Anna Martinez Has Nothing Nice to Say
Anna Martinez made it plain in the first poem she read after being named Albuquerque’s new poet laureate — “Take nice and shove it.”
Martinez has lived her life speaking out, speaking her truth and speaking to defend the truths of others. Now that she is the city's poet, she has no plans to change. Not two months into her tenure she is already getting hate mail. Imagine a poet getting hate mail about her words. Those must be some extraordinarily powerful words.
Threshold and the Strange Attractor
Being in the presence of art sounds pompous, but it is undeniable. Being there is where it is at. Watching a video of a dance piece is not the same as being in the room with dancers, with live music, where you can hear the footfalls and you can see the heavy breathing. It is a rare thing to see a live contemporary dance piece in Albuquerque. Rarer still to see an independent one. This Thursday, we get that chance.
Dry Heat in a Comedy Ghost Town
Albuquerque comedian Sarah Kennedy began asking questions in a formal way through her podcast Comedy Ghost Town in January. In it, she interviews comedians, academics and elected officials to find the edges of the problems of opening a comedy club in Albuquerque and tries to publicly work through some of the solutions. Spoiler Alert: In the final episode she announces she and her wife Kelli Trapnell are just going to open up a comedy club themselves. On June 23, that’s exactly what they are going to do. It’s called Dry Heat.