Watch “Tony Hillerman Writers Conference 2014 – Felicia Lujan” on YouTube

Missing this conference…

Watch “Hillerman Writers Conference (2015)” on YouTube

Going though my personal archive and realized I hadn’t shared these memories on-line! I really miss this conference and working for and with wonderful, creative spirits every year.

Green Beerz n Hard Ciderz

Mine isn’t green cuz I stuck to the 7% Blackberry Ciderz, but it’s alwayz fun to share a few smilez with Char, Tommy and Julio.

All-Seeing

I

SEE

EVEN

WHEN

MY

EYES

ARE

CLOSED

Now That’s a Throwback

Here we are in our college days tryin’ ta look all fly n flashy for the camera. (from top left to bottom… Ivan, Carlos, David, Elaine and me) Thank you to Elaine for being the keeper of our history and sending me these! It was amazing to see pics of us from so long ago.

Friendship Survey

I think from now on I’ll have people complete my new survey before we even become friends. It just helps insure that we’re on the right track you know? My friend since high school went through a draft of this survey with me. When we got to #9, she said “I plank” and we both laughed. I said “that works,” plus she owns a yoga studio. When we got to the end she goes “yes! I knew I was your friend” and we high 5’ed it!

 

Scenes from Carmen’s “Not 40 yet” Birthday Party

She Beasts Bench

Rare are the women who bench. You know your bench game is tight when she beasts start wanting to train with you or start asking you for spots. I can only hope they be thinking… “This chick is doing something right eh cuz her stock’s going up!” Yesterday was my day on the bench and I trained with another friend, but it looks like I’ll be spotting TwoCrow on the bench in-between my sets tomorrow! She’s a powerlifting Sioux from South Dakota who’s been trying to get me on board with her powerlifting federation out of Albuquerque.

The Bug Life Chose Me

ANT-MAN LIKES IRON

Well… it’s official now. I have two new friends and I’m quasi-famous in my domain!! Today Paul Rudd and his trainer, Brendan Johnston were hitting it at Mandrill’s again. These boys seem to be serious. I guess movie stars need to stay in shape ha?

The moment I walked in, they were both waving away at me and told me hi. I was like…. Whaaaaa? Today they got to see me bench too. They bailed before my heaviest sets, but they made sure to go out of their way to tell me bye. Who woulda thought ha?

For anyone interested, I’ll be signing autographs in blood, sweat and tears in the gym this week. Hahahaaaa… the bug life chose me.

Read this to catch up: My Accidental Meeting with Ant-Man

Zombies Have Hearts Too

Three frozen hands in "Zombie Punch"

It is so worth it to make my son’s smile light up when we do special things for him. I had fun gathering creepy treats for his Call of Duty- Black Ops III- Zombies themed party. It was a just for fun get together for he and his friends. They had a blast! I got tired, but seeing my son happy made it worth it. As an only child, he craves the company of other children his age. I was surprised he had such a good turn out with one day notice to parents, but who can pass up a video game party?

There were about 10 kids. It’s funny, but when children get together, they mysteriously gravitated away from the addictive video games. What a shocker! One of the boys brought Jelly Belly’s newest edition of BeanBoozled and it was straight comedy watching them challenge each other. I embedded a video below. In addition to gaming, they actually played football, tossed throwing stars, played with Nerf guns and played hide-n-seek.

We had a good time, but I was like… thank heavens I only had one!! Poor my jito! Dear lawd… how did they do it back in the day?

Invitations designed for my♥

Snack table and gift bags for the kids.

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…

Love the Boom

My Lil Hillerman Interview

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This interview is from the 2014 conference. It just went up on the Wordharvest channel on YouTube this week, so I wanted to share it. I’m honored to have my interview footage alongside those of several famous and infamous authors. Unfortunately, the sun was in my eyes, so I’m squinting through the whole thing!

Coincidentally, the video footage was edited by a guy from my gym. He recognized me and told my boss he knew me. He knows me from a very different world LoL. He was proly like… “is this the same gal? Hummm?” I never knew he did stuff like this. I guess you never know what iron lovers do on their spare time eh?

I’m looking forward to the 2015 conference. The author of Longmire will be there to talk about the move to NetFlix, which is awesome!!! I loved meeting him even though I don’t love any cowboys. Maybe I’ll ask him if he killed off Chase since I’ve only watched the first episode. I thought it was kinda symbolic in my real world.

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.

Thankful for Friends

••Mar's text to me tonight. Love that woman.••

Tonight I want to say thank you to all of my real world friends. I love that I can depend on you to be there when I need you! Each and every one of you knows what it means to really have my back.

💜I remember and appreciate those of you who took care of me and checked on me when I fell in that hole a couple of weeks ago.

💜I remember and appreciate those of you who cherish my poetry and nourish my creativity.

💜I remember and appreciate those of you who honor my strength and accept my weakness.

💜I remember and appreciate those of you who are there for me day in and day out even though you all have busy lives to lead.

💜I remember and appreciate those of you who love me with a full heart and make it known.

💜I remember and appreciate those of you who respect me for being a woman driven by dreams.

💜I remember and appreciate those of you who have my back despite our differences.

💜I remember and appreciate those of you who take the time to acknowledge the intrinsic value of our connectedness.

THANK YOU!!!

💜Most of all… I appreciate those of you who won’t forget that I have also been there for you when you needed me and always will be!

Love~ Felicia💜