Finishing a Story: Bosque Redondo Memorial, Fort Sumner, New Mexico, Part 2

The Bosque Redondo Memorial in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, had a powerful impact on me. I wrote Parts 1 and 2 to that story, but hadn't yet written Part 3, which is about an experience there I will never forget. 

To lead up to the final chapter, I reposted Part 1 yesterday and am reposting Part 2 today:

New Mexico: Bosque Redondo Memorial, Part 2: Luck

Bosque Redondo Memorial, Fort Sumner, New Mexico

What is luck? 

Yes, I know there are those who espouse the "everything happens for a reason" model. I'm not among them. Rather, I believe it is we who place meaning on what happens to us and the world around us. 

Does luck exist because we have created this idea of luck? Or is an event a function of a random throw of existential dice, and thus neutral, and therefore unremarkable? Might not one lucky event, if we pull back for a space-station view of a life over the course of its many years, result in not-luck down the road?

Well, anyway.

I was lucky. 

I was already feeling good when I walked into the Bosque Redondo Memorial building because of the enchanting experience here (with a respectful nod to the yang side of said enchantment as noted by a reader here).

The first good vibe came when, immediately upon walking into the memorial foyer, a smiling woman greeted me with a friendly welcome.

Then she informed me that a tour of the site had just begun and if I'd like to join it, I could tag along. And I did.

That friendly smile and invitation - and, I suppose, my acceptance of said invitation - bloomed into a sequence of lucky moments: 

• a tour given by a woman who clearly loves the place and what it represents, 
• a delicious lunch (!) catered by Fort Sumner community members, 
• tasty conversation tidbits with the bona fide members of the tour group, 
• an astounding video that I'll talk about later, and 
• the gift of a puzzle piece I'd been seeking while trying to process Edwin R. Sweeney's book, Mangas Coloradas, Chief of the Chiricahua Apaches. 

The group of people on tour this day at the memorial were members of the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe.


Not really luck

My good luck wouldn't have happened if the folks at the memorial, which included staff, volunteers, and members of the local Chamber of Commerce, didn't have a generosity of spirit and an understanding of the bigger picture - to promote the memorial and their town.

They could have easily kept things exclusive, but instead they embraced the stranger walking through their door. Kudos.


And in case you're wondering .... yes, I'm sneaking up on the tangible and intangible of this place and what it commemorates. It's not an easy story.

Finishing a Story: Bosque Redondo Memorial, Fort Sumner, New Mexico: Part 1

The Bosque Redondo Memorial in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, had a powerful impact on me. I wrote Parts 1 and 2 to that story, but hadn't yet written Part 3, which is about an experience there I will never forget. 

To lead up to the final chapter, I'm reposting Part 1 here and will repost Part 2 tomorrow:

New Mexico: Bosque Redondo Memorial, Part 1: How I Got There

The Long Walk, by C Ortiz. Bosque Redondo Memorial, Fort Sumner, New Mexico

What is the Bosque de Redondo Memorial?

Bosque de Redondo Memorial is a place that commemorates The Long Walk (and subsequent detention) of thousands of Navajo and Apache.

The Long Walk, circa 1864, occurred when the U.S. Army forced thousands of Navajo into what was, for all intents and purposes a concentration camp, in Bosque Redondo (later called Fort Sumner) in which the Navajo and Mescalero Apache remained until 1868.

How I got there

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have visited the memorial, which is outside Fort Sumner, New Mexico, if I hadn't seen the documentary, Sun Kissed, which I wrote about here.

This documentary - about two children who died from a genetic disorder - brought home the interconnectedness of biology, history, culture, access to health care and information, science, and technology.

A traumatic event in Bosque Redondo more than 100 years ago contributed to the death of these two children today.

I had to go, and I did, in my final days in New Mexico. 

New Mexico: Bosque Redondo Memorial, Part 2: Luck

Bosque Redondo Memorial, Fort Sumner, New Mexico

What is luck? 

Yes, I know there are those who espouse the "everything happens for a reason" model. I'm not among them. Rather, I believe it is we who place meaning on what happens to us and the world around us. 

Does luck exist because we have created this idea of luck? Or is an event a function of a random throw of existential dice, and thus neutral, and therefore unremarkable? Might not one lucky event, if we pull back for a space-station view of a life over the course of its many years, result in not-luck down the road?

Well, anyway.

I was lucky. 

I was already feeling good when I walked into the Bosque Redondo Memorial building because of the enchanting experience here (with a respectful nod to the yang side of said enchantment as noted by a reader here).

The first good vibe came when, immediately upon walking into the memorial foyer, a smiling woman greeted me with a friendly welcome.

Then she informed me that a tour of the site had just begun and if I'd like to join it, I could tag along. And I did.

That friendly smile and invitation - and, I suppose, my acceptance of said invitation - bloomed into a sequence of lucky moments: 

• a tour given by a woman who clearly loves the place and what it represents, 
• a delicious lunch (!) catered by Fort Sumner community members, 
• tasty conversation tidbits with the bona fide members of the tour group, 
• an astounding video that I'll talk about later, and 
• the gift of a puzzle piece I'd been seeking while trying to process Edwin R. Sweeney's book, Mangas Coloradas, Chief of the Chiricahua Apaches. 

The group of people on tour this day at the memorial were members of the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe.


Not really luck

My good luck wouldn't have happened if the folks at the memorial, which included staff, volunteers, and members of the local Chamber of Commerce, didn't have a generosity of spirit and an understanding of the bigger picture - to promote the memorial and their town.

They could have easily kept things exclusive, but instead they embraced the stranger walking through their door. Kudos.


And in case you're wondering .... yes, I'm sneaking up on the tangible and intangible of this place and what it commemorates. It's not an easy story.

Parting Gifts from New Mexico: The Vine, the Vine!

It was in Tularosa, in the spring, when I first noticed it. A long, spindly vine along the road. Its leaves were large and pointy at one end. It looked like a plant that would produce some sort of squash or melon.

On various occasions, I asked people about it. Did the plant produce anything? Most of the time the response was a verbal shrug, though one person allowed as how it might be a gourd...... (What is a gourd, really, other than a table centerpiece or a musical instrument?) .... was it edible? Another shrug.

All summer the vine remained a puzzle.

And into the fall.

Until the second to the last day of my year in New Mexico, on September 28, outside Fort Sumner.

On that day, it was revealed to me.  

Feral curcubita foetissima

And after some research, once seeing the yellow progeny, I've concluded it is known by any of these names: buffalo gourd, coyote gourd, or Missouri (!) gourd. But its best name comes from its Latin roots: stinking gourd.

Feral curcubita foetissima

Parting Gifts from New Mexico: Little Yellow Butterflies

On my penultimate day in New Mexico, on my way from Sumner Lake State Park to the Bosque Redondo Memorial, I drove through little yellow butterflies.




I couldn't get a decent video of the butterflies on the road, but they were also at Bosque Redondo. 

Never had I seen such a thing.

Credit: Wikicommons, Harrelson

I like what this writer had to say about the Little Yellow Butterflies: "My daddy used to say, 'When you see the Little Yellow Butterfly crossing the road, it means fall is on the way.'"

Driving through fluttering yellow butterflies along freshly-cut alfalfa fields on a glorious sunny day is a pretty special experience.