Author: NewMexiKen

The first Thanksgiving

On April 30th four centuries ago, our ancestors, led by Don Juan de Oñate, reached the banks of El Rio Bravo (Rio Grande). The first recorded act of thanksgiving by colonizing Europeans on this continent occurred on that April day in 1598 in Nuevo Mexico, about 25 miles south of what is now El Paso, Texas. After having begun their northward trek in March of that same year, the entire caravan was gathered at this point. The 400 person expedition included soldiers, families, servants, personal belongings, and livestock . . . virtually a living village. Two thirds of the colonizers were from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands). There was even one Greek and a man from Flanders! The rest were Mexican Indians and mestizos (mixed bloods).
. . .

On April 30, 1598, the scouts made camp along the Rio Grande and prepared to drink and eat their fill, for there they found fishes and waterfowl. Villagrá wrote,

We built a great bonfire and roasted meat and fish, and then sat down to a repast the like of which we had never enjoyed before.” Before this bountiful meal, Don Juan de Oñate personally nailed a cross to a living tree and prayed, “Open the door to these heathens, establish the church altars where the body and blood of the Son of God may be offered, open to us the way to security and peace for their preservation and ours, and give to our king and to me in his royal name, peaceful possession of these kingdoms and provinces for His blessed glory. Amen.”

Excerpted from The New Mexico Genealogical Society

Casey Jones, he died at the throttle, Casey Jones, with the whistle in his hand

Ah, the importance of worshipful friends or family in building a legend.

John Luther Jones from Cayce (pronounced Cay-see), Kentucky, famous to us through song as a brave engineer who romantically died trying to make up time. In truth, he crashed his locomotive at high speed into a freight train that was attempting to get out of the way on a siding. According to reports he failed to heed warning signals that were out. The accident took place early in the morning of April 30, 1900. Jones was the only fatality.

Jones was known for his affability and his skill in blowing a train whistle. His engine wiper, Wallace Saunders, reportedly idolized the engineer. Saunders wrote the original song.

All you might want to know can be found in this 1928 article.

A year of eating locally

A discussion with Barbara Kingsolver at Salon about her new book. From the introduction:

“The Bean Trees,” Kingsolver’s first novel, was published in 1988 to great acclaim. With 2 million copies sold, it remains in print. Eleven others followed; all told, Kingsolver’s titles have sold 7 million copies. Few American writers have managed to so seamlessly merge their radical politics and commercial success. “If we can’t, as artists, improve on real life,” Kingsolver says, “we should put down our pencils and go bake bread.” Indeed, in her new book, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life,” she does both.

Part memoir, part investigative journalism, part cookbook, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” is co-authored by Kingsolver’s environmental scientist husband, Steven Hopp, and their then-19-year-old daughter, Camille. Together they tell the story of the year the family spent eating only food produced on or near their southwest Virginia farm. The central narrative rings with Kingsolver’s characteristic biting humor; Hopp’s sidebars focus on the industry and science of food production. Camille’s passionate essays, informed by youthful idealism and by her sharp intelligence, also include meal plans and recipes.

A hike into horror and an act of courage

Glacier National Park, Mont. — JOHAN looked up. Jenna was running toward him. She had yelled something, he wasn’t sure what. Then he saw it. The open mouth, the tongue, the teeth, the flattened ears. Jenna ran right past him, and it struck him — a flash of fur, two jumps, 400 pounds of lightning.

It was a grizzly, and it had him by his left thigh. His mind started racing — to Jenna, to the trip, to fighting, to escaping. The bear jerked him back and forth like a rag doll, but he remembered no pain, just disbelief. It bit into him again and again, its jaw like a sharp vise stopping at nothing until teeth hit bone. Then came the claws, rising like shiny knife blades, long and stark.

Los Angeles Times

Follow the link to read the rest of the first part of the story. It’s really good.

The spirited ghost town

NewMexiKen went to Madrid, New Mexico, Saturday evening for the drive, dinner and a little live music. (Our Madrid is pronounced MAD-rid, not Ma-DRID.) MAD-rid is about 25 miles directly south of Santa Fe on Highway 14, the Turquoise Trail.

Eighty years ago, Madrid was a busy coal-mining town of 3,000 people, boasting of many things, including a minor league ball team playing in the first lighted ballpark in the west. But when coal gave way to natural gas by the 1950s, Madrid died away. The whole townsite was once advertised for sale for $250,000; there were no takers.

But the town was reborn in the 1970s when the son of the original townsite owner began renting and selling properties to artists and craftspeople drawn to the mountains. It has evolved from that to the point that Sunset Magazine last year selected Madrid as one of “The West’s best shopping streets” — True grit, great treasures. (There is really only one street in Madrid. The population of Madrid in 2000 was 149 (and according to one report has decreased by one since.)

“The” place in Madrid on a Saturday night is the Mineshaft Tavern, reputedly the longest bar in New Mexico. The food, a good mix of Mexican and burgers was tasty, service friendly, beer cold. The Mineshaft was recently purchased and, during the lull between dinner and the band, one of the new co-owners, Jeffrey from New York, shared the story of how he came to invest in a town of less than 150 people in New Mexico. Good luck Jeffrey. (Putting an old-time piano player in there during lunch and dinner would be our one recommendation. Or even an old-time player piano.)

MAD-rid is worth two trips. One in the day to see the galleries. And one in the evening to see the charm.

April 29th is the birthday

… of Jerry Seinfeld. He’s 53.

… of three-time Oscar nominee, one-time winner Daniel Day-Lewis. He’s 50. Lewis won for My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown.

… of three-time Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer. She’s 49. Once upon a time, before she gave it all up to go to Hollywood, Michelle was a checker at our local Von’s supermarket.

… of Jan Brady. Eve Plumb is 49.

… of one-time Oscar nominee (Pulp Fiction) Uma Thurman. She’s 37.

… of Andre Agassi, 37.

Edward Kennedy Ellington, that is, Duke Ellington, was born in Washington, D.C., on this date in 1899. The PBS web site for JAZZ A Film By Ken Burns sums up Ellington succinctly.

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was the most prolific composer of the twentieth century in terms of both number of compositions and variety of forms. His development was one of the most spectacular in the history of music, underscored by more than fifty years of sustained achievement as an artist and an entertainer. He is considered by many to be America’s greatest composer, bandleader, and recording artist.

The extent of Ellington’s innovations helped to redefine the various forms in which he worked. He synthesized many of the elements of American music — the minstrel song, ragtime, Tin Pan Alley tunes, the blues, and American appropriations of the European music tradition — into a consistent style with which, though technically complex, has a directness and a simplicity of expression largely absent from the purported art music of the twentieth century. Ellington’s first great achievements came in the three-minute song form, and he later wrote music for all kinds of settings: the ballroom, the comedy stage, the nightclub, the movie house, the theater, the concert hall, and the cathedral. His blues writing resulted in new conceptions of form, harmony, and melody, and he became the master of the romantic ballad and created numerous works that featured the great soloists in his jazz orchestra.

The Red Hot Jazz Archive has a number of Ellington recordings on line [RealAudio files].

And William Randolph Hearst was born on this date in 1863. Many think we know Hearst because we know Charles Foster Kane. Was Hearst the model for Charles Foster Kane? Read what Orson Welles had to say in 1975 (first posted by NewMexiKen three years ago).

Weather forecast: Southwest, hotter and drier

Assessment of projected climate change for North America:

All of North America is very likely to warm during this century, and the annual mean warming is likely to exceed the global mean warming in most areas. In northern regions, warming is likely to be largest in winter, and in the southwest USA largest in summer. The lowest winter temperatures are likely to increase more than the average winter temperature in northern North America, and the highest summer temperatures are likely to increase more than the average summer temperature in the southwest USA.

Annual mean precipitation is very likely to increase in Canada and the northeast USA, and likely to decrease in the southwest USA. In southern Canada, precipitation is likely to increase in winter and spring, but decrease in summer.

Snow season length and snow depth are very likely to decrease in most of North America, except in the northernmost part of Canada where maximum snow depth is likely to increase.

IPCC WG1 AR4 Final Report

I don’t accept that about our government

Jon Stewart on Bill Moyers Journal Friday evening.

JON STEWART: For instance, Alberto Gonzales, and you’ve been watching the hearings. He is either a perjurer, or a low-functioning pinhead. And he allowed himself to be portrayed in those hearings as a low-functioning pinhead, rather than give the Congressional Committee charged with oversight, any information as to his decision-making process at the Department of Justice.

And I used to think, “They’re doing this based on a certain arrogance.” And now, I realize that it’s because they believe there is one accountability moment for a President, and that is the four year election. And once you get that election, you’re done.

BILL MOYERS: They’re right, are they not?

JON STEWART: They’re completely not right. The election moment is merely the American public saying, “We’d rather you be President than that guy.” That’s it. The next four years, though, you still have to abide by the oversight process that is there to prevent this kind of bizarre sort of cult-like atmosphere that falls along. I mean, I accept that kind of veil of secrecy around Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, but I don’t accept that around our government.

. . .

JON STEWART: And for the President to come out after that and say, “Everything I saw there gave me more confidence in him,” that solidified my notion that, “Oh, it’s because what he expected of Gonzalez was” it’s sort of like, do you remember in GOODFELLAS? When Henry Hill got arrested for the first time and Robert DeNiro met him at the courthouse and Henry Hill was really upset, ’cause he thought Robert DeNiro would be really mad at him. And DeNiro comes up to him and he gives him a $100 and he goes, “You got pinched. We all get pinched, but you did it right, you didn’t say nothing.”

Video excerpt that includes the segment above.

Traffic law question

What is the controlling law for making a U-Turn in New Mexico? Only at intersections? Never at intersections? Only when permitted (by sign)? Anywhere that’s not marked to prohibit it?

U-turns are not covered in the driver’s license manual.

In some states, U-Turns may only be made at an intersection.

In others, U-Turns may not be made at intersections (I was cited for this once in California).

Local tap water bubbles up in restaurants

At a small but growing number of sustainably inclined Bay Area restaurants, bottled water has become as much of an outcast as farmed salmon and out-of-season tomatoes. Instead of bottled water, diners now are served free carafes of — gasp! — tap water. It’s filtered and comes still or sparkling, fizzed up by a soda-fountain-style carbonating machine.

Incanto, in San Francisco’s Noe Valley, and Poggio, in Sausalito, pioneered the trend four years ago. But for several years, no other restaurants wanted to give up popular — and profitable — bottled water.

Then Nopa, the San Francisco North of Panhandle hot spot, took the plunge when it opened last summer. And so did Ici, the Berkeley ice cream boutique.

And now, Chez Panisse, the godmother of the sustainability movement, is jumping on board, serving East Bay MUD’s finest, filtered and bubbly in carafes approved by Alice Waters herself.

San Francisco Chronicle

Why, you ask, if it was profitable are they giving it up? Because it takes a lot of energy to bottle water and ship it from Europe. These restaurants are getting a lot of upscale street cred for taking the environmentally conscious route.

Bottled water is so over. It’s the ultimate industrial consumerist product in a world that is beginning to realize that things have to change.

Award-winning Books

Friday night The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for history. Wright’s book recently won the Pulitizer Prize for non-fiction.

NewMexiKen is reading The Looming Tower and finding it quite interesting, important and readable.

Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler won for biography.

Israeli novelist A.B. Yehoshua won the fiction award for A Woman in Jerusalem.

Los Angeles Times Book Prizes

Best line of the day, so far

This is the fifth year of this war. As a matter of fact, next Tuesday is the anniversary of President Bush standing up on an aircraft carrier, playing dress-up with his flight suit, which he never wore in combat, trying to be the war hero he never was, and saying major combat over, mission accomplished. And later on he said, “Bring ’em on.” Well, they came on, surprise, surprise. Have killed over 3,300 young Americans and wounded over 30,000, and over half a million Iraqis have died.

I don’t want that kind of patience. It’s five years into this thing now. It’s time to end it, and it’s time to move on and worry about al Qaeda. That’s the real threat to this country.

Max Cleland on CNN

April 28th is the birthday

… of Harper Lee. The author of one the great classics of American literature, To Kill A Mockingbird, is 81. Miss Lee has remained so private so long that the only mental image of her I have is actually an image of Catherine Keener from Capote.

Mockingbird, published in 1960, has sold more than 30 million copies.

“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

The Writer’s Almanac had a nice essay about Lee last year (it includes the quotation above). There was another slightly longer variation of it two years ago that NewMexiKen replicated.

… of James A. Baker III. The former Secretary of State is 77. NewMexiKen met Baker in 1993 during the last week of the first Bush Administration. He was the President’s chief of staff, so the meeting took place in the West Wing (one of two times I’ve been there on business). Never have I met an individual more impressive in a small meeting than Baker. When you spoke, Baker gave you his apparent undivided attention. Baker’s place in history will be enhanced I believe by his diplomatic work in forming the international coalition before the 1991 invasion of Iraq. His place in history will be diminished I believe by his work for the second Bush in the 2000 Florida election litigation.

… of Ann-Margret, 66.

… of Jay Leno. He’s 57.

… of golfer John Daly. He’s 41.

… of former ADA Serena Southerlyn. Elisabeth Röhm is 34.

… of Penélope Cruz Sánchez. Winner of several best actress awards in Europe for Non ti muovere, the Oscar-nominee is 33.

… of Jessica Alba. She’s 26.

Carolyn Jones was born on this date in 1929. The one-time Oscar nominee has nearly 100 credits to her name despite dying of colon cancer at age 54. She was, of course, Morticia Addams in the classic TV show.

Lionel Herbert Blythe was born on this date in 1878. We know him as Lionel Barrymore — and we know him even better as Mr. Potter in It’s A Wonderful Life — “I’d say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider.” Barrymore won the Oscar for best actor in 1931 for A Free Soul. The previous year he was nominated for best director. Both of Barrymore’s parents were actors, as were his sister Ethel (an Oscar winner) and brother John.

And James Monroe, the fifth U.S. President, was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on this date in 1758. He is one of three presidents (and two NewMexiKen daughters) to attend the College of William and Mary.

Saddam Hussein was born on this date in 1937, but no more Mr. Nice Guy.

It just doesn’t get any better than this

As the Bush administration’s so-called “AIDS czar,” Tobias was criticized for emphasizing faithfulness and abstinence over condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS.

On Thursday, Tobias told ABC News he had several times called the “Pamela Martin and Associates” escort service “to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage.” Tobias, who is married, said there had been “no sex,” and that recently he had been using another service “with Central Americans” to provide massages.

ABC News: The Blotter [excerpts out of sequence]

This guy was an ambassador, a deputy secretary of state, and director of all U.S. foreign aid. What a jackass, though at least he had the class to resign, unlike some others.

Update: Timothy Noah has a little bit more.

Get a Job

Like the Silhouettes, Linda Hirshman thinks women should get a job. The decreasing number of women with children who do not, troubles her.

Should we care if women leave the work force? Yes, because participation in public life allows women to use their talents and to powerfully affect society. And once they leave, they usually cannot regain the income or status they had. . . .

And despite the happy talk of “on ramps” back in, only 40 percent of even high-powered professionals get back to full-time work at all.

That the most educated have opted out the most should raise questions about how our society allocates scarce educational resources. The next generation of girls will have a greatly reduced pool of role models.

Or a greatly increased one, depending on how you look at it. To think that the quality of life is determined by whether one is “employed.” To think that mothers who do not “work” do not contribute to public life. How absurd, how narrow-minded, how arrogant.

It used to be called liberation, but it was always about doing what other, self-certain people thought you should do.

Thanks to Veronica for the link.

People are more stupid than anyone item of the day

• Nearly half of the 24 million households with HDTVs don’t actually watch high-definition programs because they lack an HDTV feed from either via cable or satellite

• 25% of those surveyed didn’t even realize they were watching non-HDTV transmissions

Audioholics Home Theater Reviews and News

Of course, some may watch HDTV over-the-air for free as I do.

Debate Scorecard

NewMexiKen did not see last evening’s Democratic candidates’ debate, but here’s a quick run down from Rolling Stone.

Also, from a good write-up at NewDonkey.com:

Joe Biden got a question on the Supreme Court’s decision on the congressional “Partial-Birth Abortion” ban that didn’t mention he voted for the ban in the Senate. Bill Richardson offered Whizzer White as a model for the nominees he’d put on the Supreme Court, and nobody noted that (aside from White’s status as something less than a constitutional giant) the Whizzer was a dissenter in the original abortion rights decision, Roe v. Wade. And John Edwards was asked about his attitude towards hedge funds (a subject that most viewers probably knew little or nothing about) without any reference to his own employment by a hedge fund between his presidential runs.

Whizzer White?