First impressions of Alburquerquerwesadea or however you spell it

It’s a leisurely five hour drive, you tell yourself as you mentally prepare for the trip from Pueblo, Colorado to Albuquerque, New Mexico. You’ll have time to collect your thoughts.

The problem, of course, is that my head is mostly empty aside from useless facts gopher tortoises and Lou Gehrig’s baseball statistics. There’s really not five hours of thinking in there. So after about one and a half hours of pondering over whether or not gravy is a condiment you look down and realize that you still have three hours to go. It’s a long drive.

But drive I did, past the Spanish Peaks that I confronted last year, on through Trinidad, passing through Las Vegas and finally arriving at Albuquerque around 4pm this afternoon. I was pretty gassed, and not just because one of my coworkers failed to leave me a full tank, causing me to refill at a Love’s along the way.

I haven’t had a lot of time to explore yet, but I did meet up with a colleague of mine from here and we went to see an area called Old Town, which has one of those big food halls. Lots of cool grub and such. But nothing really beckoned. We did see this cool statue. Like a lot of places in the Southwest, New Mexico has no shortage of statues depicting the colonial era. Artistically, these things are beautiful to look at. But to image the brutality visited upon human beings by conquistadors…it’s tough. So I kind of admire the work of the artist, but try to think about what’s going on here. As I saw this from a distance I worried it was Don Juan Onate. Nope. This is Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdes, who founded the town in 1706. The statue itself was created in the 1980s and dedicated in 1988. I’d be interested in learning the history of statue itself. Alas, I am tired and I still have more witty reparte to share with you.

That still left dinner. Famished, I did what any sane man would do: I texted my ex-wife, who while having a documented poor choice in men has an otherwise excellent palate. Christine recommended Frontier, an otherwise nondescript joint selling approximately everything under the sun. What followed next was the greatest burrito of my life: a perfect combination of beef, beans, cheese, spices, and wrapped in a homemade tortilla. And friends, of course they served Coca-Cola. It was magical and even worth listening to my kids’ mom tell me that she was right (again). Plus, I got to scare off a tweaker hovering near the car.¹ So that was nice.

And so be it. Tomorrow is jam packed with meetings. It’s the first Equity Summit the Forest Service has ever hosted, so I’m curious to see what comes of it. I hope good things.

---

Essential reading

While I’m not a specialist in the Southwest, I know enough to give you some good recommendations if you’d like to learn more. There’s a bunch to choose from, but if I have to pick one, I’m gonna go with James Brooks’ Captives and Cousins: Slavery, Kinship, and Community in the Southwest Borderlands. James is the kind of scholar I’d like to be when I grow up. He works with Tribal nations, writes beautifully, and most important to me, is exceedingly kind. I don’t know him well, but he’s always been warm with his generosity, either offering advice or an encouraging word here or there. I often turn to him for thoughts on the region and its history. He’s always responded. Damn good human. Anyway, this book won the Bancroft (a really big deal for historians) back in 2002 and I’ve bought it twice now. If you’re looking to learn more, it’s a great place to start.

---

One Last Thing

I want to write more about this later on so I won’t spoil it here, but I started listening to Rex Chapman’s autobiography today. Perhaps you know him from his basketball career, his struggles with addiction, or his comeback via social media. Folks, this book is powerful stuff. He does not pull punches. It is witty, reflective, remorseful, and at times painful to hear. It’s really, really good. I’ll finish it this week. I need to write about this.

Talk soon.

-J

1. Me, points to sky: “Hey man is that a dragon?”

Tweaker, pausing his approach and turns to the heavens: “whu—”

Me: gets in car very fast.