Pictured above: FSA photo of a 32 year old migrant mother of seven children. (Dorothea Lange/ Library of Congress)
"“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother,
as if drawn by a magnet,” Lange recalls.
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ABQ Weather or Not
Looks like a good week for our gardens and crops - let's keep those farmers happy,
we need them!
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We Are All in This Together
In 1920, all Dorothea Lange knew was her age, the fact that she was a mother,
and that she was undoubtedly suffering.
While many of Lange’s intimate portraits of this period resonated with the public,
none have had an effect as profound and wide-reaching as Migrant Mother,
a photograph taken at the height of the Depression and an image that has come to define it.
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Our current day iconic photo, defining the humanitarian crisis at our southern border, is a heartbreaking image of a little girl, separated from her mother as the mother* was detained for crossing the border between Mexico and the US. The little girl appeared beseechingly on a TIME magazine cover with Donald Trump, with the caption, "Welcome to the United States."
At 5pm this evening, Albuquerque's City Council will hear from residents regarding a proposed $250,000 emergency fund for the city to assist migrants released by the U.S. Border Patrol.
R-19-143 appropriates $250,000 from FY19’s unallocated funds to provide grants and/or contracts to established non-profits, specialized service providers, and faith-based organizations providing services to asylum seekers. and is sponsored by City Councilor Pat Davis. (Read more HERE).
Shouldn’t we help our own residents before helping new arrivals?
Albuquerque has been a crossroads city - for our Native American pueblos, early Spanish settlers and generations of migrants for more than 300 years.
By receiving asylum seekers into a system designed to provide aid and transportation to their final destination, most asylum seekers only stay in ABQ 2-4 days while making arrangements to get to their final sponsors around the country.
The federal government has made it clear that they intend to continue to abandon asylum seekers in Southwestern cities, instead of doing their job to provide aid and transportation to their final destinations. If we fail to help them to their destinations, this federal policy threatens to overwhelm our homeless and housing resources.
More importantly, New Mexicans were raised to help each other and our city’s residents are living that value every day in their ongoing humanitarian work.
This bill is scheduled for this evening's City Council meeting. Meetings occur at 5pm in the City Council chambers of the City-County Building at 1 Civic Plaza. Persons wishing to sign up for public comment must arrive before 5pm to sign up.
ACTION ITEM: If you cannot attend this evening's meeting, please contact your City Council and let him/her know your opinion. Thank you.
ACTION ITEM: Volunteer to Help: ASYLUM SEEKER ASSISTANCE PROJECT - Click HERE
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* In court documents submitted in early April, the government said It may take federal officials two years to identify what could be thousands of immigrant children who were separated from their families at the southern United States border.
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Tuesday Update: 
$250,00 approved by City Council 6-3
Details HERE
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Albuquerque, NM - Friday, May 3rd, 2019
From the 5/4/19 Albuquerque Journal:
Friday afternoon, Albuquerque middle and high school students took over a corner of the University of New Mexico’s Johnson Field—and then a busy intersection nearby—to demand action on climate change.
Alyssa Ruiz from Sandia High School told the crowd that while the United States plans to spend more than a billion dollars building a wall along the U.S./Mexico border, the Trump administration’s proposed budget for 2020 cuts spending on renewable energy. “When will our future be considered a national emergency?” she asked.
Katie Butler, a 17-year-old student from La Cueva High School, was among the co-organizers of the School Strike for Climate Action. “This isn’t about politics,” she said. Rather, climate change is a human rights issue.
And seventh grader Eliott Patton expressed the frustration echoed by many of the teens at the protest. “We need to get adults to stop Tweeting,” she told the crowd, “and start acting.”
Arriving at the protest with his mom and two siblings, ten-year-old Alex Hanna told NM Political Report he fights for climate change “because it’s our future and we can’t waste it.”
“It’s horrible what we’re doing to our planet, because this is the only planet that’s good for us,” he said. Adults, he said, “should be fighting back and not be scared to speak up.”
Friday afternoon’s strike was part of a coordinated and global youth movement on climate change.
ACTION ITEM: 
CLICK HERE to GET INVOLVED
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Note to Diary
Have you moved? Did you update your voter info? Have you or anyone you know recently turned 18? Are you registered to vote in NM?
All you ever needed to know about you and voter registration can be found HERE- it's simple.
Your vote is your voice - Let it be heard.
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In Praise of Women
- If you don't know who Greta Thunberg is, you should - learn more HERE
- New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver announced Wednesday she is running for the U.S. Senate.The Democrat has already won statewide races for Secretary of State twice and if she wins in 2020 would become the first woman to represent New Mexico in the U.S. Senate in the state’s history. here to learn more
Mom vs. Dad on the Road to 2020 - Interesting read from NY Magazine - CLICK HERE
People are thrilled Pete Buttigieg speaks Norwegian, but the fact that Kirsten Gillibrand speaks Mandarin is barely a blip in the news. If you’re excited that Beto O’Rourke reads books—and it is, indeed, a big plus that someone reads books—well, good news: Elizabeth Warren has written 11 books. But why are female presidential candidates so overlooked in the media? Toot your horn, Toots - cuz no one else is. See the HARPER'S BAZAAR article - click HERE
Q: What's the best Mother's Day Gift?
- A: The one that shows her you really love her. And that could be so many different things - making breakfast on Sunday morning, cleaning up your room and getting your clothes off the floor Saturday morning, a Mother's Day Brunch, a picnic in the country (it's supposed to be mostly sunny), a Fascinator!, a great book, taking her to the movies, or the Botanical Gardens - the possibilities are endless. But gifts from the
usually leave everything else in the dust, so why not start thinking now about writing your mom a card? By the time Sunday arrives, have it ready - hand deliver, scan and send, or call and read. Let her know how you feel - it's priceless.
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For Two of My Favorite Moms
and to all Moms, Mothers, Mamas and Mummys out there:
