Assertion Films

Our Route 66 Centennial Traveling Exhibit rolled into Pacific, Missouri, on September 16 at the Red Cedar Inn & Tourism Pacific, MO, and we’ve had such a wonderful response! There’s still one more day to see it! If you’re in or around Pacific, come visit us today, September 17, at the Red Cedar Inn Visitors Center and help us celebrate 100 years of the Mother Road.
A huge thank you to , who has been manning the exhibit and welcoming visitors throughout the stop. We’ve heard some great feedback, welcomed guests from the local community and even had some international visitors!
As always, our younger visitors have been exploring Route 66 with their passport books, completing activities as they make their way through the exhibit. Michelle even created some new passports for the adults, and it sounds like everyone has been getting into the spirit. We love seeing visitors of all ages so engaged with Route 66 history and sharing their own stories along the way.

The glamorous life of making documentaries!

Pilar and I demonstrating what happens after you climb to the top of El Morro, spend the morning filming, and then lug all the gear back down again. Sometimes the trail becomes a perfectly acceptable place to lie down!

We’d just had the incredible experience of hiking up to Atsinna, the ancestral Puebloan site atop El Morro, with students from Ramah, New Mexico, while filming their tour with retired NPS archaeologist Steve Baumann.

And somehow, after hauling all that gear down the trail, our amazing DP Kimby Caplan still had enough energy to pick up the camera and capture this moment. Clearly, she is made of stronger stuff than we are. 😂

Exhaustion aside, it’s a real honor to be working on this project about Evon Vogt, El Morro’s first custodian, and to spend time learning about the remarkable landscape, history, and communities connected to this place.

As I prepare to show the Atomic Legacy on Route 66 later this month at the New Mexico History Museum, I'm reminded that the legacy of the Atomic Age isn't just history. It's still unfolding today.
Tomorrow, the New Mexico Environment Department will hold a public meeting on NuFuels' proposed Church Rock Section 8 In Situ Recovery Project. Members of the Red Water Pond Community have asked supporters to attend and speak out against a project they believe threatens their land and community.
The meeting takes place at 5:30 p.m. at Fire Rock Casino, on the same evening as Gallup's Ceremonial Night Parade. Community members have expressed concern that the scheduling may reduce participation in this important public hearing.
If you're in the area, please consider attending and supporting the community's right to be heard.

On August 11, I'll be sharing some of the research behind my newest project, "The Atomic Legacy on Route 66," as part of the Route 66 Centennial Speaker Series. We'll explore how the Atomic Age shaped communities across the Mother Road, from nuclear science to uranium mining to nuclear disasters, and how these stories continue to resonate today.

The presentation also offers a preview of themes that will appear in our upcoming short documentary, which will premiere at the New Mexico History Museum on Sunday, August 30, followed by a discussion with community members.

I'd love to have you join us. Please register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zI2uhfrASAKamFUDc64Gog #/registration

Thank you so much to Lynn Cline for inviting me to be her guest today on her excellent podcast Cline's Corner to talk about the Route 66 Exhibit and its next stop in Santa Fe at the New Mexico History Museum August 28-30th, my work as a documentarian and my new project about the Atomic Legacy on Route 66! She asks such thoughtful questions... No surprise, as she is a Route 66 expert and editor of "Road to Enchantment: A Century of Route 66 in New Mexico"! Please tune in to the podcast:
https://thepodcastcollaborative.com/view/podcast_discovery_database/entry/48713/ See less

This photo from one of my favorite speaker panels features Edith Hood and Bertha Nez of the Red Water Pond Community Navajo Nation and author Sharon Niederman whose voices remind us that the history of the Mother Road is personal, complex, and still unfolding.
At the Route 66 Centennial Traveling Exhibit's next stop at the New Mexico History Museum, we'll debut our new short documentary on the 1979 Church Rock Nuclear Disaster and host a special panel discussion exploring its lasting impact on Navajo communities and the broader legacy of the atomic age along Route 66.
I hope you'll join us for this special weekend at the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, August 28–30. Read more here:
https://ladailypost.com/route-66-centennial-traveling-exhibit-continues-statewide-tour-in-santa-fe-with-expanded-experience-aug-28-30/