Immigrant detention will not be on the agenda​

By PATRICK LOHMANN
Courtesy of Source NM

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will convene lawmakers on Oct. 1 for a special legislative session, her office announced Thursday, to tackle federal cuts to Medicaid and other services, among other issues.

The governor’s office began floating the possibility of a special session even before July 4, when President Donald Trump signed H.R.1, the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a federal spending bill that contains significant cuts to the state’s Medicaid and nutrition programs. 

“New Mexicans should not be forced to shoulder these heavy burdens without help from their elected officials,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “After discussions with legislative leaders, we’ve resolved to do everything possible to protect essential services and minimize the damage from President Trump’s disastrous bill.” 

The bill contains multi-billion-dollar cuts, the governor’s office said, that threaten “the survival of New Mexico’s health care system, particularly in rural areas.”

​The news release listed several areas that lawmakers plan to address, including:

• funding to the Rural Health Care Delivery Fund to “allow stabilization grants for quality health care providers;”
• making health insurance premiums more affordable in the marketplace and for those losing Medicaid;
• funding for public broadcasting;
• new investments in food assistance; and
• resources for the Health Care Authority as it prepares for Medicaid enrollment changes

​The governor is also discussing with lawmakers whether the session will address “behavioral health challenges that affect our criminal justice system and community safety,” according to the news release. Lujan Grisham expressed dissatisfaction at the end of the regular legislative session earlier this year with lawmakers’ approach to crime and said then that she would consider a special session for that topic alone. 

A news release from state Senate Republicans indicated they were preparing for that possibility with legislation to address New Mexico’s “juvenile crime crisis” and hold “repeat criminals accountable.” The news release also listed legislation that would “protect the state’s ‘most vulnerable children'” and reform medical malpractice law as Senate Republican priorities.

“We appreciate any opportunity to provide real solutions for New Mexicans,” Senate Republican leader Sen. Bill Sharer of Farmington said in a statement. “Just as we did during last year’s failed public safety special session, Republican legislators are prepared to address the pressing issues facing our state.”

Lujan Grisham’s Communication Director Michael Coleman confirmed that legislation to ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention would not be on the agenda, a possibility previously mentioned by the governor’s chief counsel that prompted renewed debate on the topic among lawmakers.

​According to the news release, the Oct. 1 session will be the seventh special session during the governor’s tenure, which began in January 2019.

3:25 PM
This story was updated following publication to include confirmation from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's office that legislation to ban ICE facilities in the state will not be on the agenda for the special session.

By Kevin Hendricks, nm.news
Courtesy of NM Political Report

Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-NM, introduced legislation Tuesday that would provide a pathway to permanent legal status for undocumented workers in critical sectors such as health care, agriculture and emergency services.

​Vasquez’s “Strengthening Our Workforce Act” would grant two-year conditional status to non-citizens who meet strict requirements and work in essential industries, according to a news release from his office.

“People who work hard, follow the rules and play a vital role in our economy should never be forced to live in the shadows or in fear of mass deportation,” Vasquez said in a statement.

The bill comes as the Trump administration implements stricter immigration enforcement policies that supporters say are necessary for border security, but critics argue are separating families and hurting the economy.

Under Vasquez’s proposal, workers would need to have been physically present in the United States since Jan. 1, 2024, and employed in a covered profession for at least 100 days before applying. They would also be required to maintain employment for 100 days annually over two consecutive years and pay a fine.

After completing the two-year conditional period, workers would qualify for lawful permanent residency.

The legislation covers workers in health care, energy, agriculture, emergency response, education, hospitality, construction, home health care and child care industries.

Reps. Juan Vargas of California, Nydia Velazquez of New York, Delia Ramirez of Illinois and Angie Craig of Minnesota are co-sponsoring the bill.

“Right now, Trump is implementing an out-of-control anti-immigrant crackdown,” Vargas said in a statement. “It’s past time to fix our broken immigration system and create better pathways to citizenship.”

Business groups supporting the legislation argue that current immigration enforcement is creating labor shortages and reducing consumer spending.

“The Strengthening Our Workforce Act adds to the growing bipartisan Congressional momentum to end the mass deportation efforts that are causing labor shortages,” said Frank Knapp Jr., managing director of the Secure Growth Initiative, which represents over 100,000 small businesses.

The bill faces an uphill battle in Congress, where Republicans have generally opposed expanding pathways to legal status for undocumented immigrants.

State environment secretary plans to spend $2M to move people off wells in Curry County

​By DANIELLE PROKOP
Courtesy of Source NM

New Mexico will soon release an initial draft of rules to ban consumer products that contain so-called “forever chemicals,” the state’s top environment official told lawmakers Tuesday.
​
Earlier this year, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 212, passed by lawmakers to institute the gradual phasing out of intentionally added per-and-polyfluouroalkyl substances in everyday items.

Lawmakers also passed a second bill, House Bill 140, to allow the New Mexico Environment Department to regulate and manage cleanup for firefighting foams containing PFAS on military bases, which have caused contamination in groundwater around the state.

“Both of these laws work together to keep PFAS out of our economy, out of our drinking water and out of people’s bodies,” Environmental Secretary James Kenney told lawmakers during an interim Radioactive Materials and Hazardous Waste interim committee meeting.

New Mexico is the third state to enshrine a ban in state laws to address the use of PFAS in consumer products, joining Maine and Minnesota. This class of manmade chemicals is often used in waterproofing and is able to withstand breaking down in water, oil and sunlight. As a result, PFAS can be found across a range of products, including cookware, takeout containers, dental floss, cleaning supplies, cosmetics, menstrual products, textiles and upholstered furniture.

But exposure through contaminated water and soil, as well as through the plants and animals, cause PFAS to build up in the human body. While still being studied, PFAS exposure is linked to increased cancer risks, fertility issues, low birth weights or fetal development issues, hormonal imbalances and limiting vaccine effectiveness.

The initial rules will be released sometime in September; require a public input process; and approval from the seven-member Environmental Improvement Board.

Once approved —potentially next summer —  the PFAS ban would roll out in phases, starting with cookware, food packaging, firefighting foams, dental floss and “juvenile products,” by January 2027. Additional items would follow, such as cosmetics, period hygiene products, textiles, carpeting, furniture and ski wax. The rules will include exceptions for PFAS used in products such as: medical devices, pharmaceuticals, electronics and cars.

Kenney said the rules will contain instructions requiring manufacturers to label products containing PFAS; establish a process for companies to receive an exemption if needed; and develop fines for companies violating the ban.

The department will also soon be releasing its draft rules on regulating firefighting foams containing PFAS, expected to receive final approval in the fall 2026. Those rules, Kenney said, will help environment officials develop a statewide inventory of the foams and determine how to characterize, treat and ultimately dispose of them.

Kenney  highlighted the recent report issued by the department finding the “fingerprint” of firefighting foam PFAS in people’s blood in Clovis, surrounding Cannon Air Force Base.

As a result of those findings, Kenney said the department is working to spend $2 million lawmakers set aside in capital outlay to move people off of private wells and onto public drinking water systems.

Furthermore, the department plans to conduct additional testing around Holloman Air Force Base and push for cleanup as multiple federal lawsuits between New Mexico and the military remain in the courts. 

“We are going to continue to be in a groundwater war and a public health war with the Department of Defense,” Kenney said.

Sen. Ant Thorton (R-East Mountains) asked what the minimum level of exposure is safe for PFAS and what the state considered realistic.

Kenney said that he couldn’t provide an exact number “since I’m not a toxicologist,” but instead compared PFAS contamination in drinking water systems in two locations with known exposure: Curry County, near the base, and La Cieneguilla, which has detected contamination from the Santa Fe Regional Airport. 

Curry County, he said, has higher risks of exposure, as its drinking water has PFAS levels 650,000% higher than federal standards. While “not negating” La Cieneguilla’s concerns, he said, levels for that community are “much closer” to the federal standard.

“We need to figure out where the greatest risk is occurring and minimize it from there,” Kenney said. “I think many people would say there’s no acceptable risk level for PFAS, I’m a little bit more pragmatic — it’s a forever chemical. It’s going to be hard to get out of the environment, and our risk is always going to be something greater than zero.”

​And how do I make them stop?

By Zach Hively
​
Why do people talk to me?

This isn’t entirely about the brothel next door (which I told you about last time). But it is also about the brothel next door. I had a perfectly good ignorance going until the neighbor piped up about my dogs and me scaring off the, erm, clientele. I had figured the many skulking men coming (and then promptly going) were friends, or plumbers giving estimates, or friends and plumbers buying fentanyl. I would never have known what was afoot (or abed) if she hadn’t seen fit to talk to me.

My life generally runs more to my liking when people don’t do that. Or, if they must do that, when they stick to talking about the weather—hell, when they stick to talking about the Broncos.

Instead, lately they choose, out of all the topics in the world, to talk at me about the Holocaust.

​SOCIAL TIP #1: The Holocaust is not a natural progression of conversation with your customers at the post office.

This happened when I was at a post office different than my home post office. I appreciate the people who work at my home post office. They sometimes let me use the MEDIA MAIL stamp on my packages. They talk to me about flowers and dragons made out of Legos. They have never once tried to persuade me that a historical atrocity was anything but.

They are sticklers for rules at my home PO—so I’m pretty certain that discussing historical atrocities in a contemporary context is not USPS policy.

The best part about going to the post office away from my home turf is that my stale material becomes fresh. Like when, in compliance with USPS policy, a USPS employee asks me if my package contains any hazardous or dangerous materials, despite my package containing only books.

“Not under normal operating conditions!” I like to say. At which point my home postal officers hand me the MEDIA MAIL stamp to keep me occupied.
I read the (very empty) room at this away-game post office and called an audible. Any dangerous or hazardous materials? “No more dangerous than a book!” I chirped.

So what came next was sort of my fault, but not really.

“Pretty dangerous, then!” said the woman—let’s call her “Dee” because she made sure I knew her name when she asked me to answer the survey about my experience. So far, so good. This was banter. “That’s why the N—zis burned them!”

I mean, she was NOT WRONG, but still my biblio-senses were tingling, and not in the cozy-bookstore-on-a-rainy-day way.

“You wanna know why they really burned books?” Dee said, clearly deciding mine was a face she should talk to.

I did not, in fact, want to know. But she had me by my package, which I had relinquished but not yet paid for.

“J—sh s—ual deviancy,” she said, only she did not censor or otherwise hush herself like I do for algorithmic purposes. And then she kept talking and I noped out on the inside but not on the outside because Dee got herself so riled up that she mis-stamped my package and had to work off the wrong label with what looked an awful lot like her personal nail file.

She started my transaction over, including a reprise of the hazardous materials question. I’ve never played my answer so straight in my entire book-shipping life.

And this was the second time that week that a stranger took one look at my face during an innocuous exchange and turned it into explaining why Everything I Know About History Is Wrong.

The first was at an Argentine tango dance in an entirely different ZIP code than Dee. One of the trademarks of tango culture is the peculiar way we ask each other to dance—not with words, but with staring. This tradition makes tango the ideal social activity for those who don’t want strangers talking at me.

Yet despite these codes of conduct, a woman I do not know sat with me and chatted on about an experience she’d had with a foreign dancer who related how staring lands differently in his culture. I believed it, I said—having lived in parts of Europe where grown adults can stare you down with impunity for an entire train ride from Barcelona to Berlin.

I did not see this as any sort of invitation down any holes, rabbit or otherwise. But she leaned in and said—loudly, to be heard by half the dance floor over the music—“I was doing my own research, and you want to know who really won World War II?”

SOCIAL TIP #2: DO NOT DO THIS, EVER.

So I am finished with people for a good long while. Becoming a shut-in is the only way to avoid strangers who Do Their Own Research and think, for whatever reason, that I want to hear about it.

If they really, really like reading into conclusions for themselves, then I suggest they start reading my face before opening theirs.

Presbyterian Española Hospital is excited to welcome Dr. Ruben Nuñez, a podiatrist who’s passionate about keeping people moving and helping them stay active. He was drawn to podiatry because it offers the best of both worlds—medicine and surgery. Some patients only need a quick fix, while others need long-term care, and he enjoys the variety that comes with both.

​Dr. Nuñez points out that podiatry is one of the oldest medical specialties, though it has changed a lot over the years. “Many people picture podiatrists just dealing with calluses or ingrown toenails,” he said. “But today, many of us are primarily surgical in our practice. What sets us apart is our foundation in biomechanics and understanding how whole-body conditions can show up in the feet and ankles.”

Dr. Nuñez attended medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia, completed his residency at St. Luke’s University Health Network in Pennsylvania, and pursued additional microsurgery training at Duke University. His experience includes wound care, trauma, reconstructive surgery and ankle replacements. He works with athletes at New Mexico Highlands University and is also passionate about limb salvage procedures.

For the past three years, Dr. Nuñez has lived and practiced in northern New Mexico, where he feels right at home. He was drawn to Presbyterian Española Hospital by the teamwork among providers and the pride the community takes in its hospital. His approach to care is patient centered.

“I believe that every person has a unique condition and will have a unique recovery. I take time to find the right treatment for the person and sometimes that doesn’t fit into the traditional algorithm. I enjoy taking time to listen to people and learning about the things that make them unique.”

Dr. Nuñez is accepting patients – call 505-367-0340 to make an appointment.

For Immediate Release
September 3, 2025

Press Contact: Amy Pena, Executive Office Director, [email protected] or 505-747-2140

Join Northern New Mexico College in Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Week

ESPAÑOLA, N.M. — Northern New Mexico College invites the community to a multi-day celebration of our Hispanic culture. Hispanic Heritage Week will run September 15 – 18, with events ranging from a salsa contest to a free movie screening.

“Our Hispanic community brings a rich cultural heritage, along with dreams and values that unite us as Americans,” said NNMC President Hector Balderas. “As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Week at Northern New Mexico College, we take a moment to honor the strength of our communities and the vital contributions that enrich our shared journey.”

The highlight of Hispanic Heritage week will be a showing of “Singing Our Way to Freedom” followed by a Community Fiesta & Hispanic Heritage Car Show on Thursday, September 18.

“Singing Our Way to Freedom” chronicles the power of music in creating a new identity among young Chicana and Chicano students during the Civil Rights movement. As a young man in the 1970s, Ramon "Chunky" Sanchez joined the picket lines in California and became Cesar Chavez's favorite musician. His journey is a remarkable lens on a time when young Mexican Americans became Chicanos. Chunky employed humor and honesty, inspiring folks to stand up and speak truth to power.

The Community Fiesta & Hispanic Heritage Car Show will include local vendors, music by DJ Dave and a Hispanic Heritage Car Show. NNMC President Hector Balderas, JD, CFE and Senator Leo Jaramillo will be guest speakers for the event. Food Trucks on site will include Lazy Buffalo, LowCo Dawgs, Clarinda Sunshine Sups and Joyful Sweets.

The week of celebrations will include a Salsa Showdown and Salsa dance lesson on Monday, Sept. 15. On Tuesday, Sep. 16, festivities include Latin music karaoke, Loteria, piñatas, and prizes. Wednesday, Sept. 17, is focused on Constitution Day, with activities such as voter registration and a Kahoot trivia game on immigration rights. Various Student Life teams will provide music, food and prizes across these events. The community is welcome to join us for any of these activities.

These events are cosponsored by Northern New Mexico College and the Española Chamber of Commerce.

Hispanic Heritage Week Schedule
Where: Northern New Mexico College
921 N. Paseo de Oñate, Española, NM

September 15
Salsa Making Contest and Salsa Lessons
Where: Rotunda
Time: 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Let the best homemade salsa win.  Judging will be by Mike Dominguez, Head Coach, Men's Basketball, Mandy Montoya, Head Coach, Women's Basketball, Tilly Nichols, Española Chamber of Commerce.  The winner receives an NNMC SWAG Bag

September 16
Games: Loteria, Pinatas, Latin Music Karaoke Contest
When: 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Where: Rotunda

September 17
Constitution Day/Voter Registration
When: 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Where: Rotunda

September 18
Singing Our Way to Freedom
Free Screening and Q&A
When: 10 – 11:30 a.m.
Where: Nick Salazar Center for the Arts

Community Fiesta & Hispanic Heritage Car Show
When: 12 – 3 p.m.
Where: Joseph Montoya Administration Building Parking Lot
Guest Speakers:
12 p.m. – President Hector Balderas, JD, CFE
12:15 p.m. – Senator Leo Jaramillo
Music by DJ Dave
Local Vendors – Front Patio
Food Trucks: Including Lazy Buffalo, LowCo Dawgs, Clarinda Sunshine Sups, and Joyful Sweets

###

About Northern:

Northern New Mexico College has served the rural communities of Northern New Mexico for over a century. Since opening in 1909 as the Spanish American Normal School in El Rito, NM, the College has provided affordable access to quality academic programs that meet the changing educational, economic and cultural needs of the region.

Northern is an open-admissions institution offering the most affordable bachelor’s programs in the Southwest. Now one of the state’s four regional comprehensive institutions, with its main campus in Española, Northern offers more than 50 bachelor’s, associate, and certificate programs in arts & human sciences, film & digital media, STEM programs, business, education, liberal arts, and nursing. The College has reintroduced technical trades in partnership with two local unions and five public school districts through its new co-located Branch Community College, the first of its kind in the state’s history.  Northern is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and has earned prestigious program specific accreditations for its engineering, nursing, education, and business programs. Learn more at https://nnmc.edu/.

By Karima Alavi
​
​1994: First Step in a 29-year Tradition:
 
From 1994-2023 a series of 34 professional development programs for educators took place at Dar al Islam in Abiquiu, New Mexico. Attendees of the free program included primary-level teachers to university professors, librarians, and state Social Studies Coordinators. The goal of this program was to enable educators to teach about Islam with confidence. The Dar al Islam Teachers’ Institute is the only summer teachers’ institute on Islam presented by Muslim faculty, while housing participants in a Mosque/Madrassa complex where teachers are surrounded by Muslims participating in their daily faith practice. The program was unique in the nation, possibly even in the world. 

Through lectures, free time spent on campus with faculty, and through dinner discussions, participants gained a deeper understanding of the basic tenets of Islam.

Questions addressed during the two-week residential Institute included:

• How did Islam become the second largest world faith?
• What should we know about Islam and Muslims in America today?
• What are the common links between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism
• How does Islam view reform, diversity, and change?
• How can one most effectively teach about Islam in the classroom?
  
  

Using primary texts and classical interpretations, Islamic scholars covered subjects such as:

• Islamic faith & practice
• History
• Culture and civilization, including Islamic art—with teachers participating in art workshops
• Contemporary issues and world-view of Islam
• Existing resources & curriculum for social studies, religion or world history classes

​The first institute was initiated and directed in 1994 by Audrey Shabbas, Founder of AWAIR (Arab World and Islamic Resources). She was an early trailblazer in the field of publishing teaching resources for use by educators covering subjects such as Islamic history, art, and Arab culture in the classroom. The 1994 institute was funded by a one-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. After the first year, it was Dar al Islam funding that enabled the program to continue. Subsequent directors of the program were me, Rehana Shafi, and Susan Douglass who is considered by many to be the country’s most prolific developer of pre-college curriculum in the field of Islamic studies.
 
Institute Faculty and lecturers have come from across the U.S. and from abroad. One of the original professors was the British scholar, Dr. Abdul Hakim Murad who founded Cambridge University’s Muslim College. Known for his brilliant lectures, he also has a reputation for having a serious, no-nonsense demeaner which is precisely why he was used, with much humor, in one of the many remakes of Pharrell Williams’ video “I’m Happy.” Looking for something to cheer you up? Check out this video, “Happy British Muslims” on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVDIXqILqSM

​Other faculty have come from a variety of universities across the United States, including Georgetown, University of Virginia, Temple, Emory, UC Berkeley and many others. One of the earliest faculty members was Hamza Yusuf, an American Muslim who founded California’s Zaytuna College, a private liberal arts school that became the first accredited Muslim undergraduate college in the United States.
 
Professor Sulayman Nyang, originally from Gambia, developed the African Voices display at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History and served on the board of America’s Islamic Heritage Museum that preserves and archives the history of American Muslims since the inception of the republic.

​Dar al Islam’s Outreach Beyond Abiquiu:
 
With the support of Dr. Mohammad Shafi, former chair of the Dar al Islam board, the Teachers’ Institute became known among American educators, school boards, and state Social Studies Coordinators. Soon Dar al Islam’s commitment to teachers led to outreach that went far beyond Abiquiu. Between myself and Susan Douglass, fellow institute faculty and director, we offered over 100 workshops at organizations such as the National Council for the Social Studies, the World History Association, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, and many others. We covered such subjects as Sacred Architecture, Islamic Spain as a Cultural Crossroad, Trade and Commerce Along the Silk Road, Teaching About Imperialism, and Jesus and Mary within an Islamic Paradigm.

​A nationally known curriculum developer, when Susan Douglass isn’t teaching at Dar al Islam, or working in educational outreach at Georgetown University, her work has led her to serve in the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Initiative, and as an Affiliated Scholar with the Council on Islamic Education, where she reviewed commercial textbooks while reporting on the development of state and national academic standards. She has contributed to teaching resources for the National Center for History in the Schools, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, and the online curriculum World History for Us All, as well as The Indian Ocean in World History website, and the NEH/ALA project Bridging Cultures Bookshelf/Muslim Journeys. 

​Other alumni have remained in touch through Facebook, sharing photos of their classrooms (that often reflect what they learned in Abiquiu), or simply expressing their love of teaching and enthusiasm for tackling big questions in their curriculum such as “Who was that Ibn Battuta guy, and why should we care?”
 
Finally, if you would like to watch a video on the Dar al Islam Teachers’ Institute, go to 

“What makes Dar al Islam unique as a place of learning is, first and foremost, how beautiful it is. The architecture is beautiful, the natural environment is beautiful. A lot of things we speak about in our lectures, participants actually see in the architecture, in the designs, in the patterns.” 2023 Faculty, Oludamini Ogunnaike

“It gives me some confidence to know that I’ve been taught by the finest academic scholars in our country.” 2023 Teacher-participant, Luz Antonio

In case you need a reason to avoid "Barebnb"

By Zach Hively

As you may imagine, traveling with 160 pounds of dog is a logistical challenge in any configuration. Ten 16-pound dogs? One 120-pound beast and forty one-pound chihuahuas? Makes me think I have it easy, what with just two dogs sniffing either side of 80.

Even though I average a hand per leash, which I think is a positive, lodging establishments tend to have animal restrictions. They often limit us by quantity (“less than one”) or mass—as if purse pups are any quieter or less destructive than I am.

So, for our recent semi-long-term travel booking, the boys and I turned to Barebnb.

Barebnb, for the uninitiated, is the more honest and transparent copycat of a well-known home share platform. True to its name, it ensures the bare minimum: barely any assurances, barely any accountability. It also stands by the guarantee implied in those final three letters of the brand: you get a bed, for “b,” and for “n” you get not much else.

Not even, it turns out, what’s included in the listing. Perhaps I am a petty b, which accounts for that final “b” floating around at the end of the brand name—but our accommodations lacked both so-called “kitchen essentials” AND a first-aid kit. All of this is no big deal until breakfast goes sideways. The only silver lining, I suppose, was that no one could put any salt in the wound.

Still, this condo allowed dogs, plural, with emphasis on the “n”: not much restrictions and not much fees. In hindsight, these not-much’s may have been red flags. We needed a place to sleep besides the dog beds in the car, however, so we paid the nonrefundable booking fee through Barebnb and moved in.

​(Nonrefundable! That also begins with the letter n!)

All told, the condo complex provided a charming experience of community and culture. We got not much chance to be charmed, however. Our time was largely consumed by evading the many free-roaming dogs drawn in by the lack of fees and restrictions, particularly those under the guardianship of underqualified toddlers, and dodging the many underutilized dog-poop-disposal stations.

My trip afield, in fact, was dominated by making certain my dogs kept me comfortable. The actual purpose for our travel fell by the wayside. I don’t even recall the purpose for our travel, beyond doing our civil best to earn a positive guest review on Barebnb.

​We soon gave up on that too.

Late one weekend morning, in a rare moment free of neighbor dogs and their pint-sized handlers, my dogs and I sat on the front stoop of our ground-level unit. We sipped coffee and admired the parking lot. A car pulled into the numbered spot next to ours. This was business-as-usual. Cars frequented the numbered spot next to ours. They never came back. This, I was fine with. Most of them were terrible parkers.

This particular driver—let’s call him “John” because you’ll see why—sat there for some minutes. The dogs and I were aware of him, but none of us barked. Him sitting there was the most charming aspect of the condo complex we’d yet seen.

At some length, a woman from the unit adjacent to ours went and chatted with John through the car window. John drove off; the woman came back up the short walk to our building and complimented the cuteness of my dogs. I immediately suspected her to be of the highest discernment and character.

​“My friend is such a wuss,” she said. “He was like, ‘I’m not coming out of the car with this dude and his big dogs staring at me. Nuh uh.’”

We three fellas were appropriately flattered. She kvetched about our mutual Barebnb host and the extortion-level rates we paid. Something on my face or my dogs’ faces prompted her to lean in like a co-conspirator; whatever she saw on our faces, we were honestly just pleased that one single neighbor was not stooping on our stoop without picking it up. We weren’t asking for what came next.

“John wasn’t my friend,” she confided, her voice lowering, a subtle menace lacing through her long fingernails—which she tapped on my arm. “I’m an escort. You all are scaring off my customers.”

That’s how, at eleven o’clock on a Sunday, we were taken aback. The listing certainly had not indicated THIS as a neighborhood amenity! The threat, though quiet, was clear—we, intimidating though we may be, needed to stay out of her way—or else.

Or else? Or else risk the wrath of the next John, or the next—one with better threat assessment capabilities? Worse, what if the Barebnb host was in on this ring? Were we, the rare legitimate guests, the front for a much shadier business model?

Look, I don’t care that this woman makes her living as an on-site escort. If the industry were safe and regulated, I might have considered the gig in order to pay for our Barebnb stay. But I cared that we had just been confronted, on our own rented stoop, about interfering with illicit activity—in broad daylight—on the Christian god’s holy day, for whatever that was worth.

My priorities became: 1) get us the everloving heck out of there; 2) get refunded for our unused dates, because if ever circumstances were extenuating, these were.

Getting out, while stressful, was doable. We regrouped before one John or another got wind of our whereabouts.

The refund, though, proved impossible.

Our hosts cared as much about the unlicensed practice in their rented unit as they did about our kitchen’s lack of cooking oil. It looked increasingly like the foot traffic was buttering their bread. So I jumped on with Barebnb Support, thinking they’d like to, you know, support me.

Hours of phone calls, hysterics, and closed support tickets later, Support’s response came down to: “We talked to the host. They don’t want to refund you. And since both prostitution and lack of safety due to large quantities of illegal activity with bad parkers are not covered in our BareCoverage policy, you’re also getting boned.”

So—I may be out some moolah. The dogs have not ruled out more drastic measures; regardless, I finally got the joy of writing a scathing review, and then the joy of editing it down to Barebnb’s character limit. (The limit of their character is, admittedly, quite small.)

​I’m left to conclude that whatever the challenges of traveling with dogs, they cannot compare to the challenges of existing among human beings. Next time, we’ll pitch a pup tent. Far, far away. Five stars.

​By Felicia Fredd

A few weeks ago, Google invited me to try out Gemini. I have no idea how this AI program differs from any others out there, but it’s free, and I wanted to see whether it could help me visualize some design ideas that have been rolling around in my head for a while.

Without reading any instructional preliminaries, I began asking Gemini to create and modify images. I ended up with dozens of iterations of a rusted metal wall with silver raindrops, which eventually morphed into a canyon slot garden with golden bubbles (images below). I gave Gemini the elements, the context (desert Southwest), and a few additional descriptive parameters—and it gave me configurations of those things.

The only frustrating part was that when I asked for just one specific, isolated change, Gemini would completely rearrange the image. I have no idea why that is, but I had very little control in terms of fine-tuning anything. On the other hand, I realized that this very lack of control was one of the program’s strengths as a creative tool. Not only did it keep me working, but many of the chance results were really intriguing. I was down a rabbit hole in no time, playing out one idea after another—each rendered within seconds.

I also found that I could ask Gemini to apply moods and styles—which will teach you something about moods and styles. If, for example, you apply a Baroque style to an ikebana arrangement of yucca leaves, grass, and a banana, the banana will be half-peeled. Apply a Gothic style to the same arrangement, and the banana will be half-rotted. Ikebanana? Gemini was able to apply cultural visual language to novel ‘problems’, and I thought that was pretty amazing.

Sadly, Gemini’s plant designs for landscapes were really boring, as were most color compositions using plants. I think these inputs are just too nuanced and complex in terms of layered juxtapositions. The plants it generated were pretty stiff, isolated, and cartoonish - okay for broad strokes maybe, but it didn’t even seem able to identify and depict plants by scientific name, at all.

​As to the question of using AI to design a real garden, I think the answer is: sort of, maybe, to some extent. It’s very good for exploring ‘big picture’ spatial layouts and concepts, but from my very limited experience, it doesn’t yet have the power to anticipate the many unique real-life conditions that inform functional design. In the end, you’ll need as much background knowledge using AI to design as you would without it. It doesn’t tell you the questions you’ll need to ask. Maybe it will in the future. Goodness.