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New Mexico’s State Cookie is a Little Taste of Home
Anise and cinnamon-flavored memories
As summer gives way to fall, inevitably I begin to get homesick. It starts as a quiet longing and soon grows to a sense of both sadness and urgency.
New Mexico, where I grew up, is beautiful any time of the year. Autumn is when it really shows its true colors. From the yellows of aspen leaves high in the mountains to deep blue skies. It is just gorgeous.
Once the seasons change from summer to fall, my soul needs to be there again. I need to eat the food, look at the Sandia Mountains that protected me in my childhood, and see the muddy water of the Rio Grande. So I remember who I am.
As New Mexicans, it is a tradition to burn our glooms on Labor Day weekend. From the moment the big Zozobra puppet becomes a smoldering pile of ash on the ground, I begin craving the food and the people of my home state.
It’s complicated
Over 25 years ago I made the decision to leave New Mexico. It was a difficult choice but it was also the right one. As much as I love New Mexico, in my twenties, I had career ambition and I wanted something that didn’t exist in my home state.
My beloved New Mexico has many problems. One big issue is brain drain. The term…
