Lannan announces writers series lineup

The Lannan Foundation has announced the lineup for its 2009-2010 Readings & Conversations series. The series, held at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, features writers of fiction, nonfiction and poetry reading from their works for 45 minutes, followed by questions from an interviewer of their choosing for 25 minutes. The new series includes:

• Rebecca Solnit with Tom Engelhardt on Oct. 21.

• Breyten Breytenbach with Lawrence Weschler on Nov. 18.

• Yusef Komunyakaa with Michael Silverblatt on Dec. 2.

• Nicholson Baker with Michael Silverblatt on Jan. 20.

• Maude Barlow with Avi Lewis on Feb. 17.

• August Kleinzahler with Kate Moses on March 2.

• Arundhati Roy with Avi Lewis on March 24.

• Andrew Bacevich with David Barsamian on April 21.

• Yiyun Li with Brigid Hughes on May 12.

• Adrienne Rich with Carolyn Forché on June 16.

Tickets, sold separately for each event, go on sale the first Saturday of the month prior to the event. For more information, call 988-1234, see www.lensic.com or visit the Lensic box office.

Taos makes magazine's list of best small towns

Outside Magazine has named Taos as one of the 10 best small towns in the United States.

"Picture Colorado," says the article in the August edition. "Now remove most of the people; sprinkle with artists, hippies, eccentric ski bums, celebs, and the occasional nuclear scientist and you've got Taos (pop. 5,800)."

The online version of the article lauds Taos' whitewater rafting on the Rio Grande, trout streams and Taos Ski Valley.

Outside is based in Santa Fe.

Other towns that made the top-10 list include, in no particular order, Salida, Colo.; Leavenworth, Wash.; Charleston, S.C.; Alpine, Texas; New London, Conn.; Ashland, Ore.; Ely, Minn.; Yellow Springs, Ohio, and Boone, N.C.

Parades to mark firefighters' retirements

The Santa Fe Fire Department's Chief Chris Rivera and Assistant Chief David Huckabee will be ceremonially escorted into retirement today.

Rivera, who is retiring after 21 years with the department, will be escorted from Fire Station No. 3 on Cerrillos Road south to Airport Road, then west to Country Club Road before he is transported home.

His ride with his family in the department's 1934 American La France fire engine is scheduled to begin at about 4 p.m. and will be accompanied by lights and sirens.

Huckabee, who is retiring after 20 years, will ride with his family in a Fire Department ambulance from Fire Station No. 5 on Siler Road to Real Burger on Old Pecos Trail. That procession, also featuring lights and sirens, is scheduled to begin about 2 p.m.

German TV crew to film here

A crew from Germany's largest public television station is scheduled to arrive in Santa Fe today after slowly working its way from Missouri to New Mexico to film a documentary about the Santa Fe Trail.

The New Mexico Tourism Department said the crew plans to do "a couple of shorter pieces" on Santa Fe, its food and art. On Tuesday, they will tape the "Linking Nations" exhibit at the New Mexico History Museum.

ARD Network plans to show the documentary this winter in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and later throughout Europe, a news release said.

The Santa Fe Trail, which stretched 1,200 miles from Franklin, Mo., to Santa Fe, played a critical role in the westward expansion of the United States, serving as an important two-way avenue for commerce and cultural exchange from 1821 to 1880.