One Of Our 50 Is Missing - June 2009

Cartoons of the Month After more than two decades, thousands of our readers have shared their experiences of lost New Mexico in the "One of Our 50 is Missing" humor column, compiled by managing editor Walter K. Lopez. Tell us your experiences at fifty@nmmagazine.com or on our message board.

CLOSE CALL: Carol Hoffman’s phone call to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, in New York City, began seriously enough, but quickly evolved into geographical farce.

“I called to order an engagement calendar, and the woman on the phone was very nice,” says Hoffman, who has lived in Albuquerque for 56 years. “We chatted about weather and the season, then I began giving her information: credit card, address, zip, and state.”

But the museum representative’s first response was a head turner: “And what country is that?”

Hoffman was dumbfounded. “The USA.”

“Really?” said the rep.

“Yes. It’s down by Arizona.”

“Really?”

“Yes—it holds Arizona and Texas apart.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really!” And Hoffman, thoroughly annoyed, hung up. She never received her calendar. “Maybe it was the foreign postage
that created the problem.”

SNOW JOB: While tuned in to one of Fox News’s morning TV programs, Gayle Williams, of Bradley, Illinois, quickly became confused.

“There was an item about snow days in Chicago,” Williams says. "The newscasters were discussing the snow sculptures being created at Grant Park, and one of the teams was from Mexico. One reporter said, ‘There’s a team from Mexico building snow things? That’s kind of funny to me.’”

“You’ve never been to Taos and places like that in New Mexico?” asked a fellow reporter. “It’s a great ski resort.”

“Mexicans with snow,” mused the first reporter: “I did not know.”

After a few minutes of this give-and-take, Williams felt subdued. “Now I’m not sure if New Mexico has moved to Mexico or vice versa, but this was a weird feeling. I would have expected newscasters to be a little more up on geography.”

BORDERLINE COVERAGE: Lori Cole, who works in Traverse City, Michigan, for a national insurance company, says a recent chat with a customer had her rolling her eyes. “The other day, a lady called
and wanted to know if her car insurance would cover a rental car in Mexico,” says Cole, who was born in Las Cruces. “She was going to attend a conference and would need to rent a car at the airport. I told her it would depend on where in Mexico, because her insurance would cover her only within 100 miles of the
U.S.-Mexico border.”

When Cole asked the customer where she was headed, the response floored her: “Albuquerque.” Cole says it took every ounce of her energy to resist laughing. “Ma’am, Albuquerque is in New Mexico. It is part of the United States, and yes, your insurance will be valid.”

“Are you sure?” asked the customer anxiously. “Does that mean I don’t have to take my birth certificate with me as proof of citizenship?”