Anniversary Accolades
Thank you for the article on the Mimbres Region Arts Council (MRAC) that appeared in the August issue of Desert Exposure ("Silver Anniversary"). We at MRAC are proud of what this organization has accomplished in 25 years, and thank you for your recognition of our place in the community.
While we thank and are indebted to our volunteers, and appreciate the homage you paid them in your piece, we would like to give a big pat on the back to our staff, as well.
It is the nitty-gritty details, large and small, that staff attends to every day that make possible the big splash of another successful Blues Festival, another wonderful concert series at the Pinos Altos Opera House, or breathtaking spectacle on WNMU's Fine Arts Center Theater stage.
In particular, we would like to acknowledge the years-long commitment of our talented graphic designer, Patti Unger; the detail-oriented care and precision of Dea (not "Dean"!) Gros in Accounting; and the inspired work of our Web designer, Teri Matelson, who also created and manages our invaluable database. The MRAC owes a debt of gratitude to each and every one of these invaluable employees. We have a terrific team!
Cathy Goodwin, author of the piece, did an admirable job of crafting the story, and worked with a huge amount of information to get the job done. We thank her for her efforts!
Faye McCalmont, Executive Director
Donna Clayton Lawder, Administrator
Mimbres Region Arts Council
Silver City
Who's Really Corrupt?
I read with interest your article on the human-rights office in Palomas ("On the Line," August). I question your correspondent's standing in finding corruption abroad when at home our unelected president sends us to die for his corporation's oil war, and just wrote into law huge tax breaks for his friends' oil companies in a year of their record profits. We have gone from democracy to vampiric dynastic dictatorship in the space of a few years, yet your correspondent finds corruption abroad.
This is more than the New Testament joke about seeing the dust mote in your brother's eye while overlooking the wooden beam in your own.
It also might not have been wise for you to publish that the human-rights organization keeps a .38 special in a drawer, on a number of levels. For one thing, handguns are illegal in Mexico, which makes it safer than most USA urban centers, or New Mexico with our concealed-carry permit, and certain weapons are specifically reserved to the Mexican military and police use. The local authorities might find this information of an illegal handgun useful, and disrupt the good work of Manuel and his wife Martha.
Several other points in the article served to raise my eyebrow, but I would rather see an article about our own misnomered Minutemen getting bored twirling their handguns out on beach chairs in the desert aiming to make poor people's lives even tougher.
Charles J. Scanlon
via e-mail
Los Alamos' Legacy
Thank you for your article on Theresa Strottman's documentary on Los Alamos ("Quest for Fire," July). As a former Los Alamos resident, even though only from 1969-1981, it held great interest, but especially so in that very few people understand the circumstances that elicited the Manhattan Project. Even my contemporaries, who should understand, do not, and how much less does the post-war generation, including those in my own family. To say that you have moved to Silver City from Los Alamos always brings on an end to most conversations, accompanied by a cold stare.
Thank you for Desert Exposure!
Eleanor Hancock
Tyrone
Let us hear from you! Write Desert Exposure Letters, PO Box 191, Silver City, NM 88062, fax 534-4134 or email letters@desertexposure.com. Letters are subject to editing for style and length.
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September 2005