Live and Learn New Mexico!

Fall approaches and thoughts of returning to school. Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) is planning to implement a hybrid model of remote and in-school learning but parents are worried...teachers are worried... We simply can't do it as we've always done it but we need to get back to life. We have to think outside the box on this one. That has always been my philosophy when it comes to learning. We don't have to be together in one building to learn. We don't have to ship students to one location. Let's flip this thing and send learning out to the students! How it works Rather than ship kids in to the schools with buses, teachers can go out to teach at neighborhood venues where social distancing can be maintained with small groups, places like community centers, skate parks, adult learning centers like Read Write in Moriarty. This plan can work well as part of the overall APS plan to mix online and in-person learning opportunities. I'm just adding another c...

April 14, 2021: With the legalization of recreational marijuana, I thought this a good time to re-post this --  I'm not a political person. Politics are very angry and confrontational, and I'm not into all that. I'd rather meet peacefully with people from other countries and solve problems. Why are we competing? We need to pull together and save the planet already. I do, however, want to say that I love that a positive-thinking woman is in the New Mexico Governor's office. Michelle Lujan Grisham wants to legalize recreational marijuana. She knows it heals, not hurts, for most people, and the money spent preventing its use, and criminalizing it, is ridiculous. It's time. my drug of choice I've smoked weed since I was 19, when I met the lovable pothead trombone player who would become my husband in the UNM marching band my second year of college. Marijuana changed my angst-ridden, over-thinking life. I immediately found weed to be calming and healing. My th...

In today's modern, high-tech world, we are watching our kids becoming more and more stressed out about life in general, and we are realizing that it is affecting their overall health. Our children dread going to school and it breaks our hearts. Learning should be a natural, enjoyable endeavor, not a stressful one. It shouldn't be about standardized tests, getting into college and later getting the really good job that we all know college doesn't guarantee. We don't want them to feel as anxious about school as many of us did. I was anxious in kindergarten! I'm 59 years old now and in the last few years have become aware of the concept of mindfulness -- paying attention to what's happening in the present, without judgement. I'm learning to deal with my anxiety in natural, healthy ways like meditating. I wish I had known about all of this when I was in elementary school, painfully shy kid that I was. If I had learned the mindful techniques I share...

Since moving to the small town two and a half years ago, I've come to appreciate living in Moriarty, New Mexico, in many ways. Sure, there are issues, as with any town no matter the size. But the good outweighs the bad. Here are some of the things I've noticed about Moriarty. Some are trivial, others more consequential. Moriarty has more storage rental places than any other small town I've ever seen. Seriously. There is a storage facility on almost every street seems like. On one street, there are two different ones right next to each other! It's ridiculous...or maybe it's not. Maybe there's a demand. The sky is amazing. I take thousands of photos of the clouds that are shaped and molded by the sometimes mild, sometimes mighty wind. Rt. 66 is the town's main street but business is bad and there are lots of abandoned buildings due to the fact that I-40 exists. You can tell it was once a hustling, bustling road. The town is located about 30 miles from Al...

I was feeling the need to blog but didn't have a topic that inspired me. So I waited and I listened for messages, which is the one thing I've been working on -- listening to the messages. We all get them. Sure enough, after a few days, I was researching "lightworker" and realized that perhaps that is what I am. It inspired me to blog. I'm a lightworker. I'm not unique. There are a lot of lightworkers in this world. The majority are unrecognized as such, I'm sure, but if we gave it a little thought, we would all be able to point out the lightworkers in our communities. They are: the healthcare workers at the hospital who treat everyone with kindness and respect the parents who hug their kids and help them learn to live mindful lives  the people who make your life a little brighter and more positive somehow just through your interaction with them the people who help you heal in some way, quite often spiritually. I just read an excellent article lis...

This is an old post, updated, but today I'm asking you -- do you know a student artist whose work could be highlighted in this blog? Let me know and we'll get started! Daniel has been cleaning out the mobile home of a neighbor who just moved out, and he has been finding some interesting things that were left behind, most of it very imaginative artwork done by one of the residents of the home, a  young autistic man, 19 years old. When I sat on my porch many days over a period of two years, he would be out in his front yard stimming -- humming, hand flapping, and walking up and down the yard. I found it comforting in a way. Turns out, this young man, Shaun, is quite an artist. Danny is finding his work all over the home as he cleans it. It is mostly ceramics/pottery. Showcasing student art The art that this young man produced was done in art class at school. This got me thinking. I would like to showcase other student work, too.  We could highlight a New Mexico student arti...

April honors military brats, the kids of those who serve in the armed forces. A distinct lifestyle, in fact, classified a subculture, the life of the military brat is unique, with both bad and good qualities that shape kids in both good and bad ways. Researching this topic, I found so much more information than I had expected, starting with the origins of the term "military brat" and leading on to a related term, "third culture kid". I decided to look at what these two types of subcultures have in common. Brat or TCK? First, let's talk about the military brat. It's a common misconception that this term was one given by outsiders to the children of those serving in the armed forces and that it has negative connotations. The truth is that the term is one the brats chose for themselves and they hold it dear. The TCK, or third culture kid, is a child who lives in a different culture from the one of their parents or the one of the country listed on thei...