Putting a Fresh Face on Old Town
By Diane Thome
Photos by Dan Quan
 Flakes of snow descend gently. Crisp air rubs cheeks rosy. Streetlights illuminate narrow walkways. Shoppers balance packages as they chat with friends and strangers. Christmas carols and fireplace aromas fill the air. Dickensian London? No, Albuquerque Old Town Plaza. You remember Old Town. You brought Aunt Agatha there during her last visit. She bought the hand-painted, cut-glass vase and the baby alpaca pantsuit. That was what, three years ago? Where have you been?
Mayor Martin Chávez and members of the city’s Cultural Services Department—Toni Martorelli, director, and Linda Hubley, events and operations manager—want you to know that this 300-year-old beauty has put on a fresh face and is ready to kick up her heels this Christmas.
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Healthy Relationships Without Violence
By Connie Thompson
 We’ve all seen the “Made for TV” movie where some poor woman is a victim, coerced into silence and fear by a dominating boyfriend or husband who beats her on a regular basis. The abuse continues until one day a hero comes to save her. This usually means wiping out the bully and everyone cheers.
What if the bully was taught how to behave differently? What if the abused woman learned how to be assertive and confident—not attracting a controller /abuser into a relationship? What if teenagers were taught how to build relationships without violence and domination?
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Music Store Is a Hit
By Keiko Ohnuma
 Sarma Taylor offers living proof of the notion that some people are born entrepreneurs. Her parents were “risk-averse,” she says, and no one in her Boston childhood served as a Horatio Alger role model. Yet Sarma always dreamed of owning a business—she just wasn’t sure what kind.
It’s probably no accident that when she found her business idea decades later, it took off like a hit song, even though the field—independent musical instrument retailing - had declined to the point of extinction.
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