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Education 101: Budget Committee Starts Work on 2015 Budget

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Education 101: Budget Committee Starts Work on 2015 Budget
By Save Our Schools Los Alamos

Now that Gov. Martinez has signed the state budget, local school districts are beginning to work on their budgets for the coming school year. The New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) will provide each school district with its share of state K-12 funding after its March 26-28 budget workshop. State funding typically provides about 70 percent of K-12 funding for Los Alamos Public Schools (LAPS).

LAPS has formed a Budget Committee, made up of administrators, teachers, and a few community members, Read More

Hannemann’s Music Corner: Writing

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Hannemann’s Music Corner
Column by RICHARD HANNEMAN
 
Writing

When I was a kid I wanted to be a writer, a storyteller. There was fairly good reason to believe that I had some aptitude for this. I started early, in grade school, and I did a lot of writing. Mostly stories and some very free verse poetry. Heck, I even got a piece published in the Los Alamos High School literary magazine.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a traveler. One of my favorite books was called “Around the World in 1,000 pictures.” I was glued to any travelogue that aired on the T.V. That to be a writer Read More

Cinema Cindy Reviews: ‘Frozen’

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‘Frozen’
Review by CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB

Frozen won for Best Animated Feature Film in the Oscars last week, but I hadn’t seen it until yesterday.

To be honest, out of the five films nominated in this category, I had only seen The Croods, not having much drive to see animated features these days. But, I did like The Croods and was delighted by its imaginative story of a Neanderthal family having to move to safety.

 In comparison, Frozen’s fairytale style led to a less than surprising outcome. So what made it Oscar worthy? Here are some possibilities.

‘Frozen’ Read More

How the Hen House Turns: Butch, Coxswain of the Mahan – A World War II Memoir

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File photo of Bill and Butch, Feb. 12, 1945. Courtesy/LADN
 
How the Hen House Turns:
Butch, Coxswain of the Mahan ─ A World War II Memoir
Column by Carolyn A. (Cary) Neeper, Ph. D.

Dogs and humans have a long history, at least tens of thousands of years long. Why else would DeeDee and Scooter, probably pointer-heeler mutts, do such a good job of watching the Hen House birds, when they would rather be chasing them? It has been recognized for decades that relating to dogs can lower a human’s blood pressure.

Stories abound, but one of the most poignant is the story of the cocker spaniel Butch and the Read More

Cinema Cindy Reviews: ‘Dallas Buyers Club’

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“Dallas Buyers Club”
Review by CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB

I just saw “Dallas Buyers Club.” Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto are, in my opinion, well deserving of their Oscars for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. 

“Dallas Buyers Club” poster. Courtesy/Reel Deal Theater

The film tells a piece of the history of the 1980s AIDS struggle with which I was less aware: the difficulty with getting proper, life-saving treatment in the early days of the epidemic, and the surge in something called “Buyers Clubs” where HIV positive people paid Read More

This Week at the Reel Deal

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Column by JIM O’DONNELL
Reel Deal Theater
 
This week we are opening Non-Stop and Dallas Buyers Club. Mr. Peabody and 300: Rise of an Empire will hold for another week. Son of God and Lego end Thursday.

Movie poster for ‘Non-Stop.’ Courtesy/Reel Deel Theater

Dallas Buyers Club is opening here very late I know, but Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto won Oscars for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively. I think that alone plus its 94 percent rating make it worth a look on the big screen.

Non-Stop is just that; nonstop action starring Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore. Read More

Middle of Nowhere: Looking for ‘Moonrise’

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The Hernandez church appears in a famous photograph by Ansel Adams. Photo by Kirsten Laskey
 
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post

Ansel Adams’ “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico” is one of the most popular photographs ever taken. Maybe just as impressive as the image he captured is the story behind it.

Websites report Adams was driving toward Española when he happened to see a church and cemetery the size of thumbprints against massive mountains and the moon hovering high in the sky. The scene made him stop his car on the shoulder of the road.  

Wikipedia claims Adams yelled at his traveling Read More

Food on the Hill: Burmese Noodles

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This Week’s Recipe: Burmese Noodles
 
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com
 
Ingredients:
 
3 packages spaghetti noodles(cooked, rinsed and cooled)
4 -5 pounds of chicken thighs
2 large onions-diced
1 small head garlic, minced or pressed
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon MSG
1.5 tablespoons salt
1/4 cup fish sauce
1 to 2 squeezes of lemon
1 to 1.5 pounds cabbage,sliced thin
1 bunch of green onions, chopped thin
three-quaters of a bunch of cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons of hot chili powder (for hot version)
2 tablespoons paprika (for mild version)
1 2/3  cans
Read More

Yang: I’ll Take An ‘Otter Mom’ Over A ‘Tiger Mom’ – Part 2

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I’ll Take An “Otter Mom” Over A “Tiger Mom” – Part 2
By ELENA YANG

Otters are smart and playful. I am sure most people are familiar with the image of a baby sea otter lying on mommy otter’s tummy, bobbing up and down on a bed of kelp. One scene in a nature film showed a group of river otters in the winter landscape at Yellowstone, doing sliding. It was clear that they were playing since they would purposefully climb up a slope just so they could slide down, again and again. 

I never get tired of watching otters, of any type, on film or alive. At a wildlife sanctuary, we learned that a couple of resident otters Read More

Education Funding 101: Governance of K-12 Education

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Education Funding 101:
Governance of K-12 Education
By Save Our Schools Los Alamos

Because of recent public discussion about the roles of the School Board and the School Administration, we are re-running a column we published Oct. 20, 2013 that discussed School governance.  We expect to be back in this space with a new topic next week.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed when trying to understand who’s making the major decisions that impact your children’s educational experience. The education professionals you interact withon a daily basis are your children’s teachers. You might be unaware Read More