New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs welcomes you to subscribe and support our state’s cultural treasures.
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 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 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 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).
Brian K. Edwards (opens in a new tab) a Santa Fe, New Mexico-based photographer specializes in fine art and documentary photography. He has photographed extensively in the Southwest, across the United States, and internationally. He received an MFA in photography at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
![A stone archway entrance with a metal gate set in a brick and stone wall, surrounded by trees and under a partly cloudy sky. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/600400EdwardsBrian_02_FortSumnerCemeteryWall-400x225.jpg)
Text and photographs by Brian K. Edwards, MFA, PhD Give a man a dole, and you save his body and destroy his spirit. Give him a job and you save both body and spirit.” —Harry Hopkins, WPA administrator The economic collapse that followed the 1929 stock market crash eventually saw one in four Americans without work. Some areas, like Toledo, Ohio, and Lowell, Massachusetts, were hit especially hard, and saw unemployment rise to over 80 percent.
