Columns

Column: Los Alamos School Board and the Law

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Column by GEORGE SCHWARZ
Publisher/Editor, The Amarillo Independent

Whenever I hear or read about a public official, elected or on the taxpayer payroll, blather about the role of the media, I can generally anticipate the official is unhappy that a journalist didn’t shill for him. Oh, you know. The story is “negative.” I also easily conclude the official doesn’t know much about the First Amendment.

Such is the case with Jim Hall’s impotent little screed posted Tuesday.

Let’s start with the disavowal of authority. Hall wrote, “The following comments represent my opinion, as the president of Read More

How the Hen House Turns: Universal Emotion – Relating to Animals and Aliens

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How the Hen House Turns:
Universal Emotion – Relating to Animals and Aliens
Column by Carolyn A. (Cary) Neeper, Ph. D.

In spite of the title of this column, the issue here is directly related to the Hen House theme ─ our responsibility to animals that we adopt.

I’d like to believe that we humans have matured to the point where we could appreciate the alienness of other beings. We’re doing much better with animals now, since Temple Grandin shared her experiences with us in her book “Animals in Translation” (Scribner, 2005).

I agree that my birds do see things in WYSIWYG mode. It takes them some Read More

This Week at the Reel Deal

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Column by JIM O’DONNELL                                 
Reel Deal Theater

In general,  I thought the 86th Academy Awards went well. I think everyone who won a golden statue deserved it although I was disappointed that American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street and August:Osage County went home empty handed.

It was a shock really, but I guess there are only so many Oscars to go around. Read More

Solo Traveler: Battling Loneliness

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A typical room in a hostel. Courtesy/Sherry Hardage
 
Solo Traveler: Battling Loneliness
By SHERRY HARDAGE

Recently, while traveling across the Yucatan I spent a bit of time with a lone Dutch backpacker. During our bus layover, we ate lunch and I lent her my Mexican phone to call a couple of hostels in Valladolid. She would be arriving quite late that evening. I asked how often she stayed in hostels and she said “most of the time but not always. They are very social places and sometimes I want to be alone.”

I have rarely stayed in hostels, or pensiones, as they are sometimes called in Spain and Latin Read More

Hannemann’s Music Corner: Music and Guitar

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Hannemann’s Music Corner
Column by RICHARD HANNEMAN
 
Music and Guitar

The guitar is a truly amazing instrument that allows you to play music as simple or as complex as you like in any style that suits your fancy. However, no matter what kind of music you are interested in, there are certain fundamentals that must be learned.

Since the guitar is a musical instrument, you need to learn to read music. You also need to know about keys and scales.

Since the guitar is a chord instrument, you need to learn about chords ─ how to recognize them, how to build them and how to use them.

Some people Read More

Cinema Cindy Reviews: ‘Philomena’

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“Philomena”
Review by CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB

“Philomena” was honored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with nominations for Best Picture of 2013, Actress in a Leading Role, Original Score and Adapted Screenplay and I heartily agree with these nominations.

It is a fine film, based on a true story. Judy Dench is wonderful in the title role.

The story puts an aging, faithful, Irish Catholic woman, a retired nurse, who wants to find her son, into the hands of a jaded, self-professed atheistic, famous journalist who is after her story. The two play off each other

Read More

Food on the Hill: Mid-West Chili

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This Week’s Recipe: Mid-West Chili

Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com

Ingredients:
2 ½ pounds of ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
4 cans of Brooks Hot chili beans (mail order) or 4 cans of Hormel chili beans, hot with beans
6 oz of tomato paste
4 cans of kidney beans, drained
48-64 oz of V-8 juice (depends on how saucy you like your chili)
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon of New Mexican hot chili powder
 
Directions:
Cook together the beef and onion, drain the fat off.
 
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com
 
Add in the V-8 juice and the tomato paste, simmer for 5 minutes. Add
Read More

Yang: I’ll Take An ‘Otter Mom’ Over A ‘Tiger Mom’ – Part 1

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I’ll Take An “Otter Mom” Over A “Tiger Mom” – Part 1
By ELENA YANG

The “tiger mom” is stirring up another storm, and this time with a partner. Amy Chua and her husband, Jed Rubenfeld, both law professors at Yale, have a new book that just came out in February. The title of the book is: “The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America.” 

The New York Times published their synopsis on the book, under the title, “What drives success?” Jan.25 (link below); the paper then offered a book review Jan. 31 (link below), and finally a profile of the “tiger Read More

Cinema Cindy Reviews: The 2014 Oscars

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Cinema Cindy Reviews: The 2014 Oscars
By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB

First off, I must say that the one category I felt the most passion about this year was Best Original Screenplay and I am ecstatic the Academy felt as I did, that “Her” was worthy of that award.

This fine screenplay won for subtly exploring human intimacy, how we fall in love, whether artificial intelligence could ever be a substitute for another human being, and showing a lonely soul learning to open his heart. In that way it reminded me of “Lars and the Real Girl.” The screenplay was masterful. congratulations Read More

Education 101: LAPS Administrative Costs

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Education 101:
LAPS Administrative Costs
By Save Our Schools Los Alamos

A question we’ve frequently heard from parents and other community members about K-12 education funding here in Los Alamos involves our School District’s administrative costs, including the costs of the central District office and the cost of the personnel who oversee the schools, such as principals and assistant principals. 

When we’re asked about central administrative costs, we often hear the suggestion that administrative costs are inflated and that too much of the district’s Read More