Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Esports is a good example of what’s wrong with our world today and what the schools are doing right about it. In case you haven’t heard of it, at the middle and high school levels, esports is basically video gaming as a competitive team. Some call it a “mind sport” along the lines of a board or card game, taking its place as one of many “cybersports” online. Regardless of how you cast it, esports is growing in popularity in schools around the country. In 2019, the New Mexico Activities Association sanctioned esports as...
Maybe I wrote Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s political obituary too soon. Not so long ago, after the governor issued a public health order restricting the carry and concealment of guns in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, a firestorm of protests broke out statewide. Some Second Amendment proponents defiantly brandished their firearms in public protests over her order, and even some of her fellow Democrats said she was overreaching her constitutional authority. It made national news and Lujan Grisham was widely criticized. I...
When I was a young man (a college dropout searching for meaning and fun in the 1970s), I made my way to Washington D.C., where I visited the Thomas Jefferson Memorial with a couple of friends. I wasn’t well-versed in history at that age, and they set me straight when I idolized this Founding Father, a fellow Southerner whose words set in motion the ideal of human equality. I’ve since learned that great and wonderful things are often set in motion by seriously flawed people, and now that I know a more complete story of Thomas...
Let’s be honest about the hypocrisy coming out of both political parties when it comes to gerrymandering. Both sides do it when given the opportunity and both sides decry the other side for doing it — all depending only on who’s in power at the moment the maps get redrawn. If you want a definition for “gerrymander,” here’s Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s: “to divide or arrange (a territorial unit) into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage.” And if you want to see an example of gerrymande...
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I grew up on them. They were the first thing I learned to make in the kitchen. That and a glass of milk. Microwaves hadn’t been invented yet. Playing basketball on a dirt patch in our back yard. That’s where I learned to dribble and shoot with one hand. And football in our front yard. When no one else was around, I’d take the hike from an imaginary center, drop back and throw to the trees, believing that I was the star quarterback for the Arkansas Razorbacks, the only college team that...
I’m conflicted. The American in me doesn’t want Donald Trump to ever again come close to the presidency. A second time around would be a move away from democracy and toward an autocracy, which sounds very un-American to me. The partisan side of me, however, sees another Trump nomination as great for the Democrats. First, the odds are Trump will lose again in the general election, dragging other Republicans down with him, maybe even giving all of Congress back to the Dems. With Trump at the top of the ticket in 2024, the Rep...
Seldom is a governor’s second term as bright as their first term; the gubernatorial luster loses its shine for one reason or another. With the late, great Bill Richardson, it was “pay to play.” With Susana Martinez, it was “pizzagate.” And now, with Michelle Lujan Grisham, it’s an overreaching public health order. Don’t get me wrong, Gov. Lujan Grisham is no lame duck. She still has three years left as governor of a state controlled by Democrats, so she still wields considerable power. But her order to temporarily b...
Out here in the Land of Enchantment, we have many trails. We have the Space Trail, which includes more than 50 archeological sites, museums, laboratories, observatories and more scattered around the state — but mostly concentrated in southern New Mexico. We’ve got petroglyphs showing pre-historic stargazers at work and modern-day observatories like the Very Large Array and its ability to look deep into space, both into and beyond our own Milky Way. Meanwhile, New Mexico’s Museum of Space History in Alamogordo provides us with...
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more consequential New Mexican than Bill Richardson. He was a U.S. congressman and New Mexico governor, a cabinet secretary, an ambassador to the United Nations, a diplomat at-large, and for a few months in 2007-08, a candidate for president. Richardson died Sept. 1 at age 75. William Blaine Richardson III was born in Pasadena, Calif., grew up in Mexico City and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Tufts University in Massachusetts, where he met his future wife, Barbara Flavin. In 1978, Bi...
Often I’ve said that my dad wasn’t the “greatest” man I’ve ever known, but he was the “best” man I’ve known. In my book, that puts Dad over Bill Clinton any day. Let’s apply that to nations. The U.S. is the greatest nation on earth, as long as you equate greatness with wealth and power. But “best” we are not. Nearly a year ago, U.S. News & World Report put out its seventh annual “Best Countries Rankings” and we weren’t even in the top three. But at least we moved up from the previous year. Surprisingly (or not), the...
Before I realized it was the FBI, not the Secret Service, that killed an alleged wannabe assassin, I got to thinking about an old movie, “In the Line of Fire,” and fished it out of my DVD collection to watch again. It’s about a Secret Service agent played by Clint Eastwood and a would-be assassin played by John Malkovich — and it’s still well worth watching. Let me say on the front end that I consider Eastwood one of the greatest moviemakers of our time, although he didn’t “make” this one. He starred in it, yes, but Wolfga...
I remember when I was a kid, an adult or two told me “ain’t” wasn’t a word. “It’s not in the dictionary,” they said. I don’t remember ever looking it up to see if they were right, but I can say it’s in there now, along with who-knows how many other slang words that decorate our great American lexicon. Every year, dictionaries add words and terms — to make them “officially” part of our language, I suppose. And, of course, all our “new words” say something about the twists and turns of our modern culture. For example: “Near...
Since it’s so hot outside, maybe you’ll appreciate the chilling nature of a recent National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration report, which says there were 18 major climate and weather disasters last year alone. Each one cost at least $1 billion in recovery costs, while altogether they cost us $165 billion. The U.S. is in its eighth straight year of 10 or more such extreme weather disasters. This year we’ve already had 12, and that’s not even counting the oppressive heat that’s been bearing down on most of the Northern He...
Most people move because of a job. But nowadays, some are moving because of the politics. That’s according to a recent Associated Press report that highlights people who are packing up and moving to other states because they don’t feel they can express themselves freely where they currently reside. AP reporter Nicholas Riccardi gives examples of individuals and couples who have left their “blue” state for a “red” state, and visa versa. The list includes conservative Californians who moved to Idaho, and liberal Texans movi...
Hot enough for you? Well, brace yourself, it’s going to get worse. As I write this, an unprecedented heat wave is gripping much of our nation and world. Scientists are saying this could turn out to be the hottest year on record — at least until next year, when it could be hotter. Scientists have been predicting this incoming disaster for more than a century, since about the onset of the industrial revolution. Or, if you’d rather count the years in which pop culture made us aware, it’s been 17 years since Al Gore release...
Contrary to what some of you think, patriotism isn’t about who fires the largest firecracker. I get weary of people who equate fireworks and flag waving with patriotism. It makes me want to break out in John Prine’s old tune, “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore … They’re already overcrowded for your duty little war …” Sure, it’s a Vietnam War protest song from way back, but it still makes a mockery of the superficial gestures of patriotism we so often see around Independence Day. It reminds me of another cul...
Sometimes I think I “own” the supporters of Trump, the way they seek to “own” the liberals. All I have to do is make a case against Donald Trump and they come out of the woodwork. Often, they take issue with me over the issues rather than Trump per se; more often they attack me as a person. I’ve been called un-American and unpatriotic, a liar, a baby killer, a hater, and most of all — gasp — a liberal. None of that really bothers me because I know they’re wrong about me, except of course for the liberal part. Let the record...
Sometimes I wonder if I control my technology or if technology now controls me. I say this while sitting in my house with no internet. A defective router, or something, will have to wait until Monday, when I can get it fixed or replaced. That leaves me a weekend without my “smart” TV, an incessant flow of emails and an offline computer that only works off its “desktop.” Sure, I’ve still got a working smart phone, which for many is all they need — but not me, since I’m not into the apps that turn such devices into a mini-me. I...
If New Mexico Republicans want to regain any sort of footing for power in this state, they’d better start distancing themselves from former President Donald Trump in a hurry. I say this for a number of reasons, and not just because I’m mostly liberal, which makes consecutives want to “own” me, which they’ve yet to succeed at doing. The fact is, the Republicans own very little in this state’s body politic — they’re a deep minority in both legislative chambers, they lost every executive position race there is in 2018 and 202...
Crazy weather we’ve been having lately, don’t you think? Lots of rain and hail, well ahead of the monsoon season. After 18 years living in New Mexico, I’ve come to appreciate the volatility of our weather, having been through several extreme events through the years. I once drove across Bobcat Pass at the Taos-Colfax county line in a blizzard. I drove — more like crawled, actually — over the pass with maybe 10 feet of visibility and down into Red River, where I was able to get behind a state truck “salting” and plowing its w...
Credibility. It’s something that every legitimate journalist needs, and the good ones work hard to protect it. It’s also something citizens need to consider, because there are a lot of deceptive news sources out there. Be careful who you trust. Of course, trust isn’t just a gut feeling, it grows through experience. If a journalist has a track record of fair and accurate reporting, along with a dedication to the facts above all else, then you’ve got a credible, trustworthy journalist. The same can be said for the media outlets...
A recent trip from Small Town America to Big City USA got me thinking about the differences between those who live in our cities and those who make their homes in small towns or out in the country. If you look at a color-coded political map, you’ll see a massive sea of red dotted with islands of blue, and purple shorelines. Republicans dominate the rural areas of America, Democrats own the cities, and a battle continues for control of the suburbs. But, with only a few exceptions, that’s not indicative of how we all live. Dee...
This month, just about every newspaper in the state will give some front-page attention to at least one local graduation. They’re always a big deal, especially to those who walk across that ceremonial stage and make their families proud. Graduations mark a transition in our lives, but sometimes I think they’re overemphasized. Anyone who thinks a high school diploma or college degree is a ticket to success is sadly mistaken. It’s just a ticket to ride. You still have to get there on your own. But rather than continuing with...
Ten years ago, I launched the Community News Exchange of New Mexico. Specifically, I wanted to help independent newspapers, mostly locally owned weeklies, by providing quality, relevant news and commentary as a supplement to their local content. Just weeks earlier, I was publisher of the Las Vegas Optic facing another corporate-ordered downsizing. I was being told to permanently shut down the newspaper’s press, lay off (more) workers and plan to (again) reduce the frequency of our publication, and I just couldn’t stomach tha...
It’s not easy to face, but I’m beginning to wrap my head around it: We might indeed have a Biden-Trump rematch in 2024. Of course, that’s what the talking heads have been saying all along. Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president months ago, and Joe Biden just came out with his own “official” announcement last month. As it stands now, Trump’s leading the pack among his party’s wannabes, and Biden’s a shoo-in for his party’s nomination — so a rematch is, unfortunately, possible if not probable. Maybe it should be...
