I learned from her how to make lists, to ask questions about everything, to embrace warmly, to listen to others and to enjoy heart-touching beautiful music. She was scrupulously honest. She hated lies, cigarettes and injustice.
From her decades of junk food addiction, not enough exercise and being very fat, she suffered severe illness. She accumulated much stuff she did not need, yet she longed to live simply. So I have become strongly devoted to healthy food, vigorous exercise and living simply.
She spoke up for the underdog. She expressed her feelings intensely—love, sorrow, romance, rage and laughter. Young at heart and treasuring freedom, she hated attempts to put her on the shelf as a quiet, tame old lady.
After she died in 1982, I felt the overwhelming homesickness for her that she felt for me when I would leave our Illinois farm to return to Albuquerque. She would go to the stairway (my bedroom was upstairs) and call out my name. Then, she would listen to the silence and cry passionately from the depths of her heart.
For her epitaph on her gravestone, I chose these words: “Deep feelings, strong determination, and how she loved to give.”
I wish I had seen and said all these things much more to her than I did when she was alive.
The best way to honor our departed loved ones is to keep reaching out as long as we live—to be a better, wiser friend to those alive because of the love and lessons from our loved ones passed away.
Save The Mural
I am writing in search of an opportunity to communicate my concerns to the public over the desecration of the mural that was created by youth in 1999 on the main public library in downtown Albuquerque. I do not want to see the mural taken down permanently.
I was an active student participant in the design and execution of that public artwork. In 1999, I was also the media representative concerning the controversy around the location and execution of the mural. That summer, to me, was one of the most meaningful, fulfilling times in my life, and it breaks my heart to see it come down due to building restructuring and remodeling, especially since the reason for the controversy in the first place was to not alter the building itself (which was referred to as an “architectural gem”). In addition, I find it discouraging to the youth of New Mexico, sending a message that when they do make a positive contribution to society, it will not last and it is not valued. (And people wonder why our youth gets into trouble nowadays.)
I would like to voice my views to the public in hopes that we will be able to find another home for the mural. Please, if you are interested, you can contact me via the following: mmontano53@msn.com
Just Two Things
Perhaps, if Capra were more forthcoming, I might even find enough supporting information to side closer with him on his estimates of ground water supply.
But I can’t get too worked up over it. The focus of my original op-ed that Scarantino cited was actually on the inequity in media coverage between Otero Mesa and Crownpoint, N.M. I think the battle between ENDAUM (Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining) and a complex of governmental and commercial interests is a much bigger story, if only because the drinking water supply of 15,000 people is now at stake.
Sound Of Silence
I was raised with Republicans that were principled, who valued honesty, integrity and personal freedom and would have been abhorred to see what these new Republican leaders are doing in their name. I hear individual Republicans speaking out against these strong-arm tactics, but rarely in the public discussion
As far-fetched as it seems, is something being put in the water or is there a man with a little moustache nearby?
In awe of the missing voices,
Simpletons
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