Shared Histories Make Bernalillo a Bumpy Crossroads of Culture
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SANDOVAL PLACITAS PRSRT-STD U.S. Postage Paid BERNALILLO Placitas, NM Permit #3 CORRALES SANDOVAL Postal Customer or Current Resident COUNTY ECRWSS NEW MEXICO SignA N INDEPENDENT PLOCALO NEWSPAPERSt S INCE 1988 • VOL. 32 / NO .4 • APRIL 2021 • FREE IVEN Signpost among winners in D ILL communications contest —B ~SIGNPOST STAFF You hold in your hand (or screen) an award-winning publication. The New Mexico Press Women, during its annual conference on March 13, honored Signpost Editor/Cre- ative Director Barb Belknap with a first-place award in the category of Publication Regularly Edited by Entrant. The category is open to newspapers, magazine, newslet- ters (nonprofit, government or educational), and newslet- ters (corporate or for profit). The judge described the Signpost as employing smart design, style, and consistent use of color. That gives the paper a strong and polished brand lending to its credibility, he or she said. “Great content and lively writing,” the judge wrote. “I enjoy the clever mix of fun features with hard news, business news, and watchdog government coverage along with practical community ‘news you can use.’” The state award advances Belknap to the National Federation of Press Women annual competition. When she won the same state award in 2000, the Signpost Visitors at Coronado State Historic Site line up to enter the reconstructed kiva of Kuaua Pueblo placed second in the national contest. during a 2015 event marking the site’s 75th anniversary. To commemorate the event, Placitas graphic designer and Signpost contributor Gary Priester created a special emblem as part of his series of elements in the Signpost flag on page one. (Flag is newspaper talk for the banner Shared histories make Bernalillo with a newspaper’s name). Placitas author Norma Libman was a finalist for the Zia Book award won by Jennifer Hull for her Shook: An a bumpy crossroads of culture Earthquake, a Legendary Mountain Guide, and Everest’s ~BILL DIVEN Deadliest Day. Hull, a Los Ranchos resident, recounts the experience of legendary Taos mountaineer Dave From a mall in El Paso to a gated community in grandfather, Manuel Peña, a cacique—religious Hahn and the climbing team was leading high on Mount Santa Fe to a salvage yard in Albuquerque, the name leader—in the 1920s at Tamaya, also known as Santa Everest when the earthquake struck. of the Spanish conquistador today known simply as Ana Pueblo, and Peña’s son Leo. Libman was recognized for her nonfiction book The Coronado isn’t hard to find. “My grandfather was basically storytelling oral his- Story of the Story: What I Wrote. The references to Francisco Vázquez de Coronado tory, passed down and shared with family, passed “It’s a memoir about my writing experiences,” said are so abundant and historically remote they blend down the generations,” Rainbird told the Signpost. Libman, a freelance journalist, and author of two true- almost invisible to motorists in motion. Yet such is not “That’s the way we kept the story alive. story-based adult and young adult novels who has been the case in Sandoval County, where the arrival of “He always told me in the Keres language that leading memoir-writing workshops for much of her Coronado and his soldiers in 1540 was local news. Coronado had brought with him weapons of war, career. “Someone always asks, “Are you writing a mem- That conquistador translates as conqueror suggests committed atrocities.” oir?’ and I’d say, ‘I’m working on it.’… After twenty why Coronado is a source of cultural pride or pain What the pueblo families didn’t do, he added, was years of saying that, I just thought, ‘I should be able to depending on your family story. Even with the pan- talk about colonization with “the neighbors,” the His- do this if I’m teaching it.’” demic in play, protests last year over memorials to panic families they knew from school and life around Bill Diven, the Signpost’s news editor, also was Spanish colonization and Indian wars led to violence Bernalillo. Keeping it close avoided giving offense involved in the NMPW competitions as a member of the in Albuquerque and destruction of a monument on the within the larger community. Doris Gregory Memorial Scholarship selection commit- Santa Fe Plaza. Still, Rainbird had previously written publicly about tee, which made awards to two New Mexico State Uni- In Sandoval County, two indigenous residents see- changing the name of Coronado State Historic Site to versity students. Journalism major Xavier Dominguez of ing the reminders of Spanish colonialism last year and honor the people of its key features, the remains of Las Cruces won one thousand dollars, while Sarah Rod- more recently decided it was time to express their Kuaua Pueblo. His most recent publication was a erick, majoring in agricultural communications, was feelings. Manu Rainbird, 70, of Santa Ana Pueblo, guest column in the Albuquerque Journal on February awarded five hundred dollars. was prompted by regularly passing the Coronado 22. Additionally, Diven’s brother, Bob Diven, an artist and State Historic Site with its pueblo ruins on U.S. High- “After four centuries of resistance, our ceremonies editorial cartoonist in Las Cruces, won a first place in way 550 in Bernalillo. are still strong and vibrant,” he wrote. “The Keres lan- the communications contest for Living in Las Cruces, a In his travels, Roger Fragua, 60, of Jemez Pueblo guage is still spoken. The sacred kivas are intact… We collection of his editorial cartoons. His win in the cate- would pass a water tank with the Bernalillo town logo are fulfilling our ancestors’ wishes, with their core gory of Nonfiction Book for Adult Readers, Humor styled with Spanish military gear and the town slogan: values building us spiritually as it did them in 1540.” boosts his work into the national competition. The City of Coronado. The logo featured a conquista- Military artifacts from a 2017 metal-detecting sur- Membership in NMPW is open to men and women dor helmet and the business end of a halberd, a pole vey found evidence the residents of Kuaua (pro- and has chapters in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Las with an ax head and spear tip. nounced coo-AH-wah) did not flee at Coronado’s Cruces. The organization of professional journalists and Rainbird and Fragua each considers himself a approach as supposed but instead resisted. Coronado communicators formed in 1950 and promotes ethical farmer, not an activist, and they chose different paths wintered in the area, then home to about a dozen standards, professional development, networking, and to speak up—Rainbird in the state’s largest newspa- pueblos, confiscating homes and food supplies for his protection of the First Amendment rights. per, Fragua in what he thought was a polite and pri- 350 soldiers and perhaps two thousand indigenous It is an affiliate of the National Federation of Press vate conversation. Mexican allies. Women. For Rainbird, indigenous history flows through his —continued on page 5 Find the Signpost online at www.sandovalsignpost.com • Mailed subscriptions are available PAGE 2 • APRIL 2021 • SANDOVAL SIGNPOST • SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1988 TABLE OF CONTENTS HOP IN FOR Up Front 1 Public Safety 16 Gauntlet 24 EGGSTRAVAGANT Eco-Beat 10 Health 19 Youth 25 SAVINGS!! 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An additional 1,000 are delivered for free pickup at over thirty locations in the Placitas-Bernalillo-Corrales-and Sandoval Signpost is published monthly by Belknap Publishing, Inc, P. O. Box 889, Placitas, NM southeastern Sandoval County area, totalling 5,500 copies. 87043. Bulk postage is paid at Placitas, NM. As a local newspaper of general interest to residents Copyright © 2021, by Belknap Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of Placitas, Bernalillo, Corrales, Rio Rancho, and other areas of southeastern Sandoval County, without permission is prohibited. The opinions expressed in articles appearing in the we invite readers to submit stories, letters, poetry, and photographs of artwork for publishing Sandoval Signpost are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect consideration. We welcome advertising of interest to our readership area. those of the publishers. Ad and submission deadline is the twentieth of the month prior to the publication month.