Photographing Julia Martinez for the Optic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Senior Profile feature last week convinced me that hers was by far the easiest interview I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve helped writer Lupita Gonzales conduct.
\nI simply go along for the photos; I let my colleague ask the tough questions.<\/p>\n
So what made it so easy? Probably our conviction that Mrs. Herman Martinez is extremely alert. Yes, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 92, but she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s much more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153with it\u00e2\u20ac\u009d than many people 30 years younger.<\/p>\n
The interview brought back memories of her late husband, Erminio (Herman) Martinez, whose employment at Murphey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s was a short two blocks from their house, on Fifth Street. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t remember ever having met or having seen Herman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wife, but the family photos in her living room reminded me I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d known Herman since childhood (mine).<\/p>\n
My friend, Wilfred Martinez, and I were always welcome in Murphey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. Invariably, as we entered to sell our competing newspapers, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be greeted by Roy Browning or Sketchley Moore, a pair of pharmacists. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d call my friend \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Little Head,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d presumably because there was too much information there to be contained in his head.<\/p>\n
Roy Browning called me \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Garbled.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Why? Because once I read the Optic headlines to him and he asked me to read an article itself. I got past the first couple of paragraphs and suddenly came across a few lines that made no sense. I said \u00e2\u20ac\u0153garbled\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for that passage, to which Browning said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153typical Optic.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Murphey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s was a well-stocked store that offered free gift-wrapping. I believed Herman to be a world-class gift-wrapper. Somehow the process never seemed rushed, and there was never any mention of a fee, which some places charge today.<\/p>\n
Of course, I mentioned some of these drugstore memories during the interview with Julia. She agreed and complimented me on my ability to remember things in such detail. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true; although I can scarcely remember whether I had Cheerios or Fruit Loops this morning, I remember the distant past quite well.<\/p>\n
But the memory compliment should go to Julia herself, who pinpointed the location of a couple of skating rinks, the Duncan Opera House and a host of long-shuttered small businesses in town.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago, when Gov. Susana Martinez was scheduled to deliver an address at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, many New Mexicans tuned in to watch and listen.<\/p>\n
She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d barely reached the podium when officials at the three major networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, pulled the plug and feted the TV audience with talking heads instead.<\/p>\n
That caused consternation among many Nuevo Mejicanos who believe Martinez\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speech should have been carried in its entirety. Apparently, there were some after-the-fact options, such as streaming the speech online the next day, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the same as watching and listening to a live speech.<\/p>\n
In spite of modern technology, it just goes to show that it can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be denied that artificial intelligence is no substitute for the lack of the real thing.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
Heard on local radio the next day: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Gov. Martinez got \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsnobbed.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d That she did not, but the reason for the wrong usage is explainable: The vowel sounds in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153snob\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153snub\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are only a millimeter apart.<\/p>\n
A \u00e2\u20ac\u0153snob\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is generally thought of as someone overly impressed by his or her importance. That could be brought on by an exaggerated respect for high social position or wealth. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Snob\u00e2\u20ac\u009d rhymes with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sob,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but not with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153snub.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Snub\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a verb. It means to rebuff, ignore or spurn disdainfully, as in the notion that New Mexico\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s governor isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t important enough to be listened to when addressing the GOP national convention.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Snub\u00e2\u20ac\u009d rhymes with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sub,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but not with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sob.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
So how can we make things right for our governor? What if a better known sub were to have pre-empted Martinez at the last minute, causing Susana to sob? Would the networks have snuffed out any chances for the sniffing governor to become better known?<\/p>\n
Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not forget that months ago she was being considered as the vice-presidential running mate for Gov. Mitt Romney, or whichever Republican was likely to get the nomination. There was a large stable of Republican office holders whose names were dropped by the front-running presidential candidates.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good practice to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153consider\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a number of people as slate mates. It keeps them happy, not to mention that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flattering to those whose names get dropped. And if she indeed had been chosen, would she likely become a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153snob\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and would she then \u00e2\u20ac\u0153snub\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the populace?<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n
It seems that each day we read startling new information on nutrition. The latest is that the benefits of food grown organically don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really justify the price difference. A friend in Santa Fe said that the health-food emporium, Wild Oats, ought to be re-named Wild Profits.<\/p>\n
Surely in a week or so, scientists will come up with findings that contradict the latest research and will advise us to eat more organic stuff.<\/p>\n
Along these nutritional lines, my friend, Klare Schmidt, never one to disappoint, sent the following email:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153According to a recent article I just read on nutrition, eating right doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to be complicated. Nutritionists say there is a simple way to tell if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re eating right.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Colors. Fill your plate with bright colors: greens, reds, yellows.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In fact, I did that this morning. I had an entire bowl of M&Ms. It was delicious! I never knew eating right could be so easy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Photographing Julia Martinez for the Optic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Senior Profile feature last week convinced me that hers was by far the easiest interview I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve helped writer Lupita Gonzales conduct. I simply go along for the photos; I let my colleague ask the tough questions. So what made it so easy? Probably our conviction that Mrs. Herman Martinez […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=970"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":972,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970\/revisions\/972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rezio.net\/woa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}