Articles
I Love the 80s
Get ready for a quick 80s flashback, where we give you a history lesson on what the U.S. was doing in Central America in the early 1980s. It may seem crazy, but what the Bush administration is doing in Iraq has ties to what the Reagan administration was doing in Nicaragua in the 1980s. (more)
Wen Ho Lee: International Man of Mystery?
His Odyssey began in March 1999, when the New York Times published an article alleging that during the mid-1980s, a Chinese-American scientist at New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) had given China information about W-88 miniaturized nuclear warheads. After the story broke, an embarrassed FBI moved quickly, taking Taiwanese-American physicist Wen Ho Lee into custody and grilling him for two days without counsel. Shortly afterward, Lee was named primary suspect in the case....(more)
New Mexico Governor Gary "Big J" Johnson
After President Clinton’s pronouncement that he “didn’t inhale,” reporters nationwide began asking their own politicians if they had ever used marijuana. New Mexico’s 1994 gubernatorial candidate, Gary Johnson, answered “yes.” He had quit years earlier, however, noting (among other things) that being stoned made it more difficult to read. (more)
Body Modifications, Los Angeles Style
Some say beauty is only skin deep, and many Angelenos can tell you, from personal experience, that this is indeed true. From collagen-injected lips to tattooed toes, Los Angeles is America’s body shop, ready and willing to provide whatever modifications you need to fit into the mold of your choice. (more)
Alma Lopez and the Bikini of Roses
When Los Angeles artist Alma Lopez read Sandra Cisneros’ essay, “Guadalupe the Sex Goddess” (Goddess of the Americas, Ana Castillo, ed), she was inspired by the author’s desire to “lift Guadalupe’s robes” to see if the Virgin was real, like herself. What would such an act reveal? Lopez was sure it would be roses. (more)
Dennis Chavez
It was the most tumultuous election in New Mexico history: Entrenched Republican Senator Bronson Cutting was known to many as ‘patron’ for his generous political favors. Democrat Dennis Chávez was a junior-high-school dropout who had educated himself while working in a grocery store to help support his family, going on to attend Georgetown University and serve in the US House of Representatives. It was 1934, in the depths of the Great Depression, and one of New Mexico’s first elections by secret ballot. (more)
The Terrorists vs. The Tabloids
Shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, a new threat to US security emerged: Anthrax, weapon of choice among terrorists with correct postage. Ground Zero this time around was the Boca Raton, Florida, offices of American Media. (more)