City Different needs to embrace Fiesta differences
As the Santa Fe Opera closes its season Saturday, it might be a good time to reflect on what an amazing place Santa Fe is.
It’s easy to forget the longer you live here. Instead of marveling over the many assets and blessings of this ancient city, we increasingly get grumpy over all those durn tourists clogging the streets and blocking the sidewalks as they window-shop or take a photo at, yes, yet another amazing building or historic marker. We eagerly wait for the autumn and a chance to breathe a sigh of relief as we take our town back.
Except that IS our town. Santa Fe is an incredible gathering place of culture and arts, where people of Hispanic or Native American heritage gather to demonstrate aspects of their culture and sell their artworks, both in traditional and contemporary styles, on the Plaza. Artisans from around the world descend on Museum Hill for the International Folk Art Market, where people of all races, religions and ethnicities come together to learn about us and each other, while we, in turn, can learn from them about their cultural flavors and beliefs.
For people with a classical bent, world-class opera, choral and chamber music, with both historic and contemporary compositions, is performed throughout the summer.
And before you dismiss these cultural riches as being just for our high-income residents or visitors, realize that they also support a good number of artists and technical staffers who still spend their lives among the 99 percent — many of them pretty far down those income ranks. They also help keep our many restaurants and retail shops in business — and their employees with a job.
And most, and perhaps all, of the cultural organizations that stage these events and concerts also engage in active community outreach, providing some more affordable or even free performances on occasion, and often bringing in schoolchildren to a concert or taking artists and musicians to the schools to expose our kids to the wide scope of wonders just beyond their doors.
The same is true of the many museums that call Santa Fe home, and tell us about our history, culture and arts.
Now, as the summer season slows down, the cooling temperatures and welcome rains help soothe our spirits, and beckon us to the many trails and parks to enjoy our beautiful surroundings.
That leads us to the last major hurrah yet to come: Fiestas. Some see these coming days as a chance to shake off the blahs and burn our troubles with Old Man Gloom; others see them as a treasured tradition that honors the long history of Spanish settlement and yet others are offended by a celebration of a history that included subjugation of the Native American inhabitants of the area.
History is rarely pretty; it is full of violence, exploitation and pain.
As we enter the Fiesta events, let’s acknowledge the full scope of our history, yet look to the present and future for all we can do to both work and play together, seeking understanding and compassion, aiming toward building a community that enhances all of our lives. That can truly make us shine as a City Different.