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[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

Fabulous New Mexico …

Laguna, NM

A hamlet about 45 miles due west of Albuquerque on Interstate 40, Laguna was the next place we stopped before hitting the bigger cities of northern New Mexico tonight.

According to the 2000 census, the total population of Laguna and the other five villages of the Laguna Pueblo (Encinal, Mesita, Paguate, Paraje, and Seama) is about 3,815. The entire pueblo has a total population of 7,700. The Laguna Pueblo was recognized by Spain as early as 1699, and historians believe that the ancestors of the Laguna have occupied the land they are on since at least 1300. A Pueblo warrior, Popé, was the organizer (between 1680 and 1692) of by far the most successful revolt against Spanish control of indigenous lands.

The place was not much to speak of—at least what we saw of it, which was a gas station and a Dairy Queen—but it was an interesting stop. I ordered a pineapple milk shake and the counter woman bellowed with laughter when she called out that the order was ready and I was standing right in front of her.

While waiting for my order, I noticed there was a whole shelf full of Pull the President’s Finger dolls for sale. I don’t know why they were there, and they weren’t flying off the shelves, but it was still amusing to see these GWB figurines in the middle of a Dairy Queen in northwestern New Mexico, primed to parrot stupid catchphrases if you pulled their fingers.

—Posted by Frank at 15:45:14 | 16-Aug-03

[It’s aSquared’s First Birthday … we’re celebrating by looking back at events from a year ago … skip these retro posts if you’re not into sentimentality.]

Gallup is quite the town …

Gallup, NM

Population 20,209 (2000 census). Founded 1881 as a stop on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad by David L. Gallup. Home to the Gallup Cultural Center and University of New Mexico-Gallup.

Damning it with faint praise, Jamie Jensen’s Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America’s Two-Lane Highways observes, “Despite the obvious poverty and other signs of genuine despair, Gallup is a fascinating town.”

This was the scariest place we stopped (in my opinion; I think Steve thought the scariest place was 25 miles before this, which was the skanky Navajo trading post in Lupton, at the AZ-NM border). To be fair, we pulled off at the west end of town and only stopped to get gas and stretch, so I didn’t really get a flavor for the place as a whole. But the look I got at the neighborhood around the gas station we pulled off at was enough to make me want to get out of there as soon as possible.

—Posted by Frank at 15:30:00 | 16-Aug-03

Finally broke down and watched “Party Girl,” that strange little 1995 cult flick with Parker Posey as a Manhattan clubhopper who is inexplicably and fanatically converted to the religion of Melville Dewey overnight (and whose love interest is a Lebanese falafel vendor who secretly yearns to be a teacher). A very odd artifact in spots, with a wildly uneven tone, and it definitely bears the imprint of the year in which it was released (after all, its pivotal scene revolves around the Deee-Lite track “Music Selector Is the Soul Reflector”). But in its way, it’s very cute and very entertaining.

There’s a shout-out of sorts to UM near the end. (“It’s so much fun there!”) And Parker has some very good, snappy lines. The best scene is when she’s learning the DDS and dances around the library alone all night long shelving books and (how quaint) rifling through card catalogues.