Sister Sharing Circle

Sister Sharing Circle was a revelation.

Developed by Esperanza Dodge and her colleagues at Young Women United, the Sister Sharing Circle experience was conceptualized by women of color for women of color. Sister Sharing Circles are hosted by YWU's Luna Sagrada, a collective that offers free support to low-income families of color in pregnancy, labor, postpartum and breastfeeding. Part support group, part consciousness raising session, part dinner party, Sister Sharing Circle is a monthly two-hour program on varying topics of urgent interest held at YWU's welcoming offices on Gold Street in the heart of downtown Albuquerque.

This month the topic was Breastfeeding/Chestfeeding, and I'd driven down from Santa Fe eager to participate as an ally, grateful for the opportunity to help get the word out about this foundational work, and looking forward to confronting and challenging my own vast ignorance on the issues, e.g. lesbian mama  co-nursing, community cross-nursing, and the miracle of transgender nursing. In truth, I'd been craving just this kind of purpose-driven socializing. We may no longer meet daily at the village well or riverbank, but we women have no less need of each other's easy company than previous generations who did.

“A newborn baby has only three demands. They are warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence.” --Grantly Dick-Read

We shared a delicious meal (free to participants) from Buca di Beppo—pasta, salad, bread, and mini-connoli in chocolate sauce. As women happened in from work or school, some with their children in tow (childcare is provided, also free of charge) we chatted and ate heartily. After a time, Esperanza asked a “check-in” question by way of introducing ourselves: “If you were an ice cream flavor, which would you be?” The answers were as lighthearted as the query: “Rocky Road, because it's a little bit of everything;” “Rainbow Sherbert, because it's fresh and light;” “Cookie-dough anything,” said the UNM grad student in Public Health to knowing smiles, no explanation needed.

We read together. Aloud, we took turns, and then discussed what we'd read: “Is Slavery Why Black Women Aren't Breastfeeding?” In a word, Yes. While not the sole factor, the persistent legacy of African-American chattel slavery with its blame-the-victim stigma and collective trauma of “wet-nursing” remains an enduring cultural barrier. But the low breastfeeding rates among African-American mothers have real and often severe health consequences for their babies. The benefits of mother-to-baby transfer of Colostrum, the rich milk of protective antibodies that is produced in the first days after birth, cannot be overemphasized—even a single ounce.

YWU has a library of resources available for loan, including this title.

“These are not simple choices for some parents,” Esperanza explained. “They carry a lot of weight. And it won't be fixed by information. There are things the mother won't say. She might not tell you that her mother told her about breastfeeding, 'That's for poor people.' She might just say, 'I can't.'

“Knowledge of history,” Esperanza explained, “acknowledges a person in their background. It's especially important because in New Mexico our initial breastfeeding rates are higher than average, then they drop off. The key factor is support.” One woman, herself a midwife, told us that given her profession, at first her mother was reluctant to say too much, didn't want to get in her business, so to speak. But as a newly nursing mother, she needed her to do just that. “It was my mother who showed me how to hold my breast so the baby could latch on; she was the one who showed me the C-hold and how to get the nipple flat enough; she told me to make it like a sandwich and put it in his mouth. She drew me a picture!”

Without support it can feel overwhelming, especially for women whose babies are at home while they work all day. Taking lonely breaks in the ladies room with her breast pump, one woman recalled her past attempt with disgust. “I made a mess at work!” Not all employers are as baby-friendly as the University of New Mexico, which provides lactation stations atseveral campus locations where parents can feed their babies, or pump and collect their milk for later feeding. Both the current and future administrator of UNM's Breastfeeding Support program participated in the Sister Sharing Circle that evening.

UNM's lactation stations are designed to take the stress out of breastfeeding.

Some women spoke about their insecurities as to whether they would be able to produce enough milk, or fears about knowing whether the baby was getting enough, or expressed concern about receiving conflicting advice from family: “When I think about having a baby, I think about returning to my family, to the village. But everyone will be there and everyone will have a different thing to say. How will I know what's right? I'm torn between wanting the village and feeling it's too much.”

“There's a coldness, a harshness coming from the medical profession,” one woman shared. “They'll say to a new mother, You're not making enough, why don't you just supplement? They can be so insensitive to the new mothers' feelings. It's no wonder the numbers are so low.” Sometimes babies are not released from the Natal Intensive Care Unit unless the mothers agree to supplement with formula, which can undermine a mother's best intentions.

With a deeper understanding of both the difficulties and rewards of breastfeeding, Esperanza asked us to write down on brightly colored notepads what words we would use to encourage a breastfeeding parent. A cascade of beautiful words rained down on us:

You are not alone. How can I help? What do you need?

Every drop you give is wonderful.

Baby steps are what’s important. Don’t give up.

 Keep doing your best, your baby appreciates it more than you know!

One woman reminded us that encouragement can come non-verbally too. “I sent a beautiful picture of a woman with tattoos breastfeeding her child, to my cousin who was having difficulties and also had tattoos. It meant a lot to her.”

 

As our time together drew to a close, Esperanza asked us to each articulate what we had valued most about this Sister Sharing Circle.

Hearing the stories...everyone's experiences...learning about the history... learning what resources there are...being able to share... practicing what I might say to someone needing support... feeling the compassion and kindness...expanding my knowledge...I'm feeling more encouragement...it's not so embarrassing to talk here...listening to all the wisdoms...remembering my work is important...the chance to speak directly to pregnant women.

As if we hadn't already received more than enough gifts—nourishment for the mind, body and spirit—the Sister Sharing Circle ended with a prize giveaway—nursing pads, a journal, baby sun block, a nursing apron, and a promise. The promise was given to the woman who had “made the mess” the first go around, who dearly wants to breastfeed her second baby due in August, who feels committed to try again even though it didn't go well for her last time.

Esperanza (whose name means hope) said the words that could just make all the difference for her and her newborn: “This time you have us. We will definitely be there for you.”

James Boyd's Streets

 Photos by Frances Madeson

My darling neighbor, artist Jeffery Pierce, decorated my car for our funeral procession to meet the Emergency Protest. Vice News covered our plans. And the Santa Fe New Mexican's Uriel Garcia came to give us a beautiful sendoff.Two of Julia Goldberg's journalism students at Santa Fe University of Art and Design are also working on a story which I'll post when it comes over the transom.

It was a long and passion-filled day in Albuquerque, a city I'm coming to love more and more. Sadly, by the time my car rolled safely home the Albuquerque Police Department had shot and killed another victim. Citizen's Arrest Warrants have been issued for the mayor, the police chief, and some of the very, very bad apples.

Oriana Lee: Bringing the Light

 Photo by Frances Madeson

Oriana Lee wasn't planning on becoming a New Mexican, but that great teacher Life instructs  us quickly and early that some occurrences are simply larger than mere plans. One day perhaps we'll laugh about the factual coincidence that the state bird here is the Great Roadrunner, but that day is not yet here, not by a long shot. Oriana is awaiting trial, or ideally the dismissal of the trial, in connection with events in Taos County that pretty much everyone in the whole world knows about by now. If for some reason the story has passed you by, here is a short version of the hair-raising video seen by hundreds of thousands of viewers the world over.

The lawyers, judges and affected parties will sort it all out in time, but from the peanut gallery it seems highly unlikely that NM State law enforcement would risk looking even more brutish and foolish than it currently does by pursuing a trial or attempting to further incarcerate the single mother of five (one girl and four boys) beyond the fourteen days they already held her in the county lock-up. A petition is circulating to help them reach that very conclusion for those who would like to add their names.

If Oriana goes on the Barbara Walters Show or is interviewed by Diane Sawyers or one of the other big-profile major media outlets that are courting her for her presentation of the sensational story, she can reveal publicly some of the distasteful experiences and humiliating privations she witnessed and endured while jailed in Taos County. But Oriana being Oriana would also tell of the guards who treated her fairly, who did their jobs properly, and who sometimes demonstrated caring and kindness. She would emphasize that not everyone who can does abuse power, cruelty though often evident is not the only possible modus operandi even in a harsh and punishing environment. And I hope modesty will not prevent her from telling how she exerted a calming influence on her fellow inmates, how she spoke with them about empowerment and solidarity, how on the day she was released they circled her and promised her they would hold on to the peace they'd all come to share in her presence.

Photo by Frances Madeson

The family is settled in a rental house in a quiet residential neighborhood, the house is furnished with most of the basics they need cobbled together from thrift store bargains and some donations, which are very appreciated. When they arrived here they had three big suitcases filled with their clothes and shoes, boxes of school supplies and some few treasured personal items. Books (some fascinating titles) sit on tables and counter tops in every room. (While so-called "paraphernalia" was reported, which could be a range of things, including sacred altar items for spiritual practices, no contraband was found.) She keeps a close eye on Craigslist for acceptable furnishings to feather their spare nest. She's not pleased that her children currently sleep on air mattresses or that their comforts are few, but they're grateful to be together, and frankly just happy to be alive.

She's applied for a full-time job whose prospects looks promising but until she hears for certain she's offering workshops and teaching ad-hoc classes in various areas of interest and expertise such as Vision-Boarding, Child Rearing With the Divine Feminine in Mind, and Mexican and African Birthing Traditions. She's also a performer of original rap and spoken word compositions which are available for sampling on her website.

By O

eye rip raps; on same microphones poetry.
eye balance formality with artistic integrity.
eye close deals, book shows, then pen prose.
eye cook meals before heading to post bills.

eye read to the youth; record to the beat.
eye flow, consult, lecture, teach & speak.
eye blog & tweet; send messages to senders.
eye fool to the internet; slave to lender.

eye write for the love. 

eye fight for the write. 

eye am a writer.

eye write.

 

Oriana struggled for a long time with her decision to leave her home in Memphis to set out for LA to pursue her dreams in the entertainment business. And this detour hasn't been an easy one—among the many expressions of support extended her way both on the internet and in person, she received vociferous hate mail after the late October incident. She was called a “dumb bitch” who “deserved to die.” One writer said that he "wished she'd been shot for teaching her kids to go against cops." Disturbing messages that she's had to shrug off in order to keep bringing the light.

In Memphis she'd been active with various volunteer and advocacy groups so naturally when she found herself a newcomer not by design in a town where she knew only one friend, she reached out. She's had her disappointments from organizations she hoped would be allies—some groups had conditions attached to their assistance, conditions that challenged her loyalties which she could not go along with. Most of the kindnesses she's received have been from individuals, people who recognize the difficult spot she's in, bound to remain in New Mexico while the legal machinations unwind beyond her control. Fortunately she's very keen on her lawyers and is confident she's receiving excellent representation.

Cooking with Kush back home in Memphis

The children are finding their way socially. It's a little more challenging for her teenagers than for Kush, her 12-year old son who has a special interest in all things culinary, and her two younger boys who like to play Legos and chess as well as making everybody laugh every chance they get. But her big boy, 14, was accepted into a dance crew which was exactly what he needed Oriana told me, and they're all going to check out the skate park. Her daughter, a beauty who graduated high school at 15, is thinking about culinary school or maybe make-up classes, or possibly pursuing modeling. 

I haven't been in wondrous New Mexico that long myself, but long enough to know there are many loving people here who would welcome the opportunity to embrace this family and even help out financially to tide them over until things break better for them.  Any and all angels should please feel free to donate to help the family relieve some of its burdens through Paypal using the address: orianalee@orianalee.com.

When I told Oriana how moved I was by seeing her children heroically come to her aid when she was being manhandled, especially Hezekiah who so easily could have borne the brunt of the officer's out-of-control rage, she smiled as if to say That's who he is. If it had been you, or someone else in trouble, anyone, he would have helped. That's the kind of person he is.

Doña Isabella

Around the time Willa Cather was composing her great New Mexican novel Death Comes for the Archbishop, muralismo was the prevailing art form in Old Mexico, on the rise in the years subsequent to the Mexican Revolution. Meditating on the architecture of the novel, which is structured in prologue and nine books, several with numbered scenes within, it occurred to me that this may have been Cather's interesting and formally ambitious stab at creating a contemporaneous literary equivalent. Certainly some of her descriptions of natural phenomena are lucid to the point of hallucination.

Muralismo typically depicts significant, often legendary, historical scenes, especially as seen from the point of view of indigenous peoples, and conveys social messages meant to speak to the ages often painted in vivid, sometimes lurid, primary colors. This is no less true in Cather's verbal compositions, perhaps the most brilliant and exciting of which is the passage in Section 4 of Book Three, The Mass at Acoma, in which Cather relates how the pueblo people summarily dispensed with one despotic and carelessly lethal priest. His downfall is described dispassionately in plain, spare, almost methodical language evoking an atmosphere of  utter detachment.

They carried him down the ladder and through the

cloister and across the rock to the most precipitous

cliff — the one over which the Acoma women flung

broken pots and such refuse as the turkeys would

not eat. There the people were assembled. They

cut his bonds, and taking him by the hands and feet,

swung him out over the rock-edge and back a few

times. He was heavy, and perhaps they thought this

dangerous sport. No sound but hissing breath came

through his teeth. The four executioners took him up

again from the brink where they had laid him, and,

after a few feints, dropped him in mid-air.

There's much to admire in the writing of this brief passage, the double meaning of refuse for instance, the tyrannical priest as “such refuse” (garbage) and the peoples' refusing (resistance) of his casual act of murder—or the very few adjectives that somehow generate so much foreboding: “precipitous,” “broken,” “dangerous,” “hissing.” It is part of Cather's linguistic genius that in “hissing breath” can be found both the condemned man's ultimate voicing of disapproval, and the final wheezings of a criminally unholy gasbag.

Muralismo often includes portraiture of iconoclastic figures whose deeds are worthy of contemplation, exemplars whose lives and accomplishments merit scrutiny over Time. Often unsung heroes who have fought the power in one way or another, or who have opened up new vistas of thought or creation. Book Six, containing the fewest pages of all the books in Death Comes for the Archbishop, is titled Doña Isabella, and at first it's difficult to perceive how this trivial-seeming character fits into the social landscape, or why she should be singled out at all and elevated to the status of her own book. Since she's no notable personage, what exactly is her character a portrait of?

In the first of the two sections, Cather describes her as the second wife of a prosperous ranchero who returned to Santa Fe from New Orleans with “his American wife and a wagon train of furniture.” From the get-go she is situated as ornamental, decorous to her new surroundings, and she's drawn as vain on several counts. Most especially because she indulges a pretense about her age which she doesn't quite manage to pull off. Cather focuses us on Isabella's hair which was “a little silvered, and perhaps worn in too many puffs and ringlets for the sharpening outline of her face.” Ringlets that she takes care to pin back before entering the company of her dour adult daughter Inez, altering her appearance by toning it down and becoming more churchly.

Doña Isabella is generally the subject of gossip but of a trifling nature, mostly concerning her fashion sense (she's said to be something of a clothes horse) as well as conjecture about possible extra-marital dalliances. Cather seems keen to make us notice both her flightiness and her whiteness as reflected in her choice of pop songs such as La Paloma (the dove), La Golondria (the swallow) and “the Negro melodies.” Near the close of Section 1 when Doña Isabella plays her harp at the end of a long party sequence, Cather narrowly avoids the bird in the gilded cage cliché with a bracing splash of surprising language: “She was very charming at her instrument; the pose suited her tip-tilted canary head, and her little foot and white arms.”

In Section 2, Isabella is now the widow of the prosperous ranchero who brought her to Santa Fe. His brothers are challenging the will which would leave the bulk of the hefty fortune to her and Inez (and in time, the church) on the grounds that she is too young to be Inez's mother, her own lie used against her. Pride prevents her from admitting the truth, even if it means forfeiture of the inheritance. Cather is cruel, extending her whiteness to oblivion, dressing her “in heavy mourning, her face very white against the black, and her eyes red. The curls about her neck and ears were pale, too—quite ashen.” In Cather's hands whiteness itself becomes a kind of lived delusion, one that is openly acknowledged by the other characters. “Tramping home,” Father Vaillant says to Bishop Latour that, “he would rather combat the superstitions of a whole Indian pueblo than the vanity of one white woman.”

Subsequent scenes serve as nuanced reinforcements of Vaillant's considered conclusion. We turn the page on Doña Isabella, frozen in her panel: a none-too-flattering yet starkly iconic portrait of enduring white female privilege.

¡Ya Basta!

 

Not one but two impressive Navajo activists came to our Stop the Abuse of Women in New Mexico's Prisons meeting Wednesday night, and what they articulated in terms of values—sharing resources, inclusion, interconnectedness, patience, generosity of heart—and style—gentleness, peacefulness, patience, open-heartedness, deep sharing and song—was enormously valuable. Their reflections, suggestions and musings helped provide a positive and grounding stability to what was at odd moments an almost raucous meeting...yes, a voice or two got raised a time or two.

“What a meeting! That's the kind of passion that gets things done when directed,” Janiece Jonsin of NOW-NM wrote me later that evening, sending along a sketch of what the structures might look like to accomplish the multiple goals that organically emerged bubbling up from our wet and wild circle.

With participants representing or associated with Esperanza Women's Shelter, Amnesty International, NOW-New Mexico, Global Zero, NM Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, One Billion Rising, New Mexico Health Equity Partnership, New Mexico Women's Coalition, St. Elizabeth's Shelter, New Mexico Women's Justice Project, joined with ex-cons, family members of prisoners, college professors, anarchists, former prosecutors, therapists, recovering addicts, brothers in struggle, feminist artists, comic novelists, and a few requisite pains in the ass, we're going to take on the prison-industrial complex here in New Mexico, something that we could never dare do individually. 

The song our Navajo abuela spontaneously sang to us was a children's song, the Goat Song. It could not have been more sublime especially given our sense that the Department of Corrections was willing to sacrifice hundreds more scapegoated women to senseless incarceration, rather than use its powers of persuasion, its bully pulpit, its mandate, to address the warehousing of the mentally ill in the prison system and to make crystal clear the need for substance abuse treatment, rather than this insane, shameful and out-of-control caging of people—in New Mexico we have the highest rate of incarceration of women in the nation!

In addition, we have 50 women in what's called “in-house parole,” who are eligible for release but have no place to which to parole, so they languish in prison. According to the June 2013 New Mexico Sentencing Commission Report on Prison Population Forecast, “The number of women serving some portion of their sentence as in-house parolees has increased over time.” Over time? How much time? With all the brilliant and skilled people in this state, why isn't additional staff hired to solve this problem instead of pretending it doesn't exist? If I sound a little strident, well....Why should we have to do this heavy lifting for the lethargic bureaucracy that is the Department of Corrections? Last time I checked my Del Norte Credit Union account, I wasn't receiving a paycheck and pension from the State of New Mexico. 

But whatever the sacrifices, not only are we not going to allow them to snatch hundreds more women and imprison them for shareholder profit, but their blazing cowardice in even suggesting such a shitty outcome has propelled us into conceptualizing and organizing a whole host of planned actions.

Here's just some of what we're going to get done:

• We're putting together a presentation on the cost-foolishness of the scandalous status quo, and in a few masterful strokes and pie-graphs will demonstrate the economic and moral absurdity of what is being proposed.
• We're going to blitz the state with this information, if necessary sending carloads of advocates to all 33 counties in the state to awaken the conscience of the people, and if possible, the press and electeds.
• We're going to be all over the Legislature's Subcommittee on Criminal Justice Reform when it resumes meeting in April to support and help guide them as they re-think what constitutes criminality in this state. 75% of the prisoners in Grants are there for non-violent drug offenses.
• We're going to raise funds to establish a bus service to Grants—we're going to end the geographic isolation of the women locked up there. Perhaps with more traffic coming through, more caring eyes on the prisoners, more questions being asked, abuses such as the ones outlined in Fallen Women and Inside the Box will be more difficult to perpetrate. We're committed to easing the suffering of the women locked away in Grants, even as we work to reduce their number.

Our industry benefits from significant economies of scale, resulting in lower operating costs per inmate as occupancy rates increase. We believe we have been successful in increasing the number of residents in our care and continue to pursue a number of initiatives intended to further increase our occupancy and revenue. Our competitive cost structure offers prospective customers a compelling option for incarceration.~ CCA 2010 ANNUAL REPORT

And near the top of my personal hit parade is kicking Corrections Corp.of America out of Grants and ultimately New Mexico entirely. CCA employs a single lobbyist on its behalf in New Mexico: one Edwin T. Mahr, who according to his Linked-In account long ago parlayed a two-year stint as former Secretary of the Department of Corrections back in the seventies into a career as a “Contract lobbyist for past 33 years, specializing in statutes related to commercial airline industry, privatization of corrections, alcoholic beverages, cell phones and all matters related to business taxes.”

The quirks in the NM lobbying law make it difficult to see what he's doing solely on behalf of CCA, but according to the Justice Policy Institute's June 2011 report, Mahr's been busily wining and dining our electeds (if somewhat on the cheap compared to largesse lavished elsewhere).

From GAMING THE SYSTEM, page 26

AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK: TOTALING UP STATE LOBBYING EXPENDITURES

To show the challenges facing those trying to “follow the money,” below is one example of one lobbyist in New Mexico, the state with the highest percentage (43.3 percent) of people in prison being held in private facilities. ... In his May 1, 2010 report, Mahr indicated spending on meals and beverages in January and February of $1,938.22, including four dinners with named elected officials and $1,123.01 in undisclosed “lump sum expenditures under $75;” there were also expenditures for an “HB100 Party” and the “Senate Demo Caucus.” In 2011, Mahr reported 10 dinners in January and February with individual legislators or committees totaling $2,033. In these reports, Mahr was not required to report what legislation he was lobbying for, or the cost of his services. Additionally, Mahr represented several other clients, and was not required to identify which client's account paid for each dinner.

New Mexico also requires lobbyists to disclose their political contributions; Mahr made a $200 donation to the re-election campaign of Sen. Tim Eichenberg (D) on 4/25/2011, whose website reads, “A healthy, robust democracy is one in which legislators listen to and are beholden solely to the voters in their districts --not big campaign donors and lobbyists.” Sen. Eichenberg is a member of theJudiciary Committee; two bills he sponsored but which died in committee, S.B. 453 and S.B. 519, would likely have resulted in longer sentences of incarceration and greater costs. Mahr's January 15, 2011 report of political contributions showed 68 donations totaling $20,700, all made either before May 15^th or after October 1st; $6,500 of these were noted as being “CCA” donations.

According to Yahoo Finance, the 52-week range of CCA's stock price is 30.37 – 41.40. Today it closed at 32.89, and has been trending downward the past month. Its performance will probably not be aided by Investment Manager Ben Strubel's inclusion of CCA in his feature: Dumb Investment of the Week. Strubel writes:

[CCA] rode the dual wave of the war on drugs and deregulation/privatization (a better term might be "confiscation") of public property and resources in the 1980s into a prominent political and financial force in the prison industry. A wave of overbuilding and lawsuits threatened the industry in the late 1990s, but the terrorist attacks of September 11 and a new focus on locating and detaining so called "illegal" immigrants have vaulted the private for-profit industry to record profits.

We believe the combination of a flawed business model and rampant abuse in the private prison industry will eventually outweigh the lobbying savvy of the companies and lead to the decline of the industry.”

I would let this Wall Street tycoon have the last word if there weren't someone far more deserving—the author of Fallen Women, Silja Talvi, whose in-depth article on the Grants prison concluded with these words:

 “I am tired of being in a cage and being treated like an animal,” is how one Native American prisoner at the Grants women’s prison explained her existence to me. What she described, in that one sentence, sums up the common experiences of people locked away in places where we can’t see or hear what’s going on, even though our hard-earned dollars pay for each and every day they spend behind bars.

What she described, as well, is what happens when criminal “justice” is implemented as retributive punishment versus the ideal of rehabilitation and restoration. Unfortunately, this approach just generates the same old results: more money spent, more jails built, more bodies locked behind bars. New Mexico has already seen enough of this to know it’s not working. The criminal justice system can be reconceptualized and restructured to address more of the underlying reasons why people engage in self- and/or socially-destructive behaviors.

For New Mexico, this isn’t just a timely opportunity to earn national distinction of an entirely different kind, it’s also an opportunity to map out a safer, saner and more stable future for the people who live in and who love this land.

Onto-Cartographical Hope Springs Eternal

Levi Bryant's new book Onto-Cartography: An Ontology of Machines and Media is available for pre-order, which is very good news for activists everywhere. As the title indicates his original theoretical concept is a way to map being, maps that can help one to see things as they really are, the better to locate the sites and pathways for possible change.

In his own words:

The “onto” of “onto-cartography” refers to the word “ontic”, from the Greek ὄντος, denoting materially existing entities, substances, or objects. “Cartography”, of course, is the practice of constructing or drawing maps. An onto-cartography would thus be a map or diagram of things—and more precisely things and signs–that exist within a field, situation, or world.

By “situation” or “world” I mean an ordered set of entities and signs that interact with one another. A world or situation is not something other than the externally related entities and signs within it, but is identical to these entities and signs.

Onto-cartography is thus not a map of space or geography—though we can refer to a “space of things and signs” in a given situation or field and it does help to underline the profound relevance of geography to this project insofar as onto-cartographies are always geographically situated–but is rather a map of things or what I call machines. In particular, an onto-cartography is a map of the spatio-temporal gravitational fields produced by things and signs and how these fields constrain and afford possibilities of movement and becoming.

(The whole of the talk can be found here for those of you like me who yearn for an affirming theory largely verifiable in one's own experience—lived, dreamt or imagined.)

Because what I'm mapping right now is the possibility of substantive change in New Mexico in various spheres—in ecosystems in which Lamy, LaBahada and the Ortiz Mountains are situated, all currently acutely at risk from the predations of oil & gas, basalt and gold mining industries, respectively. A second community meeting is scheduled in Lamy tonight with a thrilling agenda item: under consideration is the possibility of joining forces in a regional alliance. What is that but a kickass spatio-temporal gravitational field about to seriously constrain Power's usual moves?

One Billion Rising Santa Fe, 2013

It's also a most exciting time to be a prisoner-rights activist. Under the aegis of New Mexico Women's Justice Project a public meeting to strategize how most efficaciously to push back against the notional plan to expand the women's prison in Grants has been called. One Billion Rising Santa Fe has embraced our intiative and I will be speaking at the Roundhouse on V-DAY, adding my voice to others calling for justice and an end to violence against women in New Mexico. Our bold text (Bette Fleishman's and mine) will be included in the memorial resolution presented at Legislature.

Further we have been invited at 8:30am on Wednesday, February 19^th to appear on The Julia Goldberg Show, a local politically-focused talk radio show hosted by the former editor of the Santa Fe Reporter. Under her editorial leadership the weekly newspaper published Fallen Woman, an exposé of the Women's Prison in Grants conducted in 2008 by Silva Talji, an important foundational layer upon which we can build.

In addition, the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty and ACLU of New Mexico released their joint study of the uses of solitary confinement in prisons and jails in New Mexico: INSIDE THE BOX. I have read the report in its entirety (it's only 18 pages) and their recommendations must be urgently put forward along with our demand that the RFP for the expansion of the Women's Prison in Grants never see the light of day!

From page 3 of their report:

New Mexico urgently needs to reform the practice of solitary confinement in its prisons and jails. TheNMCLP and the ACLU-NM urge New Mexico to adopt the following reforms:

1. increase transparency and oversight of the use of solitary confinement

2. limit the length of solitary confinement to no more than 30 days

3. mandate that all prisoners are provided with mental, physical and social stimulation

4. ban the use of solitary confinement on the mentally ill

5. ban the use of solitary confinement on children

 Children!

Concerned that the Department of Corrections was not meaningfully addressing the documented suffering of the prisoners under their care, especially if the intention was to expand the women's prison, I phoned Steven Robert Allen, Director of Public Policy of ACLU-NM. He assured me that the response was more nuanced and pointed me to the meeting minutes where Inside the Box was presented at Legislature and discussed. In Allen's view the fact that Corrections has brought in the VERA Institute to review the practices around solitary is an enormous positive. He told me that the department has already committed to a 50% near-term reduction in the use of solitary.

While welcome news of course, I wondered at the arbitrary number as opposed to a set of principles by which practice could be evaluated—what if 85% of prisoners currently languishing in solitary could justifiably be released, or 89%? What relevance would the 50% number have in that instance? Allen doesn't see it as a numbers game. “VERA Institute has an amazing track record in achieving systemic change; I am somewhat optimistic about the commitment at the State level. Secretary Marcantell is taking positive steps in the right direction.”

More worrisome to Allen are the 29 counties with detention facilities, jails and municipal lock-ups where basic data are not collected in a standard or uniform way. “We do not have a homogeneous situation. We need a unified standard for use of solitary confinement at every level in New Mexico. Perhaps that is something that could be remedied by passage of a State law in the Legislature.” Judging from the November minutes, I wondered about semantics. “The counties are defining solitary in some Cool Hand Luke kind of way, where they throw a prisoner in a hole or something,”Allen explained. “So of course they can say, We don't have solitary in our jails.” But the $15.5 million jury award to Stephen Slevin who was confined to solitary in Dona Ana County for over two years and a suit settled with Valencia County this week resulting in an award to Jan Green of $1.6 million fly in the face of those demurrals.

And finally, another powerful site of onto-cartographical hope resides in Albuquerque. Young Women United has initiated a Indiegogo campaign Everyday Struggles, Everyday Strength to raise $2,000 to produce a short educational video about women and addiction, hoping to help reframe the issue of substance abuse away from criminality to a more rational response. This is a key component for our fight because 75% of the women in prison in Grants are there for non-violent drug charges. 

We hope to see you in Santa Fe on the 19th! Details below:

Not Leaving Las Vegas

I ain't gonna lie—I love the to and fro of the drive from Santa Fe to Las Vegas, New Mexico. One's eyes are called to beauty. Even at 75 miles per hour the passing scenery induces a kind of prideful elation. To be alive, sighted, and smart enough to have it in view, coming and going, right side and left, drama and splendor—the Sangre de Cristos, the mesas, and Starvation Peak where the locals vanquished a marauding band of Conquistadors by chasing them to the summit where they, in good time, perished.

So if a brother-in-struggle (Lee's on the board of the New Mexico Coalition for Community Rights among other forward-thinking commitments) lets me know that
Las Vegas New Mexico Skatepark Advocates are staging a sit-in at the Abe Montoya Recreation Center to protest the arbitrary closing of the city's one and only skate park, then my day takes a welcome detour. I go where the energy is!

Lee Einer, baker for the El Fidel Restaurant, where Lee's 3-day fermentation artisinal sourdough bread ($4 per loaf ) is good enough to make you forget you no longer eat wheat.

Those readers who are easily shamed by ignorance or made queasy by austerity-budget public projects so aesthetically displeasing that they gut the word “amenity,” should probably stop reading this post right around now. On the other hand, if you enjoy gallows humor, Norteño-style, stick around.

A Panel from The People's History of El Norte Mural in Las Vegas, NM

There's an awful lot of talent among the young players in Las Vegas.

 

Zacarias Ras Tafari Lujan, co-organizer of the action, and marvelous practitioner of muralisimo.

The sunshine was warming the air, and the kids were busy making signs and playing music, or successfully gathering petition signatures. I was people-watching and visiting with the youngsters, a trio of whom were cyclists sitting-in in comradely solidarity with the skaters. Patrick E. Pacheco, who's skilled in both bike riding and skateboarding is an equal advocate on behalf of both sports. “You can do either sport with passion, they're both fun! But if we try to make something happen—like dirt pile jumps, some competitions—then we get in trouble.” Justin Garcia, 15, a first-time-ever participant in political action concurred, “They get mad if we're in the parks, they get mad if we're in the street. A friend of mine at Highlands, he's only 14, he got arrested for trespassing, just trying to ride somewhere fun.” 

Imagine Patrick, Justin and Cory as baseball players without a diamond, bowlers without an alley, b-ball players with no hoop, tennis aces without access to a court, swimmers without a pool,  etc.

The third young biker, Cory Almanzar, told me that in his ideal park bikers “would be allowed to ride on the ramps and practice all day long. The ramps are made to do tricks, it's a different style than street riding.” Las Vegas appears to be adamant on the topic, but at some of the skateboarding facilities in Albuquerque, bikers, skate boarders and in-line skaters all share the same uncaged park. 

If only the city would obey its own rules--"Be courteous and respectful of others. Take turns. Have fun!"

"Let's get a blowtorch and recycle these bars at City Hall," one of the adults joked.

We cracked so many jokes about those iron bars—“Hey, put a little razor wire around the top, do it right!” “Yeah, then let's put the golfers in there!”—that I thought maybe the City of Las Vegas did itself a favor by locking the kids out. Maybe after the laughter dies down it can take a look at the youthful residents of Las Vegas who dare to dream of a beautiful well-designed park where they and their friends can feel untrammeled and free.

In addition to the matters of the hour, Reyna and I spoke about conditions in the women's prison in Grants...

 

...and about possibly forming a study group to learn about the societal transformations in Marinaleda, Spain.

Reyna Medina, 17, is friends with the skaters, but not a skater herself. She's a Social Work student, a community gardener, and a member of Youth in Action. “I'm here today because the skaters are always being put down and their sport is not taken into consideration. There are No Skating signs up everywhere, and then the City goes and closes the skate park which isn't even sufficient to begin with. The equipment is so basic, and the skaters are more serious than this, but they weren't even asked about the design. We're treated like we're powerless, not significant; they don't include us or empower us. We hate being minimized, belittled.”

Yellow Caution tape on the broken-down structures. Instead of making needed repairs, the solution?--the kids were locked out for over a week and perhaps would be still if not for the sit-in.

The kids just skate around it.

Reyna is able to tell the difference because she has the great good fortune to be mentored by Georgina Ortega, who serves on the board of Casa de Cultura, an organization that “seeks to create a cultural environment that is community based and collectively operated utilizing the wisdom of cultural and folkloric traditions.” Reyna was one in a carload of students that Georgina recently brought to Santa Fe to spend three lovely hours looking at drawings by Spanish artists at the “Renaissance to Goya” exhibit.

 

Georgina Ortega, Reyna's mentor.

Reyna told me that it really matters when caring adults spend time with young people. “It's kind of inspirational to see that they actually care. 

"A lot of kids are leaving town first chance they get. There's no record store, no book store, no movie theater. We have this Rec Center, the ball fields, the drive-in movies (in season).”

There are many factors, no doubt, for Las Vegas' rather alarming depopulation in recent years, but one of them is definitely youth-flight with the resulting brain-drain.

“I understand everyone wanting to get out,” Reyna explained, “but I don't want to go somewhere else where there are basically the same problems. I want to address them here in my own town, not someone else's. I feel like Las Vegas is a diamond in the rough. With a little polishing it could be beautiful. We could make it clean, we could be productive...if we unite.”

There was only one garment more fabulous than my own super cool graffiti jacket picked up in NYC a few months ago.

 Not Cory's Bob Marley jacket, though that too was stylish. But, this one!

BrianTheLion, the co-organizer of the sit-in rally and petition-drive, has "hope in his heart and scars on his hands."