Young people just don’t read books anymore. This must be truth, because I hear it from plenty of old people who must know exactly what young people do with their spare time. They then proceed to walk away from me without buying any of the books I’m selling.
 
I cannot promise that these old people are the same old people who gape at young people who don’t own televisions. But I can promise they are the same old people who drove the young people off Facebook fifteen years ago.
 
Granted, there are solid cases to be made for the decline of reading. Take me, for instance. Me getting published anywhere at all on a regular basis suggests heavily that no one reads anymore, regardless of age. Unless it’s the birds and gerbils whose cages get lined by my work. The US Census Bureau does not track such things, but if they did, I suspect they would find more people light fires with my work than read any single piece from start to middle.
 
But I am just one man. I can produce only so much writing—as much as half a man, or perhaps a quarter. There are dozens more people like me out there, each of us struggling to craft the perfect cup of tea. Some of them are actually succeeding in writing back-cover copy for other people’s books well enough to get them banned. Banned, I tell you! And by people you KNOW don’t read.
 
Now I can’t articulate exactly why it is okay to start a fire with my junk published in a newspaper, but abominable to start a fire with a book. Nor can I explain why burning a book is worse than banning, because it isn’t, other than in a matter of degrees. (Most bannings, for instance, take place at room temperature.)
 
All I know is that if I can’t stop people from condemning books to the ol’ burn-n-ban, dammit, I want them to condemn my work too. Because that is the SUREST way to get someone to read it. Or at least to buy it—can’t burn it if you don’t got it.
 
Frankly, I can’t figure out why I haven’t had more books banned, aside from the fact that I haven’t written very many. I am always game to “punch up,” as comedy experts say—to take a swing at The Man, the powers-that-be, particularly if I think they are unlikely to read it.
 
Take the old people who think young people don’t ready anymore. I’m pretty certain they read only the Wall Street Journal and/or the CNN crawl, neither of which has picked me up for syndication (yet). I can “punch up” because their horses are so high, and most especially because they don’t know I exist.
 
But I will refrain from punching anyone, old or young, up or down, because I have faith in humanity. I was recently in attendance at a party for adults, in honor of a kid’s ninth birthday. I hung out with the kid, mostly because they had Legos, but also because I made a day-long commitment when I asked what they’ve been reading.
 
I learned—in greater detail than the original text—about their current favorite book series, which I’m pretty certain involved a kid and most definitely dragons and the kid had bullies and also sisters (which were maybe the same people) and these other people also had dragons who weren’t allowed in the apartment complex which was a problem because CLEARLY you cannot keep your dragons OUTDOORS, especially on a day like THIS, and you don’t even understand how cool the main character’s clothing is, which she makes herself with the dragon’s keen fashion sense guiding her, but the other dragons don’t appreciate the chic bent to apartment D-3, so they bond together to wipe out both the main character and her dragon, and it’s possible the lines bled between the book series and the Lego village we were touring together while enduring the synopsis, but you get the gist and also I evaded conversations about the stock market so it was a real win-win.
 
This: this is the greatest hope I have for the future. I’m pretty certain we’re all going to die in an overheated, ever-erratic climate like that time I forgot banana bread was in the oven. But until that happens, kids and other young people will keep reading, and bookstore sales will continue to climb so long as we have trees to make books and zealots to spike book sales by banning books. I just hope some of them are mine. 

Jessica Rath
​You’d never guess it’s vegan. 

Although I enjoy watching The Great British Baking Show (you can catch the latest series on Netflix, with a new episode every Friday), I hardly ever feel tempted to try one of their bakes which often are visually stunning, but..: milk, eggs, butter, cream, etc. are almost always the basic ingredients. Often they add gelatin, lard, even suet; and savory bakes can include just about any part of various animals. Neither do I like spending lots of hours preparing different batters, doughs, glazes, stuffings, frostings, and decorations, unless there is a very special occasion. 

So here is an embarrassingly simple treat that doesn’t take much more than 20 minutes to prepare and is all vegan. 

Ingredients:
    • 1 prepared pie crust 
    • 1/3 cup organic sugar
    • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
    • 3 TS cornstarch
    • ¼ ts salt
    • Dash of cayenne pepper
    • 2 ¼ cup soy or other plant-based milk
    • 1TS cocoa butter
    • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
    • Vegan cool-whip for decoration (optional – available at Sprouts f.e.)

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 350F and bake the crust for 10 minutes, let cool.

In a medium-sized saucepan, whisk all the dry ingredients together. Add the milk and whisk until there are no little lumps. Turn on the heat to medium, whisk constantly until the mixture starts to boil. Turn heat to low and keep cooking for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the cocoanut butter, stir until melted, then add the chocolate chips. Turn the heat off while the chocolate chips melt, keep stirring.

Pour into the crust. Cover with a piece of seran wrap to prevent a skin from forming, try to avoid air bubbles. Let it cool a bit and then move to the refrigerator and let set for at least three hours.

If you have a piping bag, fill it with some vegan cool-whip and pipe some rosettes around the edges of your pie. I don’t have one, so I just used a plastic bag, cut one corner off, and squeezed some dollops out. 

GOAL: $1 Million endowment for each library

A $51 million endowment will provide about $45,000 per year to each library. It will also fund the New Mexico State Library to provide specialized services for rural libraries and small grants for communities to establish new libraries. There is presently $13 million in the endowment.

RESOLANA
Literally a place to rest and socialize in the sun, rural libraries provide resolana, a place where citizens can come together. Social connection, nurtured by libraries, promotes personal and community health and safety.

Local Problem Solving
Rural libraries are well positioned to understand and address their communities' needs. They often provide the only services to people of all ages in small towns.

Not Just Books
Libraries are at the nexus of nearly every issue in rural New Mexico including:
internet access
child wellbeing
poverty
aging
health
agriculture
economic development
culture
natural disasters
community gathering space

​RURAL LIBRARIES ARE VULNERABLE
During a downturn in oil prices, the library in Elida closed. When the train no longer
stopped in Vaughn, the library closed. When the Moly Mine closed in Questa, the
library helped laid-off workers apply for unemployment and to find other jobs.
$45,000 provided annually may have saved the Vaughn and Elida libraries when they
were most needed.

SALARIES
Many rural library directors throughout New Mexico earn less that $15 per hour. Their
work includes collection development, grant writing, facility management, creating
curriculum for and running children's programs, managing staff and volunteers, and
bookkeeping. One library director in Northern NM recently managed a $580,000 Capital
project in addition to her other work. She is paid $12.50 per hour. Several assistant
and children's librarians throughout the state are paid minimum wage.

Internet Access
From Columbus in Southern NM where only 20% of people have internet at home, to Central NM where the Villanueva library provides the only free internet for 75 miles, to Vallecitos in Northern NM where kids depended on the library to attend school during the pandemic, libraries usually had the only free internet in small towns.

Education
Many libraries, including Moriarty and Estancia, have GED programs. Where schools operate only four days a week, libraries in Magdalena, Questa and Gila offer Friday programing. Forty-five kids in Magdalena signed up for a Friday coding class in the first two hours it was advertised.

Many libraries offer early childhood education, STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) programs. The Gila library brings their STEM into the local school, sponsoring projects such as snake preservation and “Birds that visit Duck Creek.” The Embudo Valley Library offers after-school programs four days a week. They partner with tutors to help kids who are behind.

The Columbus Library was school for three elementary home schooled sisters. They
resided there for 6 months when the bus they lived in broke down.

Child Well-being
Tatum library plans to bring Missoula Children's Theatre to town. Many libraries like Santa Clara Pueblo and Embudo Valley have parents and toddlers programs. Ohkay Owingeh brings 13 head start classes weekly for story time, one done in Tewa. They sponsor after school programs for 10-20 kids daily.

Agriculture
The Embudo Valley Library initiated a farmer's market, has a seed bank and supports
acequias. Many rural libraries sponsor children's gardens, teaching future generations
about planting and farming.

Community gathering places
Rural libraries serve as community centers. They provide space for meetings of acequia commissioners, water boards and other community groups. The El Rito and Embudo Valley library have held gatherings to celebrate the lives of folks who passed away. Author readings, concerts, specialized children's' events like Zoo to You, puppet shows and Explora museum visits are common at rural libraries.

Health
Most rural libraries distribute covid tests. Embudo Valley and other libraries assist folks to sign up for insurance under the ACA act. The Columbus library helped a patron with a dental abscess and no transportation to find a ride to El Paso for treatment. With telehealth availability, libraries connect patients with doctors via internet.

Natural Disasters
During a wildfire, the Vallecitos library served as the command center for the forest service. When a subsequent flood destroyed their town water system, the library provided water filters and taught people how to use them. The Jemez Springs library was an information access point for evacuees and visitors during the Cerro Pelado Fire. The Ojo Sarco Community Center(soon to be a library) and the Embudo Valley libraries are food collection centers for the Hermit's Peak Fire evacuees.

Poverty
The library in Talpa provides space for food distribution. In Capitan, the library runs a
second hand store and donates clothes and other items to folks in need. The Gila library
gives a bag of groceries to each child weekly when they come to summer programs.

Job Creation
Full endowment funding will create jobs. Most rural libraries report their greatest need is  staffing. Long staffed by volunteers, the Anton Chico library would love to hire
a paid director, as would the Torreon library on the Navajo reservation. Tularosa would
like to hire staff to run children's programs. With funding they could bring kids in the
summer to the Space Museum and White Sands. Chama would hire locals to teach
arts and crafts. Basic infrastructure, such as the new doors Tatum and Clayton need
(but can't afford) could be done by local craftspeople.

Culture and History
The Magdalena library has a history museum in a boxcar. The Columbus library has permanent art collections and rotating exhibits of local artists. Talpa and other libraries hold quilting and arts and crafts classes. Talpa published a local cookbook. The Embudo Valley Library sponsors Dixon's annual Fiestas featuriing live local music. San Ildefonso Pueblo library teaches children how to cook traditional foods. Torreon library on the Navajo reservation is transcribing oral histories for future generations. Abiquiu library sponsored teens to work with UC Berkeley archeologists in pre-historic sites.

Government and Other Services
The Hatch area is home to generations of Spanish speaking agricultural workers. Their library helps people get drivers licenses, apply for citizenship and translate documents. Many libraries help citizens apply for unemployment and provide notary, fax and copy services. Columbus helps with voter registration.

Criminal Justice
Many libraries, such as Embudo Valley, serve as places people can perform community service to repay society for their crimes.

​SEVERE UNDERFUNDING
Nearly half of New Mexico's rural libraries operate on less than $50,000 per year, some less than $10,000. In unincorporated villages, 501 (c)(3) libraries raise most of their budgets from private donors, grants and fundraisers. A fully funded endowment will relieve the stress of constant fundraising and allow more time to focus on programming.

​Anti-donation Clause
Most public libraries in New Mexico are funded by municipalities. The 14 libraries in unincorporated villages organize as 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporations. The anti-donation
clause of the New Mexico constitution was written to protect state money from being misused by large corporations like Railroads. The Local Economic Development Act, (LEDA) of 1978 allows the state to give tens of millions of dollars to corporations like Amazon, Net flix and Facebook, but the anti-donation clause forbids small non-profit libraries from using endowment funds for capital expenses. Consequently, the tiny Vallecitos library can't afford to build a wall for its bathroom, the Capitan Library can't replace inefficient windows and the Villaneuva library can't insulate and repair their roof and heating system. A constitutional amendment is required to repair this situation.

The New Mexico Rural Library Initiative
The New Mexico Rural Library Initiative was established to promote a statewide rural library endowment and to help support and sustain rural libraries and their communities. You can support our work with a contribution through the Santa Fe Community Foundation.
Shel Neymark
New Mexico Rural Library Initiative
PO Box 2Embudo NM, 87531
(505) 579-4432
(505) 614-6355 (cell)
[email protected]
nmrurallibraryinitiative.org

~ Hilda Joy

​​While visiting family in New Orleans, I checked out local cooking shows and really enjoyed watching a jovial and enthusiastic chef named Kevin Belton.  When I returned to New Mexico, I discovered his cooking shows here on PBS. Belton does not bother to give out measurements.  He just starts throwing ingredients together, and soon a dish is plated and ready to serve.  He likes promoting the many food festivals that occur all year long all over Louisiana and recently taught his viewers that Oktoberfest is celebrated throughout his state, thanks to the influx of Germans in past centuries.  They, of course, established beer breweries and started bakeries that to this day continue to supply NOLA’s many stores and restaurants with tasty bread.  Virtually every Louisiana community celebrates Oktoberfest.  Chef Belton recently presented a menu that started with large soft pretzels for dipping into mustard while drinking beer, pork schnitzels, and sauerkraut.  I jotted down the ingredients for this dish but had to guess at measurements based on using one pound of sauerkraut.  Here is my result, but please do use your own judgment about measurements when you “throw together” this traditional German October dish, which you may want to serve with bratwurst and potatoes.  Prosit!
Ingredients
​2 to 4 ounces butter
1/2 pound bacon, diced
black pepper
​1 medium onion, sliced very thinly
1 large crisp apple, peeled and sliced thinly
1 tablespoon caraway seed
​1 pound sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
beer to cover, about 1 can
 
Directions

1. ​In a large pan, melt butter and render bacon in it. (I prefer thick bacon)
2. Season with black pepper.
   ​Sauté onion and apple in the butter and rendered bacon until they soften.  Add caraway seed and stir.
   ​Add sauerkraut to the pan and stir to mix all ingredients.
3. Pour in the beer---just to cover sauerkraut.
4. Put lid on pan and heat sauerkraut thoroughly.

 
EnJoy