DESERT EXPOSURE
NOVEMBER 2016 • 7
EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK • ELVA K. ÖSTERREICH
Marching into Antiquity What is great about New Mexico is great about America
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tried to write about forced marches after hearing a radio news piece about some Native Americans forced to leave their homeland long ago. It made me think about our local Apaches’ forced march to Florida. In turn it made me think of the Bataan Death March, about which I once stage managed an event. Then I started looking more. And I saw so many forced marches, death marches, deportations; I found so many millions who almost died, and more millions who did die, I was overwhelmed, depressed and completely unable to write. So I will urge you to look. To type the words “forced march” into a browser and face the human capability of what you find there, if only for a little while. Meanwhile ... I found something else. The Garden, an ad agency in Toronto, Canada, launched a campaign called “Let’s Tell America It’s Great,” encouraging Canadians to send videos of themselves telling America the reasons it’s already great. So ... As a Can-alien myself, I am taking the challenge. In this divisive, angry, desperate election season, I am going to move forward and let New Mexico (yes, it is part of the United States) know that you are great and why the state’s greatness is just part
of the whole great package of America. New Mexico is great because it exemplifies the open spaces, purple mountains and independent thinking that is everything good about the Wild West. The actual heritage of the state makes for a historical display of diverse experience, from a Hispanic legacy of color, spice and energy; to pioneering Caucasian fortitude; and Native American beat resounding with the land. Then there is New Mexican light. The sunlight, rising with blue and purple hues cast over the desert and setting in the brilliant golds, reds and undefinable shades that creep over the hillsides. The light is one of the things bringing and inspiring the many artists who claim the countryside their own. There is an artist in every corner, every town, and every city who shares our state across the world. “When I got to New Mexico that was mine. As soon as I saw it that was my country. I’d never seen anything like it before, but it fitted to me exactly. It’s something that’s in the air — it’s different. The sky is different, the wind is different. I shouldn’t say too much about it because other people may be interested and I don’t want them interested.” — Georgia O’Keeffe, artist And too, there is starlight.
Because of the vast spaces where there is little light pollution, cloudless skies and simple darkness, the heavens open up into star vistas that most people in the world can’t countenance. The Milky Way spills across the sky, casting its own light on the ground. And the history of man’s reach into space — that makes New Mexico great too. From the ancients, those who marked the stones at Three Rivers and numerous other New Mexico rocks with markings depicting things happening with time and the sky to the beginnings of the hand of the world stretching itself away from the planet toward other things. As Joe Kittinger takes the “highest step in the world” over the southern New Mexico desert on Aug. 16, 1960 in the infancy of what was to become NASA’s space program, he jumps from the gondola of a balloon at the altitude of 102,800 feet. Project Excelsior was initiated in 1958 to design a parachute system that would allow a safe, controlled descent after a high-altitude ejection. Kittinger set a record for longest free-fall which was not broken until 2012. “We’re at 103,000 feet. Looking out over a very beautiful, beautiful world … a hostile sky. As you look up the sky looks beautiful but hostile. As you sit here you realize that Man will
GUEST COLUMN ï DR. JOSEPH SHEPARD
Voting For The Future of Our Community
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very two years you can directly impact our communities in a positive way through the passage of bonds for our colleges and universities. This election, General Obligation Bond C (GO Bond C) is on the ballot. Bond C asks voters to set aside more than $131 million in higher education funding to colleges and universities across the state, with no increases to taxes. If passed, this year’s GO Bond C will allocate $5 million to Western New Mexico University which will be used to invest in important infrastructure updates across campus as well as continue the renovations on the science building. The passage of Bond C will create jobs and boost our local economy. It will all be done without the increase of taxes. The improvements provided through projects generated by Bond C monies will mean that companies will
be able to hire contractors and construction crews who will then spend their wages in our local communities which benefits all. Small and large businesses throughout the state will hire people, which in turn will mean that our local businesses will benefit from the newly generated salaries and disposable income. Downtown restaurants, stores and hotels will all profit. Established in 1893, the Western New Mexico University campus is a classic mixture of historic buildings and pathways, nestled along with modern facilities and structures. Bond C monies will be used to bring needed updates to the hilly landscape of our 123-yearold campus as well as repair roofs and other deteriorating infrastructure. If Bond C is not passed, projects will be halted for most campuses in New Mexico, as this year’s bond will be the only major
source of funding for several years to come. Politics aside, Bond C is something that voters of all backgrounds can support. It supports our students. It supports our communities. And it advances the quality of life throughout New Mexico. Early voting began October 11 and runs through November 5. Election day will be Tuesday, November 8. Bond C will appear at the bottom of the ballot. With your support of Bond C, our students and the community will benefit by receiving a successful higher education experience, all without any tax increases. Dr. Joseph Shepard is president of Western New Mexico University in Silver City.
never conquer space. He will learn to live with it, but he will never conquer it. Can see for over 400 miles. Beneath me I can see the clouds… . They are beautiful … looking through my mirror the sky is absolutely black. Void of anything… . I can see the beautiful blue of the sky and above that it goes into a deep, deep, dark, indescribable blue which no artist can ever duplicate. It’s fantastic.” — Joe Kittinger, in the Excelsior III balloon over the western edge of the Tularosa Basin, just before stepping out of the gondola In 1982 space shuttle Columbia lands at White Sands Space Harbor on White Sands Missile Range, about 30 miles west of Alamogordo. In 1995, the Delta Clipper Experimental (DC-X) made strides into the arena of reusable vertical launch space vehicles, also at WSMR. Finally, the future of space exploration stays alive in New Mexico with Spaceport America, the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport, designed to make space travel as accessible to all as air travel is today. The wide open spaces between populations in New Mexico also make it possible for a vast contiguous protected air space commercial aircraft can’t cross offering a platform experimentation, military (WSMR, Fort Bliss, Holloman Air Force Base),
commercial (Spaceport America both vertical and horizontal launch facilities) and space program (NASA), unavailable anywhere else in the country. Just a few more things that make New Mexico great: Santa Fe, the highest capital city in the country; the Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta; White Sands National Monument; Hatch — “the green chile capital of the world;” mountains and pine forests; Smokey Bear; the state constitution makes it officially a bilingual state; scientific research at Sandia Labs and Los Alamos; aliens near Roswell; The Santa Fe Opera House; and many hot mineral springs. So, as one can see, New Mexico is but one of the 50 that make America great. No matter who may be president of this land by the end of this month, the country retains its history, beauty, amazing and diverse peoples in all of its United States. Elva K. Österreich is editor of Desert Exposure and delighted to be holding office hours in Silver City on the second Wednesday of the month (Nov. 9) from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Yankie Creek Coffee House. Please drop by and say hello.
GUEST COLUMN ï SUSIE OUDERKIRK
Loving the Governor Perceiving politicians as people
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’m not a political person. Politics don’t interest me because very little of what goes on in Washington (or Santa Fe, for that matter) affects me. At least I don’t suffer from what the governments around me do. I’m a happy, economically steady, normal New Mexican woman. I pay the taxes I owe because I like having all the benefits of being governed. I don’t care who sees my tax returns. I have nothing to hide, which makes my life simple. I like Governor Susana Martinez. I like her personality and the way she carries on a conversation. She looks you right in the eye and always has a pleasant expression. She smiles a lot. She’s warm. I get the feeling she recognizes me. And no matter where we are, she takes a few seconds to really listen to me. I know because she’ll answer my question or respond to my comment immediately and relevantly. I know she paid attention — just to me — at least at that moment. To me, that’s far more important than what kinds of decisions she makes politically. I’m more interested in personal interaction with those around me, which includes politicians. I’ve met a number of them because I work at the Las Cruces Bulletin. Representative Bill McCamley told me the questions I asked him were “stupid,” but he answered them just the same, and I got the story, so no harm, no foul.
Senator Lee Cotter always takes my calls. He might get chippy about the other political party, but he talks to me as if I’m smart and he tells me what’s really going on in his head: no whitewashing. Of course, politicians are on their best behavior with me because I work for a newspaper. However, in the case of our governor, our acquaintance goes back about 25 years to a time before I worked for a newspaper, and before she was a governor. She was a prosecutor in Las Cruces, and she was vocal about her stance on crimes, especially on crimes against women and children. I was a young mother and I appreciated that Susana stood up face to face, day after day in the same room with some really awful people. It’s more than I could have done. Fast forward to now. While enjoying a meal at the Tough Enough To Wear Pink luncheon on Oct. 20, I was pleasantly surprised to see Governor Martinez coming down the runway, looking like 110 pounds of fantastic. And when she got off the runway, she sat down at a table, watched the rest of the show, and stayed to talk. On her way out the door, she stopped when she saw me, leaned down and gave me a big hug. I whispered to her, “Stay strong. Keep doing what you’re doing. Keep putting those bad guys in jail.” And she whispered back, “Always!”