What's going on, Albuquerque?

Barelas Babe's Blog – October 2008 Archive (4)

Access to Obama

There were 45,000 hearing people in the audience and 5 signing deaf people in the bleachers behind the stage at the Obama Rally Saturday night. Regular readers of my blog may know that I'm a card-carrying member of the smaller group.

Rule Number One for deaf people: show up early to any big event with American Sign Language interpreters.

This event was no exception.

Why show up early? Well, we deaf people need to be… Continue

Added by Barelas Babe on October 27, 2008 at 10:30am — 20 Comments

Growing Up Purple

I’m looking forward to voting this week. One of my earliest childhood memories is of walking down the street on Election Day with both of my parents and my younger brother, whose toddler exuberance was constrained with a baby blue ~~leash~~ child harness.

It was rare that we’d walk somewhere together as a family of four. Most of our family outings involved getting in the car and… Continue

Added by Barelas Babe on October 19, 2008 at 2:30pm — 3 Comments

Brown in Burque

It is easier to be brown in Burque. One of the unexpected advantages to moving to Albuquerque (and to Barelas in particular) was the realization that having olive skin, dark hair and eyes that hinted at something other than European ancestry didn't matter so much here.

After a lifetime of "… Continue

Added by Barelas Babe on October 12, 2008 at 6:30pm — 58 Comments

El Jardin de Barelas

Less than a mile from the heart of downtown Albuquerque is a community experiment in progress. If you drive (or even walk) down 4th Street south of Central Avenue, past the streets named for entities in the Periodic Table of the Elements, you might notice a small plot of land with raised garden beds painted in bright colors.

Enclosed by a six foot high chain link fence and a locked gate,… Continue

Added by Barelas Babe on October 6, 2008 at 10:00pm — 1 Comment