On the morning of New Year\u2019s Eve, the national weather map had the words \u2018Santa Fe,\u201d \u201cAlbuquerque,\u201d \u201cRoswell\u201d and \u201cSilver City\u201d in big print.\u00a0 Most of New Mexico was a glaring shade of pink indicating the predicted snowstorm.\u00a0 This was on one of the national morning TV shows.<\/p>\n
A few days earlier, the map on a different station had a big white blob over New Mexico. The word \u201cAlbuquerque\u201d\u00a0 was prominent.\u00a0 The weather forecaster talked about blizzard warnings for Albuquerque. She seemed excited about this, as if Albuquerque were a new discovery. Maybe she had never spoken this exotic word before.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the weather that day was rough.\u00a0 We get those days from time to time, but not often. In any case, this column is not about the weather.\u00a0 It\u2019s about the map.<\/p>\n
In national recognition or the lack of it, New Mexico takes a lot of abuse. We all know the running joke that \u201cOne of our 50 is missing,\u201d the title of a feature in New Mexico Magazine that\u2019s still running after decades.<\/p>\n
Years ago I noticed that those weather forecasters usually stood in front of the map, blocking the view of New Mexico. If they mentioned the Southwest at all, they referred to California and Texas and avoided the subject of what might lie between.<\/p>\n
This has changed.<\/p>\n
In my completely unscientific observation of weather maps on morning television, I noticed the shift several years ago. Some viewers might credit this to \u201cBreaking Bad,\u201d but I believe it started earlier, after Bill Richardson ran for president.<\/p>\n
Richardson was in the national spotlight long enough for viewers to notice that the term \u201cgovernor of New Mexico\u201d referred to a state.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember anyone asking him how the governor of a foreign country could be running for president of the US. In the long-running battle for New Mexico, this was progress.<\/p>\n
Then Gary Johnson ran for president.\u00a0 Again, the term \u201cgovernor of New Mexico\u201d was forced on the recalcitrant national media.<\/p>\n
In 2014, New Mexico was featured as a whole category of clues on the TV show \u201cJeopardy.\u201d We do well on this TV show.\u00a0 Last May author Anne Hillerman was a \u201cJeopardy\u201d clue.\u00a0\u00a0 There have been clues\u00a0 featuring Georgia O\u2019Keefe, sculptor Evelyn Rosenberg, and a number of our state\u2019s\u00a0 natural wonders.<\/p>\n
Recently we\u2019ve had Chevel Shepherd, winner on \u201cThe Voice,\u201d and a newly elected New Mexico member of Congress, Deb Haaland, featured on every TV talk show because she\u2019s broken barriers as a Native American woman.<\/p>\n
A few weeks before our snowstorm, I had turned on that same morning TV show. The hosts were in a dither because New York and much of the mid-Atlantic were having a really bad snowstorm for which they had not been prepared. Apparently the weather forecasters had made a mistake.<\/p>\n
I looked out the window at the sunny morning, anticipating a December day that would reach above 50 degrees,\u00a0 and realized that half the population of the East Coast would be thrilled to trade places with me at that moment. I thought, what if some new Mexico marketing entity could arrange to insert a live, real time New Mexico weather report as a commercial in that morning show, with one of our handsome weathermen simply reciting the forecast of sun and more sun. New Mexico should pay for that.<\/p>\n
Even though we\u2019ve had some cold days and a snowstorm, most of us can agree New Mexico\u2019s weather is generally terrific.<\/p>\n
In the 2018 legislative session a group got an appropriation to develop a marketing plan to attract retirees to New Mexico.\u00a0 The plan by this group, Retire New Mexico, is now in the works. I suggested this strategy to one of them, though I think I skipped the part about the handsome weathermen.\u00a0 I\u2019m repeating the idea here for anyone who wants to take advantage of it.<\/p>\n
Maybe this column is about the weather after all. Happy New Year.<\/p>\n
Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the morning of New Year\u2019s Eve, the national weather map had the words \u2018Santa Fe,\u201d \u201cAlbuquerque,\u201d \u201cRoswell\u201d and \u201cSilver City\u201d in big print.\u00a0 Most of New Mexico was a glaring shade of pink indicating the predicted snowstorm.\u00a0 This was … Continue reading