Canyon Carver

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canyon Carver

 

By Michelle

 Red earth trails, we trace

rock-scapes, the crevass we gaze,

deep peril, to cross.

 

"I Can't Hide the Love for the Blue, Pink and Orange!"

Isn't it a site, to see such light
clouds roll over
to start the night
coming darkness can be glorious




I took this photo on Valentines day,  I had front row seats to a beautiful happening!

Erin Haiku

Dust trails lead to red

Rock caves. Night drops, all is dark

But the embers glow

Corrales Haiku

Takes a freaking hour

to get to work every day

but those mountain views

Site Haiku

So little effort
to find such great sights within
Jemez Box Canyon

We Are All Made Of Clay

Albuquerque is fragmentary. It is an ever changing organism made up of countless interlocking parts that construct an appearance of wholeness. Its ligaments are long dry roads that stretch out so far that you would begin to think there is nothing else left for you if it weren’t for its mountainous head. Up there is snow thick enough to trap you at the waist. And so many trees you wouldn’t believe it was a desert; green leaves sagging under heavy white. Look down at the terracotta bungalows all lined up with identical wooden blinds and matching trucks parked outside, almost as big as buildings. See the girls talking on their iphones being watched by the homeless drunks waiting at bus stops for help that isn’t coming. See the police cars stopped, blue lights flashing, and men with their hands on their guns in preparation.

The sun breathes into the lungs of the city, you can see its great blue ribcage expand and contract under the immense load that it is carrying. There is blood too, somewhere beneath it all. An unfathomable redness within. It was there before houses and SUVs and Costco. Before the landfill sites were filled and before they were made.  It was there before the Navajo and the Apaches, before the Spanish and the Mexicans and the English. Before God. It was there before we learnt to categorize and before we learnt how to be in a world where there is nothing to do but be. It was there before and it will be there after, and so Albuquerque goes on living.

La Sombra

 22 February 2014

-Micaela Montaño

 

Tengo alma

 

mestiza 

adentro un cuerpo 

infinito, una frontera—mezcla peligrosa. 

This body, stretching across dusty borders, huérfanos. 

The child I sent to Chile who came back a man, 

The grandmother who wrapped my imagination in a red rebozo, 

My father speaking 

Spanish, la lengua de mis antepasados, los ancianos. 

La lengua de la sombra 

weaving 

memories of Tepeyac,  

eating mangos y duraznos, 

Ripe, fleshy earth  

painted brown, my body a mural, 

faded stories, dark gifts,

mis hijos, uvas,

regalos de la tierra.

 

 

 

 

Los Haikus

Stones etched and part away
Leaf by Leaf an opening
earth dug flesh mouth

                 *

Large green mangoes picked
curled vines slash left
rain is silver coins collected

-Mel Gar

Excerpt From Field Observation #1 (Mike, Christina, and Sonora)

Mike: Ultimately the content of the film festival, the film “A Fierce Green Fire” and the short previews, were altogether really inspiring. Though there was not a specific direction that the documentary pointed patrons in, it served to provide encouragement to do more. I personally felt inspired to take measures to make more environmentally conscious decisions in terms of energy consumption especially.

Christina: The film festival was great, but I always think it’s best to leave participants of a group with an “ask” after riling them up – like presenting an action (a petition to Congress if not an actual event to participate in) – so that they could take that motivation and use it to come together again to accomplish something. (There were participation cards where we could sign to be on an e-mail list about future events.) I was pumped at the end of the showing – the movie built a great historical perspective about environmental activism in the US, leading up to what it considered today’s top environmental movement, addressing climate change.

Sonora: Overall, the Fossil Free Film festival was a success. There was a full house 3 of the 4 sessions (about 117 people) and about 77 people on Thursday afternoon, the total seats filled was 428 for the four sessions. Personally, I enjoyed being on the organizing team but would have liked to see more students in attendance as well as different ethnic and minority groups. The films that really moved me were, “The Last Mountain” which is a film about mountain top removal in the valley of Appalachia which was highly effective with the use of ethos and “Carbon Nation” which provided ethos, logos and pathos in providing alternatives for the climate crisis issue.     

Excerpt - Reading Response 4 (with bonus baby goat!)

Religion, in my experience, can sometimes make a big, hypocritical mess of things, and from the USLA reading this week, it appears that its role in the colonization of North and Latin America was no different. It’s interesting that Americans treated “Indian faith…in the ability to reach beyond or behind the corporeal world” with disdain partially because their spiritual customs were so rooted in nature and maintaining a connection to the environment (Pike 98). The idea that they frowned on Latin American beliefs, with their mystic tendencies, is also bizarre. The interactions between Americans, Latin Americans, and Native Americans are certainly not the first time religious beliefs have been used to justify oppression, but this example is striking nonetheless because of the role these beliefs play in the treatment of nature.


And, on a lighter note, here's me with a baby goat.

Demand Hope

Demand Hope

Let us start at the end

Before the war

When we were shrimp

In a universe soup

Life was certain then

As heaven

And electrical light bulbs

Do you remember the taste of fruit?

It was quiet in the dark

Before our children

Learnt to walk and think

And shoot

Earth have mercy.

You say

Earth, we will rise

And gather troops

And I ask, you

And whose army?

Field Exercise

Field Research Project #1: Zimmerman Library

Zimmerman library represents a meeting of modern and early New Mexico. The edifice, designed in the famous Adobe style, joins together the “Historic West Wing” with additional expansions to facilitate a swelling population of visitors to the building.

Though in keeping with the character of the rest of the older buildings on campus, Zimmerman’s exterior betrays its function in the modern world. Through the big glass doors at its entrance can be spied the garish light of an ATM machine, as if in mockery of the notion that our rewards from the building will be gained freely. If we walk a little a little further in from the lobby we will be stopped by the clamour of students queuing impatiently outside of Starbucks, jostling one another as they wait to relieve their cravings for caffeine and sugar.

To the right is the newer side of the library with its tables of computers, photocopying machines and students lying face down on desks in despair. If we take a left out of Starbucks instead, we will find ourselves West wing. It is the oldest part of the library and was designed by John Gaw Meem in the Spanish Pueblo style. The West wing revels in the cultural fusion that comprises New Mexico. From the tin light fixtures, fabricated by local craftsmen, to its carved wooden chairs, the rooms display immaculate attention to detail.

The murals inside the Great Hall, though very beautifully rendered, are perplexing. The Indian artist and the Spanish builder are fairly self-explanatory but the final two pictures are a bit more confusing. The Anglo showing scientific contributions has at its centre a doctor in a face mask holding a baby. There is something about this image which seems a bit uncanny. The final picture, which is meant to be of the union of all three cultures in the South West, seems to retain perturbing residues of Anglo hierarchical dominance, not to mention patriarchy. It depicts a white Arian male standing centre facing forward with two darker skinned males either side of him. They are turned so that you cannot entirely see their faces and are shaking hands with the white man.

The connotations of this final mural seem a little odd and act as a reminder for me that sometimes prejudices and normalised ideas become so ingrained into our psyches that even when we believe we are doing something productive and forward thinking, we may still be carrying prejudicial baggage.

 

(Pirámide de la Luna, outside of Mexico City)

Teotihuacán

Sun and moon govern

The stone beneath our soles

Our hearts beat as one

(San Diego, Andes de Ecuador)

Pachamama

Agua de vida

Madre tierra, embrace us

Provide us with life.

Overlooking Villanueva

This land is my home

Overlooking the beauty

A moment in time

Up here on this mountain top

Land that is my own

Herencia, by Alina Gallegos

Herencia

My name is from the desert plains in Guadalajara and also from the heart of Spain

I belong to the New Mexican desert thistles

                that stand up proud, representing my home state.

I am from my mother,

                born into the town of Las Cruces but my heart belonging to Mexico.

I come from a family given brown eyes and green

                where the kitchen is the heart of the house.

I’m from a place where my primos and tios are my compadres

                and theatrical tias gossiping for my entertainment

I was raised to embrace the phrase “Mexican American” and told to never be ashamed

                of my cultura

I come from a place where faith is more important than fact,

                the belief of a higher power passed through the generations.

I’m from a place where tortillas mean more than bread

                and tamales make everyone come together.

I belong to a cultural world where my heart will always belong to my herencia

                and I will live in this place where I can call myself a Chicana 

This is a poem I've been working on for a while and I really wanted to share.  I appreciate any feedback! 

Excerpt from Field Observation #1 (Lauren, Josh, Melisa)

Visiting the Rio Grande Nature Center
"Our group was a bit disturbed by the ecology of the dry environment, because the wilderness seemed a little too dehydrated. However, as Josh remarked, it was still easy to appreciate the setting’s naturalistic beauty. Melisa was thrilled to see a part of the Rio Grande even if there may not be as much water; she was reminded of the large body of water she left behind in California. She noted that while she misses the nature in California, the one in Albuquerque is so distinctive. We considered the way the landscape changes when there are actual leaves on the trees, and how other people react to the change of scenery. We were somewhat surprised by the fact that the center preserved a wilderness that exists in the heart of the city, as nature often seems to exist outside of urban areas. The nature center also had many intriguing exhibits where people could learn the geology of the area, as well as appreciate the ponds that the center resided on.
Overall, our group was appreciative of the nature center, even if a bit alarmed by the dryness, and pulled out of the moment by the cars and homes just across the river. The outer forces of the city were still at bay."

Destroyed

Cold, bare, bitter

sweet—

Ashes burn on city streets.

It’s quiet.

Much like the browns and greens of the forest

Santa Fe. Silence.

On her blackened heart of conscious

the water rushes toward her haunted.

Stop it!

       The ground is shaking,

              what more could nature be making

The cries and screams of the sizzle,

It’s beautiful—it’s beautiful

Tall slanted emerald trees weeping, wind catching leaves

dripping.

The time changed and all has burned, the place inside my mind can’t be seen anymore. 

Extinction, the past is gone.

Disgusting bags of the remains

horrified.

Time is wasting and the forest is fading.

This was a poem about a place that has been destroyed over time and it affected me negatively. I don't know how to write a Haiku so i wrote a poem!