Sallie Bingham

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You are here: Home / Politics / Gold

Gold

September 30th, 2020 by Sallie Bingham in New Mexico, Politics 1 Comment

Photo of golden Aspen treesAt this time of year and on till the end of October, the hills around Santa Fe are heavy with gold hunters, carloads of people who want to look at the gold leaves on the Aspens. And yes, the gold is there, although there will be more as the weeks go by and daylight shrinks, disproving the old adage that it’s frost that causes the leaves to change. It’s chilly here now but we’re still a long way from frost, and the leaves are changing.

I wonder how many people will notice and wonder and ask questions about the groves of nearly skeletal Aspens, their leaves stripped during the summer by bark beetles, the invasion worsened by the drought that, during the past four years, weakened the Aspens’ ability to resist. I think we have all been weakened during the past four years by the invasion of another form of bark beetle, one who was strutting his stuff on television last night.

I was hoping that Joe Biden would make an opportunity—force it, if he had to—to talk about climate disruption. “Change” is no longer adequate to describe what we as well as the Aspen are experiencing.

Gold of another kind is at the root of the political process and until we are able to reform campaign contribution rules, that kind of gold is likely to govern the results of this election.

At this time of year and on till the end of October, the hills around Santa Fe are heavy with gold hunters, carloads of people who want to look at the gold leaves on the Aspens.

Photo of golden Aspen trees in mountain forest

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In New Mexico, Politics Hiking New Mexico Donald Trump

A long and fruitful career as a writer began in 1960 with the publication of Sallie Bingham's novel, After Such Knowledge. This was followed by 15 collections of short stories in addition to novels, memoirs and plays, as well as the 2020 biography The Silver Swan: In Search of Doris Duke.

Her latest book, Taken by the Shawnee, is a work of historical fiction published by Turtle Point Press in June of 2024. Her previous memoir, Little Brother, was published by Sarabande Books in 2022. Her short story, "What I Learned From Fat Annie" won the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize in 2023 and the story "How Daddy Lost His Ear," from her forthcoming short story collection How Daddy Lost His Ear and Other Stories (September 23, 2025), received second prize in the 2023 Sean O’Faolain Short Story Competition.

She is an active and involved feminist, working for women’s empowerment, who founded the Kentucky Foundation for Women, which gives grants to Kentucky artists and writers who are feminists, The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, and the Women’s Project and Productions in New York City. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sallie's complete biography is available here.

Comments

  1. Joan V says

    September 30th, 2020 at 7:13 pm

    Thank you- your commentary was needed and as usual worded perfectly.

    Reply

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Watch Sallie

Taken By The Shawnee

Taken By The Shawnee

July 6th, 2025
Sallie Bingham introduces and reads from her latest work, Taken by the Shawnee.
Visiting Linda Stein

Visiting Linda Stein

March 3rd, 2025
Back on October 28th, 2008, I visited artist Linda Stein's studio in New York City and tried on a few of her handmade suits of armor.

Listen To Sallie

Rebecca Reynolds & Salie Bingham at SOMOS

Rebecca Reynolds & Salie Bingham at SOMOS

November 8th, 2024
This event was recorded November 1, 2024 in Taos, NM at SOMOS Salon & Bookshop by KCEI Radio, Red River/Taos and broadcast on November 8, 2024.
Taken by the Shawnee Reading

Taken by the Shawnee Reading

September 1st, 2024
This reading took place at The Church of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe, New Mexico in August of 2024.

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It's important not to be ploughed under by the chaos and intemperance in #WashingtonDC. We don't live in that swamp, and we don't need to allow our hopes and dreams to be drowned out by the noise. "Reasons to Hope": https://buff.ly/Z8lH33D

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salliebingham avatar Sallie Bingham @salliebingham ·
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Years ago a man I was in love with persuaded me to have a large fish pond dug near my studio. I think it was his attempt to be part of my necessarily solitary life there; like other such attempts it failed—and now I'm left with the fish pond! https://buff.ly/fGgnN39 #Koi #KoiPond

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Sallie Bingham's latest is a captivating account of ancestor's ordeal
Pasatiempo, The Santa Fe New Mexican

“I felt she was with me” during the process of writing the book, Bingham says. “I felt I wasn’t writing anything that would have seemed to her false or unreal.”

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