W ITH MORE THAN 30 ALBUMS and thousands of shows stretching back to the 1950s, Al Hurricane helped define the sound of modern New Mexico. Known as the godfather of New Mexico music, Hurricane passed…
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G ROWING UP, Fita Witte only knew life on her family’s ranch in the Estancia Valley. Born Fita Aceves, she married fifth-generation rancher Jerry Witte and worked the ranch for 60 years before retiring…
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WITHIN A FEW DAYS OF ARRIVING in New Mexico’s Embudo Valley, my wife, RoseMary, and I were inspecting a rental property in the upper end of the narrow valley. It was an old adobe, sans bathroom or…
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HOW DO YOU MAKE CHILE? It’s a common question in our capsicum-crazed state, a culinary query that sounds deceptively simple. Reach for a recipe and heat up a pot? Almost, but not. Long before the…
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P ORTER SWENTZELL, TRIBAL SECRETARY FOR SANTA CLARA PUEBLO and executive director of Kha’p’o Community School, admits that he isn’t an expert in turquoise. Some of Swentzell’s earliest memories are of…
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GROWING UP IN ALBUQUERQUE, I heard a lot of stories about New Mexico. Some were about brujas, or witches, and others were about Los Hermanos Penitentes. Indita songs told of cautivas (Indian captives)…
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N EW MEXICO’S WEATHER creates micro-climates everywhere, which makes weather forecasting tricky. After 33 years as a weatherman on KOB 4, Steve Stucker spent his last morning in front of a green screen…
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M ARY LAVIN GREW UP IN THE MIDWEST dreaming of the forests and mountains of the Southwest. She moved to New Mexico after studying forestry and natural resource management, and first worked in timber…
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J USTIN PIOCHE (DINÉ) DIDN’T GROW UP EATING NATIVE FOODS , like blue corn mush with juniper ash or kneel-down bread. “I ate mac and cheese and Taco Bell,” he recalls. Now the Farmington resident and…
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