Tradiciones — Leyendas 2020

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Leyendas WEEK 1 4 • 09 17 2020

20TH ANNUAL HONORAR A NUESTROS HÉROES

WEEK 1

4 • 09

17 2020

04

1918-19 PANDEMIC

Leyendas

08

H1N1 flu strain

BLUE LAKE RETURN

30 million deaths

of self-determination win

caused

or more world wide

BY WILL HOOPER

Taos Pueblo story goes worldwide

12

FOUNTAIN OF LIGHT From late ’60s

‘hippy rag’ to alternative Taos newspaper

BY PHAEDRA GREENWOOD AND JIM LEVY

B Y M AT T H E W VA N B U R E N

Service Above Self I’ve worked as an educator, administrator business owner, your State Representative and your Senator for over 40 years. Through it all I’ve held one guiding principle: Serving my fellow Taoseños and neighbors.

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02 TRADICIONES Leyendas

MOMENTOUS TAOS TIMES Savoring the sober stuff of legend

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T W E N T Y Y E A R S A G O , in Y2K, the Taos News published its first Tradiciónes, an annual special section honoring Taos times, customs and cultures in four weekly installments. The first of the series is LEYENDAS (the Spanish word for legends), storied events both real and imagined, yet so momentous as to change the fabric of our history forever.

This year we look back 100 years to the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, strangely coinciding with World War I, women’s suffrage, presaging the Roaring ’20s and the Great Depression – all contrasted to a pandemic curiously reappearing now, also seeming to coincide with a world-wide revaluation of freedom and justice for all.

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In a similar revaluation, 50 years ago this year, against all odds and after more than 60 years of legal battles, Taos Pueblo won the return of their Sacred Blue Lake, a feat finally establishing self-determination of American Indians for the first time in the history of the United States.

On a lighter note, yet in an equally value-shifting narrative, we take a look at Fountain of Light, the monthly counterculture tabloid published in Taos from 1969-1970, during the height of Vietnam War protests, gay rights riots, Woodstock and “the barefoot entrada of idealists and dopers” in Taos.

Enjoy!

Virginia L. Clark, magazine editor

Wanda Lucero

575.737.5433 wanda@wandalucero.com

Remembers

O N

T H E

C O V E R

Photo by Rick Romancito Taos Pueblo tribal officials sing an honor song to remember their tribe's fallen heroes during the Return of Blue Lake celebration on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010.

Remembers Carlos Remembers RemembersCarlos

Cisneros Cisneros Carlos Cisneros

Carlos Remembers Remembers

Carlos Carlos Cisneros Cisneros Cisneros

S T A F F

Robin Martin, owner Chris Baker, publisher Staci Matlock, managing editor Virginia L. Clark, magazine editor Karin Eberhardt, creative director Chris Wood, advertising director Sean Ratliff, production manager Amy Boaz, copy editor CONTRIBUTING

WRITERS

Phaedra Greenwood, Will Hooper, Jim Levy, Matthew van Buren

Senator Cisneros’ dedication to the idea that quality education transforms lives, combined with his deep and quietly effective legislative acumen and savvy, translated into millions of dollars for our community college. Since 1985, during his tenure, our college has awarded over 1,300 certificates and degrees. By this measure, the legacy that Sen. Cisneros leaves behind for future generations cannot be expressed in bricks and mortar alone; it lies in the hearts of the students weidea servethat and those who have Senator Cisneros’ dedication the ideadedication that Senator to Cisneros’ to the graduated, those whose lives were changed and Cisneros’ quality education transforms lives,Senator combined quality education transforms lives,dedication combined to the idea that transformed because they had access to with his deep and quietly effective legislative quality education transforms lives, combined with his deep and quietly effective college.

That is legislative a legacy worth remembering acumen and savvy, translated intowith millions of acumen and savvy, translated into quietly millions his deep and effective and recounting.

Thus, onof behalf of alegislative grateful dollars for our community college.

Since 1985, dollars for our community Since 1985, alumni college, the staff, faculty, most of acumen andcollege. savvy, translated into and, millions during his tenure, our college has awarded over during his our college has awarded over importantly, current and future students, thank Senator Cisneros’ dedication to tenure, the idea that dollars for our community college.

Since 1985, 1,300 certificates and degrees.

By this measure, you for your service, Senator Cisneros. certificates and idea degrees.

By this measure, Senator Cisneros'1,300 dedication to the that quality education transforms

quality transforms lives, combined during his our college awarded over the education legacy that Sen. Cisneros leaves behind for tenure, the legacy that Sen.quietly Cisneros leaves behind for has lives, combined with hisbe deep and effective legislative acumen and with his deep and quietly effective legislative future generations cannot expressed in 1,300 certificates and degrees.

By thisSince measure, future generations cannot be expressed in savvy, translated intoit lies millions of dollars for our community college. bricks andsavvy, mortar translated alone; inmortar the hearts of of acumen and into millions bricks and alone; itthat lies Sen. in the hearts ofcertificates the legacy Cisneros leaves behind for 1985, during his tenure, our college has awarded over 1,300 thefor students we serve and those we whoserve have for your dedication toand dollars our community college.

Since 1985, the students and those who have future generations cannot be expressed in degrees.

By this measure, the legacy that Sen. Cisneros leaves behind for graduated, those whose lives were changed and graduated, those whose lives were changed and during his tenure, our college has awarded over bricks and mortar alone; it lies in the hearts of future generations cannot be expressed in bricks and mortar alone; it lies in Senator dedication toeducation. the idea that transformed becauseCisneros’ they had because access to transformed had access to 1,300college. certificates and degrees.

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Thus, on behalf of a grateful graduated, lives changed and recounting.

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That is a into legacy worth remembering acumen andthank savvy, translated millions of youand for your service, Senator future students, you for your service, Senator Cisneros. you forCisneros. your service, Senator Cisneros. the students we serve and those who have and recounting.

Thus, on behalf1985, of a grateful dollars for our community college.

Since graduated, those whose lives were changed college, and the staff, faculty, alumni and, most histhey tenure, our college has and awarded over thank transformedduring because had importantly, access to current future students, college. for That is a legacy worth remembering 1,300 and degrees.

BySenator this measure, you your service, Cisneros. yourcertificates dedication tofor for your dedication to and recounting. Thus, on behalf of a grateful the education. legacy that Sen.and, Cisneros leaves behind for college, the staff, faculty, alumni education. most future generations cannot be expressed in importantly, current and future students, thank you for yourbricks service, and Senator Cisneros. mortar alone; it lies in the hearts of

Gracias

S P O N S O R E D

B Y

Gracias Gracias

Gracias

for your dedication to

03 TRADICIONES Leyendasthe students we serve and those who have graduated, those whose liveseducation. were changed and transformed because for your dedication to they had access to

Gracias

NEW MEXICO AND THE

INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC OF 1918 H1N1 flu strain caused 30 million deaths or more world wide, more than entirety of World War I b y WILL HOOPER

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“NEW MEXICO’S Most Popular Public Official Succumbed to Pneumonia Which Resulted from Influenza,” read the top of the New Mexico State Register on Oct. 18, 1918. Just below, another headline read: “Influenza Spreading Rapidly Over Country.” Yet another headline stated that “Every School in the State Has Been Closed on Account of the Epidemic Previous to the Governor's Proclamation,” with the article also noting that they had converted a Valencia County high school into a hospital for handling the new influx of influenza cases.

Despite being 102 years ago, the 1918 headlines sound eerily familiar. The paper continues to list the deaths around the state. In Albuquerque alone there were over 50 funerals in one week due to influenza. By the time New Mexico could even

SHUTTERSTOCK

American soldier gets throat sprayed to prevent influenza, Dec. 1918. Medical tent at Love Field, Dallas, Texas, during the 1918-19 influenza pandemic.

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begin to make sense of these deaths, the worst was yet to come.

Just as New Mexico was about to turn 6 years old, a battle that had been brewing halfway across the world was nearing its end. Despite the fact that New Mexico was a brand new state, New Mexicans prided themselves on their military service, with the state having the fifth highest number of U.S. recruits per capita for World War I. The war had been a gritty conflict, fought in trenches and swamps across Europe. The fighting conditions were almost unthinkable by today’s standards. It was in these trenches that what would become known as “Spanish flu” began to kill troops faster than the war itself, claiming more lives than the entirety of the war. Perhaps it was the unfortunate timing of events across the globe that forced New Mexico to face one of its toughest battles to date.

SHUTTERSTOCK

Walter Reed Hospital flu ward during the erroneously named Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-19, in Washington, DC. The pandemic killed an estimated 25 million, and possibly up to 50 million persons throughout the world.

Inaccurately dubbed ‘Spanish flu’ The origin of the Spanish influenza pandemic wasn’t actually Spanish at all. Because of Spain’s neutrality during World War I, their media remained uncensored, thus allowing them to accurately report the rising epidemic. While other countries kept such information hidden, so not to give any idea of weakness, the flu was then dubbed the “Spanish flu,” quite inaccurately.

In fact, there is some debate about how the disease actually first made its way to America. Some

theories suggest that it may have appeared in New Mexico at Fort Bayard, others say it travelled with various troops, railroad workers and more. One theory suggests that New Mexico was first hit by the pandemic when a traveling circus from Texas came to town, according to Richard Melzer, professor of history at University of New Mexico-Valencia campus.

Regardless how the country had gotten to such an infection rate, it was time to deal with the spread. Devorah Romanek, curator of exhibits at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology in

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Albuquerque, explained that part of why New Mexico was so badly hit was due to the state’s infancy.

“There was a Board of Health but not a Department of Health, so they didn’t have a lot of structure or organization statewide around health care,” Romanek said. Along with being in the middle of trying to set up state organizations like the Department of Health, there was also a statewide shortage of doctors and nurses. continues page 06

Influenza epidemic of 1918 continued from 05

Angel of Pecos

SHUTTERSTOCK

Red Cross nurse with a bus transport of patients, 1918 or 1919. Photo: Lewis Hine. Prints and Photographs Division; Library of Congress.

While being inundated with the flu, New Mexico took several precautions to try to protect itself. Gov. Washington Lindsey closed schools, theaters, pubs and other large public gathering spaces. Due to this quick action, “the public thus had the feeling that something was being done in a period when little else seemed to be working well,” said Melzer, in regards to Gov. Lindsey’s actions.

Alongside the governmental efforts were strong individual efforts as well. One name that kept recurring was that of Josephine “Grandma” Cox Anderson. While her husband was busy settling the land that would become known as Carlsbad, Anderson realized that there was something serious happening around them. Known as the “Angel of the Pecos,” Anderson took it upon herself to take in patients sick with influenza, and to spread her healing knowledge. According to the state historical marker in Carlsbad, Anderson never lost a single patient.

SHUTTERSTOCK

Medical men wearing masks on Nov. 19, 1918 at Army Hospital No. 4. Fort Porter, New York, during the 1918-19 'Spanish' Influenza pandemic.

A bell rang for every death Even though state and local measures were taken across the United States to subdue the virus, the country was also celebrating the end of World War I, and mass public parties and parades ensued. To many, the end of the war was a time to celebrate, meanwhile troops from across the U.S. were coming home with influenza. Beginning in early October of 1918, state papers started to document a rise in deaths from the flu. It was clear that something bigger was happening.

The state saw casualties in almost every county, with nearly 1 in 5 families having a relative that succumbed to the disease. While the newly settled New Mexicans experienced loss due to the flu, it was Native American reservations that experienced the pandemic’s greatest atrocities.

“There was a certain bell for the notice of death, and [my grandmother] said as a little girl how awful it sounded,” said Priscilla Reyna Jojolo in the documentary “The 1918 Influenza in America,” which was published on Youtube in June of 2014 by ‘The Best Film Archives.’

Ilona Spruce, director of tourism at Taos Pueblo, says that she has also heard the infamous tales of the 1918 pandemic. “My grandma talked about ‘the illness that came through,’” said Spruce, adding that along with the pandemic, Taos Pueblo experienced tremendous disparities and transformation throughout the years.

Forced draft, assimilation of Native Americans The Catholic Indian boarding schools are one place where Native and Western culture integrated and assimilated, all while separating Native children from families across New Mexico. Native Americans were required to be drafted even though they were denied citizenship at that time.

“I know that we had men serve in World War I who were in the boarding schools, and that’s where they drafted all the Native Americans,” said Spruce.

“The history in this area is just really harsh.”

Apart from being adversely affected by the local and state government, the Native communities had to endure continuous hardships. Spruce remembers her grandparents talking about the repercussions, and how World War I brought what they called “the sickness.” Spruce explained this as “what they would later call alcoholism,” and attributed many factors to increasing “the sickness,” including the mandatory military service, and the fact that the communities had to deal with “a lot of PTSD and other disorders.” Spruce also noted that children coming home from English-speaking-only boarding schools “didn’t even know how to talk to their parents,” causing additional communal problems beyond the deaths from the 1918 pandemic.

Lockdowns, masks, distancing Across the country, many cities encouraged masks to be worn, people to stay at home and discouraged all mass gatherings. What we now call social distancing took place all over New Mexico.

The Albuquerque Journal reported that one church would still hold services, “but they were held in

Soldiers gargle with salt and water to prevent influenza, Sept. 24, 1918. Camp Dix, New Jersey, during the 1918-19 influenza pandemic.

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the open air, on the lawn, surrounding the church and pastoral residence, instead of in the church,” attributing the change in venue to the presence of influenza.

In Northern New Mexico some towns were open to travelers, but most of the state seemed to take Gov. Lindsey’s and the U.S. government’s advice on protection. “Some towns even required that masks be worn, and Taos was one of them,” said Melzer.

This mandatory requirement of masks and physical distancing echoes what Taoseños are experiencing in 2020. Perhaps the disproportionate loss New Mexico and Native communities experienced in the past led to the state’s rapid attempt to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When you look at the statistics and rates today, New Mexico is an absolute anomaly here in the American Southwest,” said Romanek. “That’s because of the preparedness and the willingness on the part of the state government to take very immediate actions.” Romanek also noted that in 1918 and even today, “New Mexico doesn’t have resources that a lot of other states do.”

SHUTTERSTOCK

Masked nurse pumping water at a field hospital during the 1918 flu pandemic.

Photographed in United States, September 1918.

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LEGENDARY SERVICE FOR MORE THAN 48 YEARS

Complacency not an option Fast forward to today: we are dealing with something not so different. COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting Native communities at an astonishing rate, but not Taos Pueblo. While the virus spreads across the country alarmingly fast, New Mexico seems to be successfully battling COVID-19, all the while sitting between two states with some of the highest infection rates currently in the nation.

There is a general consensus that we are doing well as a state, but Melzer said we should not pat ourselves on the back quite yet. “If we congratulate ourselves too much we might become complacent, like we did at Memorial Day,” he said.

It’s clear that New Mexico generally takes the new national threat seriously, and the best we can hope for is strong positive leadership going forward. G

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YEAR 2020 CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF

BLUE LAKE RETURN Taos Pueblo story of self-determination win goes worldwide b y MATTHEW VAN BUREN

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THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S return of Blue Lake to Taos Pueblo not only carries local significance, but marked a fundamental shift in United States government policy toward American Indian people.

When President Richard Nixon signed HR471 on Dec. 15, 1970, it was symbolic of his commitment to end “forced termination” in favor of “selfdetermination” for American Indian tribes.

Nixon spoke of the importance of a new policy July 8, 1970, in a special message to Congress when he urged a decisive break with the past. He called for the federal government’s policies to begin to “recognize and build upon the capacities and insights of the Indian people.” The policy of forced

RICK

Paseo del Pueblo Norte at bottom of frame contrasts with Taos Pueblo Reservation land above.

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termination sought to end the special relationship between the federal government and Native people.

Nixon said the termination approach was wrong for multiple reasons, as it looked at the trusteeship relationship “as an act of generosity” rather than a “solemn obligation” of the U.S. government.

He also said the policy’s “practical results have been clearly harmful.” Nixon suggested a new federal policy of self-determination that would break from “the deadly extremes of forced termination and constant paternalism.”

Under self-determination, tribal members would be responsible for administering programs with federal assistance, and Nixon said the federal government needs “Indian energies and Indian leadership if its assistance is to be effective.”

“We have concluded that the Indians will get better programs and that public monies will be

ROMANCITO

COURTESY TAOS PUEBLO

President Richard M. Nixon, sitting at center on the right side of the table, and federal officials meet with members of the Taos Pueblo delegation concerning Blue Lake in 1970.

more effectively expended if the people who are most affected by these programs are responsible for operating them,” Nixon said before Congress.

Attorney Jerry Straus worked with Taos Pueblo for the return of Blue Lake in 1969 and 1970. He said forced termination “really was more of a land grab,” and self-determination “transformed Indian affairs.”

“Tribes have run these programs in a far better way than the bureaucrats ever did,” he said.

Right thing to do Straus said Taos Pueblo had a special role in the policy shift, as monetary compensation for lands taken by the federal government had been the unvarying rule prior to Blue Lake’s return. He

said people rallied behind Taos Pueblo’s cause because returning Blue Lake was the right thing to do, adding that the issue led to the formation of the “strangest coalition” of political leaders that was able to overcome even Sen. Clinton Anderson’s objections – despite New Mexico being Anderson’s home state.

“Even he lacked the power to stop this,” Straus said. “It became a story all over the world. People had just been carried away by this message.”

Straus said the return of the 48,000-acre Blue Lake area to Taos Pueblo symbolized the idea of “dramatic change in Indian policy” nationally.

“I don’t know that any of it would have been without Blue Lake. That was like a test case,” he said. “(Nixon) picked that tribe, Taos Pueblo, to receive the message for tribes all over the country.”

Following the taking of Blue Lake by presidential order in 1906, members and nonmembers of Taos Pueblo alike fought for decades for the area’s return.

Those who supported Taos Pueblo faced the unique challenge of defending the pueblo’s exclusive use of the area while not revealing details about how it was used.

According to a memorandum prepared by the pueblo’s former special attorney William Schaab in consultation with Tribal Council, the return of Blue Lake was necessary for the preservation of religious privacy and natural ecology. It states that Blue Lake, as the source of the Río Pueblo, is “symbolically the source of all life” and the “retreat also of souls after death.” continues page 10

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MEN

AND

N AT U R E

…

ARE

INTERLOCKED

Blue Lake return continued from 09

RICK ROMANCITO

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I N A W A T E R S H E D , the report states, “Men and nature … are interlocked in an ecological and religious unity.

“Ownership of the entire Blue Lake area is necessary to preserve the absolute privacy with which the Indian religion is protected; if the sacred ways can be learned by outsiders, the religion will be profaned and its power vitiated,” the report states.

From left are Curtis Sandoval, Richard Archuleta, Gilbert Suazo, Luis Romero and Nicholas A. Concha singing the Taos Pueblo flag song composed in honor of Blue Lake. The occasion was the opening ceremonies in December 2010 of a Harwood Museum exhibition of memorabilia collected during the nearly 60 year long struggle to return the tribe's sacred Blue Lake from U.S. government control.

Opposing views

RICK ROMANCITO

Taos Pueblo bison herd, October 1995.

Opponents argued against the return from every angle. During his 1968 testimony before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, New Mexico Wildlife and Conservation Association President Jon Little said he did not believe Taos Pueblo members used the Blue Lake area as much as they claimed, accused pueblo members of mistreating the area and said the pueblo’s outside supporters had misplaced their sympathies.

“Few alpine lakes can compare to Blue Lake in placid natural beauty,” Little testified, going on to say, “We think the Forest Service is the (best qualified agency) to administer that watershed.”

Then-Taos County Commission vice-chair Elmer LaCome also testified in 1968, disputing the idea that the Blue Lake area was stolen from Taos Pueblo.

“The United States acquired the land in question by conquest and by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,” he said.

Little and others also claimed returning Blue Lake to Taos Pueblo would set a dangerous precedent. However, Straus said the precedent set was very narrow, as it involved “sacred land” being actively used for religious purposes. “Taos was really unique because of the religious aspect of it,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall’s (D-NM) father, Stewart

monetary settlement for the Blue Lake area could Udall, was secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969. Tom Udall said his father “believed from the have been agreeable to the pueblo. beginning that the rightful home for this sacred “In our case, the money wasn’t going to replace lake and its surrounding lands was with the people what is our sacred grounds,” he said, comparing of Taos Pueblo.”

Blue Lake to a cathedral. “It’s not a building or “In his role as secretary of Interior, he repeatedly structure, but within a natural setting.” met with tribal leaders to discuss strategy, and he Fields said outsiders who were able to access testified multiple times before the Senate on behalf Blue Lake before its 1970 return left their mark on of the pueblo — calling the federal government’s the area, including stocked fish and “remnants” of 1906 seizing of the lake and surrounding lands a heavy equipment, though a Forest Service cabin ‘tragedy and disaster,’ ” Udall wrote in an email to built at the lake was dismantled. Fields said the the Taos News.

Blue Lake is no longer stocked, though fish are still Native American Rights Fund Executive Director “lingering on.”

John Echohawk said the rejection of the termina“Wherever man travels, they carry along their tion policy and institution of self-determination excesses,” Fields said. “Any resemblance of Forest was “historic,” and Blue Lake’s return was one of Service activity is no longer present there.” the most important events in the history of the U.S. Fields said the Blue Lake area is managed government’s relationship with American Indian by pueblo wilderness rangers and patrolled by people. the rangers and the War Chief’s staff. He said a He said similar land returns are “very rare,” as summer crew also works seasonally in the area, the federal government still does not look on them favorably, and most battles over sacred sites end up maintaining trails and ensuring people aren’t being fights to maintain access to sites whose titles “messing anything up.” Fields said getting to the area requires an “arduous climb,” and pueblo memare still held by the federal government. bers go to Blue Lake with a sense of reverence, recIn 1996, Taos Pueblo was also successful in gaining control of the 763-acre Path of Life Trail, ognizing its significance. G or “Bottleneck” leading to Blue Lake. Taos Pueblo War Chief Secretary Scott Fields said in 2010, no Virginia L. Clark contributed to this story.

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IN

AN

ECOLOGICAL

AND

RELIGIOUS

U N I T Y.

Taos Pueblo dawn, Jan. 10, 2010.

RICK

ROMANCITO

Together We Make A Powerful Difference photo credit: Jeff Caven

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FOUNTAIN OF LIGHT From late ’60s ‘hippy rag’ to alternative Taos newspaper b y PHAEDRA GREENWOOD a n d JIM LEVY

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OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF former hippy babes comes this history of Fountain of Light, the monthly counterculture tabloid published in Taos from 1969-1970. Jim Levy, editor for the last three issues, and author/journalist Phaedra Greenwood talk a little about the people who founded and worked on this now-legendary review.

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EDITOR

VIRGINIA

L.

CLARK

TAOS NEWS FILE PHOTOS

Top: Phaedra Greenwood, below: Jim Levy

GREENWOOD: A fountain of light. It is a beautiful image, like an exploding star. It was also the name of a hippy rag which Wikipedia describes as “an underground newspaper of the 1960s published monthly in tabloid format.” The Fountain of Light was hardly “underground.” Our open-aired, counterculture magazine was proudly published and distributed aqui en Taos from May 1969 to June 1970.

LEVY: The 1969 Anno Domini was a crazy year: the war in Vietnam, the moon landing, gay Stonewall riots, the Woodstock peace and love concert on one coast and the Stone’s “Sympathy for the Devil” concert on the other. Amidst all that uproar, communes were sprouting up all over Northern New Mexico, adobe walls rising out of the mud to house the barefoot entrada of idealists and dopers. continues page 14

Our future is built on our past.

Taos County was formed in 1852 and was one of the original 9 counties in the New Mexico. www.taoscounty.org 13 TRADICIONES Leyendas

Fountain of Light continued from 13

GREENWOOD: A young man whose name has been lost to history asked Charles “Chick” Lonsdale if he could use the old IBM Selectric typewriter (the one with the ball) that was languishing in a storage shed. He said he wanted to type up recent events in the hippie world. Lonsdale said sure, threw in a hundred bucks, and Fountain of Light was born.

LEVY: The paper was part of a larger enterprise funded by Lonsdale.

A graduate of Stanford in psychology and economics and a Jungian therapist, Chick came to Taos in 1968 at the age of 25 and generously devoted an inheritance of $250,000 to found Lorien commune, an Information Center, a hippie health clinic, a general store and a counterculture magazine. The first issue of the paper cost 10 cents and included a poem by a Dawn E. Light and articles about the Church of Microbiotics and the Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation. The graphics were curlicued and psychedelic, many of them lifted from other magazines.

GREENWOOD: By the third issue the price had gone up to 15 cents. In an essay, “Why Taos?” an anonymous writer explained that the next generation (the future of America!) was coming to Taos “earnestly seeking new values and honest land on which to nurture tender shoots … it is a tribute to you Taoseños that we are looking to you for our example.” The paper carried practical pieces about collecting herbs and wild foods and one called “Potato Cultivation” by hans p. vom dorp (lower case was de rigueur). Reynaldo “Reggie” Cantu contributed a poem and I turned in an essay advocating the return of sacred Blue Lake from the government to Taos Pueblo, an action that was long overdue. Several months later, President Nixon signed the order – justice at last!

Fountain of Light issue #13, May 1, 1970. This issue’s contents include ‘an epigrammatic essay’ on anarchy

by Joseph Belhomme; news of violence against hippies (‘The Taos myths are over.

We live, not in the land of three cultures, but in a bigoted and provincial culture.’); poems; correspondence; articles on gardening and wild foods.

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LEVY: Very few of the articles or photos were signed because signing them was considered an EGO TRIP (caps were just as popular as lower case). And the paper was openly sexist. Piece after piece referred to mankind, men, man, he, him. If it weren’t for the excellent articles by some women, you would have thought the entire hippie phenomenon consisted of bachelors with long hair and leather vests.

Inside page of Fountain of Light issue #13, May 1970.

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GREENWOOD: Except for one cover that celebrated two joyfully naked young women, bellies swollen

with babies, dancing in the sunlight. The women’s movement was just beginning to challenge the BROTHERhood of MAN in HuMANity.

LEVY: Classified ads were free. “Wanted: Groovy hip chick to help sell art and creative crafts.” And, “Wanted: Laying chickens, any number, any color, any age.

Contact Moonbeam.” And, “We are all such a tight, close-knit loving community. Oh, by the way, why not stop in at La Clinica for a free blood test?” There were also heartbreaking letters from parents: “Dearest favorite 3rd daughter Vicki (Cinnamon) known at times as Betty or Mary. PLEASE Vicki, Come home now, it’s been so long honey and we miss you so very much … ” (continues for over 700 words).

GREENWOOD: By March 1970 the paper had reached a turning point. The editor, Will Jennings, had flown off to Hawaii, leaving his notice in green felt tip scrawled on the toilet seat:

I’m going to where the grass is greener ’cause staying here is making me meaner.

Some funds were missing. Or not. No one seemed to know for sure. Chick offered me the editor’s job, but I was working on a novel about my waltz with the Merry Pranksters at Woodstock, which I thought I could easily sell. (It’s still lying in the trunk.) Also, I couldn’t imagine being the boss, especially over men. Roger (pronounced Rojhah) Thomas, the graphic designer, who was a philosophical Frenchman and the most talented of the staff, said he knew a writer, someone local, who might give us some advice about where to go from here.

LEVY: I sauntered into the office to offer the staff some ideas about expanding the content of the paper and staggered out as the editor. One of my first acts was to tell the only reporter, Phaedra Greenwood, that since everyone else on the paper was now volunteering, she could no longer be paid. She went right on writing articles, including a long piece about Earth People’s Park.

GREENWOOD: The planning meeting for Earth People’s Park was held in a large white teepee at Lorien Commune. An idealistic investor imagined a Utopia of tens of thousands of people living on 50 acres “where all our sisters and brothers from Woodstock can come and be together in peace, love and harmony.” The idea died when one of the

R E M E M B E R I N G T H E L EG E N D O F

SENATOR CARLOS CISNEROS

YOUR MORNING UPDATES ARE JUST A FEW CLICKS AWAY.

M ay 1 3 , 1 9 4 8 – S e p te m b e r 1 7, 201 9

Senator Carlos Cisneros represented the 6th District and served Taos County as a Democratic member of the New Mexico Senate from 1985 until the time of his passing in 2019. He will be forever missed and always remembered.

Legends are created when normal people rise to the greatest of challenges. Legends inspire us to hope beyond our circumstances and believe beyond what we can see ahead.

Senator Carlos Cisneros was all of this and more. His tireless commitment to Taos County and the many lasting projects that he completed for our communities and families leave a legacy and deep shadow for us to follow. May we never forget the wonderful things we enjoy today because of yesterday’s commitment from a dear friend, wise mentor, and deserved legend - Senator Carlos Cisneros.

Linda Calhoun, Candidate for State Representative

taosnews.com/register

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Paid Political Advertisement Paid for by Linda Calhoun, Candidate.

Jackie Shaw, Treasurer.

locals spoke up: “There isn’t enough water.” To make sure people got the message, The Fountain of Light published a long message from El Grito, the Chicano newspaper out of Española, that ended with a command to in-bound hippies: “DON’T COME.”

When the windows of the General Store were shot out, we moved the paper to my house in Arroyo Hondo.

GREENWOOD: The price of the paper rose to 25 cents, or $3 for 12 issues. By July 1970 over 2,000 copies were being distributed throughout New Mexico, and some libraries were also carrying it.

LEVI: Roger redesigned the paper to look more professional. He replaced the psychedelic images and motifs with a clean, elegant layout that was both eye-catching and easy to read. He used Harvey Mudd’s photographs to document the stories. We started printing on solid white paper and the black ink popped.

GREENWOOD: Jim transformed The Fountain of Light from a hippie paper into an alternative newspaper covering news for the broader Taos community. He published a prescient account of the ills of the planet by Harvey Mudd; an article about the upcoming statewide elections; excerpts from Baba Ram Dass’ “From Bindu to Ojas,” which became “Be Here Now”; and “The Vision of Anarchy,” a diatribe against conventional consciousness by “joseph belhomme,” the pseudonym of Joseph Rynear, who morphed into “Joseph the Starwatcher and His Cloak of Many Colors.”

LEVY: The paper covered the endemic violence that was rocking Northern New Mexico. One afternoon around 2 p.m., five or six very drunk middle-aged men staggered out of the bar in Arroyo Seco and beat up three hippies. The men were not impressionable youths but the owner of a Taos clothing store, an assistant manager of Safeway and several other upstanding citizens. After their labors, they lolled around and offered to demonstrate their prowess to the police. Charged with assault and battery, they were each fined $5 by the magistrate judge.

Alas, just as it was taking off, it came to an end. Chick Lonsdale had blown through his inheritance. He shut down the paper after 14 issues, as well as the General Store. Ben Hatcher BEATBOOKS.COM corralled most of the goods from the store and opened what became Amigos Food Co-op. Only the health clinic survived and it served the community for years to come.

LEVY: The influx of young people into Taos County had a mixed reception and a mixed result. One Hispanic man said to me, “I’m glad they came; they brought even more diversity.” More often the response was fear and anger.

Although hippies thought they were bringing new, even radical ideas to New Mexico, they ended by learning from locals the profound truths of traditional life.

GREENWOOD: The so-called “hippie invasion,” which had started as a stream, dried to a trickle. The communal life expired when the women and children left and the men who stayed behind were eating rattlesnakes and playing with their guns. Fifty years ago, the Fountain of Light whirled away like a leaf in a dust storm. But the ideals that we embraced – a simple life in harmony with each other and the Earth – remain to this day a wellspring of truth, like a jet of pure water leaping toward the sky. G

Phaedra Greenwood and Jim Levy are co-authors of “Those Were the Days: Life and Love in 1970s New Mexico” Greenwood has published two memoirs, a book of photos and a collection of women’s poems and essays about nature.

Levy has published books of poetry, memoirs, literary essays, travel writing and a book about two dogs.

Twentieth Annual

TRADICIONES Honorar a Nuestros Héroes

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Taos Community Foundation for being our title sponsor for this year’s Tradiciones section.

Your generous support made this year’s Tradiciones section one of our biggest ever.

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2020 Taos Pueblo Governor Edwin Concha, center, pictured with Tribal Secretary Joel Archuleta, left, and Lieutenant Governor Antonio K. Mondragon, right. Photo by Rick Romancito, Taos News.

Legendary: A people who have fought for their culture and land through decades of challenges.

Taos Mountain Casino is proud to honor those who both exemplify the best of the past and who help us weave it into the future.

These people are our own links in what continues to be an unbroken circle of tradition at Taos Pueblo.

COVID-19 UPDATE: In these unprecedented times, we’ve been proud to respond swiftly to the Covid-19 crisis. Taos Pueblo remains closed but we look forward

to welcoming you when it’s safe. Taos Mountain Casino is proudly open, keeping you safe with masks and temperature checks.

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