I was struck by something an interviewee uttered a couple of years ago — I’m pretty sure it was either Tony Furtado or Steve Earle, both musicians — about how touring shapes one’s worldview.
The quote was basically: “Rather than listen to uninformed speculation about what people in other areas of the country were like, I went and found out for myself. And they were pretty great.”
I’ve been exposed to many fascinating insights during the hundreds of interviews I’ve conducted in this job, but that’s my favorite. It’s the thrust behind my feature story about the arts scene in Farmington (“Turning the Corner,” Page 30), as well as similar features I plan about other New Mexico cities’ offerings. A surprising number of Santa Feans have told me they’ve never been to Farmington or Roswell, while a longtime teacher I had breakfast with in Farmington says many of her students had never been to Santa Fe. I can’t fix those distance issues in the nation’s fifth-largest state by land mass, but I can at least close the gap by visiting those places and talking to real people, then telling you what they had to say.
Why write about art in Farmington when there’s plenty of art in Santa Fe? I don’t intend to ignore the latter, but temporarily relocating one’s brain to another spot on planet Earth really activates it, I find. Also, cities around New Mexico were left without functioning daily newspapers after the latest round of cuts and sales by Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper chain. Farmington is faring better than many municipalities its size on the media front, although its long-operating Daily Times ceased operations this year and was acquired by the Tri-City Herald, which was founded only a year earlier.
Brian Sandford
As a result, northwestern New Mexico is not a news desert. But small publications must prioritize coverage, and crime, education, and prep sports tend to be their bread and butter. The Associated Press reviews and distributes stories from around the state, and if you read about Farmington at all, there’s a good chance it’ll be about crime. I’m thrilled to help combat that.
I took two research trips to Farmington, one last summer and one two months ago. The first haunted me, as I witnessed a level of poverty near Navajo Nation land that puts the conditions of even the most downtrodden Southern U.S. towns to shame, then saw a nearby sign in a non-Indigenous person’s yard pining for “the America of my youth.” I don’t have to explain why that’s especially insensitive when in view of people whose ancestors’ land was stolen. By your ancestors.
I had originally planned to write about Navajo Nation art as part of the Farmington feature, then realized I’d be giving it short shrift. Instead, I plan to write a story entirely about some of the arts of the Navajo Nation and how non-tribal visitors can experience it. Expect that in 2025. I similarly didn’t delve into Farmington’s spectacular natural surroundings, such as Bisti Badlands. That topic is a story unto itself.
I took my roommate, Chris, along during this year’s Farmington trip, and we had an awesome time watching Connie Mack World Series games, visiting a juice bar run by self-described geeks, driving as close to Shiprock as we could in my ancient Prius, chatting with numerous Farmingtonians, positioning his wheelchair for a photo op at Four Corners National Monument.
While signs elsewhere in the Land of Enchantment might frustrate some Santa Feans, the pervading spirit of kindness that contributes to the appeal of living in the City Different exists everywhere in this state. Both Farmington trips were a good reminder of that.
