Columns

Pastor Granillo: My Worst Enemy

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By Pastor RAUL GRANILLO
Los Alamos

Growing up with siblings, being married, and even just being a part of the general public has caused me to realize that we fight a lot of different battles in our lives.

As I looked back at the many battles I’ve fought, I realized that there were more than a few that got me nowhere or even caused me to lose ground. In most of those battles, my opponent and I were fighting about two entirely different matters and didn’t even realize it. We named the war similarly, but there was no hope of resolution because even our disagreement didn’t actually have a common ground.

The others,

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Griggs: The Wet Side Of Morocco – Not To Be Mythed

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David Griggs next to a cannon on the ramparts at Essaouira, where Orson Welles filmed his 1952 classic version of ‘Othello’. Courtesy photo
 
 
By DAVID H. GRIGGS
Foreign Correspondent
Los Alamos Daily Post
 
I apologize for the double pun in the title, and blame it all on the influence of a headmaster under whom I worked early in my career.
 
It was at this school, also, that I taught a course in Greek Mythology to a rambunctious lot of second, third and fourth graders, who loved to act out the stories of gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters.
 
So it was with great
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‘Ride The Pink Horse’ At Mesa Public Library Thursday

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Movie poster for ‘Ride the Pink Horse.’ Courtesy photo

Review by KELLY DOLEJSI
Los Alamos

The first film ever in which a Latino was nominated for an Oscar, Director Robert Montgomery’s “Ride the Pink Horse” (1947), will screen at 6:30 p.m., Thursday at Mesa Public Library in Los Alamos.

In this noir-style film shot in Santa Fe, Gagin (Montgomery) speaks few words but carries a big secret — or at least, so it seems — all the way to the border town of San Pablo, where FBI Agent Bill Retz (Art Smith) and bad guy Frank Hugo (Fred Clark) figure him out posthaste, or so it seems.

Basically, Gagin Read More

Classical Music World: Pale Blue Dot

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The Dover Quartet performs in Los Alamos March 11 at Smith Auditorium. Courtesy photo
 

The Pale Blue Dot: This iconic image was taken by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft from a distance of almost 4 billion miles from Earth. The dot can be seen about halfway down the orange stripe on the right. Courtesy/NASA

 

By ANN MCLAUGHLIN, Artistic Director
Los Alamos Concert Association

There are plenty of classical works inspired by or associated with heavenly bodies. Debussy’s ever-popular, Clair de Lune comes to mind as does Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Gustav Holst’s The Planets, is a staple Read More

Cinema Cindy Reviews ‘Trumbo’

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By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB
Los Alamos

“Trumbo” tells the true story of mid 20th century screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted for his affiliation with the Communist Party. This would seem a common story among the literati of Hollywood in the 1950s.

But Trumbo became a bit of a hero by using his wit and eloquence to stand up to those compiling the list. The appearance of his name in the opening credits of Otto Preminger’s 1960 film Exodus is considered the end of the age of the Hollywood blacklist.

Dalton Trumbo, played brilliantly by Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), was the top screenwriter in Read More

Smart Design With Suzette: Tips For Updating Lighting Fixtures

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Mark the Electrician, right, and staff person Virgil install paper flowers on an oversized Ikea light fixture. Courtesy photo
 
By SUZETTE FOX
Los Alamos

Good lighting can literally light up your life. It can make the difference between “nice place” and “wow, love your pad.” But, in most homes, the lighting is too complicated and too dim. Before you do anything else to your home, consider changing your lighting.

Whether you live in an apartment or own a house, we’ve all had that moment where we realize it’s time to switch things up. One of the quickest and easiest Read More

How The Hen House Turns: Conversation With Jays

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Conversation With Jays
Column by Carolyn A. (Cary) Neeper, Ph. D.

One scrub jay we knew in Los Alamos would take peanuts from our hand, even from our visiting daughter’s hand, but only if we were at the porch railing. That’s where we usually put out the morning peanuts.

Years later another jay learned that we watched from inside the house while eating breakfast. He would position himself on the porch fencepost and fluff up his feathers, like a baby begging from a parent bird. Of course, we obeyed. Three times. We were delighted with the clear communication between species.

After the third peanut,

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Pastor Granillo: Write Them On Your Doorframes

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Pastor RAUL GRANILLO
Los Alamos

There was a popular question that used to pop up in Christian circles, “If you were accused of being a Christian, would a jury of your peers find you guilty?” In other words, do you really live your life as if you believe what you claim to believe? The problem I have with that question, is that the current social definition of a Christian is pretty weak.

Perhaps the question should be rephrased, “If you were accused of trying to be like Jesus, would you be convicted by a jury of your peers?” Because the sad truth is that too often there is a huge gap between being considered Read More

TALES OF OUR TIMES: What Do Our Words Really Mean?

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Tales of Our Times
By JOHN BARTLIT
New Mexico Citizens
for Clean Air & Water

What Do Our Words Really Mean?

My topic is how simple words often mean different things to different people.

Debate is a sturdy way to exchange information, if and when it stands on the bedrock of healthy skepticism and precise questioning.

At other times, debate mangles information when it descends into distrust and misunderstanding, as it so often does on the perilous turns of language. Think how easily these perils confirm our natural suspicions of others’ viewpoints.      

Examples Read More

An Open Book: When We Used To Reach Out And Touch Someone…

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An Open Book

By DAVID IZRAELEVITZ
Los Alamos
 
When We Used To Reach Out And Touch Someone…
 
We were approaching a store the other day when I noticed a couple staring at a cellphone held at arm’s length. I thought it was a strange place to be taking one of those “selfies,” but when I got closer I realized that they were not taking a picture at all, but rather video-chatting with someone at the other end of the Internet. That made me think of how quickly the world has changed and in many ways become so much smaller.
 
Growing up in Uruguay we did not have a telephone. I don’t
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