I’m not going to get into all the ways Australia and New Zealand are different from everywhere else in the world. And Tasmania is part of that too. I want to talk about a specific animal, the Tasmanian Tiger.   Read an article about it HERE. ​

While distinct from the Tasmanian Devil, in an important aspect that the Devil is still alive, the last Tasmanian Tiger dies in 1936, in a zoo. The last wild Tasmanian Tiger was shot and killed in 1930. I’d hate to be that guy, sort of like the 14yo kid that shot the last American Passenger Pigeon.
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Like the woolly Mammoth, there are apparently efforts to bring back the Tasmanian Tiger using DNA and cloning. Did I mention that both the male and female of the species have pouches? The Tiger and Devil are relatives. The Tasmanian Devil still exists today and seems to have an appropriate name. It looks cute, kind of like a baby black bear, except for those teeth.

​As For Tasmanian Devils, read about them HERE.

The Tasmanian Devils are also a fascinating animal. While extinct on mainland Australia for millennia, they have been re-introduced to save the species from extinction. It seems that the Devils in Tasmania have been ravaged by a cancer that is transmitted through a bite. Yet another weird thing going on down there.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll find this strange and useless information interesting. If not, then you can ignore it and move on.

By Bryce Dix, KUNM News
 
It’s a beautiful day in the Jemez Mountains.

The early summer morning air is crisp – but not cold enough for a jacket – and dead silent. Above, a couple clouds lazily float across the deep blue sky.

As our group of 20 or so people clad in waders and hiking gear trudges along a rudimentary path deep in the woods, the ground quickly turns muddy. Soon the path widens, revealing a beautiful meadow lined with walls of tall ponderosa pine. A thin creek divides the land into two.
“We’re going to cross the creek and go over to the first set of holes which is, well, either here or there,” said Karen Menetrey from the environmental organization Rio Grande Return. It focuses on restoring damaged ecological systems across the state.

The goal today is to plant batches of willows for riparian wildlife – especially, the beaver.
The willow is usually seen as a “pest” species, but it plays a vital role in beaver survival, providing food and shelter in the winter. It’s also the construction material for the dams they create.

Volunteers place bundles of pre-cut stems into 3-foot-deep holes underneath the water table. They trim any leftover leaves and throw water into the hole.

Then, they use long sticks to tamp dirt into and around the hole – mainly to avoid any air bubbles.

​Menetrey said widespread trapping in the 1860s and 70s in New Mexico nearly decimated the beaver population. Historically, beavers in the U.S. were killed for their fashionable pelts and unique scent glands typically used in perfumes or food flavoring.

“And they are extirpated from some watersheds,” Menetrey said. “Which means they’re not extinct, but they are gone from that particular area.”

An estimated 6,000 to 12,000 beavers exist in New Mexico right now, but Menetrey said exact counts don’t exist. Currently, Defenders of Wildlife is working on a beaver “census” of sorts to identify dams using aerial photography.

Willow planting for beavers
All of this work to reintroduce the beaver back into New Mexico’s streams and rivers is part of a larger push to combat climate change here in the Southwest.

“They're really like climate resilience superheroes and super engineers,” said Chris Smith, the brain behind a newly launched venture dubbed the New Mexico Beaver Project.

Smith’s vision is to reestablish the widespread benefits beavers and their dams had on New Mexico’s landscapes before commercial trapping, like ecological watershed maintenance. Plus it’s free charge because, well, beavers aren’t motivated by dollar signs.

“We have all these vacant waterways, and they could be repopulated by beavers, but we currently don't have a relocation and restoration program,” Smith added.

New Mexico does allow the trapping of beavers, but only in certain areas at certain times of the year. Nowadays, tens of thousands of beavers are still snared, trapped, or shot across the country every year.

The Department of Game and Fish has tried its hand at some relocation and reintroduction efforts, namely at Bandelier National Monument.

In 2014, the New Mexico Senate passed a memorial requesting a beaver restoration plan from the Department of Game and Fish. They never got one.

The state does have some guidelines that make it fairly difficult for beaver relocation to happen – namely the five-mile upstream, five-mile downstream protocol, mandating all landowners within that radius give their explicit written consent for beavers to live there .

With a recent massive windfall of state revenue from the oil and gas industry, Smith wants some of that money to be set aside specifically for beavers to increase the state’s resilience to climate change.

“Beavers, I think, are one of the most cost effective ways to do that,” Smith said. “There's a budgetary reason to do it.”

In addition to helping with floods, beaver dams improve water quality, remove pollutants, and, surprisingly, help fight wildfires.

Emily Fairfax studies riparian beaver ecohydrology at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Geography, Environment, and Society.

“When beavers fight wildfires, that's actually sort of the last step of the number of disasters that they're helping us mitigate,” Fairfax said.

Fairfax says some people may see beavers as a “nuisance,” because they may chew on a property owner’s favorite tree, or accidentally flood a field or road.
But, she said the pros outweigh the cons.

The semi-aquatic rodents are really good at slowing down and storing water in the ground during storms and runoff seasons, she said. That allows water to be available to plants during droughts.

“Throughout the whole year, beavers are manipulating the hydrologic cycle in a way that builds up defense to a whole suite of natural disasters, and the wildfire really matters, because that's one that we struggle to manage ourselves,” Fairfax said.

These engineering marvels are pivotal to the survival of other species during a wildfire as well. Fairfax said beaver wetlands are too lush and wet to burn – providing a crucial fire break, slowing the blaze down.
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“A single beaver family can engineer acres and acres and acres of these fireproof patches,” Fairfax said. “They are the safe place in the landscape, and we need more of it.”
Fairfax and Smith said the challenge is to overcome societal perceptions that beavers are merely obnoxious, toothy rodents and teach people that the beaver is much more valuable than a perfume ingredient or a fancy hat.

By Jessica Rath

​When Janice and Michael Quinn bought their property in Rio Chama near Medanales, they were quite intrigued by the strange and decidedly unique structure which was part of it: a small building without any straight lines. It looked like something that had grown out of the earth, with undulating curves, bulbous outcrops, round and colorful windows. It had been abandoned for a while and wasn’t in great shape; raccoons and other critters had moved in. Janice and Michael didn’t know much about who built it, but one thing was certain: it was something special that deserved to be restored.
 
The Quinns started on a Sherlock-Holmes-inspired journey.  Talking to neighbors and former residents, they managed to piece together the story of the original owner and builder of the Hobbit Hut, a man every bit as eccentric and colorful as the building: Franklin MacFie. An artist, musician, actor, performer, who single-handedly built the free-form house all by himself. Well, people helped him, neighbors and friends. But he designed and planned the dwelling all by himself, although he wasn’t an architect. 

​I figured this would make a fascinating story for the Abiquiú News, and the Quinns kindly agreed to give me a grand tour of the Hut. Michael had been hard at work for weeks and months (“forever”, Janice corrected), sealing the roof which had several water leaks and renovating each room, to make it habitable.
 
But first of all they shared some great news with me:  on June 14, 2024, the Cultural Properties Review Committee listed the Franklin MacFie House in the State Register of Cultural Properties and recommended that the nomination be forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register for listing in the National Register of Historic Properties. With the help of New Mexico’s State and National Register Coordinator Steven Moffson, Janice and Michael had filled out a lengthy application to have the Hobbit Hut formally recognized as a site of historic relevance. If you’re interested, here is the link to the nomination; it has a lot more information than I could fit into this article. 

​Why did they apply for this? I wanted to know.
 
“Frankly, it just seemed like a good idea”, Michael told me. “I don't even remember how I discovered that we could apply – just looking  around the internet, I guess. What do we hope to get out of it? We hope to get a plaque”, he laughs. “And then maybe some financial and professional help. Because we do everything ourselves. And we pay everything with  cash, so it takes a long time. I think my primary goal is to preserve the building, and make sure that it stays a stable, viable building into the future when we’re gone”.
 
One reason why the site is historically relevant may be the fact that it was built with a unique construction technique: Ferrocement. It’s a composite material which uses a skeletal framework of steel rods which is then covered by fine-meshed chicken wire and burlap, and lastly plastered with a layer of cement mortar. Although this is only between 1 3⁄4 and 2 1⁄2 inches thick, it’s an extremely strong shell: Michael claimed that one could drive a car on top of the roof, and it would not cave! Whether that’s indeed possible I have no idea, but a number of Franklin’s friends have been documented dancing happily on the roof.

I got a better insight into the way Ferrocement was used when Janice and Michael took me on a tour of the house. The most pressing part of the work to be done is fixing the leaks, Michael explained.

“This mesh makes Ferrocement work”, Janice added. “That's why it doesn’t have to be heavy concrete but can be thin. So this whole thing is made out of rebar, chicken wire, burlap, and Portland cement. It’s a wonderful way to build actually, and it's waterproof. They still have ships that the hull is built out of Ferrocement. There are huge stadiums in Europe which are built of Ferrocement. It's amazing, eco-friendly stuff”.

Ships? Built with cement? This sounded somewhat counterintuitive (and I have to admit that I’m rather clueless as far as engineering is concerned). But sure enough, there’s even a Wikipedia page about Concrete Ships, click on the link for some interesting images. And here you can find some other amazing buildings made of Ferrocement.
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From the outside, it looked as if this would be some dark, cavelike abode. But once we stepped inside, I was surprised to see how light-filled and airy the house was! 

​From the entrance, the living areas undulated in every direction, sloping down naturally, following the hillside. There were no straight lines anywhere, and the few dividing walls all had arches and openings. The house looked alive, breathing, moving, changing. I was utterly enchanted. 

​Janice pointed to the ground: “All of this was dirt, which got muddy whenever it rained. Michael worked hard to install concrete floors; that was one of the first things he did”. 

Next, we looked at the kitchen, and Michael showed me everything that had been done so far, and his many future plans. “The electricity is here for a refrigerator; and there is a sink with a cabinet;  and cabinets over there are on the backside of a closet which will be in the bathroom. There will be chairs here and a breakfast table. So, we could rent it out for a couple of months in the Summer; I have plans to put in a mini split system for  heating   and air conditioning”.
​
“The bathroom  will have a shower right here, a toilet there, and the sink, and the washer and  dryer will be here, and a water heater”.

By this time, after walking through different rooms and getting a better sense for all the amazing details – there were so many windows, for example, and every one was unique and different, some round, some arched, some colored glass church windows – I wanted to learn more about the man who built this. Franklin MacFie. I asked Janice and Michael how they learned about him, and what they learned.

Janice told me: “We loved the Hut at first sight, and asked our neighbor Dean Jeffers who lives below the ditch to the south, what he knew about it. From him and another neighbor (Reynel Maestas, the one whose grandmother had owned all these properties), we heard lots of stories. Dean told us that Franklin had moved to Portugal to nurse his partner Jean Michel Belluc who died of AIDS. And that Franklin had died soon after that! That’s why Michael was so surprised to see a very much alive Franklin at our door in 2008!”

They had met him! How exciting! I wanted to hear all about it. Michael had quite a story to tell.
“We were sitting in the hot tub. And it was the time of year when the moon comes up and projects light out of all the windows and auto tail lights in the Hut. And we were thinking, ‘It's the spirit of Franklin’. The next morning I was home alone, and there was a knock at the door. And there's Franklin with one of his friends from Santa Fe, and the lady from Portugal”. Michael had told me  earlier that Franklin had built a round cement and adobe addition to a house in Portugal (he traveled all over the world),  and that he had wanted to show his friends from Portugal the house he had built much earlier in New Mexico. So this was that visit. “I opened the door and there's this guy and says  ‘Hi, I'm Franklin MacFie’. I couldn’t believe my eyes! ‘Franklin MacFie! The rumors of your demise have been greatly exaggerated!’ was all I could say.  He thought that was funny, and he explained that he was here with friends and he wanted to show them the hut. And if it was okay. I said, of course it's okay. Do you mind if I come along? And so we walked down there”.
​
“They weren't here for very long, I don't think they had much time. But that's when the picture of Franklin and me by the window was taken”.

“So that was my first connection with Franklin, before I knew anything about him. I didn't know he was sick at the time. I didn't know anything about him, except that he built that place. Which meant a lot to me. Many years later  Carol Bondy was here and we talked about the Hut and Franklin. She did some research and found the WordPress website. And that's when we started learning all about Franklin's eccentricities, his life and accomplishments”. He died shortly after this visit.
​
Please take a look at the site if you want to learn more about Franklin MacFie. It’s a memorial put together by some of his lifelong friends, celebrating the artist, film maker, world traveler, theater director (he organized the Espanola Valley Theater where he worked with teen drama students and played in “Bye, Bye Birdie” in Santa Fe in 1978),  an altogether gifted and brilliant man who lived in New York City, San Francisco, New Mexico, Morocco, Turkey, Portugal, and lots of other places. I guess it’s more a labor of love and less of an organized historical document, but somehow this is totally fitting for Franklin’s character. 

Janice told me another funny story, which she and Michael heard from Ray Stevens, a life-long friend of Franklin’s.

“Franklin and his partner Jean Michel, who was  French, wanted to make Camembert cheese. And they had a cow. Jean Michel called somebody up in Wisconsin who made cheeses and who also happened to be French.  The story goes that they just talked fluidly in French for like 30 minutes on the phone, and Jean Michel got the recipes. And so they started making Camembert cheese. Jean Michel would go to Santa Fe, with his rounds of Camembert cheese and in scantily cut off leather shorts and sell them to restaurants in Santa Fe”.

 “And Ray told us that sometimes the cheese wouldn't sell and they would bring it back and mix in some herbs and things, reformat and go back to town to try to sell it again, for even more money!”

Isn’t it strange to have such a strong connection with another person's life? To gradually learn more details about a unique, creative, and rather eccentric individual? Some people might think that the Franklin MacFie House is too weird and unconventional and not worth saving. I applaud the Quinns for recognizing Franklin’s vision and for putting so much effort into the preservation of the building. They see and understand its beauty. I hope they’ll get some funding so that they can finish this labor of love sooner, rather than later. If you have questions about the Hobbit Hut, or have personal stories to share, please email TheHobbitHut@lunadanza.com.
And thank you so much for showing me around, Janice and Michael – I’m glad I could learn something about Franklin and his original spirit.

Contemporary Mexican Photography Lecture
 Sunday, August 4, 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. ​

​The Abiquiú Inn proudly hosts a compelling lecture by Mexican photographer Cristina Kahlo. Cristina, the great-niece of Frida Kahlo, is one of Mexico’s most prominent contemporary photographers.  Cristina’s artistic career follows in the footsteps of her great-grandfather Guillermo Kahlo and father Antonio Kahlo, both celebrated photographers.
 
Cristina will guide us into various themes treated by Mexican photographers in recent decades, from the magical to the political, and from documentaries to the surreal.  She will also discuss her family lineage and special family memories in this lecture. 
 
Cristina employs multiple photographic printing techniques in her work, including platinum, cyanotype, heliogravure and color interventions.  Her subjects include the feminine universe, geometry, rituals, music, architecture, dance, and childhood disabilities. 
 
Cristina’s most recent work was photographing and cataloging the Frida Kahlo Museum collection for its 65th anniversary. Cristina also recently curated the groundbreaking exhibition “Kahlo: An Expanded Body” at the Parrish Art Museum (New York), focusing on Frida’s dramatic medical history and its profound impact on her art.  Her photography has been exhibited in numerous European galleries as well as throughout Latin America and the United States. 
 
Seating for this event is limited, so plan to arrive early.  For more information, contact: Carlos Rovelo at 214-505-6549.
 

By Trip Jennings,  New Mexico IN Depth
This story was originally published by New Mexico In Depth

It’s on. 

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called New Mexico legislative leaders’ bluff, signing a proclamation Wednesday afternoon to demand state lawmakers return to Santa Fe for a mid-year special legislative session scheduled to begin noon Thursday.

Lujan Grisham signed the proclamation during a state capitol press conference in Santa Fe surrounded by a phalanx of public officials that included Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, leaders from Farmington, Las Cruces and other communities, and three Pueblo governors. 

The officials showed up en masse to support the governor in her call for state lawmakers to tackle several public safety measures she says cannot wait until January, when lawmakers are scheduled to regularly return to Santa Fe. 

Her chances of success are anybody’s guess, especially during an election year when lawmakers would prefer to be home, particularly those running for re-election. When they’re in session, lawmakers cannot solicit campaign contributions, although they can accept them. 

State House and Senate leaders have told Lujan Grisham that their fellow lawmakers haven’t reached a consensus on her legislative priorities. Governors have the power to call special sessions, but doing so without an agreement forged with leaders during negotiations prior to the session is risky — and rare.

Reaction was swift Wednesday afternoon from progressive organizations who have publicly expressed their concern about the governor’s agenda. In an email, Bold Futures, Equality New Mexico, the ACLU of New Mexico, and the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness denounced her decision to move ahead while ignoring community members and experts who said the governor’s measures will harm vulnerable populations. 

Special sessions are usually short and narrow in scope. Fourteen of the 25 special legislative sessions held since 1990 have lasted six days or fewer. And of the seven that lasted 10 days or more, four of them involved lawmakers’ once-a-decade responsibility of redrawing lines for legislative and congressional districts, which generally take much longer than other special sessions.

Without an agreement in place, this week’s special session could drag on for days. Or state lawmakers could gavel themselves out of session.

A simple majority of lawmakers in each chamber could vote to do that. 

Or one chamber could work while the other is adjourned, which happened when Gov. Bill Richardson was in office and the Senate adjourned while the House stayed in special session. As was the case with the state Senate that year, the adjourned chamber must come back every three days to gavel itself back into session and then adjourn — unless the other chamber says it is OK to be out for longer than three days.

Sundays do not count toward the three days.

Here is the governor’s agenda according to the proclamation sent out by her office Wednesday afternoon:

(1) amending certain procedures and requirements relating to criminal competency laws 

(2) amending the definitions of “harm to self” and “harm to others” in the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code and the Assisted Outpatient Treatment Act 

(3) requiring local law enforcement agencies to submit reports on crime incidents, ballistics information, and other relevant information to the Department of Public Safety on a monthly basis

(4) enacting the Unsafe Use of Public Highways and Medians Act to ensure safe use of medians and roadways by pedestrians 

(5) increasing the penalties for felons and serious violent felons found in possession of a firearm

(6) amending the Racketeering Act to add various predicate offenses, expand the definition of “enterprise,” and add various crimes relating to racketeering activity 

(7) increasing the basic sentence for crimes involving the possession or trafficking of fentanyl
 
(8) appropriating funds to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance eligible applicants that have been approved for FEMA public assistance funding for projects to replace or repair public infrastructure damaged by fire, flooding, or debris flows that were addressed as part of Major Disaster Declaration DR-4795-NM 

(9) and appropriating funds for the expenses of the Fifty-Sixth Legislature, First Special Session, 2024. 

​OFFICE OF THE STATE ENGINEER, INTERSTATE STREAM COMMISSION, BUREAU OF RECLAMATION AND USACE-ALBUQUERQUE DISTRICT PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Water Managers continue to respond to sediment plug on Rio Chama: State and Federal partners coordinating to ensure safety and access to water

SANTA FE, N.M. –The Office of the State Engineer and the Interstate Stream Commission, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the Bureau of Reclamation, continue to work closely together to manage Rio Grande water operations and establish a channel for the river after a sediment plug formed in the Rio Chama following an intense rainfall on June 20.

USACE is conducting flood control operations by managing releases from Abiquiu Reservoir within their authorities to minimize effects. To ensure that water rights holders receive the available water and to maintain compliance with the Rio Grande Compact, the OSE/ISC has provided Reclamation with state funding to mobilize crews and specialized equipment to clear a channel through the sediment plug, which was approximately 100-feet wide, 4 to 5 feet deep, and over a mile long. Until channel capacity in the Rio Chama can be restored to safely release higher flows from Abiquiu Reservoir, flows on the Rio Chama will be restricted and San Juan-Chama Project water may not be released from Abiquiu Reservoir. This is resulting in lower flows through the Middle Rio Grande.
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The state and federal agencies will continue to monitor and respond to the situation and work throughout the Rio Grande Basin to ensure that New Mexicans remain safe and have access to their designated water allocations.
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The Office of the State Engineer is charged with administering the state’s water resources. The State Engineer has power over the supervision, measurement, appropriation, and distribution of all surface and groundwater in New Mexico, including streams and rivers that cross state boundaries. The State Engineer is also Secretary of the Interstate Stream Commission.
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The nine-member Interstate Stream Commission is charged with separate duties including protecting New Mexico’s right to water under eight interstate stream compacts, ensuring the state complies with each of those compacts as well as investigating, conserving and protecting the waters of the State, in addition to water planning. https://www.ose.state.nm.us

A Plebe among greats

By Zach Hively

If you ever want to feel like the cream that has risen to the top of society, while simultaneously reaching the profound realization that you have wasted your life’s potential up to this moment, then I can only recommend going to the opera.

It is not the opera’s fault that you feel like an underachieving potato in a sportscoat, if you feel that way at all, which you will. The opera is simply doing what the opera does best.
​
What does it do best, exactly? I have no idea. I don’t speak enough Italian or Operatic or whatever language they’re singing up there. But the opera is clearly doing something best. Their bestness is in the air of the entire event, and so prevalent that it seemed only natural for me to spend $16 of someone else’s money on a little glass of bubbly.

Maybe not all operas come across so superlatively. There could feasibly be a well-intentioned nonprofit out there staging “Der Ring des Nibelungenenginengnen” with an elementary-school orchestra, because that’s what they wrote the grant for. The odds of an entire grade-school symphony being superlative is slim, seeing as so few fifth graders have twenty-plus years of professional experience. I feel confident in suggesting they could not charge more than $8 for champagne.

What I do know about the opera is what I have experienced at the Santa Fe Opera, renowned for its open-air operatorium, world-class productions, and tailgating in the parking lot. I have only the most glowing things to say about this organization, in case they are ever hiring for experienced operagoing copywriters.

This season, a friend took me to see a production of “Don Giovanni,” composed by Mozart (yes, that Mozart, the one from the movie “Amadeus”) to a libretto by Da Ponte (yes, THAT Da Ponte, the paint magnate). SPOILER ALERT: Don Giovanni is Italian or Operatic or whatever for Don Juan, which translates into English roughly as “Don Juan,” aka a person (often a man) who probably thinks he is better with the ladies (often but not always women) than he really is.

I’m serious. Let’s do the math. Donny G’s age is indeterminate, but he is coded as a young-ish nobleman. So we shall arbitrarily decide that he is a middle-aged 31, the same age Mozart was when he composed the opera. (Feeling good about your own life’s accomplishments yet?) We shall also say, without textual evidence, that he has been intimately active since the age of 16, which was probably actually middle-aged in these ancient times.

Thanks to the unobtrusive subtitle screens provided to each operagoer, I know that Don Gio brags of bedding 2,065 women (so far!), with a complete roster to prove he is not at all obsessive. Assuming a steady rate of sleepless hay-hitting, without even allowing for a decreased initial success rate as he adjusted to the big leagues, ol’ Don G.V.’s cadence of conquest comes out to greater than one partner each three nights. For fifteen consecutive years.

Now, if we as good mathematicians control for him being a man bragging to other men on stage, we can adjust this result by at least a factor of ten. This brings the estimated tally to one partner each month—a more likely figure, considering the Black Death wiped out a third of Europe’s population, including women, some centuries before.

Whichever figure you believe, this fictional hero is still getting it on more than YOU are. Probably because he never wasted a single day of his life pounding Oreos.

But if Don G himself is not to be believed, then neither are the sets. These meisterwerks of stagecrafting genius will have you questioning even more of your life choices. Like, sure, you are sitting in the audience of a world-class opera production, three or four free (to you) doses of Gruet effervescing in your veins; but, should you have paid more attention in that class where the teacher told you you’d be hanging drywall the rest of your life if you didn’t shape up? Because look what you can do with drywall.

Fortunately, you are spared from your rumination by the entrance of the opera singers, who seem like normal everyday people at a Renaissance fair until they open their mouths.

This is when you realize what a commoner you are, no matter how glitzy your getup, no matter how pricy your ticket that someone else gave you. You know that you have achieved nothing as beautiful as these performers’ voices, and that nothing but an intense amount of training and dedication could ever bring you to such fulfillment of your potential.
​
And who has time for training and dedication? My track record says, “Not me!” But even though I’m already older than Mozart was when he died, the opera has inspired me to believe, beyond all plausibility, that it really is never too late to pursue one’s dreams. So here I go. Really. As soon as my bubbly wears off.

​Discover the Legacy of Oppenheimer at the Second Annual Oppenheimer Festival Aug. 10-31 in Los Alamos. Image Courtesy SALA

Courtesy of the Los Alamos Reporter

The Second Annual Oppenheimer Festival, proudly sponsored by TechSource, returns to Los Alamos from Aug. 10 to Aug. 31. This year’s festival invites history enthusiasts, film buffs, and curious minds to explore the rich legacy of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, right where the story began.
Explore where the story began and dive deep into the world of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the brilliant physicist behind the development of the atomic bomb. This year’s festival offers an immersive experience through a captivating blend of films, lectures, interactive events, and historic tours. Walk the same paths as history’s great minds, visiting iconic sites featured in Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning film, “Oppenheimer,” and uncover the stories that changed the world.

Festival Highlights at SALA Event Center

● Premieres and Films:
○ Witness the premieres of groundbreaking films such as Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and Larry Sheffield’s new documentary, “The Atomic Rocketeer.”
● Classic Films:
○ Experience historic films including “The Beginning or the End,” “Fat Man and Little Boy,” “Day One,” “Dr. Strangelove,” and “Destination Moon.”
● Documentaries and Lectures:
○ Engage with experts like Cynthia Katayanagi, Nancy Bartlit, Alan Carr, and Nicholas Lewis as they present diverse and thought-provoking perspectives on the Manhattan Project and its enduring impact.
● Exclusive Events:
○ Enjoy special lunch and dinner sessions with award-winning producer Larry
Sheffield, featuring intimate Q&A sessions that provide a deep dive into his latest
work.

Discover Los Alamos:
Explore the charm and history of Los Alamos through guided tours of key historical sites,
including the Bradbury Science Museum, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, and
the Los Alamos History Museum. Unearth local gems such as Bathtub Row Brewing Co-op,
Encanto Bistro, Mesa Top Games & Toys, and more, experiencing firsthand why Oppenheimer
said, “My two great loves are physics and New Mexico. It is a pity they can’t be combined.”

Engage and Win:
Collect points with the Festival Explorer Card by participating in events and activities. The more
you engage, the more points you earn, leading to fantastic rewards. This is your chance to be
part of an extraordinary historical celebration and win exciting prizes.

Join Us:
Tickets are now available to members, granting exclusive early access to all events. Public ticket sales begin on August 1. Don’t miss this unparalleled opportunity to explore the secrets of the atomic age and the historic town of Los Alamos.

For more details, event schedules, and to purchase tickets, visit our Oppenheimer Festival Website.

You can call me Yogi

By Zach Hively

My latest lifelong passion involves fulfillment of my true nature’s potential. Also, science! You see, the gravitational waves that Einstein proposed back inna day explain so much about my ability to do yoga.

Now when I say “my ability to do yoga,” I am not trying to make you feel bad about your own inabilities. My yoga teacher says that we yogis are not to judge our stupid inflexible bodies. We are all built differently, she says, which is the absolute nicest way anyone has ever put “neener neener, you’ll never be like me.”

You see, some people’s abilities are as invisible as gravitational waves. But the invisibility is not the feature of gravitational waves that explains my yogic accomplishments. Rather, these waves collaborate with my body to render majestically complex poses.

Bear in mind, I don’t pretend to understand the advanced science behind gravitational waves—I genuinely do understand them. The trick here is to find an image or a metaphor that illustrates the challenging concept of gravitational waves to other adults. This tactic is what we in the journalism biz refer to as “using our advanced training, for once,” or “I told you an English degree wasn’t completely worthless, Pops.”

You, dear reader, will be aided by an evocative image, like this: The way a gravitational wave works is, it pulls objects to the earth quicker than a pantser can expose the fruits of one’s loom.
Before this discovery, gravity was a mere theory, untested and unobservable, like evolution and bipartisanship. Now that scientists have detected gravitational waves for realsies, though, I have science to verify my triumphs on the yoga mat.

Like many normal people, I assumed for years that yoga was not for me. I should never have listened to myself. Yoga is a powerful spiritual activity, traditionally harmonizing the physical body with the ethereal reality of failure. But not for me. For me, on Day One, there was only mastery. 

To be fair, my excellent teacher deserves her share of the credit. She explained, in a soothing voice, that this is a yin yoga class, where we work with gravity to create sensation in the body. So I, as a great understander of gravitational waves, was already starting light years ahead of everyone else. As part of yin yoga, she continued, we hold each pose for three to five minutes.

Too easy, drill sergeant. I squirmed through many years of my sisters’ middle school band concerts. After those, I’m not afraid of three to five minutes of anything. 

The teacher first reclined us into a simple pose—let’s just call it Regurgitated Butterfly—and it all went to plan as I surrendered my groin to gravity.

 The real secret of gravity is that it never lets up. Its wavelengths expand or contract when there are cosmic shifts in the density of matter, like when two black holes merge, or when Associate Justice Antonin Scalia passed away. But gravity. never. stops. pulling. on. your. groin.

As a man, I have learned to keep my pain to myself. So I applied the same principle to my non-pain. I strove to breathe through it, like the teacher suggested. The teacher must have recognized my significant abilities, because she heaped praise on me before everyone else.

She was all, I’m going to help you ease your knees apart into the pose, alright? And I was all, I can’t acknowledge you because I’m focused on breathing like a yoga master. And she was all, Just go as far as you are comfortable, and I was all, Okay, and that’s when she talked about us each being built differently.

When the teacher moved the class into the next pretzel-pose, she once again came over to me and was like, Normally we save Corpse Pose until the end, but why don’t you go ahead and give it a try. 
I was the first to the finish line! And Corpse Pose is truly relaxing. It reflects a person who died peacefully, even tranquilly, from kicking ass in yoga class. 

When the class ended, I must admit I felt somewhat … less gravitied. While everyone else was busy attempting the Caucused Wombat and the Ever-Stubborn Sloth, I grew metaphysically, merging my being with gravity waves and reaching self-actualization.

This yoga thing is so worth another week of lifelong practice. My teacher helped me detect my true nature right away. Who knows what else I will learn from her. Perhaps she is a yogic Einstein who understands potentials that I cannot even imagine. If she is reading this now, she should know that her gentle instruction led my chakras and my meridians spiritually far, far beyond Kapotasana pose, so I should never ever have to attempt it. Pretty please?

If you liked this piece at all, then you’ll be bound to like it just as much when you read it a second time in my forthcoming book, Call Me Zach Hively Because That Is My Name, coming in September to a white elephant exchange near you.
Preorder here