Columns

While the recent Yazzie/Martinez v. State of New Mexico decision has understandably received intense interest for its landmark ruling that New Mexico’s public schools are not adequately funded, there has been less attention on another, equally important aspect of the ruling.

That aspect is the finding that more money will only make a difference for students if it is spent in the classroom. 

Several decades ago, I met a neighbor, a slightly older man, who had studied to become a Trappist monk and spent years  in study, prayer, fasting and living the simple life.

My friend, Frank, left the monastery after a few years, deciding it wasn’t the life for him, but I was intrigued, nevertheless.

As I look back, I wonder whether I would have lasted as a Trappist. At the time, in my early teens, I considered life as a monk. To me, monks were men who contemplated, followed  scholarly pursuits, prayed and sought union with God.

The former Republican governor of New Mexico ran for president twice as a Libertarian, the second time delivering the most votes ever — over 4 million, or about 3 percent of the popular vote — for his adopted party.

His tallies didn’t really have a discernable impact on the 2016 presidential election, but he did gain a toehold for a third party on the national stage.

Now he’s trying to blaze a new trail, as the first Libertarian to be elected to the U.S. Senate. He running to unseat New Mexico’s own Martin Heinrich this November.

The month of August flies by and I note the hummingbirds are now on their way back to the south and warmer climates for the winter. The two cups of nectar I just mixed up and poured into their feeders won’t last long, even with the multitude of high mountain flowers blooming here now. Wow! They surely are tough tiny birds.

My parents taught sweet brother Bill and me to do more than just goof off or dream our summer away. We were expected to read magazines and books, or course. This was before television days — back in the 1940s, no less.