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Features

  • A river falls through it

    Until the mid-1800s, gristmills in New Mexico were small, primitive, difficult to use, containing two rotating grinding stones powered by water.

    Called “molinos” in Spanish, early gristmills were most often used to grind the hearty corn grown to make tortillas and tamales. By 1850, wheat flour crept into the local consciousness, and as the population of Mora County grew, farmers added wheat to their crops. The founding of Fort Union increased demand for wheat even more. New Mexico was hooked. Flour became local king.

  • The art of caring

    A tiny gray rock outlined in craggy black paint rolls against a stack of comic-book Stonehenge slabs.

    The stones expand in an exponential arc, a burst dam of yellow-red emotion mixed with icy blue spikes. The large abstract expression calls to mind subdivision sprawl, the furious cell-division chaos of mother earth egg and tractor sperm. Las Vegas artist Dakota Mills’ oil painting, “Reproduction,” asks the viewer to step inside the collective hive mind — an unsettling place of highway noise and microwave energy.

  • Angel Fire festival in Las Vegas

    This summer, celebrate the power of music through the 25th Anniversary Season of Music from Angel Fire, the Festival that brings chamber music to the mountains of Northern New Mexico.

  • Medical glimpses of the past

    The National Park Service and Fort Union National Monument announces its monthly “Glimpses of the Past” presentation. The program will be held at the CCHP/Santa Fe Trail Interpretive Center, 116 Bridge St., in Las Vegas, Thursday Aug. 21 at 7 p.m.

  • Harvesting water, reusing newspaper

    I will be teaching a continuing education course at Luna Community College soon. The topic is “water harvesting and watershed restoration.” It occurred to me, though, that since this is an esoteric subject maybe I should share with Optic readers some basic knowledge on the topic.

  • Just a thought

    ‘Success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” This is John Wooden’s definition of “success.”

    On a vacation trip I had the opportunity to read Wooden’s entire book, Wooden, A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and off the Court in one day.

  • The local landscape

    Take away the sun, and Douglas Avenue becomes small-town Broadway, becomes a mosaic of textured cement and palm-smudged glass, the Salvation Army thrift store an all-night diner offering plastic fruit on chipped wood table. Streetlights become perfect eight-pointed stars in photographer Sean Weaver’s time-lapsed meditation on Las Vegas at night. Reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s famous painting, “Nighthawks,” Weaver’s Vegas is jaded, mysterious, a city of daisy-chained facade.

  • The Song of Jonah

    The Song of Jonah

    by Gene Guerin

    University of New Mexico Press, 2008

    ISBN 978-0-8263-4336-9

    $18.95 paperback

    232 pp.

    ‘A mixed and unsettling atmosphere colored the rest of the day. The procession after Mass, with the santo carried on its pallet along a path lit by kindling fires that snapped and spit resin, was for some a triumphal parade. For others it was a slow, solemn march with funereal undertones.” (p. 163)

  • Getting the credit(s) you deserve,...

    In part 1 of this article , I outlined the available federal and state tax credits and the incentives PNM has to offer Las Vegans who install a PV/solar electric system. Now we will look at two specific examples to see how the costs and benefits actually play out.

  • Dreams

    All my life, I’ve always had very vivid, realistic dreams. The oldest dream I can remember is one from when I was 4 or 5.

    In my dream, I was walking down the street with my friend and her mom. We saw two people walk into an elevator, smiling and waving at us as the door closed.

  • Dark Knight does not disappoint

    I can’t remember if I’ve written a column about a movie before or not. I know that I’ve definitely considered it, but I’m not sure I ever did. If not, well, there’s a first time for everything. Besides this (possibly) being the first time I’ve written about a movie, it’s also the first time in a while I’ve felt so enthusiastic about such a blockbuster.

  • No Name Jazz Band keeps jazz alive

    A practice room at NMHU reverberates with the Brazilian beat of a drum set, its tone reminiscent of a steel drum band, of nights spent in tango with handsome strangers under island stars.

    A singer’s voice pierces the rhythm, clear and low, a lone tarnished flute mimicking her vibrato in a sultry call and response. Five musicians breathe together, their sophisticated, sexy music at odds with their casual slacks and sandals. The clouds outside seems to gather to listen; they crowd together, deep reds, blues, vivid orange, the colors of suspense and desire.

  • Places with a past

    A stately stone building sits sentry at the Bridge Street entrance to the Las Vegas Plaza, its expertly renovated rough-hewn exterior a study in late 19th Century architecture. Now the administrative home of the West Las Vegas School District, the two-story building looks elegant, composed, serene. It wasn’t always so self-possessed, however. Like many historic buildings in Las Vegas, this property holds colorful secrets.

  • Get the credit you deserve for...

    Nature provides Las Vegas with an abundance of sun from which to derive both thermal and electrical energy.

  • NMHU takes the LEED on dorm project

    “The first step into green is to reduce energy use. How much can you do without? We have a really big footprint. Big Foot had nothing on us.”

    With this challenge to her audience, Director of Facilities Marisol Greene described the dormitory project under construction at Highlands University.

  • My fifteen minutes of fame

    A few weeks ago I found out I was going to be an extra in Run For Her Life, the movie that was filming in town. I was told over the phone to bring a few different outfits and my vehicle, and to be at the West parking lot at 6 a.m. Of course I didn’t object to the early hours, even though I hadn’t gotten up that early in months. I mean, who cared? I was going to be in a movie!

  • A book of blood and thunder

    Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides is a must-read for anyone living in or near Las Vegas. Sides begins his story of Kit Carson here, and the whole work touches on many 19th century events that took place in and around San Miguel County — events such as Gen. Kearney’s speech to the citizens of Las Vegas in the Plaza (1848), the Battle of Glorieta Pass (1862), and the Taos Revolt (1847). Sides will be discussing and signing his book at Bridge Street’s Tome on the Range bookshop next Tuesday as part of Las Vegas’ Heritage Week celebration.

  • An afternoon with the romantics

    Highlands University’s Performing Arts Club will present “An Afternoon With the Romantics” July 28 at 3 p.m. in Kennedy Hall at 905 University Ave.

    The music of Romantic period composers Brahms and Chopin will be featured, including a highlight of 18 Brahms waltzes. Arias from the same time period, about 1812 to the early 1900s, are also on the program. Beethoven, a Classical-era composer who helped usher in the Romantic period, is also included in the repertoire.

  • THe Rough Rider Motorcycle Rally

    A man with a thick drooping mustache barreled into Las Vegas. He bellied up to the Plaza Hotel saloon bar, scores of his rowdy companions drowning their seat-saddle pain with shots of cheap whiskey. Teddy Roosevelt didn’t ride a Harley, but only because they hadn’t been invented yet.

    This weekend, the third annual Rough Rider Motorcycle Rally coaxes a new breed of frontiersmen to the Plaza.

  • Feast and family at the Fiesta de...

    James sat on the edge of the Sea of Galilee. The water shimmered, its choppy surface echoing the deep azure of Israel’s morning sky. He held a fishing net in his hands, his fingers carefully darning small holes ripped by the tides.

    His brother and father sat near him, and as they worked, they noticed a peaceful man striding with purpose toward them. Follow me, the man said. James and his brother felt the tug of something divine, something clear and wondrous. They handed their father the repaired nets and placed sandaled feet into wet sand, into a new life with Jesus.

Copyright © 2013

The Las Vegas Optic is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in San Miguel County and Las Vegas, NM, and the surrounding area.