THIS ESSAY BY CRSF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SORAKAMOL PRAPASIRI WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AS A MY VIEW COLUMN IN THE SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025. IT REFLECTS ON OUR MAYORAL CANDIDATE EDITION OF PECHAKUCHA NIGHT SANTA FE VOL. 27 IN THE NAME OF AND THE PERSONAL CONVERSATIONS THAT UNFOLDED IN ITS WAKE.
This week, I’ve been deeply moved by the warmth, cheers, and messages of appreciation that followed the Mayoral Candidate edition of PechaKucha Night Santa Fe. Hundreds of people have reached out to our team—and shared reflections across social media—about how powerful it was to witness eight mayoral candidates share their personal journeys on the Lensic stage. The true credit belongs to the candidates themselves, who stepped forward with extraordinary vulnerability, and to the hundreds of Santa Feans who received their stories with such care.
At a time when division and othering can feel relentless, what we experienced together last Monday was something rare and beautiful: a civic space where truth could be spoken, discomfort could be witnessed, and humanity could take center stage. Each candidate spoke about what had inspired their path into public service—what had shaped the values that underpin their leadership. They reflected on their own “why” for wanting to become our next mayor.
I’m profoundly grateful to everyone who helped bring this night to life—our partners, volunteers, and community who continue to show up for one another with such heart. Together, we created a space where Santa Feans could meet despite differences and remember our shared commitment to this place we all call home.
Creative Santa Fe exists to make spaces like this possible. Our initiatives and projects are designed to bridge divides and build a more inclusive and vibrant future through creativity and collaboration. The PechaKucha format—twenty slides by twenty seconds each—invites local creatives and changemakers to share the passion and purpose behind their work. Last Monday night, those stories spanned the spectrum of human experience: family, faith, service, struggle, addiction, and joy. Some were lighthearted; others difficult. All were honest.
Working with all of the candidates as their story midwife, I saw that every one of them cares deeply about the well-being of our city and its people. I saw shared threads of resilience—of overcoming adversity and holding onto optimism that things can get better through good leadership and deeper collaboration.
This past week has also been a humbling reminder of how powerful—and how delicate—authentic storytelling can be. In the days since the event, I’ve been in direct conversation with members of our community, including Black Santa Feans who shared how painful it was to hear certain language spoken aloud by a non-Black person, even in the context of a story meant to expose racism. Their pain is real and deserves our care. I’ve also heard from others who shared that some Indigenous community members felt their history was finally being seen and named, and from many who expressed sadness, confusion, and even anger at witnessing a young Black activist tell an Indigenous elder that he could not use the full racial slur when recounting his own lived experience of being assaulted with the word as a young man. And within the Black community itself, several people have voiced discomfort that a public letter was issued as though all Black Santa Feans were in agreement with the activists, when in fact some felt spoken for without their consent.
These reactions, though different, come from the same human place—a longing to be seen, respected, and safe in community. While Creative Santa Fe cannot arbitrate whose pain matters most (indeed none of us can), our work is to keep creating spaces where multiple truths can stand side by side—with accountability and generosity.
All the more poignant, then, that singer-songwriter David Berkeley closed the night with his song “Oh My America,” inviting the audience to join in the chorus:
“Oh my America
Red, White, and Bruised
Please don’t give up on her
And I’ll keep trying too.”
We sang while we cried. The room filled with a collective longing—to keep believing in one another, even when the work is hard.
Belonging does not arise from demand. It is co-created through our willingness to tend the space between us—to seek understanding before critique, and to deliberately choose joy, especially when times are tough, as an act of defiance.
Belonging isn’t a destination but a living practice—one that calls us to meet one another with steady care and curiosity.
The rupture we experienced does not diminish the night—it widens the field of learning before us. Our democracy depends on that widening: on our capacity to meet disagreement with openness, and discomfort with compassion. Because in the end, democracy doesn’t die from difference—it dies from disconnection. When we choose to keep listening, even through discomfort, we strengthen the fragile thread that holds us together. That is the work before us now—to keep showing up for one another with courage and grace.
CREATIVE SANTA FE REMAINS COMMITTED TO CREATING SPACES WHERE TRUTH AND CARE CAN COEXIST, AND WHERE CURIOSITY LEADS TO MEANINGFUL COLLABORATION. TOGETHER, WE CAN KEEP LEARNING OUR WAY FORWARD—TO ONE ANOTHER.
PHOTOS BY MOONLIGHT STUDIOS.