low riders and loop trail
Friday night we attended a Gatsby party. I'm not sure how Gatsby anyone was. I've never read the book, so I took a stab at it by wearing a bowtie. Clip on. The party raged pretty hard at certain points. Good to see people cutting loose.
Hungover Saturday we got eggs and potatoes at a restaurant that claims to have 150 different sandwiches. We then proceeded to a carwash benefit for some of my students in ceramics. Apparently they have a bike club and they were raising money for parts and equipment. The bikes were pretty elaborate and well done. I think this is an extensive sub culture within certain Latino communities. I was surprised and pleased to hear about it, and I'm glad the students thought to include me, if only for another $5 donation. It was great to see that they have this passion that they pursue completely on their own time. No doubt it takes a great deal of skill and work to put these things together.
It was interesting when I asked these students what their art form was or which artists they liked. None of them listed a single thing, and here they are creating aesthetic and functional objects that are quite well done. Surely they have people in the low rider community that they look up to. I think it's just that they've never thought of this as 'art.' Or maybe they just love to give me a hard time by never willingly contributing anything? At any rate this little exposure turned my whole view of them around.
That night we watched walk the line, which I thought was a bit misconceived. I've never agreed with the concept of taking famous people's lives and reworking them--but with more beautiful people. Or sometimes it just seems that the ridiculously beautiful people in hollywood are handicapped in telling a truly believable story. For instance, consider Charlize Theron being cast into the lead of Northcountry. Give me a break! Or Halle Berry as the female lead in Monster's Ball. Ooo, really believable, Billy Bob Thornton--you were able to overcome your crippling and hereditary racism to... have sex with Halle Berry? Tough struggle there. If they wanted to make these stories believable they should've cast ugly people in those roles. This is not to say that Johnny Cash and June Carter were ugly people, only that they were modest people. Joaquin and Reese are two of the best looking people on the planet, hardly modest. Fun to look at, but not real like Cash and Carter. Flawless stars aside, I still can't ignore the violence inherent in the act of some screenwriters' attempt to mold a complete human life into some typified plot curve. How much is left out and whose story is really getting told?
Sunday we headed to Aguirre Springs, which is the BLM park on the east side of the Organs, the mountain range that forms the valley that Las Cruces sits in. The Organs have been a surprising source of pleasure for me, with their rugged verticality and abrupt sharp-toothedness. I talked to a guy from Wyoming and he said he hardly notices them, but for a Minnesotan I think they provide a little more awe. Aguirre Springs has several drive-to camp sites, latrines, and two hiking trails. The first is called Baylor pass, a one-way six mile hike straight through the Organs. Baylor Pass ends, I think, in Dripping Springs, which is the park on the West side of the Organs. I also heard that in November there is something called Baylor Pass Run, which I hope is what it sounds like--maybe something to start training for.
The other trail is called Pine Tree Trail, a 4.5 mile loop that does not betray the source of its name until its uppermost reaches. Near the half-way point the whole ecosystem seems to change into a semi-alpine wonderland of towering pines and scrubby junipers. Apparently the Organs are the most bio-diverse region of NM. There were also several points along the trail that offer sweeping vistas of the entire basin that lies to the East of the Organs. This basin forms White Sands Missile Range, and in it lies the Military Base/Town White Sands, entirely visible from the trail. Also visible, 40 miles north-east, was White Sands National Monument (on some of the photos in Molly's site, White Sands is the solid white line near the horizon). It was a brisk and beautiful hike with several fairly chossy portions of high-stepping scramble. Nothing technical but certainly enough to get the sweat set free. Any strenuousness in the hike was exacerbated by a mysterious pinched nerve beneath my right shoulder blade, which seems to be waning today. I will have no problem re-hiking that trail when visitors come--I think it will be interesting to see what the mild season changes do there.
Hungover Saturday we got eggs and potatoes at a restaurant that claims to have 150 different sandwiches. We then proceeded to a carwash benefit for some of my students in ceramics. Apparently they have a bike club and they were raising money for parts and equipment. The bikes were pretty elaborate and well done. I think this is an extensive sub culture within certain Latino communities. I was surprised and pleased to hear about it, and I'm glad the students thought to include me, if only for another $5 donation. It was great to see that they have this passion that they pursue completely on their own time. No doubt it takes a great deal of skill and work to put these things together.
It was interesting when I asked these students what their art form was or which artists they liked. None of them listed a single thing, and here they are creating aesthetic and functional objects that are quite well done. Surely they have people in the low rider community that they look up to. I think it's just that they've never thought of this as 'art.' Or maybe they just love to give me a hard time by never willingly contributing anything? At any rate this little exposure turned my whole view of them around.
That night we watched walk the line, which I thought was a bit misconceived. I've never agreed with the concept of taking famous people's lives and reworking them--but with more beautiful people. Or sometimes it just seems that the ridiculously beautiful people in hollywood are handicapped in telling a truly believable story. For instance, consider Charlize Theron being cast into the lead of Northcountry. Give me a break! Or Halle Berry as the female lead in Monster's Ball. Ooo, really believable, Billy Bob Thornton--you were able to overcome your crippling and hereditary racism to... have sex with Halle Berry? Tough struggle there. If they wanted to make these stories believable they should've cast ugly people in those roles. This is not to say that Johnny Cash and June Carter were ugly people, only that they were modest people. Joaquin and Reese are two of the best looking people on the planet, hardly modest. Fun to look at, but not real like Cash and Carter. Flawless stars aside, I still can't ignore the violence inherent in the act of some screenwriters' attempt to mold a complete human life into some typified plot curve. How much is left out and whose story is really getting told?
Sunday we headed to Aguirre Springs, which is the BLM park on the east side of the Organs, the mountain range that forms the valley that Las Cruces sits in. The Organs have been a surprising source of pleasure for me, with their rugged verticality and abrupt sharp-toothedness. I talked to a guy from Wyoming and he said he hardly notices them, but for a Minnesotan I think they provide a little more awe. Aguirre Springs has several drive-to camp sites, latrines, and two hiking trails. The first is called Baylor pass, a one-way six mile hike straight through the Organs. Baylor Pass ends, I think, in Dripping Springs, which is the park on the West side of the Organs. I also heard that in November there is something called Baylor Pass Run, which I hope is what it sounds like--maybe something to start training for.
The other trail is called Pine Tree Trail, a 4.5 mile loop that does not betray the source of its name until its uppermost reaches. Near the half-way point the whole ecosystem seems to change into a semi-alpine wonderland of towering pines and scrubby junipers. Apparently the Organs are the most bio-diverse region of NM. There were also several points along the trail that offer sweeping vistas of the entire basin that lies to the East of the Organs. This basin forms White Sands Missile Range, and in it lies the Military Base/Town White Sands, entirely visible from the trail. Also visible, 40 miles north-east, was White Sands National Monument (on some of the photos in Molly's site, White Sands is the solid white line near the horizon). It was a brisk and beautiful hike with several fairly chossy portions of high-stepping scramble. Nothing technical but certainly enough to get the sweat set free. Any strenuousness in the hike was exacerbated by a mysterious pinched nerve beneath my right shoulder blade, which seems to be waning today. I will have no problem re-hiking that trail when visitors come--I think it will be interesting to see what the mild season changes do there.
posted by j0eb0t-xj9 at 4:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home