The long goodbye

Maggie says:
I’m finally writing something I’ve been waiting months and months to be able to say, and it’s been coming for such a long time now that it almost feels like old news. But here it is: I am leaving Albuquerque. And I can honestly say that I’m more excited about what’s next than I’m sad about leaving what’s been.

The toughness of writing this goodbye is in thinking I need to say everything at once, so I'll get over that right now. I thought I needed to take on the mind-numbing frustration of being a planner in a city that hates planning. I needed to say how desperately I’ve wanted to scream and vent about local politics and planning issues the last nine months, but how work meant that I had to keep quiet. I needed to take pains to celebrate everything I adore about this community, because there’s more of it than I could ever list. I needed to explain how heavily this choice has been hanging over everything, so that writing about politics or food or community or gender or place or all the other non-Albuquerque topics I usually write about has been next to impossible, given my absolute preoccupation with what I was going to do next.

But now, finally, I know.

I’ve spent five years in Albuquerque learning, listening, connecting, and being part of the uniqueness of this place, and for that I'm deeply honored and grateful. I’ve spent time learning from some of the most insightful, committed faculty members I’ve ever known. I’ve spent time talking with communities about how they might balance their spirit with the crushing growth charging at them from every direction. I’ve made some of the most amazing friends I will ever have, met some of the most incredible, inspiring people I will ever know. There have been amazing highs and heartbreaking lows here, but there has always been connection, and there has always been laughter, and there has always been strength in unexpected places. New Mexico has a part of my heart forever.

Earlier this month, I spent a week of twelve-hour days in Bernalillo, getting to know amazing folks who showed me left and right why being a planner matters, and why it’s about love of place and family and community first, and why it’s an honor when you’re able to do it right, for the right people. I knew that would be my last planning project in New Mexico, and it felt like an appropriate end to my work here, with shared values rising above differences of opinion and turning into something tangible. I wish planning could always be like that.

But meanwhile, home calls me stronger than ever. My family is on the other side of the country, and they’re getting increasingly restless that I’m so far away. I have a niece who’s less than a week old, and I’ll get to meet her next month at the beach. It makes less sense than ever to stay in the desert when little Taylor Rae lives by the Atlantic.

So it’s a pit-stop, then. Halfway between here and there, I’m going to hole up in a city I never, ever thought I’d live in to work on transit-oriented development projects on a scale that neither New Mexico nor North Carolina can offer, a city where conversations about transit and walkability start at square one rather than negative one hundred. Transit and sustainable development are increasingly what matters to me, and what I’m convinced will make or break Albuquerque’s legacy. But that’s not my fight to win or lose; not here, not now. In my next stop, I’ll be a time zone closer to home, a flight closer to Taylor and the rest of the fam, and I'll be able to jump into good projects that are already off the ground.

I’m almost being dishonest not mentioning the rest of it, though. See, one night over a year ago, I found myself in a terrible mood at Anodyne, accusing a charming, imported campaign staffer of representing why we would lose a big election in the fall. Not my best night, trust me. But all this time later (and an election lost through no fault of his own) he continues to be amused (and dare I say equally charmed) by my weird, optimist self, still finding my way between world-changer, connection-maker, word-shaper, and place-lover. He’s waiting in the new city, the one with the kind of TOD projects that are decades away from happening in Albuquerque, with the baseball games, with the halfway-thereness to home, and with that charm of his that even my terrible Anodyne mood and my most obnoxious utopianism somehow aren’t able to dampen. I love that we met each other in this quirky place of anything goes, and even though I’m leaving, it’s a sentiment I hope I’ll carry on with me forever.

So in August, I will leave Albuquerque in the capable hands of Marjorie and Mikaela. With those two in the mix, this town is bound to be charged through and through with the seeds of community-based, transformative change. Lucky for all of us, they'll still be here to talk us through it. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Random Notes: Youtube, Medical Marijuana, Human Rights, Domestic Space

marjorie says...

In the spirit of Maggie, here are my random notes at the moment:

• I think the youtube Hilary 1984 video is brilliant. Who knows if Barack is behind it?

• While those two sling mud, I am enjoying Bill Richardson’s latest endorsement of Medical Marijuana. I particularly like his admonishment “My God, let's be reasonable," to folks opposed to a Medical Marijuana bill. Really, in a land beset by alcoholism that results in awful domestic violence and vehicular homicide, you would think that such a benign drug would not be so contentious to people, particularly for medicinal purposes. And frankly, when it comes to marijuana as a recreational drug, we all know so, So many people who use it that it bothers me to think of the danger they put themselves in when they go to acquire it. They endanger their lives when they have to deal with those who peddle all manner of illicit things, which sometimes causes a confluence of bad things. And they endanger their lives by running the risk of being locked up. I think it’s asinine, in fact, that the purchase and use of such a benign drug leads to incarceration. But it does…by the droves in this country. Regardless of whether you use it or not, Marijuana should be legalized, regulated, and taxed. And kudos to Bill for coming out for its use medicinally.
  

• The United States Social Forum. This is going to be a really great moment for social justice community based organizations. There’s a large delegation of New Mexico organizations going, and they’re going together. That is kick-ass. Here is the short commercial that SWOP put together to do outreach. All of you should consider going. If you can’t go, consider supporting those who are going, especially the organizations that operate on a shoestring budget.

• Speaking of incarceration, did folks notice that the U.S. State Department has released their 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights? These are our government’s annual assessments of how countries do in the area of Human Rights. Funny, I don’t see us, aka The United States, on the list. Given that we have the largest prison population in the world (by leaps and bounds) it might be useful to examine our own human rights record first and foremost. This kind of gets at one of those fundamental truths that our parents are supposed to teach us: look at yourself before throwing stones. Or something like that. Our human rights record extends beyond how we treat foreign prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Or I should say, it extends deep within our own country. Through neglect of poverty, the criminalization of poor people, and the turning of a blind eye to entrenched racism we allow human rights violations to happen in this country on a daily basis. And our democracy has not proven itself up to the task of correcting these realities.

Ok, its not all politics and social justice on my mind.

• Arundahti Roy is writing a new novel. Yes, she’s way political but her one and only novel, The God of Small Things, is about the microcosm of life. And it’s so good that she won The Booker Prize for it. I'm looking forward to her next one. Anyhow, in this article she touched on her living arrangement with her husband. Apparently they live in separate houses. To explain this she says: "Living with my own contradictions is hard enough - forcing my political views on someone else, on their lifestyle and the choices they make is not something I want to do. It distorts a relationship beyond redemption. So, I decided to have my own place." I love that recognition, and I think it can be very true. I don’t know how to best order a domestic relationship. It beats me. But I certainly understand how the merging of separate lives, with separate passions and priorities, into one space…can distort a relationship beyond redemption.

• Speaking of domestic space, spring time has me wanting to open my bedroom window but I’m afraid that I will die from a juniper attack. When will it end? I’m feeling that springtime optimism…that is oh so sweet…but the allergy attacks are hindering me big time.

• Skiing is over for another year. I sort of want to cry about that but at the same time I feel pretty good about the season. I ski’ed a lot and saw real improvement. I rocked the bumps! And before you ask, yes, it does make me feel very bourgeois. So...now its time to pull out the camping gear...anyone want to backpack way out and lay be a stream?
  

• As the big 40 approaches, I've decided I will enter the decade at the same weight as I entered my 30s. No, its not a big stretch. And yes, this is something I can talk about on m-pyre! We have an obesity epidemic in this country folks. Think Food. Our food is killing us. But enough of that for now...this is the non-political section of random notes. Because jogging is so darned hard on my joints these days, I've decided to take up rollerblading. Not only is it great excercise, I've been told its a great off-season sport for improving ones skiing. So you do the math. lol. Anyone want to go zooming on blades with me? Yes, zooming. :-)

Alright, I think that is it.

Mountain Time brain dump

Maggie says:
Blogging energy has been nil lately, but there's lots and lots that I've been reading and discussing and doing, so I promise I haven't been brain-dead. Before jumping on a plane, here it is, rapid-fire style:

• I wish this was me. This NYT profile of Catherine Orenstein gets me fired up in all the ways that dangerously prompt me to re-envision myself and my career. This project is brilliant, and the piece perfectly captures why Orenstein is the perfect woman to convince other women to write. Love those smart gals tearing down structural oppression.

• Movie love. I was just floored by Black Snake Moan, and I'm seriously enchanted with Craig Brewer. Actually, it's gone from blushing crush to full-on infatuation. This movie takes everything Hustle & Flow started and kicks it up about a thousand notches. I dare say Brewer's our most lyrical and honest U.S. filmmaker right now, and if you don't get it, fine. His challenge to see past stereotypes for the truth and humanity embedded there is one not suited for everybody. And besides, Gene and I will have fun sneering at you behind your back if you don't get him. :-) (And PS while we're on movies: the Alexander Payne event at the Kimo last week was great!)

• Who knew? (Probably every local but me, since I'm not really local...) But Teresa Tapia rocks. Really. This woman is tough, and I admire the hell out of her no-bullshit approach to her husband.

• A raid is a raid is a raid. Last Sunday, the Ms trekked up to Santa Fe to hear Barbara Ehrenreich speak, and the event was fabulous. Lots of chatter there about the recent immigration raids in Santa Fe, and some impressive responses from Mayor Coss and the progressive community about the networks they're establishing to help warn families in advance of future raids and to assure them of their rights. A day after the talk, I couldn't help but recall what's happening in the City Different as I read the latest from New Orleans, where FEMA is raiding mobile home parks and giving disaster-weary residents just 48 hours to leave. The parallels make my head spin, not to mention my heart hurt. Aren't we better than this?

• Dad knows best. I was chastised by my father for not being on top of the Walter Reed series as soon as it was published in the Post weeks ago, and as usual, he was right. Days after he was disappointed to hear I hadn't read the Post that weekend and predicted that people were about to be hearing a lot more about it, the outcry heated up nationwide. I think good 'ol Dad has always been my personal political barometer. Maybe he should be everyone's, too. His instincts are always right-on; someone should pay him for that.
  

• "You, sir, are no Michael Dukakis." This Salon piece that draws parallels between Bill Richardson and Michael Dukakis has been amusing me all week. Now, I'm biased as hell, because I was privileged enough to get to know Dukakis very well through the years in Boston, and I don't think there's a better man around. But, if the paraphrase fits...

• Plame has my vote. What political theater. Politics have been very, very fun to watch lately. Go Valerie! Go Patrick! Go David!

• Juniper sucks. This City sounds like a wheezing, sneezing, hellhole right now. And we look awful, too - at the Chama taproom the other night Jessie and I must've appeared to be crying our eyes out to each other. But no, just dealing with a constant stream of allergy tears running out of our eyes. Too bad I love gin and tonics so much. But still, I need to leave soon for juniper-free environs, at least for a weekend. Oh wait, I am! Happy trails, everyone.
  

The fish tacos won't tell

Maggie says:
Sometimes I'd love a transcript of M-time to post on the blog. Tonight at the Gold Street Caffé, over yummy food and wine (always wine!), M³ had its first official Election '08 discussion.

What's continually surprising to me about the three of us - and I think it's fairly evident here on m-pyre - is that although we agree about so much, we tend get to the same bottom lines for entirely different reasons and in entirely different ways. I love that about us, and it's absolutely apparent in our first talk about the crop of Democratic candidates for 2008. What strikes us all about this election is that it's going to be extremely interesting to watch, it's going to be a lot of fun to write about, and most importantly, it's still very far away. That said, I'm not naming names now - there's plenty of time for that. Instead (and since I'm in a playful mood, thanks mostly to the fabulous women's poetry performed tonight at Firestorm), I offer the following tantalizing teasers*:

• Which candidate do we all have gut reactions against, but for verrrry different reasons?
• Which candidate is bound to have some Slick Willie-style scandals saunter out of the shadows?
• Which candidate is peaking too soon?
• Which candidate is our gut reaction first choice?
• Which candidate do we feel compelled to applaud theoretically, but won't vote for?
• Which candidate would we like better if his/her house was smaller?
• Which candidate's résumé might offer the most compelling community experience?
• Which candidate is a bozo racist?
• Which candidate talks trade and poverty and actually gets it?

*As an extra tease, some of these just might be the same candidates. And some candidates aren't mentioned at all.

So what do we disagree on? All the twists on the path toward those answers, really. But in particular:

• The meaning and significance of family dynasties
• The significance of gender
• The value of hard-nosed critique from the left
• How much a happy marriage matters
  
• Whether we should road-trip to Durango or White Sands first
  

As for prizes for guessing the right answers (I'm looking at you, Rhys)... isn't the march toward '08 with the three of us prize enough?! (I said I was feeling playful, remember?)

PS: And introducing... Ta Da! The "Election '08" label! It's here to stay, folks. Guess we'd all better get used to it.

m stands for "moving"

Mikaela says:
I personally love it when life is moving too fast to get caught up in the immobility of rage at current events. There's plenty I'm fuming about (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, New Orleans, Libby trial, executive orders, creeping fascism of the Bush administration that seems to go all-but unnoticed by the general public... whew, better stop there!), but for a little while, I've got too much on my plate here in the Q to worry myself into inaction about the rest of the world.

It's all about doing what you can where you can, right?

So this evening (starting around 7 pm), I'm taking part in an event for women: Firestorm, at the Winning Coffee Co. on Harvard & Central (m-pyre readers know all about how much we love Winning!), hosted by Maresa Thompson, organizer of the fabulous National Poetry Slam in 2005. I'm even going to read a poem during the open mic! Then, with my bestest m-friends, we'll cheer and support our fellow creative women, strong women w/ strong voices telling us all what we need to hear, even when we sometimes don't want to listen. Tonight's all about listening!

Thursday, if I didn't have a conflict, I'd be going to see "When the Levees Broke," Spike Lee's documentary on the Katrina disaster in New Orleans, being shown by the Albuquerque chapter of Planners Network, made up of UNM Community & Regional Planning students & community members, at Out Ch-Yonda in Barelas (4th & Santa Fe). 6 pm.

On Saturday, I'll be going to hear local poets read at the Main Library downtown. How cool is it that our urban library is opening its doors to a largely urban movement of spoken-word poetry. Totally cool. That's from 3-5 pm. Afterward, I'll join Lisa Gill @ 7 pm for a reading celebrating her 2007 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in UNM's Student Union Building (SUB) Acoma Room. Who else wins an award and throws a party for her community? Lisa rocks.

Friday, March 2, the NHCC, Harwood, ABQ Slams, & IPI are putting on Women Centerstage as part of the NHCC's Women & Creativity festival. We've gathered some of the coolest women poets around -- Lisa Gill, Esther Griego, Valerie Martinez, Demetria Martinez -- and paired them with Rah Goddess, who some of you may have heard and been electrified by on NPR's Bioneers show this summer. She's a hip-hop feminist poet and performance artist who coined the term "floetry" and spawned a whole generation of empowered and empowering women performers. Show starts at 7. Afterward, an all-women slam will choose the winner to represent Albuquerque at the World of Women (WoW) national poetry slam in Chicago this October. A hot night to be sure. Not to be missed.



Tuesday, March 6, 6 pm, the NHCC is hosting Women in Action, a panel discussion of local women activists, artists, and entrepreneurs, also as part of Women & Creativity. This one's near and dear to my little political heart. The panel includes:

• Dory Wegryzn, who was instrumental in forming the Sawmill Community Land Trust,
• Sandra Montes, who's fought tirelessly for the rights of Pajarito Mesa residents in Albuquerque's South Valley,
  
• Joann Bejar, who's done everything from being a filmaker, labor organizer, to mom,
  
• Naomi Natale, who created the Cradle Project -- an art project that calls attention to and raises funds for children orphaned by disease and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa,
• Myra Murphy-Jacob of Sustainable Global Leadership Alliance, which trains and sends leaders to other countries, where they help train others as leaders in sustainable, eco- and community-friendly business practices, and
  
• Margo Ganster of Green It!, a local company that helps other companies to incorporate ways to be "green," adding to the sustainability of our economy & our environment

In between all that, I'll be finishing an anthology of Voces students work for UNM Press and putting together an anthology of ABQ Slam poets w/ fellow IPI members Danny Solis, Susan McAllister, and Don McIver.

Oh, and planning a wedding.

Busy? Me? No.....

Lord help me the day I slow down long enough to really soak in the news from around the world. It's not looking good, but I'm trying to do what I can to support good things in my community. In the seconds between whirling from event to event, I wish peace for us all.

Happy V-Day to my girls

Maggie says:
On previous Valentine’s Days I’ve expounded upon how this holiday can be problematic, given that it makes too many people feel bad about themselves and promotes buying horrendously cheesy gifts (note to men: pink stuffed animals are only a good idea when you’re in middle school). But this Valentine’s Day, I’m feeling particularly uncynical – maybe it’s the snow outside, which is just incredibly beautiful right now. I can’t bear to be biting, so instead I’ll send a V-Day message to two women who should hear good things all day long, every day: my Ms.

• Happy Valentine’s Day to Marjorie, to her eyes full of flashing fierceness, to her gentleness that comes so full of wisdom you have to stop in order to soak it all in, to her abundant use of the term “lol” in e-mails, and to her quilt collection that brings a bit of home to a town where I sometimes desperately need it.

• Happy Valentine’s Day to Mikaela, to her never-ending search for the right answer, to her love of words and culture and truth and creativity and her commitment to all of them, for the way she can still show me New Mexico in a brand new way, and for that beautiful moment when she stops thinking and just starts to laugh.

We’ll be out and about tonight, but I’m not allowed to say where or when. Let’s just say that words are involved, and we’ll be in full-on cheerleading mode. (But sorry, not cheerleading uniforms…)

Have a great day full of love, everyone.

Self-indulgent label talk

Maggie says:
Reporting live from Adventures in Insomnia: Night Three!

Instead of getting beauty sleep or dreaming about my upcoming trip to Los Angeles, I started playing around with the new blogger labels tonight instead. (Why yes, just as fulfilling as sleeping! Thanks for asking!)

Secretly, I love the idea of cerebral organization of one's writing, of clean categorization followed by thoughtful analysis of writing patterns. Labeling all of m-pyre, it occurs to me, could become one of those mythic tasks - think John Cusack autobiographically reorganizing his record collection in High Fidelity.

So far, I've labeled 50 m-pyre posts. There are 929 total posts.

I am an Aries. Will I see this project through to completion? Doubtful. (Although if I don't start sleeping again soon, it's a possibility.)

Some interesting findings from labeling m-pyre:

• I'm not very creative with labels. I thought of all these cute, catchy phrases (actually, they were all sarcastic and insider in tone, but that's kind of m-pyre's version of cute and catchy), but I decided they would become annoying over time. So my labels are fairly basic, but I'm hoping the other Ms will spice things up a bit.

• In examining the last 50 m-pyre posts, it appears that I have only blogged ten times since November 11. I knew it was bad, but yikes. My post-election showing on the blog has been downright pathetic. Worse, of those ten measly posts in three months, the vast majority are only a paragraph long and either link to something else or say that I hope to be writing again soon. That brings us up to last week, when Molly kicked my lazy writer's ass back into shape. The moral here? I've been a very, very bad blogger since the '06 election. But the silver lining? I've personally been a very, very happy person since the '06 election. Not that they're related... But um, how lame is it to say that I hope to be writing again soon?

• I wanted to have a label called "Self-Indulgent," which is really the only thing to call certain posts. I briefly worried that M&M might get annoyed if I labeled one of their old posts self-indulgent, before realizing that only my stuff would get the label, anyway. Yet by that time, I'd moved on to the more community-minded, friendly "M-time" label to categorize our personal ramblings and random musings. That said, this post will be labeled "M-time," but we all know what it should really be called.

• 50 down, 879 to go. So many more posts to label and labels to invent, so... much time, apparently.

Sleep. I need sleep. Marjorie, Mikaela, save me from myself!

Back in business, hopefully

Maggie says:

I arrived back in Albuquerque this afternoon after ten days away to find hundreds of suitcases piled up in baggage claim and a true Winter Wonderland all over town. Flying over New Mexico was absolutely breathtaking, yet here’s what I miss anyway:

Holden Beach, North Carolina
December 29, 2006

I couldn’t be happier for all you snowbirds who got to play in the white stuff this week. I don’t think Albuquerque has ever looked more beautiful.

As I try and get back into the swing of blogging again, let’s hope I’m not too distracted by all the snow to be serious. This homesickness stuff is a bad enough distraction already.

Happy 2007!

marjorie says...

HAPPY 2007 m-pyre friends!

I can't believe it's already 2007. It seems just yesterday that we all thought Y2K was going to be the end of the universe. Do you all remember that? Instead we got the WTO protests in Seattle. That occurred right before I moved to Albuquerque from Seattle. I'll forever feel fortunate to have been there during that event because it was a big turning point for me. Being part of a 50,000+ strong crowd that is willing to bring a city to a standstill over economic policies demonstrated in real time two important things for me that before had always been simply hearsay from older people in this country, or things that happened elsewhere but never here, in the belly of the beast:

1. People really will make a stand. Apathy in the land of plenty does not in fact rule the day even though it challenges us greatly.

2. There is strength in numbers. Undeniable strength is to be found when we work together. For all our fantasies, lone hero's aren't our saving grace. We are...working with our neighbors.

I have a tendency to get sentimental when a New Year begins. Maybe because its a collective marking of time passing, plain and simple...like a birthday for all of us on the same day at the same time. Since those late days in 1999, every New Year's has found me reflecting on how I spend my time, and inevitably I get around to thinking about those two real life lessons. It was exhilarating to be in that crowd demonstrating against something, that then became a demonstration of something even more profound for my own life. I needed it. And I still need reminders. As time flows, my energy ebbs and flows, sometimes I'm not as productive as I would like to be. But I know that as long as I am contributing in some way to a collective effort for positive social change in 2007 I will have a positive assessment one year from today...even if all the personal things I want to accomplish are only 50/50.

And what are those personal things you might ask? Well, I do have a few that I'd never mention here. But I can say that I have a goal to READ actual books. I'm a lifelong reader...but it seems with the advent of the internet I make less and less time to read actual books. So my resolution is to make a list of 12 novels and read them by the end of the year. Of course, in addition to these will be the novels and potboilers recommended by friends or that I stumble across. But the actual list will be predetermined and I will read all those books. I refuse to look back on my life 20 years from now and see that I quit reading during the early years of the internet. Would love to hear any resolutions that any of you have...hint, hint.

Again, Happy New Year to you all! I hope you all have a safe, happy, productive year...and find time to drop us a line here now and then. We love your comments!

ps. feel free to check out my travel pictures over on m-pyrical.

All the m-pyre girls were tucked snug in their beds...

Mikaela says:
Ah, home for the holidays. m-pyre has divided into threes and flown home to nest -- Maggie to North Carolina, Marjorie to East Texas, and Mikaela to South Florida (a test drive of a new home, sort of).

So things may be quiet on the m-pyre front, as we recharge our batteries with lots of family and Christmas cheer.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Peaceful Ramadan, Happy New Year, Seasons Greetings, to all, and to all...

a good night.

A pointless exercise in reading my mind

Maggie says:
How bad is it that I've been gone for a month, and in that month been writing, reading, and engaging more than ever... just not on m-pyre? In a half-hearted attempt to jumpstart my blogging self again, here's a fun quiz* for a Tuesday afternoon.

Maggie's been hanging out at City Council meetings a lot because:
A) She has a huge crush on Craig Loy
B) It's the best comedy in town
C) She's a nerd in her job and her personal life

The best dinner party conversation Maggie recently had was:
A) The Wild Oats on Carlisle is the best place to get picked up in town
B) "Here here!" to divorce... and "Congratulations, newly engaged couple!" in the same breath
C) Little-known uses for Pop Rocks

Maggie's current opinion of Mayor Martin Chavez involves:
A) No change: Man is crazy!
B) Improvement: Man has vision!
C) Downward spiraling: Man is worse than I thought!

Which lyric from Damien Rice's "Accidental Babies" does Maggie find most haunting?
A) "Does he drive you wild, or just mildly free?"
B) "Is he dark enough to see your light?"
C) "Do you brush your teeth before you kiss?"

Maggie believes that a modern streetcar in Albuquerque would:
A) Be a much-needed first step to get people out of their cars in this *(#@!$ town
B) Be the spine of a balanced transit system in town
C) Help her get back and forth to Nob Hill bars a lot easier

How many Ms are in love?
A) None of us; we're too smart for that
B) All of us; we're too smart not to be
C) Some of us; it depends on our mood

Who does Maggie like for the Dems in '08?
A) John Edwards
B) Barack Obama
C) Dennis Kucinich

What does 2007 have on tap for the Ms?
A) Whatever Eric Francis says
B) Marriage, babies, and moves
C) Starting a commune (as soon as we can come up with a catchy M name for it)

Why should ABQ brace itself tonight?
A) Marjorie will be eating meat
B) The Journal editorial staff is resigning en masse
C) There'll be a Girls Night happening at a bar near you... ;-)

*Since planners are subjective, of course there's never one right answer... sometimes all these choices are true, and sometimes none of them are. We're obnoxious like that.

Happy eating

Maggie says:
Been working too much to write lately, and I'm off to North Carolina in the morning for the holiday. Hopefully I'll be full of writing upon my return.

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone... I wish you all lots to be thankful for and lots and lots of yummy food.

Shocking exposé: Optimism at m-pyre!

Maggie laughs:
'Burque Babble has sounded the alarm: we wear rose-colored glasses at m-pyre! Now it's true - I know I have a few pairs... but Marjorie and Mikaela would probably be horrified at being accused of rosiness. Back from vacation and feeling the need for reprieve, Scot's requesting we go negative. Problem is, I don't know if I can... And in my own way, I'm already pretty bitchy. Didn't comparing Heather Wilson to John Lennon in a Nehru jacket a while back count? And I did ask readers to kill some woman in Kansas last year. Hmmm...

But hey: I'll admit it. There are things I'm nervous about. Next Tuesday is going to give lots of folks heart attacks around here, including me. I feel better about the national outlook, but maybe only because there's some distance there. I'm not a good eleventh-hour player, never have been. That's why I was never a great athlete, either. No killer instinct when it counted. I guess that's also why I asked readers to destroy Kay O'Connor instead of saying I'd do it myself.

Okay, now I just feel lame. Thanks, Scot.

But really, thanks for always making me smile. (Dammit! Optimism again!)

Yamming in East Texas

marjorie says...

As Mikaela pointed out, last week I once again found myself back in East Texas for the annual Yamboree. The Yamboree is a county fair that's been held continuously since 1935 in Upshur County. The county seat is a town of roughly 5,000 people and both sides of my family are from there. I've heard in the past that over 100,000 people show up at the Yamboree at some point or another over the course of its four days. As I've told y'all before, for me its kind of a reunion...I can go home on that weekend and see all kinds of relatives without planning a thing, and I often meet relatives that I never knew before.

I don't know why really, but Maggie and Mikaela have for years tried to get me to dress up as the Yam Queen for Halloween. And actually, that's not a bad idea...these small town "Queens" are kind of appropriate for Halloween.

The Yam Queen...what can we do other than shrug our shoulders and sigh? You see, this girl is always the richest girl in town. The way it works is this...every year a group of girls "run" for Yam Queen, but what they are really doing is seeing who can "sell" the most tickets. Or, in other words, who ever hands over the most cash gets to be the Queen. And the rest get to be Duchesses. They all get to adorn a float in the "Queen's Parade" on Saturday mornings. But the Queen gets to go first of course. So, in essence, the town parades its richest girls on floats every year in the big parade as if they are somehow truly special. What kind of message does this send to all of the other girls in Upshur County...those who never in a million years can even consider being Yam Queen because they aren't from the wealthier families?

This aspect of the Yamboree almost invariably comes up among the family, every year. And at that moment there's a lot of raised eyebrows and shrugging, with the final pronouncement that this is the way the Yam fest gets paid for...what is a town to do?

It's small town charming on the surface, but when you really think about it...well it shows just how grossly classist our society really is. Is that harsh? Perhaps. I figure it sounds harsh to those who never question the rich/poor world we live in, those who just figure that's the way it always has been and always will be. Its probably easier to just go with the small-town charm angle--why ruin an otherwise nice event? That's the implication of the looks many give when you bring it up. And of course it isn't fair to single out the Yamboree...this is a common thing. But that's really it right there...it is common so it should be questioned. And the folks in Upshur County should change how they raise funds for the Yamboree, and how they select the Yam Queen.

I often wonder when I see the Yam Queen ride by on her float if there is actually another girl just a little bit wealthier who just couldn't bring herself to do it...who sees it for what it is. Or is it the case that a year has never gone by that the senior girl with the greatest access to resources wasn't the Queen? In my fantasies, the girl's parents buy her the Queenship with the notion of showing off their offspring so magnificently, and then she insists that the poorest girl in town ride the float in her place. Silly musings I know.

Anyhow...as you can see, one thing I enjoy about going home the third week in October are the always fascinating moments of contemplating class in America afforded by the Yamboree and its Queen. But I would be remiss if I left the impression that East Texas is all about one type of people. In fact its full of a wide variety. For instance, as you can see from this picture of an old truck and its owner...there are even Anti-War, Anti-Factory Farming, NON HIPPIE Liberals there. Yes! That's Right! His front bumper had an Expose Exxon bumper sticker on it. Of course, its a rare thing to see so I did have to take a picture ...nonetheless, something tells me there's an activist progressive underground back home. I just know it...!

Another thing I always enjoy is seeing how things continue to change in East Texas. For one thing, the ethnic mix is changing...rapidly. This has become increasingly evident to me over the past few years. And as you can see, there is an actual Tortilleria on the square now...long gone are the days of the domino halls. It's a new day in East Texas! And the $1.50 you can pay for a big steaming bag of corn tortillas just a few blocks from the house is certainly one very cool outcome for my family. The fellow behind the counter told me it was his very first Yamboree...

As ever, I enjoyed roaming around the square at night taking in the carnival lights and watching the children in my family on the rides. Things were a little slower this year because my dad just had major surgery and is a little slowed down. But we still seemed to never stop going.

Weekend Perspective

Maggie says:
This weekend I had lots of great examples of perspective. Here we go:

• I thought I was fairly relaxed... until I spent three hours in various states of zendom in Betty's soaking tubs, sauna, and lounge chairs in the October sunshine. Yeah, I had no idea about relaxation before that.
  
• I thought I had a good idea of what decadence tasted like... until I sank my teeth into a rasberry and white chocolate scone at Gold Street Cafe. On a beautiful morning with my high school best friend beside me at an outdoor table watching tough-guy dads take their daughters to flamenco dance practice next door, it was pretty much perfect.
  
• I thought I had lots of girl power... until I saw the ladies of Burlesque Noir in action at the Launchpad for the Boolesque Spooktacular show. Damn! Loved watching them do their thing... I was hoarse from cheering the next morning. Here's the difference between strip clubs and burlesque: women usually feel terrible about themselves if they're in a strip club, but you can't help but feel damn great about yourself watching burlesque. Love it!
  
• I thought I was pretty nerdy... until I read about Fantasy Congress. I've got nothing to worry about anymore, that's all I'm saying...

Get Ready to Yam Cam!!!

Mikaela reports:
Hey, there Albuquerque!!! You ready to Yam Cam??

Don't know what I'm talking about? What kind of m-pyricist do you think you are??

Our esteemed marjorie returns to her annual hometown Yam Festival, which has embraced 21st century technology by installing a Yam Cam, with multiple views of the Town Square.

Look for our Miss Marjorie in blue sweater and jeans, standing in the sunlight.

Click here.

Turning Two: Marjorie Reflects

Today marks the beginning of a third year of m-pyre.

I remember when I first met Maggie and Mikaela…I initially just watched from across the room as NERD ALERT flashed invisibly on their foreheads. That was our first semester in a program at UNM and thank god I didn’t let my ultra too cool for school mentality stop me from being drawn in by their infectious enthusiasm and, as I quickly realized, hyper intelligence.

You know, I never thought I’d go back to school; much less form a bond with two women like M.2, to the point of timing our graduation for the same semester so we could walk together. Since that first semester, we’ve seen each other through an outrageous work/school schedule, talked endlessly about our personal ups and downs, on the porch not to mention at our dearly departed Pearl’s, traveled, started a blog or two, and pursued together our small contributions to social justice of one kind or another. How lucky am I? Well…very. Let me pause for a moment here and thank the both of them for the past four years.

My contributions to m-pyre have ebbed and flowed, mainly having to do with what I can bring myself to say at any given time. m-pyre started as an overall blog, a way for the three of us to talk and stay in touch. But because of our natures, it quickly zoned right in to a political spectrum, which caused us to create m-pyrical for other stuff. I remember that Maggie brought it up…she mentioned she would like to blog but didn’t think she could keep up with one by herself. I felt similarly, had in fact already made myself a blog but hadn’t done anything with it for that very reason. I’ve noticed that I go through periods in which I have plenty to say, and then other times when I can hardly bring myself to say anything. For me, m-pyre can be a lot like talking politics. And silence sometimes is good, especially when it comes to politics. Sometimes, all the talk is so overwhelming that it’s impossible for the real substance to make it to the surface. Sometimes, I just want to listen.

Of course, there’s a fine line between going through a period of simply listening and disengaging from the conversation completely. One of the themes often discussed by academics and politicos in the U.S. is the seeming apathy of the American public when it comes to voting and to political engagement in general. If you look closely at that discussion, you often can see the class filament threading its way through…as in, we’re the smart ones, but the masses are an undifferentiated lot of human nature who care only for themselves. I know...how very founding father’ish.

For me, the disengagement puzzled over by so many is simply about the inability of “the masses” to be really and truly heard in the conversation. It’s a simple concept, one that each and every one of us can recognize from our own personal experiences and extrapolate to the broader social landscape. It can be very difficult to stay engaged in a world that doesn’t pay attention. The outcome of exclusionary social systems and structures is that people turn away, that’s the nature of disempowerment. And of course, this is all the more reason for organizing to create the power of unity. But that statement is simple, the reality is hard as hell.

For myself, when it comes to political discourse, I’m very thankful for m-pyre...it does a lot for keeping me engaged. I can listen to my hearts content and know that when I have something to say someone is actually hearing me, even if its simply my Dad (who has always indulged me--thanks Dad). I admit that this year I’ve been a bit selfish, letting the two of my friends do most of the talking. But I hope they have faith that my talkative side eventually comes around, and I hope that’s okay.

Anyhow, m-pyre is just...yes *just*...one of the projects the three of us have undertaken together. In the end, it may be the one we all three cherish the most. I hope that all of you who read our blog come away on occasion with one of those lightbulb moments...afterall, what else could a writer ask for? For myself though, while I have plenty of those moments when reading my friends...there’s a lot more to this project than that. The three of us are all readers, and one of the main things I love about m-pyre is that here we have a partial chronicle of our time together. That’s the reason I suspect I’ll be reading it for the rest of my life, probably well past its actual existence as a blog in cyber space. Ultimately, m-pyre is completely personal for me.

Turning Two: Maggie Reflects

The task was pretty simple: reflect on what m-pyre has meant for me over the last year, and how life transitions were reflected in my posts. But nothing’s simple for me these days. I gave the best politician answer I could to two girls who hate politics: “I’ll see what I can do, but can’t really promise that I’ll really touch on that stuff.” Hmmm.

The problem with trying to step back and write personally is that I feel like that’s what I do every day, even when it doesn't read personally at all. I’ve always had the problem of not being able to remove myself from what I’m writing about. My high school papers expounded on Raskolnikov's repressed arrogance, but only because our dissimilarities fascinated me. In college I was obsessed with Margaret Sanger and Margaret Fuller because, in addition to sharing their name, I felt like I had some of them in me. Not being able to remove myself from the issue at hand was why my life plan of being a journalist ended, too. “You can’t be part of the story! Don’t worry about how you feel, just find others who’ll give you a quote!” But I felt like stories deserved more, or snobbishly like my sources weren’t quite articulate enough for my liking. Sensing a plagiarism scandal in the works years down the road, I moved into politics and stopped carrying around a reporter’s notebook. But then politics started feeling too empty, too mechanical, too ivory-tower… not enough inarticulate sources. Graduate school, then: planning. Politics and people all meshing together in the forum where everything truly meets: place. Perfect. Yet nothing’s a vacuum. Can you plan for everyone when you really only care about some of them, when you’re a “commie pinko” (as so lovingly described by a commenter a while back) at heart, when too often you hear “property values” and think “selfishness,” when you know every place would be better if we all thought smaller, more communally, and tried to like each other more?

I’m in a place where everything is up in the air for questioning now, and I'll find myself emotionally spent after writing about something because I'm really writing about something else. For example, blogging about newspapers is really about missing writing; blogging about the suburbs and parking is really about family; blogging about local politics is really about eventually having to say goodbye to Albuquerque; blogging about national politics is really about feeling it all slip past me; blogging about teaching is about trying to tie it all together. And there is home, always home.

For me, m-pyre is about community and self-indulgence, which might seem incompatible. It’s not a selfless thing to write about random thoughts in your head; it’s a completely self-serving act. Feeling that there’s a role or a bigger meaning at play would be much too self-important for my liking. But it matters to me because these women matter to me, and because it reconnects me with a past I feel more disconnected from than ever: writing and policy. But I do like to think that the active community-building that happens online could matter to someone who doesn’t see nearly enough community in their lives. There’s not enough of it anymore, anywhere.

So for me, community is the thread that ties this all together. More than ever before, I’m actively trying to shape a life where community ties together writing, policy, place, and meaning. The presence of m-pyre hasn’t ever been something that’s taken away from what I care about day-to-day. It has always added value for me: in writing about something that matters to me (or just makes me laugh), in expressing myself in a way that daily life doesn’t always account for, in reading what my two dear friends have to say about something, in seeing how others respond. The minute it stops adding value for me, I won’t do it anymore.

Each of us Ms are consciously trying to shape the life that could matter most. All of us are doing that in our own ways, at our own pace. But if the one commonality is that we all reach out to others for connection and shared experience, then maybe this little online whim has done a little bit of something. And doing a little bit of something isn’t something little at all.

Turning Two: Mikaela Reflects

Sometimes this blogging thing can be absolutely overwhelming and downright paralyzing. In our second year, the newness has worn off, and sometimes it feels more like a job than a hobby. That’s inevitable, I think, in these labors of love (love of labor?). Still, I find myself coming back almost every day, and like many of you (I hope), I still feel that flutter of anticipation every time I click the bookmark in the hopes that there will be something new up there to read.

More often than in our first year, it seems, that hope hasn’t always panned out. Each of us has our own reasons, of course, but in general a lot of it has to do with major life transistions in love, work, and the end of our school career for a while (hurray! finally!).

These things trickle down to permeate all other things, including time, friendships, etc. As always, time and how to focus attention and energy is a constant question. We all answer differently at different times. Such is life.

As for me, here are my Top 10 Reasons why I’ve been (more) absent on-line:

• Much happier personal life
• More of a life (i.e. graduation)
• Fear of getting fired for posting during work
• 40-hour work week & illusion of “career”
• Disgust with politics
• Focus on community of faith
• Friendship transitions
• Reading books
• No comments (i.e. speaking to the void…)
• Fear of being one-woman drummer

Why m-pyre continues to be compelling for me:

• Sharing the outrage
• Thinking about planning
• Thinking about politics
• Thinking about community
• Thinking about ABQ & NM
• The original reason for starting m-pyre: because it’s a forum to think with smart women whose value and education (in part) I share and because I learn from them constantly
• Haven’t run across another blog that does what we do. Maybe if I did, the pressure would be off. There really is something to be said about uniqueness of perspectives and how each one is valuable.
• A liberal value: believing in the right and value of multiple voices.
• Because it makes me laugh.
• Because David Sirota e-mailed me about a post (about him. ahem)
• Putting my own thoughts into writing – and coming back to them over time
• Gauging my opinions by audience response (hint hint)
• The glory (just kidding, but there is something to feeling like you’re doing something, despite feeling despondent and inconsequential most of the time)

What I’ve heard people say about why they like m-pyre:

• Seeing women celebrate and support each other
• We're hot
  
• We finally shut up about Pearl’s

What I learn / look to hear about from Marjorie:

• Labor
• Immigration
• South American politics
• World Politics
• Conservative religion
• Social activism
• Free market / IMF / World Bank
• Importance of class
• Importance of family

What I learn / look to hear about from Maggie:

• Women in power / Women’s empowerment & rights
• Small town changes
• Suburbia
• Community-building
• Local economic development
• National politics
• Local politics
• Democrats
• All things southern
• Policy
• Wal-Mart
• Universal healthcare
• Baseball
• Importance of home
• Media

What I keep coming back to myself:

• Consequences of policy
• Meaning
• Hypocrisy
• Media
• Poetry
• Local community
• Iraq
• Constitution
• Signing statements
• Culture

I hope m-pyre has a long, long run of it. If we’re flagging a little, I’m sure it’s nothing a little audience participation can’t help. Clap for Tinkerbell, you cynics. Things aren’t that bad yet. What kind of liberal optimists are you, anyway? Clap!

(And if you have suggestions, requests, etc, please, for your own conscience’s sake, JOT THEM DOWN – and send them to us!)

To summarize: COMMENT, people. We’re dying over here!

Thanks for reading. We’ll try to let you in on our weird and random thoughts as they come to us. That’s our job. Such lovely labor. Here's to another year of friendship, politics, and planning shared for all to read in this on-line community of thinkers.

Turning Two: Three Picks for Three Ms

The ms simultaneously post (through the miracle of technology and the unbenownst hosting graciousness of Downtown Flying Star wireless):

A little thinner this year in post number and frequency, maybe, but still very much here and kicking, the m-pyre girls are celebrating their second anniversary!

Last year's celebrating m-pyre series was such a hit, we've resurrected the format to bring you our favorite of each other's posts during the last year.


Marjorie says:
It's really hard to choose my three favorite posts written by Maggie and Mikaela. How could I do that when they've written so many compelling and wonderful blogs this year? So rather than view these posts in that light, just think of them as the tip of the iceberg, skimming over the surface to show the variety and depth of my blogging friends.

In Global Terror and Global Communication, we have classic Mikaela, breaking down the meaning of language for us. It encapsulates her ability to make broad ranging connections, that are sharp as a tack, funny and a tad bit quirky… just like her.

Then there's Mikaela's sarcasm...some times it's really overt. You have to really know her to pick up her more subtle moments, but they are always really good. In What Bush Will Be Remembered For: Unbelievable Hypocrisy she gives us one of her many great Bush rants. She's really good at those, especially the ones that point out just what an idiot he is.

Since I can only pick three...it was a no-brainer to just go right to Mikaela's most recent post. Ok, I cop to it, this is my favorite Mikaela post of the year. In Reclaiming the Power to Speak through Action Mikaela is in top form. It brings together her rants, her ability to connect lots of different commentaries and events, her odes to friends...all into a little nugget that she takes and dives head first with into pure philosophy and questioning. So Mikaela...beautiful!

Don't let me leave out Maggie in my admiration of pure sarcasm. It doesn't get much better than this post prostrating herself (not) at the feet of self-righteous Republicans: God help the sports fan.

I always like it when people point out structure, how nothing exists in a bubble. In Watching Paris, we watch ourselves, Maggie does a great job pointing out the post-industrial stress and reactionary tendencies we share with our first world counterparts…even those pesky French.

Despite what I said above, this post by Maggie is one of my favorite of the year: in Natalee Holloway and the whore/saint dichotomy, Maggie gets right to the point. We are neither whores nor saints. Rather, we're human beings who are sexual and in many cases great parents to children. What woman doesn't struggle with this issue?

Mikaela says:
Each time these venerable ladies post something, I'm glad yet again that every brain is different. I love these ladies, yes, but I also love learning from them! I feel so blessed to be counted among their friends, and absolutely honored to share a blog with them. So, in no particular order, here are my favorites from the 2 ms in the last year.

Watch out when Maggie gets angry. She's smart, articulate, and DAMN – when she's on, she's on, as demonstrated in this loving tribute to Michael Brown: My Name is Michael Brown and I Am a Piece of Shit.

Maggie is also the best at setting a context by which to understand current events, as evidenced in this post linking today's political relationship with the media: "We will not walk in fear, one of another."

Ironically, I look to Maggie for two contradictory things, which in my mind testifies to Maggie's true strength of understanding her surroundings wherever she is: 1) local politics and events and 2) national politics.

As for Marjorie, her nuance and deep thinking is always helpful to me. Whether she's taking on implications of immigration policy, as in Children Born Here Belong Here, or the real issue in the debate about Supporting Our Troops.

I can always trust Marjorie to open my eyes to labor issues, as with NYC transit workers are right on.

Maggie says:
Picking out only three favorite posts for these girls is tough… but I’m up for the challenge, if only because it gives me a good excuse to sit here at Flying Star drinking tea and reading a year’s worth of goodness. It’s never a struggle to pick out good things from these two; the struggle is in narrowing them down.

For me, Marjorie’s writing is pure substance. Her analysis of issues manages to be sweeping and intimate all at once, coming from the left but never accepting any easy answers or talking-points in her directives. In 12 Dead Miners: Who’s Responsible?, Marjorie reminds us of the deadly, human price of capitalism and questions the quick-fix hearings pols were offering as the answer. With May Day is all about solidarity… let’s show some in Albuquerque, she gets to the heart of global labor struggles and shows the real passion that guides her thinking and her work. And finally, with BLOG-IN: the FREE MARKET is in The House!!, we get to see Marjorie at her wry, sarcastic best (Marjorie’s humor doesn’t come out online very much, but when it does, I’m her biggest fan).

What’s so interesting about Mikaela as a blogger is that her posts are mirrors into the questions she’s constantly asking of herself: how do we balance commitments, demonstrate our values, and celebrate each other’s differences? We're lucky we get to sit in on her thinking process. In America & Iran: Why moderates fail and fanatics rise to power, Mikaela is her endlessly thoughtful self, struggling with questions of identity and examining how they play out in the political system she feels so disconnected from. As much as Mikaela resists wonkiness, she reveals in War on Women why writing about politics and gender is something no m-pyre girl should shy away from. My favorite Mikaela post of our second year, though, is Cultural Up-beat, where she continues to explore the interplay of culture, space, and expression, three issues near and dear to Mikaela's heart.