Christmas Eve in Louisiana and a Look at Christmas Eve Past

Christmas Eve 2012 on Canyon Drive, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Last year, my mother and sister and I were in Santa Fe for Christmas. The folks at the Silver Saddle Motel were so kind to invite us and some other motel guests to join them on the traditional farolito walk on Canyon Drive.

Today, Christmas Eve in Lafayette, I remembered how special it was to enter the St. Joseph Apache Mission Church in Mescalero, New Mexico, during Christmas season last year. My mother and I visited the church once when it was empty, and we also attended Mass. 

St. Joseph Apache Mission Church, Mescalero, New Mexico

What a beautiful space.

So today, it made sense to me to attend a Mass this year also.

St. Mary Mother of the Church, Lafayette, Louisiana

A new friend is in the choir at St. Mary Mother of the Church, so that's where I went.  Heard graceful song and breathed deeply of the exotic frankincense.

St. Mary Mother of the Church, Lafayette, Louisiana

 
... and then, I thought, what the hell - no I mean heck, because, shhh, we're in church! - what about going to midnight Mass?

Our Lady of Wisdom, Lafayette, Louisiana

For this, I selected Our Lady of Wisdom Church on St. Mary's Boulevard, on the University of Louisana - Lafayette campus.

I'm so glad I did.

Our Lady of Wisdom, Lafayette, Louisiana

The church was full but not overcrowded. The altar is an open one where there is seating in front and in back. Or better said, the altar is set perpendicular to the attendees.

Our Lady of Wisdom, Lafayette, Louisiana

The music, vocal and instrumental, was exquisite, and the acoustics or sound system or both, superb. Violins, cello, deep drums, soaring voices en masse and solo and twinned. It was possible to close one's eyes and simply dwell in the sound .... there were a few moments where it felt like being in the lapping water in the hot springs of Truth and Consequences.

Our Lady of Wisdom, Lafayette, Louisiana

The reader had a mellifluous voice; the priest(s) chanted the liturgy. The incense and its attendant smoke rounded out the sensory experience for the eyes, ears, and nose.

Our Lady of Wisdom, Lafayette, Louisiana

 

What a satisfying Christmas Eve in my new land.
    

New Mexico Lit: The Devil's Butcher Shop: The Story of the 1980 Prison Revolt

Credit: Book Depository

Amok

In a political science class, I learned the origin of the word amok. The professor said it is an Indonesian word and it referred to an intermittent craziness that erupts  - to run amok - resulting in slaughter and other violent mayhem. From wikipedia:

Amok originated from the Indonesian word mengamuk, which when roughly defined means “to make a furious and desperate charge”.^[5] According to Indonesian culture, amok was rooted in a deep spiritual belief.^[6] They believed that amok was caused by the hantu belian,^[7] which was an evil tiger spirit that entered one’s body and caused the heinous act. As a result of the belief, those in Indonesian culture tolerated amok and dealt with the after effects with no ill will towards the assailant.

I thought of this term when I read The Devil's Butcher Shop by Roger Morris.



What the book is about:

1980 New Mexico Penitentiary prison revolt, Santa Fe, New Mexico

The legal, moral and ethical crimes committed before, during, and after the riot by: 

• Inmates, 
• Prison guards, 
• Contractors and vendors, 
• Corrections officials at all levels of authority, 
• the governor of New Mexico, 
• New Mexico legislators, 
• the New Mexico judiciary, 
• the legal community, 
• Penitentiary doctors and other medical staff, and 
• All the rest of us for our passive or active participation in the systemic brutalization of our fellow man's bodies, spirits, and minds.

In abundance:

Despair, disgust, contempt, anger, fear.

Horror, gruesomeness, murder, rape, torture, rage, terror.

Corruption, nepotism, theft.


Meager:

Mercy, kindness, heroism.

Hope.

Accountability, responsibility.

Action.



Thirty years later

Here's a 2010 account from Mary Racicot, who was a 28-year old National Guard medic who arrived on the scene during the revolt.

August 2013: New Mexico considers making the 1980 prison site a tourist attraction.

Have there been substantive changes to the New Mexico prison system? I really don't know. But I'd be surprised if the New Mexico system is substantially better than that of others in the country.

Could the 1980 prison revolt happen again? Yes, in a prison where similar conditions apply, including prolonged inhumane conditions, over-crowding, dormitory-style housing of inmates, co-habitation of violent and non-violent inmates, shoddy prison construction and security processes, corrupt law enforcement officials, and lack of effective oversight by people who should be monitoring the prison goings-on, but who are not. 

I know that when you've got a law enforcement official such as that man in Arizona who boasts of how he humiliates the people in his charge (some of whom have not yet been to trial), that's a red flag that abuse is happening. Indeed, under his leadership, the citizens of Maricopa County have paid $24 million in lost or settled lawsuits as a consequence of in-jail abuse or negligence that runs the gamut from inadequate health care to murder. The good people of Maricopa County who keep this man in office year after year know what happens in the jail and are thus accomplices to the abuse.  The local news media even show videos of negligence and deaths, such as here and here and here and here. So there are no viable protestations of ignorance, just as there were none in New Mexico. Eventually, the Maricopa County sheriff will be vilified by all, but among the people vilifying him will be those who have actively or passively kept him in power as long as it was expedient to do so.

In 2006, California's Secretary of State issued this emergency proclamation about the dangerous and expensive (to taxpayers, people!) over-crowding in the the state prisons. Cowardly legislators who fear  being viewed as soft on crime ignore this situation just as the New Mexico legislators did before the 1980 prison revolt. But that emergency proclamation is from 2006. Whoops, still a problem in 2013. Currently, there's a hunger strike among Californian prisoners. The inmates in the New Mexico prison also tried non-violent methods to effect change before the 1980 revolt. (And neither this statement nor any other in this post is a justification for the behavior of the inmates who tortured and killed during the revolt.)

Mother Jones offers America's 10 Worst Prisons (and 7 unsavory honorable mentions). Is it good news that New Mexico isn't one of them? Or is it that the 10 Worst are just worst than the really bad of so many others?
 

A quibble about the book

I couldn't keep all of the people in the book straight.

I would have loved for there to have been at least three org charts that covered various periods, not only to keep track of individuals, but to have a visual reference for how they were able to leverage their power because of - or in some cases - out of proportion with - their titles.

Another help would have been if Mr. Morris had used the individuals' titles throughout.


The BBC produced a documentary about the prison revolt, which you can find below:

But only by reading the book do you know what a heroic effort that inmate Dwight Duran (and two others) made year after year after year in their attempts to document what went on in the prison, to get their  information out, and to persevere through all of the obstacles in the path of the final Duran Decree. Or of the scandalous waste of taxpayer monies that the state of New Mexico spent to avoid the need to provide the basics of humane treatment.

Only by reading the book do you learn about the endemic corruption practiced by state officials from the highest to the lowest ranks, which also contributed to the 1980 revolt, and which robbed New Mexican taxpayers of millions upon millions of dollars.

On Mountains as Citizens

Angel Peak, New Mexico

When I did my post on Aztec, New Mexico, I forgot to mention something. It was how a brilliant jagged line of snow-capped mountains is so visually near the town, but it has no presence in the town. In the photo above, you can see the range I'm talking about. It's in the back; covered by snow. 

It was funny - each of the several times I approached or departed from Aztec over the course of a couple of days, I felt startled when I saw the gorgeous lines of this mountain range, almost a feeling of  "Wow! Where did that come from?!" But in Aztec, either the range is not visible because of the town's skyline, low-rise though it may be, or for some other reason. I'd have to go back to Aztec to test if one can see this beautiful mountain range from town.

I had the same experience in Sedona, Arizona. It was odd. Although Sedona is surrounded by its iconic red rock formations, I found I had to make a conscious decision to raise my eyes and look at them because otherwise, my eyes were kept at street-level, occupied by the town's buildings.

Sedona, Arizona. Remember to look up.

 Isn't that funny? I can look at this photo and wonder, gee, how could you not see the dramatic outcroppings everywhere you looked - they're right there! Nevertheless, I didn't notice them in Sedona unless, as I said, I made that conscious effort to see them.  Don't know why. A design flaw in my own visual circuits? A function of street orientation? Sun in the eyes, keeping them lowered? Too much street-level visual distraction?   

.... come to think of it, I don't notice any mountain presence in Santa Fe because all of my visual attention is consumed by the generic suburban sprawl of Cerillos Avenue and its tributaries. If I'm in the historic area, my focus is on the goings-on in the plaza.

Sacramento Mountains, Alamogordo, New Mexico

In Alamogordo, on the other hand, the mountains are as much a part of the city as any of its buildings. You are always conscious of their presence (or lack thereof, when they disappear). (Not to forget the wow factor of seeing the luminous line of the White Sands, 15 miles away, while moving west on First Street or while traveling on higher ground, parallel to the White Sands, on Scenic Drive. There aren't many places in the world that can boast such a sight.)

Organ Mountains, Dripping Springs Road, between Las Cruces and Organ, New Mexico

In Las Cruces, the Organ Mountain range is a substantial citizen of that city. Whenever I see the Organ Mountains, I imagine returning nomads, indigenous or not, crossing the basin miles and miles away, when they see the Organ Mountains, think, "We're almost home."

Mountains outside Las Cruces, New Mexico - natural backdrop for a performance

  

Santa Fe, New Mexico: Christmas

Farolitos walk on Canyon Road, Christmas Eve. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Although I don't love Santa Fe, this didn't keep me from exploiting its cachet by spreading the word among family and friends, before the holidays, that "We're spending Christmas in Santa Fe," knowing that conjures up the idea of hearty outdoor sports, glowing fireplaces, stamping one's feet to remove snow at the threshold of a lodge tastefully decorated in upscale Southwestern decor, and visiting renowned art galleries.

In general, though, the idea of Santa Fe is, for me, more attractive than the reality.  
 

Farolitos walk on Canyon Road, Christmas Eve. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

"We" included me, my mother, Carol, visiting me from Missouri, and my sister, Kellen,* meeting us from her base in Colorado.

Farolitos walk on Canyon Road, Christmas Eve. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

We stayed at the Silver Saddle Motel, a cheerful retro motel on the ugly, vehicular conveyor belt known as Cerillos Road. Places like the Silver Saddle -- they almost provide a public service through their budget-friendly pricing, maintenance of a place's historic design and spirit, and exemplary service to their customers.

Silver Saddle Motel, Santa Fe, New Mexico

On the way to Santa Fe (song? no, that's something something San Jose) from Alamogordo:

(Cat Stevens certainly makes for a nice road-trip companion.)

Speaking of Alamogordo and Santa Fe together: Alamogordo is a very walkable, cyclable city. Santa Fe is not. 

Farolitos walk on Canyon Road, Christmas Eve. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The highlight of our trip was the Christmas Eve tradition of walking along the farolitos trail on Canyon Road. Thousands of people walk through every year. Vendors sell hot chocolate and cider. There are luminarias (small bonfires) distributed at many points, allowing walkers to warm themselves for a bit. Musicians create a festive ambiance.

Farolitos walk on Canyon Road, Christmas Eve. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The plaza outside the Tibetan complex of stores was especially beautiful.

 
And it snowed.

Farolitos walk on Canyon Road, Christmas Eve. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Silver Saddle Motel owners had kindly included us in their trip to the farolitos walk, a good example of why this place is a good place to patronize. We piled into their van along with a couple of other guests, these from Austin.

Farolitos walk on Canyon Road, Christmas Eve. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

We poked around the historic plaza one day, enjoying breakfast at the iconic Plaza Cafe.

Artistic wares in historic plaza, Santa Fe, New Mexico

A visit was made to the Spanish Colonial Museum. We took a drive through the mountains.

We met interesting people at the motel:

A Colorado couple who had sold it all in Atlanta, traveled for a year or so, then settled in Colorado, and then re-settled in Colorado. Their story is a good example of making plans, executing them, and if they don't work out, adapt, and move on to what does work. 

Another Colorado couple, the husband of which has spent 20 years - and now at the point of big launch - of developing an animated book of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, using the old illustrations in pre-1929 editions. Fascinating.

A Texas couple, the wife of which takes joy from hunting for and finding vintage things for her house. (A passion she shares with Dawn, one of the motel managers.) Suzy described a downstairs bathroom back home that she and her husband did up in unabashed, over-the-top western decor which included, I think, beaten-up leather wainscoting and a rope chair rail. It was also fun to discover that Suzy's hometown is in Findlay, Ohio, which is just a shout away from my father's hometown of Bluffton. 


A good way to spend Christmas.


*Kellen, a pseudonym.   

Rootless Relocation, Part 1c: Where?

Tres Piedras, New Mexico. Old Pink Schoolhouse Gallery.

In Part 1a, I considered where in the world I'll live next. I narrowed the options down to New Mexico or Mexico..
In Part 1b, I looked at the pros and cons of the two, and decided on New Mexico.


But now --> Where in New Mexico will I live?


What are my decision drivers? 

• Access to family
• Access to other parts of New Mexico for exploration
• Climate
• Demographics - I want ethnic, cultural, language, and age diversity
• Interesting geography
• Income opportunities
• Recreation opportunities
• Cost of living, especially housing
• City size
• "Romance" factor - for example, do I want the Tony Hillerman New Mexico (Navajo and Hopi territory) or do I want Red Sky at Morning New Mexico (Sangre de Cristo Mountains area)? Or the borderlands factor, close to Mexico?

And do I want to choose my new base first and then look for work? Or look for work and let that determine where I'll settle in New Mexico?

Originally, I thought to look for work from Missouri and let the job hunt lead me to my new rootless base. But I changed direction and decided to look for my most desired base and then look for work. 


Where do I not want to live? 

I don't want to live in:

• Albuquerque - larger than what I want
• The bedroom communities surrounding Albuquerque - I don't like looking at the smog that ABQ produces
• Santa Fe - hate that congested, Anytown USA, main drag going into town, and just not a fan of the overall vibe  
• Deming - based on research, seemed a little depressed
• Las Cruces - a sea of beige and bland bounded by highway
• Mountain communities that attract snow in winter, such as Cloudcroft and Ruidoso 
• Carlsbad - too far from most of New Mexico
• Portales or Clovis - might as well live in Oklahoma if I'm going to live in these cities

Silver City, New Mexico

On the fence about: 

• Silver City - great climate, nice town, but like Carlsbad, a little too remote from the rest of NM, and perhaps too gentrified for my taste
• Taos - I've been here twice and there are things I like about it, but I'm not in love; also, too much snow 
• Farmington - Tony Hillerman country, which is attractive, but I just can't get a feel for the geography or the vibe. It'd be cold in the winter. I was cold all last winter in Rustavi. No. Thank. You.

Taos, New Mexico

Possibles:

• Gallup - Out West, cowboy, cattle drive, rodeo, seductive tumbleweed-desolation vibe
• Grants - Ditto
• Truth or Consequences - Hot springs along the Rio Grande, a gritty attitude I find compelling, mild winters, good central location in NM
• Las Vegas - the Sangre de Cristo Mountains factor, one-day drive from mid-Missouri, good city size, university in town, hot springs nearby
• Alamogordo - In desert area, but really close to mountain communities, mild winters, good town size, university in town, military base nearby that supports economy, close to Mexico
• Roswell - Nice size at 48,000 population, university in town, somewhat mild winters

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Some resources to help me rule communities in or out:

The city-data.com forums are a place to ask questions about places of interest. There's a rich archive to search previous questions and answers about a locale.

City-data.com itself offers demographic, employment, crime, climate data about locales in the U.S.
There's also good info from the U.S. Census here, from whence you can drill down to small communities.

Craigslist gives researchers a ballpark idea of housing costs and job possibilities.

Meetup gives you an idea of social groups that are active in a potential new base. If there aren't any meetup groups, that's good information, too.

If I had never been to New Mexico before, I'd take a reconnaissance trip out there to personally eyeball the various possibilities. But I have been there - not to all of the cities on my in/out list - but a number of them, so I'm relying on my past visits and the online resources to make my decision.

My process of elimination


I know I don't want to deal with snow, so although I looked at my fence-sitting possibilities such as Farmington, considered Taos in a lukewarm way, and took quite a close look at Las Vegas because of its Sangre de Cristo Mountain proximity, I wasn't excited about any of them. In fact, I wasn't too enthusiastic about living anywhere in NM north of Interstate 40, which I perceive as the snow line.

Silver City may have the closest to the ideal climate in New Mexico with mild winters and summers. But as important as climate is to me, Silver City's remoteness, small size, and gentrified vibe ruled it out for me. Actually, my experience visiting Silver City a couple of years ago suggest to me that there's a lot of social goings-on and recreation activities despite its small size. But the job situation there, based on my research, is rather grim.

Eliminated: Taos, Farmington, and Silver City.


Gallup and Grants have some pull for me, primarily because of the Hillerman Effect. There's also a perception of being Out West in those two towns. Rodeos. Cowboys. Cattle drives. An edgy tumbleweed-desolation kind of vibe that is seductive.

But they're right on the snow belt (I-40 in my mind. And I just can't get enough information on them to tempt me to take a risk. Especially the surrounding scenery. How the town centers look. 

About 18 hours' drive from mid-Missouri, this isn't any longer drive time than competitors in southern NM, so I can't use access to family as an eliminating factor for Gallup or Grants. I also can't say they're too remote from other locations in NM I want to explore than more southern NM competitors. Being smack on Interstate 40, they're on a fast track to most places in NM.

At the end of the day, Gallup and Grants just sort of fell off the possibles list because, I don't know, their voices were too quiet. I'll definitely go visit them, though.

Eliminated: Gallup and Grants


The eliminations left in the running: 

• Truth or Consequences
• Alamogordo
• Las Vegas
• Roswell

Las Vegas, New Mexico

Both Las Vegas and Roswell are weak candidates for different reasons, but they have these attributes going for them:


Access to family. Las Vegas is within one, long day's drive from mid-Missouri at around 15 hours. Roswell is pushing 16 hours.
"Romance" factor. Las Vegas is near Red Sky at Morning territory, being close to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It's Taos Lite and Santa Fe Ultra Lite, without the pretension you come across sometimes in the latter two communities. It has a nice plaza, and the art and jewelry scene. Hot springs nearby.
City size. Roswell has a population of about 48,000. A decent size; similar to my home town.

But:

I just couldn't get too excited about Roswell. My research only pulled up negative comments about the city or, just as damning, not many comments at all. Like Gallup and Grants, I'll go visit Roswell, but I'm not going to live there.

Las Vegas felt like a place I "should" go to. Cold, snowy winters maybe. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains notwithstanding, not in love.

It all boils down to:

Truth or Consequences or Alamogordo.

Truth or Consequences (TC) has a bit of an attitude that I like. The people there seem to have been around the block a few times, lived perhaps a little too hard at times, but now doing OK. Central location that makes it really convenient to explore other parts of NM. Close to larger cities such as Albuquerque, Las Cruces and El Paso, TX. If I want to see what the hell is going on down in the borderlands, I can do that, too. 

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Love that it's right on the Rio Grande. Hot springs. Close to some recreation areas. The Spaceport is close, which is kind of cool.

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

But the population is less than 7000 and the median age is 52.

Very hot summers.

Alamogordo also has hot summers, but it's within half an hour of mountain communities such as Ruidoso and Cloudcroft, with cooler air. It's right next to the immense Lincoln Forest. Close to White Sands Monument. Close to Las Cruces and El Paso.  About an hour closer than TC to mid-Missouri. A population of more than 30,000, with a median age of 37.

But it's more than three hours from Albuquerque and it's not as convenient to lots of NM destinations as TC is.   

Alamogordo, New Mexico

Alamogordo is more diverse than TC in regard to ethnicity, language, and age. The nearby Holloman Air Force Base presumably maintains some stability in the Alamogordo economy.

And I like Alamogordo. Though not edgy like TC, it is pleasant. I like its zoo and the small, picturesque villages nearby such as La Luz and Tularosa.

Not a linear process

As I looked at my options in New Mexico, I went back and forth on various cities. I went back and forth on how much I weighed my decision drivers, such as climate, diversity, community size, etc.

I looked at housing costs on craigslist. Read all of the threads on city-data about the possible relocation locales in New Mexico. Checked distances on google maps between this and that and the other.

I reviewed what I wanted to get out of New Mexico. Interculturally, there is so much that New Mexico has going on. I'm feeling drawn to look firsthand at the historic goings-on with how the U.S. is dealing with people crossing the border illegally from Mexico. In addition to climate preferences, this informs my decision to stick to southern New Mexico for my base.

I had to weigh a great central location for good access to most of NM (Truth or Consequences) against my desire for a larger community and proximity to mountains (Alamogordo). Demographically, Alamogordo also beat out TC for its diversity.  

Alamogordo. My future new home ... for awhile.

Pecan orchard, near Alamogordo, New Mexico

White Sands Monument, near Alamogordo, New Mexico

Next up: Rootless relocation, Part 2: What Will I Take With Me?