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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).
Myrriah Gómez (opens in a new tab) is from El Rancho in the Pojoaque Valley. She earned her bachelor’s degree at New Mexico Highlands University. She is an associate professor in the Honors College at the University of New Mexico and the author of Nuclear Nuevo México. She thanks Dr. Ray Hernández-Durán, Juanita J. Lavadie, Francisco Lefebre, Adelita M. Medina, and Dr. Irene Vásquez for sharing their time and knowledge with her.
On February 22, 2026, 120 people in Las Vegas, NM, attended the El Palacio Plática at the New Mexico Highlands University Donnelly Library. The plática featured writer Myrriah Gómez and photographer and activist Adelita M. Medina. Medina was an activist during El Movimiento in Las Vegas in the 1970s and she shared her memories of the women who shaped the movement and created a school and farm in Montezuma.
If you are walking on the New Mexico Highlands University campus in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and you find yourself on the south side of Hippie Hill, and you know where to look, you can see the phrase “Viva la Raza” scratched into the sidewalk. You can see it best during golden hour, when the sun starts to set across the plains of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de Las Vegas Grandes.
Four dancers take the stage. Their headpieces cast a striking resemblance to the headdresses of los soldados from the tradition of Los Matachines. Long colorful ribbons flutter down their backs and fringe covers their eyes. The vocals of Lia Martinez, Jordan Wax, and Shae Fiol of Lone Piñon hauntingly narrate the movement of messenger birds on stage with the opening words: “¿Tecolote d’ónde vienes?” or “Where do you come from, little owl?” A keen eye will quickly notice the contrast of brown bodies against brightly colored costumes.
