On this episode of Café con Leche, Greg Smith spoke with Jess Williams about changes in the LGBTQ community in Las Cruces as Pride Month approaches. Drawing on his years living in the area, Williams reflected on how local attitudes and community spaces have shifted over time. The conversation touched on the role of Pride events in Las Cruces, how participation and visibility have grown, and the ways community support has developed. Williams also discussed ongoing challenges and the importance of maintaining spaces where people feel welcome and connected.
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On this episode of Café con Leche, Greg Smith spoke with Dr. Philipp Djang about the upcoming New Mexico Senior Olympic Games, which will bring athletes from across the state to Las Cruces in June. A longtime participant in senior athletics, Djang shared his path into competitive swimming and the discipline required to train and compete at a high level later in life. The conversation focused on the swimming events at the Las Cruces Regional Aquatic Center, along with the broader structure of the Senior Olympics and the range of sports offered. Djang emphasized the physical and social benefits of staying active, describing the games as both a competitive outlet and a way to build community among older adults.
Greg Smith talks with Erik Maese, founder of the Borderland Arts Foundation, about his mission to bring classical music to Southern New Mexico audiences of all ages and backgrounds. A Las Cruces native who came to the violin in fourth grade and later served on the Albuquerque Philharmonic board, Maese founded the organization in 2022 and has grown it to the point of staging a full La Bohème with singers from across the country. The conversation covers the Foundation's upcoming Mesilla Valley Music Festival on Mother's Day weekend, a summer production of The Marriage of Figaro, and an October world premiere setting Walt Whitman's previously unpublished poems for baritone and orchestra.
On this episode of Café con Leche, Greg Smith talked with Beth Williams, president of The Bridge of Southern New Mexico, and Mason Schuette, a graduate student intern at New Mexico State University, about the nonprofit's work connecting students to real-world career experience. Williams explained how the Bridge has shifted its focus toward internships and work-based learning, partnering with Las Cruces Public Schools, Arrowhead Early College High School, and Doña Ana County to create pathways that give students meaningful exposure to careers before they have to choose one. Williams and Schuette also discussed initiatives like the Civics Bee, designed to encourage civic awareness among young people.
Greg Smith talks with Donna Popky and Tamara Michelina St. Jean about the Artists of Picacho Hills' annual Art in the Garden, taking place Saturday, May 9th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Now in its eighteenth year, the free self-guided tour opens six private Picacho Hills homes and gardens to the public, with 19 artists this year showing work across painting, jewelry, beadwork, ceramics, fused glass, fiber, printmaking, photography, and more. The conversation covers the event's logistics and welcoming philosophy, the two guests' own artistic paths, and a shared enthusiasm for what Las Cruces offers as an arts community that often goes underappreciated.
Greg Smith talks with Sonya Fe, a painter and Las Cruces resident about the hard-won lessons of a career spent making art with a message. Fe traces her practice from East LA roots and an Art Center College of Design degree through decades of gallery relationships gone wrong and offers pointed advice for artists navigating a business that often sees them as easy marks: don't work for exposure, get buyers' names, demand down payments on commissions, and do your research before signing with anyone. The conversation also turns to Fe's practice as using "beauty as a lure" to engage viewers with difficult social truths, particularly regarding the vulnerability and treatment of women and children.
Greg Smith talks with Carlos Medina, Jr., a Chicago firefighter, 40-year film industry veteran, and part-time Las Cruces resident, about his debut memoir Across the Lawn. The title carries more meaning than it first lets on: it refers to the family landscaping business, to the border his father crossed at 17 with $42 in his pocket, and to the street where Carlos first met the woman who became his wife. Medina traces a life that moved from Chicago to a small town in Mexico and back and reflects on the string of right-place, right-time moments that led him to Subway franchises, movie sets, and a fire department application line. The conversation touches on what drew him to Las Cruces, his adoption of his youngest daughter, and the message that runs through the book: your starting line doesn't dictate your finish line.
Greg Smith talks with consultant Nancy Bruner about what separates genuine leadership from the mere holding of a title. Bruner's core argument is that leadership has nothing to do with position and everything to do with behavior: showing up, being fully present, asking great questions rather than claiming to have all the answers. The conversation ranges from the collaborative nature of creative work to the slow and still-unfinished evolution of who gets to lead, with Bruner drawing on her own experience as a woman navigating predominantly male workplaces to argue that the most important thing leaders can do right now is be the example — intentional, accountable, and willing to do difficult things without resorting to top-down pressure.
Greg Smith talks with Marisa Sage, outgoing director of the NMSU University Art Museum, and Jasmine Herrera, who steps in as interim director, about a decade-long transformation at one of Las Cruces' most significant cultural institutions. Sage reflects on the years-long campaign to move the UAM from a converted gymnasium into its custom-built home in Devasthali Hall, a facility now housing over 4,200 works including the largest collection of Mexican retablos in the United States. Herrera, a native New Mexican who has worked alongside Sage for eleven years, discusses what comes next for the museum, including upcoming exhibitions and her commitment to building pipelines that connect NMSU students to careers in the arts across the state.
Greg Smith welcomes Tauna Cole-Dorn and Margaret Bernstein of the Ten O'Clock Artists - known as the "Teners" for their tradition of meeting on the 10th of each month at 10 a.m. and committing to at least 10 minutes of daily art-making - to talk about the group's annual Artists' Workshop Week, running March 16–29 in Las Cruces. The two artists share their own paths into art and discuss the philosophy behind the workshops: that creativity thrives when people are given a low-pressure space to explore new disciplines, whether that's gourd art, glass fusing, photogravure, poetry, or movement-based practices like dance and yoga. With 22 workshops offered this year by local artists teaching in their own studios and spaces across the city, there's something for beginners and seasoned artists alike. Full details and registration at workshopslc.art.
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