artdirector@sfreporter.com
Morning Word
Former Rust AD testifies: Armorer handed Baldwin gun
Former Rust Assistant Director Dave Halls, who took a plea agreement last March for negligent use of a deadly weapon in association with the Oct. 21, 2021 on-set fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, took the stand yesterday and said former armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, currently on trial for involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering in the shooting, handed Rust actor and producer Alec Baldwin the gun that killed Hutchins. On Wednesday, jurors viewed video footage of Gutierrez-Reed telling investigators she loaded the weapon for Baldwin, who goes to trial July 10 for charges of involuntary manslaughter. Baldwin initially told investigators Gutierrez-Reed had handed him the weapon, but later said Halls had done so. Gutierrez-Reed typically performed her duties on set diligently up to the time of the shooting, Halls said yesterday, noting she made an “impressive” safety presentation at the start of production. “The normal every day—every moment there was a firearm that was being handed to an actor, she would always bring the firearm,” Halls said. Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, questioned Hall’s testimony about safety on the set, citing a state Environment Department’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau report that recommended “a willful-serious citation” and financial penalties for Rust Productions, LLC. The state laid down a $136,793 civil penalty—the maximum fine allowed by state law.
New Living Wage takes effect today
An updated Living Wage for Santa Fe of $14.60 per hour—an increase from $14.03 last year—takes effect today. As explained in a news release, the Living Wage is calculated based on the 12-month total increase of 4.05% in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the Western Region for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. The City of Santa Fe’s Living Wage, adopted in 2007, requires all employers within city limits to pay workers at least the living wage. “This increase accurately reflects the increase in Consumer Price Index, but we all know it is far from being an actual living wage,” Mayor Alan Webber said in a statement. “If we want people who work in Santa Fe to be able to live in Santa Fe, we’re going to have to undertake a fair and thoughtful revision of the living wage to make it a real living wage.” The City’s Living Wage ordinance also says tips can count toward the Living Wage requirement for workers who customarily earn $100/month or more in tips or commission. According to the US Department of Labor, the federal minimum wage has been at $7.25 an hour since 2009. In his State of the City address last year, Webber called for improving the city’s living wage to keep apace with rising costs. Santa Fe County’s living wage also increases to $14.60 today.
Couples tie the knot at Meow Wolf
Multiple couples took up Meow Wolf’s gambit to tie the knot in the multiverse yesterday, the Albuquerque Journal reports, giving themselves fewer wedding anniversaries to celebrate if wanted/needed and, perhaps, guaranteed return visits to the House of Eternal Return. New Santa Fe residents Jonathan Guzman and Allison Mrotek were the first, the Journal reports. The couple moved here six months ago and felt Meow Wolf symbolized their 11-year relationship: “We’re very much a nontraditional couple,” Mrotek told the paper. “We’re excited that we got to experience this.” Jadyne Rowden and Gregory Glenn, on the other hand, had just become engaged the night prior, and yesterday marked Glenn’s first visit to Meow Wolf. The company invited couples earlier this month to tie the knot on Leap Day, saying ordained Meow Wolf characters would be on-site to officiate ceremonies. Couples were required to buy a ticket for admission and arrange for acquiring and recording their own marriage licenses. “We’re thrilled to offer couples the chance to make their special day even more remarkable by becoming part of the fabric of our immersive universe,” Meow Wolf General Manager Susan Garbett said in a statement. “Leap Year is all about the extraordinary, and what could be more extraordinary than starting a new chapter of your life in a place where imagination knows no bounds?” (Don’t worry: You can get hitched at Meow Wolf on non-Leap Year days too).
State awards monthly training funds
The state Economic Development Department yesterday announced the distribution of approximately $1.6 million in Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP) funds to eight companies to train 94 employees. Those companies include Santa Fe-based Parting Stone, which received $13,250 to train six employees. The award is just one of many for the local startup, which turns ashes into stones, providing customers a new form of solidified remains. In 2022, the company received $150,000 in state funds through the Local Economic Development Act. The JTIP board, a news release says, makes monthly allocations to allow businesses to expand and hire locally, reimbursing the companies a percentage of their costs for hiring and training. “Business owners throughout New Mexico are continuing to utilize JTIP as a tool for hiring and up-skilling their workforce,” Acting Cabinet Secretary Mark Roper said in a statement. “This program becomes more vital in a tight labor market when we need to invest in and support our current workers so they can learn new skills, earn a higher wage, and remain in New Mexico.” The largest award, approximately $840,000, went to Albuquerque-based Kairos Power, a business “focused on the development of clean, innovative nuclear technology,” for 29 trainees.
Listen up
The most recent episode of the state Department of Culture’s Encounter Culture podcast explores the experience of creating art in the midst of tremendous grief—particularly when personal grief intersects with collective pain, such as with the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous people. Bobby Brower (Iñupiaq) and Tara Trudell (Santee Sioux, Rarámuri, Mexican, Spanish) talk with show host Emily Withnall about finding their ways into articulating responses to the MMIP crisis through creating clothing and adornment, both “linked to a long history of protection, prayer and collaboration.”
We’ve got the look
Vogue writer Christian Allaire (Ojibwe) digs into bolo ties—the must-have accessory accompanying a resurgence in Western wear, he says—with a particular eye to “how Indigenous artists are reclaiming the bolo tie and making it even more special” by “adding unique details to their styles, such as colorful beadwork, precious turquoise and corals, and even stamped steel—all of which transform the bolo into a statement piece that can also signify cultural pride.” One case in point: New Mexico artist Krystalyn Platero, who crafts “sterling-silver styles punctuated with pink crystals and turquoise.” Speaking of Indigenous fashion, Afar magazine includes Santa Fe on its list of the 10 best places to travel in May, specifically for the May 2-5 inaugural Indigenous Fashion Week. The four-day event will include a fashion symposium, fashion shows, parties, pop-ups and more. As Afar notes, the event extends the Indigenous fashion show that has become a highlight at Santa Fe Indian Market (in fact, read Allaire’s coverage of fashion scene at last year’s market, both on and off the runway). As with the market’s Indigenous fashion show, the new fashion week has been organized by curator, educator, art historian and fashionista Amber-Dawn Bear Robe (Siksika Nation), who spoke to SFR last summer about the new initiative, and mused: “Maybe it can become an international event that people come to annually, just like Indian Market. This can be the place people come to experience the work, to work with Indigenous designers and models, to collaborate. This can be the hub for that.”
Shroom-curious
Contrary to a recent story from High Times, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham did not recently sign “psilocybin memorial legislation.” We double-checked with her office—memorials of this sort don’t require the governor’s signature, but this particular non-binding bill did pass and requests the state health department collaborate with the University of New Mexico on a study to “evaluate the efficacy of psilocybin-based therapeutic treatments and the establishment of a program allowing the use of psilocybin mushrooms for therapeutic medical treatments.” The governor does support the memorial “in concept,” Communications Director Michael Coleman writes to SFR. “She generally supports innovative and responsible research and treatment to address depression, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health challenges.” Intrigued by the concept? Perhaps, then, check out this weekend’s book events for Shin Yu Pai and Amy Wong Hope’s Small Doses of Awareness: A Microdosing Companion, at 6 pm this evening at The Ark (133 Romero St.,) and at 11:30 am tomorrow, Saturday, March 2 at Best Daze Palace (128 W Palace Ave). SFR spoke with co-author and educator/social worker Amy Wong Hope, who says she’s “not here to advocate for everybody using psychedelics, but they are a catalyst. And they can do things like increase our neuroplasticity. Is that any different than anybody who takes an antidepressant? But they have to take care of what’s happening in their lives. When I do trauma therapy with clients, they’re so insightful, but what does it take to take that insight and really work it into the soil and really nurture it and water it? The psychedelics can be a catalyst or an aid, but each human being is still responsible for doing their work.”
In like a windy lion
The National Weather Service forecasts a sunny day, with a high temperature near 60 degrees and south wind 5 to 15 mph becoming west in the morning. High winds return over the weekend, with gusts as high as 30 mph on Saturday and 40 mph on Sunday, when we may also see “patchy blowing dust after noon.” Temperatures will reach the low 60s throughout the weekend, with much of the state experiencing critical fire weather.
Thanks for reading! Some of the “65 provoking questions” The Cut recently published for self-examination (or examination of others) reminded The Word of early-stage Facebook questionnaires, but she may mull a few of them this weekend, such as: “Do you know the anatomy of a turtle? Do you really?” and “What does your mind voice sound like?”
