Letters to the Editor

June 10

Mail letters to Letters, Santa Fe Reporter, PO Box 2306, Santa Fe, NM 87504, deliver them to 132 E. Marcy St., fax them to 505-988-5348 or email them to the editor.

Keep Writing
I hope that you will do what you can to encourage Seth Biderman to continue to write about his teaching experiences once he arrives in Latin America. His articles have shown him to be the bright, articulate thinker that any school would be delighted to have as a faculty member. His understanding of students, his sense of humor and his knowledge of the field of education have been inspiring. Let's hope Santa Fe Public Schools can entice him to return and work here in the future.

Secondly, I loved Zane Fischer's article this week. If we allow the national—and local—media to convert Santa Fe into another Disneyland, we will lose all that is unique and treasured in this historic city.
Judy Crawford
Santa Fe


Teaching Thanks
As a Monte del Sol student from its inception year, I greatly appreciated last week's cover story and wanted to express my gratitude for the school that saved my life. Before Monte del Sol, I was an angry, self-loathing little bastard, and by graduation I'd reclaimed my soul thanks to the wonderful teachers like Seth Biderman who devoted their energy with unmatched passion. Thanks, Seth, and bon voyage!
Hoku Donovan-Smith
Santa Fe


Hide your drugs
While I, unlike most sheriffs and chiefs, support medical marijuana for the original conditions and most serious cases, I do not support the recent attempts to expand the program to many other conditions [Cover story, April 22: "Toke '09"]. That aside, I am very concerned about revealing any details about the locations of the growing operations. I really feel it is a security risk to the nonprofit growers and could even result in crimes as serious as kidnapping or homicide. I am in support of having nonprofit growers and keeping those in need from getting medical marijuana from illegal and possibly dangerous sources. In fact, I was initially under the belief that the cart was put before the horse when the licenses to use were issued before allowing for a safe dispensary system. The horses are now out of the barn so to speak, however, I hope your publication as well as other media will resist the temptation to publicize even rough locations beyond something like "somewhere in Santa Fe County"-type descriptions. I am fully in support of open government, however, I do feel lives and property could be in danger.
Sheriff Greg Solano
Santa Fe County


Sovereign Series
I lost sleep over Denise Williams's attack on V Natonabah Jones. This in the wake of Paul Glickman's mean-spirited letter about tearing down the trees on Cerrillos Road.

I do not presume to know the racial heritage of Williams or Glickman. But as a white person of Northern European descent, I know the perspectives being presented come straight out of Colonialism 101 and the underlying system that enables white people to dominate the upper echelons of power. Saying the people who imposed harm on Native American folks are dead today completely misses reality and serves to diminish the core issue of sovereignty and self-determination. To sarcastically attack people's integrity vis a vis a no-doubt complex decision about control over land is completely unhelpful. Why should anyone insist the indigenous folks of this continent get over it and forgive and forget the GENOCIDE many of our ancestors perpetrated? Why should anyone push another to swallow the brutal system of racism from which white people historically and currently profit?

The fact is, the past informs the present. History matters. Looking backward is necessary to create a future free of oppression. Assimilate or die has been the option up to now. Not until we actively shift the current power dynamic and bring compassion and real analysis to the past, present and future can we begin to feel ourselves as "One."
Kathy Ni Keefe
Santa Fe

The Reporter welcomes original, signed letters to the editor. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to speci?c articles in the Reporter. They may be edited for clarity and space. Include address and phone number for veri?cation purposes; these will not be published.

Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to PO Box 4910 Santa Fe, NM 87502 or email them to editor[at]sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members from our contact page.