa Fe, I got bored and rechristened a few of her paintings with some more poetic descriptions ... and was treated to lunch and a signed original when the renamed works all sold that week.
It’s been a life full of words for me, all right.
But sometimes, when I’m having a rough day, I reflect on that old Monty Python segue line: And now, for something completely different.
Stories in recent weeks have introduced me to vocations I didn’t know were out there.
Recent artist of the week Peter Miche told me about being a certified celebrant: which, according to the Celebrant USA Foundation Institute, involves “Creating, designing and facilitating ceremonies and rituals marking those important transitions in life, such as coming of age ceremonies, home blessings, house warmings and baby naming/blessings.”
Sounds cool, and I’m sure many of my festival planning and promotion and Palm Beach party planning skills would come in handy. But I suspect lots of words are involved in all those symbolism-rich ceremonies.
While interviewing Bruce DeFoor about the Ruidoso Kite Festival, I learned there are actually professional kite fliers who are sought-after for festivals throughout the planet.
So now, come what may, I am a wordworker with an alternative life style plan.
I can always turn pro on the international kite circuit.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
Easter Creativity around the world
By S. Derrickson Moore
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — Creativity and traditions make Easter special all over the planet.
I still have fond childhood memories of Easter in the Midwest, where family celebrations included Technicolor hard-boiled eggs and bunnies and maybe a new Bible with a white cover. A brand new robin’s egg blue dress with a matching little purse and shoes. Clove-covered ham and hot-cross buns.
As a New Mexican, my memory repertoire has expanded.
Ramos and condoleros. Savory capirotada. Colorful cascarones, egg shells filled with confetti and small treats.
If you’re new to the Southwest, some explanations might be in order.
Some native New Mexicans look forward all year to capirotada, a traditional bread pudding that is made with toasted, day-old bread and a syrup of water, brown sugar, cloves and cinnamon. Other crucial ingredients include raisins, peanuts and/or pecans, honey, coconut, and lots of cheese ... preferably cheddar from what I’ve been told.
In Las Cruces, I’ve enjoyed watching members of the Tortugas Pueblo collect desert materials to make ramos and condoleros for Palm Sunday. Watching the camaraderie of those who create the ceremonial Easter decorations is a joyful and moving experience in itself, rather different from the harried Sunday school teachers I remember in Michigan, trying to gather and hand out enough dried up imported pond fronds for a respectable church ceremony. Sometimes we gave up and made our “palms” out of cardboard tubes and green crepe paper.
On a cruise through the Caribbean with friends, I woke up one Easter morning aboard ship to find a colorful fleet of kites rising in the winds on shore. In the island nation of Grenada, kite flying represents the resurrection of Christ.
Since then, kite flying is something I’ve tried to incorporate into my own family Easter celebrations.
This year, I’ve enjoyed hearing about some other seasonal traditions.
Karen Swaney e-mailed me about her Good Friday Easter Flamingo Brunch, now in its ninth year, which attracts up to 26 people, including fans who drive in from Arizona.
“It’s neighbors, relatives and friends. The whole house and yard get decorated with flamingo attire, the guests wear pink, get a flamingo silly gift of some type and for fun we have a Flamingo Basket Hunt in the back yard. We also have a Flamingo Queen and Flamingo Lady In Waiting — some years new people are crowned and other years we just ‘re-Flamingo’ them. They have tiaras, the Queen has a pink boa and I have a big pink silk piece that we put in the back yard so they can walk the Pink Carpet. We have hors d’oeuvres (I provide mainly shrimp as that is what Flamingos eat to keep their pink color) and a potluck type brunch,” Swaney reports.
She notes that it’s “silly and fun” and enjoyed by guests both old and young.
Trish Higdon is part of a group hoping to start a new Easter bonnet decorating tradition here this year.
“We’re inviting women to bring hats and glue guns and join us from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 4, in the parish hall at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 518 N. Alameda Blvd. We’ll have materials to help decorate the hats and then the ladies can all wear them to Easter services,” said Higdon, who stressed that the Easter bonnet decorating fiesta is free and open to everyone.
“We heard from a parishioner about doing this and decided it would be something fun to try here,” she said.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
Sun-News reporter
LAS CRUCES — Creativity and traditions make Easter special all over the planet.
I still have fond childhood memories of Easter in the Midwest, where family celebrations included Technicolor hard-boiled eggs and bunnies and maybe a new Bible with a white cover. A brand new robin’s egg blue dress with a matching little purse and shoes. Clove-covered ham and hot-cross buns.
As a New Mexican, my memory repertoire has expanded.
Ramos and condoleros. Savory capirotada. Colorful cascarones, egg shells filled with confetti and small treats.
If you’re new to the Southwest, some explanations might be in order.
Some native New Mexicans look forward all year to capirotada, a traditional bread pudding that is made with toasted, day-old bread and a syrup of water, brown sugar, cloves and cinnamon. Other crucial ingredients include raisins, peanuts and/or pecans, honey, coconut, and lots of cheese ... preferably cheddar from what I’ve been told.
In Las Cruces, I’ve enjoyed watching members of the Tortugas Pueblo collect desert materials to make ramos and condoleros for Palm Sunday. Watching the camaraderie of those who create the ceremonial Easter decorations is a joyful and moving experience in itself, rather different from the harried Sunday school teachers I remember in Michigan, trying to gather and hand out enough dried up imported pond fronds for a respectable church ceremony. Sometimes we gave up and made our “palms” out of cardboard tubes and green crepe paper.
On a cruise through the Caribbean with friends, I woke up one Easter morning aboard ship to find a colorful fleet of kites rising in the winds on shore. In the island nation of Grenada, kite flying represents the resurrection of Christ.
Since then, kite flying is something I’ve tried to incorporate into my own family Easter celebrations.
This year, I’ve enjoyed hearing about some other seasonal traditions.
Karen Swaney e-mailed me about her Good Friday Easter Flamingo Brunch, now in its ninth year, which attracts up to 26 people, including fans who drive in from Arizona.
“It’s neighbors, relatives and friends. The whole house and yard get decorated with flamingo attire, the guests wear pink, get a flamingo silly gift of some type and for fun we have a Flamingo Basket Hunt in the back yard. We also have a Flamingo Queen and Flamingo Lady In Waiting — some years new people are crowned and other years we just ‘re-Flamingo’ them. They have tiaras, the Queen has a pink boa and I have a big pink silk piece that we put in the back yard so they can walk the Pink Carpet. We have hors d’oeuvres (I provide mainly shrimp as that is what Flamingos eat to keep their pink color) and a potluck type brunch,” Swaney reports.
She notes that it’s “silly and fun” and enjoyed by guests both old and young.
Trish Higdon is part of a group hoping to start a new Easter bonnet decorating tradition here this year.
“We’re inviting women to bring hats and glue guns and join us from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 4, in the parish hall at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 518 N. Alameda Blvd. We’ll have materials to help decorate the hats and then the ladies can all wear them to Easter services,” said Higdon, who stressed that the Easter bonnet decorating fiesta is free and open to everyone.
“We heard from a parishioner about doing this and decided it would be something fun to try here,” she said.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
Desperados at large
LAS CRUCES — It’s the dark side of curb appeal.
I spent an early spring afternoon painting a four-foot pot my favorite color, lapis lazuli blue.
Then I epoxied a matching gazing ball on top and carefully positioned it in my front yard.
A few days later, I came home to discover the ball had been chiseled off.
Within 24 hours, the chiselers had returned for the matching pot, and ambled up to my front porch patio table to collect a bonus, a pretty little silver-colored pot filled with geraniums.
It was a gift from friends who no longer live in Las Cruces, and I thought of them every day when I saw it. I miss my amigos.
And the planters: I love the sight of silver and bright blue against adobe.
I guess the thieves did, too.
Though the sentimental value was a lot greater than the monetary loss, I decided I might as well report the thefts.
A kind and funny police officer called me right back.
“The sun is out and people are shopping for gardening stuff,” he told me, adding that on that first, unseasonably hot, springy day, there had been a rash of reported thefts of similar items in neighborhoods around Las Cruces.
It’s one answer to economic tough times, I suspect: Cruise the ’hoods to assemble a wish list, go home and plot your garden and dream patio.
Then, instead of heading for your favorite gardening center or superstore, wait until it gets dark and just pick up what you like from the most vulnerable looking neighborhood yards.
Part of me hopes people that desperate will at least enjoy my things as much as I have, but I suspect the police officer is right in his final conclusion that they probably swiped things to try to sell, and people desperate enough to risk jail for a few bucks are probably mired in a pretty deep maelstrom of misery.
Pundits are now saying we may have been a recession for as long as two years.
But for many, I think, the realization of the depth and scope of the economic crisis is finally being acknowledged as a daily reality … and part of that reality is that desperate times evoke desperate actions, and increasingly desperate reactions.
A post-theft walk around my neighborhood revealed things I hadn’t noticed before: more lights on early in the evenings, front yard benches chained to fences, pots and containers replaced by permanent plantings. We are moving from open porches to secluded patios, iron fences and padlocked gates.
Often, when people feel out of control themselves, they try harder to control others.
I’ve pretty well figured out my missions for this part of my life: to warn and heal, mix the medicine with a bit of joy and comic relief when possible, fly the occasional kite. And offer handy-dandy survival tips garnered in more than a half-century of a challenging life, during which I have often been blessed to meet and learn from some very wise souls.
One of them was prophet, philosopher-psychologist and author Tenny Hale, who talked a lot about the principle of spiritual vaccination. When there is sickness, you rush to help. You could well develop an immunity in the process, or if you act promptly and well, are more likely to find the resources for treatment and cure if you or your loved ones get sick.
Or, Hale said, if you learn of a fire, rush to help fight it. If we all pitch in and allocate some of our own resources, the fire may be out before it hits our neighborhood. If the fire does come near, we’ll know more about it, including ways to prevent its spread, stop its destruction, survive its aftermath.
I warned my nearest neighbors about the pilfering. We discussed locks and security systems and neighborhood watch programs. I thought about a big adobe wall and gate for my front patio.
But I’d rather have the bright light streaming into my living room and my porch, which again has a pretty pot, a heavier one now, filled with geraniums.
And I noticed my garage and back bedroom are overflowing with things I almost never use. Instead of a garage sale, it’s probably time to round them up and donate them to charities. Times are tough and there are a lot of desperate people out there who need help.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
I spent an early spring afternoon painting a four-foot pot my favorite color, lapis lazuli blue.
Then I epoxied a matching gazing ball on top and carefully positioned it in my front yard.
A few days later, I came home to discover the ball had been chiseled off.
Within 24 hours, the chiselers had returned for the matching pot, and ambled up to my front porch patio table to collect a bonus, a pretty little silver-colored pot filled with geraniums.
It was a gift from friends who no longer live in Las Cruces, and I thought of them every day when I saw it. I miss my amigos.
And the planters: I love the sight of silver and bright blue against adobe.
I guess the thieves did, too.
Though the sentimental value was a lot greater than the monetary loss, I decided I might as well report the thefts.
A kind and funny police officer called me right back.
“The sun is out and people are shopping for gardening stuff,” he told me, adding that on that first, unseasonably hot, springy day, there had been a rash of reported thefts of similar items in neighborhoods around Las Cruces.
It’s one answer to economic tough times, I suspect: Cruise the ’hoods to assemble a wish list, go home and plot your garden and dream patio.
Then, instead of heading for your favorite gardening center or superstore, wait until it gets dark and just pick up what you like from the most vulnerable looking neighborhood yards.
Part of me hopes people that desperate will at least enjoy my things as much as I have, but I suspect the police officer is right in his final conclusion that they probably swiped things to try to sell, and people desperate enough to risk jail for a few bucks are probably mired in a pretty deep maelstrom of misery.
Pundits are now saying we may have been a recession for as long as two years.
But for many, I think, the realization of the depth and scope of the economic crisis is finally being acknowledged as a daily reality … and part of that reality is that desperate times evoke desperate actions, and increasingly desperate reactions.
A post-theft walk around my neighborhood revealed things I hadn’t noticed before: more lights on early in the evenings, front yard benches chained to fences, pots and containers replaced by permanent plantings. We are moving from open porches to secluded patios, iron fences and padlocked gates.
Often, when people feel out of control themselves, they try harder to control others.
I’ve pretty well figured out my missions for this part of my life: to warn and heal, mix the medicine with a bit of joy and comic relief when possible, fly the occasional kite. And offer handy-dandy survival tips garnered in more than a half-century of a challenging life, during which I have often been blessed to meet and learn from some very wise souls.
One of them was prophet, philosopher-psychologist and author Tenny Hale, who talked a lot about the principle of spiritual vaccination. When there is sickness, you rush to help. You could well develop an immunity in the process, or if you act promptly and well, are more likely to find the resources for treatment and cure if you or your loved ones get sick.
Or, Hale said, if you learn of a fire, rush to help fight it. If we all pitch in and allocate some of our own resources, the fire may be out before it hits our neighborhood. If the fire does come near, we’ll know more about it, including ways to prevent its spread, stop its destruction, survive its aftermath.
I warned my nearest neighbors about the pilfering. We discussed locks and security systems and neighborhood watch programs. I thought about a big adobe wall and gate for my front patio.
But I’d rather have the bright light streaming into my living room and my porch, which again has a pretty pot, a heavier one now, filled with geraniums.
And I noticed my garage and back bedroom are overflowing with things I almost never use. Instead of a garage sale, it’s probably time to round them up and donate them to charities. Times are tough and there are a lot of desperate people out there who need help.
S. Derrickson Moore can be reached at dmoore@lcsun-news.com
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