LETTERS from NEW MEXICO

When I emigrated from New England to the Southwest in 2006, I wrote letters to family and friends to share the joy, the wondrous, and the outrageous. Life, my life. Oh, and the enchantment. This is, afterall, New Mexico. These letters were the genesis of this collection.

~~Chicken Baby~~

February 2017

Hannah tells me, as she saws my nails, that the Communists killed her twin brothers and her father. Her older sister was jailed repeatedly for trying to sneak out of the country on a fishing boat. Millions of Vietnamese refugees fled their country after the war in 1975, and many did not make it.

~~For Better~~

December 2016

Maya was nine pounds of bubbles and beans when I brought her home last year. She is 15 pounds now and still learning off. I am still learning that when the choice is between me and a rabbit, the bunny wins.

~~Not Enough Heroes~~

December 2010

I've been to Àcoma. The place has got under my skin. This is where the Spanish colonizers in 1599 cut off a foot of the Àcoma men and the right hands of Hopis in a horrific battle. People are still feeling the pain 411 years later.

~~Intimacies Odd & Legendary~~

September 2009

On a flight from Dublin to the UK, I sat next to a young man from Galway, who entertained me for the entire ride. He was full of jokes. What’s the difference between the U.S. and Ireland?

~~It's a Greek Thing~~

October 2008

The New Mexico state ballot comes in three languages: English, Spanish and Navajo. In Greece—so famous for its democracy—voting is mandatory. You don't vote, you get fined or sent to jail.

~~Considerably Rumpled in Spirit~~

June 2008

Backyard cowboys are dumping dead cows, lots of them, on the roads. Why? Why?

~~Digging a Well with a Needle~~

January 2008

I'm getting used to some things here, like plague. The headline in a local paper put it this way: Plague is a Part of Life, Residents Advised to Avoid Panic.

~~Taos~~

March 2007

The author of Lady Chatterley's Lover lived in Taos. He said New Mexico was "the greatest experience from the outside world" that he ever had.

~~If Appalling, Please Call with Suggestions~~

February 2007

Someone complained about the word Vagina on a theater marque advertising The Vagina Monologues. So the theater replaced that word with Hoohaa, which apparently is synonymous with Coochie Snorcher.

~~A Need to Cuddle~~

December 2006

I sat next to a little girl and her mother, on their way home after Christmas. I miss my grandma, the girl would say in a trembling voice. And: I could be cuddled with my cousin now. And then would come the wrenching sobs.

~~We the Mountain~~

November 2006

Before I return home from that magical spot where rock and moss and water meet, the words have already begun to align themselves. We the Mountain anoint you!

~~From Above~~

October 2006

Hot-air ballooning is intrinsic to New Mexico, along with chili, red-light runners, breakfast burritos, and bubonic plague. About half of all plague cases in the entire U.S. are here.

~~In Another Nation~~

September 2006

On the Thursday after Labor Day, Santa Fe hosts Zozobra, which in Spanish means anxiety or, as the Santa Feans say, gloom. So on Thursday I was in Santa Fe and so were lots of other people to see this zozo.

~~Music in the Foothills~~

August 2006

Georgia O'Keefe was supposed to have said: "If you ever go to New Mexico, it'll itch you for the rest of your life." I know what she means.

~~Forgiveness Is a Long Time Coming~~

May 2006

I suppose that given the history, it was not surprising only one Indian came to the Albuquerque parade celebrating the city's 300th birthday.

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