TO OUR READERS

Every summer, Traditional Spanish Market draws thousands of visitors looking for the best in Spanish colonial artwork.

Assistant Arts Editor Kathaleen Roberts talks to artist Jacobo De La Serna, who is bringing four ceramic pieces to the market next weekend in Santa Fe. With deep roots in New Mexico, De La Serna’s work “looks modern and new and fresh,” says an admirer.

We also have reviews of “Guys and Dolls” and “The Curious Savage,” as well as “Roméo et Juliette” at the Santa Fe Opera.

Assistant Features Editor Donna Olmstead introduces us to Prairie Dog Pals, an Albuquerque nonprofit that supports, rescues and relocates the socially evolved little rodents. Members of the group recently assisted with a roundup of prairie dogs that had established a community on a school playing ground, taking the captured animals to a new home on Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge.

Our NM Focus is on Laura Gómez, a New Mexico native who recently was named to a prestigious post at UCLA. She tells Features writer Rosalie Rayburn that she credits the education she received at Valley High School as propelling her to success.

In Travel, former Journal reporter Andy Stiny visits Alburquerque, our Sister City and namesake in Spain, and, among other things, tries to track down what happened to our missing “R.” As it turns out, there’s no definitive explanation for what happened to the missing letter in Albuquerque.

But the friendly residents of Alburquerque made an unexpected visitor welcome.

Until next week,