Keeping Hispanic culture alive

Ask many native Santa Feans about themselves and they’ll tell you something like this:

“I am a life-long resident of Santa Fe. My mother, Vivian Romero Naranjo, was from Taos. My father, Gaspar O. Naranjo, was from Chimayó. I was born in Río Arriba County. My family moved to Santa Fe and to this location on July 9, 1946, on my first birthday. I have lived in this home for 57-plus years. Our home is on Staab Street, three blocks northwest of the Plaza. My mom and dad built this house in 1940 … .”

Just like María Encarnación Naranjo, a La Herencia reader and contributor who sprinkles her sing-song English with phrases in Spanish, la herencia (heritage) plays a central role in the lives of New Mexico’s Hispanics.

The Santa Fe New Mexican tells us about La Herencia magazine:

What makes the magazine special, says Pacheco, is that it is an authentic record of the local community “before it was Disneyized — the real deal.”