Thoughts of a wood splitter
On a recent morning I picked up the heavier, the more serious of my two axes, strode over to the wood pile and set to…
Wally Gordon
When fools fall in love
The three-word title tells you most of what you need to know about Sam Shepard’s brief, tightly wound drama, now at Albuquerque’s Adobe Theater. The…
When meteors fall
All evidence suggests that America today is not a happy place, with every poll showing a strong majority believing the country is now and has…
The printer
Once upon a time a publisher—let’s call him Charlie—and an editor—let’s call him Wally—put out a weekly newspaper. For those of you unfamiliar with the…
The Writing Group
“I’m new to this writing group, so please forgive me if I don’t do things correctly.” “Have you participated in other writing groups?” “No, this…
Using sex (or its absence) to end a war
Last year, singer Janelle Monáe told the magazine Marie Claire, “Until every man is fighting for our rights, we should consider stopping having sex.” The…
Africa journey II: Madagascar—It’s a mad place
When Madagascar Airline first started up, it called itself Air Mad—until it got sick of all the jokes about how the name accurately reflected its…
African Journey 1: The Africa Bug
While taking off from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on Ethiopia Airlines, I noticed a lot of water running across the wings. A bit alarmed, I asked…
Indian summer in New Mexico
Anglos have long been in the habit of appropriating—or misappropriating—American Indian references for anything from professional sports to cowboy movies to politics to fake history…
Where the present is the past
When the older residents of the Hispanic land-grant village of Torreón, in the eastern foothills of the Manzano Mountains, grew up in the 1940s, the…