writers block productions

Santa Fe


Black Mesa sits tangentially between Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Espanola, New Mexico. Georgia O'Keefe painted it. I used to drive by it every day commuting from Santa Fe to Los Alamos. It is difficult to verbally describe its mystical power. This place calls to you. The Natives would agree.


I lived in Santa Fe from 86-87. Here's what I love about Santa Fe. It is easy to pretend one is in the third world somewhere, when there. Especially in the old part of town, or in the old towns outside of the city in the desert or the mountains. When they say, "old" in Santa Fe they are talking about dating back perhaps to the fifteenth century when the area was first visited by Europeans, or perhaps dating back to 400 A.D. when the Taos Pueblo (that's the Taos Pueblo, the one we can visit now, still populated and active, was first built. All they've done in the prevailing 1600 years is add more mud. There's the churches, "santuarios," as sometimes called, the obscure mountain roads and towns like Truchas and Chimayo. There's cliff dwelling ruins sites. There's Georgia O'Keefe. There's all kinds of art, old, new, and in between. But don't take my word for it. Here are some typical views of the city and the region.

 
Santuario de Chimayo. It's in Chimayo, a few miles outside the city on the back roads toward Truchas and Taos beyond. They say the place is especially holy. There is a hole in the ground under one of the towers. The mud heals. There are all kinds of crutches and medical apparati hung on the walls, apparently left by healed owners, to prove it.


This is Truchas. The town was the site of the "town" scenes in Robert Redford's Milagro Beanfield War. They filmed the movie when I was living there. I went up to Truchas to watch them work a few times. They actually built a town facade at the far end of town on the road toward Taos. Locals will tell you that Truchas is still the wild west in the sense that certain crimes go un punished here. In other words, if you choose to sleep with another man's wife, you'd better not plan on getting caught in the act. The local law will not find any urgency in investigating your disappearance. I say disappearance for a reason. It's not a murder until a body is found.

Then there's Taos...  I love this place. Can you tell? (Not by the number of photos featured!)



Okay, how about some Santa Fe city views?


I did say city views, right? In the USA, right? Of course. Now you know why I like this. Leaving without leaving. Third world in the first world.




And what an Opera! Before I lived in Santa Fe, it was Opera, Smopera! After, it was... addiction! Of course there's something about open air opera in the high mountain desert, with the back of the stage open, when the casts of hundreds starts to process out onto the stage against the deep red of late sunset, profiles of actors against profiles of mountains against deep red, orange, purple. The costumes. The special effects. Yes, special effects! And, yes... even the music! 



There are all kinds of galleries and museums. In fact, as Catholic Churches are to Rome, so galleries and art museums are to Santa Fe.