I have left Pagosa Springs, and returned, more times than I can count. For years, I thought the leaving was the story. But now I understand — the real story is the trying to stay.
Staying in a rural place is not passive. It is work — emotional, financial, cultural, communal. Work to find housing. Work to afford groceries and heat. Work to stay connected when life gets heavy. Work to keep the memory of home alive — in the body, in the land, in the kitchen, in the heart.
This week, when Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City, what struck me wasn’t the urban scale or the headlines — it was the message: people deserve to stay in the places that hold them.
That message is Indigenous. Mestiza. Rural. Familiar. It is the belief that community is a covenant — not a commodity.
Here in Pagosa, I have sat with elders stretching groceries across the week. I have worked with farmers who want to feed neighbors first, not distant markets. I have listened to veterans who feel invisible once the uniform is gone. I have watched young families hold on with both hands to stay where their spirit feels known.
This is not a story of failure. This is a story of love. And love, in community, is not sentimental — it is infrastructure, systems of care.
Our traditions already teach us:
- Mutual aid — we take care of each other because that is who we are
- Harm reduction — dignity, not judgment, keeps people alive
- Upstream prevention — isolation and hunger are health issues, not moral failings
- Food systems as memory — land, culture, and nourishment are inseparable
This is what public health looks like in real life.
Not just pamphlets or education — but care and empowerment. Not just programs — but belonging and embracing diversity.
In my new role as Nutrition Director for the Veterans Integration Centers, I work across the Four Corners to strengthen food access, seed local procurement partnerships, grow volunteer networks, and build community-based safety nets for veterans and their families. This work sits at the intersection of public health, community and regional planning, Age-Friendly & Healthy communities, and cultural memory.
The goal is simple: So people — elders, workers, farmers, veterans, young families — can stay.
Staying is belonging. Belonging is identity. Identity is home. Home is story. Belonging should not be fragile. It should be something we invest in, plan for, protect, build, and pass forward.