Opinion

Letter to the Editor: Pass Fair Teacher Evaluation System; Stop Standardized Testing Obsession

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By STEPHANIE LY
New Mexico President of the American Federation of Teachers

Recently Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera admitted that the Public Education Department (PED) will not be ready to base most teacher evaluations on 50 percent of student test results for years. In the meantime, she will base teacher evaluations on a hodgepodge of calculations that apply differently to each teacher depending on how and when his or her students are tested. 

Teachers across New Mexico have protested Skandera’s new reforms. They have asked for guidance, clarification and Read More

Letter to the Editor: Thank You Music Marathon Contributors

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Juanita Madland and Rheta Moazzami
Co-Chairs, Music Marathon for UNM-LA Scholarships

Thank you to the pianists, jazz performers, foot-stomping blue grass group, colorful folk dancers, violinists, violist, piccolo trumpet master, and some great guitarists, for your outstanding performances Sunday in the Fourth Annual Music Marathon for UNM-LA Scholarships.

Thank you to the citizens of Los Alamos, for supporting this good cause. More than 100 people came to listen and donated approximately $900 to the fund.

Thanks, also, to the Los Alamos Music Teachers Association for paying to have Read More

Methods Used to Train Soldiers to Kill Found in Kid’s Video Games

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By ABE DISPENNETTE
Los Alamos

With the recent school shooting hitting so close to our home in New Mexico, I would like, if I may, to briefly step aside from my role as a State Farm Insurance Agent and speak from the perspective of a former combat Chaplain who served with infantry units such as the 101st and 10th Group Special Forces. 

These units trained and produced efficient killers in combat. One of my responsibilities while serving with these famous units was to ensure soldiers who killed were trained properly on how to come back home psychologically sound and able to assimilate back into

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Letter to the Editor: Thanks to Blood Drive Coordinators and Donors

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By MIKAYLA ORTEGA
United Blood Services of New Mexico

Every day, our blood center is constantly on the go, shipping blood to various hospitals throughout the state of New Mexico. Many times, I hear the phone ring and our Hospital Services staff respond to the call saying, “What type of product do they need? When do they need it by? We’ll get it there!”

When I overhear these conversations, it makes me stop and think, what would we do without coordinators like you? What would we do if you didn’t put your heart and soul into our mission to recruit donors to donate life-saving blood? How would we answer Read More

Letter to the Editor: Biodegradable Cat Litter Helps Environment in Several Ways

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By FRAN STOVAL
Los Alamos

While working with the Female Brainpower Initiative group (FBI) I have been approaching people in town to sign a petition to remove the single use grocery bags from our town. People who have cats have said, “I use them to put my cat litter in. What am I going to do?”

I’m a cat person and I was just as guilty. I had been using clay litter and tossing the litter into the single use plastic bags. First I thought, well I am re-using the single use grocery bags, isn’t that a good thing? And now I have used them twice, but am I really helping the environment?” Read More

Letter to the Editor: Fracking – The rest of the story

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Fracking: The rest of the story
By Donald A. Neeper, Ph.D.
Los Alamos

On Sunday Jan. 5, the Los Alamos Monitor carried an article on fracking of petroleum wells, authored by Marita Noon, spokesperson for organizations that, as the article explains, “influence policy makers regarding energy, its role in freedom and the American way of life.” On Jan. 12, the Monitor carried a follow-up article by Gerald Ansell, who praises fracking technology for its production of oil and gas, but warns that all petroleum reserves are limited. Neither article explored just why the public Read More

SGR: Time to Make Jobs a Top Priority

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By Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard
Los Alamos, Santa Fe, Sandoval & Rio Arriba

A recent economic evaluation of the states, conducted by Bloomberg, found that New Mexico’s economic health has declined from being in the top ten from 1995-2007 to dead last, today. This summer, the Jobs Council, comprised of Legislators and representatives from the private and public sector, was formed to come up with a strategy to get New Mexico back on track. As a Legislator, whose district has been directly affected by the decline in revenue and jobs, it has been a unique and rewarding opportunity to participate

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Letter to the Editor: Thank You for Wreaths Ceremony

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MRS. ALLAN CONNER and Family
Los Alamos

I would like to thank the Los Alamos American Legion Riders for their special Wreaths ceremony for Veterans at Guaje Pines last December. 

It had deep meaning for my family and we appreciated their efforts to have Guaje Pines included in this Nationwide Ceremony.

We also appreciated the Los Alamos Daily Post’s presence and the article and photos. Read More

‘Amelie’ Wins You Over With Whimsical Sweetness

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Movie poster for ‘Amelie.’

Review by KELLY DOLEISI

The next film in the library’s Free Film Series, while not technically holiday themed, is so buttery rich and honeyed that it belongs in The Nutcracker’s Land of Sweets.

“Amelie” (2001, rated R for sexuality) tells the life story of Amelie Poulain, beginning with her conception and building to her first cutely quixotic attempt at romantic love.

Amelie has a horrible, but hilariously summarized, childhood. In part because of a mistaken and of course symbolic diagnosis of a heart defect, and in part because of her parents’ undemonstrative Read More

Letter to the Editor: Contrasts Worked for ‘Oppie’ and Groves

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By JOHN BARTLIT
Los Alamos
 
As do many people, I often walk or drive past the “Oppie” and Groves statues standing together near Fuller Lodge. The statues are regularly featured in the ads of LANB (see LANB ad below the Los Alamos Daily Post masthead.)
 
The wonders of art stir varied thoughts in different people at different times. In some sense, this trait defines art. The statues are cast in different shades of bronze. Oppenheimer’s shade of metal is brighter in the sun; Groves’s metal is darker.   
 
What could
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