e-culture: Santa Fe Travel, KTRU Issues, Seasonal Traditions
December 4, 2000



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TRAVEL PRESENTATION ON TUESDAY

Santa Fe and the Southwest
Seasonal traditions, including luminarias for Christmas Eve, pilgrimages and Native American dances at the pueblos, are exciting and educational. Southwest culture can be experienced at any time of year, but it helps to know what to look for. We will cover many unique destinations in the "Land of Enchantment."

ALSO, Graham Farebrother, from Worldwide Walkers, discusses his upcoming adventure, Climbing Kilimanjaro. And Michael Williams will present Hiking the Grand Canyon.

Tuesday, December 5, 7:00 pm in the Athletic/Alumni Center at University of Houston, entrance 15. Free. Call 713-743-9550 for more information.
http://www.houstonculture.org/travel/index.html


UPCOMING TRIP TO SANTA FE

We will feature a trip to Santa Fe and the San Luis Valley of Colorado in May. Please come to the travel presentation on Santa Fe if you think you might be interested.
http://www.houstonculture.org/travel/adventure.html


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HOT ON THE TRAIL

In November, armed with satellite images and a Global Positioning Satellite Receiver, we were hot on the trail of Cabeza de Vaca. We must have been in the vicinity of his historic inland trek, because the local food consisted almost entirely of corn and green chilies. He may have given us the slip, though, and turned south into Mexico where we went west to Las Cruces. Given that no Spaniard had previously ventured over the 6,000 mile route, taking eight years from 1528 to 1536, it's difficult to tell, and the only roadsigns are a few sparse rivers, some iron deposits and the trade of buffalo hides. See the Virtual Classroom for clues.
http://www.houstonculture.org/vc/vc.html

We have placed a copy of Cabeza de Vaca's historic journal on line. Send an email to me, or to Houston@i45south.com to access the password-protected file. The translation is by Fanny Bandelier and dates from 1905. It is free to access, but we must count the users.
http://www.houstonculture.org/spanish/am.html

Had Cabeza de Vaca had a better map, he surely would have stopped off in New Mexico for some hot food. I know some of you are headed out there, so here are some suggested roadside diners:

Chilitos, Highway 185, Las Cruces, New Mexico
Estelitas Tamales, 580 South Valley Drive, Las Cruces, New Mexico
Restaurante El Mirador, 510 E. Pine, Deming, New Mexico
Tecolote Cafe, 1203 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Plaza Restaurant, On the Plaza, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Three Rivers, 101 east Main, Farmington, New Mexico
Uranium Cafe, 519 Santa Fe Ave., Grants, New Mexico
La Cita Restaurant, 812 S. 1st St., Tucumcari, New Mexico
El Charro Cafe, 421 6th St., Alamosa, Colorado


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KTRU DEVELOPMENTS

Students were locked out of KTRU on Thursday, November 30 at 8:00am. The student-founded radio station has been operated by students for more than 30 years and its format has largely been focused on underexposed music, art and culture. For the greater Houston audience and for artists around the world, the loss of KTRU would be serious as there are few venues in urban areas that do not solely subscribe to a corporate philosophy of programming to suit marketing needs.

The issues that must be overcome to get KTRU back on air are primarily internal, but there are correlations to many national issues and it will be difficult for Rice to operate KTRU as a strictly internal venue, if they choose, when KTRU's potential in the community is so great.

To understand a little about the developments at KTRU, you can get quite a lot from Chronicle of Higher Education headlines. On November 17, 2000, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported, "Gap Grows Between the Haves and Have-nots in College Sports, Average profit rises for successful programs, but debt balloons for others, NCAA study finds".

One week later, November 24, 2000, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported, "Rice U. Presses Its Radio Station to Broadcast Sporting Events, Will athletics kill the radio stars at Rice?".

The events that led up to this point are much more complicated. We will report on them at i45south.com [ http://www.i45south.com ] as soon as there is a break in the action. The issue is currently very hot and in three days we received 900 emails, mostly from Rice students and alumns involved with the station, but many from the community, as well.

The students are planning a demonstration for today, Monday, December 4, at 4:30 in the Rice Quad. They maintain information about their concerns, and the help they are asking for, at savektru.org [ http://www.savektru.org ].


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SEASONAL TRADITIONS

Kwanzaa
http://www.houstonculture.org/cr/kwan.html

Bonfires and Luminarias
http://www.houstonculture.org/cr/bonfires.html


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UPCOMING EVENTS

A proposal of our spring events will be on line soon. With KTRU hanging in the balance and news that the proposal to CACHH wasn't presented well, some of the educational events won't happen this year, but we are committed to making these highly valuable programs happen in Houston as soon as possible.

We will definitely bring Namita Bodaji back this spring, as so many people have requested to see her perform again.
http://www.houstonculture.org/world/namitaevent.html

Bill Steber, from Nashville, Tennessee, just concluded a successful exhibition, "Stones in My Pathway, Photographs of Mississippi Blues Culture," at the Saba Gallery in New York. We have finally completed a "featured artist" page about his work. We will be seeking alternative funding and space to bring him to Houston. Please contact me if you have suggestions, 713-521-3686.


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ADDED INTEREST

"Madyamavati" by Vasumathi Badrinathan
http://www.sulekha.com/articles/vb_madyamavati.html


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VOLUNTEERS

Writers, artists and volunteers are always in demand here. Please give us a call, 713-521-3686, or send an email, info@houstonculture.org.

http://www.houstonculture.org/resources/vol.html

Thank you,
Mark



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M A R K   L A C Y / mark@cultural-crossroads.com

The Houston Institute for Culture
http://www.houstonculture.org

Regional and historical perspectives
http://www.houstonculture.org/cr/roads.html

Travel planning and information
http://www.houstonculture.org/terra/terra.html

Upcoming travel presentations
http://www.houstonculture.org/travel/index.html