artdirector@sfreporter.com
Morning Word
Voting campaign focuses on NM’s new citizens
A new statewide initiative aims to galvanize newly naturalized US citizens to cast ballots in the Nov. 8 midterm election. According to a new report released yesterday from the Natural Partnerships for New Americans and several state organizations working on the effort, more than 15,000 newly naturalized US citizens who are eligible to vote live in New Mexico. “This bloc of potential voters—called New American Voters—is multiracial, multigenerational, geographically diverse, and majority female,” a news release notes. “They hold varying ideologies and viewpoints, and will be motivated by a variety of issues this November.” The report, Fabiola Landeros, a newly naturalized citizen and organizer at El Centro Poder y Acción, said in a statement “demonstrates our communities have power in the ballot box that we can harness to ensure all our communities in New Mexico have the opportunity to thrive.” El Centro, Landeros said, “will be knocking on tens of thousands of doors in Bernalillo County because when we turn out to vote, we have the power to shape our electoral system in New Mexico.” According to the report, of the total number of persons who naturalized in New Mexico between 2016 to 2020, approximately 72% are from the Americas—63% from Mexico. About 18% are from Asia; 5% Europe; and 3% are from the African continent. The report says New Mexico ranks 15th according to the New American Voters Impact Model, which is based on factors such as: “the 2020 presidential election margin of victory; the average margin of victory during the last three presidential elections; the size of the foreign-born population in a state; and the presence of competitive senatorial or gubernatorial races.” Somos Un Pueblo Unido and NM Comunidades en Acción y de Fé also are part of the New American Voters campaign. According to the Secretary of State’s office, as of yesterday, nearly 28,000 voters have cast early and absentee ballots—more than 2,400 in Santa Fe County.
SWAIA leader departs
Kim Peone, the first Native American woman to lead the Southwestern Association of Indian Arts as its executive director, is no longer its head. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports several SWAIA personnel anonymously confirmed Peone’s departure, but the organization has yet to publicly announce the change, nor could Peone (Colville Confederated Tribes/Eastern band of Cherokee) be reached for comment. The reported change comes, however, as the state Attorney General’s office confirms it is working with SWAIA to bring it into compliance with the state Charitable Solicitations Act. According to an AG spokeswoman, the office received two complaints about SWAIA being out of compliance. A SWAIA spokesperson confirmed to the paper that the nonprofit is behind on its required audits. According to the state’s Charitable Organization Registration Online System, SWAIA received an extension in August, and the organization says work on its 2020 and 2021 audits is underway. SWAIA filed its 2019 audit last August. SWAIA hired Peone as its executive director in April, 2020; She subsequently produced Santa Fe Indian Market’s first virtual event during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and oversaw the organization’s transition to a larger online presence.
Committee chooses applicants for PRC interviews
Yesterday, the Public Regulation Commission Nominating Committee approved 13 commission applicants to interview during its next three regular meetings on Oct. 25, Nov. 7 and Nov. 8. A subcommittee also will be meeting prior to the October meeting to further evaluate five additional applicants and make recommendations about whether any of them should be interviewed. Voters in 2020 approved a constitutional amendment changing the PRC from an elected five-member body to a three-member panel appointed by the governor, the latest PRC-reform attempt in that body’s long tortured history. The nominating committee will make five recommendations to the governor, who will pick three commissioners to serve staggered six-year terms starting Jan. 1, 2023, pending state Senate approval. Candidates—who were asked to complete this questionnaire—must reside in at least three different counties and the nominees can’t include more than two members from the same political party. The list of 13 applicants includes two Independents from Santa Fe County: Carolyn Glick and Ken Costello. The list of five additional possibilities includes a Republican and Democrat from Santa Fe: Scott Karns and Donatella Pasqualini, respectively.
COVID-19 by the numbers
Reported Oct. 18: New cases: 268; 623,179 total cases; Deaths: 0; Santa Fe County has had 353 total deaths; there have been 8,601 fatalities statewide. Statewide hospitalizations: 104. Patients on ventilators: three. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent Oct. 13 “community levels” map, which uses a combination of hospital and case rate metrics to calculate COVID-19 risk for the prior seven-day period, all of New Mexico is once again green, aka has low levels. Corresponding recommendations for each level can be found here.
Resources: CDC interactive booster eligibility tool; NM DOH vaccine & booster registration; CDC isolation and exposure interactive tool; Self-report a positive COVID-19 test result; Curative testing sites; COVID-19 treatment info; NMDOH immunocompromised tool kit. People seeking treatment who do not have a medical provider can call NMDOH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-855-600-3453.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Listen up
What can we do about climate change? Lots of stuff. For a more nuanced and informed take on the question, Stanford University Woods Institute for the Environment Senior Fellow Emerita Terry L Root will deliver a talk at 7 pm tonight titled: “Climate Change…Changing Everything (and What to do about it!)” Amongst her many other credentials, Root—an Albuquerque native—served as a lead author of the fourth report from Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change in 2007 when the IPCC and Al Gore received the Nobel Prize for their work on climate change. RSVP to the Santa Fe County League of Women Voters to attend the talk at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation (107 Barcelona) or register to watch online via Zoom.
Fancy pants
ICYMI (we did), a vintage pair of Levis circa the 1880s sold earlier this month at an auction in Aztec, New Mexico (at the Tico Time River Resort) for $76,000 (more than $87,000 counting the buyer’s premium). Buyer Kyle Haupert, a 23-year-old vintage clothing dealer from San Diego, California tells the Wall Street Journal he’s “still kind of bewildered, just surprised in myself for even purchasing them.” Haupert put up 90% of the cost, while Zip Stevenson of LA’s Denim Doctors contributed the rest. Self-described “denim archaeologist” Michael Harris found the jeans in an abandoned mineshaft “in the American West,” the Journal says. Stevenson tells CNN he first heard about the jeans “about five years ago when they were first discovered” by Harris, who “has looked in at least 50 abandoned mines for five years and has not found a pair of equal quality.” Amongst the pants’ other time-worn elements, the racist slogan “the only kind made by white labor” is printed on a pocket, which the company used following the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. You can watch the winning bid (Durango Vintage Festivus host Brit Eaton had speculated the jeans could sell for as much as $100,000 in a pre-auction interview). Denim Doctors is showing them by appointment in LA.
Everyone loves Taos
Afar magazine includes Taos in its list of eight “forward-thinking destinations” in the US, a roundup highlighting small cities and towns that “demonstrate leadership in conservation, sustainability and social justice and embody the inherent creativity of the resourceful.” In the case of Taos, that includes the Red Willow Center on Taos Pueblo, which grows organic crops and manages a weekly farmers market. Taos Pueblo’s environmental influence extends all the way up the mountain. “I appreciate how much we can learn from Taos Pueblo and its elder statesmen that the land cares for you if you care for the land,” B-Corp Taos Ski Valley CEO David Norden, says. Taos Ski recently gained carbon-neutral certification. Taos as home to traditional acequias and Earthships also receives notice (speaking of which: A $912,000 Earthship is currently on the market in Taos). In addition to its green credentials, Taos also has arts credentials, and The Zoe Report includes the Millicent Rogers Museum in its recommendations for the top museums to visit this fall, noting the museum’s permanent exhibition includes more than 7,000 significant art items from Native American, Hispanic and Anglo artists. Lastly, Uproxx culture/entertainment website recommends an “Indigenous-Focused Road Trip,” including—naturally—a stop in Taos, where Taos Pueblo has been continuously inhabited for more than 1,000 years.
Make hay
The National Weather Service forecasts a sunny day with a high temperature near 67 degrees and northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west in the afternoon.
Thanks for reading! The Word intends to read The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, which won the 2022 Booker prize yesterday, except it doesn’t publish until next month, so for now she will just read the excerpt.
