Narrating Death
This blog post features 20 obituaries that were published by La Revista de Taos on November 22, 1918.
Yearbooks- Reflections of a Community’s Youth
There is something deeply intimate about yearbooks. Filled with professions of eternal love and friendship, inside jokes and the youthful signatures of our classmates, each copy is an intense snapshot of a very particular time and and a very particular place. But, what each year’s edition has in common, beneath the personalized messages from ones friends and classmates, is a record of community.
‘Dando Los Dias’ – Greeting the New Year with Poetry and Song
In the spirt of a history that forms an arc from ancient troubadours to modern day slam poets, in my own natal villages of Amalia, Costilla, Cerro and Questa, one of the most beautiful traditions is that of ‘Dando Los Dias,’ which I translate to ‘gifting the blessing upon the day — the day of days.’ In this tradition, musicians and poets travel from home to hom serenading families. They begin striking up the music at the thresholds of each…
LOS ABUELOS – Keepers of Culture
Abuelo and abuela are words that reflects the gift of our elders, our grandfathers and grandmothers. The word comes from the Latin, “avus,” grandfather, which comes from the Hebrew “abba,” which meant father and also God, which also evolved into or from the Arabic, “abu” little father (linguists have not fully agreed). One of my dear friends who grew up speaking Arabic described this word “abu” to me, as those individuals who are “the keepers of culture.” It is this…