Contributors

For over a century, El Palacio has been a forum for voices exploring New Mexico’s art, archaeology, history, and landscape. Explore the writers, photographers, historians, and scientists whose perspectives have defined the magazine’s pages—past and present.

Arthur Sze

Arthur Sze is the current U.S. Poet Laureate. Sze is a poet, translator, and editor. He is the author of twelve books, including Into the Hush, Sight Lines, and others. Sze’s poems have been translated into fifteen languages, and he is the recipient of the National Book Award among many other honors. He lives in Santa Fe.

Deborah Jackson Taffa

Deborah Jackson Taffa is a citizen of the Quechan Nation and Laguna Pueblo. Her memoir Whiskey Tender was a 2024 National Book Award Finalist and was longlisted for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Taffa serves as the director of the MFA in creative writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Cara Romero

Cara Romero is an award-winning contemporary fine art photographer. An enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Romero’s expansive oeuvre has been informed by formal training in film, digital, fine art, and commercial photography. She maintains a studio in Santa Fe, regularly participates in Native American art fairs, and was featured in PBS’ Craft in America (2019).

Dr. Rhonda Dass

Dr. Rhonda Dass (opens in a new tab) is a former southern regional manager for New Mexico Historic Sites, a trained textile conservator, and baker of incredible scones.

Over the course of its existence as a state monument and historic site, Fort Selden received not only attention to stabilize and preserve its adobe walls, but it also garnered attention for adobe experimentation

Everything Changes

Text and photographs by Dr. Rhonda Dass Time changes everything. A lot has changed at Fort Selden in the fifty years since it was declared a State Monument and became one of the handful of New Mexico Historic Sites. On July 2, 1973, Gov. Bruce King proclaimed Fort Selden a state monument. The proclamation states that Fort Selden “is now a hauntingly beautiful ruin administered by the Museum of New Mexico for the public benefit.” This summer it will be a challenge to look back at the fifty years of the state’s influence and not see the changes that have happened to the site just north of Las Cruces near the Rio Grande in Radium Springs, New Mexico.