Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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I've occasionally written about controversial subjects as a columnist here since 2004. Sometimes I'd hear, "I like your column, but I don't agree with everything you say." I'd respond, "That's OK; we agree to disagree!" As any sound-minded editor, including David Stevens, who I thank for letting me write here, would say, any news is good news. When readers respond, good or bad, they're reading. And so now, as I sign off from the Portales News-Tribune with this last column, I can't end it without a few last topics in which we...
This is my next to the last column before saying goodbye to you, my Portales readers. Before my ode to peanut butter milkshakes and minus one grouch, let's talk about Kindle. Uncle Manny and Aunt Matilda gave me a Kindle for Christmas. I love my handheld library. However, I miss highlighting things with real highlighters. My editor in Hobbs said his Kindle saves bookshelf space. But there's something comforting about a backdrop of hard covers. This got me thinking about the fate of newspapers, you know, that pre-technology...
During this time of year, it’s so easy to lose sight of the reason for the season. It’s also not that hard to rediscover it. I remember one Christmas, when I lived in Abilene, Texas, and my daughter Laura wanted a Barber Shop Cash Register. I called Wal-Mart Supercenter. They were out. Abilene was a two Wal-Mart town and so I called the other Wal-Mart. They only had one left. A lady promised to hold the Barbie Shop Cash Register for me at the customer service desk. And so I raced across town during my lunch hour. When I got... Full story
My niece, Marili, was telling me and my other niece, Mireya, how challenging her college geology class has been. I was like, “geology?” And my eyes lit up. Of course, when I was Marili’s age, I couldn’t care less about the sciences. I guess I’m trying to make up for lost years now. I’ve become a research buff on history, media, religion, literature, and I’m even open to the earth sciences, and so I thought I was clever when I blurted out, “geology rocks!” Marili and Mireya burst out laughing. Marili thought it was cute. But...
When I lived in Abilene, Texas, a fanatical preacher wrongly predicted a seven-year drought during a desperate dry spell like we’re experiencing this heated summer. At the risk of sounding not-as-fanatical, I predict a major quenching over our Llano Estacado during fair week. Never fails. I don’t recommend a do-it-yourself rain dance. But this reminds me of the summer of 2005 when I went to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico with an Eastern New Mexico University group. We were at Uxmal Mayan ruins and climbed a pyramid str...
To shoot a musician in the hand is as cruel as piercing a sword through his heart. That is the sad ending in Robert Rodriguez’s 1995 movie, “El Mariachi.” The villain takes away El Mariachi’s livelihood. Last week my dad had a near fatal accident with an electric handsaw. The saw bounced back from his hand and sliced his wrist. Dad often wears gloves but wasn’t that day. My sister Julie’s boyfriend, Pollo, rushed dad to the emergency room. The doctor said the saw missed an artery by an inch. Thank goodness Dad didn’t lose... Full story
I’m 43 years young. I’ve got a few white hairs mixing in with my bangs. I’m not afraid to show them, and someday soon, my 6-month old grandson, Giovanni, will babble words and perhaps call me something crazy, like “grandma.” Grandma is a title I’ve respectfully earned. No substitute. Not my first name. Not my middle name. Not something as ridiculous as “Glam-Ma,” a term actress Goldie Hawn coined so as not to feel “old.” According to UrbanDictionary.com, “If 60 is the new 40, then GlamMa is the new grandma, a woman with... Full story
When my sister Julie gets really hungry she says, “My big tripas are eating my little tripas.” This translates into, “My big gut is eating my little gut” or as my Uncle Paul’s wife, Roxanne, of Arkansas, says, “My belly button is about to munch on my spine.” Most of us know the saying, “I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse.” My son-in-law, Nino, told me one of his sayings, “I’m starving like a hostage.” That’s new to me, but I get the picture. When my daughter Laura says she’s starving, I correct her and say, “Laura, you’re n...
There was always that one house on the way to school you’d avoid as a kid. For us, it was the home of A-Ri-Ti-Ti-Ti-Di, perhaps a Spanish form of Rin Tin Tin, a scary looking, elderly man who set dogs loose on us. Maybe we deserved it. I don’t know how he got the nickname. Was it earned or unfairly given? Growing up in the 1970s, I have some good walking-to-school-in-the-snow stories to share with my grandson, Giovanni. It wasn’t miles in the snow like my grandparents, but sometimes that two blocks to W.E. Lindsey in north Po...
I’m weird. I know. People occasionally tell me. But what’s weirder than being told you’re weird? How about being told you’re normal? That would be weird. If someone tells me I’m normal that would be abnormal. I wouldn’t take that as a compliment like I do being told I’m weird. Occasionally, my son-in-law , Bernardino, calls me old-fashioned. A compliment, even in my early forties. Recently, my sister Nana tried to pull a white hair from my head. I was offended and snapped, “I earned that and you’re not going to take it...
How long do you leave the Christmas tree up? Some people have already undecked the halls. Some did it the day after Christmas, perhaps even on Christmas day, as soon as gifts were unwrapped. I leave my Christmas tree up until July 4. Not really. However, I believe Christmas is a season, not a one-day affair. Shame on retailers who had Christmas stuff out before Halloween and hauled it away on Dec. 26. I used to leave my Christmas tree up until New Year’s Day, but then my friend Marsha told us she leaves her tree up until J... Full story
My Christmas cards will be late this year, but after a joyfully chaotic move during Advent, I was determined not to let die in my household this holiday tradition which requires pen and ink, not a keyboard, and actual stamps, not merely a “send” button. On Sunday night, my dining room table was scattered with brightly colored Christmas cards as I wished family and friends across New Mexico, Texas and Arkansas a Feliz Navidad. I know this tradition won’t die in my household. My son-in-law, Nino, got into the Chris... Full story
During Advent, many people go to the Holy Land to get to the true reason for the Christmas season. Nuevo Mejicanos don’t have to travel to feel like we’re in holy land. In his 1974 book, “My Penitente Land,” Fray Angelico Chavez, a Franciscan priest and writer commended by T.S. Eliot, compares New Mexico’s deserts and mountains to ancient Palestinian landscapes and beautifully compares the Exodus across the River Jordan to the Spanish crossing the Rio Grande. The late Chavez compares the Bible’s earliest protagonist...
Less than three hours before my 43rd birthday last Wednesday, I became a grandma. In witnessing my grandson, Giovanni’s birth, Scriptures came to mind, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5) and “I have called you by name” (Isaiah 43). I prayed for my daughter Laura to have a safe delivery. I knew it wouldn’t be pain-free, even with the last-minute epidural, which the nurse, Dina, explained, “Is God’s gift to women for Eve eating the apple.” Laura wasn’t spared pain but she courageously experi... Full story
According to New York Times best-seller Caroline Myss, synchronicity is an intellectual code for “divine action behind the scenes.” Using the example of “parking angels” she says synchronicity is when the right parking place shows up in front of you when you‘re running late. During Labor Day weekend, I dreaded finding a parking spot at South Plains Mall in Lubbock when I went to meet my daughter, Laura, to buy decorations for her baby shower. Laura got to the mall with her in-laws first and they had to park far away. When I g...
When my daughter Laura announced she was naming her soon-to-arrive baby boy, Giovanni, I said, “Is that a saint’s name?” In my Hispanic culture, I always heard children should have saints’ names. Why do you think there are so many people named Maria, Jose and even Jesus? I Googled and was pleasantly surprised. Giovanni’s an Italian name shared by many holy men. Pope Leo X’s name was Giovanni. One of my favorite saints, Padre Pio, spent many years at San Giovanni Rotondo in Italy and Giovanni was the name of another of...
For more than four decades, Gloria Ortega was a familiar face at Eastern Plains Head Start. Though she retired as site manager in 2007, Ortega continued, up until her illness over a year ago, to be an active volunteer with the program. Ortega began her association with Head Start in 1972 as a teacher’s aide, and thereafter had grandchildren and great-grandchildren go through the program. She also saw generations of other children grow up after leaving the school’s doors. On Thursday, the Portales Head Start honored Ort... Full story
The best Halloween costume party I went to was in 1998, hosted by a fellow newspaper reporter in Hobbs, who instructed us to come as a “news story.” After I describe the news stories we were, you may think we were sick-minded, overworked, underpaid, cynical journalists. You’re right. In our defense, I’ll compare us ambulance chasers to, well, how about ambulance drivers. In our profession, we resorted to humor, like others do, to cope with some not-so-humorous news stories. Otherwise “Meet the Press” would be “Meet the D... Full story
According to Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces, “spirituality” is something all Americans crave and social media, such as Facebook and YouTube as well as consumerism, are having a major impact on this quest but not always for the better. Ramirez spoke about “Youth and Spirituality” Thursday at Eastern New Mexico University as a part of an ongoing observance of Hispanic Heritage Month. About 15 students and staff, both Catholic and non-Catholic, attended the one-hour, non-denominational talk. ... Full story
How many of you would trade in your brothers and sisters for a lump of cash? Sounds tempting. Kinda like Cash for Gold. But seriously, would you trade in your siblings for a bigger inheritance from your parents? There are some things money can’t buy; the constant annoyance, catch-scratch fights and squabbling with our “parents’ children.” Of course, with that comes irreplaceable memories, life lessons and love-hate relationships we wouldn’t trade for anything. How many an only child longs for a sibling? I have four sisters....
It’s welcoming news to my lead foot that a traffic light is going up at Main and Second streets to replace the four-way stop sign, although I’d prefer the good old days when you could cruise, non-stop, all the way to Wal-Mart. What does this mean for Portales? We’ll become a five-stoplight town. I remember when we were only a three-stoplight town, which some of my college friends from Denver equated to being a one-horse town. More importantly, the stoplight will serve as another local landmark. Just tell people, “Keep...
I’m pathetically bad at remembering people’s names, but many people are just as bad at remembering mine. I have an idea who most people are; the problem is putting names to faces. But when people see my face, they tend to want to give me different names. They’ll say, “I know you. You’re one of those Rodriguez girls. You’re the one who works at Super Save?” I shake my head no. “You cut hair?” I shake my head no again. “You work at Head Start?” No again. Finally, “Oh yeah, you’re the one who writes for the newspaper.” Bingo... Full story
I’m totally ecstatic. One of my all-time favorite books, “Bless Me Ultima,” is being made into a movie, a challenging project which will be hard to please devoted Rudolfo Anaya fans such as myself, and also critics. Anaya has plenty of both. Anaya’s book has been hailed by critics, including Laura Bush, who places “Bless Me Ultima,” on her top 10 reads of all time. On the other side, though, his coming-of-age novel has been banned by some school districts. When I first picked up Anaya’s novel one summer, during my pre-teen ye...
As promised last week, here’s the story of how I unexpectedly got a new pair of shoes in second grade, and it wasn’t back-to-school, Christmas or Easter, the only times when we did get new clothes and new shoes. One evening, mom took my sister Becky to the Gibson’s store for a new pair of shoes. She had a school program. I told mom I wanted a new pair of shoes too, but she said no; my shoes, a worn pair of black-and-white sneakers, still had lots of walking left in them. Now, I didn’t plan on getting a new pair of shoes,...
Portales Ram Band students tooted their own horns on Thursday night as they wrapped up two weeks of band camp with a preview concert for parents of their upcoming marching season. Marching to the 1980s rock beat of “Mr. Roboto,” the fall music and marching show will feature music by Styx in order to appeal to multiple generations of football game-going fans. “One of our primary audiences is the football crowd, so we want to make our halftime show exciting for the general audience, not just for judges,” said Jennifer Johnson...
