August in ABQ, II

08.16.2014 || August in ABQ, Snapshots II

Twenty-four hours of art is a long time to pour into something you love. A few nights ago, my great friend Brady took me to an event at the Rail Yards in Albuquerque that consisted of twenty-four hours of painting, photography, acrobatics, live music, fashion shows, and pretty much any other art form you can imagine. He introduced me to a few of his close friends and we sipped delectable berry cider while listening to Kevin Herig serenade us with his extremely talented voice. It was inspiring and admittedly unexpected to see a huge space full of Burqueños being present in things they found beautiful.

Each time I make a trip home (two or three times a year), it seems that Albuquerque has begun to shift further and further into a new city. I learned that recently it has invested in many new breweries, there are dozens of cafés downtown that I have never seen before, there is a farmer’s market every Saturday (where my parents buy their produce), and markets and events that happen weekly at the (formerly abandoned) Rail Yards. Seeing this place I have spent eighteen years of my life living in make such strides towards become a more thriving town has given me a new perspective on the environment that I chose to leave three years ago. 

As Brady and I left, the sky was pouring itself into layers of orange and yellow mixed with puffs of candy-pink. Bellingham knows how to do a sunset, but it’s got nothing on sweet ABQ light. For the first time in a long while, I asked myself, “Why do I expend so much of my energy pushing myself as far away as possible from this growing, beautiful city?” It has become apparent to me that the golden glow of this desert town cannot be stopped from falling from the tips of my eyelashes and spilling out from underneath my fingernails. It is as much a part of me as the heart in my chest.

Why create distance from a permanent piece of yourself, when you have the capacity to embrace it?

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