It’s Hillerman Country

Musing in Smithsonian magazine on his hometown of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tony Hillerman (The Shape Shifter) writes:

While we declare our independence--and have our own city hall, firetrucks, mayor and council, and post reduced speed limits on city streets that pass through our village--mapmakers, the U.S. Postal Service and political and commercial agencies all see us as Albuquerqueans. In the census we are just 5,000 of a half-million citizens who make it New Mexico’s major metropolis. Officially urbanites, we drive downtown enjoying the perfume of new-mown alfalfa and the sight of grazing horses. And our nocturnal quiet is punctuated only by occasional yips and honks in the bosque--the honks from the geese whose sleep has been disturbed by the coyotes stalking them.

The map of Los Ranchos on the wall in our little city hall shows a crazily shaped place. It runs along the east bank of the Rio Grande, 7,000 yards long (north to south) and much narrower east to west, varying from as little as a short block in some places to perhaps 3,000 yards at its widest. When I asked a former mayor of Los Ranchos for a brief description, he offered this summary: “Four square miles with 5,000 cranky people five miles from downtown Albuquerque.”

You’ll find Hillerman’s whole essay here.