What better way to introduce a poet and writer than with one of her poems? So, here it is:

Lake Valley

At the end of the road, there is a gate

It is an old gate

The kind that takes two arms to pull

Common rez courtesy means the passenger opens the gate

while the driver passes through

The mud ruts make everything hard

An abandoned one room house keeps guard at the gate

Someone told me once a family of five lived there

I don’t know if it’s true, but it could be

There is a thrum in the ground

Petrified wood scatters with pottery shards

The wind carries small porous pebbles of ancient lava

In the distance, I see a group of wild horses

The days of taming them are gone

The road has alternate paths forward

A way cut through when the rains came

At the end of the road is the house, hogan, and corral

A lonely tornado ruined the house long ago

someone told me

Many people once came here for ceremony

My grandfather sat at the head of the hogan

A circle of us sat along the wall

Tobacco smoke holding the room, keeping us warm

There was blue corn mush and elk meat with piñon

There was tea in a pail


There was sweet corn and canned fruit

I used to pick out the cherries for myself

The thrum tenderized the ground

The drum pulled the room inward to the fireplace

A song carried out the chimney, ribboned with wind

that finds me here today, years later

opening a gate for ghosts to pass through

Santana Shorty

A good poem captures your attention by building a multi-dimensional picture: it creates a rhythmic, visual image which is imbued with your feelings, memories, and thoughts, as if tiny hooks would pull little snippets from your mind and weave them into a reflection of the words you read. At least, that’s my experience reading Santana’s poem, and now I want to learn more. When did she start writing poetry, how did she become a writer? Although she has a full schedule, Santana graciously agreed to chat with me.

She was born in Santa Fe and grew up in Abiquiú, Santana told me. The family lived in Plaza Blanca, and when she was about eight years old her parents separated. She and her Mom moved to Barranco while her Dad moved to Lindrith, a small village past Coyote and Gallina.

Santana’s father is Navajo, and she is a member of the Navajo Nation. Her mother is Anglo and has been a teacher at Abiquiú Elementary for many years. Santana started school there, then went to Fairview Elementary in Espanola for a couple of years because her mother was teaching there, and then returned  to Abiquiú for fifth and sixth grade, again because her mother was teaching there. For middle- and high school she attended  the Santa Fe Indian School in Santa Fe.

​“My mother is an amazing teacher,” Santana told me. “She's taught for  25 years, and she always stuck with elementary, first grade, second grade, those are her favorites. She encouraged my and my sister's artistic interests, she really nourished those. I've always been a big reader, and she got me the books I wanted to read. So I've been reading a lot ever since I was really young, and I've been writing since I was really young. My Mom  did a remodel recently and found a bunch of boxes filled with things that she had collected over the years. In some of the boxes there were some journals with poetry I wrote when I was six years old.”

How nice of her mother to preserve all these early records! I bet it was fun to sort through them.

​For middle- and highschool, Santana was a dorm student at the Santa Fe Indian School, something that was both challenging and enriching. On the one hand, it was hard because she loved Abiquiú and being with her family. She would try to spend the weekends at home, but often Cross Country and Track and Field events took place on Saturdays. It was inconvenient to go home for one night and be back at the school by Sunday afternoon, so she would stay for close to two weeks sometimes. On the other hand, it taught her self-reliance and independence.

“I was valedictorian of my school, and I got a full-ride scholarship to go to Stanford, which is where I went for my undergraduate studies,” Santana explained. “One of my main extracurriculars was poetry.”

I wanted to hear more about Santana’s poetry. She had mentioned that she wrote poems at an early age – what motivated her? Is it even possible to put that impulse into words?

She had to think about this for a moment. “For me, it is a way of processing the world,” she answered. “The artistic component is a byproduct of trying to understand life and experiences. It's not always that I want to write a good poem. It's that I have something on my mind that I can't let go of. The only way for me to satisfactorily explore that is via poetry. And then afterwards I recognize that I have a piece here that I want to work with.”

This is so interesting. It’s almost as if something is nagging her, as if a poem knocks on her head and wants to come in and then she has to explore the meaning of it.

Santana explained further: “A lot of artists have their little obsessions, the things that they have to return to again and again, and maybe at some point they can move on to the next thing. It's part of that. You have to get it out of your system, you have to explore this thing so many times, until you can finally put it to rest and don’t have to think about it anymore.”

​And what are the things that want to be explored, I wanted to know. Do they come from the past? Or from relationships? Do they come from nature?

“For me, what tends to be knocking usually comes from nature,” I learned.  “I write a lot of poetry about landscape, and the desert. New Mexico. That's something I can always write about, and will forever be obsessed with. Sometimes it also can be current events or a life experience.”

She continued telling me about her education: “I went to Stanford in the Bay Area, and I graduated with a biology degree. I didn't really know what I wanted to do, so I ended up in the tech industry, and I worked in the tech industry for a long time in the Bay Area. In 2019 I moved back to New Mexico because I missed it and I wasn't really happy in the Bay Area anymore. I tried to pivot into a career in the public sector and I worked for the Santa Fe Public School District in their Native American Student Services Program. I was hoping to shift into a full time government position, but then the pandemic hit, and there was a hiring freeze. So I went back to the tech sector because it was reliable.”

​“I was working for a bank creating banking software,” Santana continued. “During all this time I was writing. I wanted to get more experience with writing, I wanted to learn how to write more formally. So I started to take some continuing education classes with UNM and the Institute of American Indian Arts, and eventually one of the teachers encouraged me to apply for the IAIA’s MFA program in creative writing. But  I didn't know if I was good enough, I didn't know if I had the credentials. My Dad also went to IAIA in the 80s for Studio Arts. He's a sculptor and a painter. And so eventually one of my poetry teachers from the Continuing Ed classes pushed me a little: ‘Come on, you should have already applied!’ So I did, was accepted, and started the program in 2022.”

It was fascinating to listen to Santana. “It was the best decision of my life, I found my people and my community in that cohort. I had started a novel, and the program helped me finish the novel, I finished the first draft in February of last year, and I graduated in May. After getting my MFA I really wanted to have my writing passion mimic my day-to-day existence. It felt as if I had split personalities, my big-girl banking job in the daytime, and then writing at night. What job could I do that would enable me to do both?”

“And then two weeks after my graduation the president of NMSA (New Mexico School for the Arts) here in Santa Fe called me and said that they had an opening for the Creative Writing Department chair position! I applied, started the interview process, and they offered me the job at the end of June last year. So I gave notice to my banking job, moved to Santa Fe, and started as the department chair. Now I teach creative writing to high school students, run the department, and I still get to work on my own creative projects and writing. Life has really shifted in the last year to align with my ultimate dream job.”

​Doesn’t this sound  fantastic? We often have to work jobs simply  to make money, jobs that are not ideal. But Santana could give up her banking job and now pursue her passion. She can work in a field that is most dear to her heart and that supports her. That's so  impressive.

Santana agreed. “For a long time, I didn't think of it seriously. I just thought of writing as my hobby. For many years, especially after graduating college, I didn't know what my dream job would be. I knew what my dream or my passion was, but to turn this into a job that would support me? I didn’t think that was possible. But I tried new things and pushed myself out of my comfort zone,  and that’s how I found out what my dream job could be. Yes, I'm going to take a big pay cut from the fancy tech job, but I'm going to be so much happier.”

What are some other goals, I asked her.

“My short term goals: over the next five years, I want to grow this department and bring it to the next level. During my first year I made a lot of changes, and I'm excited that I have the experience now to improve even further. And I'd really like to finish revising the novel I've been revising since last summer. Starting a new job takes a lot of energy, and I had less time to dedicate to the novel during this school year. I want  to find a better balance with that for the next school year. Revise the novel and find a literary agent who is aligned with me and my writing values. And eventually get the novel published. Plus, I have a lot of poetry that I'd like to compile and edit into a collection.”

​“And I want to do smaller writing projects along the way,” Santana went on.  “I have an essay that'll be coming out shortly with resilience magazine, it’s a creative non-fiction essay. I’d like to take on some journalism projects. I'd love to apply for artist residencies and make space for professional development in that area. And, personally, I love Santa Fe, I was born here. I went to middle school and high school here. I lived here for a little bit in 2019 before I moved to Albuquerque, and then came back last year. I'm excited to build my community here among my circle of friends.”

“I want to buy a house, that's a dream I have.  I'd love to have a place in
Abiquiú, but it's gotten so expensive there. It’s sad that people who grew up there can't afford to live there. Santa Fe is also very expensive, but there may be more opportunities.  I keep my hopes open and keep thinking good thoughts about it.”

​The revision process for Santana's current novel sounds very intense. She’s rewriting everything, a big task indeed. At the same time, she’s working on smaller projects, to keep her sanity, she said – essays, poems, maybe short stories. Actually, short stories are the hardest to write, she told me. One  has to be very efficient and precise, and that is really challenging.

After she got her Master's Degree, Santana did a residency, I read on Facebook. I wanted to hear more about this.

“I applied to the Aldo Leopold Writing Program early last year. They used to only have the Tres Piedras residency at Aldo Leopold's house, and last year was the first year that they added a second residency location which is in Lany in the Galisteo Basin. There was a casita there, donated by a wonderful woman who runs a Horse Sanctuary out there. Usually the Leopold residency program is offered to people into nature conservation, just like Leopold was. Non-fiction botanists,  or people who are writing books about birds or land conservation. I applied although I’m a fiction writer, because my whole story takes place in New Mexico, and the landscape is a big central theme of the story. So I applied, but didn’t feel confident about it. And then I was the first fiction writer they selected! That was one month last year, in July, that I got to just work on the novel, which was really special. I had never done a residency before, and I loved being out there.”

“You're really on your own out there, but I was, I am so lucky that the Institute of American Indian Arts program is so supportive, so loving. I still have great relationships with many of the teachers and can ask any of them for help. So I did reach out to some of them, asking, how do I make the most out of this time? And they gave me a lot of great advice.”

​I hope Santana will find a skilled and talented editor soon. I can’t wait to see her novel published. What a strong and powerful voice she has. I found a YouTube video from fifteen years ago, of Santana reciting one of her poems, which is deeply moving in the current political climate when children are snatched out of schools and babies are torn from their mothers. With poignant opinions such as Santana’s, maybe all is not lost…  Thank you, Tana, for talking with me, so that our readers can learn about you, your poetry, your life.

BY: DANIELLE PROKOP
Courtesy of Source NM

High winds will crank up the heat across New Mexico on Tuesday, prompting major heat risk stretching from the Middle Rio Grande Valley in Albuquerque, through the Lower Rio Grande in Las Cruces. Risk from extreme temperatures will include parts of Socorro and the state’s southeastern region, as Roswell is expected to reach 110 degrees. The winds will make that heat index, or “feels like temperature,” even hotter, said Michael Anand, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Albuquerque.

“We have high confidence that we’ll see temperatures around 110 degrees in Roswell…hence why we upgraded that heat watch to a warning,” Anand said.

Last week, the heat levels prompted warnings from NM health officials and raised concerns for nonprofits and providers serving people experiencing homelessness.

The reality is that heat doesn’t have to reach triple-digits to pose dangers to people’s health, said Chelsea Eastman Langer, who leads NMDOH’s Environmental Health Epidemiology Bureau, in an interview last week with Source NM.

She pointed to New Mexico Department of Health data showing that emergency room visits jump when the temperatures outside rise above 90 degrees, but that may not match up with expectations.

“If it’s 90 degrees, people say ‘it’s not that hot, it gets worse,’” she said. “It is a challenge. And I would say it’s when we’re still kind of figuring out how to message and get the word out.”

Langer said that health officials are working with employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  on a proposal to lower the thresholds for issuing weather-related advisories below triple-digits.

“What we see is that we start to get people coming in with heat-related illness at temperatures much lower than when they would issue [a warning],” she said. “We start to see people coming in to [emergency rooms] at 80 degrees and then there’s a pretty sharp increase at 90 degrees.”

Dr. Emily Bartlett, an emergency physician in Gallup, said numerous groups of people face risk from heat: children; the elderly; people without home cooling equipment or shelter; outdoor employees; and anyone with health risks.

“It’s not just the maximum heat, it’s the duration,” Bartlett told Source NM. “If it doesn’t cool off enough at night between days of high heat, it raises the risk of illness.”

Bartlett said in hot weather, heat stroke, a potentially deadly condition which is usually exhibited by a fever of 104 degrees and neurological symptoms, represent the highest concern.

“If someone is expressing altered mental status, acting confused, lethargic, not answering questions correctly — that should be presumed to be an emergency,” she said. “Just like with stroke or heart attack patients, we want to start early treatment, as well as getting that patient to a hospital.”

Less serious conditions can include heat exhaustion and heat rash, which can be mitigated through cooling and hydration, Bartlett said.

The winds also whip up fire danger concerns across the entire Western and Central portions of the state, as officials battle two southern New Mexico fires north of Silver City.

Chances for the seasonal monsoon rains are increasing and may arrive as soon as the weekend, Anand said, offering chances of thunderstorms and rain for most of the state.

​“It’ll be hot and dry until the monsoon plume kicks in on Sunday and Monday of next week,” he said.

Interstate Stream Commission to meet Wednesday in Albuquerque

By Hannah Grover
Courtesy of NM News

The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission will hear fiscal year 2026 priorities and work plans when it meets Wednesday in Albuquerque.

The commission will meet from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Office of the State Engineer/Interstate Stream Commission, 5550 San Antonio Dr. NE. The public can also join remotely. Information on how to remotely attend the meeting can be found here.

The first hour of the meeting will be a closed session. The public can tune in for the open meeting starting at 9:30 a.m.

During the open session, the staff will present work plans for fiscal year 2026, including details about how money will be spent in the Middle Rio Grande.

Middle Rio Grande

The Middle Rio Grande work plan includes a total budget of up to a little more than $8 million.

Some of the elements of the Middle Rio Grande work plan include analyzing how evaporation impacts how much water is available and refining a water supply forecasting tool.

The largest budget item for the Middle Rio Grande work plan is $3.4 million to support the strategic water reserve, which is a publicly-owned pool of water rights that helps New Mexico meet its compact obligations and comply with Endangered Species Act requirements. Earlier this year, the legislature passed a bill that added a third purpose to the reserve. That new purpose is to support aquifer recharge projects or to reduce groundwater depletion.

The strategic water reserve is not to be confused with the strategic water supply, which is a recent effort to use treated brackish water and produced water — a byproduct of oil and gas extraction — to support industrial operations.

The state may consider acquiring pre-1907 water rights to support the strategic water reserve, which could mean partnering with non-governmental organizations or other government agencies.

Another $2 million could be spent on channel maintenance and restoration in the Middle Rio Grande.

The work in the Middle Rio Grande basin — which includes the Albuquerque area — could also include endangered species work. The agency is looking at a budget of nearly $7 million to help endangered species that rely on the Rio Grande. 

The bulk of that money — $6 million — will be spent on habitat improvements and river restoration in the Middle Rio Grande. Some of the species that this funding will help support include the Rio Grande silvery minnow and the southwest willow flycatcher.

Other work plans and projects

Further south on the Rio Grande, the work plan for the Lower Rio Grande has a budget of up to $31.28 million.

The biggest single budget item for the Lower Rio Grande is $10 million for stormwater capture and aquifer recharge. Another $7.5 million is budgeted for a short-term groundwater conservation program and $6 million is budgeted to identify, characterize, and quantify the brackish groundwater aquifers that could be used in desalination efforts.

Albuquerque area residents may also be interested in the presentations on the Acequia and Community Ditch Infrastructure Fund Work Plan, which has a budget of about $5.58 million, and the Acequia Support Work Plan, which has a budget of up to $1.75 million. 

The Interstate Stream Commission will also hear the work plan for water planning initiatives, which is budgeted at around $7 million for fiscal year 2026.

The commission previously discussed the Colorado River, Canadian River and Pecos River basins work plans during a May meeting.

Other agenda items for Wednesday include agreements with the U.S. Geological Survey for river gaging statewide and the Mesilla Basin Groundwater and Surface Water Monitoring Program.

The ISC is also scheduled to hear an informational presentation about aerial surveys in southern New Mexico that are part of an effort to characterize the aquifers in the Lower Rio Grande area as the state looks into possible supply augmentation.

Closed session includes discussion of Texas v. New Mexico

The meeting will start with a closed session to discuss the Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado case that is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. In this case, Texas argued that groundwater pumping in New Mexico was impacting the amount of water Texas was receiving through the Rio Grande and thus violating an interstate compact. 

​While it looked as if the case would go to trial this month, the United States government, as well as Texas, New Mexico and Colorado, requested that the trial be put on hold as they work on a possible settlement agreement. In addition to discussing the Texas v. New Mexico case, the closed session will also focus on the litigation on the Colorado River Basin.

BY: PATRICK LOHMANN
Courtesy of Source NM

The federal budget reconciliation bill making progress in the United States Senate this week makes more than 21,000 square miles of public land in New Mexico “eligible” to be sold to private buyers, according to the Wilderness Society.

The group, which opposes efforts to sell off public lands, geographically analyzed lands across the West that could be subject to a land sale, based on criteria laid out in the bill.

Across the West, several hundred million acres of land would meet the criteria, according to the group, though only a tiny fraction of that would be sold, per the bill text. The bill mandates the “disposal” of between .5% and .75% of all United States Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land across the West, which means up to 3.2 million acres or 5,000 square miles. 

​According to the Wilderness Society’s analysis, about 6.5 million acres of U.S. Forest Service land in New Mexico would be eligible, in addition to about 7.8 million acres of BLM land. According to a map the society created, huge swathes of BLM land east of Las Cruces also would be eligible, along with areas of the Gila National Forest and Santa Fe National Forest. 

Emergency departments have reported increased cases of infants and young children coming in contact with substances like fentanyl, methamphetamine or even residue on household surfaces or drug paraphernalia. Some of these exposures have resulted in death. For curious toddlers, anything left within reach can be a danger.

Simple steps can help protect little ones:

• Never leave pills, powders, tobacco, alcohol, prescription medications or other substances out, even briefly.
• Keep anything used to prepare or administer drugs secure and out of reach.
• Discard used foil, straws or wrappers as they can carry residue that poses serious health risks.
• Keep bags and personal items out of reach. Children often explore unattended purses or backpacks.
• Have naloxone (Narcan) on hand. Visit https://www.nmharmreduction.org/naloxone-saves/ to order naloxone for free, without a prescription.

If you suspect a child has been exposed, use naloxone — you can give naloxone to people of all ages — and call 911 immediately. Protecting children starts with supporting parents and caregivers. Compassionate care, harm reduction services and family-centered treatment options are available to help parents heal while keeping children safe.

​At Presbyterian Española Hospital, we provide confidential services including individual substance use disorder counseling, referral for medication management and connections to community resources for adults and adolescents (age 13 and up). If you or someone you know is struggling, call us on 505-367-0340.

Am I just a late bloomer?

By Zach Hively

Oh, did I ever have grand aspirations.

I am sitting outside right now, right where—starting six years ago—I imagined a modest if obscenely bountiful garden flourishing in this dry, inhospitable patch of sand.

A lot of love and hard work, and as always some make-or-break luck, built this space into what I see before me today: A dry, inhospitable patch of sand.

Which is not to say I have failed entirely as a gardener. Here, let me tally for you all the delicious things I have enjoyed—cumulatively, over these last six years—from lo these many efforts:
​

• Three carrots.
• Half a dozen sprigs of rosemary, seasoning meals I otherwise had no hand in growing.
• The equivalent of one salad of straight red butter lettuce.
• One tiny potato, which was all that remained from planting a much larger potato.

And all this—except the potato—came from container gardening. Which is still hard! I think the ground underneath the containers is a bad influence.

Granted, I have had to deal with FACTORS.

I’ve ranted before about the pack rats who chew anything that grows here down to the stubs. They make me think it was rabbits. Spoiler: it is never rabbits. Rabbits do not build modest yet obscenely bountiful nests in the engine compartment of my pickup truck. Nor do they festoon these nests with intact, uneaten garden stakes. (Alongside spine-in prickly pear pads.)

Never mind the pack rats. And never mind that they intimidate me into pretending they don’t exist. I also have to contend with water.

I grew up in one of those increasingly rare American cities with potable water straight from the tap. It was either entirely safe, or we didn’t know any better because of the silencing power of the local military-industrial complex. Either way! We all also watered our plants with it, and the plants generally survived.

So I, privileged and oblivious, watered my first-year garden straight from the groundwater well. Not only was the water abundant, it was unmetered. It was also not discolored.

But everything—and I mean everything, except the pack rats—died.

Turns out, plants do not thrive on leaded groundwater.

So I installed a couple rain barrels.

You, astute reader, may see the fault in this plan faster than I did: Rain barrels require—and this is backed by empirical science—rain.

Which we get! Sometimes! But do you know when plants least need watered? Right after it rains.

Thus, I hoarded the water in those barrels, because watering my modest yet increasingly obscenity-generating garden used up their contents in about two goes. I drew out the supplies. Asked my lingering plants to go on austerity. (I had moved on from most delusions of edibility at this point. We were just holding out for some hardy flowers.)

Ultimately I upgraded from the original two sixty-gallon barrels to an additional pair of 250-gallon beasts. One really good downpour fills them right up.

Yet I, scarred and hardened now, as burned as my cat mint plants in July, still limped my plants along. I’m so averse to running out of water that I feel better when I leave the tanks full.

​All the while, nature taunts me: the wild datura that sprouted all on its own by the front door—and which I never once tended to—provides a full 96% of our annual flowerage, with blooms as big as my face.

This year, I gave up.

I didn’t plant a single seed. No trips to the nursery center. No starts, no plugs, no offshoots. I water the trees (which have not grown but also have not died) mainly when I remember to, which is seldom, because I have handed their fate over to Fate.

Which means, of course, that the garden has picked up the slack.

Every surviving sage plant has shot out new leaves after overwintering without a darn bit of assistance from moi. I have what I distinctly believe to be a fourth carrot growing. The containers are getting bushy with marigold greens and two rosemaries that just won’t quit.

​And then there’s these bad boys:

Bad girls? Bad plants. Good plants? Whatever. These flowers did it all by themselves. I can’t even tell you when I last put hollyhock seeds in this trough or anywhere else. It was not in a recent year.

​I think there are lessons to be learned here.

Possibly about relinquishing control. Definitely about the transformative beauty of giving up.

So remember, kids: If at first you don’t succeed, quit planting seeds. Don’t try so hard, or at all. And if you ever come over to see my flowers, best bring your own food.

SANTA FE – No cost back-to-school vaccinations are available from dozens of medical providers statewide. 
 
The annual Got Shots special immunization clinics will be held between June 14 – Aug 30 for all children 0-18 years-old. 
 
The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH), the New Mexico Immunization Coalition, the New Mexico Primary Care Association, along with managed care partners Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico, Molina Healthcare, Presbyterian Healthcare Services and United Healthcare are making sure New Mexico’s children get their scheduled immunizations on schedule. 
 
"Vaccines are one of the greatest tools we have to protect children’s health. Safe and effective immunizations have dramatically reduced – and in some cases, eliminated – dangerous childhood diseases that once claimed thousands of young lives in the United States every year,” said Andrea Romero, NMDOH Immunization Program Manager. 
 
Participating providers – such as NMDOH public health offices - will offer immunizations to any child, regardless of whether they are a patient or have insurance, as part of Got Shots. 
 
Some providers hold clinics on weekends or evening hours to accommodate parents’ busy schedules. Parents should call ahead to the clinic to see if an appointment is needed. Parents need to bring their child’s shot record, and if they have insurance, their Medicaid or private health insurance card. Immunizations are provided at no cost to parents regardless of insurance. 
 
This year, 68 public health offices, community health centers, and private practices are participating in the Got Shots campaign. 
 
Click here to see the current School and Childcare Immunization Requirements. 
 
A map and list of additional statewide locations participating in Got Shots is available on the New Mexico Immunization Coalition page.

​For immediate release

ESPANOLA, NM — The inspiring short documentary MOVING ARTS | Setting Hearts Ablaze by the award-winning production company Docufilms is gaining international recognition for its powerful portrayal of how art can transform young lives. The film, which features the non-profit Moving Arts Española, has been named a 2025 Cannes World Film Festival Finalist, a New York International Film Award Semi-Finalist, and the Best Documentary Short winner at the Touchstone Independent Film Festival.
​
Additional accolades include:
● Official Selection – Los Angeles Independent Shorts Awards
● Official Selection – East Village New York Film Festival
● Official Selection – IndieX Film Fest
● Best Original Score - TELLY Awards
● Best Documentary - TELLY Awards
● Best Social Impact - TELLY Awards

The documentary captures the essence of Moving Arts philosophy that “Art is Medicine”, illustrating how creativity, discipline, and compassionate mentorship guide children from fear and hurt toward safety, trust, and healing. Through a vibrant blend of dance, music, painting, photography, video production, gymnastics, and digital art, the organization provides a nurturing environment for self-expression, resilience, and growth.

“We were honored when DocuFilms approached us about featuring Moving Arts in their newest documentary,” said Roger Montoya, Creative Director and Co-Founder of Moving Arts. “This project beautifully captures the creativity, dedication, and impact of our program, and we were thrilled to see our students shine. When they recently shared the trailer with us, we were blown away by their innovative approach to showcasing the magic of Moving Arts.”

MOVING ARTS | Setting Hearts Ablaze features deeply moving interviews, stunning cinematography, and a narrative piece created by former Moving Arts students highlighting the growing challenges in Española, where up to 60% of students in the Rio Arriba County school district are being raised by grandparents or extended family. “It was beautiful to hear the voices
of our alumni telling our story and talking about the impact Moving Arts has had on their lives,” said Salvador Ruiz, Executive Director and Co-founder. The documentary also showcases a powerful dance performance by San Ildefonso’s Than Povi Martinez, reflecting the limitations of conventional education and the liberation that creative practice provides.

At the heart of the film are founders Roger Montoya, a 2019 CNN Hero, and Salvador Ruiz, a 2022 Univisionario, along with a passionate team of educators, alumni, and volunteers. Together, they have created a thriving community where youth are empowered to heal, grow, and lead through experiential learning and artistic exploration.

Docufilms, known for its emotionally rich and socially impactful documentaries such as Movement, BIG little, Season Two, and Eating History | A Taste of New Mexico, brought its signature storytelling approach to this heartfelt project.

“Moving Arts is a powerful example of what it means to uplift a community through creativity, discipline, and compassion,” said Docufilms director, Michael Campbell. “It was an honor and a privilege to witness the transformative impact of their work and to help share their story with a
broader audience.”

MOVING ARTS | Setting Hearts Ablaze is more than a film—it’s a celebration of community, creativity, and the unshakable belief that every child deserves a place to heal, grow, and thrive. For more information about Moving Arts or to support youth leadership initiatives, visit movingartsespanola.org

Moving Arts was approached by Docufilms following the news coverage that they were in need of a forever home. The search for a forever home continues, but the organization remains committed to staying in the Española Valley and raising the millions of dollars necessary to ensure that their doors are always open to serve the children and youth in the community.

For press inquiries, film screenings, or interviews, please contact:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 844-623-2787
Website: movingartsespanola.org
Learn more about the film and upcoming screenings at
movingartsespanola.org/events
​
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Jun 6, 2025 | NMDOT Press Release

​SANTA FE – Out of an abundance of caution and with public safety as its top priority, the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) will close the historic Oñate Bridge in Española at 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 7, ahead of the anticipated monsoon season.

The bridge will remain closed indefinitely as engineers address ongoing concerns about riverbed erosion around one of the bridge’s piers that could pose a risk during periods of high river flow.

“Protecting the traveling public is our highest priority,” said Transportation Secretary Ricky Serna. “Given the potential for increased water levels and further scour during monsoon rains, this closure is a proactive step to ensure everyone’s safety.”

The closure, which applies to both vehicle and pedestrian traffic, will remain in place while further evaluations and potential mitigation efforts are explored. Detours will be in effect, routing traffic through two nearby bridges on either side of the Oñate Bridge.

NMDOT began monitoring the structure in 2019 following an underwater inspection that identified erosion at a pier. A follow-up inspection in January 2025 found further deterioration, prompting additional hydraulic modeling that confirmed the need for action.

In recent months, NMDOT’s Bridge Bureau, Drainage Bureau and District Five collaborated with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to evaluate the bridge’s condition and explore options for continued monitoring. A joint assessment in June with FHWA scour experts resulted in the decision to close the bridge prior to any significant rainfall events.

By Felicia Fredd

Have you ever had a moment with a garden, or ‘built landscape’—a perfectly normal one—where the normality of it suddenly seemed perfectly bizarre? It happens to me all the time—even on projects I, myself, have designed.

It’s not so much the ridiculous effort required to organize outdoor space—and to keep it that way—as it is the specific choices intended to create a coherent and blissful experience, which can often seem quite strange. Most of us evaluate environmental quality effortlessly, but the specific visual 'languages' that shape overall impressions are less apparent —and are, in fact, the subject of many ecological planning and design studies.

Ecologists are urging us to rethink how we alter landscapes. We, the people, don’t like change. Change is strange—probably no stranger, on average, than what we accept as normal at any given moment—but our attachments to the familiar run deep. So, researchers have been trying to better understand the specific cues that inform us that something is ‘right’ or ‘attractive’ in landscape, and why. There are cultural biases involved, of course, but they study that too, all for the purpose of gaining support for protection and care of the environment.

In reviewing some of these studies, one thing I feel has changed in my thinking—at least a bit—is with regard to the significance of color in landscape/garden environments. Check out this title: Bibliometric Analyses of Factors Influencing Color Preferences in Urban Environmental Spaces: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12101126/. The ‘wow’ factor is also interesting: All About the ‘Wow Factor’? The Relationships Between Aesthetics, Restorative Effect and Perceived Biodiversity in Designed Urban Planting: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204617300701

I love studying color, but I’ve always felt that it’s ultimately the spatial relationships, forms, textures, and plays of light in a given landscape that are fundamental to a special sense of place. I have a really hard time when a particular plant is rejected because it ‘doesn’t bloom long enough’ to justify its existence, or ‘earn its keep’. I’ve heard such things for years during the design process.

The number one thing most people request upfront is low-water-use plants, and the second most important parameter given is overall low maintenance; however, most people will easily walk back those basic goals in order to get more intense color throughout the growing season—throughout all seasons, actually. In addition to having a more ‘garden-worthy’ feel (and what exactly does that mean?), non-natives have been modified over and over to deliver more color and satisfying bloom over longer periods of time. Both of these topics are complex, but right now, I’m feeling like, okay, I just need to step up to that without sacrificing ecological goals.

​I have been documenting native plants in my local environment, taking lots of pictures, and experimenting with these plants in my emerging garden space. The following are color studies for plants blooming at the same time in Abiquiú this spring. It’s not all-encompassing or necessarily mind-blowing, but it’s just to illustrate that there is color there to be organized. You will see just a few non-natives in the mix, but it’s about 90% native. I’ve also added some pics of additional details such as shadows, bugs, yellow rocks, and rusted metal. I’ve not, until just now, thought of a color study as literally organizing color—which is weird when you think about it too much.