44 posts tagged “new mexico”

While drifting in and out of sleep this afternoon I was listening to a lot of KUNM.  I was shocked and appalled at the broadcast from Amy Goodman's Democracy Now!.  The broadcast was titled:

Memorial Day Special…Winter Soldier on the Hill: War Vets Testify Before Congress

... the testimonies were very disturbing and put my Memorial day in perspective.

Nonetheless  I was happy to hear an interview on KUNM this afternoon with Charles W. Lowery II,New Mexico Jazz Workshop.  The NM Jazz Workshop has a very exciting summer music series of which I plan to attend as many events as my budget will allow.  I do know that this Friday I will check out the inaugural concert in the Salsa Under the StarsChino Espinoza Y Los Dueños Del Son.

More info on the entire New Mexico Jazz Workshop series can be found here. who is the Executive Director of the portion of the summer music series. Friday's show will feature a salsa band from Los Angeles,

I've been in Cleveland Ohio since Sunday of last week.  I am here for training for my new job as an Assistant Editor with PR Newswire.  My job will keep me in the Albuquerque office of PR Newswire.  I am very excited about this new opportunity.  I will NOT be blogging much about the specifics of my new job in interest of disclosure and out of respect to my new company.  However I will continue to blog about new media, technology, and communications here at Mind of Estevanico.  All of these conceptual areas relate to my new job and I am looking forward to seeing how my new job will expand my knowledge base and human connections.

I will not say much more about the Bush administration on this blog because it looks like fate and time are speaking loudly enough.  Please do read this post from barbwire on the Daily Kos about Bush's recent visit to ABQ.

God knows I love New Mexico and my new "hometown" (yes I can call it that now after living here for a solid year) of Albuquerque.  One of the things I love about living here is the burgeoning film industry that is just overflowing around the state and ABQ in particular.  I had a conversation the other night with a casual acquaintance named Kate who starred as Lady Macbeth in a recent stage production of "Macbeth" at The Vortex in ABQ.  Kate is very excited to have landed a small role in a film that is currently being shot here called "Swing Vote" which is a film financed by Kevin Costner.  Kate told me that she has a scene with two of the film's stars Dennis Hopper and Nathan Lane.  I was so excited for Kate and enthralled by her opportunity for she was truly brilliant in "Macbeth".

This morning I was reading the "New Mexico Business Weekly" online and came across this intriguing announcement.

Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes shooting in my "hometown".  Awesome! I'm trying to meet Eva!

If you've read this blog from the beginning you would know that I had a pretty tough time living for six years in Boston prior to moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Much of my trouble had to do with racial issues in Boston and its numerous social, cultural, and economic ramifications.  Life in Albuquerque has been much better as the weather here is warm, the cost of living is affordable, and for the large part the social/cultural milieu is extremely friendly, open, and tolerant.  I told an acquaintance of mine just the other day that " ...My life in Albuquerque is the first time that I have not had to daily deal with 'being 'Black' ... most of the racial issues in Albuquerque center around Natives, Latinos, and white folk ...".  I am NOT simple or overly idealistic enough to know that my skin color and cultural heritage are truly insignificant in Albuquerque but I must say that Albuquerque is a fairly fluid city where skin color is of little consequence at least from my perspective.

Nonetheless I was truly disturbed by a recent story I heard on "Latino USA" about strained relations between Blacks and Mexican-Americans in Austin, Texas and then I found this today on the Economist website about equally disturbing news of strained relations between Blacks and Latinos in Durham, NC and Los Angeles.  I hope to examine these issues a bit further in detail in the very near future.

Readers of this blog surely know of my love for public radio.  I have been blessed to live in cities where the public radio is good.  Ann Arbor, MI featured WEMU from neighboring Ypsilanti, MI.  Boston of course featured NPR flagships WGBH and WBUR and here in ABQ I am fond of KUNM and KANW.  This morning while lucid sleeping/dreaming I was listening to KANW and a great program called "Justice Talking" which is according to NPR is an "award-winning radio that engages listeners in timely, refreshingly honest debates on the current legal battles that capture our nation's attention" ... I love this show.  Today's episode was EXTREMELY provocative it was titled "The Cuban Embargo - Should U.S. Policy Change?"  The show covers several topics that are very poignant in light of the future of Cuba given the current health situation of Fidel Castro. Two that struck me as very interesting were host Margot Adler talking with NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten about the Bacardi family (yes the Bacardi of rum fame) and its long and complex history with Cuba and the story of Lillian Holloway  from Philadelphia who is a fifth-year medical student at Doctor Salvador Allende hospital in Havana, Cuba. In September 2000, Fidel Castro announced the implementation of full scholarships for American students of little means to go to medical school in Cuba.  Very interesting.  If you are interested at all in Cuba then you must visit the website and listen to this show.  I was transfixed.  I have long had an interest in Cuba and hope to visit there in the very near future.

I like to communicate via email.  I consider myself a pretty good writer and find the written word to be an effective means of communicating.  I try to stay in touch with all the friends and colleagues I've made over the years through college in Atlanta, Georgia, my service in the Peace Corps in Africa, my time as a graduate student/bookseller in Ann Arbor, MI, my life as a book publisher in Boston, MA, and now here in my new home of Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The Internet, Email, my blog, and sites like MySpace (I only have an account there and not an actual working page) have all served pretty well in this effort to help me stay in touch with the numerous people I've met through the years. 

Yesterday I emailed my friend Ingrid to find out where she was and what she was up to.  She nudged me to try out the micro-blogging site Twitter.  I joined Twitter and I must say while I am a sucker for most things Web 2.0 and social networking sites via the web, Twitter really really impresses me.  Only time will tell if I actually make use of Twitter but for now it's a pretty cool new tool.  For more info go to twitter.com ... my user name there is james3neal.

One of the constant complaints of downtown urban dwellers of ABQ like myself has been the lack of a descent grocery store in promixity to downtown.  Today on the Duke City Fix (I love you guys!) I read this story about the coming of a Pro's Ranch Market to the Old Town area of Albuquerque.  I've checked the store's website and talked to a few other people about it and it sounds great.  We welcome you Pro's Ranch Market to ABQ and can't wait to sample your wares.

Yesterday as usual I was listening to "Latino USA" and learned of an organization that I should know about but did not. The League of United Latin American Citizens  (LULAC) is the nation's largest and oldest "Hispanic" civil rights group.  Yesterday Maria Hinojosa host of "Latino USA" interviewed  Executive Director of LULAC, Brent Wilkes about major issues affecting Latinos during LULAC's 78th National Convention which was held in Chicago. Well lo and behold I heard on the local news this morning that LULAC is bringing its annual convention to Albuquerque in 2010. I hope to still be here and participate in the convention. Great stuff!

Surprise!  Surprise! ... another person I admire is a public radio personality ... Since moving to New Mexico and discovering the programming of KANW and KUNM I have enjoyed many programs that I was not aware of living in Boston and South Carolina.  A new favorite of mine is "Democracy Now!" hosted by Amy Goodman.  Goodman is amazing and the show "Democracy Now" is a great source of information in these disturbing times.