Balloon Week

Mikaela reminds:
Don't forget it's time for the Balloon Fiesta!

While I continue to boycott the NM State Fair because it always arrives just in time to muck up my birthday plans (and the traffic, and the people, and the ... okay, I just don't really like the state fair!), I am a sucker for balloon week. Yes, I know it's actually balloon weeks, but just as I will always say "The Dollar Movie" to refer to San Mateo 8, despite that they charge $2, so I will refer to this two-week international festival as Balloon Week. Singular. So There.

Not to mention, I only ever go once, so it really is just one week for me.

I can't wait to wake up every morning and see all those colorful gas behemoths in the sky. I can't wait to tell my dog to stop barking as the pilots above our house give another pull to blast up more fire. I don't even mind all the additional folks at my favorite places to eat. Let 'em come!

Who wouldn't want to be here for this amazing event? It's totally crazy. All those balloons. Early rising in the fricking cold, rubbing elbows with a couple hundred thousand people before your eyes are even open? Breakfast burritos at 5 am, huevos rancheros at 11? I'm all over it!

The best ever balloon fiesta for me was in high school. The French club (mais oui) went house to house and got everybody up and in the car and basically hijacked a bunch of whining teenagers who pretty quickly shut up once the balloons started ascending in wave after wave of overwhelmingly big colorfulness.

This year, I get to be pretty excited because my brother in-law was selected as this year's Poster Artist - Darryl Willison. Not too shabby! He'll be there signing every morning, I think. Get yours soon! Mention me and get a confused look for free!

I'm also excited to take the Railrunner for my first Walk, Board, & Ride. How cool will it be to take the train to see balloons? Pretty cool! Look into that yourself here.

All in all, an incredible NM tradition. Love October! (Sorry to my sister Heidi, who hates the Balloon Fiesta for precisely the reason I hate the Fair. Oh, the cruelty of the world overlooking our own personal days of celebration!)

Meanwhile, in Crazy-Pete land...

Maggie says:
The news broke here, but the real chatter is here.

Heads are spinning, and I feel the need to point out that my campaign-scarred love interest predicted this months and months ago. Sigh....

I'd like to see Richardson suck it up and go for it, personally. The presidential run is embarrassing, and he's much better suited in the Senate. Not to mention, it'd be a slam dunk.

10/4 Update: The Hill says Heather's running. Let the games begin... (and apparently, they won't include Richardson - although he'll still have time to get in after it becomes clear he should give up the presidential bid)

Low-down Dirty... Airing the Obsessions

Mikaela says:
For those m-pyre readers who are not m-pyrical readers, we're closing down the shadow twin -- or maybe the brighter, sunnier side -- of m-pyre.

I've been trying to bring myself to write the kind of sassy, sometime mindless tripe I used to throw onto m-pyrical when it just didn't seem up to m-pyre standards.

But it's time, and this month for me is all about consolidating forces and riding the wave of energy when it comes, so ... here goes.

My admission: Not only am I a rabid Bush-watcher, I'm also obsessed with Britney Spears.

Not the good Britney or star Britney but the vacuous-yet-endlessly-fascinating-because-she's-vacuous-yet-famous Britney. How can anyone so dumb still be a national obsession? She's the madonna turned whore turned madonna turned whore, and we're still with her every tortured step of the way.

I would feel worse for her if she made even the slightest effort to redeem herself and make better choices. Or if she were to make a single choice based not on herself and seemingly bottomless taste for hedonism at any cost.

So she lost her kids to her not-so-much-smarter but at least less destructive former husband, the would-be-forgettable-except-he's-Britney's-ex-and-somehow-in-comparison-smarter and better choice for a father K.Fed. K.Fed.? Yes. Kevin Federline.

Oof.

But as always, The Onion sums it up perfectly in its "opinion poll":

• "Isn't there another relative or perhaps a perfect stranger the kids could live with?"
• "God, I hope there's some high-stakes poker game Federline could lose them in."
• "At least now she'll have time to do more drugs and have more kids."

And yes, I'm dreadfully ashamed of myself, especially when respect-worthy people write really good reasons to give up our destructive addiction to national news and focus on actually understanding our local communities.

Maybe if Marty had papparazi?

Happy Day After Election :-)

marjorie says...

It’s nice to have a happy day-after-election. Congrats to all the winning City Council Candidates, including Don Harris for pulling it out in District 9.

Living in District 2, I was very pleased to see Debbie O’Malley win another term. She’s a great Councilor who gives a lot of time and energy to public service. We are very fortunate.

I have to admit I was a little shocked by the percentages last night, which were simply off the scale for the winning candidates. Along with others, I can only assume that those making up the very low turn-out are the political strata in Albuquerque, and what they delivered to the city was their mandate for power sharing. Whether or not it was in fact the case, this year we had what was widely perceived as a “Marty Chavez slate” …and it went down in flames, including the attempt to recall Don Harris. In addition to that, the voters approved an amendment allowing Council appointments to boards and commissions if called for by ordinance. I think Marty Chavez is quite popular in Albuquerque but, you know, he’s also a little too big for his britches. And it seems a lot of folks recognize that.

While that may be the big mandate, District 6 delivered their own mandate when it comes to values. It's a largely progressive Democrat district and in this regard Rey Garduno is a truly stellar replacement for Martin Heinrich. Rey, I can't wait to see you up there on the Council!

The other item I was very happy about was the passage of the affordable housing bond. The City adopted the Workforce Housing Opportunity Act and it was fair to fund it. And, as I stated in one of the comments earlier in the week, the opposition to funding it, as ever, had no response to our housing problem other than, in effect, the tired “the free market works, so let it…but maybe with some incentives for developers thrown in.” Come on, folks. It’s time for a new approach.

Happy Election Day

Maggie says:
After a much-needed weekend back in New Mexico with my girls and a major reason to celebrate, I'm sitting back here in my new town wishing I was in ABQ today for Election Day. I miss all the energy around politics and organizing that occurs there leading up to days like this one, and I love how connected to all of it my ABQ world has always been.

Remember to watch the Workforce Housing videos (see post below) and vote for this crucial issue today.

Go Rey! Go Debbie!

I miss you, New Mexico.

Rita C.

marjorie says...

Many of you have seen my youngest sister's art. Most recently those fabulous wood block prints I put on the wall in my house. Here she is on the net.


Here's one of my favorite Rita series.

Time Warp

Spin 2, 3D

The Magnificent Switch

PS. Today is election time in Albuquerque. Go Vote!

Workforce Housing Opportunity Act Videos

marjorie says...

Here is a playlist of four video clips describing the Workforce Housing Opportunity Act, Workforce Housing Plan, and Workforce Housing Trust Fund. They're very informative...I encourage you all to watch them. And don't forget to vote YES on GO Bond #10!

Leadership: Iran vs. USA

Mikaela reposts:

Jane Smiley blogs for Huffingtonpost.com:

Looking at the hysteria caused by the visit of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to New York and Columbia University, I would like to dare George Bush to reciprocate the visit. And I would like to dare the Iranians to let him. It doesn't matter what Ahmadinejad actually says. What matters is that he is entering the territory of a president who has openly vowed to put him out of business, and has dared to speak, indeed, has dared to give what appears to be his honest opinions. And he has been confronted by protesters and by irate news commentators (such as Scott Pelley). Would Bush allow the same sorts of confrontations? I doubt it. He doesn't even allow himself to confronted by Americans who disagree with him.

Or even the reporters and news agencies who get to interview him:

How much control should the White House have over who gets to interview President Bush? Specifically, should Bush be able to dictate which journalists at which outlets he talks to?

Those are among the questions raised by the White House's recent offer to let National Public Radio analyst Juan Williams interview Bush about race relations -- and NPR management's insistence that they should get to choose who conducted the interview.

The end result: Williams did the interview for his other employer -- Fox News.

Given how meticulously the White House picks and grooms Bush's audiences to avoid any unpleasantness, it should come as no surprise that the press office is very careful about who gets to interview Bush. It's certainly no secret that Bush has his favorite interlocutors. And he habitually avoids potentially contentious sit-down interviews with journalists -- and entire news organizations, for that matter -- known for their accountability reporting.

NPR would qualify as one of those. Williams would not, having become in many cases an affable sounding board for conservative rhetoric. ...

Would other news organizations allow the White House to determine who on their staffs would be allowed to interview the president? Would any responsible newspaper accept such conditions? I hardly think so.

Our Education President

Mikaela reposts:

Peter Baker writes today for washingtonpost.com: "As a candidate, George W. Bush once asked, 'Is our children learning?'

"On Wednesday, he had an answer.

"'Childrens do learn,' he said.

This at an education event where the president took credit for rising test scores and called for congress to renew No Child Left Behind, despite the fact that the upswing areas had begun that trend BEFORE the passage of his education law.

Make Housing Affordable: Vote YES on Bond #10

Election day is just one week away and many of you have probably already voted early. For those of you who haven't though, we want to give a plug for Bond #10 which will provide much needed revenue to support the creation of affordable workforce housing in Albuquerque. These funds will be used for actual construction, for rehabilitation of existing housing and for financing strategies to create affordable housing options for our workforce and for the elderly.

For more information about the details, go to the Vote YES for Workforce Housing website. This is a great opportunity for us to put our public dollars into providing avenues for working folks in an environment that is increasingly pricing us out of the housing market.

Come on...Join the Party

marjorie says...

There’s an article on the front page of the Journal called “Independents are Leaning Toward Left” that describes how “independents” are tilting left these days because of their disaffection with George Bush, et al. Of course, this article is talking about the big mass of folks that flutters back and forth between the two parties.

I don’t really get the approach that independents in the middle often take toward politics. For instance, when people tell me they’re going to vote for someone because they like his or her personality I’m always left a little puzzled. I mean, aren’t politics about positions instead of personality? The fact is that I have many conservative Republican relatives who I like an awful lot on a personal basis. Doesn’t mean I’d vote for them though. In fact, I might even work on their opponent’s campaign (Ok, considering I really like hanging with my family maybe that’s an exaggeration…or let’s just call it “hyperbole”…but you get the point).

To me, the difference in the party platforms for the most part tells me what I need to know: how a candidates values are likely to be translated into legislation and who they bring with them to the office. Here are summaries of the 2004 national platforms of the Democrats and the Republicans. These summaries aren't all that great...you really ought to read the actual platforms in their entirety. They're full of political B.S. but you can still see the difference.

Sure, there are differences among Democrats and there are some I most certainly prefer over others. But the fact is that I would still vote for someone like Marty Chavez over a Republican (with the very, very occasional possible exception). Which brings me to the primaries and why I’m registered in the first place given that I’m not the type to get involved with a political party.

There’s another type of independent that resides over here on the left side of the Democrats rather than in the middle. They’re the Green types mainly, and they do vote Republican sometimes. Maybe they’re actually right (seriously) or maybe they have a more nuanced perspective than I do about the value of sticking with the Democrats or maybe they’re just silly. While I respect the argument that one needs to operate outside the machine, I can’t help but lament that these folks put themselves outside the primary elections. The primaries are where we often make real choices about whether the larger public is going to have an option to elect a progressive or a conservative Democrat. And the “independents” who really are on the left are needed in that arena.

Fair Justice Continues...

From Democracy Now:

Judge in Jena Refuses to Release Mychal Bell on Bail
In Jena Louisiana, a judge has refused to release Mychal Bell on bail. Bell is the only one of the Jena Six still behind bars. He has been in jail since December. The decision came down on Friday – a day after tens of thousands of protesters marched in Jena to demand justice for the Jena Six – the six African American students who face a total of over 100 years in jail for allegedly taking part in a schoolyard fight. In June an all-white jury convicted Mychal Bell of aggravated second-degree battery but the 3rd Circuit Circuit of Appeals overturned the conviction because Bell was wrongly tried as an adult.

Police in Louisiana Arrest Two Men For Dangling Nooses From Truck
In the neighboring town of Alexandria Louisiana, police arrested two white teenagers on Thursday night after they found nooses dangling from the rear of their pickup truck. One of the teenagers told police he had a KKK tattoo on his chest and said some of his relatives were involved in the Ku Klux Klan.

FBI Investigates Anti-Jena Six White Supremacist Web Site
Meanwhile the FBI is reviewing a white supremacist Web site that is essentially calling for the lynching of the Jena Six. The website contains the home addresses and phone numbers of five of the teenagers. The owners of the website said it posted the information "in case anyone wants to deliver justice."

Bush on Fair Justice for the Jena 6

Mikaela derides:
Bush's only comment on the Jena 6:

Bush was asked about the "Jena 6" -- the six black teenagers in Louisiana charged in the beating of a white classmate. Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of Jena today in a show of support.

"The events in Louisiana are -- have saddened me, and I understand the emotions," Bush said. "And all of us in America want there to be, you know, fairness when it comes to justice."

Well put, Jackass.

American Freedom - Unless You Try Paying Your Respects

Mikaela says:
Anyone else bothered by the Iranian President not being allowed to visit Ground Zero to pay his respects and leave a wreath of remembrance?

Certainly not the democratic presidential candidates!

Mitt Romney called the request "shockingly audacious," Hillary deemed it "unacceptable," and Rudy Giuliani urged that "[u]nder no circumstances" should Ahmadinejad be allowed to visit the site.

So... what's the message to Iran here? And what's the facial expression we're all supposed to wear the next time we do a major speech on our high horse about how Iran has to change because America, we're all about freedom!

Unless you come here and want to respect our fallen heroes. That we won't allow.

Seems like we're missing a big healing opportunity here, or at least something to throw back in Iran's face the next time they make decisions that endanger innocent lives (and our government, too, for that matter).

Women's Focus

Mikaela says:
My synchronicity around women's topics continues with two emails today...

The first I'm VERY excited about, on multiple levels.

Alice Walker will be coming to Albuquerque to read her new children's book, Why War Is Never a Good Idea.

(That title alone is worth $20! And, this is a day after my wedding weekend, which marks the next phase in my life that will hopefully include kids, one of whom we've already decided will be named Walker, precisely to honor this author and my love for her.)

Oct. 1 @ 7 pm in the Kiva Auditorium

Our local bookstore gem, Bookworks, is offering advanced sales. Free ticket with purchase of the book ($16.99 + tax) or $25 for book and 2 tix. Buy here or call 505-344-8139.


The second is the first organizing meeting for next year's Women in Creativity, the month-long celebration birthed by (trying to avoid the male symbolism there of 'spearheading' or 'spawned by') the National Hispanic Cultural Center's Shelle Luaces. Partner organizations from around the city share responsibility for programming centered on women throughout the month.

Women & Creativity Organizing Meeting
Oct. 3, 10 am
NHCC - RSVP required (see below)

Any organization can do this. All you've got to do is send the NHCC information about your event, and they'll add it to their gorgeous schedule printing. There are also a thousand ways to be creative about other resources multiple orgs. can leverage. So start thinking about how you can plug in!

Each year, this festival has expanded exponentially to include women in all their creative spheres and partners across the city, from dance to theatre, literature to poetry, arts to business, performance to activism. The NHCC pays for a printed schedule of events and some other marketing. Personally, I think this thing is just going to get bigger every year and is a great opportunity to bring the focus back to women once a year!

The most exciting part of this event for me is exploring the various ways women are creative in today's world. It’s also just a great way to find those points of connections across institutions, which often serve to fragment us, as well as to leverage our resources to benefit all (which, after all, is women’s specialty)!

For more information and/or to RSVP, contact Lavinia Nicolae, or visit last year's event info here.

The Onion's Town Hall

Mikaela says:
And to lighten me up a little: The Onion's take on real democracy - the Town Hall.

Town Hall Meeting Gives Townspeople Chance to Say Stupid Things in Public

So funny! So ... unfortunately true.

Bush's Fictional World

Mikaela says:
I have to say that I've checked out of political discourse lately mostly because my rage just has nowhere productive to go. How many times can you say, "This is outrageous. This is outrageous. THIS is outrageous."

Anyone paying attention at all has got to be angry -- from all sides. Bush has dragged all of us to war, put all of us in more danger, and he's in it purely for himself. Now it's his legacy he has to protect at all costs. Even Republicans say it now.

"He's more concerned about his legacy than he is about helping his Capitol Hill Republican colleagues," says one Republican strategist with ties to the GOP leadership.

Yes, well. Hello, welcome to the Truth. How was your trip?

Add to this Alan Greenspan going on record in his new book:

“I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."

Jeez, but Bush said it wasn't! Even as VP Dick had secret meetings with oil companies. Even as Congress actually debated about how fair windfall taxes were. Fair to send our men and women to die for oil, but not fair to take some oil profits to give back to our men and women? How do you figure?

And now we're heating up the rhetoric to allow us to attack Iran? I wasn't so afraid of this actually happening until the French foreign minister told the world to prepare for war over Iran's nuclear stand-off:

"We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war."

Even the mainstream media, perpetually playing catch up and waiting all too often for permission from those in power to write the truth, have begun resisting Bush's blatantly false, repetitive assertions.

Fred Kaplan wrote for Slate about Bush's Friday address to the nation:

"President Bush's TV address tonight was the worst speech he's ever given on the war in Iraq, and that's saying a lot. Every premise, every proposal, nearly every substantive point was sheer fiction. The only question is whether he was being deceptive or delusional.

"The biggest fiction was that because of the 'success' of the surge, we can reduce U.S. troop levels in Iraq from 20 combat brigades to 15 by next July. Gen. David Petraeus has recommended this step, and President George W. Bush will order it so.

"Let's be clear one more time about this claim: The surge of five extra combat brigades (bringing the total from 15 to 20) started in January. Their 15-month tours of duty will begin to expire next April. The Army and Marines have no combat units ready to replace them. The service chiefs refuse to extend the tours any further. The president refuses to mobilize the reserves any further. And so, the surge will be over by next July. This has been understood from the outset. It is the result of simple arithmetic, not of anyone's decision, much less some putative success."

That's what kills me. We have the evidence. We know the shell game the President continues to play, with American lives and resources at stake, and perhaps the structure of our tenuous Democracy and Constitution, to boot.

Yet, there are no consequences for this President. He gets his last 16 months, despite the lies, deception, deaths, future wars, monumental cracks in our constitution, gutting of the best of our bureaucracies, twisting of our judicial system, warps to the checks and balances upon which our democracy depends... and on and on and on.

Flash forward 16 months. What changes with the next President? Who will have the strength to remove the power Bush & Co. have managed to accrue unconstitutionally to the Executive Office?

Who will get out of bed with corporations who we know can't serve the people's best interest? Who will dismantle the power unjustly and sometimes illegally accrued to the very structure of "corporations" themeselves?

Hilary Clinton? I don't think so. Richardson? HA.

Obama? Jury's still out. Edwards is on board, but can he be elected without the same people whose sticky fingers need to be removed from our government pies?

Can anyone?

So what's a citizen to do? Marching seems too easily ignored, and too easy. So much is being sacrificed by so many that a nice, Saturday march seems almost a slap in the face, compared to what we're all up against.

Writing seems an exercise in whining.

I don't want to run for any office myself, god forbid.

Local elections are more of the same.

And yes, I know -- find a cause, sign up to volunteer, find a candidate I believe in and go door to door. Have the hard conversations in the lunch room. Build community where I can in all my grassroots efforts, blah blah blah.

Even what I sometimes want to see done has been stripped from me as an option, thanks to Sarah Vowell's hilarious discussion of a certain Presidential history pointing out all the pitfalls in certain endeavors by examining each in riveting detail:

• Careful of the dates you pick to ummm... execute your plan. You don't want to reinforce a martyr.
• Careful of your expectations. These things never go over quite like you think.
• Plan your endgame. Most likely, you won't be helped to escape on the public's shoulders, propped up there as a hero!
• Taking down one politician tends to entrench the public and governmental will to see through the actions and follow the direction the fallen man started.

The best I'm hoping for is a better manager than Bush. If we can't have someone at the national level who will say no to Big Money, let's at least have someone who qualified people will follow. We need to build back up the cadre of folks who actually make this country run, the bureaucrats who really do have good intentions and try to work with every administration, or at least despite every administration, to help the American people in the way they know how.

Maybe that would be enough to hope and work for, if we can't ask for less of a liar.

City Council Candidate Forum - Thurs., Sept. 20

Mikaela reposts (courtesy Claude Morelli -- thanks, Claude!):

Albuquerque City Council

District 2 Candidates Forum

WHEN: Thursday, 20 September 2007 (Thursday), 7 to 8:30 PM

(Doors open at 6:45. Please arrive on time to get a seat!)

WHERE: North Valley Senior Center (3825 Fourth Street NW)

SPONSORS: Neighborhood Associations & Coalitions of District 2

CANDIDATES: Debbie O'Malley (incumbent) and Katherine Martinez

(Information will also be provided about General Obligation Bond issues and propositions to amend the Albuquerque City Charter.)

VOTING INFORMATION:

Absentee voting has already started. Please contact the City Clerk's office (click here) or phone 768-3030 to request an absentee ballot.

Early voting starts Tuesday, 12 September 2007 and runs through 28 September 2007. Early voting locations are open from 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday, and include:

• City Clerk's Office (1 Civic Plaza, Basement, Fifth & Marquette)
• City of Albuquerque Records Center (604 Menaul Blvd NW)
• APS City Center (6400 Uptown Blvd NE, Suite 540)
• Ladera Shopping Center (5300 Sequoia NW, Suite G)

Election Day is Tuesday, 2 October 2007. To find out where you can vote on Election Day, please visit the web site of the County Clerk's office (click here). You may not be able to vote at your normal voting location!

Goodbye to Madeleine L'Engle

Mikaela says:
I was very sad to read that Madeleine L'Engle, author of the kids classic, A Wrinkle in Time, died September 7.

I so vividly remember reading these books, deep into the night, with a thrilling fear that my mom would burst in on me and I would catch holy hell for still being awake.

I remember feeling so akin to the brainy but loving Meg character, who lacks confidence and yet steps up at every dire circumstance. Over the course of the three-book series, she also gets prettier as time goes on and marries a wonderful guy. Good news for us not-so-beautiful brainiac kids!

The parents of the Murray family were partner scientists who work on chemistry and genetic codes (I think). The best part is the picture of domesticity as Mrs. Murray cooks a big vat of soup on her Bunsen burner so that she can feed her family AND work to solve a scientific mystery. So cool. (And reassuring to those of us brainiac yet maternal types out there!).

Of course the books are all about the power of love, but they're also great reads with amazing characters and such imaginitive events. I actually best-loved A Swiftly Tilting Planet, for its weaved narrative of historic events and the potential to radically avoid a cataclysmic current political event (nuclear both threat from a crazy South American despot). There's Native American lore, Salem witch trials, and all the arguments against nuclear proliferation you can imagine. In a kids book! Not to mention cosmic travel through space and time. Come on!

She was an author who wrote quality literature accessible to kids that actually gave good models and good stories about characters that helped me have choices that I might not have known I had otherwise. I so wanted to be a chemist for a good two years after reading these books! And have a family of five...

Ms. L'Engle also was very active promoting other writers, sponsoring scholarships and programs at the University of New Mexico for young authors. She put her money where her heart was to home-grow talent and support others' dreams.

What a beautiful model for all of us. I can't wait to read her books to my own kids.

District 2's "Independent Voice" is Debbie O'Malley

marjorie says...

I enjoyed getting my first full-color flier from Katherine Martinez today, who is running for city council against incumbent Debbie O'Malley in District 2, which is where I live. After a long day, I really needed a good chuckle. And I got a couple of them. Martinez is actually referring to herself as "An Independent Voice for our community." And when you look inside the flier you see this statement: "After assuming her position as Director of Government Affairs, Katherine went to work on the problems facing Albuquerque."

My first thought was... she was Director of Government Affairs? Sounds pretty...important. Doesn't it? Even after all these years I am still quite gullible. At first. Then I remembered...Oh right, Director of Government Affairs for the Home Builders Association of Central New Mexico! Of course, that last bit is conveniently left off of her flier. This was the moment of my first chuckle. Because, you know, I actually have a sense of humor about crass politics.

Folks, lets break that title down.

Home Builders Association: An association of private entities who come together to advance their interests.

Director of Public Affairs of said Association: The person responsible for manipulating the media and the government to achieve the aims of the Association.

In effect: Someone who works day in and day out to advance the interests of her employers, who in this case happen to be one of the most powerful players in terms of shaping our built environment. The shaping of which provides them with substantial economic benefit if it goes their way.

This does not make her "An Independent Voice." This was the second chuckle.

You know, it should really come as no surprise that incumbent Debbie O'Malley, who has been a champion bar none in this city of affordable housing, is being challenged with major bucks by someone friendly with the real estate and homebuilders crowd. That it would be their own Director of Public Affairs is really telling. Katherine Martinez isn't just friendly, she's essentially one of them...a seat on the Council, if she is elected, for the Homebuilders Association.

Let's face it. Fifty years from now, when this city looks back at the shaping of development of this city in a way that prioritizes workforce housing and small business/mixed use development, one of the essential names they will surface in making it happen will be Debbie O'Malley. And this is why the Homebuilders Association doesn't like her. They don't like anyone to challenge their right to build their housing developments exactly the way they want to build them...fifty years from now be damned. And for this very reason alone (because there are many others) Debbie has my vote.

Local Author Book Signing - Betrayal in Winter

Mikaela says:
Know how great it feels to support a local author?

Remember how wonderful it is when you find out a book you like was written by someone from your very own hometown?

Best yet, have you ever had a really good friend turn into a well-known author with book 2 of a quartet just published?

If so, then you know how great I feel knowing that Sept. 8 is a major booksigning by my former college roommate, Daniel Abraham, who has steadily been gaining a reputation and quite the career as a sci-fi writer.

Betrayal in Winter
Booksigning by local author Daniel Abraham
Sept. 8 at 1 pm
Barnes & Noble in Coronado Center

You can take a sneak peek at the book at Amazon, but don't buy! Buy during the signing in order to show your support.

I read the first book in the Long Price Quartet, A Shadow in Summer, and fell in love with the gorgeous writing and deep world immersion. Delicious sci-fi that's a pleasure to read and satisfying to finish. Gotta love that!

Oh, and better yet, it's local!

Prevent Environmental Racism - Speak Out Against Uranium Mining in NM

Colleen Gorman writes:

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be meeting today to change the rules and regulations for uranium mining in the state of New Mexico.

When: 6 pm Thursday, 8/08/07

Where: The Hilton Hotel in Albuquerque on University and Menaul

For more information, call Don Hancock or Paul Robinson at the Southwest Research and Information Center

I received word about this meeting via an anonymous concerned citizen who wanted a Channel 27 Producer to film the event. Apparently they are trying to change the regulations so that uranium mining can begin again in accordance with illegal practices used in Texas. The caller mentioned that not too many people know about this meeting, and asked to get the word out about this to those who may be concerned about this.

News item in Santa Fe New Mexican here.

Quotes describing the effect of uranium mining on Navajo miners near the Four Corners:

"You could smell the gunpowder. When you blew your nose, it was yellow dust" (Eichstaedt l83).

"We never knew it would affect us on down the road" (Eichstaedt l86).

"Tests showed that his body was riddled with cancer. It was in his lungs and intestines. Ultimately, his spinal cord was affected, and he became paralyzed from the waist down" (Eichstaedt 96).

"my dad remains dead and I remain bitter...so continues the legacy of uranium miners"

History: Eichstaedt, Peter H. If You Poison Us. Santa Fe, NM: Red Crane Book, l994.

Oral histories: Doug Brugge. Memories Come to Us in the Rain and the Wind, 1997.

The Definitive Work (upcoming October): The Navajo People and Uranium Mining, 2007.

Moises Gonzales Heads to Harvard

Mikaela congratulates:
Our fellow planner and alumnus of the UNM Community and Regional Planning Program, Moises Gonzales, has received a MAJOR honor and opportunity to go to Harvard for a year as a Loeb Fellow. Way to go, Moises! Sprinkle some Raza alma in Boston, would you?

From the NMAPA:

Long-time NMAPA Member Moises Gonzales named Loeb Fellow at Harvard Design School

Moises Gonzales, who works for Sandoval County in New Mexico, has been named a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University’s Design School. Moises will be in residence at Harvard for the 2007-2008 academic year.

The Loeb Fellowship is the only one of its kind in the nation. Founded in 1970, it provides a year of independent study at Harvard for outstanding mid-career professionals in fields related to the built and natural environment. Primarily the focus is on architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and urban designers. Professionals in related fields such as filmmaking, journalism, non-profit administration, the arts, and government service have also been Loeb Fellows.

Moises Gonzales is an Urban Planner/Natural Resources Planner currently working for Sandoval County, New Mexico which is the fastest growing county in the state. His work has focused on new zoning strategies, planning regimens, and urban design tools that will encourage increased density within urban centers, concentrating development around transit nodes to reduce low density sprawl. Governor Bill Richardson has appointed him to the “Our Futures, Our Communities” Task Force on Smart Growth to develop legislative strategies addressing the impact of sprawl statewide.

Moises’ more recent passion for reducing the negative impacts of urban development in the West on traditional rural communities, has come from the work early in his career that focused on preserving cultural landscapes and historic communities in Northern New Mexico. Moises served as the Executive Director of the Mexicano Land Education and Conservation Trust, an organization that works in New Mexico “ejido” land grant communities where traditional Chicano communities manage communal land and water resources. Moises’ work was dedicated to preservation of traditional landscapes and plazas, improving housing conditions, and sustaining rural agricultural systems. More recently, he has been focusing on urban planning issues, out of the conviction that if the Albuquerque Metro Area becomes a more vibrant and exciting place, fewer people will want to flee to the sprawling suburbs.

At the Graduate School of Design, Moises will study patterns of urban development and urban design strategies around the world, concentrating on methods others have used to protect fragile cultural and natural landscapes and limit sprawl.

P.S. This was m-pyre's 1000th post! Woo-hoo!

m-pyre fulfills its purpose

Mikaela says:
The original impetus for m-pyre was to create a space where three Ms could continue to think together and laugh together even after life took us down different paths.

Over enchiladas in downtown Albuquerque, we talked about the likelihood that some or all of us would leave Albuquerque, who knows when. We hatched a plan to create a blog where we could share political analysis and pictures of family. We could share our stories and help buoy each other when things looked bleak.

We realized we had too much in common to let our friendship and intellectual companionship go the way of the dodo just because one of us -- or all of us -- moved away. As one of our professors at UNM's Community and Regional Planning Program reminded us, the friends you meet in graduate school are friends to keep, because they're friends that stem from your personal, political, and intellectual passions.

So m-pyre was born, growing and shrinking in importance over the bumpy course of life events and personal traumas. It's remained what it was meant to be: a place always waiting and available for us to share our thoughts.

And now, Maggie's done gone and moved to Texas. She got there safely and is now happily planning her abode with a new love. We wish her every happiness, and most especially, we wish her readily-available high-speed internet so that she can keep in touch about all things Dallas. Her new job dealing with transit-oriented development seems especially ripe for juicy analysis, and I for one, can't wait!

We're here on m-pyre, Mags! Ready always in this electronic home.

Message to G.W. re: Scooter

Mikaela says:
I finally answered one of those on-line petition thingamabobs to tell off George about his disgraceful commuting of Scooter Libby's jail sentence for obstruction of justice and lying (even though he was found guilty by a jury of his "peers" and was turned down for a petition stating that he had no case).

Every time I thought about it, I got too mad to think about it anymore.

Today, I decided I was ready to speak in a civil tone to the President of these here United States.

Mr. President,

If only you could show the same compassion to others who mess up. You're a hypocrite, George, plain and simple. You want to lock up poor minorities for drug violations and give harsh sentences, but if one of your white-collar cronies LIES to OBSTRUCT JUSTICE, you'll let him off with no jail time and a laughable fine that his friends pay for him in an hour or two.

What kind of message does this send to our children about justice in America?

Get rich or go to jail for trying.

You are worse than a liar. You are a liar's best friend.

I did not go one step further and end the way I wanted to:

Nice job, Brownie. Rot in hell.

Just my luck they'd call it a threat and throw me in jail for longer than it will take for him to LIVE THIS DOWN.

USSF in The Nation

marjorie says...

Since I've been such a lame-o when it comes to writing a reflection about the USSF, I thought I'd post this article from The Nation, which is quite good. I agree very much with his assessment. And for those of you who don't know, Michael Leon Guerrero is the former Co-Director of SWOP. He was with us here in Albuquerque for well over a decade. And of course, the People's Freedom Caravan began with our two buses here in the Q.


A Grassroots Social Forum
by DARRYL LORENZO WELLINGTON

The Nation
August 13, 2007

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070813/wellington (subscription only)

Imagine a racism workshop--not a touchy-feely "prejudice reduction" workshop but an all-out emotional and cathartic conversation on race. Now imagine a church service--not a solemn devotion but the kind of rocking, joyous communion that shakes the floorboards. Now imagine, lofted above the congregation, a sea of protest banners. The orations are secular; the pulpit is political.

This pretty much captures the spirit that dominated the first US Social Forum, held in Atlanta June 27-July 1. Having appropriately fine-tuned the World Social Forum motto to fit the host country ("Another World Is Possible, Another US Is Necessary"), this gathering-- with more than 900 workshops conducted in the Atlanta Civic Center, local hotels and theaters, and drawing some 12,000 registered attendees--made only partial concession to dry political strategy; it was a locus of progressive dreams and activist chutzpah.

"Our national dilemma today is not technological retardation but moral deficiency. We have a moral deficiency in establishing priorities when putting our technological advances to work for the common good," said iconic civil rights activist Joseph Lowery at the opening-day march. The crowd left from the State Capitol and wound down Peachtree Street, the main business thoroughfare of the city, as bankers, clerks and secretaries gathered on steps and watched in wonder. A crowd of a couple thousand was a rare display, even in a city accustomed to conferences and rallies. Lowery had positioned the spirit of the marchers vis-à-vis the American Republic to a
T: The problem was the need for an America less stingy, less conceited and altogether less thuggish.

The Civic Center sits blocks away from Task Force for the Homeless, which was also the site of a forum-sponsored art exhibit. The visibility of the homeless was much commented upon; invisible, however, were Atlanta public officials. The only Democratic presidential candidate to send representatives was Dennis Kucinich--who supports and in fact co-wrote universal healthcare reform bill HR 676, which was touted by several activist groups. The opening parade was too big a spectacle to be ignored by the press, but thereafter, the forum disappeared from the media, apart from a few rather trivializing articles.

What did it mean to sponsor a social forum in the United States--in the city of Martin Luther King Jr., but also in the heart of conservative Dixie? In Georgia, a state with heinous immigration policies? What the national media missed was that this meeting was big news among America's grassroots organizers, who focused on issues such as immigration, gentrification, homelessness and prison reform.

It was commented on from the first day that the US forum was different from previous World Social Forums. There was a notable absence of political scientists, philosophers, policy heads and large NGOs. While all fifty states and several countries were represented, the largest US contingents came from the Southeast and Southwest. There was a large Latino contingent, and most sessions at the forum were translated from English into Spanish, or vice versa. Hundreds of participants arrived via the "Freedom Caravan,"
commemorating the civil rights Freedom Rides of 1961. Buses that began in Albuquerque linked with others in Texas, the ravaged Gulf Coast and historic points in the Deep South such as Selma, Alabama, symbolically connecting the Gulf Coast with other seminal places in activist history.

A considerable number of attendees had never been to a World Social Forum--and often expressed scant familiarity with those gatherings. Most said they were in Atlanta to support a local group that practiced "bottom up" organizing. The workshops on antiglobalization and other world issues were accompanied by US-specific workshops on resisting the privatization of schools, building a black-Latino coalition and finding alternatives to foundation support, as well as a slew conducted by or addressing the concerns of hip-hop enthusiasts.

Nation-specific social forums are not new. The process initiated in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2001 has already led to national and regional social forums throughout Europe and Latin America. According to researchers Jennifer Hadden and Sidney Tarrow, "In Italy alone, one of us found hundreds of local and regional social forums." Yet social forums have received relatively little publicity in the United States, and for the first few years at least, relatively few US citizens participated in the world conclaves. This is ironic, considering that the anti-WTO protest of 1999, familiarly known as the Battle in Seattle, was the major impetus behind the initiation of the social forums--the five-day gatherings being a "positive"
alternative to anti-WTO agitation.

The WSF International Counsel began talking with US activists about a US event as far back as 2003. Grassroots Global Justice, a California group that focuses on US trade policy, was integral to those early discussions.
Executive director Michael Leon Guerrero remembers, "We saw that it was very important that grassroots efforts taking place in the United States receive more visibility in the international community.... Many of our colleagues in other parts of the world have little knowledge of conditions here, and they often do not know there are organizations working for social change here.
But we thought it best at that time to delay a US forum. We found that the level of understanding wasn't high enough. We were getting too many questions like, How will this be different from any other conference?"

Eventually, a date was set for a US Social Forum: the summer of 2006. An organizing committee accepted bids from grassroots groups throughout the country; the finalists were Albuquerque, San Francisco and Atlanta. "I think we were swayed by Atlanta primarily for moral reasons," remembers Guerrero.
Project South of Atlanta became the lead USSF administrator. "We fought for it," says Jerome Scott of Project South. "The South bears a legacy of slavery and oppression, but also a legacy of resistance that no one can deny. There's no place better than the South to show that we can be--that we deserve to be--a part of the Global South."

Then Katrina struck. The floodwaters that demolished the Gulf Coast in 2005 stole the energies of numerous grassroots organizations. In particular, Project South was overwhelmed by its own relief work with Katrina refugees displaced in Atlanta. Walda Katz Fishman of Project South anticipated the first US Social Forum as the place "to start connecting the dots of a US justice movement--something visible, something national. We have allies worldwide, but you can't go from being local to global. First, you've got to be national. We did some tough wrangling over the decision to delay it, but I think it was necessary."

"Katrina still hurts," said an audience member at the Gulf Coast plenary. If the workshops were the nuts and bolts of the forum, the plenaries were the Oprah Winfrey version, charged and emotional auditorium gatherings. However, the Katrina panel, which included speakers on the black-brown coalition, marked a register of emotional turmoil that exceeded that of any protest at the USSF against the Iraq War. Panelist after panelist accused the government of indifference, racism, exploiting the hurricane as a gentrification scheme; some went so far as to use the words "murder" and even "genocide."

No wonder the Gulf Coast plenary brought many audience members to tears.
There were a number of Katrina warriors and veterans in the crowd; many belonged to groups that still have tentacles on the Gulf or that counsel Katrina refugees in their own communities. The decimation of the coast and its reconstruction affect the issues that grassroots activists take most personally, and see as their own: housing, healthcare, gentrification, community rights, wages and workers' rights.

Doubtless the disaster would be much worse without their efforts. There is nonetheless a sense of having failed to promote the cause of Katrina survivors. The country still has not confronted the implications of having several hundred thousand former Gulf Coast residents displaced and scattered across the country--largely because of government neglect of the levees--while in many cases their home communities are being gentrified.
From a bird's-eye view, Gulf Coast "reconstruction" looks a lot like homegrown neoliberalism.

The plenary discussion on a potential black-Latino coalition reached a climax when Daniel Castellanos of the Alliance for Guest Workers for Dignity described his journey from impoverishment in Peru to substandard employment in New Orleans. "I saw so many African-Americans, and I asked, Why aren't they getting this work?" he said. Then a dramatic pause. Instead of a lecture on how Bush's post-Katrina suspension of worker protections resulted in an influx of cheap immigrant labor, he delivered the big picture: "It's very clear. They want us to fight--they want the African-American and Latino communities to fight!" The crowd erupted in chants of approval.

The USSF may have been at its strongest in workshops combining information, practical experience and a human touch. Colin Rajah of the National Network of Immigrant Rights conducted a workshop titled "Trade and Migration:
Exploring the Intersection of Trade and Immigration Policies." Rajah's lecture on free-trade economics was accompanied by live testimonials from "NAFTA survivors." Says Rajah, "Even though we have different groups looking at trade and immigration issues, they are interlinked in a US foreign policy that seeks to accomplish two things: to open up markets and control those markets and, second, to manage and control the immigrant labor flow. I work for an immigrant rights organization, but to do my work effectively I need to be very savvy about trade policy. Trade and immigration work together to create a funnel effect, regulating the immigrant flow in ways that benefit multinational corporations. It's not coincidental that Operation Gatekeeper [the 1994 security initiative that fenced the US-Mexico border near San Diego] and NAFTA were implemented months apart." Testimonials that made the human impact of free-trade policies on immigrants real were provided by (among others) a former employee of a sweatshop operated by Levi Strauss before the company outsourced to China and a representative of a coalition of immigrant tomato pickers in Immokalee, Florida, who led a successful protest for wages and health benefits against Taco Bell. "The real solution is to look at trade and immigration patterns together," says Rajah.

If by some miracle the USSF did receive widespread media attention--if, say, every plenary were broadcast on national TV--would it galvanize a hidden majority of closet or disenfranchised radicals? Or would the rhetorical excesses of aspects of the forum provoke dismay, or laughter? Social forums could be called "orgies of idealism," and thus would be easy to mock. But the few forum-related articles in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution were characterized less by condescension than simple befuddlement. "Marchers Take Beefs to the Streets," ran the headline of a June 28 article that detailed few of their "beefs" in particular. A confusing article published during the forum began, "Karl Marx...held court Thursday night...at the US Social Forum" (the sixth paragraph finally explained that Marx was an actor in a performance), and summed up the week's events as "a Woodstock for the globally conscious set, sans drugs."

In addition to potential scoffing from without, there were treacherous fault lines within. Candido Grzybowski, one of the original founders of the World Social Forum, who now sits on the WSF International Council, said efforts to encourage groups to combine workshops often merely resulted in "two workshops in the same room," an apt metaphor for the doggedness and insularity of activists who, accustomed to oppositional stances, are often loath to compromise. The agendas that make up social forums do compete--for attention. The forum itself is left of center, but where is the center of the forum? At the final plenary Native American activists were insulted when time limitations resulted in a speaker being cut short. In the context of the forum--a space for dialogue on race, justice and stories of oppression--the move struck the first Americans as hugely symbolic. They reacted by flooding the stage and performing a healing ritual. The conflict was resolved; in fact, it was resolved with admirable grace. But the incident underscores the problems of building a movement between spheres of regional activism and among oppressed communities.

That said, there was a freshness to the USSF. It was a coming together of activists who operate under the radar in the United States, who brought something new to the table: an army of small organizations devoted to their communities, whose efforts rarely make the evening news, acting locally but
(potentially) connecting globally. The atmosphere was distinctly "hands on"
and tutorial--political science and strategy took a back seat to insider knowledge. For instance, the Ruckus Society conducted workshops on violent and nonviolent protest, including one on "Blockades: How to Effectively Hold Your Ground," just as other groups conducted workshops on maneuvering through the criminal justice system, the practical minutiae of voter organizing, immigrant organizing and resisting college military recruitment programs. There was an identifiable thrust behind the workshops considered as a whole: Teach organizing techniques that participants can then take home and use in their own communities.

It helped--greatly--that the planning and implementation of the USSF was a model of multicultural cooperation. The majority of the administrative personnel as well as the plenary speakers were women and people of color. It was not an environment where activists and minorities were lectured to by "others"--scholars, whites, representatives of establishment NGOs. "Where was the color in Seattle?" was a common joke that parodied the 1999 Battle in Seattle, implying that antiglobalization activism and its offshoots were the domain of a privileged white middle class. The USSF reversed that impression, bringing white activists initially inspired by the WTO protests together with radicalized blacks, Latinos and indigenous Americans.

The USSF won the respect of the participants by mirroring their own grassroots efforts. It was funded with a $900,000 budget--peanuts in today's world--from sponsors, donors and registration fees, and it depended largely on the volunteer efforts of grassroots groups. For most of the implementation stage, the forum employed only three full-time staffers. If the seventh World Social Forum, held in Nairobi this past January, was by some accounts corrupted by commercial sponsors, the USSF was smaller, humbler and underfunded, but also untainted.

Although much ire at the gathering was directed against the United States, American pragmatism was in evidence in Atlanta. World Social Forums have been called confusing; in Atlanta the forum provided a space in which groups were able to make the connections they needed without the burden of having to sign off on every agenda or defend every plenary statement. The spirit of community and the welding of alliances was encouraging. "A disappointment of the grassroots left was that while there was a big response to Katrina, it wasn't an organized response," says Guerrero of Grassroots Global Justice.
"If Hurricane Katrina hit today, the response would be very different. From all the relationships that have developed here in terms of communication, infrastructure, the feeling of solidarity, we could put out a general call and create a unified response. This forum has created a different situation; there could be a much higher level of coordination."

A number of groups concerned with housing and urban issues decided to coordinate their efforts and drew up a collective "Right to the City."
Thirteen domestic workers' rights organizations from various parts of the country (New York, Los Angeles, Washington, San Francisco) voted to form a domestic workers' alliance. "We have those regions in our domestic workers'
alliance thus far. And we know of other cities where organizing is happening. We're hoping our example will inspire them," says Ai-jen Poo of Domestic Workers United.

This is movement--perhaps not "a movement" but movement-building. The best that interested parties can do now is find ways to facilitate and sustain those links until the next US Social Forum, in 2010.

The Potter Phenomenon

Mikaela says:
We write a lot here on m-pyre about community and the things that bring people together.

This predisposition has got me pondering the global phenomenon of a millions and millions of people holding their breath in anticipation of getting their hands ... on a book.

A book!

Kids lining up outside of bookstores around the world for midnight distribution on the release date (which is generating a lot of controversy in Israel, since the release is on the Sabbath). For a book!

Lola Lorber, 14, wears a wizard's hat while reading "Jane Eyre" as she waits in the prepaid line to pick up her copy of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" at Books of Wonder bookstore in New York on Friday. -- AP

Isn't this amazing?!?

I've been wracking my brain to think of a similar instance. The Star Wars movies? Lord of the Rings?

The fact that there have been 7 books helps build the anticipation and readership with each new installment. The fact that the movies don't suck and pull in fans who wouldn't normally read helps. The power of the stories, characters, and writing helps. The secrecy and integrity of the author and publishing houses have helped more than we know.

But still... it's a little overwhelming. And it's about reading! Reading is fun? Reading engenders community? Wow! We've lived to see the day.

It's got major capitalism implications, too. As far as I can figure (with very little research), the first 6 books have sold 325 copies worldwide, in over 60 languages. The 6th book sold 9 million copies in the U.K. and U.S. in its first 24 hours!

The 7th book has broken all pre-order sales records, with 2.2 and 1.4 million sales from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, respectively. The American publisher (Scholastic) has published 12 million of the latest and final book in the series, its largest-ever print run.

The first 4 movies have earned $3.5 billion in global ticket sales. The 5th movie took in $77.4 million the first weekend and is expected to rake in $1 billion worldwide.

So if you figure that the books sell for an average of $10 each that's $3.25 billion in book sales w/o the 7th book, compared to $3.5 billion for movie ticket sales for the first 4 movies.

All of this from a book!

Here at my office, where we toil away all day in silence, hardly ever chatting or even saying hello, we just had a 15 minute spontaneous conversation about books just from speaking the word Potter.

And best of all, all those millions of Book 7 are being printed on recycled paper after a successful lobbying effort by an environmental group in Canada, which got the support of the author, and now all the publishing houses have agreed to do so, saving untold acres of forests. That's the power of consumer pressure!

Harry Potter, boy wizard, community builder, saver of trees. He's made so many millions of us so very happy.


With hours to go,

M

Buy a blogging car!

Maggie says:
One day soon, fair readers, I will be able to write about things unrelated to huge life decisions and moves. But that day will not be here this month. And on that note...

Remember back in the day when I wrote about my cute new bumper stickers? Do you want them for yourself? Do you figure you might as well buy the 1989 Saab Turbo 900 the stickers are attached to while you're at it?

Well it's your lucky day!

I'm selling my car rather than traveling with it. I love this car. It was my quirky, nerdy, weird, single-girl car. (Although it's not girly, guys, never fear!) But I'm not single anymore, and the car belongs in New Mexico.

And on that note... here's my craigslist ad. Spread the word and help my blogging car find a new owner!

More Movie Madness ... Domes and Shootouts

Mikaela says:
This Friday marks the kickoff for not one but TWO film festivals done Q-style: Domefest and the Duke City Shootout.

Did you know Albuquerque is a Dome Capitol of the world? We have one of the best venues and preeminent artists of full-dome visual presentations, and we're sharing them with the world this weekend.

Domefest 2007 runs Friday through Sunday, with public screenings throughout, at the Lodestar Dome housed in the Natural History Museum in Old Town.

Here are the highlights:

3D Stereo Fulldome Show
Friday, July 20 @ LodeStar
See a host of full-color 3D stereo content from the best of both the CG and the real world. The 3D stereo demo will include original animations by collection of invited artists as well as a performance of astronomical and other scientific imagery.
Public screenings at 8:30, 9:30 & 10:30pm

2007 Juried Show & Domie Awards
Saturday, July 21 @ LodeStar
Take a 40-minute ride through the best and boldest immersive art, science, entertainment and experimentation made for fulldome. The show is comprised of short works, up to four minutes
each.
Public screenings at 8:30, 9:30 & 10:30pm

Interactive Immersive Art Performances
Sunday, July 22 @ LodeStar
The world premiere of J. Walt Adamczyk’s “Spontaneous Fantasia” real-time fulldome performance art.
Public screenings at 8:30, 9:30 & 10:30pm

Fulldome Show Screenings
Saturday & Sunday, July 21-22 @ LodeStar
Producers of up to four recent fulldome shows screen their work. Two shows will be presented each day.
Public screenings at 1, 2, 3 & 4pm

Duke City Shootout starts this Friday, too, at 7 pm with a dramatic Shotgun Start, taking place this year at the Albuquerque Studios in Mesa del Sol. After that, there's a Green Screen kickoff party at Carom Club. Finals Night w/ movie screenings & winner announcements on Saturday, July 28 at 7 pm in Kiva Auditorium.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- In a few days, seven screenwriter/directors from around the country will begin the week-long race to shoot, edit and premier their 12-minute screenplay as part of the Duke City Shootout, which will take place in Albuquerque July 20-28.

Opening Night Gala- FRIDAY, JULY 20, 8 p.m. (Carom Club, Third and Central)
The Duke City Shootout will be going "green" this year with a green carpet and green screen action. Get in front of the screen for a chance to be part of Duke City Shootout History. Screen available from 8 to 10 p.m. In addition, the first 200 green screeners will get a ticket for a green chile burger and a beer from our sponsor Santa Fe Brewing Company. Green menu and drink specials.

Insomnia Lounge- JULY 22-28 (ABQ Hyatt Sendero Ballroom)
Hang out, chill, play. Immerse yourself in a free-form mix of emerging media ,story writing, games, animation, interactive art and sound. Connect to create with other artists, live in the lounge. Plug into the latest in digital technology with professional speakers and hands-on demos from Apple, Intel, Adobe and Sony. Bring your laptops, DVD's, hard drives and mini-DV camcorders to share finished works and your ongoing projects. We bring the FireWire, you the binary code. Insomnia is open free to the public.

MiniCini Moviemaking Competition - JULY 22-27 (Insomnia Lounge)
Anyone can join the digital revolution, and vie for cool prizes. Aspiring filmmakers of any age can participate in the Shootout's "MiniCini" competition sponsored by Intel. Participants have five days to write, shoot and edit a three-minute movie around a predetermined theme. Winners receive a 15" Apple MacBook Pro.

GAMESLAM- JULY 23-27 (Insomnia Lounge at the ABQ Hyatt)
Game on! Gear up for a five-day game design clinic and competition at the Shootout's Insomnia Lounge. Participants are trained then issued a game design challenge. They create a game concept and design to pitch on Friday to a panel of game development pros. Spaces are limited.

Gala Premier- SATURDAY, JULY 28, 7 p.m. (Kiva Auditorium)
And the winner is... The public views the seven new Duke City Shootout movies filmed the previous week. Prizes are awarded, the 48 hour film festival winner and MiniCini competition winners are announced.

Film Festival Time!

Mikaela says:
Tonight's your chance to view the results of this year's 48 Hour Film Festival. Remember the mockumentary Stare Down? I sure do!

Last year was a blast at the Guild. This year may be more ... formal ... at the Kimo Theatre downtown.

Meet me there!

Filmmaking teams from throughout the New Mexico area successfully completed a weekend of filmmaking. Films were due on Sunday, July 15, and the last few minutes before the deadline saw filmmakers, operating on little sleep and lots of adrenaline, rushing to get their films in on time.

Date:	Tuesday, July 17th
Time:	Group A will screen at 7pm Group B will screen at 9:15pm
Place:	KiMo Theater, 423 Central Ave. NW, Albuquerque
Notes:	Buy Tix at the door of the KiMo for $9.

Wet your appetite for local theatre-making, because next week's the Duke City Shootout.

Woo-hoo!

Celebrating Maggie Mae

marjorie says...

As you all know by now, Maggie is leaving Albuquerque for good (although she is *not* leaving m-pyre!). Mikaela and I have decided to reserve our mourning for after she is gone and enjoy our last weeks of having Maggie right down the road from us. And part of that includes, of course, a time and a place for all of you who know and love Maggie to come say goodbye. Since we don't have all of your email addresses or phone numbers...here is an open invitation. If you would like to drop by to get one more dose of that magnificent Maggie Mae smile, you'll have your chance on Saturday evening, July 21. It's BYOB, BYOF, BYOS, all that stuff. :-)

Checking out the clouds...

marjorie says...

Who says you need a plane or a helicopter to fly? I want to be this guy!!

UPDATE: Deathly Hollow Waiting

Mikaela says:
I am on tenderhooks.

I can't sit still. I've checked my Amazon pre-order (Feb. 1, baby!).

There's nothing interesting on the web.

There's nothing to do but wait.

Tick tock, tick tock.

I've re-read the last two books to prepare for the movie and newest installment and last book of the series (sob).

Oh, Harry. I hope you're gaining strength and maturity, cause you've kinda bugged me the last few books.

Here's what I'm dying to know:

• Are they really not going to school next year? What kind of a message is that??? Should our kids similarly be thinking of skipping their senior year to fight Al Queda (or George W. for that matter, a much bigger evil in my opinion)? Ummm... no?
• Is Dumbledore really dead? Was it an Obi-Wan Kanobi kinda thing? Is he even stronger now, able to help out from the other side like Harry's parents when he squared off against Voldemort in the cemetary?
• How much kissing do we have to endure from Ron & Hermione? Ewwww...
  
• Will Ginny finally get to play a bigger role? She's been set up as one of the more talented witches, she's been taken over by Voldemort for a semester, and she's Harry's love interest. She better get to kick some ASS in this book. Harry breaking up with her to protect her? Eye roll. She needs to come to HIS rescue, especially because LOVE has been set up as the one thing Harry has over Voldemort. How many times has Dumbledore said that? Actually, having Ginny sacrifice herself for Harry like Harry's mom did would be a cool twist. Harry: The Hero Who Lives Because of the Kick-ass Women Who Love Him. That would redeem him some in my eyes. And it would balance that obsessed focus that's been given to Harry's father versus his mother. Bad boys bleh. Heroic, strong women, oh yeah.

From my planner's perspective, I'm fascinated by the latest ploy from Amazon. They've set up a competition to see which town in America has the most pre-orders. They're listed here. The Harry-est town gets a sizeable donation to a local charity. Kinda cool. Global capitalism go! (Yes, that was sarcasm.)

And the winner is ...

Falls Church, VA! Residents of Falls Church ordered more copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from Amazon.com per capita than any other town in America. As a result of Falls Church's "Harry-ness," Amazon.com is donating a $5,000 Amazon.com gift certificate to The Mary Riley Styles Public Library Foundation Trust of Falls Church.

The top 10 Harry-est Towns in the U.S.

1. Falls Church, VA
2. Gig Harbor, WA
3. Fairfax, VA
4. Vienna, VA
5. Katy, TX,
6. Media, PA,
   
7. Issaquah, WA,
   
8. Snohomish, WA,
   
9. Doylestown, PA, and
   
10. Fairport, NY

Amazon.com used the most recent U.S. Census data and included all U.S. towns and cities with a population of more than 5,000 people.