Dateline New Mexico

Description

Many people have used photographs or impressionistic essays in their attempts to capture the essence of New Mexico. Toby Smith employed neither camera nor conjecture in his search. Instead he listened to the people and re-created from their conversations sensitive and entertaining profiles. As Smith listened, he heard New Mexico at it's best: the memories and dreams of people whose lives speak to us all about hope, love, success, and failure. Smith visited old timers and newcomers, men, women, and children, Indians, Hispanics, Anglos, and blacks. He talked to those who live in cities and with the entire village of Pep (population 2). He journeyed to the southern part of the state, and to the north, east, and west. He went to one place that a photograph made famous and to another that no longer exists except in the recollections of its former residents. Wherever he went, though, strangers became friends, and their stories enrich and captivate. Among the thirty-five New Mexicans we meet are a millionaire artist, an onion picker, a witness to murder, a Good Samaritan pilot, a cowboy preacher, and an expert fisherman. Smith has fashioned the stories her heard into engaging portraits of the vigorous, resilient people who live and work in the land of enchantment.

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