This week C-SPAN came to town. To
Santa Fe, that is. Their staff came in to set up interviews and film around town
for their Cities program to air on February 2nd and 3rd.
For the last two weeks, I along with other City staff, were making lists of
recommended people and sites that represent Santa Fe. C-SPAN did not want the
usual suspects and yet as their staff had never been here before, what was
“usual” to a lot of Santa Feans was new and exciting to them. What was
refreshing was that they were open to ideas and had not come with a set
agenda.
I am not sure they tried Frito pies
or anyone told them about ordering food smothered with “Christmas.” But they
raved about the friendliness, openness and welcoming attitude they received
everywhere they went. Every time they interviewed someone they received a new
list of recommendations—as the project coordinator said, one week is not long
enough to really get to know Santa Fe.
Who did they interview? This is just
a partial list, but outlines some of the people interviewed and places they
visited in Santa Fe: Dorothy Massey of Collected Works Bookstore; cartoonist
Ricardo Cate; Pulitzer author Jamie McGrath Morris; City historian Jose Garcia,
author Hampton Sides; Mayor Coss; Santa Fe Railroad expert Fred Friedman; the
Capitol; Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and Abiquiu home; Literary Santa Fe’s Barbara
Harrelson; Canyon Road; the Pojoaque
Pueblo re-inauguration of Governor George Rivera and an Eagle
Dance.
We learned a lot about C-SPAN too.
Many of us had seen and followed parts of C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2, but were not
aware of the incredible resource all of C-SPAN is to teachers and librarians in
addition to the general public. Some of us are hooked on the BOOK-TV with live
interviews with authors but not as aware of the historical programming. C-SPAN
has over 170,000 hours of interviews/programs archived. Just briefly delving
into their archive pulled up interviews with people who had been at historic
events, adding a new depth to an event. For example, hearing Franklin McCain
talk of his part in the Woolworth Counter sit-ins on the 50th
anniversary of that event.
I have a feeling when C-SPAN comes
back to New Mexico to cover Albuquerque in February, we just might see some of
their staff slipping into Santa Fe to visit some of the places they loved or
could not fit into this one show.
PCH/Main
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