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Cover photoMajestic living welcomes story ideas and comments from readers.E-mail story ideas and comments to [email protected].

Celebrating the lifestyle, Communityand Culture of the Four Corners

MAGAZINE

publisher Don Vaughan

editor Cindy Cowan Thiele

designer Suzanne Thurman

writers Dorothy Nobis, Margaret Cheasebro,

Elizabeth Pettyjohn-Broten, Gail Vanik

photographers

Josh Bishop, Whitney Howle

sales staff

Shelly Acosta, Clint Alexander

Aimee Velasquez

For advertising information

Call 505.516.1230

by Whitney howle.

Vol. 7, No. 2 ©2015 by Majestic Media. Majestic Living is a quarterly publication. Material herein may not be reprintedwithout expressed written consent of thepublisher. If you receive a copy that is torn or damaged call 505.516.1230.

Follow us on @MajesticMediaUSmajesticmediaUSA

contributorsMarGarEt ChEasEbro has been a freelancewriter for over 30 years. her articles have appeared in many magazines across the country.she was a correspondent for the albuquerquejournal and worked for several local newspapers. she has four published books ofchildren’s puppet scripts. a former elementaryschool counselor, she is a reiki Master and practices several alternative healing techniques.she enjoys playing table tennis.

josh bishoP is a graduate of san juan College with an associate degree in DigitalMedia arts and Design. he currently worksat Majestic Media as a video producer and photographer.

WhitNEy hoWlE was born and raised in Farmington and is proud to call san juan Countyhome. the richness of the landscape and the diverse people, culture and traditions are a photographers dream. Whitney has his ba in Visual Communication from Collins College intempe, ariz. he is a co-owner of howle Designand Photography—a family owned studio offering graphic design, photography, market research and consulting.

Gail VaNik holds a ba in English and a Master's in international relations but was sidetracked from thosecareer choices when she moved to the Four Corners region 16 years ago from lancaster, Pa. she and herhusband, Vic, own Four seasons Greenhouse and Nursery in Dolores, but writing remains an interest anda passion. she has been a contributing writer for the telluride Watch, the Cortez journal, and boomersand beyond, covering topics ranging from gardeningadvice to feature articles. Gail is also a regular contributor to industry specific publications such astoday's Garden Center Magazine and lawn and Gardenretailer, where she writes about topics such as inventory management and point of sale systems.

ElizabEth PEttyjohN-brotEN is a local freelance grant writer and resource DevelopmentCoordinator for the Four Corners Foundation. she enjoys cooking and traveling with her husband, Matt, raising her beautiful children, andwhile walking her yorkie, Nigel, contemplatinglife’s existential dilemmas.

Dorothy Nobis has been a writer and editor formore than 25 years. she authored a travel guide,the insiders Guide to the Four Corners, published by Globe Pequot Press, and has been a frequent contributor to New Mexico Magazine .

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springfeatures:

When Cory Farrell enlisted in the Air Force in April

2010, he joined that branch of the military because he

wanted to be a dog handler.

By Margaret Cheasebro

Returning Vet16

A shout of “Look what I

found’ rings out across the

excavation site. A summer

camp participant has found

a pottery shard, complete

with the fingerprints of the

potter still intact.

By Gail Vanik

You’ll dig it30

To retired attorney Damon Weems, life

is about connection. From the time he

was a boy, his connections with people,

the river and bluegrass music have

helped him find success and happiness.


Connectivity34

Nathan Hill loves Tj’s Downtown Diner. He loves

his customers, he loves preparing their favorite

dishes, and he loves the work. But most of all, Hill

loves the memories.

By Dorothy Nobis

You’re family at TJ’s10

Raised on a ranch in Huerfano, New Mexico, and educated as

a psychologist, 28-year-old Jolonzo Goldtooth suppressed his

artistic side for many years.


From Farmington to Fashion Week22


When Edward Kotyk began working at the

city of Aztec in 1999, the city didn’t have a

website. He helped to create one.


Documenting the past

for future generations40


Ken Triplett has had many goals in his life. Being an

Internet sensation has never been one of them.

By Dorothy Nobis

Labor of love goes viral48About seven years ago, Bruce Bowen bought an air-

plane kit. The kit Bowen purchased was $14,000 and

isn’t the kind you’ll find at a hobby store.

By Dorothy Nobis

Seven years of just plane fun52

Everyone is born with a

unique talent, but not

every talent is destined

to receive international

acclaim or to be show-

cased on the world’s

stage.

By Elizabeth Pettyjohn-Broten

Cherise Lukow:

An extraordinary gift to the world56

When Jenny Lambert walks into a classroom at the San

Juan College Adult Basic Education, or ABE, program, she

sees more than just the faces of the students.

By Dorothy Nobis

Making a Difference60

Nathan Hill loves TJ’s Downtown Diner. He

loves his customers, he loves preparing their

favorite dishes, and he loves the work. But

most of all, Hill loves the memories.

Hill’s dad, Jim Arganas, opened Pancake

Alley in 1963. In 1979, Arganas sold the busi-

ness, but kept the building at 119 E. Main St.

Arganas stayed in the restaurant business and

opened Argies restaurant at 2001 Bloomfield

Highway in 1983, remaining at that location

for about six years. In 1989, Arganas re-

turned to the building downtown and named

it TJ’s – the T for Terry, Hill’s mother, and the

J for Jim.

Arganas remodeled the building and in June

of 1989 TJ’s opened its doors.

Hill has been part of the restaurant since

he was about 7 years old. “By then, I could

reach the griddle and I’d cook pancakes. My

brother bussed tables,” Hill said.

In 1979, Hill left the kitchen at TJ’s and

went to work for the Farmington Fire Depart-

ment. He retired from the department in

2002, but stayed on part time until 2007. It

was then that Hill returned to TJ’s and the

kitchen. As the new manager/owner, one of

the first things Hill did as the new boss was to

fire a longtime employee – his own mother.

“I told her it was time to retire and enjoy

her golden years,” Hill said.

Retire, she did, and Hill began his mission

of carrying on the family tradition, created by

his dad, of serving up great food in good

portions, in a family friendly environment at

prices families could afford – just as his dad

did.

“At first, I was here all the time,” Hill said

with a slight shake of his head. “That first full

year, after I took over, business was up 33

percent.” Unfortunately, 2008 and 2009

were not good years for businesses. The re-

cession hit and TJ’s, like other businesses, felt

it. “In 2009, though, we were only down 6

percent, while everyone else (in business) was

down in the double digits,” Hill said.

Things got better. “This last year – 2014,

was the biggest grossing year in TJ’s history,”

Hill said proudly.

Story by Dorothy Nobis | Photos by Whitney Howle


Great food, friendly people and familiar faces on the daily menu

You’re familyat TJ’s


While the business continues to be successful

under his direction, Hill is quick to credit Ar-

ganas for instilling in him the same work ethic

his dad had.

“When I took over full time, I ran it the very

same way Dad did. I cook the same sauces and

everything here is still homemade. We have

some different menu items, but the ‘machito,’ a

little burro (burrito) that Dad invented, is still a

mainstay on the menu.”

Homemade soup is still made every morning.

“On Mondays, we make Dad’s chicken noodle

soup,” Hill said, adding that the restaurant is full

of customers enjoying that soup each Monday.

With an extensive lunch menu – TJ’s is open

from 5:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through

Fridays and from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on

Saturdays – that offers up those homemade

dishes, most of which were created by his dad,

it is breakfast that brings in the customers.

The Two Car Pile Up starts with two fresh,

homemade biscuits that are split in half and

topped with hash brown potatoes, diced bacon

or sausage and two eggs. Then, it is all covered

with a rich cream gravy and topped with a

green chili sauce and cheese. It is one of the

most popular breakfast items. For those with a

“lighter” appetite, the One Car Pile Up can be

ordered with just one biscuit. Hill said 70 per-

cent of the restaurant’s business comes from

breakfast.

But not all of TJ’s customers are looking for

a heavy breakfast, Hill added. “Jim Easley has

been coming to the restaurant for years and he

always orders a bowl of oatmeal,” Hill said with

a laugh.

In fact, Jim Easley has been enjoying break-

fast, coffee and lunch with the Arganas family

for more than 46 years. “When it (TJ’s) was the

Pancake Alley, I was working for Farmington

Lumber,” Easley said. “I worked there for 24

years and I had quite a few meals there. I’d

have breakfast there and sometimes, I’d stop to

get a cup of coffee.”

Easley enjoyed Jim Arganas, and when Ar-

ganas moved from downtown Farmington, Easley

followed him.

By then, Easley was working for another

company, and he and his wife shared many

meals there. Arganas eventually went to work

for Greenlawn Cemetery, and by then Arganas

had moved back downtown to its current loca-

tion. “I guess you could say I’ve been a cus-

tomer for many years,” Easley said, with a laugh.

Easley admitted that oatmeal is his breakfast

of choice, but it wasn’t always that way. “I

loved their pancakes and eggs when I worked

hard,” he explained. “But now I enjoy oatmeal

because it’s what keeps people alive,” he

added.

But it isn’t just the food that keeps Easley

coming back most mornings for all those years.

It’s the people. While many of the men with

whom he used to enjoy coffee and breakfast

are gone, Easley said he has made new friends.

“They’re all ex-pilots,” he said with a laugh,

“and I’m learning all about airplanes.”

Over the years, Easley has enjoyed the peo-

ple who work at TJ’s as much as his old – and

new – friends.

“They have wonderful people working there

and I’m always giving them fits about some-

thing,” he admitted with a grin.

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Good food, good service and the memory of

Arganas aren’t the only things that make TJ’s a

popular eatery in Farmington, however. “We have

the same old cronies (come in) every day and

they’re the mainstay of our business. We couldn’t

stay in business without them. TJ’s is a destination

spot. People come here from all over town.”

“I attribute all of my success to the way Dad

did it,” Hill added.

Hill’s love and admiration for Arganas is evi-

dent in how he runs TJ’s and how he speaks of his

dad, who was not his biological father.

“In 1966, Daddy came into my life,” Hill said.

“He was a great father and he treated me like his

own kid. He taught me that people will come

back for the atmosphere and the food. He also

opened up the kitchen to everyone. People can

come through the back door (of the restaurant)

and walk through the kitchen (to the dining room)

and see that it’s clean – and it’s clean all the

time. I continue to operate under that premise.”

With new restaurants opening regularly in Farm-

ington, Hill said he’s not concerned about the

competition. “My wife and I try new restaurants,

just like everybody else,” he said. “I like knowing

what my competition is, but I don’t worry about

it. We give people good food and good portions

and they keep coming back. We have a great lo-

cation and people enjoy it.”

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Hill works hard at maintaining the quality of

food, the customer service and the family at-

mosphere his dad created.

All that work, however, comes at a price. He

gets up at 3:30 every morning to be at the

restaurant at 4:15. If all goes well and his staff

of 10 has everything under control, Hill heads

for home about 1 p.m. “It’s all good and I re-

ally enjoy it, but vacations don’t happen,” he

added.

On nice days, after work, Hill will take his

radio-controlled airplanes out to “play.” “I have

a shop that is totally dedicated to my RC air-

planes,” he said with a laugh.

“There’s an RC park off the Bisti Highway

and I go there to fly. I have small airplanes and

three that have a 109-inch wingspan.”

If it’s not his radio controlled airplanes he’s

enjoying, it’s his motorcycle. “I have a love af-

fair with my Harley,” Hill admitted. “My wife,

Sandy, and I went to Sturgis one year via Mil-

waukee and we were gone for 10 days, riding

4,500 miles on the Harley and I really enjoyed

it.” Those trips, he explained were possible be-

cause of his own kids, who took over while he

was gone.

Hill’s son Christopher has worked in the

restaurant and daughter Cassy still works there,

but it is the regular customers who have become

Hill’s extended family.

He knows their families, hears their stories,

shares their joys and their sorrows, and knows

their favorite dishes. Many of those customers

have been coming to TJ’s for years and they,

like the mother he fired, are in their golden

years.

Hill said while many of his customers have re-

tired, or are close to retirement, he has no

plans to join them. “I’ll keep going as long as I

can,” he said. “I’m 53 (years old) and I still have

a lot of years left in me.”

When and if retirement comes for Hill, he and

Sandy will travel and see the country.

Until then, however, Hill plans to continue to

honor the restaurant his dad established, enjoy

the customers who have become friends and

family, and – on a windless day – enjoy his

radio controlled airplanes.


“I’ll keep going as long as I can.I’m 53 (years old) and I still have

a lot of years left in me.”— Nathan Hill

Now he and Tico, a Belgian Malinois, are al-

most inseparable. They live in Albuquerque,

where Cory is stationed at Kirtland Air Force

Base. He handles a different dog now, and

Tico enjoys a well-deserved life as a pampered

pet in the off-base town house Cory shares

with his brother, Brian.

“We’ve decided the reason Cory and Tico

bonded so well is they have the same person-

ality,” said Cory’s dad, Joe Farrell, a book-

keeper at Farmington Iron and Metal. Both

are laid back, a lot of fun and a little lazy

when they’re relaxed, Joe explained, but on

duty they take their work seriously and are

focused, intense, and skilled.

Boy Scout experience

Cory’s interest in dogs began in high

school when his Boy Scout troop traveled

from Farmington to Kirtland Air Force base to

watch a demonstration in which a military

working dog ran after a “bad guy” and took

him to the ground.

“That was really cool,” Cory said. “I

thought I’d like to do that one day.”

For his senior project at Piedra Vista High

School, Cory shadowed Jason Solomon, a

member of the Farmington Police Depart-

ment’s SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics)

team, and he fell in love with police work.

“He was one of my oldest son’s best friends

in high school,” said Solomon, now an FPD

detective. “He was a bright-eyed, excited kid

with tons of potential. He ate up everything

we talked about when he was job shadowing

me. I was very proud to be part of that.”

Became community service officer

After graduating from Piedra Vista, Cory

became a community service officer and vol-

unteered to help with the FPD canine unit at

their training meetings.

“Every time they held training, I would go

and watch and be part of it as much as I

could,” Cory said.

From police officers, he learned that his

best option for becoming a dog handler was

to join the military, where he could get certi-

fied as a handler. Officers told him the certi-

fication would provide many job

opportunities once he left the military. So

Cory enlisted in the Air Force, which heads

the entire military working dog program for

the Department of Defense. That’s how he

met Tico.

Tico born at Lackland AFB

Tico was born at Lackland Air Force Base in

San Antonio, Texas, on March 21, 2006. He

spent about a year with a foster family until he

was old enough to be trained as a military

working dog. After 180 days of training, during

which he learned how to do patrol work and

locate narcotics by smell, Tico was sent to

Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.

After Cory completed basic and technical

training at Lackland, where he learned basic

law enforcement work, he too was sent to

Kadena Air Base.

“I worked there as a straight leg,” Cory said.

“I was a basic security force member, checking

IDs, doing basic law enforcement work.”

Two years later, he had the chance to be-

come a dog handler and returned to Lackland

for an 11-week training course. After earning

his dog handler certification, he returned to

Kadena, where Tico became his first military

working dog. They worked together for a year.

Tico helps Cory through sad time

“I was his 11th handler,” Cory said. At the

time, Cory’s marriage was ending. To help him

through that rough time, Cory sometimes took

Tico out of his kennel when he was off-duty,

settled under a tree, and told Tico about his

troubles.

“Dogs can’t talk back, but they can certainly

listen,” Cory said. “The funny thing with him is

when he’s not working he’s extremely lazy. He

loves to just sleep. But when I would

Tico’s military service ended but his bond with Cory Farrell will last forever

Story by Margaret Cheasebro | Photos by Whitney Howle


talk to him, he would stay awake, like he was ac-

tually listening to me. We had an emotional

bond.”

When they worked together, Tico was his part-

ner, going with him everywhere. “If I went inside

a building, he went inside a building,” Cory said.

“Literally, he followed me around. That was his

job. He protected me.”

Tico has top notch skills

Besides doing basic police work, sometimes

handlers held demonstrations to show people

how well trained Tico and other military working

dogs were. “We want people to know what these

dogs are capable of,” Cory said. “Tico’s really

fast. He can jump high. We’d do demonstrations

where we’d roll down the back window of our

Chevy 1500 truck and put a bad guy in the back

with a bite top on. I’d tell Tico to get him. He’d

jump through the window and pull him out.”

Every 30 days Tico completed odor training

so he could stay certified as a dog who could

sniff out narcotics. “We tested the dogs to see if

they could find what they were trained to find,”

Cory said. “Tico was always 100 percent.”

He wore a collar that said, “Don’t touch. I

bite,” in both English and Japanese, because

Japanese people wanted to pet him. They didn’t

understand the danger of petting a dog who had

been trained to be aggressive. Tico still wears

that collar.

Cory adopts Tico

Eventually, Cory moved on to another assign-

ment, and Tico was paired with his 12th handler.

Cory and his new military working dog, Rreese

(the double “r” means he was a puppy program

dog), were about to be deployed to Southwest

Asia in 2014, when Cory’s friends at Kadena told

him that Tico was being retired for medical rea-

sons.

Tico had developed a urinary tract infection

and enteritis, an inflammation of the small in-

testines. His condition required surgery, and

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Tico must take two medications for the rest of his

life.

Cory filled out the paperwork necessary to

adopt Tico, but he couldn’t pick him up because

he was headed for a six-month stint in Southwest

Asia. Transporting a dog from Japan to the States

would have cost about $1,500, which was hard

for Cory to afford. A staff sergeant and good

friend of Cory’s was going from Japan to Las

Vegas, Nevada, for a vacation. He offered to take

Tico on the plane with him. “It’s only like $300

for a plane ticket,” Cory said.

“He got to ride up in the cabin,” explained

Cory’s mom, Beverly, who works for the city of

Farmington as an administrative aide at the Animas

Power Plant. “We have a picture of Tico taking up

two seats and sprawled out with his head on a pil-

low.”

Tico big but friendly

Cory’s parents hired a pet moving service to

bring Tico from Las Vegas to Albuquerque, where

Brian lives and works for Honeywell. Brian kept him

for two weeks until Joe and Bev could get a kennel

ready at their Farmington home.

“I’ve always been afraid of dogs, so a dog the

size of Tico was very intimidating to me,” Joe said.

“I was worried about having a big military dog

come stay with us, but Brian called to reassure me.

He said, ‘You’ll be fine, Dad. You’ll love him. He’s

a great dog.’”

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Brian quizzed Cory about what command words

not to use that could set Tico off, but Tico never

became aggressive. Off duty, he’s a lazy, happy

dog. However, he had a way of clamping his mouth

around things that Joe and Bev didn’t always want

him to have.

“I’d say, ‘Let go. Let me have it,’” Joe recalled.

“I’d fight with him, but I couldn’t get it out of his

mouth. Well, come to find out, all we had to do

was say, ‘Out,’ and Tico would have dropped it.

We didn’t know that until Cory got back, and I saw

him do it.”

Adjusting to non-military life

Bev watched Joe interact with Tico during the six

months Cory was out of the country. “He’d get up

during the night to check on Tico,” she recalled.

“He would take him out first thing and feed him.

Everything was like clockwork for Tico. Joe took his

job serious. Nothing was going to happen to Tico

on his watch.”

When Tico got sick and didn’t eat for several

days, they took him to a Farmington vet, who

pored over his thick military medical file and pro-

vided the treatment that helped Tico improve.

At first, Tico didn’t know he was retired. He

paced all the time and was on constant alert. “If I

took him out at night and he’d see something, he’d

go into military mode,” Joe said. “Sometimes it

gave me the creeps because I didn’t know what he

was looking at out there. But the longer we had

him, the more he mellowed.”

Walking Tico a challenge

Walking Tico was a learning experience. “When

we first got him, I was trying to find ways to keep

him entertained,” Joe said. “I thought I’d take him

up around Farmington Lake for a walk. He dragged

me from smell to smell to smell. I found out that

this was not going to work. It was not about walk-

ing. It was about smelling everything.

Once a police helicopter flew near their house,

and Tico became excited and agitated. He paced

around. “You could tell that it must have triggered

something in him,” Joe said.

Even today if someone comes near Joe and Bev,

Tico will place himself between the Farrells and the

visitor. “That’s his instinct, to protect his handler,”

Joe explained.

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When Cory returned from Southwest Asia, he

was stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base, and Tico

went to Albuquerque to stay with Cory and Brian.

There he lives a life of luxury. But that doesn’t in-

cluding eating table scraps. Tico has never eaten

people food. He’s on a special diet of high protein

and low fat dog food, which is kept in a special

container just for him.

Special bond

Though Cory and his new military working dog,

Rreese, have a good relationship, his bond with

Tico is extra special. Cory’s parents honor that

bond, and they loved taking care of Tico while

Cory was deployed.

“We took taking care of him very serious,” Joe

said. “Men and women come home from the mili-

tary, and they serve. Well, the animals do, as well.

Tico spent his entire life serving our country, so we

took it very serious that he needed to be treated

with respect.”

“Tico spent his entire life serving ourcountry, so we took it very seriousthat he needed to be treated with

respect.”— Joe Farrell

Raised on a ranch in Huerfano, New Mexico, and educated as a psychologist, 28-year-

old Jolonzo Goldtooth suppressed his artistic side for many years. He internalized the

false belief that artists could not make a living fo

r themselves and that his family would

look down on him if he pursued his interest in fashion instead of becoming a doctor,

lawyer or engineer.

All of that changed when he started designing clo

thes and established his business, JG

Indie. Indie stands for Independent. Once he began following his heart, the opportuni-

ties snowballed, culminating in an invitation to show his designs at the

PLITZS New York

City Fashion Week on Feb. 19 at Hotel Pennsylvania in midtown Manhattan. H

is mis-

guided fear was wrong; his family is proud of him.


Story by Margaret Cheasebro | Photos by Whitney Howle

Courtesy photos

Fashion designer Jolonzo Goldtooth shows

his collection in New York

From Farmington

to Fashion Week

Takes team with him

He took a team of 15 models, photographers,

accessory creators, designers, marketers, and hair

and makeup artists with him to New York, not

only to assist him, but to help them pursue their

dreams. They had several fund-raising activities

for the trip, the last one a fashion gala at the

Three Rivers Banquet Hall in Farmington, where

Jolonzo showcased some of his designs.

“The concept we put forth on that New York

runway is that Native Americans are still here,”

he said. “We are not stuck in tepees. We are a

very developed culture. We’re in New York

City doing New York City Fashion Week along-

side international, well-noted people.”

Because Jolonzo has always used American

Indians to model his designs, he asked PLITZS

founder Wayne Shields if he could bring his

own models.

Models find success

“He said they would have to audition,”

Jolonzo related. “A lot of them couldn’t make

it to New York because they live on their re-

spective reservations or other places. So I put

it out on Facebook that if they wanted to walk

for the New York City Fashion Week and with

me, JG Indie, to contact me.”

He gave auditioning outlines to the 35

American Indian models who responded. Eight

of them were picked to model for PLITZS New

York City Fashion Week. “I have six female and

two male Native American models who got ac-

cepted by the agency in New York,” he said.

“They walked in that fashion show not only for

me but for notable designers from China,

United Kingdom, France – everywhere. I’m re-

ally excited for them.”

Shows 25 looks

Jolonzo showed 25 designs, or looks, at

fashion week, the most he was allowed. “This is

a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said. “I

wanted to show my versatility, all the things I

can do, because I want to make a living at

this.”

He divided his 25 looks into three sections:

masquerade, bathing suits, and couture includ-

ing dresses and an off-the-shoulder wedding

gown with some three-dimensional protruding

fabric.

“Jolonzo is phenomenal,” said Sherrie

Chenault of Farmington, who owns the market-

ing business, Root for Us. “His spirit shows

through his designs. We have the same view

that you can start from anywhere, come from

anywhere. If you have a dream and you believe

it and pursue it, you will find success.”

Some locals go with him

Sherrie’s daughter, Kyler Brooke Chenault,

models for Jolonzo. Sherrie and Kyler both

went to New York City Fashion Week with him.

Some others who accompanied him were Kino

Benally of Shiprock, who put the music to-

gether for his presentations; Goldie Tom of


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Gallup, who was recruited by the PLITZS

Foundation as part of the make-up team for

the entire event; Stephanie, a native of the

Klamath Tribe from the state of Washington,

who creates shoes for his designs; and April

Ledford of the Lumbe Tribe from Colorado

Springs, who designs accessories for his gar-

ments.

Teams are important to Jolonzo. “It’s been

my experience,” he said, “that even in photo

shoots and creating concepts, it takes an en-

tire village to put a look together. The reason

why someone looks so good in a magazine is

that 15 to 20 people behind the scenes made

them look that good.”

He is up-and-coming

Michael Billie, a Web technition with Ca-

pacity Builders in Farmington, is helping

Jolonzo look good on the Internet by working

with him to build a website. “He is up-and-

coming,” Michael said. “There’s an earthy

quality in his work. It’s contemporary with a

Native American influence.”

Jolonzo credits his family with helping him

find success. He lives with his grandparents on

a ranch in Huerfano, where he’s employed to

help manage 300 head of cattle and some

sheep and goats. His grandmothers and aunts

taught him to sew. His Aunt Elizabeth once

worked as a seamstress for a Durango skiing

and snowboarding company.

“She brought back a lot of material, and

she had several sewing machines around,”

Jolonzo recalled. “If any of us kids were

bored, they’d say, ‘Cut out some of these

patterns.’ They quilted, so I learned how to

quilt first. There was a machine and a needle.

It intrigued me. I’m a very visual learner, and

it was easy for me to pick up.”

Graduated from PVHS

He graduated from Piedra Vista High

School in 2005 and wanted to go to college,

though none of his relatives had a college de-

gree. He chose the University of New Mexico


because it offered him enough scholarships to be

affordable. Before starting his undergraduate

work, he was accepted into the American Indian

Summer Bridge Program at UNM that built a cur-

ricular bridge between high school and college.

“That was my first step to leaving Farmington,”

he said. “I’d been born and raised here in north-

west New Mexico. I’m not an experienced trav-

eler, so Albuquerque was a cultural shock for

me.”

Majored in psychology

He majored in psychology, minored in Ameri-

can Indian studies and joined Beta Sigma Epsilon,

an American Indian fraternity. He became direc-

tor of the Student Lobby Committee.

“I convened the students, and we came up

with issues we wanted to put up at the state Leg-

islature,” he said. “I went there and lobbied for

such things as continuing the lottery scholarship

and requesting funding to help the university be

more energy efficient.”

While at UNM, he began modeling for the Na-

tive Model Studio and met many artists in the

local fashion industry. “I surrounded myself with

artistic people at the university,” he said. “I’d al-

ways had an artistic side to myself, but I sup-

pressed it because I had this upbringing that said

I needed to put food on the table, so how am I

going to survive as an artist?”

After he graduated from UNM, he went to Fort

Lewis College in Durango to do an internship in

psychology. That would have led to studying for

his master’s degree, but he couldn’t find grants

or scholarships.

Decided to sew

“After my internship in 2012, I went home

broke and pretty much bored,” Jolonzo recalled.

“I decided ‘I know how to sew, so why don’t I

put something together?’”

He wasn’t used to being idle. He had worked

ever since he was 13, doing such things as ranch-

ing, working at Navajo Agricultural Products In-

dustry, in a restaurant, as a fashion show

coordinator, and for the Navajo Tribe as a youth

representative. He even worked for Native Max,

an online magazine based in Denver, helping to

create photo shoot concepts.

His mother had several sewing machines, and

his sister had some fabric she was going to throw

away, so Jolonzo used it to make an obi belt, a

type of Japanese belt used for traditional

dresses. He made it in the Harajuku style, a street

fashion in Tokyo.

Intrigued with Asian culture

“I was intrigued with the Asian culture,” he said. “Maybe it’s

something psychological, because there’s a strong connection be-

tween indigenous people of North America and Asia. Many of us

look Asian. The people attracted me to the culture.”

Nature also gives him design ideas. He loves to run and often

sees salt willow as he jogs. That inspired him to design a dress with

salt willow branches on the front.

While he created several garments that summer, a friend from

UNM called to say he was looking for a designer to attend the

Navajo Arts and Crafts Enterprise fashion show during the Navajo

Nation Fair in Window Rock in August 2012. Jolonzo only had eight

looks, but he agreed to go.

Fair intimidated him

The fair intimidated him. “I’m Navajo from the Eastern Agency,

which is here in Farmington,” he said. We’re assimilated into the

modern culture. It’s very different than the central or western

Navajo Nation. They’re more traditional. A lot of designers there

were showing contemporary and traditional Navajo regalia. Here

I was with my interpretation of Harajuku, so I was very different

than everybody else.”

It was his first fashion show, and his obi design proved popu-

lar. Soon after that, he returned to Albuquerque, where he


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hoped to establish himself and get

his master’s degree in psychology.

There, he reestablished contact with

native artist friends, including an ac-

cessories designer who asked if he

wanted to make garments for the ac-

cessories she planned to show at the

Santa Fe Fashion Week that Novem-

ber. He said yes and started design-

ing in earnest.

Meets PVHS friend

at fashion week

During that fashion week, he con-

nected with an old friend, Sarah

Blueeyes. They had attended Piedra

Vista High School together. Sarah

graduated from Kent State University

and was working in the fashion in-

dustry in New York. She interned

with a designer who made a lot of

dresses for celebrities, including a

gown for First Lady Michelle Obama.

She also helped a company put together fash-

ion design catalogs. When she saw ads about

the 2012 Santa Fe Fashion Week, she decided

to go.

“I saw Jolonzo’s collection coming out, and

it caught my interest because I could see the

Native American mixed with the modern,” she

said. “He had Asian effects mixed with it, the

Harajuku. Then I saw him coming out, and I

thought, ‘Oh, wow, that’s Jolonzo!’ I had no

idea he was interested in fashion. He had put

together collages and collections with a story

to it. That’s what I liked. He’s very outgoing,

motivated and creative. Most designers don’t

know who they are, but he knows exactly what

he wants.”

They’ve been in contact with each other

ever since. Sarah went with him to New York

Fashion Week to offer her technical and mar-

keting expertise.

Grandma offers fabric

His family supports his dream. “My grand-

mother is always digging through her surplus of

fabric,” he said. “She will walk into my room

and say, ‘You want this?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah! I’ll

take it.’ So my inventory of fabric is growing.”

In the spring of 2013, Jolonzo had a large

photo shoot in Albuquerque. Later, he was

hired as fashion coordinator for a 2014 festi-

val in Farmington. Through that experience, he

came in contact with Billie at Capacity

Builders, a business that caters to native artists

who are trying to build small businesses.

Locals learn about him

“He was surprised that nobody from Farm-

ington knew who I was or what I was doing,

and here I was going to the New York Fashion

Week,” Jolonzo said. Billie called local media

to spread the word about Jolonzo. With his

help, people are learning about this up-and-

coming designer who never went to design

school.

“I want to tell my story,” Jolonzo said. “I

want my journey to be documented. I was

born and raised in Farmington and the reserva-

tion. I take strong pride in that. You have to

pursue your dreams, work your hardest. Stop

thinking superficially and worrying about how

you’ll be judged. You can be who you want to

be.”

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You’ll dig it

region for over 30 years. It’s not difficult to find, but once you dis-

cover it, it’s a difficult place to forget. What makes it so unique is

that it invites the public to come each season and be part of the

research on an actual, working archaeological excavation site.

Participation levels can vary according to your interests but there is

something for anyone aged 10 to 110. If you are not sure what it’s all

about, new this year, you can get a brief introduction with their new

campus drop in tour on Wednesday, Thursday or Fridays from 10 a.m.

- 11 am, beginning in May. No reservations are necessary. Included in

the hour will be a brief introduction to archaeology and Crow

Canyon’s research, a tour of the campus and the pithouse classroom.

This is a wonderful complement to a visit to Mesa Verde as well as a

way to understand and put the archaeology of the Four Corners area

in context on a different level.

If you live in the area or have guests who have limited time, but

want a better sense of what Crow Canyon can offer, the Day Tour is

the perfect “day away” experience. Beginning in the morning with a

hands-on lesson, you will have the opportunity to learn about the

archaeology of this area, about ancestral Pueblo Indian history, and

examine replicas of artifacts. A tour of the curation room and Crow

Canyon’s lab will familiarize you with the methods used to analyze the

artifacts and connect them to the history of the region. After a

delicious lunch, you’ll head out to a working excavation site where

you can observe the archaeologists at work. Depending on where

they are digging, you may see pottery sherds scattered on the ground

or watch as someone discovers a projectile point, or uncovers some

other ancient tool. The Day Tour may also be customized and offers a

great one-day escape as a program for small groups seeking an un-

usual destination experience.

If the young person in your household is considering a career in

archaeology, why not introduce them to it by attending a summer

camp? Middle School Archaeology Camp, High School Archaeology

Camp, and High School Field School are all hands-on, archaeological

You and your kids can be archaeologists at Crow Canyon


Story by Gail Vanik | Photos courtesy Crow Canyon Archaeological Center

A shout of “Look what I found” rings out across the excavation

site. A summer camp participant has found a pottery shard, complete

with the fingerprints of the potter still intact. It’s this journey of

discovery and connection that makes Crow Canyon Archaeological

Center a truly unique place to visit.

Imagine being an archaeologist for a day, or a week, or longer.

That’s the experience that Crow Canyon provides, not only to locals,

but to participants from around the world. Nestled into a valley on

Road K, just west of Cortez, Colorado, this non-profit center has

been conducting archaeological research in the Mesa Verde


excavation programs where the students work

alongside Crow Canyon’s archaeologists to

discover and piece together the mysteries of

the ancient civilization which once inhabited

this area. Unlike many other summer camps and

programs, Crow Canyon puts their young

students in the field for actively participation

by doing actual research. Yes, they’re going to

get dirty – and most love every minute of it.

These programs range in length from one to

three weeks and attract students from all over

the United States, so not only is it a great way

to learn the science of archaeology, but also is

a great way to connect with others. In fact,

participants often cite that feeling of

“connecting” as one of the reasons they have

enjoyed the camps. Connecting with other

students who have similar interests. Connecting

with working archaeologists. Connecting with

someone from the past. Excavating and

touching the thumb print of the potter in a

shard that no one else may have touched for

centuries but was once a part of daily life.

If you have a thirst for exploration, Crow

Canyon’s adult programs also expand

opportunities for archaeology as a way to

touch and connect with the past. At the current

excavation sites, the Archaeology Lab Program

and Archaeology Research Program offer ways

to work either in the field excavating or in the

lab cleaning and analyzing the artifacts of the

area. Although work was completed this past

year on the Dillard Site, a brand new site will

be opened this summer and offers participants

a chance to be one of the first to excavate at

that location.

What might you find? Beads, pottery shards,

turquoise, and projectile points have all been

found. When asked about the handling of these

artifacts, Susan Ryan, Crow Canyon’s Director

of Archaeology said, “When they get to the

excavation site, they work alongside our

archaeologists, so they have all the guidance

they need to feel comfortable with what

they’re doing.” So have no fear; under the

expert guidance of the professional

archaeologists, you cannot damage anything.

Even if you’re not aspiring to be the next

Indiana Jones, the thrill of discovery is amazing

and can be life changing for anyone involved in

these programs. Some participants have come

simply to be part of a single program and now

return each season until an excavation at a

particular site is completed.

Teachers looking for a way to expand their

knowledge and find interesting experiences to

bring back to their students also enjoy Crow

Canyon’s hospitality during the summer months.

With funding from the National Endowment for

the Humanities, Crow Canyon offers summer

programs for teachers of kindergarten through

12th grade classes. This summer, a three-week

seminar includes visits to Mesa Verde, Santa Fe

and beyond, as a way to help teachers learn

from the questions they bring to the program,

then develop a new curriculum and take those

answers back to their classrooms.

Finally, if the thought of another boring

summer vacation this year doesn’t excite you,

then look into Crow Canyon’s Cultural

Explorations. These small group trips explore

not only in the region, but also globally.

Photos on page 30. Top photo, this pottery shard was found by a participant in Crow Canyon's Archaeology Research Program. Bottom photo, participants in a program at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez,Colo., practice the ancestral Pueblo method of starting a fire.

Photos on page 31. Top photo, a projectile point found in a Crow Canyon Archaeological Center excavation. Photo at left, at the Pithouse Learning Center, Crow Canyon educator Paul Ermigiotti teaches students skills thatwere essential to ancestral Pueblo people.

Students from Shiprock High School in New Mexicolearn how to coax a spark into a flame at the PithouseLearning Center at Crow Canyon.

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Led by noted scholars and researchers, these are

first class tours centered around a wide variety of

archaeological topics which change each year. The

groups truly are small, usually 20 or less, and

provide an opportunity for an intimate experience

with others who are engaged, well versed in the

subject, or just have a thirst for knowledge

revolving around a particular topic. This year’s

trips include an exploration focused on the advent

of agriculture of the Southwest and the changes it

brought, another on archaeoastronomy in the Four

Corners, and several which study American Indian

art, culture and lifestyles of the region. Crow

Canyon’s long established relationships with land

management agencies across the area often allow

them to gain access to places which would not be

accessible or available to the general public and

that makes these tours special as well.

Melinda Elkin, a Cultural Explorations

participant from Seattle said, “An archaeology trip

with Crow Canyon is the best way to learn about

SW archaeology and have a good vacation! The

scholars are excellent, the accommodations are su-

perb, the pace is comfortable, and the leaders are

personable, flexible and efficient. There is always

a diverse offering of trips–something for everyone

with an interest in SW archaeology. The clientele is

informed and always very interested in learning

which makes for a stimulating experience.”

On a global level, Mexico, Crete, and

Guatemala are also on the itinerary for this year.

In the past trips have gone to far away places such

as Greece, Ireland, Egypt and Burma and offer a

chance to learn something new and explore

another region. That’s the beauty of these travel

adventures. Although archaeology can be exciting

anywhere, it’s often the chance to be immersed in

the culture and study in-depth in a particular

country in a one-on-one learning situation that

keeps members returning over the years.

No matter whether you dig the multitude of

archaeological experiences available right here in

the Four Corners, or seek to find them farther

afield around the world, Crow Canyon has a way

to connect with an adventure for you. For your

own chance to get down and dig in the dirt this

summer, or explore a new country or culture,

contact the center by calling 1.800.422-8975 or

visit their website at www.crowcanyon.org.

To retired attorney Damon Weems, life is

about connections. From the time he was a

boy, his connections with people, the river and

bluegrass music have helped him find success

and happiness. “We’re all connected in one

way or another,” he said.

Weems had a successful law practice in Farm-

ington for many years before he retired in

2007. His sons, Dathan and Derek, who are

lawyers in Albuquerque, also practice in a

Farmington branch office.

“They continue my practice of law with my

former legal assistant,” Weems said. “They

share an office with Gary Risley, across from

my old law office.”

Gained community respect

Weems has gained the community’s respect.

“He’s a good lawyer, and he’s honest,” said

former city of Farmington Mayor Bob Culpep-

per.

When Weems started practicing law here in

1974, he knew he wanted to be a trial attor-

ney, but he didn’t know what kind of cases to

handle.

“Your specialty chooses you,” he said.

“Over time I began to handle cases with peo-

ple who were badly injured. I felt it was my

mission that people who were badly injured

would get a fair shake in life. I used to work

for insurance companies that hired me to try

cases for them. When I won the case, it didn’t

feel good. Winning a case for somebody who

was really hurt and needed a new chance on

life – that really felt good.”

Proud of his sons

When his sons were little, over dinner he

often talked about his cases. They caught his

passion and followed in his footsteps. “I knew

they would take care of people who were

badly hurt, so I felt like I could retire,” he said.

“I’m so proud of what they do.”

David Pierce, who chaired the Citizens Bank

Board of Directors before he retired, has great

respect for Weems. “He’s a very unselfish fel-

low, and that really stands out these days,”

Pierce said.

Weems was 10 years old when his family

moved here. Born in Memphis, Tenn., to a cot-

ton farmer and his wife, he went to school in

Letanto, Ark. When he was in fourth grade, his

dad decided to stop being a cotton farmer

and headed west with his family.

Arrives during oil boom

“He had no idea where we were going,”

Weems recalled. “We were staying in Denver

during a rain storm so bad you couldn’t move

your car. The fellow at the motel said if he was

younger he would go to Farmington because

there was an oil boom going on. It was 1956.

So that’s what my dad did.”

Weems, his parents and their cocker spaniel,

Tippy, drove from Denver to Aztec, where they

settled into a house near the Animas River.

“I come from Arkansas where the rivers

looked like lakes and moved slowly,” he said.

“I went down to the Animas River and saw it

running fast. Tippy and I hung out at the river a

lot.”

The family soon moved to Farmington, and

Weems began fifth grade at Sacred Heart

Catholic School. When he was 10-and-a-half,

his younger brother, Tom, joined the family.


Story by Margaret Cheasebro | Photos by Josh Bishop

ConnectivityDamon Weems’ many interests have brought hima loving family, friends and community respect


Works in dad’s scrap metal yard

His dad owned a scrap metal yard in Farm-

ington, and from the time he was 12 until he

went to college, Weems worked for his dad.

“I busted batteries and separated the cop-

per from the brass,” he said. “I weighed the

metal that people brought in and prepared

their check for Dad to sign. I watched the of-

fice and did whatever Dad needed me to do.”

Part of his dad’s scrap metal yard went

down to the Animas River behind McDonald’s

on Tucker Street. “I tried to work down there

in that part of the junkyard so I could be near

the river,” he recalled.

Floats down river

When he and his friends were in high school

and wanted to run the river, they’d go down

to Western Tire and Appliance owned by John

Dean Sr., whom they called Big Daddy Dean

because the big man statue once stood on top

of that store before the building was torn

down.

“Big Daddy Dean would give us 10x20

truck tire tubes and over-inflate them so

they’d float well on the river, and he never

charged us a dime for them,” Weems said.

He graduated from Farmington High School

in 1964 and attended the University of New

Mexico, majoring in economics. In 1965, the

first summer he came home from college, he

needed a job, and the late Marvin Baggett

hired him to work in his law office.

Lawyer mentors him

“He taught me so much, trained me and en-

couraged me to be a lawyer,” Weems said. “He

taught me how to do legal research. He would

tell me to go to a law book and look on a

particular page in the middle of the page, and

there would be the quote he needed to put in

his brief for the case he was handling right

then.”

Weems’ car broke down when it was time to

return to UNM the fall of his sophomore year,

so Baggett loaned him his brand new convert-

ible. He kept it for a month until he could

make other transportation arrangements. While

he attended UNM, some Farmington attorneys,

including Baggett, hired him to do legal re-

search because he had easy access to the UNM

law school library.

Joins National Guard

When he graduated with a BA in economics

in 1968, he joined the New Mexico Air Na-

tional Guard. “They were advertising on the

radio that they needed pilots,” Weems re-

called. “As soon as I heard the ad, I joined. I

had an interest in flying. My father had been a

pilot all his adult life. My uncle was a pilot with

the Arizona National Guard, called the Cop-

perheads, and was inducted into the Arizona

Air Museum Hall of Fame. I was inspired by him

and wanted to pattern my career after him.”

After he completed Air Force Basic Training,

in 1969 he married Jann. “We got married as

soon as I was commissioned an officer in the

Air Force, because then I could begin to sup-

port her,” he said.

He went off to pilot training in Laredo,

Texas, then returned to Albuquerque in 1971,

where he began attending law school at UNM.

Friend provides law office

When he graduated in 1974, he returned to

Farmington to practice law. Bob Williams, the

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father of a friend of his, made sure he had some-

place to practice.

“He said, ‘I’m going to give you an office, and

you pay $85 a month rent, but if you can’t afford

it you don’t have to pay it,’” Weems recalled. He

never missed a month paying his rent.

Late District Judge Byron Caton looked out for

him. “He made sure I had a contract with the New

Mexico Public Defenders so I wouldn’t starve,”

Weems said.

Other local attorneys helped too. “Every after-

noon I had questions about how to handle a case,”

Weems said. “And every afternoon I had five attor-

neys who were willing to meet with me and tell me

how I should practice law and handle my case. It was

the best mentorship a young man could have.”

Plans subdivision

About the time he retired, the family who

owned a tract of land next to his office wanted to

sell it to Weems. He bought it without any idea

what to do with it.

“I asked city planners what I should do with the

land,” he said. “They told me, and I did exactly

what they said.” They wanted him to create a sub-

division similar to the Suntuoso Subdivision above

Civitan Golf Course. It’s poised on a hilltop over-

looking a valley, and the hillside remains undevel-

oped as open space.

So on his gated community subdivision between

Hutton and Cherry Hills, Weems planned for 35

residential lots on a hilltop overlooking a valley.

The hillside below the houses is open space. So

far, about half of the lots have been developed.

When he asked Jann what to call the subdivision,

she suggested Rabbitbrush because the hillside is

covered with it.

Realtor Valerie Usselman takes care of the Rab-

bitbrush Ridge Planned Unit Development for him.

One of the many connections in his life, she’s the

daughter of Bob Williams, who rented him an of-

fice when he graduated from law school.

Passionate about the river

Weems never forgot another connection, his

passion for the river. He’s been active for many

years as a board member on the River Reach

Foundation.

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“A lot of my job has been to identify parcels

of land along the river where we could acquire

easements or buy land to extend the trail system,”

he said. “We want to extend the trails along the

river all through town. We’d like to have the trail

follow the river all the way to Aztec and maybe all

the way to Kirtland someday. Every time I’m down

at the river, I see people riding their bikes, walk-

ing with their kids or grandkids along the river

trail, wading or swimming in the river. There’s

something magical about people being near

water. They’ll stop and talk to total strangers if

they’re walking on that river trail, and they get to

know each other that way.”

Loves bluegrass music

Another connection in his life is bluegrass

music. Bob Williams’ younger brother, Bert

Williams, got him started playing the banjo when

he was in junior high. He continues to play the

banjo and guitar and has loved bluegrass music

ever since. He’s been a quiet encourager of area

bluegrass musicians, among them Tom Miller and

Bob Ashley, two of the four musicians in

Chokecherry Jam, a successful local bluegrass

band.

“Damon got me going to weekly bluegrass

jams,” said Ashley. “That attracted me to the

whole bluegrass network.”

Weems also encouraged Miller to attend

weekly jams. “That’s where my playing really took

off,” Miller said.

Weems’ sons love bluegrass music too. They

play it when they’re not too busy practicing law

and raising families. Dathan plays the guitar, and

Derek strums the mandolin.

“We play when the family’s up at our cabin at

Trout Lake between Rico and Telluride at the top

of Lizard Head Pass,” Weems said.

He also enjoys skiing with his family, including

his grandsons, ages 6 and 4.

Teaches guitar at church

Weems taught the youth at St. John’s Episcopal

Church how to play the guitar, and sometimes

they present a guitar program at the church. In

past years, he played hymns on the guitar during

Mass. He has served on the vestry, and still serves

on the foundation that handles the church’s fi-

nancial investments.

“I can’t imagine going through life without a

church family,” he said. It’s another of his many

connections.

He makes time for his friends, who also keep

him connected.

“When my father took ill, he had dementia,

and because of that we had a falling out –strictly

due to the disease,” Pierce said. “Damon was so

supportive of both of us and concerned for us.

He’s a very compassionate guy.”

When Edward Kotyk began working at the city of Aztec in 1999, the city didn’t have a website.

He helped to create one. Today, it’s a resource for tourists from all over the world and for residents who

want to explore arches, find archeological and recreation sites, and discover other outdoor activities

available in and near the Four Corners area.

“I’ve tried to make the Aztec tourism website very comprehensive so it’s a one-stop shop for any

visitors or local people who want to know more,” Kotyk said. “They don’t have to spend so much time

surfing because they can get all the information at one location.”

Documenting the past for future generations

Photo by Whitney Howle

Story by Margaret Cheasebro

Edward Kotyk creates comprehensive records of area Arches, ruins

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Archeology background

Kotyk has an archeology background, and for

13 years he worked full time as an archeologist

before becoming a computer technician for the

city of Aztec. He learned about the job from a

friend who worked at the city while he was earn-

ing his associate degree in computer technology

from San Juan College in 1998.

“She was the city’s IT director, and she was

tasked with getting the city a website,” he said.

“She didn’t know anything about designing a

website. I always learn hands on. I get software.

I’m self-taught. I experimented and played, and I

helped set up and create the city’s first website.

It was an ugly thing, but over time, my skills got

better in Web page design.”

Now he works in the projects management de-

partment. Part of his job involves developing

long and short range plans, gathering and sharing

data with other city departments, overseeing the

use of the GIS (Geographic Information System),

and developing and maintaining the city’s three

websites, www.actecnm.com, which provides

tourism information; www.actecnm.gov, which fo-

cuses on government related knowledge about

the city; and www.azteclibrary.org, the Aztec

Public Library’s site.

Edward is amazing

“Edward is just amazing. He is so good at what

he does,” said Wilann Thomas, tourism and mar-

keting supervisor for the city of Aztec. “He keeps

the websites going steadily. The number of visi-

tors to the sites continues to increase.”

Kotyk and his wife, Neykar, spend many week-

ends and vacations exploring interesting sites in

the Four Corners area. He takes photos, gets the

GIS coordinates, includes information on the

tourism website about how to get there, and

provides links to other sites, such as the Bureau

of Land Management, National Park Service and

the Natural Arch and Bridge Society, which offer

even more information.

When he first began exploring what the area

had to offer, he visited sites within a 50-mile ra-

dius of Aztec. He added information about them

to the website, including how many miles each

place is from Aztec. The website even includes

suggested day trip itineraries. Later he expanded

the areas he visited to a 150-mile radius of

Aztec. That information is on the website too.

Warehouse of knowledge

“If somebody gets to the website, they might

say, ‘Wow! These people have a lot of informa-

tion,’” he said. “We could be the warehouse of

knowledge for what there is to do in the Four

Corners area.”

And people do visit the site. Kotyk met one

of those visitors, a hiker, when he explored the

Bisti Wilderness Area. He told him about the

tourist information on the city’s website.

“He periodically checks it,” Edward said. “The

last time I saw him, he told me, ‘That’s a really

cool website. I’m going to share it with my

friends.’”

Kotyk frequently updates the website’s photos

and information. “I’ve found things in 2014 that I

didn’t see in 2013,” he said. “The topography

and terrain are always changing. The lighting and

time of day, the seasons all make a difference.

Things always change.”


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And he frequently learns new things from people

he meets.

Where are the Cracked Eggs?

“This past summer I did a lot of trips to the

Bisti,” he said. “There’s just not enough information

out there about the Bisti in terms of hot spots. You

get on the Web, and someone will say, ‘I saw this

or that, I saw the Cracked Eggs.’ For years I went

out there and didn’t know the Cracked Eggs were

there. I bumped into someone a few years back

when my wife and I were wandering around the

Bisti, and he said, ‘Are you looking for the cracked

eggs?’ I’m thinking dinosaur eggs or something. It

piqued my interest. He was a foreigner. He’d come

all this way to look for something that I didn’t

know anything about.”

So Kotyk researched the Cracked Eggs, also

called the Alien Hatchery. One site gave the GPS

coordinates, so he was able to find it at a place

deeper in the Bisti than he’d ever gone. The eye

catching shapes are made of sandstone and eroding

bentonite clay.

“The clay silty stuff around the sandstone

eroded away and left almost a pedestal,” he ex-

plained. “A few of them look like eggs that have

been cracked open.”

Names unidentified sites

As he continued to explore the Bisti, he found

formations that had never been documented by

anyone, so he named them and included GIS in-

formation on the Aztec website for how to find

them. He calls two of them the Seal and the Os-

trich. A well-known formation, the Bisti Arch, he

likes to call Dragon’s Head because the arch

looks to him like a dragon’s eye surrounded by

the eyebrow and mouth.

Another hiker in the Bisti told him about Ly-

brook Badlands, an area Kotyk had heard of but

never explored. “He said the area would make a

good photographic opportunity,” said Kotyk.

“That made me want to visit it.”

Wife encourages his interests

His wife encourages his photography hobby.

One year she bought him a fancier digital cam-

era. It’s a single-lens reflex that lets him change

Goblin Valley - Utah

Calf Creek Falls - Utah

Francis Canyon Pueblito - New Mexico

Bisti Wilderness - New Mexico

Lybrook Badlands - New Mexico

La Plata Canyon - Colorado

Bisti Wilderness - New Mexico

Ditch Canyon - Octopus Arch

Bryce Canyon - Utah

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the lenses. “She said I needed a manly cam-

era, something bigger and better,” he said.

Now he has a telephoto and a regular lens

and hopes to buy a macro lens for close-up

shots. More recently, his wife bought him a

backpack to hold all his camera equipment.

So Kotyk went prepared when he explored

the Lybrook Badlands.

“The Bisti has a lot of small petite

hoodoos with caps on them,” he said, “but in

Lybrook these things are huge. One hoodoo

is 35 feet tall and about 10-12 feet in diame-

ter.”

Huge hoodoos

One area of the Lybrook Badlands had

spectacular formations and he couldn’t find

any pictures of them on the Internet, so he

called the area Hoodooville. “There are

maybe 30 huge monolithic hoodoos in that

location,” he said. “Many of them are 15 to

20 feet tall. They’re massive. It’s a different

kind of erosion process.” Pointing to a pic-

ture on the website, he said, “This one I call

the Globe or the Orb. It’s a perfectly round

sandstone sitting on a formation that looks

like a hand holding it.”

He also hopes to explore the Angel Peak

area. “It’s supposed to have interesting for-

mations and dinosaur bones,” he said.

He’s found dinosaur bones in the Bisti and

Ah-shi-sle-pah Wilderness areas. Most are

fragments. When he does find bones, he takes

photos of them and includes a tape measure

to document the size. But he doesn’t provide

location information.

“I don’t want anybody taking them,” he

said. “What you see you leave there. You only

take photographs.”

Documents arches

He’s also been out to Largo Canyon, where

there are many natural arches as well as some

Dinetah pueblitos, which were refugee sites in

northwest New Mexico built by Navajo and

Pueblo people to protect themselves from

Utes and Comanches in the 1600-1700s.

Building on the work of other explorers

who have found arches in 26 nearby canyons,

Kotyk has documented a total of 304 arches

on the Aztec tourism website. The largest

number, 52, were found in Pump Canyon,

while 40 were located in Caballo Canyon and

23 in Slane Canyon. The Cox Canyon Arch,

about 35 feet tall with a 42-foot span, is fea-

tured on top of the tourism website along

with the message, “Welcome to Aztec.”

GPS coordinates for how to find each arch

and aerial view maps are included on the

website along with other facts. At the Aztec

Visitors Center people can get maps that


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show where the arches are located in each

canyon. Maps of the Bisti Wilderness are also

available.

People won’t get lost

“We’re trying to make the information as

comprehensive as possible so people won’t

go out there and get lost or spend the entire

day and not find the arch,” Kotyk said.

Though he’s found tiny arches all over the

place, he won’t put them on the website un-

less he can crawl through them.

“It’s the big ones or the ones that are re-

ally unique to look at that are the ones you

want people to see,” he said. “We’re looking

for the wow factor because of the size, the

way they’re shaped, or the way they look.”

Among those are the Crab, Burro,

Rooftop, Snake Head, Bridge of Wonder,

Medusa Head, and Octopus arches, all named

for what they resemble.

Formal arch tours

Community Development Director Bill

Homka, who heads up the city’s tourism de-

partment, wants to develop formal arch tours.

“I hope to have the tours on line this sum-

mer,” Homka said. “We’re coordinating with

Ed and his knowledge of the arches and my

business acumen so it will run as a business.

Ed has taken his free time to find where these

arches are. He’ll know where the best ones

are. He’ll help us put together the actual nar-

ration, what the guides will say. We want to

maximize the fact that the arches are here.”

The tours, he said, could take four or five

hours, and the hope is that tourists will stay

an extra day in Aztec to enjoy other attrac-

tions such as the Aztec Ruins National Monu-

ment and fishing, hiking, and shopping.

Once the tours are a viable operation,

Homka would like a private business to step in

and take over the arch tours from the city.

“We don’t want to be the ones giving the

tours forever,” he said. “I think it’s a two or

three year process to see if it’s going to

work.”

Something for everyone

Wilann has helped to develop pages on the

tourism website that promote products such

as local historian Marilu Waybourn’s book on

abandoned communities and cemeteries.

“Maybe the wife is interested in abandoned

communities while her husband wants to fly

fish,” Kotyk said. “We want a website that is

very diverse and that offers all these things.

We need to provide visitors with the opportu-

nity to have a good time, to enjoy their visit

and come back again. If we don’t provide

that, people are just going to drive on

through.”

For Kotyk, the website is a labor of love.

“There’s still a lot more exploring for me to

do,” he said. “I like traveling, photography

and promoting Aztec.”

“We need to provide visitors with the opportunity to have a good time, to enjoy their visit

and come back again.”— Edward Kotyk

SAN JUAN COLLEGE

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Students are following their dreams at San Juan College. With a �re�ghter dad, Tyler White knew

he wanted to be a part of the “family business.” He chose the Fire Science program at San Juan College and has landed his dream job with the Farmington Fire Department.

Your Dream Tyler White’s father was a Hot Shot, a speci�cally trained �re �ghter to respond to wildland �res in remote regions. White also has numerous cousins who are �re�ghters and he always had a dream to continue that legacy.

“Growing up in a family full of �re �ghters made it easy for me to decide what career I wanted for myself. I knew I wanted to be a �re�ghter from a very young age,” White said. “San Juan College helped me get my foot in the door and helped me land my dream job.”

Your FutureWhite is now a �re�ghter with the Farmington Fire Department at Station 4, where he gets the chance to work with one of his SJC instructors, Captain Mark Milne.

“In classes, Tyler de�nitely made a positive introduction. He worked hard, he was motivated and he was one of the leaders of the class,” Milne said.

“We have a lot of San Juan College graduates at Farmington Fire Department because they come into this job with a lot of knowledge and they are well-rounded especially where problem solving is concerned. �at’s a good foundation to build on,” Engineer Mark Franklin, who also works at Station 4 said.

Our Focus �e Associate of Applied Science degree in Fire Science is designed to give students the essential educa-tion and hands-on training needed for a career in �re�ghting. Students will receive training in the basic concepts of �re�ghting and will participate in actual hands-on evolutions that will give them real experi-ence in the �re�ghting career �eld. Courses are taught by current and former �re�ghters ready to pass on their knowledge. In addition, courses are o�ered in Emergency Medical Services.

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San Juan College –

Fired up for a great career

Ken Triplett has had many goals in his life.

Being an Internet sensation has never been one

of them.

The 84-year-old made a fire pit for his

granddaughter, Jennifer Allison, for Christmas

last year. Triplett had made a pit for his daugh-

ter – and Jennifer’s mother – Lori Allison, after

Lori had seen a photo of one online. The fire

pit was a hit with Triplett’s family, and Jennifer

decided her own fire pit would make the per-

fect Christmas gift.

Jennifer had seen photos of similar fire pits

that looked like the Death Star, but she was

convinced her grandfather could make the best

one. “I told him he could totally make it and it

would be so cool,” Jennifer said in a phone in-

terview from her home in Oregon. “I figured

he’d probably make (me) one, but he was very

sneaky about it.” Jennifer’s boyfriend is a huge

Star Wars fan, and “It’s (Star Wars) been a big

part of my life,” she explained.

When her grandparents arrived at a family

holiday gathering, the Death Star fire pit was in

Triplett’s truck. Delighted with the Star Wars

design, Jennifer took photos of it and up-

loaded them on Reddit, a popular site where

“redditors” vote on which stories and discus-

sions are important, the website states. The

hottest stories rise to the top. “People were

sharing the photo (of the Death Star fire pit),


Story by Dorothy Nobis | Photos by Josh Bishop

Ken Triplett’s gift to his granddaughter sets the Internet ablaze

Labor of love

goes viral

and I figured it might be somewhat popular,”

Jennifer said.

It wasn’t long, Jennifer said, before more

than 100 people had uploaded the photo.

“We were happy with a hundred,” Jennifer

said. “But we kept on checking it and it had

grown to 1,000 and by the next day, almost

6,000 people had seen it.”

Jennifer shared the

growing interest of her

grandfather’s work with

her grandmother, who

passed it along to her

grandfather. “He has next

to no idea about social

media and its implica-

tions,” she said.

It wasn’t long before

400 people had com-

mented on the fire pit. A

few days later, the site

ThinkGeek posted a

photo of the fire pit. The

Death Star fire pit had

gone viral – meaning

something becomes very popular in a short

amount of time. Requests for information

about Triplett’s fire pits began coming in and

Jennifer opened a “shop” for the pits on the

popular online shopping site, Etsy.

As the whirlwind of popularity and demand

for the fire pits swirls around him, Triplett is

just enjoying the fact that people appreciate

the art he calls a hobby.

A welder by necessity – he worked for a

family owned oil field drilling and production

company in Kansas in 1958 – when the com-

pany’s one welder couldn’t keep up with the

work in the boom days of the industry,

Triplett was asked if he’d learn to weld.

“I’m a welder by default,” he said, sitting

in a comfortable chair in his Farmington

home. “It was a skilled trade and I didn’t

have any skills.”

When oil and gas lost some of its momen-

tum in Kansas in 1968, Triplett and his wife,

Ginger, moved their family to Farmington.

There was a big boom going on here and he

became a contract welder. He went to work

for Mo-Te where he found more than just

work. “I enjoy working for Mo-Te,” he said.

“They’ve used me ever since we moved here.

Even when I leave to do work, they always

ask me to come back.”

“I’ve been there so long, I’m considered

family,” Triplett added,

with more than a touch of

pride.

It is Triplett’s welding

skills – honed and per-

fected over the years –

that help him create fire

pits that are works of art,

although Triplett is quick

to say he’s not an artist.

Ray Beyale provides the

art for the pit designs.

“All he needs is a photo

of an idea and he draws

it,” Triplett said. Beyale

draws the designs on iron

with white soapstone and

Triplett cuts away everything in white.

When Triplett’s daughter Lori and Jennifer’s

mother, wanted a fire pit, there was no ques-

tion as to the design. “Lori loves Disneyland

and Ray drew pictures of Mickey, Minnie,

Pluto and Goofy,” Triplett said, adding that

the designs are created in quarters and



on a round ball. The pits are made from ends of

old propane bottles. Triplett puts two ends of

the discarded bottles together to make a

sphere. Twelve-inch pipes are used for the base

for the pits, giving a six-inch clearance from the

ground.

The designs created by Beyale and finished

by Triplett include a mountain scene, the Denver

Broncos logo along with the famous white horse,

NASCAR teams (one of Triplett’s daughters is a

Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan) and a military design with

two screaming eagles and a soldier, down on

one knee, in prayer.

Beyale can create the design from any photo,

Triplett said, which makes the work enjoyable.

The fire pits come in two sizes. The smaller

one is 30 inches wide and 33 inches tall and

sells for $1,400. The larger one is 37 ½ inches

wide and 41 inches tall and sells for $1,600.

The fire pits have drawn national and interna-

tional interest. Inquiries have come from all over

the U.S. and from Japan, France and “one of

those Spanish-speaking countries,” Triplett said.

He sold a pit to a Canadian; however, the cost

of shipping was high and Triplett is working with

the customer to share the shipping costs.

It’s not the money the fire pits bring in that

Triplett cares about. With his wife, Ginger, han-

dling the bookkeeping and his granddaughter,

Jennifer, taking care of the marketing, Triplett

simply enjoys working with his friend to create

the art. While there are many others creating

similar fire pits, the thought, the time and the

love Triplett puts into his pits makes each of

them special – if only to him.

“I have no idea where this is going to go

from here,” Triplett said. “But I’ll do it as long

as I can.”

At the age of 84, with an idea that went viral

and captured the interest of thousands, Triplett

and his grandson John Moore will head to

Phoenix for a NASCAR race in March or Novem-

ber, with fire pits designed for NASCAR fans. He

plans to load his pickup with the fire pits and,

he hopes, sell them.

“My grandson said NASCAR fans will buy any-

thing,” Triplett said with a laugh. “I guess I’ll

find out.”

About seven years ago, Bruce Bowen bought

an airplane kit. The kit Bowen purchased was

$14,000 and isn’t the kind you’ll find at a

hobby store.

A licensed pilot since 1986, Bowen, who

received his instrument rating in 2006, drove

to Nampa, Idaho, and picked up his kit, which

fit comfortably in the back of his pickup truck.

“I always wanted my own airplane that I

could fly out of my own backyard,” Bowen

said. The Ridge Runner kit he purchased came

with the airframe prepared for folding wings,

seat belt and shoulder harness, hardware, fab-

ric and tapes, wheels and tires. “The engine,

instruments and propeller were extra,” Bowen

said with a laugh.

The kit wasn’t the only thing Bowen brought

home on that trip, however. A black and white

cat made friends with him as he loaded the kit.

After several days on the road, Bowen got to

his home in Bloomfield and lifted the hood of

his truck – only to find the cat resting on the

engine. “I named her ‘Purretta,’ and she al-

lowed me to occupy her garage until I got the

plane finished,” Bowen said with a laugh.

Bowen’s wife was diagnosed with cancer

shortly after, and Bowen became her full time

Seven years of

just plane fun



Bruce Bowen’s Spruce Broose is done and ready to fly


caregiver. The plane sat in his three-car garage

for more than two years, taking a back seat to

his wife’s needs. After she passed away, Bowen

returned to his garage and his airplane, which

helped him heal from the pain of losing his

wife.

The Ridge Runner is similar to a bush air-

plane, Bowen explained, which is often used to

fly to remote areas and requires shorter land-

ing strips than most airplanes. With just two

seats in the plane – one for the pilot and one

for a passenger – the seats are placed tandem

style, in the middle of the cockpit, which gives

the pilot a center view and, Bowen said, makes

it easier to fly.

The plane weighs about 500 pounds and

took Bowen seven years to complete. The kit

came with one fuel tank, but Bowen added

three more, and he customized the protective

paint on the plane, adding an additional three

coats to the three suggested by the manufac-

turer. It was the flaps and ailerons that pro-

vided the most challenge, Bowen said. The

flaps and ailerons are connected to the back-

side of the wings. The flaps hinge back and

down to increase the surface of the wing area.

They also tilt down to increase the curve of the

wing.

“I had to design and figure materials and

how to do everything,” Bowen explained of

the flaps and ailerons. “It took me as long to

build each one of them as it did each wing.”

Bowen spent more than 2,000 hours put-

ting the plane together. With much of the work

now completed, he has moved into a hangar at

the Aztec Airport, which he shares with a

friend. And while the plane is ready to fly, the

pilot – not so much.

The airplane is a tail wheel plane, which has

an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main

wheels forward of the center of gravity and a

small wheel to support the tail. “A tail wheel

airplane is different from other airplanes that

have tricycle wheels,” Bowen explained. “Tricy-

cle wheels naturally go straight, but a tail wheel

plane wants to do anything but go straight.”

Getting used to an airplane with two wheels

in front and one “tail dragger” wheel in the

rear takes time and patience, Bowen said. The

plane can be challenging to control on the

ground while taxing, and during takeoffs and

landings, because the center of gravity wants

the tail to go first, which can turn the airplane

sideways, then backward. That maneuver is

called a “groundloop”and can be dangerous as

well as destructive.

While the plane has been certified for its

airworthiness, Bowen has no idea how the

plane will fly once it’s in the air. “I’m excited

to fly it, but I’m not in a hurry,” he admitted.

“I want to fly it right when I do fly it.”

Gordon Herra is a friend of Bowen’s as well

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as a fan of experimental airplanes. Herra met

Bowen in 1994, when Bowen attended a

church Herra was pastoring.

“I already had my Avid Mark IV experimental

plane,” Herra said, adding it was the cost of

flying commercially that prompted him to look

at other options. “It was costly to fly (commer-

cial) and to rent a plane was $100 an hour.

By buying a plane, even though the initial cost

is pricy, you make it up in maintenance and

hangar fees.”

Herra’s plane is a similar plane to Bowen’s

Ridge Runner. “With a home-built plane, you

can work on it yourself. I have a repair license

from the FAA, which authorizes me to work on

my own plane, so I don’t have mechanic fees.”

If Bowen wanted an experimental plane to

fly out of his backyard, Herra plans to do his

takeoffs and landings from his driveway. “My

driveway is 300 feet long and wide enough,”

he said, adding that an experimental airplane

allows you to take advantage of smaller run-

ways – or, in his case, driveways.

Those who are considering purchasing a

home built/kit airplane should know there are

advantages and disadvantages, Herra said. “You

need enough space and you need an empty

hangar. You’ll have pieces (of the plane) all

over the place, and sometimes, just sticking

with it when you’re not getting it done fast

enough.”

“And it can be tedious work,” Herra added.

“Nothing (on the plane) can be wrong – it all

has to be right, because your life depends on

it. And it always costs more than you think it

will.”

Because Bowen doesn’t know how his air-

plane will handle in the air, he spends much of

his time maneuvering the plane around the air-

port, getting used to how the tail wheel feels.

He has thought about finding a test pilot –

one who has experience with this particular tail

wheeled airplane – to take that first flight. “A

test pilot would know what it’s supposed to

do and feel like, and I don’t,” he said.

Herra said he understands Bowen’s reluc-

tance to put his plane in the air. “I ran up and

down the runway for two-and-a-half to three

hours,” he said.

“Then I got sick and tired of keeping it on

the ground. Once I lifted off the runway,

there’s no staying on the ground anymore. I

love the way it flies.”

“It takes quite a bit of courage to lift off

the first time,” Herra said. “You don’t know if

it’s going to hold together, even though you’ve

gone over it (the plane) 50,000 times.”

In spite of the time he’s spent working on

the airplane, Bowen’s bride of almost two

years, Karen, is supportive of her husband’s

passion for the plane. The couple had been

dating for some time when Bowen suggested

Karen take a look at his experimental airplane.

“He said ‘I think we need to see if you fit’ in


the passenger seat,” Karen said with a laugh.

She did fit and, even though she’s a slightly

built woman, her extra weight will increase the

challenge when Bowen flies it, she added.

As the plane neared completion, the couple

decided to have a plane naming party with

more than 55 of their closest friends. With

some 50 suggested names coming from the

partiers, they voted to name the plane the

“Spruce Broose.”

Bowen’s pride in The Spruce Broose is evi-

dent as he walks around the plane, testing

hoses and checking for imperfections. The

plane has the word “experimental” on one side

window, a requirement by the Federal Aviation

Administration, which also requires a certified

initial inspection of the plane. As the owner

and manufacturer of the plane, in the future,

Bowen will do annual inspections himself. If,

however, he sells the plane or gives it away,

the next owner will have to have an FAA in-

spector conduct the inspection.

Building the Spruce Broose has been a labor

of love for Bowen. He encourages anyone who

has the patience, the time and the determina-

tion to build an airplane subscribe to Kit

Planes magazine, which lists all kits available.

“It’s been lot more education than recreation,”

Bowen said of his project. “But it’s worth it in

the long run.”

“I’m excited to fly it, but I’m not in a hurry.

— Bruce Bowen

Everyone is born with a unique talent, but not

every talent is destined to receive international

acclaim or to be showcased on the world’s stage.

Hers was. Cherise Lukow shares the gift of her

spectacular voice with the world.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine be-

coming an opera singer. I always say opera chose

me,” Lukow said.

Indeed, who could have predicted this

woman’s incredible destiny to sing soprano roles

in operas, with an international career, perform-

ing on the world’s most famous and historic

stages?

Yet that is exactly what is happening for the

28-year-old who, for the past five years, has

been living in France and performing around the

globe.

Cherise’s rapid rise to the top of the opera

world is the stuff of dreams and legends, but

Cherise’s story begins here in the Four Corners.

The daughter of a local school counselor and

homemaker grew up in Kirtland in the 1990’s

with three other siblings. Cherise had a typical,

and happy, childhood. She was the archetype of

an all-American girl – an excellent student and a

talented athlete who exceled in high school

sports including track, soccer and basketball.

Cherise had that special something

She may have been a hometown girl in those

days, but those who knew her remember how

there was something undeniable about Cherise.

“She was just one of those special kids,”

muses former voice coach Virginia Hircoch-Nick-

els. Nickels, choir director at Piedra Vista High

School, remembers Cherise as a mature, deter-

mined student who knew what she wanted and

invested the time and effort to achieve the goals

she set for herself.

Looking for a creative outlet, Cherise began

private voice lessons as a junior. “She would

come to lessons after soccer practice, hair in a

sweaty ponytail and still wearing her shin guards,”

recalls Nickels laughing.

Cherise began developing her voice by learn-

ing soprano art songs and arias. “I would re-

search online and check out books and musical

scores at the library to teach myself new pieces,”

she said.

Her journey as a vocal performance artist had

begun.


Story by Elizabeth Pettyjohn-Broten | Courtesy photos

Unwavering courage, timeless beauty and a phenomenal voicetakes Kirtland native on an amazing journey

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The difference between a musician and a

singer is instrumental, meaning a musician per-

fects their ability to play an instrument;

whereas, a singer’s voice is their instrument.

“To pursue the higher levels of vocal per-

formance arts, you must really like the sound of

your own voice. Most people do not enjoy

hearing even their speaking voices on a record-

ing. A singer hears the truth about their voice

and continues developing, strengthening, and

perfecting it. Succeeding as a vocal artist re-

quires a very solid self-confidence. Even as a

teenager, Cherise had this gift,” Nickels said.

Moved to Paris in 2010

After receiving a Bachelor’s of Music from

University of Texas Austin, Cherise chose to

continue her musical studies at Ecole Normale

de Musique de Paris and moved to France in

2010. Since then, she has trained with some of

the most elite programs across Europe, includ-

ing Austria, Italy, and Spain. Although she ad-

mits to being absolutely terrified to relocate

halfway across the globe, she knew complete

cultural immersion was the only course toward

realizing her professional goals.

As a person of faith, she trusted that each

step of her journey was being guided from

above. Cherise is now fluent in French and con-

tinues diligent study of the Italian and German

languages for performances.

In 2012, Cherise auditioned and won a cov-

eted seat in a summer apprenticeship called

The Stars of Tomorrow at the Santa Fe Opera.

Santa Fe Opera is a formidable presence on

the international opera scene, and the oldest

opera training program in the Unites States. In-

terestingly, while the Santa Fe program accepts

only the top students from around the world,

Cherise is the only New Mexican to have been

selected.

David Holloway, director of the Apprentice-

ship Program at Santa Fe Opera, recalls

Cherise. “Her voice was high, rich, and full of

substance. She also had several special qualities

which make her unique as an artist. She has an

extraordinary stage presence, a very high reper-

toire, and a mature, business-minded approach

to her studies. The possibilities for Cherise are

endless.”

Royal College of Music in London

Balancing a busy schedule of performances,

Cherise also now attends the prestigious Royal

College of Music in London studying for a Mas-

ter’s of Performance. Founded in 1882 by the

Prince of Wales, the Royal College of Music is

one of the world’s most renowned musical con-

servatories, training gifted musicians for interna-

tional careers as performers, conductors and

composers.

Cherise’s flourishing as an artist in Europe is

evident in an impressive accumulation of acco-

lades, awards, and scholarships. Her voice,

praised by critics for its strength and timbre,

has reached an unimaginable level of acclaim on

the opera scene. With a vocal virtuosity ranging

to G above high C, Cherise is considered a

“coloratura soprano,” an elite vocal classifica-

tion placing her in the hallowed company of

opera legends such as Maria Callas. The physi-

ology of the human vocal chords make a col-

oratura soprano’s voice the rarest – most

one-in-a-million – combination of both agility

and power.

Yes, Cherise was born with raw natural tal-

ent.

Unwavering courage

Consider the following facts: She has sung

classical music for only about 10 years. She

learned to read sheet music only in college! Her

first exposure to opera was not in her formida-

ble childhood years of brain development, but

later in adolescence. When asked what factors

she believes were essential to her success, she

says she was blessed with a good ear, and that

living in our high elevation and being an athlete

in her youth increased her lung and vocal ca-

pacities and muscle memory.

Another obvious advantage contributing to

her success is her exceptional beauty. Cherise

has the voice and the face of an angel. One

critic labeled her “the doll incarnate.” “It’s

true, admits David Holloway, “her exotic looks

make her extremely castable.”


However, Cherise’s success is not merely due

to natural talent, physical beauty, or luck, despite

what Hollywood, the pop music industry, and our

culture at large would have us believe. To pursue

the top tiers of professional artistry, extraordi-

nary natural talent is, of course, necessary. How-

ever, it is even more the unwavering courage to

push past fear and personal insecurities. It is the

almost ascetic self-discipline to accept the many

sacrifices required along the way. It is having a

passion so deep that a person is willing to dedi-

cate the hours, days, and years of one’s lifetime

toward achieving artistic perfection. Few are will-

ing to accept these terms, which is why the few

who achieve greatness are so remarkable, so leg-

endary, and so very fascinating to the rest of us.

The description she gives for a typical day in

the life of Cherise Lukow demonstrates the

courage, discipline, and passion of a true artist.

For her, learning a new piece is much as you

might imagine an actor prepares for a role.

Singing a part is playing a character. She does her

homework and researches the historical compo-

nents and significance of the piece. Knowing the

historical context is essential to understanding

anything – in art or in life.

Most pieces have to be translated from the

original; hence her study of language. An artist

must analyze and deconstruct a character to

begin understanding the psyche of a character

and to be able to execute/perform on stage. She

must of course memorize the words of the

piece/script. Her mind is freshest in the morning,

she says, and best able to concentrate.

An artist also must listen and consider sepa-

rately the intentions and desires of both the

composer of the music who has written the li-

bretto and the poet of the operatic piece.

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Lastly, an artist researches how the piece has tra-

ditionally been performed and makes the perilous

decision of when/how/why to take any creative or

artistic liberties. It is a fascinating process.

Dyslexcia

Cherise has another interesting advantage/dis-

advantage – depending upon how you choose to

see the world. She is dyslexic, which requires her

to be very intentional and deliberate when em-

barking upon a new piece.

Turning possible disadvantages/setbacks into

opportunities is yet another thing Cherise does

well. When asked her if she has any stage fright or

performance anxiety, she answers with a consid-

ered response. “I try to harness and transform any

nervous body or nerve issues into positive energy.

By the time it is time to perform, the hard work is

done. The performance is the fun part of sharing

my gift.”

While art imitates life, art is also an escape

from life.

"As a vocal artist, I seek entry into the hearts

of my audience. I wish to penetrate those walls

that encase the human spirit. It is in those pre-

cious moments of performance that we trick the

tumblers of natural law and perform miracles of

knowing.”

While visiting her family in 2011 and again in

2014, Cherise performed at the Christmas Eve

Services at Piñon Hills Community Church. Com-

munity members who saw the performance can

testify that her performances do indeed penetrate

the hearts of her audience.

“Cherise Lukow, along with her family, are part

of the Piñon Hills Community Church family. We

are so proud of her and honored that she shares

her beautiful voice with us when she comes home.

This year she gave a phenomenal performance,“

says Rachel Corley, Creative Arts Director at

Piñon Hills Community Church.

Cherise has also given performances at San Juan

College’s Little Theatre. Despite her international

success and ZIP code, she is still a hometown girl.

We all have a destiny and a purpose. The story

of Cherise’s gift should inspire us all to share our

own gifts, big or small or whatever they may be,

with the world. This is, perhaps, the most lingering

legacy of a true artist.

When Jenny Lambert walks into a classroom

at the San Juan College Adult Basic Education,

or ABE, program, she sees more than just the

faces of the students. She sees anxiety, a lot of

determination and a sense of hope.

Estrella DeYapp is one of those students.

DeYapp didn’t graduate from high school and

decided in March of 2014, that it was time she

got her GED ®. “I wanted to better my life for

me and my children,” DeYapp explained. “It’s

always been a goal of mine (to get a GED ®)

and I decided it was time.”

With two young children at home, Alissa, 7,

and Johnathon, 6, and the owner of Estrella’s

Kitchen, DeYapp took on the challenges of

going back to school. “I love it,” DeYapp said

of ABE. “The teachers are wonderful and

they’re very hands on.”

Most of the students are like DeYapp, Lam-

bert said, with many of them in their early to

mid-20s, and getting into the program requires

more than just showing up for class. While tak-

ing the GED ® program is free, students must

commit themselves to studying to pass the final

exam, which costs about $120, Lambert ex-

plained. The New 2014 GED® Test consists of

four tests – different tests – Language

Arts/Reading, Science, Social Studies, and

Math. The cost to take each test is $30.

But it isn’t just the academics Lambert and

her staff provide. “We treat them like adults,”

she said, “and we care about them. We instill

self-confidence in our students and we’re ad-

vocates for their academic skills and encourage

them to pursue their dream of achieving high

school credentials.”



Jenny Lambert, college adult education classes improve people’s lives

Making adifference

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DeYapp said she didn’t finish high school

because the she felt the teachers weren’t as

hands on and gave little one-on-one time. “I

didn’t get everything I needed in high school,”

DeYapp said. “But here (at ABE), the staff is

very understanding and willing to help.”

“It’s wonderful,” DeYapp said about the

program. “We’re like a little community here

and when someone’s gone, we really miss

them.”

Because of students such as DeYapp, and

because of the hard work, effort and commit-

ment Lambert and her staff give to the students

in the program; the San Juan College Adult

Basic Education Program was honored as the

Outstanding Program of the Year by the New

Mexico Higher Education Department in No-

vember of 2014.

Frances Bannowsky, the state director of the

New Mexico Higher Education Department, said

the San Juan College program was selected for

the honor because of its focus on strengthen-

ing student outcomes and for gaining momen-

tum moving through 2013-2014. The staff im-

proved orientation in Adult Education and Eng-

lish for Speakers of Other Languages, or

ESOL, piloted college prep courses in collabo-

ration with San Juan College, and piloted dis-

tance learning.

“The program is focusing on Professional

Development, especially for teachers, with at-

tention to the teaching shifts made necessary

by new High School Equivalency tests,” Ban-

nowksy said in presenting the award.

Michelle Brandon is the senior director of

the San Juan College Student Success Center

and has high praise for Lambert and her staff.

“In the two years since Jenny began leading

the Adult Education program, wonderful things

have happened, culminating in their recent

statewide recognition as the Outstanding Pro-

gram of the Year,” Brandon said. “Much of the

program’s success reflects her (Lambert’s) inclu-

sive leadership style. Jenny articulates a clear

vision for her program and involves her team in

developing strategies to support that vision.


She trusts the expertise of her team and their

commitment to our students.”

“At the same time,” Brandon continued, “she

has invested wisely in personal and professional

development opportunities for her staff to grow

their skills and build the team’s capacity. As a

result, the team has been able to improve pro-

gram practices, take on new challenges – like

the new College Prep program – and increase

student success.”

Lambert’s path to success at San Juan College

was a long one. A native of Switzerland, Lambert

was targeted by European schools to be a math

and science teacher. Math and science, however,

weren’t Lambert’s career choice. She moved to

the United States as an exchange student and

began her undergraduate studies at the Univer-

sity of New Mexico. She transferred to San

Diego State University to complete her degree

because her husband (now deceased) was in the

Navy. Later on, she received her master’s degree

from a school based out of Pasadena, Calif. “I

started my undergraduate studies at UNM and

transferred to San Diego State University to

complete my degree since my now deceased

husband was in the Navy. Later on, I pursued my

master’s degree and obtained my graduate de-

gree from a school based out of Pasadena, Cali-

fornia.

“Then my husband decided to enter pilot

training and we came here (to Farmington),” she

said with a laugh. “I came here for someone

else’s education, and it turned out to be an

amazing place for me, professionally.”

From the mountainous beauty of the Swiss

Alps to the desert beauty of New Mexico, Lam-

bert said that, now, she can’t imagine living any-

where else – and there is no desire to return to

Switzerland. “I love it here,” she said of Farming-

ton. “I work with an incredible team (at ABE)

and they’ve embraced my crazy ideas. This is my

happy place and the people here believe in

me.”

“We really do amazing things with only five of

us (on staff) and we serve between 650-850

students,” Lambert added. “And all of us, as dif-

ferent as we all are – have the same vision and

we make it work.”

Pausing and reflecting for a few minutes, Lam-

bert said, “I believe if I don’t make a difference

in this world, I’ve missed something. And in this

country, you can make a difference.”

Estrella DeYapp is quick to say Lambert and

her staff are, indeed, making a difference. The

young teen who didn’t finish high school is now

determined to get her high school certification

for her children and herself. “My goal is to get

my diploma and be an inspiration to my kids,”

DeYapp said. “Because I’m going to school,

they’re more into school themselves.”

But it’s not just her children DeYapp hopes

to inspire and to help. Her vision and her goals

are as attainable as those of the instructors who

teach her. “I want to have a food truck and

work with the state and the homeless,” DeYapp

said, “so nobody goes hungry.”

MLCoolest Things

Cool, like beauty, is in the eye and age of

the beholder. Things we thought were cool

as kids, many times are just plain silly now.

Or, we’ve just not waited long enough for

time to come full circle so that they become

cool again. Except for toe socks, they are

never cool or fun. The only theme

running through our selections this time is

that we want to buy them. Better yet, we

want them as a gift!

Themeless Fun

NO, YOU’RE NOT JUST

HOLDING A STICK IN THE AIR

The Air Umbrella

www.amazon.com

If it’s pouring rain and you don’t have a

regular umbrella, your options were once

only to grapple with a stranger who does

own an umbrella or put your coat over

your head and run. Now you have a third

option that keeps your face dry in a more

elegant fashion. The Air Umbrella is es-

sentially a battery-powered fan that wafts

away any pesky raindrops near your

face. There are various sizes and prices

available. You may get some weird looks

from passersby who think you are either

channeling Charlie Chaplin or you have

completely lost your mind.

$65 to $100

1ARE YOUR DOGS PLAYING

POKER WHILE YOU’RE OUT?

The Petcube

www.amazon.com

www. Fab.com

The Petcube is like a baby monitor for

your pets – but better. The device has a

built-in camera, a laser, and a speaker

for engaging your pets. The device live-

streams video of the room it’s in. When

streaming video, if you interact with the

touch screen of your smartphone, the

built-in laser is activated and you can

play with your pets as they follow the

light around. If your pet is getting into

mischief, the app also allows you to talk

to them through the cube and tell them to

cut it out.

$199

2MORE THAN JUST

A PACIFIER

Pacif-i

www. bluemaestro.com

www.thegadgetflow.com

The new Pacif-i looks like a regular paci-

fier, but is actually a smart device for in-

fants and toddlers that measures a

baby's temperature and transmits that

data to a connected app for Android or

iPhone using Bluetooth Low Energy.

In the app, parents can add medication

information such as type, dosage and

when the medication was last given. The

Pacif-i also has a built-in tracker, so we

hope you'll never lose it.

$40

3FORGETFUL FOLKS

REJOICE!

TrackR Bravo

www.thetrackr.com

The new TrackR Bravo helps locate your

missing items with an easy-to-use iOS and

Android app.

The small tracking device attaches to your

keys, purse, computer or even pet. The

small hole at the top of the TrackR Bravo

allows you to insert a key ring or string, but

you can also stick it onto an item using an

included adhesive sticker.

At 3.5mm thin, it's as small as a tasteful

souvenir keychain, and its sturdy alu-

minum exterior helps keep it protected.

TrackRs are available in a variety of colors.

Starts at $29

4


1 2

3

4

SPIES LIKE US

SnapCam

www.engadget.com

The new SnapCam is far smaller and

lighter than previous versions, measuring

1.5 inches square and weighing a little

more than an ounce. With just a swipe

on the body, the camera kicks on, and

with a single tap, captures an 8-

megapixel photo. Tap it twice and it starts

recording 720p HD video at 30 frames

per second, and another tap stops it. A

triple tap starts it live-streaming video

using its built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The SnapCam comes in gunmetal

gray, black or white for about $150.

5YOU SAY TOMATO —

I SAY YES PLEASE!

Rolling Self-Watering Tomato Planter

With Tower

www.plowhearth.com

Now it's easier than ever to grow and

enjoy luscious, homegrown tomatoes.

This lightweight, portable tomato planter

is self-watering with built-in overflow, so

your tomatoes always get the proper

amount of water. Included Tomato Tower

provides sturdy steel support for heavy

vines. Just add potting soil and Plant

Food to the polypropylene tub. Roll the

tub wherever it's convenient or where

plants can get the most sun. Sizes vary.

$19.99 to $59.95

6THOU SHALT

SIGNETH A MEMO

Knight Pen Holder

www.thinkgeek.com

The Knight Pen Holder’s outstretched

hands are sized to cradle a pen – in-

cluded – so you simply set the quill back

down after gracing your memo with your

royal signature. It can, of course, take

other pens, too, so if you’re not a fan of

Cross Standard Ballpoint Refills (which is

what the “royal pen” uses), you can com-

pel the knight to offer you something else

to sign royal decrees. Awesome present

for medieval-loving coworkers, just

sayin’.

$29.99

7THIS ONE MEASURES UP!

All-in-One Kitchen Tool Set

www.momastore.org

Running out of kitchen storage space?

Here’s your answer. The All-in-One

Kitchen Tool Set has almost everything

for your culinary needs. This clever kit

contains a funnel, lemon juicer, spice

grater, egg masher, cheese grater, a lid

grip to loosen jar tops, an egg separator

and a 1 ¼ measuring cup. It is made

from plastic and is only 3.25 inches wide

and 12 inches high, just like my eldest

son who never sees daylight.

$40

8


5

6

78

ADVERTISERS DIRECTORyAllstate Agents .........................................28Viviana Aguirre

900 Sullivan Ave., Farmington

505-327-4888

B J Brown

3030 E Main St., Ste X9. Farmington, NM

505-324-0480

Kelly J. Berhost

1415 W. Aztec Blvd, Ste. 9, Aztec, NM

505-334-6177

Matt Lamoreux

4100 E. Main St., Farmington, NM

505-599-9047

Silvia Ramos

2400 E. 30th St., Farmington, NM

505-327-9667

American Dream Realty .............................67505-566-9901

Animas Credit Union..................................372101 E. 20th St., 3850 E. Main St.

Farmington, N.M.

505-326-7701

405 W. Broadway

Inside Farmer’s Market

Bloomfield, N.M.

www.animascu.com

Armstrong Coury Insurance.......................20

424 E. Main, Farmington, NM

505-327-5077

www.armstrongcouryinsurance.com

Basin Electrical Contractors .......................42

3005 Northridge Dr., Suite K

Farmington, NM

505-327-7525

www.basinelectricnm.com

Beehive Homes.........................................21400 N. Locke, 508 N. Airport

Farmington, N.M.

505-427-3794

The Bridge ...............................................511091 West Murray Dr.

Farmington, NM

505-324-6200

Budget Blinds.............................................2825 N. Sullivan, Farmington, N.M.

505-324-2008

City of Farmington....................................29

Great Lakes Airlines

Farmington, N.M.

1-800-554-5111

www.flygreatlakes.com

Cornerstone Home Lending.......................274802 N. Butler Ave., Suite 13101

Farmington, N.M.

505-608-7020

www.farmingtonhouseloans.com

DeNae’s Boutique.....................................57

3030 E. Main

Farmington, N.M.

505-326-6025

Dentless Image LLC...................................431509 Schofield Lane, Suite C

Farmington, NM

505-592-2603

Deser t Hills Dental Care ..............................52525 E. 30th St.

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-4863

866-327-4863

www.deserthillsdental.com

Employee Connections, Inc........................192901 E. 20th Street

Farmington, NM

505-324-8877

Farmington Family Dentistry......................32703 N. Dustin Ave.

Farmington, NM

505-564-9700

www.myfarmingtondentist.com

Four Corners Community Bank...................43

Six Convenient Locations

Farmington • Aztec • Cortez

NM 505-327-3222

CO 970-564-8421

www.TheBankForMe.com

Harmony Naprapathic ...............................548100 E. Main St.

Farmington, NM

505-0086

www.harmonynaprapathic.com

Highlands University.................................38

505-566-3552

nmhu.edu/farmington

Jack O. Smalley, DDS..................................372650 E. Pinon Frontage R., #300

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-3331

www.smile42day.com

Kitchen and Bath Artworks ........................25

7525 E. Main St.

Farmington, NM

505-860-8166

Le Petit Salon ...........................................25

406 Broadway, 5150 College Blvd.

Farmington, N.M.

505-325-1214

Lujan Quality Carpet Cleaning ....................19

215-2188

Merle Norman ..........................................13

4337 E. Main St., Suite 202

Farmington, N.M.

505-326-9179

Morgan Stanley/Jim Loleit .........................45

4801 N. Butler

Farmington, N.M.

505-326-9322

www.morganstanleyfa.com/hewettloleitpalmer

Naked Mobile .............................................71-844-BE NAKED (236-2533)

www.mynakedmobile.com

Next Level Home Audio & Video ................39

1510 E. 20th St., Suite A

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-NEXT

www.327NEXT.com

Orthopedic Associates PA .........................152300 E. 30th St., D-10

Farmington, NM

505-327-1400

www.oa-pa.com

Parker’s Inc. Office Products .....................13

714-C W. Main St.

Farmington, N.M.

505-325-8852

www.parkersinc.com

Partners Assisted Living ...........................46313 N. Locke Ave.

Farmington, N.M.

505-325-9600

www.partnerassistedliving.com

Pinon Hills Community Church ...................68

505-325-4541

www.pinonhillschurch.com

Presbyterian Medical Services ...................591001 W. Broadway Ave., Suite E

Farmington, NM

505-327-4796

www.pmsnm.org

Quality Appliance......................................59

522 E. Broadway

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-6271

R.A. Biel Plumbing & Heating ....................55

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-7755

www.rabielplumbing.com

Reliance Medical Group .............................33

3451 N. Butler Avenue

Farmington, N.M.

505-566-1915

1409 West Aztec Blvd.

Aztec, N.M.

505-334-1772

www.reliancemedicalgroup.com

Red Brick Pizza.........................................365150 E. Main, Ste. 113

Farmington, NM

505-326-6222

ReMax of Farmington..................................3108 N. Orchard

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-4777

www.remax.com

San Juan College ......................................47

505-326-3311

www.sanjuancollege.edu

San Juan Nurseries ...................................58800 E. 20th St.

Farmington, N.M.

505-326-0358

www.sanjuannurseries.com

Sanchez and Sanchez Real Estate................4

4301 Largo St. Suite F

Farmington, NM 87402

505-327-9039

Smiles 4 Kids............................................12

Farmington, N.M.

505-592-0226

Southwest Concrete Supply .......................142420 E. Main

Farmington, N.M.

505-325-2333

www.swconcretesupply.com

Southwest Obstetrics and Gynecology........26

634 West Pinon

Farmington, NM

505-325-4898

www.Southwest-OBGYN.net

Sun Glass .................................................53602 West Main Street

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-9677

Sunray Gaming .........................................14On Hwy 64.

Farmington, N.M.

505-566-1200

Tafoya Realty............................................335600 Mickey Dr. B&C

Farmington, NM

505-599-0000

www.tafoyarealty.com

Treadworks .............................................62

4227 E. Main St.

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-0286

4215 Hwy. 64

Kirtland, N.M.

505-598-1055

www.treadworks.com

Ziems Ford/Michelle Brown .......................515700 E. Main

Farmington, N.M.

505-793-2352

www.ziemsfordcorners.com

Ziems Ford ...............................................20

5700 E. Main

Farmington, N.M.

505-325-8826
