Will NM Governor-Elect Deb Haaland Wear These Hood Museum-Commissioned Boots One More Time?

Susan B. Apel from ArtfulNov 5, 2026

Will NM Governor-Elect Deb Haaland Wear These Hood Museum-Commissioned Boots One More Time?

And, the new Voice of Boston has been chosen just minutes ago, and it’s. . . .

Nov 5

Deb Haaland, a former Secretary of the Interior, was just elected to be Governor of New Mexico, the first Native American to hold that office. A few years ago, in “These Boots, This Land,” I wrote about her and a pair of boots that had appeared in an exhibition at the Hood Museum at Dartmouth. Here are some excerpts from that blog post of 2022:

“THIS LAND: AMERICAN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE NATURAL WORLD.”

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Created by fashion designer and artist Jamie Okuma, these boots (photo, top) were commissioned by the Hood. Titled “Peep,” this work of art honors a California scrub jay of the same name who became part of Okuma’s family after it made its way to the artist’s childhood home and stubbornly refused to return to the wild. Peep shared the family’s life and home for 26 years.

Deb Haaland, U.S. Secretary of the Interior. (Public domain photo via WikiCommons)

That might be story enough, but there’s more. These glass beaded boots took an unexpected detour on their journey from the artist’s hands to their destined home at the Hood Museum. Deb Haaland, current Secretary of the Interior and the first Native American cabinet Secretary, wore the boots for an interview with InStyle Magazine. Jami Powell, curator of Indigenous art at the Hood, reveals how this came to be in this short video (click here), with a link also to the InStyle article and stunning photo shoot in Washington DC, where Haaland was dressed in clothing by Native American designers and some items of her own.

Perhaps it is just my imagination, but wouldn’t it be lovely if Governor-elect Haaland would wear these boots again, this time in gubernatorial style?

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The Voice of Boston at Logan Airport. And the winner is . . . You might have caught my post yesterday, (here), or read about it in today’s Daybreak. The winner of the 6000-entries contest to find the new (non-rhotic) voice for public announcements at Logan Airport is Chris Donisi, a pipefitter from Arlington, MA. You can meet him right here (video, top of screen). You can expect to hear him if you are traveling through Logan, beginning this holiday season.

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On a different note: I am repeating the mention of —Film shorts. Climate Future Film Festival: Chapter 2 Monday, 11/9 @ 6 pm, Loew Auditorium (Black Family Visual Arts Center at Dartmouth). More info about the films and a trailer at the hyperlink above. Admission is free but registration (click here) is preferred.

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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, Next Avenue, Image Magazine, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.