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Articles by Don J. Usner
An intimate look at New Mexico’s lowrider culture
There’s more than gleaming metal surfaces and a sexy street presence in Gabriela Campos’ photographs of lowriders in New Mexico. Dagger fingernails and polished glass, swirls of blue ink wrapping muscled torsos, tough-guy biceps cradling newborn babes — the images capture quintessential New Mexican culture, one that boldly proclaims its stature among lowrider communities in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Tokyo. Her lens cruises like the cars, a magic carpet ride with a kick-ass orgullo.
Explore the Magical Realism of Chimayó
MAGICAL REALISM WAS NOT SIMPLY a literary genre when I spent summers in Chimayó during my youth. It was a lived experience. I’d venture into the hills behind my grandmother’s home, just a stone’s throw from where she was born in 1898, to find every rock glowing with color—and I took pocketfuls home. The acequia below her 1929 adobe sparkled like diamonds as I wound through orchards and among aged buildings.
The Magic of Chimayó
MAGICAL REALISM WAS NOT SIMPLY a literary genre when I spent summers in Chimayó during my youth. It was a lived experience. I’d venture into the hills behind my grandmother’s home, just a stone’s throw from where she was born in 1898, to find every rock glowing with color—and I took pocketfuls home. The acequia below her 1929 adobe sparkled like diamonds as I wound through orchards and among aged buildings.
Explore the Magical Realism of Chimayó
MAGICAL REALISM WAS NOT SIMPLY a literary genre when I spent summers in Chimayó during my youth. It was a lived experience. I’d venture into the hills behind my grandmother’s home, just a stone’s throw from where she was born in 1898, to find every rock glowing with color—and I took pocketfuls home. The acequia below her 1929 adobe sparkled like diamonds as I wound through orchards and among aged buildings.
Chaos and Cannabis Archives
Posted inChaos and Cannabis Navajo cannabis farmer claims he’s providing ‘sacrament’ for a Native church Posted inChaos and Cannabis A sensational raid three years ago put an end to his illegal marijuana empire on the Navajo Nation, manned by trafficking victims. But when Benally wanted to grow weed again, New Mexico said yes.
Why We Love New Mexico: We Express Ourselves On Wheels
AS A CHILD SPENDING SUMMERS IN CHIMAYÓ with my grandmother, I felt a great deal of excitement about the lowriders that rolled by on the dirt roads on weekends and during the annual Good Friday cruise, their V-8s rumbling as they passed. Grandma warned me to steer clear of them, but I was transfixed by the anachronistic, slow-motion passage of ornate, gleaming chrome—not to mention the slicked-back hair and streetwise panache of the drivers.
Why We Love New Mexico: We Express Ourselves On Wheels
AS A CHILD SPENDING SUMMERS IN CHIMAYÓ with my grandmother, I felt a great deal of excitement about the lowriders that rolled by on the dirt roads on weekends and during the annual Good Friday cruise, their V-8s rumbling as they passed. Grandma warned me to steer clear of them, but I was transfixed by the anachronistic, slow-motion passage of ornate, gleaming chrome—not to mention the slicked-back hair and streetwise panache of the drivers.
The disappearing world
Skip to content “Well, she lived a long life — nearly 100 years!” they said, one after another, as they filed through the bereavement line at my mother’s memorial last July. I barely registered the words, my mind reeling at the loss of this remarkable woman. I was stricken by the realization that with her death, Stella Chávez Usner was taking a universe of knowledge and stories from a disappearing world.
At the border of the American dream | Searchlight New Mexico
Fidel Pérez made his way from Durango, Mexico, to Juárez and then to Chaparral, New Mexico, in 1970. He was cleaning yards and working in the agricultural fields of nearby Anthony when border patrol officials arrested him. When they asked why he had come to the United States, he replied, “Because I’m hungry! And it’s easier here to make money for tortillas than it is back in Mexico.” Later, after he’d married an American, he returned to Chaparral.
A new chapter for Dorris Hamilton
In January, Dorris Hamilton, 93, was in the hospital for almost a week after refusing medication at her memory care facility, a place she deeply disliked. She preferred to live in her longtime home in Las Cruces — a modest ranch house off of busy Main Street — or at least in another facility of her choice, she told her son, Rio Hamilton. But the decision to move was not hers — or his — to make.
Book Explores New Vision for Valles Caldera National Preserve
MY COMPANIONS AND I LABORED THROUGH DEEP SNOW for 15 long minutes—and this after driving through two-foot-deep drifts on the way up to the caldera on a frigid February evening. Now, as we trudged on our skis, wrapped in layers of high-tech clothing and still shivering, taking off gloves to blow warm air on frozen fingers, we wondered if we should turn back. We had come to see the full moon rise but could make out only occasional shreds of sky in the gathering dusk.
Drugs Nearly Destroyed This Town. Strength of Family Ensured Survival
This story was originally published by Searchlight New Mexico and is published here as part of an ongoing collaboration with Rolling Stone. My family has called Chimayó home for more than 300 years, and I spent most of my summers there with my grandmother in the 1960s and 1970s, surrounded by relatives who lived nearby. Chimayó back then was mostly known for flavorful chiles and the annual pilgrimage to El Santuario, an old adobe church (built by one of my ancestors).
‘I wish one day there wouldn’t be no drugs here’
This story is Part 2 of a series; for Part 1, click here. My family has called Chimayó home for more than 300 years, and I spent most of my summers there with my grandmother in the 1960s and ’70s, surrounded by relatives who lived nearby. Chimayó back then was mostly known for flavorful chiles and the annual pilgrimage to El Santuario, an old adobe church (built by one of my ancestors).
A DEA Raid Meant to Clean Up a New Mexico Town. Instead, It Made Everything Worse
This story was originally published by Searchlight New Mexico and is published here as part of an ongoing collaboration with Rolling Stone. Additional reporting by Don J. Usner. Francesquita Martinez’s words are slow and deliberate, perhaps a result of the methadone she’s taking to kick her addiction, perhaps because she is lost in the memory of Sept. 29, 1999 — the Archangel’s day. The day the war on drugs came to Chimayó.
Albuquerque’s Motel 6 offers a snapshot of the city’s housing crisis
On the hot sidewalk in front of the Motel 6 by Carlisle Boulevard in Albuquerque, people milled about on a recent afternoon. A few guests walked the corridors; others sat outside on lawn chairs to get a respite from their rooms. Nearby, a man sold American-flag face masks and handmade bracelets. The motel is part of the largest chain in North America, characterized by its red-white-and-blue logo.
How New Mexico has weathered the COVID-19 pandemic
Searchlight New Mexico is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to investigative and public service journalism in the interest of the people of New Mexico. Our mission is to deliver high-impact investigative reporting to inspire New Mexicans to demand action on systemic problems that plague our state. We believe that great reporting can motivate all New Mexicans to confront racial and economic inequities, government corruption and negligence, and abuses of power.
Zuni Pueblo and the Navajo Nation
Not far from the Shiprock pinnacle on the Navajo Nation, just as the sun rises, brothers Makai and Elishah Tsosie crawl out of their warm beds. They rub their eyes, get dressed, drag their feet to the kitchen for breakfast and prepare for another day of learning in the family dining room. Their mother, Philana Harrison, is up long before them.
In their own words
Even before the pandemic, the girls’ father began assembling the farm there. When the internet at the Chacon house couldn’t handle all the girls logging in at the same time for school, Heaven and Angel began spending the week at their uncle’s, where there was more bandwidth. As the pandemic dragged on, Bobby Chacon expanded the farm into a sprawling compound, with goats, pigs, pheasants, turkeys, ducks, rabbits and chickens roaming among a thicket of unruly pens.
In their own words
Amelia, for her part, attends Tres Volcanes Community Collaborative School. She likes how virtual school allows her to finish her schoolwork early, so she can “run downstairs and play” with her siblings. But like many students who were excited to stay home in the first few months of the pandemic, Amelia is feeling the malaise that comes with only getting to see her classmates as squares on a screen, day in and day out.
Series: Chaos and cannabis
Searchlight New Mexico is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to investigative and public service journalism in the interest of the people of New Mexico. Our mission is to deliver high-impact investigative reporting to inspire New Mexicans to demand action on systemic problems that plague our state. We believe that great reporting can motivate all New Mexicans to confront racial and economic inequities, government corruption and negligence, and abuses of power.
“Kids in Las Vegas, NM are struggling right now.”
Once the Wild West, Las Vegas is now the wired West as parents and kids cope with a life lived online. By Ike Swetlitz|November 18, 2020 Photography by Don J. Usner LAS VEGAS, N.M. — “I don’t like school, because it’s not real,” declared Colin Atman, age 6. The first-grader had a good point. Before the pandemic, Colin could dash around his Las Vegas school playground with his friends James and Damian, playing tag or a game called zombie. “I was, of course, more into zombie,” he clarified.
Police raid near Shiprock all but ends an illicit cannabis-growing operation
A coalition of 20 federal, state and tribal law enforcement entities descended on a network of Shiprock farms on Nov. 9, capping a monthslong investigation into illegal marijuana cultivation and possible labor trafficking on the Navajo Nation. Throughout the day, teams of law enforcement officers — including agents from the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency — removed marijuana plants by the thousands, loading them onto dump trucks and burying them in large pits.
Police raid all but ends a NM cannabis operation
A coalition of 20 federal, state and tribal law enforcement entities descended on a network of Shiprock farms on Monday, capping a months-long investigation into illegal marijuana cultivation and possible labor trafficking on the Navajo Nation. Throughout the day, teams of law enforcement officers — including agents from the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency — removed marijuana plants by the thousands, loading them onto dump trucks and burying them in large pits.
Illegal Marijuana Farms on Navajo Land Raided by Authorities
This story and photo gallery was originally published by Searchlight New Mexico and is published here as part of an ongoing collaboration with Rolling Stone. A coalition of 20 federal, state and tribal law enforcement entities descended on a network of Shiprock farms on Monday, capping a months-long investigation into illegal marijuana cultivation and possible labor trafficking on the Navajo Nation.
Uprooted
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Uprooted
Law enforcement will not yet comment on the volume, but San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari described the seizure as an amount that will “knock you back in your chair.” Navajo Nation police had previously reported that only five of 36 cannabis farms remained in operation; if true, the enormous piles of plants confiscated this week would be only a fraction of what was growing a few months ago. The action came on the heels of a Sept.
Chaos and cannabis
Like others in the Shiprock area, this man - who identified himself only as Alex and said he was unaffiliated with either side - carries a weapon out of concerns about security. A massive hemp empire is accused of growing illegal marijuana and sowing violence on the Navajo Nation By Ed Williams|September 23, 2020 Photography by Don J.
A haunted history: New Mexico's rich past means state ripe with supernatural tales
Robert Nott What with its history of exploration, conquest, bloodshed and cultural conflict, New Mexico is ripe territory for tales of the supernatural. Small wonder that the entire region is renowned for spooky fables involving ghosts, screaming spirits, brujas, fireballs and the unexplained. "When I was a kid living in rural New Mexico, children were told stories of ghostly apparitions because of their fascination," explained Santa Fe author and folklorist Nasario Garcia.
Critical connections
Antoinette Rodriguez’s last in-person home visit was March 6, when she drove 50 miles to see a mother and her eight children in Standing Rock, on the Navajo Nation. Five days later, the mother inexplicably disappeared, leaving the children’s grandmother and uncle to care for the kids. Rodriguez knew nothing about that when she called the mom’s cell phone a month later for an update. She only found out the next time she visited in person.
Going hungry in the breadbasket
Anthony puts big plans on hold during pandemic July 8, 2020 Photography by Don J. Usner ANTHONY, N.M. — On a spring day during the coronavirus lockdown, Fernie Herrera set up an outdoor stove in his spacious backyard. He unfurled the awning on his camper — parked under the pine tree that towers over the family house — and invited his kids and grandkids over for a campout. If it weren’t for the pandemic, Herrera might have been out fishing or hunting rabbits.
The deadly loss of Navajo women
On the Navajo Nation, the coronavirus is leaving children motherless, families lost and traditions in peril. But Diné women fight on. By Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi|November 11, 2020 Photography by Don J. Usner SHIPROCK, N.M. — Sitting in the passenger seat of her husband’s pickup truck just before dusk, Eugenia Charles-Newton watched a young Navajo girl, her niece, during a traditional kinaaldá ceremony in Shiprock. The coming-of-age ceremony was unlike any other kinaaldá she’d ever seen.
Scenes from Chaparral, New Mexico
Skip to main content 13 PHOTOS
"It's appalling"
"Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham sitting in Fred Rael's award-winning lowrider at the Governor's Mansion in July. The governor was hosting a gathering of secretaries of state from across the nation. By Don J. Usner / Searchlight New Mexico Lujan Grisham on seclusion and restraint in New Mexico schools SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is two weeks away from her second legislative session, and she’s got a lot more on her mind than passing a budget.
One Giant Leap | Santa Fe New Mexico | Searchlight New Mexico
Ryan Stewart By Don J. Usner / Searchlight New Mexico New PED head tasked with implementing sweeping reforms. SANTA FE - When Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham fired her initial pick to lead the Public Education Department in July, she said she needed “a vibrant and ambitious new leader” to replace Karen Trujillo as soon as possible.
Building Blocks | Santa Fe New Mexico | Searchlight New Mexico
Elizabeth Groginsky By Don J. Usner / Searchlight New Mexico Big investment in early childhood aims to provide foundation for NM kids. SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham campaigned on a promise to transform early childhood education throughout New Mexico. After a months-long nationwide search, she has found a candidate to lead the effort, which could command a budget of nearly half a billion dollars in the next fiscal year.
Life behind bars
John Gamble sits for an interview at the Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, NM. Don J. Usner / Searchlight New Mexico By Ike Swetlitz | September, 24, 2019 Kids serving decades for violent crimes The youngest of six children, John Gamble was born in his parents’ bedroom. His sister, Mary, 9 years older than her kid brother, changed his diapers and helped potty-train him. He was allergic to milk, so he had his Cheerios with apple juice instead.
A chill in the air
Kerianne Gardner in her daughter, Aurra's, bedroomPhoto by Don J. Usner / Searchlight New Mexico By Nick Pachelli | August 20, 2019 | Photography by Don J. Usner The problem of teen suicide Just before dawn, as the Albuquerque sky filled the house with thin, pale blue light, 16-year-old Aurra Gardner took the small handgun out from behind the bed in her mother’s bedroom.
Death highway | Loving | Searchlight New Mexico
The descanso for Michael Ponce on US 285 south of Loving.Photo by Don J. Usner / Searchlight New Mexico By April Reese | June 26, 2019 | Photography by Don J. Usner A massive oil boom in the Permian Basin has turned rural roads into deadly highways OIL CHANGE This is part one of a Searchlight New Mexico series that examines the social and environmental impacts of the oil and gas boom in the Permian Basin.
The price of oil
An oil well near the Living Spring Baptist Church in Counselor, New Mexico. Photo by Don J. Usner / Searchlight New Mexico By April Reese | May 13, 2019 | Photography by Don J. Usner Expanding development near Chaco raises health concerns COUNSELOR — About halfway through a late-April Sunday service at the Living Spring Baptist Church, the sermon took an unusual turn.
First, aid | Santa Fe New Mexico | Searchlight New Mexico
Photo by Don J. Usner / Searchlight New Mexico RAISING NEW MEXICO By Alisa Valdes | April 24, 2019 | Photography by Don J. Usner If students in Socorro are going to succeed, they need help in and out of the classroom. SOCORRO – Carlos slides through the windowless halls of Socorro High School with the grace of a jaguar, like he owns these disinfected floors, these metal lockers, this 7-foot sculpture of a Native American “Warrior” mascot in its glass case. Tight fade haircut.
Left Behind | Santa Fe New Mexico | Searchlight New Mexico
Faith Cisneros, Questa. Photo by Don J. Usner / Searchlight New Mexico RAISING NEW MEXICO By Ed Williams, Reporter | April 16, 2019 | Photography by Don J. Usner Special needs students suffer when schools skimp on funding. QUESTA – When the fire alarm sounded before lunch in November of 2017, the staff at Alta Vista Elementary School knew they had a problem. A 6-year-old boy confined to a wheelchair needed to evacuate with the rest of his class.
How The Chimayó Museum is Saving a Community
Above: Visitors dance at the Chimayó Museum's fiesta. Photographs by Don J. Usner. MARTA TRUJILLO MARTINEZ LABORS to lift herself up from her folding chair in the shade of a giant cottonwood along the Acequia de los Ortegas, in Chimayó. She leans on her daughter’s arm as she makes her way to a podium and turns to face the small group of people gathered, rapt in their attention and eager to hear what the respected matriarch will say.
A day at Project Oak Tree
None Nearly every week for the past six months, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Cathedral in Las Cruces has provided food, shelter and clothing for a dozen or more migrant families released from immigration detention. Many have fled violence and poverty in Central America in hopes of gaining asylum in the U.S. Melani and her father Lucas Juan came from Jacaltenango and were on their way to Phoenix. Don J.
2018: The year in photographs
Taking photographs for Searchlight New Mexico stories led me all over the state this year, often into places I would never have ventured otherwise. Even though I was born and have spent most of my life here, I discovered much that was new to me.
Emilia’s story: How the opioid epidemic has affected one family in Northern New Mexico
Photographers and writers have for the past 20 years journeyed to Northern New Mexico to chronicle the opioid epidemic. Images of strung-out tecatos, or heroin addicts, needles jammed in tattooed forearms, syringes piled in gutters, families weeping over gravestones: Long before the opioid abuse became a national scourge, these images and stories served to define Rio Arriba County as the heroin capital of the country — a place that is my querencia, my home of the heart.
Emilia’s story: How the opioid epidemic has affected one family in Northern New Mexico
Photographers and writers have for the past 20 years journeyed to Northern New Mexico to chronicle the opioid epidemic. Images of strung-out tecatos, or heroin addicts, needles jammed in tattooed forearms, syringes piled in gutters, families weeping over gravestones: Long before the opioid abuse became a national scourge, these images and stories served to define Rio Arriba County as the heroin capital of the country — a place that is my querencia, my home of the heart.
Emilia’s story: Family, tradition, addiction
PHOTO ESSAY: Photographers and writers have for the past 20 years journeyed to Northern New Mexico to chronicle the opioid epidemic. Images of strung-out tecatos, or heroin addicts, needles jammed in tattooed forearms, syringes piled in gutters, families weeping over gravestones: Long before the opioid abuse became a national scourge, these images and stories served to define Rio Arriba County as the heroin capital of the country — a place that is my querencia, my home of the heart.
Emilia’s story: How the opioid epidemic has affected one family in Northern New Mexico
Photographers and writers have for the past 20 years journeyed to Northern New Mexico to chronicle the opioid epidemic. Images of strung-out tecatos, or heroin addicts, needles jammed in tattooed forearms, syringes piled in gutters, families weeping over gravestones: Long before the opioid abuse became a national scourge, these images and stories served to define Rio Arriba County as the heroin capital of the country — a place that is my querencia, my home of the heart.
New Mexico high school dropout uses his experience to advocate for students
Halfway through my senior year of high school, I found I didn’t have enough credits to graduate on time. Between boredom and an hour-long bus ride each morning, I had missed so many classes that I’d earned Fs in U.S. government and world history. I even had too many absences to pass P.E. -- an irony for me, the lifelong athlete. I was in the honors track and had a nearly perfect ACT score, yet I was painfully uninterested in academics.
In Chimayó, 7-year-old Heaven has lowriders of her own
“I have two cars — one’s a VW Bug, one’s an Impala,” 7-year-old Heaven Chacon declares from the driver’s seat of a red 1961 Chevrolet Impala. And it’s true, her parents, Bobby Chacon and Pam Jaramillo, affirm: Heaven has chosen a Volkswagen and the Chevy as hers, while her sisters, Angel and Bobbie, have cherry-picked others from the dozens of 40 old vehicles (some restored, others waiting for renovation) that surround the family’s double-wide trailer in Chimayó. These are no ordinary cars.
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