How yoga transforms my

Class in session at Taos Yoga Therapy with Monique Parker on Jan. 29.

By Monique Parker T o say that the practice of yoga has transformed my life would be an understatement. The truth is that if it weren’t for yoga, the long shadow that follows my life would never get illuminated.

You may know me or have heard my name (I own a yoga school and yoga therapy studio here in Taos). But what you don’t know about is personal and close to my heart, which is that yoga has and continues to help me understand and, more often than not, cope with the obstacles (physical, psychological, emotional, energetic — real and imagined) that trigger destructive behaviors that keep me stuck. In short, yoga saves my life — daily.

Early infant abandonment and domestic violence, including constant belittling and physical abuse, left emotional and psychological scars in my mind called “samskaras” (latent impressions or conditioning) in Raja Yoga.

As a result, I, like many adolescent girls, suffered from a lack of self-worth, chronic lowlevel depression and negative body image. These issues persisted into adulthood, morphing into a myriad of forms: bulimia, unaccountable fear, anxiety, anger, shame, unhealthy relationships, insomnia and high-functioning workaholism.

While not everyone who has endured a traumatic experience is scarred, everyone is shaped by our life experiences for better or worse. These memories and experiences (samskaras) are stored in our minds, shaping our beliefs, habits and behaviors. Thus, creating our reality.

Our conditioning afflicts our mind, even if we’ve never personally experienced trauma. From a yogic perspective, our cumulative storehouse of life experiences on our subconscious and unconscious minds gives rise to a host of vrttis — thoughts and emotions such as desire, fear, negativity, greed, doubt, prejudice, sorrow, arrogance, jealousy and self-delusion — that while essentially part and parcel of being human, constantly give us false assumptions about ourselves and the world around us.

These false assumptions (e.g., “I am unworthy,” “so-and-so doesn’t love me,” “this situation will never change” and “I am not fill-in-the-blank enough”) impact our health and well-being on all levels: physically, emotionally and psychologically. They reinforce our conditioning, which gives rise to similar thoughts and behaviors that contribute to our feeling “off”and somehow lacking.

Think of samskaras, or latent impressions, as bindweed, those invasive climbing vines that tightly wrap themselves around plants and other objects. Left uncontrolled, a single plant can spread out to 18 feet, their hardy roots

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penetrating a depth of 20 feet.

Your thoughts and behaviors, left unchecked, have a similar effect. Negativity, fear, contempt, envy, worry and desire not only cover or veil our perceptions, they literally distribute more: more thoughts that keep us wanting or feeling stuck, more stress, more symptoms of dis-ease, more suffering.

It’s no wonder bindweed is referred to as “Morning Glories.” For a majority of the population, upon waking in the morning the mind is already rushing, worrying, feeling depressed for no reason and bombarded with seemingly uncontrollable and incessant thoughts.

Luckily, these vine-like perennials bloom beautiful pink and white flowers. When the sun is out, the flowers open in the morning and close at dusk. But if the sky is overcast and gloomy, the blossoms remain closed, like the mind.

The mind is capable of rising above the clinging, suffocating qualities of delusion. Yoga, as one of the oldest tools of personal development, offers a myriad of practices, such as japa meditation (repeating a mantra or sacred words), pranayama (breathing exercises) and pratipaksha bhavanam (looking at thoughts or situations from another perspective) that weaken habits of thought and behavior and bring us closer to our best, most authentic self.

Monique Parker owns Taos Yoga Therapy and Svastha Yoga Institute, the U.S.-affiliate school of Svastha Yoga & Ayurveda in Chennai, India. She offers private instruction, retreats and 200-hour yoga teacher certification. Learn more about what she does at taosyogatherapy.com and svasthayogainstitute. com.

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By William Hudson Y es, you read that right ... joy! When done properly, the estate planning process gives most people a profound sense of peace and the feeling that they are free to get on with the process of living.

Now that is joy!

The question is, how do you get to that place? Women outlive men — on average 5 to 10 years longer. Women are formidable forces in today’s labor market; working women control more than 60 percent of all personal wealth in the U.S. Further, women are the primary breadwinners in 40 percent of American households and account for more than 50 percent of all stock ownership in the country. In my experience, women tend to be more concerned about relationships, family and

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interconnectedness than men. And it’s a good thing they are. To protect their assets and loved ones, it is advised that women create an estate plan. Here are five essential steps in doing just that: Step 1

Understand that planning is a process. It requires that you think deeply about the people who may be affected by your disability or death. At the completion of the process, what you end up with is a set of written instructions directed toward the people you trust to carry them out. Being clear about your intentions and instructions is the key.

And yes, you do have an estate. The term, estate, may sound a little grandiose, but it simply means any assets — money, real estate, vehicles, etc. and the “stuff” that you own.

Identify the people who will carry out your instructions. These people are called “fiduciaries.” They should be trustworthy, mature, capable and legally accountable. That doesn’t mean they need special skills, such as legal, accounting, tax or other skills that can be hired.

It does mean, however, that they must understand and be willing to accept responsibility for seeing that the job is done. Most people look first to family members, but they may not be the best choice. They may lack the commitment or maturity of judgment or time or energy. They may have a personal agenda that will make it hard or impossible to fill the role in an unbiased way.

An alternative may be a professional fiduciary that provides financial management services for a fee. These include trust companies, attorneys, accountants and others who have the necessary skills and credentials. Step 3

Identify all of your assets, liabilities and other vital information. This is the information your fiduciary will have to work with. Ideally, you should be specific about types of assets (bank, investment and retirement accounts, real estate, vehicles, business interests and other assets of significant market value) and estimated market value. Make a list of creditors and include monthly payments and outstanding balances. Your fiduciary will have to make sure these are paid before distributing anything to your heirs. Identify your online accounts with usernames and passwords. These will have to be cancelled. Make a list of specific items of personal property, such as heirlooms, art, antiques, personal effects, etc. and the people who are to receive them. Make a list of your home and auto insurance carriers, tax preparer and other people who provide ongoing or periodic services. Step 4

Identify the people who will receive your assets. It is usually much easier to envision your estate as a pie chart with each heir receiving a percentage than it is to have specific persons as the recipients of specific assets. Be sure to identify alternate beneficiaries in case the first in line fails to survive you. If everything is to pass to a spouse or partner, decide whether the partner will have the right or ability to change the plan of distribution once you are deceased. Determine if you want an inheritance to be used for a specific purpose, such as education, care of pets, etc. In these situations, a trust may be in order. Step 5

Hire a competent estate planning attorney. Estate planning is a creative, collaborative process. When done right, your estate will be distributed with a minimum of effort, time and expense for your loved ones.

William Hudson is an estate planning and probate attorney in Taos.

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David Costanza and Anne Speroni are the band Art of Flying.

By Andy Jones W hat does it mean to be a female musician? Should it mean anything different than being a male musician? Are there legitimate obstacles that hinder success in an often maledominated business?

These are some of the questions we asked four Taos-area musical performers. And the answers are as varied as the women themselves. Each artist we interviewed came from a unique background, both in terms of cultural and musical genres.

While some women reject the notion of labeling someone a “woman musician,” others embrace the communal aspect that comes with being a female who just happens to also make music.

As with any topic, it’s clear that there are no easy answers when it comes to identifying oneself as a “woman” in any field. Is it a crutch, or something to legitimately embrace? Does it make sense to point out your gender, especially when men are never required to do the same thing?

Anne Speroni of the band Art of Flying makes some good points when she says the discussion is more harmful than helpful.

“I don’t think there even needs to be that conversation,” she says. “No one would ever ask, ‘Has your experience been colored differently by being a man in a band?’”

Living in the Questa and Taos area for almost 30 years, Speroni and David Costanza have been making music together since college, and since 1998, they’ve dubbed their unique brand of experimental music “Art of Flying.” They blend pop, rock, folk and other styles into something that is at once timeless and inventive.

Speroni plays bass, guitar, piano and usually sings for the band. They’ve worked with numerous

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musicians from Taos and far beyond, and she says that being a woman hasn’t been a part of her musical equation.

“I do have an awareness that in my particular musical universe, there have been more men than women, but I never felt treated any differently,” she says.

On the flip side is local vocalist and DJ, Christalyn Concha, who performs as DJ Chrystalline. As the founder of a production company called Lady DJs (ladydjs.com) that advocates and promotes events featuring women entertainers in Taos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque, Concha has had a somewhat

MUSICIANS continues on Page 18

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Singer Christine Autumn

Rick Romancito

DJ Christalyn Concha

MUSICIANS continued from Page 16

different viewpoint.

“When I lived in an urban setting, where I was one of many DJs, but only one of a handful of women DJs, it was more of a mentality than a gender issue,” she says. “There was a feminine quality of being more open and sharing information, and it was less competitive.”

That said, Concha — who is of Taos Pueblo heritage — says that Lady DJs has never excluded men from its events.

“I would have Lady DJ events that were predominately supporting the Lady DJs collective, and we’d have male DJs that were supporting and sharing, rather than withholding,” she says. “There’s a lot of withholding in the music industry.”

Coming up in a completely different, and perhaps even more male-dominated genre (heavy metal), Taos-born and raised Sarah Martinez wasn’t surprised when she got to the Berklee College of Music in Boston and discovered that men outnumbered women three to one.

“In my program, there were only four girls,” she says, adding that most of the women at the college were singers. “But growing up playing music from the age of 12 and being really good at it, no one would believe me that I was really good. I had to prove myself.”

Martinez, who shreds the electric guitar like no one else around (she says she’s been told she plays guitar “like a man”), also records original electronic music, runs sound at Taos Mesa Brewing and teaches music to youth at Taos Academy and Taos Youth Music School.

She’s also working on a new band project with Heather Sparrow and Greg Thum (Vanilla Pop). “This is the first band I’ve ever worked in with another female,” Martinez says. “But I think it’s gotten a lot better in general. There are a lot of girls doing really awesome stuff, and it’s not as male dominated.”

Jazz singer Christine Autumn, who has a standing gig at The Alley every Sunday night, says that she hasn’t noticed as much sexism in her career, but that it seems like singers are sometimes relegated to a different class.

“I hadn’t thought about being a woman making music, I just thought about making music,” she says. “But what I sometimes get [in jazz music] is that the voice isn’t equal to the instruments. There’s an all-boys club.”

She says she often gets the feeling that some players wouldn’t notice if she was gone or not.

“The world of instruments have always taken precedence,” she says. “I wish I played piano better and I’d see if I were treated better.”

While being a woman hasn’t necessarily affected her musically, Autumn says there have definitely been uncomfortable moments with drunken patrons making unwanted advances.

“They expect something from you,” she says. “Unless you’re famous and then you get treated differently.”

Whether or not there is a

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different set of expectations for female musicians, most of the women interviewed agreed that the music community in Taos goes beyond any genre-based or genderbased barriers.

“I’ve felt so welcomed in Taos, and the people who DJ do work together,” Concha, who was born in Taos, but raised mostly in Albuquerque, says. “When I first came to back to Taos [in 2003], I was the only female DJ here. Now, there are other women who have started to DJ.”

Speroni says that while support and community aren’t things she necessarily needs to be creative, she does share “a certain sense of community with other musicians in town.”

“I’m always curious about what people are up to musically, and I’ve had some great opportunities to play with different people,” she says, adding that moving to New Mexico was “a brilliantly naive idea, which has proven to be the best possible choice we could have made.”

And Martinez says she doesn’t feel the need to prove herself here in Taos anymore.

“Now I don’t care,” she says. “I’m known in this town, a lot of people have heard me play. I have to be confident in myself and present myself that way, and it all goes over fine.”

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By Virginia L. Clark B lame-the-victim stories make Stacie Cervantes see red. “When I see in the Albuquerque Journal or wherever talk about rape: ‘… she had been drinking … I get so pissed and I’ll write in and say, ‘Are you victim blaming?’”

As a former administrative assistant at Community Against Violence in Taos for four years and as a survivor of rape and childhood abuse, this 45-year-old mother of two learned a lot about what helps victims of domestic and sexual assault and what makes things worse.

Unfortunately, Cervantes noted

Courtesy photo Social justice worker and domestic violence survivor Stacie Cervantes.

in a phone interview from her home in Albuquerque, journalists unwittingly promote a social fiction about rape and alcohol. Reports of rape almost invariably note that alcohol may or may not have been involved, thus implying, she says, that the rape wouldn’t have happened if the woman hadn’t been drinking.

Which is turning out not to be true. More recent studies find rapists use the presence of alcohol as an excuse to get away with the rape, as though it would not have happened if the “demon rum” hadn’t been involved. As law student Laura Dunn wrote in a 2014 Huffington Post criticism of a Slate magazine article:

“For far too long our society has sent messages solely to women

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about sexual violence: ‘don’t walk alone,’ ‘don’t be out at night,’ and now ‘don’t drink.’ Basically, it is a ‘don’t get raped’ message that places responsibility on victims, who by definition are not responsible for the crime done to them. This has been justified as risk reduction, but our society can reduce risk by messaging to young men rather than placing responsibility for their actions upon their victims.” (huffingtonpost. com/laura-l-dunn/victimblaming_b_4132630.html)

“That’s why I didn’t report that I was raped at 16 — because I had been drinking. And when I was going to the hospital, the police and the nurse said, ‘Well, I guess

SURVIVOR continues on Page 22

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SURVIVOR continued from Page 20

you learned your lesson this time about drinking.’ That’s blaming the victim!” Cervantes says, and sadly, the results are almost 100 percent predictable.

“I was almost 40 years old before I told anyone about sexual or domestic assault. Actually, I told once as a kid and no one believed me. And that shut me down. It makes a huge difference to have someone believe you.

“Growing up, I was sexually abused as a child, but at the time I didn’t know what it was. After a few years of that, it can set you up for more victimization. I experienced a lot of violence throughout my life, but I never really questioned it because I’d never experienced anything else.”

Now she knows better, and that knowledge has helped shape her life plans. She is in her third year at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and will be applying to UNM’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program in 2017, ultimately planning to get Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner certification.

“I came to Taos from El Paso and answered an ad for a job at CAV, and I got it! I never even knew what domestic violence was when I started. There was (a kidnapping incident) at the shelter, and we all had to see a therapist; and I started

seeing her afterwards. I am very passionate about the work. It was a huge change to get support, and it changed my life.

“I work really hard to get the message out about the dynamics of sexual assault and the crisis services available. During the time I was there in Taos, my life changed completely. I started going to school — I didn’t graduate high school — I got my GED; now I do 40 hours a week in social justice work and go to school full time.”

Plus, she’s a full-time mom. “I don’t think I even knew how to parent. It takes a lot of work. You make mistakes and you roll with it.”

Her son has benefited greatly, it would seem. When he was 7, she said he came to her about a girl classmate and friend who hadn’t been to school for a whole week; he felt there was a problem going on — and it turned out he was right.

“He’s very aware, very watchful, very smart,” she says. “That’s the difference between him growing up and me growing up.”

Before leaving for school down south, she worked in donor management for CAV, among other projects, and co-managed the first One Billion Rising event held in Taos, Feb.14, 2013 — Eve Ensler’s flash-mob-inspired Valentine’s Day demonstration that is now a worldwide phenomenon in such unlikely places as Iraq and India, among many other nations in the world.

Upon hitting the big city of Albuquerque, she said she expected to find a bigger version of CAV, but not so. All the crisis services are available, of course, but they are spread throughout the whole region.

“CAV (Taos), for being in such a small town, it’s a model for other places,” Cervantes says, “because they have outreach and education and they go into the schools. Taos has a forensic examiner who goes way north. We also do the batterers/offenders 52-week class; they do rape crisis work, they have advocates and counseling, transitional housing. When I worked there, I didn’t realize what all CAV really does — it’s huge. I was kind of wowed.

“I really want to emphasize how the crisis services save lives. It is so important to talk about it. It’s a terrible subject, no one wants to talk about it. You do still carry it with you afterwards, but in a different way.”

“Now I open my mouth more, especially when they’re victim blaming. And it’s not just low income, low education, marginalized people; there are wealthy, highly educated victims. That first interaction is super important, it sets the tone for the rest of your life.”

One in three women and one in six men have been sexually or domestically abused or assaulted, and they are our neighbors and family members and friends.

To find out more, see the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence (nmcadv.org); and Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) at rainn.org.

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By Malinda Williams H ealthy relationships are built on an understanding between two people who recognize how their actions affect their partner and how important it is to negotiate, empathize, apologize, support and love one another. Two people who struggle to make these things important and do not realize how their decisions affect one another may be in an unhealthy relationship.

Even people who are raised in families built on healthy relationships don’t always approach their own relationships with a knowledge and appreciation of what it takes to be in a healthy relationship. It often takes work and discussion for each to understand the other’s needs.

You cannot create a loving and supportive relationship alone. Healthy relationships are based on trust, mutual respect and compassion. They are ones in which partners: • Support each other through rough spots. Caring about the other means being willing to compromise and seek mutually satisfying solutions. • Contribute honest, respectful communication, share power, build trust, support each other’s goals and give each other the benefit of the doubt. • Focus energy on the positive; they’re each clear about what their partner does well and what it is about them they appreciate and enjoy. (This does not mean to ignore serious problems or violence, which are dangerous issues that need serious attention.) A healthy partner complements the other, encourages them to achieve goals and does not resent the other’s accomplishments. • Acknowledges the other’s point of view and is willing to compromise; neither expects their way all the time. • Fights fair. Sticks to the subject of the disagreement, tries to understand the other’s point of view and seeks reasonable solutions. • Helps create a safe space for their partner to share their feelings. If one needs time or space to sort out feelings first, the other respects that and waits until s/he is ready to talk. • Respect each other and their individuality. Each understands the other’s needs to have time alone and to hang out with other friends or family members.

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Many people know that a relationship where violence (verbal, physical, sexual, spiritual, financial, etc.) is used to coercively control the other is unacceptable and falls squarely into the unhealthy category. That kind of relationship dynamic is domestic violence. Other unhealthy or “toxic” relationships can sometimes be identified by several red flags.

Unhealthy relationships may be ones in which one or both partners: • Call each other belittling names, makes fun of or puts the other down, especially in front of someone else or on social media. (Individuals may find themselves apologizing frequently and making excuses for the partner’s bad behavior.) • Checks up on their partner constantly by calling or texting and asking where they are, what they’re doing, who they’re with, or checks the other’s cell phone or email without permission. • Becomes jealous when their partner gets attention from other people. They may also try to keep their partner from talking with or spending time with others, including family and friends. Demands to know every moment of their partner’s time; tries to control their partner’s behavior, how they dress, or who they talk with. (To try to “keep the peace,” their partner may begin to lose interest in activities they used to enjoy, thinking “it’s just not worth it.”) • Has explosive anger, violently loses their temper, often striking or breaking things. (The other partner may begin shutting down and avoid sharing thoughts or feelings that may trigger their partner’s rages.) • Does not take responsibility or apologize for actions and constantly blames others for everything, ignoring facts or their role in an issue. • Other signs of an unhealthy relationship include a partner who keeps the relationship out of balance by continuing to raise old arguments; ceaseless complaining; or unwillingness to address serious issues, such as chronic depression or other mental health issues or alcohol and substance abuse.

It is important to honestly evaluate your relationship. When you better understand qualities of healthy and unhealthy relationships and can step back to look at your own, you can decide whether to leave or limit it, or whether you want to invest in it to help the relationship become one in which you both feel supported and loved.

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By Scott Gerdes ‘A rt is where you find it. And it seems queer to me that artists should go into foreign art techniques before they have made use of the one that is nearest.”

Eva Mirabal (her preferred name is Eah Ha Wa, which means “Fast Growing Corn” in Tiwa tongue) stated that belief in a University of Southern Illinois radio program in circa 1946. She maintained an obligation to interpret and show Native art to white people throughout her life, yet her name and work is largely unknown. Eah Ha Wa was born in Taos Pueblo in 1920 and at a very young age was introduced to some of the area’s most prolific artists. Her father, Pedro Beaded Shirt Mirabal, was a favorite portrait subject for Russian painter Nicolai Fechin and printmaker Joseph Imhof. Their creations inspired and excited the youngster, who showed artistic talent early on. When she was just 19 years old, her work was included in a Chicago gallery’s exhibition.

The Santa Fe Indian School provided painting studies for Eah Ha Wa in the mid-1930s. It was apparent she had a flair for incorporating the native forests, mountains and informal, ancestral ceremonies onto her paper canvases in a most delicate way. Eah Ha Wa mostly gravitated toward painting the daily life of Taos Pueblo’s inhabitants — taking particular care of attention to decorative detail in depiction of traditional dress, routine chores and everyday utensils and in the area’s wildlife and vegetation. Her works in water-based paints employed warm, subtle colors even as she gravitated from a more traditional Native style to modernism. She also found herself being drawn to cartooning, which began as doodles. Serving her country

Even though Eah Ha Wa realized being an artist was a realistic, attainable career, she wasn’t content to sit along the sidelines painting and drawing when World War II broke out. As her oldest son, Taos Pueblo artist and storyteller Jonathan Warm Day Coming tells it, the military recruited Native students at Santa Fe Indian School, and he feels that is what possibly got her interested in the war effort.

On May 6, 1943, she secretly enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). Along with a friend from the Pueblo, the girls decided to enlist without their parents’ consent. Warm Day Coming figures such an act was just in her nature. He also figures his grandparents wouldn’t have been so keen on the idea. Eah Ha Wa was one of several hundred Native women to serve during World War II.

“She had a spirit to experience life in its fullest,” Warm Day Coming shared with pride in his voice. “She probably didn’t know what she was getting into, even though she didn’t see any combat.”

Warm Day Coming produced a yellowed clipping from an unknown newspaper. It told a short story on Eah Ha Wa’s enlistment. The eldest of two daughters is quoted as saying because the family had no sons, she felt compelled to join the fight.

“My people,” she said, “are a proud people who use their hands to make strong their hold on the land. This is our soil, and we have sent more than 95 percent of our young men to fight.”

On Aug. 5, 1943, Eah Ha Wa was designated Occupational Specialty 296 (or artist) for the Army Air Force and assigned as a cartoonist while stationed at Wright-Patterson Field outside Dayton, Ohio, swiftly making her way to sergeant. The soles of her shoes never left stateside. Her artistic talents were best kept on U.S. soil.

Eah Ha Wa’s “G.I. Gerti” comic strip series — her first assignment — appeared in the WAC publication The Air WAC, making her the first published Native female cartoonist — not to mention one of the earliest American women to produce a comic strip. The strip put Gertie in all types of military-related situations, often comedic. Lesser known is that Eah Ha Wa also created war bonds posters. One of her posters used by the military featured a Native man making smoke signals that spelled out “Buy War Bonds.”

She also assisted in creating murals such as the 40-foot “A Bridge of Wings” at the world headquarters of Air Service Command, where she was stationed. It is a depiction of the improving relations between North and South America at the time. It still stands. She also assisted on murals at Pittsburgh’s Buhl Planetarium, at the Santa Fe Indian School when a student, at the Veteran’s Hospital in Albuquerque and her deer adorn archways at Southern Illinois’ Shyrock Auditorium. Back to civilian life

Eah Ha Wa continued her art studies after the war ended

Courtesy photo Pfc. Mirabal works on her military comic strip, “G.I. Gertie.”

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From the book “Earth Songs, Moon Dreams” “Picking Wild Berries,” 1940, tempura on paper.

Pfc. Mirabal, on ladder, works on a mural at the Air Service Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Ohio.

Air Service Command photo. Courtesy Jonathan Warm Day Coming.

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in 1945 as an artist in residence at Southern Illinois University (1946-47) in Carbondale. In “The Southern Hour” campus radio show in 1946, she expressed a personal responsibility tied to her work:

“I am the only one from my village that [has chosen art as a profession] ... As an Indian representative, I feel I have a very definite obligation in explaining and illustrating our art to the American white people. ...”

With help from the G.I. Bill, she later studied at the Taos Valley Art School. In 1946, she was the only woman to enter the First National Exhibition of Indian Painting at the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her entry was a painting of a Pueblo drummer. Her most praised piece is the 1940 tempura on paper work titled “Picking Wild Berries.” The painting was shown in a 1953 exhibit at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

From early on, she had a very clear sense of the purpose and meaning of every stroke of paint. “Carry a message whether you will it or not. The stroke is like an artist at the time he makes it. All certainties, all the uncertainties, all the bigness of his spirit and all the littleness are in it,” she wrote in the early 1940s on the back page of a worn leather, pocket-size phone book Warm Day Coming found in her side-table drawer.

“She was very prolific in a lot of things that a lot of artists to this day didn’t accomplish,” Warm Day Coming expressed. “For Native people, if you wanted to make your name known, Santa Fe is the place. A lot of her art she left behind when she enlisted. A lot of her work in the war went unnoticed because it was meant strictly for the military. The same goes for her comic strip, so a lot of people didn’t see it.”

Because of that, the era and being a Native woman, Warm Day Coming added, her work was kept “in a small circle.” A style all her own

Warm Day Coming has many images of his mother’s work and some originals. Her paintings speak more to him about her and his ancestors than her words ever did. She really didn’t talk to her sons, Warm Day Coming and Christopher Gomez (of Albuquerque), about her time in the military — not because of being quiet or reserved. “She was busy,” Warm Day Coming said with a grin.

Within his mother’s pocket-size phone book were doodles and more personal thoughts. On the back page, she described her creative

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inspiration: “The people I like to paint are my people — whoever they may be — who are in some way expressing themselves naturally along the lines nature intended for them.”

Even though she didn’t speak about her life before becoming a mother, Warm Day Coming is finding out new things about her nearly every day, such as the major influence Santa Fe Indian School art instructor Dorothy Dunn had on her work. Together they were at the forefront of the Southwest Native art movement. Eah Ha Wa had a modernist knack driven by a natural ability to change deep-lying, undefined characteristics into the reality of color, form and action.

“Dorothy taught her about color, materials, everything,” Warm Day Coming learned. In turn, his mother influenced his passion for art.

“As a young kid she introduced me to Taos artists,” he recalled. Like his mother’s work, the subjects of his paintings and illustrations also tend to serve as a record of the traditional life of his people.

But even with all of her artistic accomplishments, Eah Ha Wa’s name did not often appear in books or other discussions of the era’s art. Although, she was the subject of an article in the July 1944 edition of Mademoiselle magazine and her work can be found in a spattering of books on Native artists. And in 2015, the U.S. Army Women’s Museum in Fort Lee, Virginia, produced a video honoring Native women who served in the military during World War II, which includes Eah Ha Wa. Her art also became a permanent part of military history.

To this day, however, her works are not shown in museums around the country. Warm Day Coming is constantly amazed that no one seems to know about his mother and that he gets no calls about exhibiting her pieces outside of Taos. (The Harwood Museum of Art had a joint exhibition of Eah Ha Wa and Warm Day Coming’s works in 2013.)

Fully immersed in the daily life and rituals of her birth home, up until her untimely death in 1968, Eah Ha Wa spent the rest of her days in Taos Pueblo painting the lives she saw and the life she lived.

“She accomplished a lot in a short time,” Warm Day Coming mused. “I always wonder what else she would have done had she lived longer. She was extraordinary. How many artists, not just Native, have a history like this? Not that many.”

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