A Place Prepared
Midnight ceremonies are held on Christmas Eve at San Estaban del Rey Mission church, founded in 1629. ON A CHILLY CHRISTMAS EVE just before sunset, my fiancé and I climb to Acoma Pueblo’s Sky City, a…
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Category: Only in NM
Called to the Bluffs
GROWING UP IN THE SOUTH, surrounded by hardwood trees that obscured one’s vision, expansive vistas were hard to find. The old highways bore “See Rock City” signs, and the occasional billboard showed…
Read MoreA Year of Enchantment
EVERY YEAR AROUND MARCH, the Air Force world is abuzz with assignment notifications for service members moving in the summer. It’s a great shuffling of the decks, and last time, my husband fully…
Read MoreBending Time in Taos
LAST SUMMER, I SUDDENLY became acutely aware of the swift passing of time. My younger daughter, Grace, would be a high school senior in just a few months and then headed to college. The inevitability…
Read MoreNew Mexico to Brazil
MY JOURNEY STARTED the day after a southern New Mexico thunderstorm created a massive flash flood. My brother Lucas and I wanted to go swimming. Micki, our mom, took us firmly in hand and stopped us…
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Roots that Run 100 Years Deep
IN 1916, MY MATERNAL grandparents homesteaded in New Mexico between Amistad and Nara Visa, south of Clayton. My mama was born there, along with five sisters and four brothers. While staying with her…
Read MoreCuentos y Querencia
Holy Thursday, El Santuario de Chimayó, 1982. From Look into My Eyes: Nuevomexicanos por Vida, ’81–’83. INTERGENERATIONAL KNOWLEDGE is common enough among New Mexicans, like the smell of fresh…
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The Call of the Wild, the Roar of the Jet
Above: Photo by Jeremey Wade Shockley THE SLIVER OF MOON did nothing to brighten the frigid dark of 5:30 a.m. on the side of Dead Man Peak. Sitting on the cold, hard ground, I was living out the dream…
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Only in NM
BONA FIDES At our Corrales writing group’s holiday party, we were enjoying some posole and margaritas when a longtime transplant from California looked up from his place on the living room couch and…
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Only in NM
SOUL SEARCHING My partner and I chose to vacation in New Mexico because of its scenic beauty: sunsets like fire, thousands of pecan trees in bloom, desert stillness. We traveled to many of the typical…
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