Thank you to S.F. Century volunteers

Ahuge shoutout to the Santa Fe Century volunteers. Well managed, solid logistics and of course the aid stations were loaded with fuel and super friendly volunteers. I’ve been participating off and on for almost 20 years in this event, and I have to say it has its challenges — good ones. It’s too bad our capital city does not host more events like this and others such as runs, triathlons and such.

We usually have to leave the city or state. Perhaps someone reading this might give it a shot; you would have no shortage of volunteers. Anyway, the real purpose of this was to commend the fine folks who put all this together, a real collaboration. ¡Muchísimas Gracias!

Herman Garcia Santa Fe

Science is a method

The article (“Studying lies for a living,” May 22) repeatedly emphasizes the method used by Faith Hibbs-Clark is “scientific.” And she is authoring The Acting Science Book about the “scientific principles of acting” using her “acting science method.”

There is, however, no indication that the criteria of the scientific method have been met: formulating a hypothesis and testing it with observations involving measurement. That method has been applied by psychologists to the study of smiles. For example, a genuine smile has two key facial markers that distinguish it smile from a fake smile. Experiments have shown that most people can fake a “genuine” smile, subjects produce fewer genuine smiles when lying, and an exaggerated “genuine” smile is sometimes associated with lying.

Because Hibbs-Clark has “an innate ability to read body language,” perhaps her skill is simply intuitive rather than scientific. Is saying her technique is scientific just a way to give it credibility? If so, that is just another lie.

Dr. Dean H. Owen Santa Fe

Bringing us Broadway

Tri-M Productions, Santa Fe’s new musical theater company, is fearless. Kinky Boots? Creating a British shoe factory onstage? Really? And yet, the dedicated team of Marilyn Barnes and Kathlene Ritch, with their company of young professionals, has already transported us to a Berlin nightclub and to ancient Rome. What a delight to have local access to these Broadway treasures.

One warning: Don’t risk ending up in the wailing line of unprepared patrons who just assume they can walk into the closing June 25 matinee performance of Kinky Boots and still get a ticket. It happens with every show. So check your calendar, go to trimsantafe.org, and get your tickets now — the show runs June 15-25 with performances at 7 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays.

Sean Gardner Santa Fe

Find a way on cats

Regarding Santa Fe homeless cats (“Trying to control feral cats,” May 21), the petition’s goal was to raise awareness that essential services previously available from the Santa Fe animal shelter have been dropped or made less accessible and more costly for Santa Feans. In addition to trapping and releasing, these services include truly affordable spay/ neuter, open admission and a chance at adoption for all homeless cats — not just an easily adopted handful.

Animals denied these services do not go away — they are abandoned, killed or redirected to other entities now stretched to the breaking point. It remains our hope the Board of Directors will publish and review the shelter’s performance numbers, including year-over-year comparison of cat intakes, adoptions and surrenders refused. Without an aggressive trap-and-release program and free spaying and neutering, demand on cat shelters will escalate. Yes, these services are challenging to deliver, but Santa Fe needs them. Find a way, Santa Fe.

Save the wolves

This year is the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered Species Act, and one of its greatest success stories is itself imperiled by the Biden administration’s delay and apparent unwillingness to act to stop the slaughter of wolves in Montana and Idaho.

This despite the words of Dan Ashe (the former director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service under President Barack Obama) wrote a Washington Post opinion piece in August 2021 urging Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to act and issue emergency protections for gray wolves as permitted under the Endangered Species Act. Haaland needs to focus on her responsibilities as leader of the Department of the Interior and act before it is too late.

Sex, not gender

Lisa Phifer Santa Fe

Lizabeth Johnson Los Alamos

Grant Franks makes a straw-man argument in his defense of transgender people (“Worried about trans individuals? Don’t be,” May 21). No one is “worried” about them, and no one is “demonizing” them. Some of us believe biological sex is the only gender you have, and that while some people may have gender dysphoria, there is no such thing as “gender identity.”

We embrace truth and want a society based in reality, which means we reject deceptive language such as “sex assigned at birth” and we will decide for ourselves what pronouns to use for others. No one has the right to tell me what pronouns to use for them. Restrooms, sports and pronouns should be separated by biological sex, and the concepts of nonbinary and transgender should be ridiculed out of existence.

Rebecca Lee Santa Fe