City Different
The Buzz Around Town
Nuancing History
In Alex Heard’s sober, methodical, compelling new book, The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in the Jim Crow South, the 52-year-old editorial director of Santa Fe’s Outside magazine and author of 1999’s Apocalypse Pretty Soon turns his unbiased gaze upon a 1945 incident in which McGee, a black man in Jackson, Mississippi, was convicted and later executed for sexually assaulting a white woman.
Although it’s an all-too-common tale of racial injustice, two things really piqued Heard: One, the key role communists played in McGee’s case (particularly, the involvement of the communist Civil Rights Congress, headed by a black man, no less), and two, the level of national and international protest and sympathy in favor of McGee, who became a cause célèbre. “I had no idea that the communists were such a prime motivating force in society back then,” says Heard, a Jackson native who first learned of McGee’s case from one of his journalism professors at Vanderbilt University. “So it’s sort of a secret history. And a real Cold War thing.”
On the other hand, he adds, “It’s also a To Kill a Mockingbird kind of saga, but what really happened is so much more nuanced.” More nuanced and intriguing than what’s found in history books (most of which make almost no mention of the CRC) or media coverage. Most accounts of the case, for example, focus on social activist Bella Abzug’s involvement in McGee’s trials, though she only attended one, while almost completely ignoring the two local white lawyers who represented McGee at his second trial—maybe because they weren’t as noble or idealistic as Mockingbird’s Atticus Finch. And, at a recent meeting of historians, one paper presented it as a slam dunk that McGee was innocent. While Heard makes clear that nothing in the case was—forgive the pun—black and white, he eschewed soapboxing as much as possible. “I tried to avoid any cause,” he says, “and not make up the readers’ minds for them.”
In writing Eyes, Heard spent several years interviewing family members from both McGee’s and the plaintiff’s side, pored through CRC documents in Washington, D.C., and drew inspiration from Dan T. Carter’s 1968 book, Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South (about the famous 1930s case in which eight young black men were sentenced to death). “Anytime you research something on your own, you find all this information that’s left out,” he says. “That’s the fun. The truth is so much more interesting than the boiled-down version.” As is Heard’s book.—Devon Jackson
Curious George
George Cowan recently turned 90. And in addition to the laundry list of accomplishments throughout his life—member of the Manhattan Project, nuclear chemist and physicist at Los Alamos National Labs, founder of Los Alamos National Bank, treasurer of the group that created the Santa Fe Opera, cofounder and first president of the Santa Fe Institute—he just wrote his memoirs, Manhattan Project to the Santa Fe Institute (UNM Press, $28). Oh, and just so you don’t think he’s been slouching since his retirement from LANL, for the past 20 years he’s been studying psychology and neuroscience. Citing Proust in his memoir, which is arranged in anecdotal nuggets (no chapter exceeds seven pages), and convinced that scientists and their contributions remain invaluable (and safer than the actions of most others in society), Cowan, for the most part, dishes no dirt and keeps himself and his opinions very much on the down-low. Too bad. It’s hard to think of another scientist who’s been at so many momentous events in scientific and social history—especially here in New Mexico. Which is why sentences like the following stand out—and almost beg for a collection of memoiristic essays, at the least: “Morality may be necessary in the long run but, in the past, stability has often been achieved for substantial periods without it.” More, George, more!—DJ
Blue Plate Special
Lately we’ve been noticing a little more color on the streets around town. It’s the newly introduced New Mexico Centennial license plate, featuring the state flag’s Zia symbol and a vibrant turquoise background. Brighter and, with its retro look, hipper than the familiar yellow plates brought out in 1980, the Centennial version is now a no-extra-cost option for anyone purchasing plates at the New Mexico MVD. It will, state officials confirm, replace the state’s optional “hot-air balloon plate,” which, in our admittedly biased opinion, has been bringing down the visual appeal of back-ends since 1999.—DD
Inspiration x 400
Inspired by Santa Fe’s 400th anniversary year, local artists and musicians are creating pieces that honor the city’s one-of-a-kind heritage.
Jeweler Jennifer Jesse Smith’s sterling silver commemorative pendant ($350, jenniferjessesmith.com) was inspired by the Cross of St. James de Santiago that tops the St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral downtown. “This piece reminds us of the beginnings of colonial Santa Fe, as well as our tradition of great silversmithing and our spiritual foundation, which encompasses many peoples and cultures,” says Smith, who grew up here and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Local guitarist AnnaMaria Cardinalli—an 18th-generation Santa Fean—has released Legado y Leyenda (Legacy and Legend), a CD collection of haunting classical, flamenco, and folkloric guitar selections that reflect Santa Fe’s rich musical heritage (musicamundialproductions.com). Currently in Washington, D.C., finishing up some consulting work (and previously in Iraq, working for the FBI, and in Afghanistan, where she was embedded as a social scientist with U.S. Marines in the Helmand province), Cardinalli will soon return to Santa Fe and then tour. “Santa Fe is a truly rare place in the world—a place whose history of cultural assimilation has created a modern environment of acceptance and tolerance that is to be celebrated and emulated,” says Cardinalli. “Santa Fe demonstrates what is possible.”—DD
Park with a Past
Although the name is not yet final, Santa Fe’s Power Plant Park is set to open this spring, preserving a pretty piece of land and an important bit of local history. The four-acre plot, at the corner of Canyon and Upper Canyon Roads, will incorporate the old Santa Fe Hydroelectric Plant, which provided power for the city from 1895 until the 1940s and played a key role in Santa Fe’s move from an acequia system to a public water system. The building sat abandoned for more than 50 years, overgrown with weeds and with a collapsing roof, until the Canyon Neighborhood Association convinced the city to restore it to its original turn-of-the-century condition.
According to local architect Victor Johnson, who was hired for the project, the remodeling of the Victorian-style structure, originally brick with a pitched roof, should be finished by April. Later, exhibits that interpret the plant’s historic civic role will be added. “That little building really changed everything in Santa Fe,” says Johnson. “There’s a story to be told.”—DD
