New Mexico Quarter - Proof That It's A State!

The US Mint just announced the issuance of the last five quarters, which will come out in 2008. One of them is, of course, the New Mexico quarter, since New Mexico was the fourth-to-last state in the union. Naturally, I like it because it has a Zia symbol on it. Since I believe my sweetie and I are the only people on earth with a Zia symbol on our ketubah (the deal was - he got Hebrew letters, I got a Zia symbol), I may have to actually go out of my way to collect this quarter and slide it into the corner of the ketubah frame.

Of course, the US government is not without error. Take a look and see how they've misspelled "Santa Fe" on their website. Grrr. I guess I should just be happy that New Mexico is recognized as a state of the union, which isn't always the case.

The Mint is also considering a proposal to come out with quarters for DC, Puerto Rico, and other US districts/territories. So, if DC gets a "state quarter" does that mean we're a state, and the next step is the end to the total Federal disenfranchisement of DC citizens? (Hey, I can dream!)

New Mexico, Earth

A new ad campaign for tourism in New Mexico that features alien (as in outer space, not illegal) office workers chatting about their great vacations has apparently stirred up all kinds of controversy in our Land O'Enchantment home state.

You can view the ads here:

http://www.newmexicoearth.org/

The city of Las Cruces has refused to use the alien ads to bolster its local tourism pitches. Representatives of tourist bureaus in Albuquerque and Taos are afraid the aliens are more likely to confuse and scare away potential tourists than reel them in. (This does beg some questions about the average intelligence of the New Mexico tourist, but those of us who used to heckle the Roadrunner tour buses on the Plaza know this already.)

After watching one of them, I'm not sure I see what all the fuss is about. The ads were produced by M&C Saatchi (also known for a recent Australia ad campaign featuring the tagline "Where the bloody hell are you?" http://www.mcsaatchi.com/work.php ). They seem quirky, amusing, and harmless enough (or perhaps Mostly Harmless?) I just don't see these ads driving tourists away from NM in screaming hordes (if only! Coulda saved us all a lot of pink coyote agony in the 80's).

And if you continue to look at the website, there are tons of links to all kinds of cool stuff you can see in ye olde Nuevo Mexico.

Come on - our home state is quirky and fascinating- this is home to Zozobra, Dave's Not Here, the Very Large Array, Los Alamos, Joint Human and Alien Underground Bases, rocks shaped like camels, tents and ships, and as much chile as you can stuff into your Owl Cafe green chile cheeseburger. What's a goofy alien ad here or there?

I rather like the idea of interstellar fame. I knew Ms. Germanas' alien landing pad might come in handy. She's probably running an intergalactic B&B by now.

I've got to find out who owns this car.

Dig it. NM plates, Zia symbol and biofuel!