Letters to the Editor

By LINDA NELSON
Los Alamos

NM Residents:

As a concerned New Mexican and parent/grandparent, I wanted to take this opportunity to bring to your attention some legislative bills that were passed into law during the 2023 legislative session. These bills are an assault on parental rights, fair elections and free speech! There is a state-wide effort called the NM REFERENDUM PROJECT currently underway to prevent these bills from becoming law, and we are well on our way to reaching our goal of gathering 180,000 signatures. If you want to help us stop these bills – go to the following website (https://NMBadBills.com Read More

By STUART A. ASHMAN
Former New Mexico Cabinet Secretary of Cultural Affairs
2003-2010

In response to Sherry Robinson’s article (link) on the Department of Cultural Affairs reorganization, I’d like to set the record straight.

The original idea for elevating the Office of Cultural Affairs (not the “Division”, as she inaccurately states) came out of a long-term study conducted by the late Rep. J. Paul Taylor, (recognized as the Taylor Report) who had the vision to realize the importance of the arts, culture and history to the people of New Mexico.

I worked with Rep. Taylor and Governor Richardson, Read More

By MARK COSTELLO
Los Alamos

Our Senator, Ben Ray Lujan, is on the committee that is handling the FAA reauthorization. That is great, because I recently flew over the Memorial Day weekend, and it was a mess with overcrowding and confusion. 

The entire process of flying has gone downhill these past several years, and I’ve read that until the FAA reauthorization bill is passed, billions of dollars in infrastructure projects will go unfunded and there will be a dramatic shortage of pilots coming. It’s scary to think that the flying experience could get worse! 

Now that the debt ceiling issue Read More

By CJ FRESQUEZ
Española 

I love how Ben Ray and Martin support all these efforts (link), yet Ben ignores the fact that his Hispanic ancestors were treated in much the same way when they practiced their language and traditions in the public school systems or in the work place.

There was and still is discrimination and efforts to extinguish the Spanish culture. Just seeing what is being done to the Spanish market in Santa Fe is a prime example. The attack of the Onate center in Alcalde, the turmoil on the Santa Fe plaza, the attacks on acequias and water systems, and on and on, all in efforts to erase the Read More

By BOB BOURQUE
Los Alamos

So Farmington is a “Second Amendment sanctuary” (link). Here is what the Founders most likely meant about that Amendment:

“A well-regulated militia, being necessary ‘to keep the British, and slave rebellions, at bay’, the right of The People to keep and bear ‘single-shot, muzzle-loaded, smooth-bore muskets’ shall not be infringed.”  

“The People” is plural, as in “We The People” seen at the top of the US Constitution.

So it means that the Farmington government could have a “well-regulated militia”, nothing more. The Amendment says nothing about private individuals Read More

By Ganapathysubramanian G
Los Alamos

Apropos the write up by Mr. Allen McQuiston in the post Sunday, this article is meant to alert the home owners about ensuring adequate insurance coverage to ensure the home owners are not the losers, which is in the right perspective.

However this prompts me draw attention to Mr. Allen McQuiston and others in the ‘insurance industry’ as to the wanton delays in settling even genuine claims defeating the very purpose of having an insurance coverage either resorting to ‘small prints’ ‘exceptions’ etc. or without any reason whatsoever.

I did personally notice Read More

By TERRY GOLDMAN
Los Alamos

Jim Rickman’s psychedelic(?) Op-Ed (link) had one special point of attraction for me: “Love our Children,” said a sign. But that doesn’t seem to include our LGBTQ or + children. While I respect and understand fear of the unusual, I can attest, in at least one case by personal observation, that these unusual children are God-given. I have seen it manifest in a nephew, at a very early age, and observed its suppression as the world (including me) reacted with surprise that was received as condemnation.’

The nephew’s reaction was to suppress her inclinations and to Read More

By RUTH CARR
Los Alamos

Dear Rheta,

Thank you so much for your response. I am glad you took the time to read Lil Miss Hot Mess’ article. I am certain Lil Miss Hot Mess expanded the vocabulary of a lot of readers.

My intention with sharing it was to highlight that the article co-authored by Lil Miss Hot Mess, is a refutation of some of the arguments used this past week to support Drag Time Story Hour. There were suggestions these story times are simply dress up story times. They’re not. They are designed to emphasize play as practice for living a queer life.

If Lil Miss Hot Mess is capable of acknowledging that Read More

By RHETA MOAZZAMI
Los Alamos

Ms. Carr, you seem to be distraught by the reading by Little Miss Hot Mess at the Mesa Public Library today (link). I read the short article you linked me to, but still, your last sentence has me bumfuzzled, “Certainly some will be supportive, regardless, but let us not extrapolate to insert personal biases to justify that support and focus on the intended purpose “play as praxis, aesthetic transformation, strategic defiance, desensitization of shame, and embodied kinship.”

You made me look up a word–praxis. From what I read; it just means practice. So, what Read More

By RUTH CARR
Los Alamos

As some may know, Lil Miss Hot Mess is a University of Arizona professor under the name of Harris Kornstein. In collaboration with another researcher, they have published a paper on the purpose behind Drag Queen Story Hour, which directly addresses some of the presumptions made by those in town. “Drag Pedagogy: The Playful Practice of Queer Imagination in Early Childhood” (link).

There is an intended purpose behind these performances, and simple fun and empathy are not one of them. As a scholar, Lil Miss Hot Mess is intentionally manipulating buzzwords to gain access to Read More