Alien life in Roswell, New Mexico

Hi Everyone. We’re blogging from the Sunshine Laundromat after a fun, relaxing day in Roswell, NM. After talking last night we’ve decided to slow our pace a bit as the 16 hour days have been taking their toll. So, this is mostly a newsy note to keep you up to date.

After treating ourselves to our first hot breakfast off the bus in a week, we hit the road and headed for the Roswell UFO Museum. The museum is small but does a good job in getting visitors to question what happened that July evening back in 1947 when, according to some, an alien spacecraft crashed nearby. Given what we know about the number of galaxies that exist, it seems reasonable to me that other life forms might exist “out there.” And, if cars crash on the road, it seems reasonable that a “space ship” might crash here or there, too. (This is how it was explained to me by our car rental clerk.) So, I went into the museum with an open mind. After spending some time doing an interview with folks from the Roswell Record we ambled through the museum for an hour or so looking at old photos of remnants supposedly found at the crash site, copies of old newspaper stories covering the event, witness affidavits, and so on. It made for an interesting morning, but I think the museum would convince more people if they asked fewer rhetorical questions (e.g. “Could this be an alien’s fingerprint?”) and, instead, made explicit arguments. That’s just the sociologist in me, I suppose.

From there, we went to a lovely little coffee shop for lunch and an interview with one of the founding members of Alien Resistance (AR). AR members believe that aliens are really fallen angels and, by extension, argue that those who have experienced “abductions” have really had a demonic possession of sorts. According to AR, fallen angels often perform cruel experiments on children who have, usually by the sins of their parents, not led a Christian life. Rather, they may have dabbled in the occult, etc. Visits from the fallen angels are said to come somewhat frequently until the children are teens at which point they stop. (Maybe nobody, even fallen angels, wants to be around hormonal teens???) However, the visits start back up from the time the kids are 20 until they reach the end of their reproductive years.

The group has been in Roswell for about 10 years and, according to its founder, had won converts in the local community even though it is, according to him, a “wet blanket” on the story that Roswell crafts in regard to its identity. While my sense is that most of us couldn’t relate to AR, we were grateful for the time they gave to us to help us understand their perspective/corner of the world. Over dinner, we actually made some connections between this interview and our Little Rock church service in how we may have been pushed outside our boundaries and that, because of the class, were required to think about why that was and how it may have related to our socialization and, thus, our lenses. So, it was all good.

In the afternoon, we drove about 14 miles to Bottomless Lake State Park for a few hours hiking and swimming. The drive allowed us some time to rock out to Tejano music while taking in the vast plains and red clay mesas. Then we dipped into the icy waters of Lake Lea. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. As a bonus, we snuck in another shower at the park. (That’s *two days in a row* for those of you keeping count.) We all voted for more lizard time in the sun and water, but we won’t have the opportunity for a few days. Tomorrow we’re on to sheep herding at a Native American reservation and then, on Saturday, to the Grand Canyon!! We’re all pretty stoked about both days. Perhaps we can float in the Great Salt Lake on Sunday???