New Mexico, New York, New Edges

When I hold Dakota the rabbit (can't call him a bunny anymore, it insults his, ahem...masculinity) like a baby, he closes his eyes immediately, his head falls back, long ears drop like honey--this is the Spa for him. You would think ten days hanging out in Santa Fe would leave me looking as structurally limp. But this trip was more about peaking under the covers; taking a big inhale and blowing off the dust to see what 'day to day' Santa Fe is all about.

Since May, I have been traveling from Portland OR to the high desert of Santa Fe NM. I stayed in the gorgeous home of old friends from Ca. who have settled down nicely there. This time I was on my own, as they hiked Yosemite with some friends, mules and their children. I walked their dogs in the Arroyo on their land and made sure the plants and humming birds were nourished.
With each trip to Santa Fe I've become more intrigued not only by the beauty of the place (which is abundant and clear), but by what isn't part of what is marketed as Santa Fe Style. We know about the amazing skies, the light for the painter's palette, the easy airstrip for UFO's (had to get that in there), the burgeoning film industry, and that there are more chakra mechanics per square foot than probably in all of the U.S. And yet this place contains atmosphere and texture that doesn't easily reach our day to day 'news' trained ears.

So enjoy the napkin notes below and I highly recommend a visit to this Shelter in the Sky. It takes no prisoners and generously gives us culture, tradition, color and history.

Lounge Lizards and Cowboy Poets
While at the Santa Fe Bakery and Cafe. I had heard that writers hung out here. I came up to the counter to get my cappuccino, and as I watched a man sipping it before I could get there, another man flew in the door to demand the management boot some people in the front. "Why?" said the employee. "Because they are rude, and abusive". As that scene was flailing about, the man cheered me with my cappuccino that I paid for but never really got. He drank it happily. The man behind the counter was alert. He offered to make me another. As he filled the cup with foam, it overflowed. He said to me, "wait about 10 minutes (Manana time) and it will die down." "That's okay," I said and I walked towards the door forgetting to get my money back. I was too curious about the cafe cowboy scuttle outside.
I guess the writers keep their brain sharpened and creative wit animated with this kind of live daytime television. Instead of men pulling out guns on other men and taking drinks that aren't theirs on the bar, they are asking cafe managers to kick out belligerent teens smoking pot on the patio and taking red haired girls' cappuccino. A more civilized West.

The Spanish Market
I met a wonderful man there trying to sell me a painting (printed) from an old Mexican Painter. The painting was of a figure in fetal position in despair. It was red and dripping sad.
I said, "I can't, it's too sad, and I feel sad things have happened on this land. Like a lot of blood has been shed here." He gave me a long look. "A lot of blood. We are standing on a defeated land, right over there on that block is a Pueblo Graveyard. You should go there and take that in." "I'll probably pass on that for today, if you don't mind." He laughed. We talked for a long time. When he discovered that I'm the 3x's Great Niece of Chief Gall, his conversation enlivened. Then he picked up the art and said to me "You need to take this home." He handed the art to the Mexican artist (what a sweet, sweet man that artist was too) and said to him, "This is Niya Christine, and I can't say enough about her, please sign the art for her."
And so I found myself walking away with a 15.00 piece of art that plants me smack into the middle of something red that is both Spanish and Pueblo Indian and a new friend who works with the Institute of American Indian Arts.

The Land and People
Just like our artists mirror our culture, the winds, bulbous clouds, light show in the sky and the thunder and lightening is mirrored in the emotional atmosphere of this place. But there's more to it.
Shelter is a strong them in NM. The thick Adobe, and eco currents of sustainable earth structures like the Earthship houses (Paul Gutches). Looking back from what Santa Fe is today from what it became--had to become from Spanish influence and conquer. NM was an empty outpost of something forgotten, to be claimed and civilized by the Spanish. The wars, the cold, the empty space of desert was assured of something cozy and protective by use of the earth itself. Geez, this sounds like a term paper : ).
I guess it makes sense to me, how this land with it's warring history and rise to the rhythm of a sophisticated town is filled with houses that look like bumps growing out of the earth itself. And ironically, the visual comfort of the soft earth in the form of shelter can feel rather empty inside given all the hard surfaces; the tile, the copper, the iron. But in Santa Fe the people fill these houses with wool blankets, and clay pots, farllitos candles blanket the town and often the outside of peoples houses in the winter. These luminarias are put there to give the wayward traveler or cow 'the way home'.

When I asked the fifteen hundredth New Yorker I met there (and this was my massage therapist), Why so many New Yorkers here? he said, "Because they're savvy. They know a good thing when they see it." I think about O'keefe's statement about Lake George NY. "It's so green, what does one paint?" Her colors were so pure and shapes often repeated that I would think NM gave her a whole new playground.

The people of S. Fe fascinate me. A hundred opinions a minute it seemed. I kept hearing Madonna in my ear, "This is who I am, like it or not, you can love me or leave me 'cause I'm never gonna stop," as I grazed and encountered these themes in the locals: rebellious, passionate about politics, individual not borrowed thoughts, sometimes frightful isolation, religious/spiritual enthusiasm and purpose.

Me
By the time I left I felt as though I needed the Spiritual ICU ward that the town provided. My heart, head, body and soul had a wee bit of a workout.
I wanted to hitch the next UFO out of there and have a strong Vodka and Tonic with little androgynous looking people peering at me like a specimen. Because that's exactly how I felt. Small, in wild winds and the eery predictability of the thunder and lightening.
Small in my comprehension of such political and cultural complexity and earth bearing gifts.
But, ah how good it is to feel knocked sideways by things you don't understand--a force with stories in wings that give you their tethered weight and then picks you up and carrie you into a sky and makes your whole body weep.

• • •
I tried to explain these things to Dakota and Caila but they get really busy when they're annoyed with me (which they were for leaving them for 10 days). They both launched into major ear cleaning as I yammered on about the lizards, jack rabbits, coyotes, crickets, huge ants, hummingbirds, sunflowers, chili rasberry jam...

Niya Sisk

Comments

[Elizabeth Hack]

I just read your latest blog entry, "New Mexico, New York, New Edges". The language of this piece of writing is just exquisite. Your environmental word pictures are transcendent. I am completely awed by what you wrote.

[Elizabeth Hack]

I just read your latest blog entry, "New Mexico, New York, New Edges". The language of this piece of writing is just exquisite. Your environmental word pictures are transcendent. I am completely awed by what you wrote.

[Sandra]

we were in santa fe 4 weeks ago. it was as wonderful as ever. i keep telling my husband we could retire there. he agrees. it's one of the few places i feel so strongly about, it truly calls.
we went to a fantastic native american museum exhibit in old town across from the big church. i'm a boob for not remembering the name, but it was so rich that i had to mention it. i imagine you saw it during your stay, i believe it had just opened. it had quite an impact on my teen boys.
we ended up having car trouble so were stranded an extra day in santa fe. oh bother, to be stranded in a place such as this! we didn't mind a bit, perhaps the car even wanted an extra day there before being put back to work!

[Sage]

And those photos: hearts? Amazing!!!

[Sage]

Your voice in this landscape is clear and powerful, steady as horizon, vast as the sky. Gorgeous!! You are in your element, woman. Edges and UFO ICU and all...Can't wait to visit you there, and drink your cappuccino when something more exciting than I am happens on the other side of the saloon/cafe doors!