Saturday was a celebration of Southern New Mexico serendipities that began with a psychedelic sunrise over the Sacramento Mountains from my own front yard, culminating in the surreal, downright otherworldly, landscape of the Organ Mountains in Las Cruces. I embraced local authors, local artists, and local color that even included a lowrider in the historic town square of nearby Mesilla. Not to mention enjoying my first Mexican food and margarita since moving to the Land of Enchantment months ago. Delightful and delish.
It was indelibly good for my soul because, quite frankly, the past four weeks of living in an increasingly disturbing, dystopian USA have especially taken their toll, as I have no doubt they have for many.
At the first annual Southern Mexico Book Festival held at Dona Ana Community College in Las Cruces, I chatted with both fiction and nonfiction authors from Las Cruces, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe, and learned of three groups for writers that I now plan to join. First, the Las Cruces Writers, which hosted the festival. You don’t have to be a Las Cruces resident to participate in their mission of writers helping writers, supporting each other by sharing experiences and knowledge of the ever-changing book industry.
Second, the New Mexico Book Association, founded in 1994 and supporting New Mexico publishers, authors, libraries, bookstores, book designers, printers, agents, service providers, and publicists. NMBA is located in Santa Fe, with most events occurring there, but I’ll get up to our state capital eventually to perhaps participate in professional development workshops, monthly networking luncheons, and bookselling opportunities.
Third, New Mexico Writers, supporting and connecting the literary community. NM Writers is a not-for-profit organization that provides grants as well as networking and career development opportunities to aspiring and established writers from diverse communities throughout New Mexico and the greater Navajo Nation.
I’d say the Land of Enchantment is a writer-friendly place, in addition to having delectable food and eclectic art. After the book festival, which I attended with my new, also-author friend from Alamogordo and her husband, we lunched at the historic La Posta de Mesilla, an adobe cantina that’s been serving up salsa since 1939. I learned that Mesilla is its own village—not part of the city of Las Cruces as I had mistakenly thought when first visiting back in 2006.
Indeed, Mesilla was a major stop on the Butterfield Overland Stage and a prominent settlement before becoming part of the US with the 1853 Gadsden Purchase. Famous for its Billy the Kid connection, historic architecture in the town plaza, and other southwestern culture.
I soaked up a bit of that culture by visiting the Mesilla Valley Fine Arts Gallery, a cooperative of artists from southern New Mexico and western Texas. One of the longest continuously operated co-op galleries in NM, in business since 1994. It showcases various media, and includes notecards and prints of paintings and photography. I did my part in supporting local artists by acquiring several prints for my adobe abode, including one of nearby White Sands National Park in autumn.
A gratifying day and a lovely drive up and over the hills past White Sands Missile Range to New Mexico’s second largest city of Las Cruces and the geological marvel that is the Organ Mountain range.
Tomorrow is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, even more relevant in the land now called New Mexico. Home to 23 federally recognized tribes, including 19 Pueblos, the Navajo Nation, and three Apache tribes: the Jicarilla, Mescalero, and Fort Sill Apache .
In my Other Worldly series, protagonist Rowan Layne and her Red Orbiter alien pals like to snark it up about Americans designating a dubious October holiday for an Italian explorer who never actually set foot in what is now the USA (because America encompasses a great deal more than our struggling nation), not to mention naming so many landmarks after the 15th century marauder, including our Nation’s Capital. Sheesh.
Here in the Land of Enchantment that particular holiday is thankfully no longer recognized, so happy Indigenous Peoples Day!