Announcements: History, Health, Rentals
Today the community of El Prado will present the Taos County Commission with a request for support of their application for historic village status. Last weekend the Taos Historical Society hosted a weekend of show and tell at the old county courthouse in the historic mural room. The murals by Emil Bisttram, Bert Phillips, Ward Lockwood, and Victor Higgins can also be seen almost any day of the week when yours truly and Debra Villalobos are on the premises downstairs at the county’s historic photo exhibition and at Deb’s shop in the old County Courthouse.
During the last couple of weeks, my students in UHON 301 “Myth, Identity, and Experience in Taos,” (focus on the 20th Century) at UNM-TAOS Bachelor and Graduate Program have participated in a walking tour of historic sites, guided by Arsenio Cordova, and heard lectures from contributors Skip Miller and Elizabeth Cunningham about Ernest Blumenschein, per one of the text books, In Contemporary Rhythm: The Art of Ernest L. Blumenschein. This week we’re reading Frank Waters’ The Man Who Killed the Deer. We’ll follow up with George Sanchez’s The Forgotten People, R.C. McCutchan’s Taos Indians and the Battle for Blue Lake, and, finally, Sylvia Rodriguez’s Acequia, Water Sharing, Sanctity, and Place.
The course focuses on literature pertaining to the 20th Century. I dearly miss assigning Lois Rudnick’s Utopian Vision and Suzanne Forrest’s The Preservation of the Village but one doesn’t have the time to read and study all the extant literature. The list goes on and on. For students of culture, Taos offers a wealth of art and literature as well as hands on experience in terms of living history.
Here are a couple of events for interested parties in the past and present.
Las Pistoleras Instituto Cultural de Arte PRESENTS:
Communal Identities Realized: Honoring Culture through Poetic Memory and Visual License
Come celebrate the harvest through language. Las Pistoleras Instituto Cultural de Arte invites you to the presentation La Cosecha: Stories of the Harvest from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday September 21, 2013 at 1219 Paseo del Pueblo Norte in El Prado. The event features poetry, story, song and experience (food of the harvest). Free of charge. Co-sponsored by the Alfonso Ortiz Center at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and Taos Historic Walking Tours.
BURT AND LUCY COMMUNITY DAY
Saturday, September 21, 2013 – 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Free and open to the public! The Harwood Museum of Art is pleased to launch our 90th anniversary celebration with the Burt and Lucy Community Day. Inspired by museum founder Lucy Harwood and her husband Burt, this fun, family-friendly day will bring the museum and its history to life. We invite you to enjoy hands-on art projects, gallery exploration activities, story time, a free book giveaway, hat making, puppetry with Teatro de los Titiriteros and much more! Come for a little while or stay for the entire time! It’s all FREE. Come see what the fun is all about!
Health Alert
Environment Department Issues “Boil Water Advisory” for
San Cristobal Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association (MDWCA) Water System
Customers are urged to Boil Water Prior to Drinking
(Santa Fe, N.M.) –The New Mexico Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau issued a “Boil Water Advisory” for the San Cristobal Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association (MDWCA) Water System.
NMED issued the advisory on September 16, 2013 after bacteriological contamination (E. coli) was detected in a routine monitoring sample on September 11, 2013. Total coliform and E.coli were also detected in four samples collected from the system on September 13, 2013. NMED requires the San Cristobal MDWCA Water System to notify water system consumers of this finding. San Cristobal MDWCA Water System serves approximately 140 residents and is located approximately 18 miles north of Taos, NM, in Taos County. At this time, it is NOT believed this detection is related to recent heavy rains and flooding around the state.
This advisory only applies to the drinking water from the San Cristobal MDWCA Water System, and does not extend to any other surrounding water systems.
Consumers of the San Cristobal MDWCA Water System are advised to boil the water for five minutes before drinking, cooking, dishwashing and bathing. The presence of E. coli in water indicates that the water may have been in contact with sewage or animal wastes, and could contain disease-causing organisms. Most strains of E. coli are harmless and live in the intestines of healthy humans and animals. However, a positive test for E. coli in the drinking water supply may indicate the presence of dangerous strains of E. coli or other disease-causing organisms. These types of organisms may cause severe gastrointestinal illness and, in rare cases, death. Children, the elderly and immuno-compromised individuals are at an increased risk for illness.
The NMED Drinking Water Bureau will provide technical assistance to the water system and San Cristobal MDWCA Water System will continue to test the water until no further threat of contamination remains.
For more information, call NMED Communications Director Jim Winchester at (505) 831-8800 or Jan Dye, Compliance Officer, at (575) 445-3621.
Guest House
Bill Swann has a beautiful guest house for rent on Spruce Lane, one of the nicest streets in Taos, only a 10 minute walk to the Plaza, off Kit Carson, 3-4 blocks east of the main intersection.
Landlord is looking for someone “we know and trust, or someone you can recommend.” Do you know someone who fits that bill? If so, please let them know….my cell 575-770-1156. Other attributes of our 650 sq foot 1-bedroom, attached guest house: fully furnished, brand new king bed, bathroom with shower, full kitchen with gas range, cute living room with two fold-out love seats, separate private entrance with small deck, private driveway, central heat and window air conditioning. Rent is $800 rent and a one-year lease is required.
Landlord pays all utilities, plus basic Cable TV and Internet access. No pets. No smoking.
Bill and Nancy Swan
326 Spruce Lane
770-1156
email: bnswan@newmex.com
Trailer Spaces and RV rentals
Competitive Trailer spaces and RV rentals can be found at 25005 Highway 64 West at the Red Caboose. The rest of September is free for those who move in and plan on staying. Spaces rent at $250 a month plus tenant pays utilities.
Contact Bill Whaley at 776—4115. Or email bwhaley@newmex.com