More "fun" with New Mexico magazine

 I've written before about some of the foibles at the magazine, most in the name of New Agey-type pseudoscience. Well, time for a new round of that and more, from that magazine's last three issues.

The November 2023 issue has Christina Selby, who says she's been going to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge to see the sandhill cranes for years, talk with refuge staff about how drought is affecting how much food the refuge can have on site (seeding NWRs with grains for birds gets my goat in general and is a whole other topic), how climate change is affecting their migration and more.

So, Selby talks about other birds that can be seen there, including "dowagers." Now, I know a dowager can be called an "old bird," but I don't think they migrate to Bosque del Apache every winter.

Maybe long- and short-billed dowitchers do, but Selby can't be that ardent of a birder if that's not even spelled correctly. I webmailed her about that; we'll see if I get a response. If so, I'll add it here.

A week later, no response. I suspect that because she bills herself as a freelance science writer and other things, there won't be one.

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December's issue had an interesting story about rock-hounding. The most interesting part is that it put the east side of the Rio Grande, north of White Sands, to the WEST of Socorro, saying that the rock-hounding group north of White Sands had to travel east to get back to Socorro. Maybe one too many beers at San Antonio's Buckhorn along with a green chile burger?

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Then, directly tying to that older piece? One story in the "Lowdown" section is called "Star Maps." It then has this extended kicker header:

This year, let the zodiac chart your travel plans to a captivating, mystical, or iconic New Mexico destination.

And yes, it was travel "horoscopes." And, as generic, other than mentioning NM travel spots, as horoscopes in general. I assume the Katy Kelleher who wrote is minor book author, with a Tweet like this.

I complained on Facebook, then blocked a nutter who had a nutter response.

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Just as the state, riffing on its motto, is often "The Land of Disenchantment," so it is with the magazine.

The pseudoscience-driven marketing #fails of New Mexico mag PLUS copyediting fails

I understand that, as an official state magazine, they're trying to drive tourism to the state. I still don't have to accept pseudoscience used to promote The State Different (riffing on Fanta Se as The City Different, capital of The Land of Disenchantment).

They had two new entries in the "service" of pseudoscience, in their March issue.

First, in the story "Ancient Enigmas," about pueblitos (of which I'd already read plenty by David Roberts), there's:

“We emerged as one people,” says (Timothy C. Begay, cultural specialist with the Navajo Nation Heritage and Historic Preservation Department) of all the tribes that occupied the Four Corners. “We were one culture until Chaco fell. It was one voice, one people, one belief. We have sacred places that we still visit all over this area. If we came across the Bering Strait, why don’t we have sacred places in Canada and Asia?”

OK, I know any traditionalist Indian is going to say that. No need for the author to abet with this:

The story melds with the tribe’s longer-lived sense of its history in the area, a history centuries older than archaeologists can prove. The scientific research points to Athabaskan people (Diné and N’dé, or Apache) traveling across the Bering Strait and working their way down to the Southwest around the 1400s. The Diné say they were here far earlier, emerging near a lake in southwestern Colorado, and that First Man and First Woman settled at Gobernador Knob, a sacred mountain south of Navajo Lake. Begay says his people have always been here, something that future archaeology may yet confirm.

Oy.

Begay is wrong in two ways. First, the Diné have not always been there, and as far as sacred sites, I'm sure your "cousins" in northern Alberta and northeastern British Columbia have them in plenty. He's also wrong in that, no, the Navajos didn't emerge with other peoples. This, to go woke on the woke, is just another installment in Navajo cultural appropriation of Pueblo traditions and religion. 

Then, in the piece "Abiquiu State of Mind," we have the tagline of author Molly Boyle:

Molly Boyle thinks even the truest atheist can have a spiritual encounter in Abiquiu ...

Tied to the end of the third-to-last paragraph of the body copy:

I’ve had metaphysical experiences during fireside suppers in campgrounds that line the Río Chama along Forest Road 151, and while winding through the wooden Stations of the Cross on an alternate path toward the Monastery of Christ in the Desert.

Kind of like the "To the Atheist" chapter in the AA book, eh?

Ms. Boyle may be an atheist in the narrow sense, like countless millions of Theravada Buddhists. But, as it's usually used in the modern West, to imply rejection of metaphyiscal entities? She isn't, if she's claiming to be one, and if she thinks a "spiritual encounter" should include metaphysics, even for atheists, like the AA chapter, she's patronizing as hell.

And, years back, there was Roswell. In reality, from the best we can piece it together, it doesn't appear Mack Brazel ever called it a flying saucer. And, there's no indication the military forced a cover story on him of a weather balloon. That said, the story more than redeemed itself by interviewing Ben Radford.

Having grown up at the edge of the Big Rez, having read a lot about the Anasazi and a fair amount about the Navajo, and having been to Roswell as an adult more than once, including one free trip (no way I'd pay) to the UFO museum, I know this is marketing. And blech marketing when it engages in the perpetuation of pseudoscience.

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The copyediting fail? I was belatedly looking at my March issue yesterday. It's a standard 8 1/2 x 11 size magazine. Knock off 1/2 inch or so on both sides and that's 7 1/2 inches wide on the horizontal, maybe a bit more..

Who the hell had the bright idea of flowing that as 6-column text, as was done in parts of the feature story on Carlsbad Caverns? And worse, and probably necessitated by that, running rules that look to be a full 1-point wide between the columns. That and gutters knock out another full inch or so in total. So, we've got 6 1-inch and change wide columns. It's distracting reading, but most people will still gush over it.

The special travel guide advertising pages, at 5 columns, no rules, aren't horrible. But, even that's pushing it.

Pacific Standard magazine shutting down

The news was announced several days ago; the last official day is Aug. 16.

I get employees being angry, per Daily Beast, especially full-time or contract editorial employees. But, I think managing editor Nicholas Jackson let his anger get the best of him when he told the terminated employees to "consider what sort of legal options might be available to them."

The story makes clear that its board, at least in their own comments, worked to do due diligence on severances and all other legal issues. It also seems like they were probably somewhat blindsided by founder and chief funder Sarah Miller McCune's decision to pull the plug.

OTOH, per the LA Times, even if she is a billionaire, I can't blame her. If 90-95 percent of the mag's revenue was from her largesse, via a foundation, you have to consider making that call, IMO.

It appears that PS Mag was the sole beneficiary of the Social Justice Foundation. Whether McCune, 77, is pulling the plug on the foundation entirely, or instead moving it in new directions, wasn't announced.