IT WAS WRITTEN IN THE STARS!

IT WAS WRITTEN IN THE STARS!

by: f. g. lopriato y lopez

We may be a bit premature in congratu­lating Diane Denish on her up-coming eleva­tion to the governorship, but New Mexico has been waiting since before we became a state for her to come along. Few people are conscious of the fact that New Mexico's DNA is composed of the social organizations of indigenous tribes, Pioneer Spanish and Mexican mestizos. All of which are matriarchal in nature. Life in New Mexico demanded that it be so, mainly because Male longevity was short. (To say the least) So ingrained In the culture is the necessity that it may rightfully be termed an acquired instinct. New Mexicans have tolerated but not fully accepted the European beliefs that women are all but the givers and protectors of life; organizers and maintainers of order; and Male domination. Despite negative propaganda to the contrary! Although we are thrilled beyond words to see one of our own, and a very ca­pable woman at that, about to take the helm of our state government, we realize that she is taking over at the worst possible time. It will lake everything she has and all the back­ing her constituents can muster to dig our­selves out of the hole in which, thanks to the GOP, via this Bush administration, we now find ourselves. When things get tough New Mexicans thrive, because we are united. We've learned that in times like these one must make do with what one has or to do without until times get better. People who are forced to live by there wits can be very crea­tive. It lakes tremendous courage to as­sume the role of leadership of any govern­ment today, be that government federal. state. county, city of township, or territorial. In New Mexico democrat leaders have the added burden of representing the established populace vs. incoming incursions from other states. Our entire way of life a sovereign state of the American Union is under fire. it is a challenge to all New Mexicans as full American citizens, We can't and we won't stand by and allow our governor to answer that challenge single handed. Her perception of our state is our per­ception of our state; Her values are our val­ues; Her integrity is our integrity. Not to stand shoulder to shoulder with our des­tined leader is to stand in league against ourselves. To side in with the malcontents who flap their gums on Suppository call-in Radio shows, such as The Hour of Rage on one of the local muck-raking stations and criticize New Mexico; it's laws; it's educa­tional system; it's political system; it's cul­tural diversity; it's religious and racial make up; and try to change it to what it is not, .is to assume more power than any human-being can safely handle, it has proven to be self­destructive time and time again. Eventually they who tried gave up and went away. allow­ing the state to mature and develop on Its own pace and on it's own terms, accepting what is good for it and rejecting what is not. in that regard, New Mexico is Master Of It's Own Destiny, and Captain Of It's Own Fate. The economic woes of the rest of the coun­try can be laid right at the feet of the auto industry, the banks and the insurance corpo­rations who overfed their money makers, like cows bloated with water to increase their weight at the market, now we all have to pay for it. We won't live to see the end of this fiasco., but we'll bet our bottom dollar that when it ends, a new GOP and another G. W. Bush or Herbert Hoover will come along to screw it up all over again.

UNA PALOMA BLANCA

UNA PALOMA BLANCA

by: f. g. loprlato y lopez

The prospects for quickly climbing out of the economic crisis in which we find ourselves are not very promising, but we can and we will do it. All we need is leadership that understands New Mexico and New Mexicans... Diane Denish, slated to be our first woman governer, and first to choose her own second in command, is off to an excellent start, by surrounding herself with people who do not think that New Mexico is a newly conquered foreign country and do not act as if they are an occupying force. History, indeed repeats itself. Scholars of authentic New Mexico's past will hate the similarities between the state's populace today and the populace of our state in the 1900's in relation to today's incur­sions from other states and the role played by the Ital­ian community in forming a bridge between the American and the New Mexican cultures, and the New New Mexicans, such as, soon to be, Governor Denish, and her expressed desire to have more of the same in dignified positions of trust, and respect in state government The Land Of Enchantment's beautiful sand ­dunes are now covered over with a thick growth of imported Political Climbing Ivy that has been too long neurished with the bovine droppings from Texas, and (now) other states, whether it fits or not. It is about time that a New Mexican Woman restore New Mexico's true decor. Do you, dear reader, know that, in the Navajo culture a girl could not get married until she had demonstrated to the women of the tribe, her abilities to make use of every part of a sheep, seasoned with everything that can be found in the desert within walking distance of her hogan ? (including the wood used for cooking.) That chapter in the history of our state, apparently, capitulated to the modernization of education. Think of that next time you see a young Navajo girl approach a sheep, as if she has never seen one before and is afraid te do so. I have. Just as I have seen modern Navajo girls go to special schools to learn the art of weaving, intrigued with the knowledge of where the yarn that they are using came from and the processes that the yarn underwent to get to that point and it isn't even a rug with the traditional designs yet. Of course the world is not going to end because a few Navajo girls have left the way of the Dine. Those same girls can and will teach you some tricks you can use in the use of computers, nursing, business, and a host of other things. This is only to illustrate that knowledge is accumulative. Education places you in the present, knowledge is awareness what you are because of your heritage. When you approach "book learning" you bring all you are; your entire potential, not just what you would like to be or what you think you are but the potential to become whatever it is that you are going to attempt to be. Your culture and heritage mold your potential, and awareness of this is knowledge. To leave your past behind and forget about it is to disown part of yourself. If you then attempt to live a complete life as an incomplete human being is possible but not very likely, certainly a lot more difficult. You can't easily do it as an individual, and neither can New Mexico do it without involving all that New Mexice has been and is at this present time in history. In other words, it is up to us to mold the New Mexico of the future... Is it going to remain stunted by handicaps because outside influences devaluing your worth to appear indispensable. The Navajos are not the only New Mexicans who have played a significant part in the making of this state. Other tribes and other Pueblos have helped as have the Spanish, the Mexicans, and the Anglos, not to mention Jews, Arabs, Orientals, Blacks, Greeks, Italians, and more. It is only lately that I have need to inform the younger set, as well as new comers, and to remind people... such as Fernando C De Vaca, former County Chairman of the GOP, that if it had been left to anyone of these single groups, New Mexice would not have progressed AND regressed as dynamically as it has the Civil War era. No ethnic group, anywhere, is completely free of it's trouble makers and muck rakers, and you can be sure that because of these few misfits, an entire group can and have been condemned, because igno­rance thrives in an atmosphere of suspicion. The mind is the most wonderful thing in creation. It controls everything, your breathing, temperature, voluntary and involuntary systems and all that is you. From your first heart-beat to your last sigh. But as wonderful as it is, the mind is, it's subconscious part is incapable of reasoning, discerning and judgment. Further more, it is amenable to suggestion, and always accepts the dominant of two suggestions. Suggestion 1 subconsciously accepted authority figure suggests that a person, place, thing condition or state exists. It becomes real, whether it really exists or not. We've all seen hypnotized people, and see fanaticism of every type in our daily lives. All these methods will be discussed in future editions of The Wopajo, stay tuned.

ASI ES NUEVO MEJICO, LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!