A Slacker Gringo Stomp

Self Esteem, One Friend Request at a Time

I find myself compelled, nigh, forced to add more of my particular flavor of drivel to the Attack Deer dialogue. To be sure, I am doing this as a direct response to overwhelming feedback from you, loyal reader, and your insatiable appetite for all things Deer. I want to point out however, that you should all take a serious look at Jonathan's previous post regarding the anthropological wonder that is New Mexico. Jonathan, on top of being a walking case study on the absolute potential of mankind, is an astute observer of the human condition and his musings can only make the rest of us more respectful inhabitants of this wonderfully diverse and changing planet. 

So without further ado, I want to address something that I've ignored for too long. Last week, the peaceful existence of life at 3601 Newland Place was disrupted when Donna and I metaphorically clasped hands, looked at each other with both apprehension and excitement, and leaped together into the world of Facebook. I've long been suspect of social media, choosing instead to pretend to like people to their faces. But as the number of people that I've at one time become friends with and now have no idea where they are or what they're doing piled up, I decided it was time to click on the ol' blinker, check the blind spots, and merge onto Interstate Facebook. 

I'm certainly glad I did, because not only am I finding all of these ghosts of friendships past, but I am discovering that my self-worth is still tied up in how many friends I have. That's comforting because, well, I'm getting older. And I like knowing that while Father Time wages a relentless assault on my physique, he has a ways to go before bringing my fragile and ego-centric psyche in line with my so-called maturity level. Thanks to Facebook, I can easily keep track of my friends and quickly measure against everyone else. This is an invaluable tool, a running score card by which to gauge my value as a person. 

Thank you, Facebook. 

"Word Origins" for $1000 Alex

As of late I have become increasingly interested in the history of New Mexico, especially the area where we live at the southern tip of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Walking around here there is a rich sense of history and of the people who lived here hundreds and even thousands of years ago. The dry desert climate preserves artifacts extremely well and the relatively slow rate of plant litter deposition makes finding many of them much easier than in other parts of the country. I received a book for Christmas called 'Enchantment and Exploitation: The Life and Hard Times of a New Mexico Mountain Range.' Although it is about the history of northern New Mexico it is a good read for others wanting to learn about American history as well. Most people don't know that the Spanish had been in present day New Mexico 80 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. And this is where, for a lot of us, human history on this continent begins. We are all aware of the Native Americans being here long before Europeans, but not many people bother to look into the history of those people, except to say something like "they must have come to America across a land bridge from present day Russia." We've all seen movies like 'Dances with Wolves' and 'Last of the Mohicans' but often we don't bother to discover the history of the Native Americans who lived right under our noses. A good example of this comes in my researching the origin of the word 'Pecos.' Like many people I just assumed it was a Spanish word. It sounds kind of Spanish and the people who live in Pecos these days are of Spanish origin - it just made sense. In my research about the the origin of this word I ran across a publication in Angelo State University's online newspaper asurampage.com called 'Pecos' Rich in Tranlation. The author, Winston A. Hall, seemed to be debating with himself over the possible origin of the word, but he never even sniffed the actual answer. At one point he posits that "The actual origin of the name 'Pecos' is debated. It's most likely derived from the Latin word 'pecus,' which means 'a single head of cattle.' However, others argue that it comes from the Spanish verb 'pecar,' which means to sin or do wrong." One possible answer that I did not find, which happens to be the actual answer, was that it has Native American origins. It was not until I read the book that I got for Christmas that I learned of the Pecos Pueblo Indian tribe and the rich and sad history of its people. Many of the Native American artifacts I have found were probably fashioned by members of this tribe. When I was reading about them I remembered back to the online article that I read and thought how sad it was for someone to research a question and write an article for a university and not even come close to the real answer, especially a question that has a real concrete answer - one that is not hard to find if you just look beyond a few Google queries. I guess the author was doing what I had done. He just assumed that the word must have Spanish or Latin origins because all of 'our' words do. The only difference is that this guy took his assumption to the next level and wrote a completely bogus article that probably led at least a couple of people astray. Being that I am probably living on the exact ground where the Pecos Pueblo Indians made their camps as they hunted along the Pecos river valley, I thought I should step in and set the record straight. If not only to keep others from being led astray, but maybe in some small way to honor the people who live and walked centuries ago where I live now. So, I posted the following comment on their site:

I find it amazing that all of your research did not bring you to the actual origin of the word Pecos. For that you have to leave Texas and go to where the Pecos river departs from its deep canyon headwaters in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains - the original town of Pecos...New Mexico. Before it was a Spanish town it was a Pueblo Indian settlement. The Pueblos were once united early in their history, but for reasons not fully understood they split up into different settlements across the region known now as northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. There were many different Pueblo Indian tribes from the Keresan speaking Cochiti and Acoma to the Tanoan speaking Taos, Sandia, and Pecos. The actual meaning of the word is unknown, but the origin is known. When European settlers first arrived in 1540 (yes, the first Europeans who settled in what is now known as the United States were the Spanish in New Mexico, not the English in Massachusetts) the Keresan speaking Pueblos referred to their their sister Pueblo near the river as P'e'-a-ku, which the Spanish eventually changed to Pecos. The Native Americans (especially the Pueblos) in New Mexico have a harsh and brutal history after the arrival of the Spanish. For many reason, including European diseases and war with other tribes, there are no full blooded Pecos Pueblo Native Americans still living. It is kind of sad that one of the only remnants of this once large and powerful tribe, its name, is not even considered by most people to have anything to do with them. Spend time in the town of Pecos (New Mexico and certainly Texas) and there is scant evidence that such a people even existed. The Pecos clans were as follows: Waha (Cloud), Pe (Sun), Ya (Coyote), Seé (Eagle), Kyunu (Corn), Sohl (Badger), Sungti (Turquoise), Daahl (Earth or Sand), Wahaha (Calabash), Kiahl (Crow) Pa (Deer), Shiankya (Mountain lion), Whala (Bear), Fwaha, (Fire), Amu (Ant), Kotsaa ( Pine), Petdelu (Wild Turkey), Tashtye (Buffalo),Gyuungsh (Oak), Alawahku, (Elk), Alu (Antelope), Morbah (Parrot), and Hayah (Snake).

Movie Review - Juno

We don't see a ton of movies, for the obvious reasons. The bulk of the entertainment in this house revolves around Dora, Diego and Little Einsteins. At least Emma and Johnny are old enough now to ask for shows like Planet Earth and Snowboard Diaries, both of which I can actually watch as well. Since our movie watching is few and far between it is a real bummer that most movies are a disappointment for one reason or another. The other night we watched Juno. I was preparing for the worst- you know, those movies that show every good or funny moment in the commercials. I was also expecting a show laced with some sort of political commentary or an underlying liberal agenda. To my surprise none of these were true. Juno was a funny, somewhat realistic, heart felt social commentary that touched on the good and some of the bad of society. There were interesting interactions between different groups, mainly the upper and middle class divide and the many social classes that define the High School setting. While many of these interactions are funny, they give a realness to the movie that others lack. I think the movie triumphed in it's ability to realistically and humorously depict all these interactions against the backdrop of such weighty subject matter as abortion and adoption. Obviously, the movie was not from a Christian perspective, but I think it was somewhat more powerful that a non-religious, typical highschool girl could see the value of life and the importance of helping others, even to the point of sacrificing her own body. Although the biggest attention getters in the movie are the themes of abortion and adoption, it turns out that the main theme is true love. In the midst of a less than perfect life we learn that true love can be right under our noses, if only we can recognize it.