Hillerman Photo Feature

It’s awesome to have my photo featured on Anne Hillerman’s web site. She is New Mexico’s own… New York Times, Best Selling Author. Her newest book was just released this month.

I believe her photographer took this picture of me in 2015. I’ve leaned out since then, but this photo is a historical keeper anyhow. I think it was choosen because I just happen to be holding one of her famous father’s books in one hand, and her book (launched that year) in another. It is great to see a daughter carry on her father’s legacy, whilst still building her own.

My girlfriend, Anna lives in Los Alamos. She also caught a glympse of me in the Los Alamos Monitor. My photo ran with an article promoting an annual dinner for writers on April 25th.

https://annehillerman.com/calendar/

https://www.ladailypost.com/content/anne-hillerman-headlines-second-annual-new-mexico-writers-dinner-april-25

My Kind of Math

Burn

their book
it burned
page by page
with chapters
never read

each page
a wish
tucked in
a dream
ink ablaze
and fiery red

by Felicia Lujan
1.5.18

Anyway

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

~~~Kent M. Keith, The Silent Revolution

Assassin’s Wish

“What is it that I’ll
want from you? Not
love: that would be
too much to ask. Not
forgiveness, which
isn’t yours to bestow.
Only a listener,
perhaps; only
someone who will
see me. Don’t prettify
me though, whatever
else you do: I have
no wish to be a
decorated skull.

But I leave myself
in your hands. What
choice do I have?
By the time you read
this last page, that…
if anywhere…
is the only place
I will be.”

x•x| Margaret Atwood,
x•x| The Blind Assassin

Intellectuals Love Pop Culture

I had a great learning experience at the 2016 Southwest Popular/American Culture Association (SWPACA) Conference thanks to scholarship funds. If I can’t find outside funds to attend this conference again next year, I would gladly pay my own way. I thought ARMA San Diego was the best conference I had been to until SWPACA. I love being around like minded intellectuals. There is really nothing like it. I do want a PhD someday.

I made it a point to keyword search the program (which was close to 150 pages) for the words archive(s), culture, history, and New Mexico. I focused my time at the conference on those sessions for the greater good. I love learning things to benefit both my knowledge and my agency. Everytime I could, I supported New Mexico professors and students by attending their presentations. There was so much great research presented during this conference. I also made a presentation there.

I did attend a small handful of sessions that were chosen because of personal interest. One was a session titled “Myth and Metaphor in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien,” which happened to be delivered by a University of New Mexico (UNM) professor. Another awesome presentation gave an analysis of “Penny Dreadful,” which I love, by a teacher from Texas. That session featured another presentation on the research of a UNM professor and student on violent video games and children. There was one on how Batman’s suit employs STEM!! Then there was one on fetishism and the villainess. You know I went to that one!!

The mission of SWPACA is “to promote an innovative and nontraditional academic movement in Humanities and Social Sciences and to celebrate America’s cultural heritages. To provide an outlet for scholars, writers, and others interested in popular/American culture, to share ideas in a professional atmosphere, and to increase awareness and improve public perceptions of America’s cultural traditions and diverse populations.”

Amazing…

Queen of Hearts

•••♥Screenshot of my new wallpaper. This is such an awesome piece with the Queen holding her bloody heart. I love this artist and what a great quote ha?•••♥

“The blood of Heaven binds you,” said the Queen. “Blood calls to blood, under the skin. But love and blood are not the same.”

“Riddles,” Clary said angrily. “Do you even mean anything when you talk like that?”

“He is bound to you,” said the Queen. “But does he love you?”

~••Cassandra Clare
City of Fallen Angels
(The Mortal Instruments, #4)

Dirty Blonde

“If passion was a substance
I would say it is dark brown,
and then blood red. It’s like
wet grass, tons of it soaked
in mud. It’s warm and it stinks
like shit and it’s unaccountably
and endlessly good. It’s thick
and it goes on for miles and it
isn’t so much deep as bottomless
and it holds you in its grip, you
never drown. And then it goes.
That’s all you know.”

Eileen Myles, Inferno
(a poet’s novel)

Book Jacket by Candlelight

•••Felicia's preliminary designs for the jacket of a new book.•••

This week was a super busy week for me. I need more hours in the day!!!! I was slammed at work, had a bunch of meetings, straight killed it in the gym and then came home to work more every night until tonight! Most of my evening work was creative work, which is good, but I was up last night until after 2:00am. I am so tired. A two hour workout featuring bi, tri, shoulder and trap monster sets means I’m tired and wasted!

From Monday thru Thursday, I edited over 100 images for a Santa Fe author. She needed many things done in order to mail the beginning parts which will coincide with her manuscript to her publisher. The images needed to meet publishing specs. I also designed a mockup jacket for her upcoming book, which required a large amount of image extraction. It was a stressful, but fun project with many long nights!! Hopefully the publisher will run with my design.

An Author Inspired by the “Keeper of the Records”

••∆ Susan McDuffie and Felicia Lujan in Albuquerque, New Mexico ∆••

I just adore Susan McDuffie. This New Mexico lady is an award winning mystery author who has been inspired to write by a connection to her ancestral lands and her family’s role as “Keeper of the Records.” Given my professional history, you know I have to love that right? How can I not adore a women who has an obvious admiration for record keepers and history?

Susan and I met up at a crime writing extravaganza a few weeks back. In 2011, she won the New Mexico Book Award for “Best Historical Novel.” In 2014, she was a finalist in both the Historical Fiction and Mystery categories. I do love me some creative women! What’s kinda funny is that over the last decade, a good handful of people from out-of-state have asked me if I’m Scottish because of my accent. Interesting… I know.

From Susan’s Medieval Mysteries web site…

Susan’s childhood interest in Scotland was fueled by family stories of the McDuffie clan’s ancestral lands on Colonsay and their traditional role as “Keeper of the Records” for the Lords of the Isles. Although Keeper of the Records may in fact have been a tedious position, it all sounded incredibly mysterious and intriguing to Susan. On her first visit to Scotland she hitchhiked her way through the Hebrides. Her initial visit to Colonsay and the Oronsay Priory ruins planted the seeds for her medieval mysteries.

Showing is Everything

@devinphysique
tweets on showing.
~~~~~~~~~

“The thing that is important
is the thing that is not seen.”

~•Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,
The Little Prince

Crime Writing: Here is to a Killer Future

Yeah… I would say crime writing is a viable option for me. I knew that before I worked and attended day one of “Finding Your Inner Sleuth.” It was a great day. I love learning and with every bit of knowledge I get, I feel more and more empowered. I want to be both a physical and intellectual monster! I’ll be Queen of Iron and Ink!!!

All of the presenters did a great job today! I had such a good day. My bosses keep pushing me to write a book, and I’m getting closer to jumping. I love that I have found my place in the world of writers. I fit in there like hand-n-glove. I learned some interesting things from Detective Mark Manary, Christine Barber, Dr. Irene Blea, Laura Sanchez, and Don Bullis.

I’m looking forward to working in Albuquerque again tomorrow! I wanted to share some of the photos from today and a few of the more interesting things I learned. Here is to a killer future of crime writing!!!

Interesting things about Detective Mark Manary:

å He went into homicide work because he is the survivor of an unsolved cold case. In 1989, his father was murdered.

å His career in law enforcement started as a military cop with the Air Force.

√• He went to a Handwriting Analysis School, where he “learned so much about writing and the use of words.” 💜’ed that!!

å He is President of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP- Albuquerque Lodge#1).

å He had to read and look at data for six months straight to get up to speed on the West Mesa murder cases.

√• His first step as lead in the 118th West Mesa Murders Task Force was to secure the records room. He allowed only two keys. 💜’ed that!!!

Interesting things about Author Christine Barber:

√• She is an amazingly smart woman, former journalist/editor, and friend who I have known for years. 💜 her!!!

å She took the show hands down today!!!

å Her current research into the West Mesa murders will likely give Detective Mark Manary great tips.

√• She is working with an anthropologist who is using scientific techniques to conduct soil analysis for potential West Mesa murder burial sites. 💜’ed that!!!

√• As part of her research for her new book “Rules of Survival,” she has completely emerged herself into the world of sex workers in Albuquerque.

√• She is now publishing the “Bad Guy List.” It is a freaky scary, but informative printout which highlights Albuquerque’s criminal activity.

√• She knows a lot more than anyone I know about serial killers, sex acts, what they cost, who is involved, and the dark fate of Albuquerque’s sex workers.

√• I met Christine years ago… not as an archivist, but as a writer. I invited her to the archives to conduct research for her book “When the Devil Doesn’t Show.” That book is about David Parker Ray, the “Toy-Box Killer” from Mountainair, New Mexico. He was a suspected serial killer. Though no bodies have ever been found, Ray is said to have murdered at least 60 people between Arizona and New Mexico. Together, Christine and I uncovered possible burial locations on mining property owned by Ray.

An Ad to Attract Crime Writers

~~Ad Designed by Felicia Lujan~~

Today I received the final approval for an advertisement I designed last week. It is scheduled to run in the Albuquerque Journal on Sunday. I’m really excited to have been asked to design this particular ad for the 2015 Tony Hillerman Literary Landscapes Series. The ad is for a 2-day workshop titled Crime Writing: Finding Your Inner Sleuth (which we all know I have already found). I’ll be working the workshop on June 19th and 20th in Albuquerque at the South Broadway Cultural Center as part of the Wordharvest/Tony Hillerman Conference staff. The ad went through internal approval, as well as approval by the Cultural Services Department of the City of Albuquerque. When I sent it to the ad rep for the Albuquerque Journal, he said it was “beautimous!” I took that as a compliment being that he has seen so many! It will not look as good halftone, but it will run in a newspaper. I have been doing a lot of design work at night and I love it. I’ll be talking about some of the other projects I have going on soon.

Most of you know that I have been called “The Darkivist” and “The Dark Archivist” at work. This workshop is right up my alley. I have helped with research on several law enforcement investigations over the years. There are going to be 10 amazing speakers during this 2-day writing workshop, but there are two that are going to be very interesting. Detective Mark Manary will talk about being a member of the 118th Street West Mesa Murders Task Force. He has worked with the Albuquerque Police Department for 16 years. These murders mark a very dark time in New Mexico history. The buried remains of 11 women were discovered in 2009 by a woman walking her dog. The remains were discovered on the mesa in Albuquerque. The case is unsolved and the murders are believed to have been committed by a serial killer. Later that day, Dr. Irene Blea will talk about her research for her new book Daughters of the West Mesa. I’m really looking forward to the crime writing workshop.

Work and Mingle Birthday Bash

Yesterday I worked the kickoff for the Tony Hillerman Literary Landscape Writer’s Series. We had a celebration in honor of the late Tony Hillerman’s 90th birthday. His daughter, Anne Hillerman said a few words and signed her newest book while we were at the Tony Hillerman Library.

•••George and Felicia and then Angela "Spence" Pacheco, Felicia and Ana Pacheco•••

The party was hosted by veteran radio and TV personality, Larry Ahrens. Ahrens is currently a Producer and Creative Director at Studio 34 Broadcast in Albuquerque. There were about 75 people there to listen and mingle. It was a really good turnout and the flowers growing at the library were beautiful.

I’ve been working with George for years. He and I can sell some books! We make a good team. Ana Pacheco is also a blast to work with. She is a writer and editor with a great personality. This time she brought along her sister who is the First Judicial District Attorney here in Santa Fe. I liked her! Angela “Spence” Pacheco and I really hit it off. I had never met her and she is super nice.

It was awesome visiting with Judith Van Gieson for a long while. My mom introduced me to Van Gieson’s work so many years ago because she had heard her books were about an archivist. The Claire Reynier series contains some of my favorite historical fiction books. Claire Reynier is indeed a fictional archivist and rare book buyer with the Center for Southwest Research (UNM) in Van Gieson’s books.

Cheers to a very successful event. I can’t wait to work a few of the others in this writer’s series. There will be a two day crime writing workshop in Albuquerque with Dr. Irene Blea at the end of June. Her newest book is about the West Mesa murders. Dr. Blea is a very accomplished woman. I’m excited to work that workshop!

•••Anne Hillerman speaks, a musician, and veteran radio and TV personality, Larry Ahrens•••

Tony Hillerman Literary Landscape Writer’s Series

Next Saturday I’ll be working a kickoff for the Tony Hillerman Literary Landscape Writer’s Series. The series kicks off with a birthday celebration in honor of Tony Hillerman’s 90th birthday where Anne Hillerman will sign her newest book, Rock with Wings.

The party will be hosted by Larry Ahrens a Producer and Creative Director at Studio 34 Broadcast in Albuquerque. Ahrens is on The Morning Brew and is well known as a morning show host. He was on KKOB Radio for over 25 years.

There were two stories in the Albuquerque Journal today. There are links below. I was both honored and upset by the photo of Anne Hillerman that the Albuquerque Journal ran today. I took the original photograph and I’m not sure what in the world they did to it?!

I also included a link to a post I put on my site in December of 2014 about this creative photo work I completed for Anne Hillerman. I guess I’m glad they didn’t give me proper credit in this case!! Oh well~ I’m looking forward to working this series though.

Original photograph by Felicia

Tony Hillerman Literary Landscape Writer’s Series begins with birthday celebration honoring late author
By Kathaleen Roberts
Albuquerque Journal
May 17, 2015

Santa Fe author Anne Hillerman continues mystery series starring Navajo cops
By David Steinberg
Albuquerque Journal
May 17, 2015

Creative Work for a New York Times Bestselling Author
By Felicia Lujan
My Voyage Through Time
December 20, 2014