For my birthday my wife
surprised me with a visit back to the Castaneda ...
The idea was that their much-touted
restaurant and 12 course tasting menu would be open and ready, but that was not
to be. Construction delays as
always. We had a lovely time anyway, and,
wanting to visit a part of town we had not been to before, we went over to
Highlands University. It was founded in 1893 as a teacher training school but
is now a branch of the state university system.
On a Saturday afternoon the
campus was almost empty and even the library was closed. That would, of course, not have been the case
in my day but then, I didn’t have the internet for research. As we walked
around, we found the Commons with a bronze statue in the center. Titled “Harmony” it consists of three figures
by artist and educator Gary Coulter (1935-2000). It was dedicated in 1987 to
“to recognize and honor the cultural and ethnic diversity of New Mexico
Highlands University’s students”. Definitely not a great work of art but what
they did with it I found so appropriate for a place of learning in these days
of conflict.
Large plaques on each side of
the base have excerpts from the writings of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King,
and José Marti,
as well as “A song of the Tewa”.
The Tewa are a
linguistic group of Native Americans living today in pueblos along the Rio
Grande. The Song of the Tewa, is looking
to the day when tame animals and children are blessed as are their brother
Indian tribes and even the Mexican and Anglo-American people, wishing all “may
make our lives together here”.
José Marti (1853-1895) was
Cuban poet, and philosopher who is regarded as a hero in his country as a
revolutionary activist. In 1893 he writes, “Man has no special rights because
he belongs to a particular Ethnic Group, “Anyone, you might want to send this
plaque to?
JFK writes in 1962, “In a
time of turbulence and change, it is more true than ever that knowledge is
power…” “Liberty without learning is always in peril and learning without
liberty is always in vain.” Oh, how I
wish that our politicians would learn their history before aspiring to a
political office.
The plaque with the best
known quotation is, of course, Martin Luther King’s, “I have a dream” speech of
1963, It continues, “I have a dream that one day, on the red hills of Georgia
the sons of slaves the sons of former slave owners will sit together at the
table of brotherhood.”
Just think if every student
who came to Highlands University would just sit in front of this statue and take
in the lessons that each of these plaques had to offer what fabulous individuals
and politicians they would make!
