Starting a New School Year

Back to School for 2007-2008 School Year

I'm back at school, and after the first week of being with children, I am happy to be starting my thirty-second and one-half year of teaching. Of course the first week is our honeymoon period. Ever student is on their best behavior. I'm still in their good graces and haven't asked them to do too much, yet. The smiles on my student's face makes every day I'm there worth the hard work it takes to do my job. We also have many new and young teachers on our staff. There is a lot of very positive energy and enthusiasm which I know will really help my school.

Every new school year is a new start with new hope. I even know that students who were difficult to work with last year, can be very different in the next. I'm often asked why I don't retire, well in what other profession can I begin a new each August, and have as much love in my life as I do with teaching. What other profession can I know that I have made a difference in some way for at least some of the people I've worked with. Also, in most other professions there are always “down times” that can be boring. There is never a boring minute in teaching.

I had a wonderful conversation with a girl in my advisory class about the death of Dulce and that of her first dog. The empathy of some 12 year old girls has delighted me over the years. Twelve year old girls often reinforce my belief that we have past lives and old or young souls. I've know too many twelve year old girls that had the grace, wisdom and presence that can only go with an old soul.

I'm still mourning the loss of Dulce, my cat that lived over twenty years. I miss waking up and finding her curled around my head on my pillow. I miss our twice daily ritual of the past 20 plus years of my stroking her soft back as she eats. I miss having her curl up in my lap, and the worst is not seeing her in the window watching and waiting for me to come home from school each day. I haven't stopped missing Tesuque, my other cat who died about one and one-half years ago. Or Polly, but the year that has passed helps. Dulce's death is so close by, and she was with me for so very long.

It is unfortunate to have had all our cats be about the same age because the loss of so many so close to each other has been devastating to us. We still have Quatro and Cassy, and we are giving them all our love. The death of their fellow cats has hit them in many aspects. They were always on the lower rung of the kitty social ladder. They were always the cats that weren't into cuddling. Quatro has always been on the edge between feral and tame, yet lately he is crawling into my lap more often. Of course never for very long, but I feel honored that he comes in the first place.

To my fellow teachers beginning school soon, remember that the love and caring you give your students will repay you time and time again. Start each year viewing every student, even those you already know too well, as perfect children. They will be more responsive to you if you do. Remind them everyday just how glad you are to be there, how much you love your subject and how much your job means to you. Show passion for your work, and tell them something unusual about your subject. Smile, smile, smile until your face knows nothing but smiling. Take the time to say something nice to as many students as you can. Thank your students for their good behavior from the first minute, and always try to be positive. Work hard to learn their names by their faces, not by where they sit, as soon as possible. I promise you this is the best way to start a new school year.

A Sad Day, Goodbye my dearest Dulce & Who Gives Money to Politicians

Early this morning my cat Dulce died. I was expecting it. I stayed up until 3 holding her and giving her love. She must have died shortly after I went to bed. Even though I was expecting it, I'm feeling very sad. She was such a great cat, and she gave me so much love for a for such a long time, for which I'm grateful. Dulce loved life, but she just couldn't hold on any longer. There will always be a emptiness without her. When my husband's cat, Polly and my Tesuque died, we decided that before we get more cats, we'd give all the love we had for them to the cats we still have. Now, the same is true. My Quatro, my homeless feral kitty and Cassy will get lots of love. You can see all the cats that have been in my life beginning with Tigre & Dulce, to Tesuque & Quato, and lastly Polly & Cassy on my website. Tigre, Dulce, Tesuque and Quatro were all strays that decided they were going to move in with me. Polly & Cassy were given to my husband as kittens by his daughter, Chamisa, to keep him company because he was separated from her mother.

So I've tried to keep my mind occupied by working on the following information which I got from Campaign for America's Future. They keeps track of how members of Congress voted on issues I'm concerned about. On their sister site TomPaine.common sense there is a satirical video that made me giggle. I'm placing it below to share with anyone who happens to pass by.


I personally feel that “big money” interests controls Congress, so I'm glad the information included just how much money donated to each person. I also am concerned with how Congress and the Executive Branch of our government has dealt with the aftermath of Katrina. The Executive Branch refused help that was offered in lieu of giving contracts to their cronies, especially Halliburtan. The lack of humanity of the present government is at an all time high. This government has been all about serving a small group of their business cronies, and has stopped serving the interest of the people.

I copied some of the information to write about here. I have the data for New México's Congressional members, and for those folks in Congress who are running for President. I have not decided who I'm voting for in our state caucus, so I'm looking how candidates voted instead of just listening what they say. It takes time to figure out how our Congress people vote, but if we want to make our country a country were people are more important than more profits for the greedy, it is worth it.

I apologize for the terrible formatting.  What I put in an OpenOffice document didn't transfer well.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - OIL
1. Reduce federal government use of foreign oil
2. Promote renewable electricity sources
3. Invest in renewable fuel technology
4. Collect royalties for private drilling on federal land in Gulf of Mexico
5. Prohibit gas price gouging
6. Prosecute companies engaged in gas price gouging
7. Vote Scorecard
8. Big Oil Total Contributions

                                 1  2  3 4  5  6       7         8
Wilson     NM   R  N N N N N N     0%     $71,050
Pearce     NM   R  N N N N N N     0%     $77,750
Udall        NM  D   Y Y  Y Y  Y Y   100%            $0
Kucinich OH   D   Y Y  Y Y  Y Y   100%     $2,250

SENATE
1. Reduce foreign oil imports
2. Promote renewable electricity sources
3. Impose obstacles to wind power production
4. Close tax loopholes for oil company drilling costs
5. Make energy price gouging a federal crime
6. Create a household tax credit funded by a temporary tax on oil company profits
7. Create a consumer petroleum tax credit funded by a temporary tax on oil company profits
8. Vote Scorecard
9. Big Oil Total Contributions

                                 1  2   3  4  5   6   7       8      9
Dodd          CT   D   Y Y  N  Y  Y   Y  Y  100%  $ 1,000
Biden         DE   D  Y  Y  N  Y  Y  N  Y    83%  $ 7,300
Obama       IL    D  Y  Y  N  Y  Y  Y  Y  100%  $ 9,000
Bingaman NM  D  Y  Y  N N  Y  N  N   50%  $12,250
Domenici  NM  R N  N  Y N   N N  N     0%  $52,500
Clinton,     NY   D  Y  Y  N  Y  Y  Y  Y 100%   $ 5,300

SENATE – WAR PROFITEERS
1. Limit contractor activities
2.S.A. 24762
3.Halliburton/KBR
4.TITAN
5.Bechtel
6.Parsons
7.CACI
8.Blackwater
                                 1        2
BingamanNM D  NV    Y (5)$6,000   (6)$1,000
Domenici NM R  N      N (3)$1,250 (5)$6,000 (6)$3,000
Clinton     NY  D  Y       Y (5)$250 (6)$2,000 (7)$100
Obama      IL   D   N/A  Y
Edwards   NC D   NV    N/A
Dodd         CT D   Y       Y  (3)$1,000
Biden        DE D   Y       Y



HOUSE – WAR PROFITEERS
1.Stop paying excessive unreasonable costs
2.Halliburton/KBR
3.TITAN
4.Bechtel
5.Parsons
6.CACI
7.Blackwater
                                   1
Pearce       NM  R    N  (2)$4,000  (5)$1,000
Udall         NM  D    Y  (5)$1,000
Wilson      NM  R    Y   (2)$6,000  (3)$5,000  (4)$13,250 (5)$2,000
Kucinich   OH  D    Y



KATRINA
1 Protect Wages for Katrina Relief Workers
2 Help Small Businesses Obtain Loans to Rebuild
3 Extend Emergency Hotel Stays for Katrina Survivors
4 Repair Voting Machines Damaged by Katrina
                                    1   2    3    4
Pearce      NM   R    N  N   N   N
Udall        NM   D    Y   Y   Y    Y
Wilson     NM   R    N  N   N   N
Kucinich  OH   D    Y   Y   Y   Y

My Cat Dulce

Twenty years ago, a pretty calico cat came into my yard. She was very shy, but with “sweet talk” she came over close enough for me to pet her a bit. Within the next few weeks, she showed up at my door and window meowing loudly and shaking her beautiful fluffy tail. I noticed that the people who had lived in the house where I had seen her had moved out, and poor thing was coming to the person in the neighborhood who had shown her affection. I put a bowl of food out on the porch and sat a few feet away so as not to scare her. She ate a bit, then ran over to me to get affection. She was starved for both, so I moved over and gave her both at once. For the past twenty years, we replay the beginning of our relationship when I feed her.

Dulce was never very trusting or fond of people, especially men. It took my ex-significant other, Bob, years of sweet talk before she would let him near her. For the most part, I was the only person she wanted, and at times she didn't even want me. She has long been a loner cat. It took my husband even more years to get Dulce to trust him than it did Bob. These days she will let him pick her up, which was something no one could do in the years past. When people were visiting or working on our house, she hid. In fact hiding became a fine art for Dulce.

For years I could never figure out where she went every time the cat carrier came out, until one day I captured a glimpse of her jumping into one of the drawers under my water bed. I looked in the drawer, and there was no Dulce. She managed to squeeze between the drawer's edges and the empty space under the water bed where she was untouchable. Now these drawers stay closed. That doesn't mean that there are times when I absolutely can not find her, but she isn't hiding under the water bed anymore.

If there was an IQ test for cats, Dulce would easily be considered a genius of cats. She could figure out how to open cabinet doors so she could hide inside. I would open a kitchen cabinet that was about face level and find my sweet girl inside. When my husband and I married, I had three cats, Dulce being the oldest of the group, and my husband had two. I always kept my cats inside, but inside the house didn't seem a large enough space for five cats. Most of my back yard is surrounded by buildings, except for one side with a wooden fence, and a gate on the other side between the house and garage. We put wire fencing as high as the house above the fence.

All the cats were safe in the back yard, and we left the door open in the back building to give them even more space. Dulce figured out how to get out in less than a week. And she left just enough Dulce fuzz to make sure we'd know that we weren't going to fence her in. Jim would alter the fencing. Shortly after, there was new Dulce fuzz. Jim gave up trying to keep her inside, and Dulce lost interest in getting out.

By the way, Dulce means sweet, often sweet to the taste, in Spanish. I named her Dulce because she was from the first moment we met, the sweetest being I'd ever known. I know she must have an old soul, because she has that “knowing nature.” There have been many mornings when I've woken with feelings of love and happiness, and I've found she has wrapped her body around my head on my pillow. She has gotten me up for work when I didn't correctly set the alarm clock. She has been such a bright spot in my life for the past couple of decades.

It has been over twenty years since Dulce claimed my home and myself as her own. My 2007 summer has been the summer of Dulce. I have been her dutiful servant and friend. Up until recently, she still climbed to the highest bookshelf. Now she has been spending a lot of time rolled up in a ball in my lap or under my computer desk. She is so frail and thin. I wasn't sure she would make it through the entire summer, but she has. She is deaf and almost blind. It has been difficult for her, but she now lets Jim and I help her more than it is her nature as an independent kitty.

I won't be able to talk about her after she dies. I can still barely talk about my dear Tesuque, even a year after he has passed on. I want to praise her now while she is with me. This summer has truly been the summer of Dulce. I have found that because I take care of her, even washing her, cleaning up after her and mincing her food to point where she can easily eat it, I love her more than ever. One day I couldn't find her, and I felt the rush of pain over her lose that I believed I was prepared for, but in reality am not. I've lost so many loved ones in my life, I believe I'm always prepared for it. I've become very philosophical about it, but in my life the only beings that have been constant were my cats. No human has lived with me for twenty years.

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Peace Pages, Impeachment and YouTube

Today I finally updated my peace pages. I took me four months to do this. I can understand why I was too busy during the months of April and May, but why I didn't update them early is something I've pondered.

I have been screaming about what is going on in this country since before the 2000 election, and finally it seems like more people are beginning to question what is going on. I guess I took a break and let others scream for me. Also, I was told I was too opinionated by the powers that control me at my work and to show a more balanced view point. So, I've been doing a lot of soul searching and self questioning during this summer break. I have to admit that I do have a problem with saying the first thing that comes into my mind sometimes, so I'm meditating on using a better filter before I speak. I just don't like to be dishonest, and sometimes that is the way I feel I'm being asked to be. Ignoring the reality of things seems like such a big lie. Of course I'm way too passionate about some subjects.

I also wasn't sure I wanted to blog my opinions because there are so many other blogs that do a much better job than I could ever do.


http://www.dailykos.com/
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/
http://www.truthout.org/
http://www.regressiveantidote.net/
http://www.commondreams.org/
http://www.democraticunderground.com/


I also find that I'm holding my breath, taking steps back, and not letting myself get too caught up in the Impeachment Winds. I have to remind myself of all that Reagan got away with, and how unwilling the congress seems to be to open this slimy bag of rotten worms. Personally, I feel we need to impreach both President George W. Bush and Vice-President Richard Cheney. We need to show future leaders and the world that we truly believe in the constitution, and that such blatant abuses of power are just not acceptable. We need to teach our children that lies and cheating have consequences. All the other excuses just don't counter balance this. We made a moral stand in 1974, and we need to make a moral stand in 2007.

I also am reminded of being twenty-one, barely alive after a near fatal car accident, stuck in bed and watching the Watergate Hearings, at least what I can remember of them. I remember less about the hearings than I remember about how the hearings made me feel. I was so excited, and so glad that I survived to see them. I had taken an American History class at UNM with an amazing professor who basically predicted what I was seeing unfolding in front of me. I was thrilled that justice still meant something in this country. I was thrilled to see the American Public demanding this justice and the congress following through.

I've also been spending lots of time looking through YouTubes recently. This has to be one of the best innovations on the web to come along in a long time. I love it. We have people sharing a little part of their world with us. We have a place for people to voice their opinions freely while being as creative as they can possibly be. I have found old footage of musicians that have delighted me as well as now clips of music I had yet discovered. I can get stuck in the cat videos for a while since I adore the animal, plus I am the servant of three of them. Also being a turtle fan, I have to add a YouTube here. We once had a box turtle, and at that time we had five cats. The cats would try to play with Murtle the Turtle, but she would go inside her shell, and they'd get bored. There were times she'd walk over to my husband or myself then stick her head out at us. BUT never, ever did we see do anything like this.

Photos and thoughts, Pie Town & Peñasco New México

Alburquerque "Heights" in 1943

*Edit: Photos are Missing I guess the server didn't like the amount of photos I put here.

I spent the day looking through the Library of Congress photos, 1840-2000, for old pictures of New México. I was surprised to find there are more photos for two places in New México, Pie Town and Peñasco, than Santa Fé or Alburquerque. There were some of the rail yards which were right in the middle of what is downtown Alburquerque today. All these photos were of men working hard in the yards. There were some delightful finds of photos Pueblos that were taken in the 1880s and 1890s. There were a few of Old Town in Alburquerque and the Adobe houses of Santa Fé. These photos made numbered in the few dozen, whereas there were over 500 for Pie Town and just under 400 for Peñasco.

Old Town Alburquerque

When I was a little kid, we often drove to see my grandmother who lived in Magdalena. That was a long drive from Santa Fé. We would have to drive though Alburquerque, south to Socorro, where we’d always stop at Socorro to see Tórres cousins, then head west on highway 60. I remember always seeing the sign Pie Town, and begging my parents to take me there. I’ve always loved pie. I didn’t want birthday cakes when I was a kid. I wanted birthday pies. Apple pie with crumb topping has always been my very favorite pie. So I envisioned a place full pies, all kinds of pies. My parents always said that there was nothing there, anyway it was way, and I mean Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of the way. My parents finally drove through Pie town on our way to Phoenix when I was 14 years old, and they were correct, there weren’t many people in Pie Town. Worse, I didn’t see one single pie anywhere.

Black Smith Shop In Peñasco

Pie Town was originally named Norman’s Place, but as is often the case in New México, names of small villages were changed once they opened a post office in the town. I believe the story goes that the postmaster would not accept a town that was named Norman’s place. From what I know about the history of Pie Town, it was a one gas station town in the middle of nowhere. Norman was the man who opened the gas station and Norman’s Place was the name of the gas station. Norman started selling apple pies at his gas station, a tradition that was continued after he sold his business. The Pies were such a hit that the gas station sign changed from Norman's Place to Pie Town. At any rate, the postmaster general accepted the name Pie Town.

Norman's Place
Now, Peñasco was a different matter. It was among my father’s repertory of Sunday drives. Sometimes these Sunday drives were daylong drives through the Northern New México. If there was an out-of-the way dirt road that lead somewhere, my father knew about it. We went places people today aren’t able to go to. My father knew every inch of this state from Magdalena in the South to Tierra Amarilla and Taos in the North. And Peñasco was one of the small Northern New Méxican towns we would pas through on our drives.

Magdalena

My husband, Jim, and I drove through Peñasco a couple of weeks ago. Since Jim lived in Peñasco in the years 1957-1964, we always take a side trip to drive through the area. It is a beautiful area, but in the 50s and 60s, it was a very poor area. My husband’s little league coach was a Peace Corps worker who was training in the one place in the U.S. that resembled places they would be sent to in other countries.

Peñasco has changed a little since the time when my husband lived there, but it is still a small town. There are the additions of some huge houses of “ricos,” most likely people who work outside of the state and have their “get away” place there. Many of these houses are placed on the top or the sides of the mountain. They also are positioned so they will be obvious and noticeable. One place had scared the mountain for a huge road to get up to the huge house. It is like a big sign that says notice me, notice how rich I am sitting up here way above the rest of you.

Kitchen in Pie Town

Kitchen in Peñasco

Since Pie Town and Peñasco have so few residents, why are there so many photos for Pie Town and Peñasco in the Library of Congress’s digital photos online? I suppose I could have searched for an answer online, but it is so much more fun to try to figure it out by looking at the photos. The ones of Pie Town show homesteaders from Texas and Oklahoma growing beans, eating, dancing, singing, and working. The photos show a co-op storage facility. The Peñasco photos show the exactly the same thing, with great many photos of the co-op heath clinic from its building up to its use. These photos were all taken in either 1940 or 1943, during the depression, so suspect there were commission by the government to record some part of their New Deal programs.

Community sing along in Pie Town

Dance in Peñasco


The people in the Peñasco photos are often referred to as “Spanish-Americans.” The houses in Peñasco are made out of adobe, while the house in Pie Town reflects the Plains area these homesteaders came from. Both types of homes were built to fit and work with their environment. Here were pictures of two peoples coming from very different cultural backgrounds doing just what their ancestors did, work hard and be a part of a community. From the sheer numbers of photos, and the content of the photos, I would suspect the photographer was welcomed into each community. I also can’t help but think that both ended up caring about their subject.

Home in Pie Town

Peñasco Home

One thing I love about these photos is they show my father’s New México. He was 30 years old when he married my mother in 1945. My mother could easily have fit into the photos of the people in Pie Town since she came from Nebraska. My father would fit in the photos of the “Spanish-Americans” in Peñasco. My parents met in Needles, California where my mother was “looking for a husband” and teaching elementary school, and my father was there doing tank maneuvers before they shipped off to North Africa. His tank group ended being part of the Normandy D-Day Invasion instead. My parents married once he return from the war, and it was to the small Northern New México town of El Rito that my father returned with his new bride.

Links:
Smithsonian article about Pie Town
Prints & Photographs Online Catalog Home Page

Adobes in Peñasco

Genealogy Tips

I have a genealogy site online, I get a lot of request for suggestions for finding one’s ancestors. I decided I needed to come up with a list I can cut and paste for each time I get the request, but it seems even better placed here so all I need do is cut and past a URL. This is what I've done:

I often search through rootsweb's world connect project for help. You need to be careful because there is a lot of incorrect information there. Some people just copied other people’s incorrect information. I always look for ones that have sources other than someone else’s gedfile. I double-check the sources. I’ve bought entire books before just to check a source. Sometimes I can find it on-line, and if not, I do a library search to see if the Special Collections Library has the source in town.

Links:
RootsWeb World Connect
Special Collections Library in Alburquerque, NM
Search for books online
Search for Libraries for a Special Book


There are other sources, but to find the people closest to you, you may need to write or call the places where these people were born to get their birth records. If you can go back at least a couple of generations it is a lot easier. The net becomes much easier to use as a tool once you have a few generations.

GenWebs, I've had some great help from local GenWebs, especially the Saunders County, Nebraska GenWeb. There I found the grave sites of three generations of my mother's family on both her maternal and paternal sides. I found the grave sites of my mother's grand mother and great grandfather by writing to one of the people who was listed on the Erie county, Pennsylvania GenWeb site. I found the grave stones of my father's maternal grandparents from the Soccoro County GenWeb Site. And marriage records from the Virginia GenWeb Site.

Links:
UsGenWeb

Google Books, this helped me more with my New England ancestors, especially the earlier ones. I typed in their names in the google book search and some of the records that came up were of books or even journals that I was able to read the whole book. I have a google membership, which allowed me to see more of some of the books than I could otherwise. I did a google search for records of Lynn, Massachusetts and this is what I came up with.


Google searches, there are a lot of people out there these days with genealogy on the web. Google the names, but check their sources. A lot of incorrect stuff is on line, and I'm still cleaning up the incorrect things I found on line. Below is a photo of the grave site of one of my ancestors I found by a google search. I also found a cousin connected to this photo.

Censuses are great help. I’ve found amazing information going through census records. Thomas Jefferson had the first U.S. census taken in 1796. Every decade, another was taken, but it wasn’t until the 1850 census that entire families were written down, not just the “head” of the household. You can find census on microfiche at state archives, libraries, Mormon family history libraries, some GenWebs have some censuses for their area, ancestry.com, genealogy.com, and HeritageQuest on-line.

My best advice is to check and see if your library system has HeritageQuest online available to their cardholders. HeritageQuest is harder to use the ancestry.com, and doesn't have as many records, but they do have censuses. I've had better luck with ancestry.com on the censuses. If you can access HeritageQuest, it is free, whereas ancestry.com is not free. HeritageQuest online has lots books. It helps to know the title of the source your looking for. There have been times I've found entire genealogies from a single search. Check with your library. They may have access, they may know how you can gain access, or they may consider getting this great resource.

Link:
Incomplete list of Libraries with access to Heritage Quest OnLine.


Another great resource that has just been opened is the Family History Archive from the Utah Genealogy Society and BYU. They have just begun, but I have high hopes for them in the future. The Other Luna Family can be found on line there, and unless you live in Alburquerque & go to the Special Collections library, it is pretty difficult to get a copy of this book. Because my 2Xgreat grandmother was a descendent of “the other Luna Family,” I photo copied the entire book at the genealogy library a year ago. It would have been a lot easier to simply download a digitized copy, like they one at the Family History Archive.

The RootsWeb & Genealogy.com forums might be helpful. Genealogy people are all addicts like myself, and they love sharing their enthusiasm and information. They have forums by surname and by location.

Links:
Genforum at genealogy.com
RootsWeb Forum

Genealogy societies help too. We have two great ones in town, but I have purchased books from Societies in other states via the Internet. My state and the Hispanic genealogy groups in town have translated volumes of Spanish Church records and Spanish censuses. Looking through microfiche is hard enough, but I’m not that great at translating Spanish into English.

Family name associations can help. The Sears and Walker family associations were great help for me. I found them on-line. These societies are best when they deal with people of the family name. I found that the Walker family association led me astray when it came to some of the ancestors of the folks Walkers married.

Last, but hardly least, Cyndi's List has links to everything dealing with genealogy on the web.
Link:
Cyndi’s List

I have a page full of genealogy links especially for New Mexico and New England that you might also want to check.
Link:
My Genealogy Links

Taos Solar Music Festival & Independence Day

This weekend I went to the Taos 9th Solar Musicfest. I've always wanted to attend this event, and my husband and I finally took the time to get it together enough to attend. We were especially psyched about going since one of our favorite bands, Los Lobos, was the featured band for Saturday night.

The drive to Taos is one of my favorite drives in New México. I've driven between Alburquerque and Santa Fé a few thousand times since I have lived in both cities and even lived in both at the same time. The differences between the Río Arriba, where Santa Fé is, and the Río Abajo, where Alburquerque is, are 2000 feet and 6 to 10 degrees in temperature. I had noticed that there were few marriages between Spanish settlers in the two areas, as I was looking through the marriage records. La Bajada had been a major barrier that kept the Río Arriba and Río Abajo separate starting in the 1600s as part of el Camino Real, continuing into the mid-1900s.  It was a barrier between the people of the two areas as well.

Here are some links about la Bajada:
http://www.altrec.com/published/cycle/southwest/labajadahillarichheritage/
http://www.vivanewmexico.com/ghosts/bajada.html
http://www.cart66pf.org/66caravan/roadlog18.htm



Today la Bajada is easy to drive up, if you have a little power in your car, and the red dirt on the east is a beautiful contrast to the black volcanic rock on the west side. When I was in my teens in the 60s and 70s, a little snow would totally stop traffic. All the large trucks would stop to put their chains on so they could either go up the hill or down the hill safely. My father told me about one time he and his father were traveling in around 1920 at night on the switch backed road down la Bajada, and the lights of the car ahead of disappeared. They stopped quickly and ran ahead to find that the car in front of them had hit a spot where the road had washed away, and it rolled down a few levels on he switchback.

I use the bypass for Santa Fé these days to avoid feeling miserable as I pass through. I feel said seeing what has happened to Santa Fe. Santa has grown so much. In the 1970s it seemed to be the cool place to be, so a lot of people moved there to be “cool.” There always have been really rich people who lived there, but they blended in with everyone else. That does not seem to be the case any more. Instead a lot of people have moved in and made it impossible for folks whose families have lived there since 1610 or 1697 to afford to live there. It really angers me. Especially those people who have these huge expensive “holiday homes” that they pop into when they want to. Santa Fé was the center of Hispanic population in the Southwest, but it has been taken over by the very rich and famous.

The part of the drive that I'm really fond of is the canyon that lies between Española and Taos. One side of the canyon is covered with dark volcanic rock, and the other has weathered mountains with the layers of the earth exposed. The Río Grande flows through the center. I'm always reminded of the early pictures of the old dirt road, and the descriptions like those of Mable Dodge Luján. Even with the paved road, there was always the problem with “falling rocks.” A while back a rock fell on a school bus and killed some kids inside. I noticed that the state has put extensive wiring on the sides of the hills to prevent this. The “watch for falling rocks” signs are no longer there, but my conditioned response as I drive through the canyon will always, as my father would say, “keep my eyes pealed” for falling rocks.



The Río Grande is the life line of New México. It is full of the melting snow from the Rocky Mountains as well as the other mountains through out New México. Every time I'm in the Río Arriba, I'm glad to see the green waters of the river since due to all the embankments, flood control and damns throughout the Río Abajo, the water always looks muddy in the south. The geology of the Río Grande Rift Zone is some of the coolest you'll find anywhere. It isn't the largest rift zone, that is in Africa, but it runs from Leadville Colorado to Las Cruces, New México. For more information go to my photo pages, and use the menu to find The Sandia Mountains. There is a link to a great explanation of the rift zone from there.

We weren't able to be there for the first night I'm sorry to say. I would have loved hearing Big Head Tod and the Monsters again. The first time I heard them play was by accident. It was close to 20 years ago. I was downtown on a Saturday night, before downtown Alburquerque became the hot spot to club, and a local alternative radio station had lined up bands to play from one side of Central Ave. to the other. I heard the most amazing music, so I stopped. It started raining, but I had to stay, listen and dance in the rain. I love the sounds and blends of musical styles that Big Tod creates. I fell in love with the band from that moment on.

The music at the musicfest was fabulous. I was especially happy to hear Paula Cole. She has grown into a beautiful woman who sure can sing her heart out. I say heart because she sings with such emotion and passion. The power and depth of her strong voice blew the crowd away. I've heard her songs before, but wasn't really a fan, but I am now. It wasn't just her amazing voice that made me hang on to each of her words, but her connection to the crowd was magical. The love that connected everyone to her music made the magic. It started to rain huge raindrops that were spaced far from the other huge raindrops. They looked like crystal falling from the sky because the sun was shinning from the west.

http://www.paulacole.com/

The minute Paula stopped singing, the clouds had overtaken the sun, they opened up, and it poured. Lightening hit a tree at the front of Kit Carson Park, where the Solar Musicfeat was held, and there were pieces of the tree branch spattered all around the tree. All the lightening that followed could have really ruined what was a pretty amazing day at Taos, but the placement of the tree that was hit, was far enough from the stage, yet close enough to amaze the participants.

Los Lobos was on fire. All the band members seemed to be having a good time. They played a lot of Méxican music during their set, which is always a hit in New México. It still tickles me that the music I grew up hearing has been taken to such heights of appreciation thanks to the talented Los Lobos. Their range of music styles shows just how talented and well versed in music these gentlemen are. When Los Lobos rocks, they really rock the crowd. I danced so much that night, that me feet were so sore it hurt to walk the next day.

When I looked up at the stage, I saw the faces of the Southwest Hispanic world, and I feel a sense of pride.  I thank these fine musicians for being our ambassadors to the world. I've seen them in concert a half a dozen times, and I hope I'll be able to hear them live dozens more.

http://www.loslobos.org/site/

We couldn't leave for home the next day until we saw Robert Mirabal perform. For those of you who haven't heard of Robert Mirabal, he is an artist from Taos Pueblo who has achieved international fame through he singing, dancing and art. Robert  is striking and beautiful with his long shining black hair. His music these days is an interesting blend of  Pueblo music and Blues. He had an impressive blues guitarist and a member of his family play flute with him. His music and dance was as beautiful and powerful as always. He is a tall, beautiful man, and no matter how famous he becomes, he is still a small town boy from Taos Pueblo.

My husband told me that he was warned by the elders of Taos that he might be disowned by the Pueblo for giving away too many of their ceremonial secrets in his performances. I believe my husband heard this on the "Native American Call In Show" on the radio, so it could just be gossip. I'm sure it is the elders way of reminding him to be humble and to remember just where he came from. To be a member of the Toas people is to have a strong and proud history. To be a Pueblo person means being not one, but one of the whole. I saw his fans worship him, and that kind of fame can send the ego of a sensitive man a to dark places. My wish for Robert is that he will always know what it is to be a small town boy from Taos Pueblo.

http://www.mirabalnativeflutes.com/


In ending, today is the 4th of July. It wasn't the day when the thirteen British Colonies on the east coast of North America gained their independence from Britain. It is they day they declared to the world that they no longer accepted Britain as their rulers, and they were now the United States. It is the day these colonies said we will no longer be the pawns of a nation, yes a nation that was for many of the colonist their ancestral home, but a nation that ruled as a imperialist power from across the ocean. The Declaration of Independence is what we are celebrating. It is one of the most important documents of history, and one that has been copied by many a people in countries that have struggled for their own right to rule themselves. It is a document that we should read and read again.

This is also a very said day in the fact that we have moved so far from our roots and the document that inspired so many in history. We are the imperial power that has invaded and now is in control of Iraq. I won't debate why we are there or why we should leave or stay. There is debate throughout the Net for that purpose. I just ask for a reflection on the meaning and soul of the words written by Thomas Jefferson, and ask that we question our presence in Iraq. I ask that we never forget where we came from, and what we choose to stand for. The words of the Declaration of Independence do not fit the role that our country has chosen to taken, and I am deeply saddened by this.
http://www.constitution.org/usdeclar.htm

Why is there a Blog named CyBeRGaTa?

I'm cybergata or as my birth certificate says, Nancy Louise López. I generally prefer Nancy Lucía López. I started out as being gato, male cat, on local bbs with chats in the early 90s, but when it became time for me to get my own domain, I preferred being a female cat on-line, so cybergata.com and cybergata came into being.

When blogs first showed up on the Net, I didn't see any reason to have one. I have my own domain and my site reflects who I am, so a blog seemed redundant. I occasionally read my cousin Robert Baca's Genealogy Blog or Democracy for New Mexico (oh BTW, DFM is worth visiting just for the daily photo of Taos), but beyond that, I just haven't really become a blog reader. Now my husband, he has to visit his science blogs every day, and some political blogs like Common Dreams.

So that leads to the question, why is there a blog named cybergata? Well, maybe someday when I'm retired, I'll sit down everyday and share my thoughts with anyone who just happens to stumble across CyBeRGaTa. There are plenty of topics I could write about like all the things I've learned about teaching Middle School after thirty plus years of doing so. Or New México History, now there is a topic I can talk on and on about. Or Genealogy, and my fascinating search for people who made all of us in my family look so different from each other.

Honestly, while I'm still teaching, I just don't have the time or energy to keep up a blog. OK, Ok, I can be a flake and forget to write for a year or two. AND YES, I haven't answered my own question. I created CyBeRGaTa because cybergata is my name on the Net. I never have problems registering & using my online name because no one else use to use it. Then on YouTube I couldn't use my own online name because someone else was using it. How dare they! I had to use theoriginalcybergata. So, just in case I do finally have the time to be a Blogger, I will have no problems using my own online persona.

So Until that day, you can find me at http://cybergata.com/. That page is in need of an update, so it might be better to go to http://cybergata.com/sitemap.htm. If you want animated web graphix of CATS, lots and lots of cats, you'll find it there. Or Hippie/Grateful Dead Graphix, photos of Albuquerque, old New México Postcards, New México Genealogy (I also have done a lot of work on my New England Ancestors), web page making tidbits & helpers and links and other photos, that is where I put it all.

The possibility of sticking up some of my favorite new links I've found or favorite YouTubes to share, might be reason enough to have a blog.

So here is one of my favorite YouTubes - Otters In Love


And for teachers everywhere:


And one by Sparx. Chrintina Sánchez was a former student in my class at the school I teach at.


Now for some links:
Periodic table of Criminal Elements
Go Left TV
My Favorite Online Religious Group
My favorite forum and general news gathering place
My favorite and the worlds best internet browser
Colores Episode about NM History