Identity
Doing creative work often forces us to focus on issues of who we are and how others see us. The posts below offer our bloggers’ experiences, thoughts and perspectives on identity and representation in making art.

Chasing Rights, Missing Flights: Making Abortion Accessible Against All Odds
What it’s like to be a Patient Navigator for abortion services: “It’s post-Roe, 2022. I’m on a trip from Texas to New Mexico, accompanying 15 people seeking abortion, one a minor. The clinic forgets to tell us to buy her mom a ticket, and the two get separated at the airport. Mother sobbing, daughter stone-faced and angry. I’m exhausted.”
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Thanks, Self, for Taking Me to SUNY Purchase
How heavy I felt when one of my professors noted that I hadn’t applied anywhere else. Why had I only applied to SUNY Purchase? Didn’t I aspire to be an actor? And the truth is, no. I aspired to keep existing.
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A Body of Many Bodies Flowing with sonic collaboration along the Rio Grande
In There Must Be Other Names For The River, we ask ourselves about our personal and structural relationships with the drying river that today we call the Rio Grande. In this sound performance, listeners hear the voices of six singers channeling the river. Each singer represents a point where streamflow data have been collected from the 1970s to now and into possible futures.
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Dear Trump Supporters
Let me start by acknowledging the fact that I never thought I would be this upset by an angry mob storming the Capitol. I mean, isn’t that the ultimate American dream? Name one person in this country who has never at some point in their life thought to themselves, “Ya know what we oughta do? We oughta go down and storm the Capitol. Show those lawmakers who’s boss.”
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Clown Fish of the Lit Ecosystem Lee Francis of Red Planet Books & Comics on finding his niche
Entrepreneur Lee Francis is the “Indiginerd” mastermind behind Indigenous Comic Con (aka IndigiPop X) and Red Planet Books & Comics. Dr. Francis dishes on cultivating Indiginerds, supporting community and how his niche bookstore thrives in the retail ocean.
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Knowing the World Through Art: Inspired by Iranian Illustrators
For the last few years, I kept checking for accessible foreign editions of some of these books. I reached out directly to Reza Dalvand, the illustrator of Ace, who put me in touch with his publisher in Iran.
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Building a Wellness Business that’s More than Skin Deep Self-Employed Spotlight on Ayanna D.N. Freeman, Creator of Ayanna Denise Skin
Ayanna D.N. Freeman explains how she went from having no idea her destiny was in skincare to launching and nurturing her own successful brand.
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THE CANCELED SHOWS 5: Jalessa Blackshear, Fast Heart Mart, La Leif, Jack Evan Johnson, I Know Billy
THE CANCELED SHOWS 5 includes footage from a BLM demonstration, sights/sounds from the UK, a Nashville rocker and a banjo-pickin song about an alien recorded in a sewer drain, apparently.
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Reflecting Me: Movement for Mercy and Where Change Begins
Movement for Mercy is a live dance performance which honors the intersections of experiences and shared history throughout our community.
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Circumstantially Free
“Zahra, where is that from…oh, did you know that Iraq invaded Kuwait?” “Yes, I was there.” He asked what my thoughts about the Taliban were, twice.
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Call for Submissions: New Mexico Artists on Freedom and Justice
Pyragraph’s Supercharge Your Vote campaign seeks to engage and encourage artists and creatives to get registered and vote in the 2020 Presidential election. The campaign also promotes participation in other civic engagement activities such as the 2020 Census. As part of this campaign we have published a Voter Guide, a Supercharge Your Vote infographic, a Read more ›
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Full Circle
The problem isn’t that our laws are flawed (even though they are). The problem is that we care only to the degree that it won’t be an inconvenience or mess with our comfort…or even worse, our narratives. This is our problem.
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Resource List: Mental and Financial Health During COVID-19
We thought it would be helpful to periodically summarize what’s out there to calm the storm of information that seems to be swirling around us. So here is a resource list focusing on mental health, wellness and financial assistance to help soften the impact of COVID on all our lives.
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Native Women Lead: The Movement
We believe we can leverage our social capital to inspire allies to support our vision for a future where the lives of Native women are no longer at risk and we have no more stolen sisters.
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Ishita Mili Shares the Story Behind Urban Indian Dance
I started to get really pissed at so many things about being told what I was allowed and not allowed to do in dance, and I pretty much exploded from anger and it was like “Fuck this situation, I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want.”
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Pyragraph LIVE: John Fugelsang
John Fugelsang is in Albuquerque to perform “Unpresidented: The true story of a comedian trying to raise a toddler while his country was electing one” and we were lucky enough to get him into the Pyragraph LIVE studio (a.k.a. my office) to talk about comedy, politics, religion, and how he’s pulled all those elements and more into his unique creative career.
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