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COVID-19 by the numbers
New Mexico health officials yesterday reported 301 new COVID-19 cases for the three-day period of July 10-12, bringing the total number of cases to 206,551. The health department has designated 195,689 of those cases as recovered. Bernalillo County had 98 cases followed by Sandoval County with 33 and both Doña Ana and Santa Fe counties with 26. In Santa Fe County, 11 of those cases were in the 87507 ZIP code, which ranked fourth in the state yesterday for the most new cases.
The state also announced four additional deaths, three recent and one from more than 30 days ago, bringing the total number of fatalities to 4,358. As of yesterday, 77 people were hospitalized with COVID-19.
Currently, 71.7% New Mexicans 18 years and older have had at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine and 63.5% are fully vaccinated. In Santa Fe County, 82% have had one dose and 73.3% are fully vaccinated. Among New Mexicans aged 12-17, 43.2% have had one dose and 34.3% are fully vaccinated.
The City of Santa Fe issued an updated COVID-19 emergency order yesterday, which eliminates a requirement for city employees or the public to wear masks outdoors, and extends the city’s moratorium on both water shut-offs and evictions, among other provisions.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Native artists criticize ongoing limits in portal program
Native artists in the Native American Artisan Portal Program on the Santa Fe Plaza say continued COVID-19 restrictions limiting the number of participants are causing financial distress. The portal reopened June 11, but continues to restrict capacity, even though the state of New Mexico, as a whole, eliminated business capacity limits July 1. A spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, however, says the Portal Program isn’t considered a business and the committee and the New Mexico History Museum overseeing the program set its rules. A committee member, however, disputes that characterization and says the committee wants to reopen, but has been told by Museum Executive Director Billy Garrett that it needs permission from the state. The governor’s office, however, referred questions on the matter to the Department of Cultural Affairs. Meanwhile, one of the 20 artists turned away from the portal last week says the ongoing limits are causing damage. “We’ve been hurt financially, spiritually and emotionally for 15 months,” Patricia Anderson, a Navajo jeweler from Cochiti Pueblo, tells the Albuquerque Journal.
City solicits Midtown thoughts
The City of Santa Fe yesterday announced upcoming public planning sessions related to the Midtown District, aka the former campus of Santa Fe University of Art and Design/College of Santa Fe. Next week, from July 20-22, the city will hold “listening sessions” purportedly “to inform the future land uses and development plans for the Midtown Site and the surrounding District” and to “facilitate the exchange of ideas, priorities and objectives for the Planning Phase.” The “listening phase” will be followed by workshop sessions Sept. 23-25, intended to “to effectively engage Santa Feans and coordinate with key city departments to develop land use and development plans that will serve as the foundation for zoning and master plan applications that will regulate the development of the Midtown District.” If you’re having deja vu, it’s understandable: This is not the first time the public has been asked its thoughts on the campus’ future. This particular round of public input into the former campus’ putative future comes after the city took over the project last March. You can (but don’t have to) register for the listening sessions here.
CCA hires new ED
The Center for Contemporary Arts has hired an executive director, filling a role that has been vacant since Stuart Ashman left in 2018 to head the International Folk Art Market. Danyelle Means (Oglala Lakota) joins CCA as its first Indigenous ED, following previous positions at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, among others. The news comes about a month after the CCA hired former Violet Crown Cinema Manager Peter Grendle to head up its movie offerings. “I think really we’re looking at creating a sense of community here where the galleries and the cinema work hand-in-hand,” Means tells SFR. “The communities we serve here are so vastly different and so incredibly important, and we want to cross-pollinate between our two spaces.” Means says she envisions phased programming in both the cinema and gallery, with youth at the forefront; she also envisions more collaborations with the nearby Santa Fe Children’s Museum and the New Mexico Military Museum. “We want to be a location that people come back to,” she says.
Listen up
The International Folk Art Market has returned in 2021, albeit with a different format. On the most recent episode of Report from Santa Fe, IFAM CEO Stuart Ashman talks with host Lorene Mills about returning to an in-person market, with timed entries spread out over the course of two weekends (next weekend, July 14-18, is the second); the market’s genesis; and Ashman’s own career in the arts in the state, including as a former cabinet secretary for the state’s Department of Cultural Affairs.
Embracing Indigenous astronomy
The US National Park Service is beginning to incorporate Indigenous astronomy into its “astrotourism experiences,” such as tours and star parties, Outside Magazine writes, and in the case of Mesa Verde and Voyageurs National Parks, its rangers are collaborating with local Indigenous communities to do so. “Like many, these rangers have been inspired by the work of Annette S. Lee, an award-winning astrophysicist, artist, Lakota of the Ojibwe and Dakota-Lakota communities, and director of the rapidly growing movement Native Skywatchers,” the story notes. At New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historic Park, the Night Sky program has offered astronomy in its public interpretive programs since 1991, according to its website, and emphasizes the practices of the Chacoan people a thousand years ago. Outside looks even farther back in Chaco’s history to the 1977 summer solstice, when researcher Anna Sofaer “located the sun dagger site near Fajada Butte,” ultimately revealing “that prehistoric Pueblo people used this millennia-old sun dagger to mark seasonal solstices and equinoxes with a cast shadow on a strategically placed petroglyph spiral.” Despite skepticism about her findings, Sofaer persevered, and her work was later featured by Carl Sagan in his series Cosmos. Native Skywatchers team member and Ojibwe elder and artist Carl Gawboy says he hopes his movement will help undo misperceptions about his ancestors. “The ancients were deep thinkers,” Gawboy tells Outside. “They looked at things and analyzed them and put them together in a logical, analytical fashion. It wasn’t just random individual beliefs.”
Out and about
The Santa Fe Conservation Trust offers a few opportunities for soaking up some fresh air this week. At 6 pm tonight, meet up at the Southside Library for the latest in the ¡Vamonos! series from the Santa Fe Walking Collaborative, which includes free walks on public trails. Tonight’s “Take a Walk on the Southside,” will start at the library and then journey to the Arroyo Chamiso Urban Trail. Then, from 9 am to noon tomorrow, help Conservation Trust members build the new Chili Line Trail within the La Tierra Trails. Bring work boots, long pants/shirt sleeves, sun protection, snacks and water. More info here. If you’re not familiar with La Tierra, it’s a multi-use trail system that includes 25 miles of trails for hikers, cyclists and equestrians, along with a separate track for motorcycles and ATVs. The Conservation Trust has helped maintain La Tierra’s trails since 2014, and is now working on an interpretive La Tierra Chili Line Trail.
In a haze?
Expect widespread “haze” today, and a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 3pm. What’s to blame for the haze? Unclear at this hour. Normally, we’d assume smoke blowing from...any number of places. Maybe the Saharan Dust Plume? Haze aside, the National Weather Service is calling for a mostly sunny day with a high near 86 degrees and northeast wind 5 to 15 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Tonight, chances for showers and thunderstorms increase to 60% and some of those storms could produce heavy rainfall. No word on hail. But, speaking of hail, a study from Stacker.com claims Eddy County has the most severe weather in the state, in terms of hail, flash floods and thunderstorms. Overall, hail storms are on the rise, according to NWS, but you’ll see in this chart that whereas Santa Fe had 3.7% of the hail storms between 1955 and 2020, Eddy County had 15.9%.
Thanks for reading! The Word appreciates Jane Goodall’s optimism, and will try to remain hopeful about the future until at least lunchtime.
