The rest of Tuesday morning

Coming down, November 29 in #Mountainair that is. Here we are and overdue for quick reminders, previews and catch up ~ that is to say, blog by posting on items I should have posted already and may yet get to. That was the Monday plan but I had a long day out and barely made my 750 words, the daily self-imposed writing regimen, which takes priority over blogging (although I do use it drafting and notes)

Please note and heed preceding post about volunteering for and supporting ChristmasLand 2011. Watch for "thumbs up" notices to recognize volunteers... maybe gold stars too.

ChristmasLand in #Mountainair

Remember Christmas Land last year? It's coming. Bigger too. You've seen notices for the Christmas Tree Decorating Contest. 75% of entry fees jackpot for 1st and 2nd place winners, so get your decorating mojo on. Why not make it a group challenge? Can your organization or business take down the competition? Decorating Smack Down! Bring it on! Can the ladies of the Coronado Club take down the Chamber of Commerce, make them cry?

Christmas Land ~ display, event, happening, performance, local charity drive ~ opens to the public December 10 following the Tree Decorating Contest Dec 6-9. For Ben and Sandi Steinlage, it already started. They been making fliers and posters (although not always checking them twice), posting notices, getting the word out and running prep errands. Today, with the help of Chief Lessard and other volunteers (yoohoo out there ~ that means you), they start hauling hauling trees, lights, ornaments, fixtures, displays and more to the Dr Saul Community Center.

But, hey, it doesn't look like this yet because...guess what...

Christmas Land 2010, from Mountainair Online (the blog)

elves aren't doing it. Whether busy making toys or occupying the North Pole... Elves won't be setting up Christmas Land 2011 for Torrance County tots of all ages to enjoy. It's a community project calling for community cooperation - that means you. 

Over the next few days, Ben, Sandi and volunteers will be loading up, hauling, unloading, setting up and can use more hands for that part. Can't make it? There's more to do and a place for you, your friends, family and organizations you are active in. Santas, elves, doorkeepers, table sitters, helpers, performers, musicians, buskers, gofers, runners and more will be needed all the way through and then come closing and taking down. Be a part of Christmas Land 2011. Just ask.

Volunteer NOW: call Ben or Sandi at 847-1854 or email happyplate@aol.com. Then show up or it's a stocking full of coal for you. Remember that list that gets checked twice? You'll be on it.

Thumbs up to Town of Mountainair, Chief Lessard, Patty Mahoney and the Community Chorus, iCreate, Manzano Mountain Scribes, Whispering Range, St Vincent de Paul and the Mountainair Chamber of Commerce

Posted via email from Mountainair NM

Christmas Fair reminder & call for vendor information

Yes, the annual #Mountainair Christmas Art/Craft Fair is almost here, tomorrow, 10 am - 3 pm at the Dr Saul Community Center, well timed for Shop Small Saturday. Call Rebecca for additional information, 505-847-0973.

Mixed Media Muse, Celeste Simon

Vendors include (not a complete list but all I have so far)

• JoAnne Dale (pottery, jewelry)
• Pleasant Greene (pottery, fiber art)
• Celeste Simon, Mixed Media (clay crosses, necklaces, handbags, mixed media paintings)
• Local Information Table (no details available)
• Mountainair Senior Center (no details available)
• Ben and Sandi Steinlage

Book table, Manzano Mountain Scribes writing group information and volunteer sign up for Christmas Land 2011 (Tree Decorating Contest, Dec 6-9; ChristmasLand, Dec 10-24, 10am to 8pm, closed Mondays). Visit 2010 Christmas Land photo album on Facebook.

2011 Gran Quivira Star Party, Nov25

Tonight's 2011 Star Party begins at 4:45 pm.  Come early to view the ruins and museum before the Star Party.  With easy to follow signs, Gran Quivira is located 25 miles South of Mountainair on NM Highway 55 at mile-marker 37.   It will be a cold night, so a warm coat, gloves and hat will be minimum attire, with multiple layers recommended.  Hand-warmers and thermoses with warm drinks are also recommended.   Bring binoculars if you have them.  Depending on participant interest, the Star Party should be concluded by 10:00 pm. 

 

This presentation is free in partnership with the Very Large Array, New Mexico Tech and the Magdalena Ridge Observatory. For more information, contact Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument at (505) 847-2585, or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/sapu.

Christmas Fairs: here there everywhere

Recently I went (not a-caroling but) a-googling for Christmas Fair image to add to to the Announcements post reminding readers about Mountainair's own annual Christmas Art and Crafts Fair

Lo what a richness of images. San Francisco has a Victorian Christmas Fair.
Many of the Merriest Christmas Markets in England are modeled on traditional German Christmas markets. The tradition started with Christmas markets originating centuries ago in Germany and Austria as sources of practical goods for winter survival.

Birmingham Christmas Market,

Call for Entries: New Mexico Showcase

516 ARTS Anniversary Juried Exhibition Call for EntriesNM Showcase Feb 4 - Apr 28, 2012
DEADLINE: December 1, 2011

516 ARTS announces a call for entries to showcase New Mexico artists, in celebration of our fifth anniversary. The 2012 exhibitions schedule kicks off with this juried exhibition of emerging and established artists from across the state.


DEADLINE: December 1, 2011
ENTRY FEE: $30


JUROR: Peter Frank, curator and art critic based in Los Angeles. He is currently Associate Editor of Fabrik magazine and art critic for the Huffington Post. He has served as Senior Curator at the Riverside Art Museum in California, as Editor of THEmagazine Los Angeles and Visions Art Quarterly, and as critic for Angeleno magazine and the L.A. Weekly.

Around the local blogosphere

Technorati recently came out with their annual "State of the Blogosphere" report. Here's a local one, with a brief side glance at social media, to be covered in more depth at another time. Opening Disclaimer: much of the local blogosphere is mine, which could qualify this piece as shameless self-promotion. Whatever. However, not all is mine. Fair coverage all the way around.

According to Technorati State of the Blogosphere 2011:

Hobbyist bloggers are backbone of the blogosphere, representing 60% of the respondents. Hobbyists say that they “blog for fun” and do not report any income. Half of hobbyists prefer to express their “personal musings” when blogging. 60% indicate they spend less than three hours a week blogging, yet half of hobbyists respond individually to comments from readers. Because 72% blog to speak their minds, their main success metric is personal satisfaction (61%). 

My own network of Mountainair blogs, Facebook pages, curated and generated aggregator pages, Twitter stream, YouTube channel, bookmark and feed bundles, etc all started with this blog. Despite cross linking and feeds among community blogs, I should take the extra time to post notices of / links to features formerly carried here but now appearing elsewhere (in case anyone noticed and wondered where they went). Mountainair Announcements and Poets and Writers Picnic are more or less direct offshoots, with Announcements somewhat more so and Picnic rather less.

Announcements carries notices. PSA and other, straight up as sent. Plans to launch a shop local initiative as a community service are afoot. The existing "promote local businesses" policy will expand to include descriptive posts about local businesses introducing them to readers and regular notices of specials, sales and new items ~ if and as sent by local businesses.

Poetry posts used to appear on Arts from time to time and now rarely do but perhaps still should. Regularly fed with content, both have taken on their own sustainable identities. Other blogs include less traveled ones (some under development, others waning), iCreate and my personal favorite, the contrary flâneuse.

Robert Julyan & Sweeney: small town New Mexico

from Alamosa Books "fictional high plains" community, population under 1,000 and falling, trying to survive. Is any of this sounding familiar yet?  With a few changes, this could be Mountainair. Aliens and naked bull riders sound vastly more entertaining than Chamber, town beautification, arts, planning, town and other meetings. I've got aliens and shamans, social media and metafiction, in my current NaNoWriMo effort, but no bull riders .... yet. What about naked committee members? 

Sorry I missed posting this before Yesterday's meet-the-author reading and book signing. Don't let that stop you from reading the book. I'm not letting that stop me from posting in lieu of the scheduled civic/development lecture (shop local, develop public space, demand transparency but in way more words). Give Evelyn a heads up about getting if for the community library too.

About Sweeney

The fictional High Plains village of Sweeney, New Mexico, population 856 and falling, is like so many small towns in rural America once vibrant and alive but now a dry husk of obsolescence, decay, and despair. Only its few remaining citizens care that it not die like so many other towns, but when a handful of them concoct a plot to draw attention to their hometown, the result is a hilarious romp through the oddities and opportunities of small town life. Aliens, nudists, naked bull riders, Druids, phony Indians, and real Indians ~ all play a role in Sweeney's quixotic journey of survival and self-discovery. (Preview by taking a look inside)

About Robert

In his first novel, Robert Julyan, author of numerous New Mexico-related books, takes a comic approach to the serious issue of what is lost when small towns die. While researching his Place Names of New Mexico, he experienced firsthand many of these communities and developed a strong empathy for their citizens and their plight. He resides in Carnuel, New Mexico, a small community just outside Albuquerque

art, community and a sense of place

A panorama of Haas&Hahn's work in Colombia. Image by Haas&Hahn via Favela Painting

This post, written by Knight Foundation Arts Program Associate, Tatiana Hernandez, was originally published on the American for the Arts' Blog.

People have looked to the arts to help define their communities and create a sense of place for generations. So, why are we so excited about creative placemaking today? Perhaps it has something to do with context. In this digital world, many are reexamining the fundamental nature of "community" and our relationship to place. We now know, based on findings from the Knight Soul of the Community report, that social offerings, followed by openness and aesthetics explain why we love where we live. What does that tell us about the essential importance of our connection to place? "Vibrancy" is popping up as a way of describing the intangible nature of a neighborhood's character. Here are three projects working to help define a sense of place in each of their communities.

Read the rest of How arts can help define communities and create a sense of place

#Mountainair Beautiful meeting, Friday Nov11

The committee, organized by local merchant and Chamber of Commerce president, Scott Remmich, is an ad hoc group as yet neither affiliated with an incorporated non-profit nor yet registered with the PRC. Mountainair Beautiful, representing various local groups and interests byorganizer invitation, meets Thursday mornings at 10 am in the Shaffer Hotel Meeting Room. The group's purpose is to plan and implement town beautification projects. This week's meeting was rescheduled to Friday (tomorrow).

(tentative or best guess) Agenda:

• Town Square Project (definite as this is MB's current main focus)

Window on the World: Richter retrospective at Tate Modern

In the wake of a weekend opening at Mountain Arts on Broadway, growing local interest in the arts ~ but, alas, no recap waiting for me in this morning's mail, today will be a global art day: Window on the World visits the Tate Modern and so can you. Don't miss the Tate's Learn Online section either.  

Gerhard Richter: Tate Modern Celebrates One of the Greatest Artists Alive

An ambitious retrospective on one of the most influential and prolific artists alive today. Review by Maria Popova.

#Mountainair Community Art Show, Nov 10-19

@Mountain Arts on Broadway

122 East Broadway (Next to P&M Signs)

Mountainair, New Mexico

Community Art Show entries are open to Mountainair area residents, who are cordially invited to display their original art, such as paintings, jewelry, crafts, photography, mosaics, quilts, clay works, sculpture, pottery, etc. No entry fees. No commissions charged on sales.

Artists

• Bring 1 to 3 pieces of your work to Mountain Arts on Broadway, 122 E.  Broadway (next to P&M Signs).
• Label each piece with your name and contact information.
• Indicate price if for sale

by Tomas Wolff

Bring in your artwork Friday, November 4 between 9 am – noon

Exhibit Schedule

• Thursday, November 10 from 3:30 to 5:30 pm
• Saturday, November 12 from 10am to noon
• Thursday, November 17 from 3:30 to 5:30 pm
• Saturday, November 19 from 10am to noon 

Questions? 

Contact Tomas Wolff at 1+505.847.2444 or wolff.clayworks@gmail.com

Entertainment and refreshments provided

Thanks and see you at the Community Art Show

(sponsored by the Manzano Mountain Art Council)

NM posts national education assessment gains

An important story: don't miss reading it whether or not you have children in or about to enter the local public school system. Consider becoming more involved in local education ~ and more informed about education at both local and national levels. Whatever you do, don't stop reading after the opening line's good news. It is encouraging but there is more to the story.

New Mexico has bested all but two other states and the District of Columbia on the math portion of the biennial National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), posting improvements among fourth- and eighth-graders.
Known as the nation’s report card, NAEP far better gauges student subject comprehension than state standardized tests and is often used by researchers to point out the somber state of K-12 education in the US.