The Controlled Environment Agriculture program is hosting a series of free lunchtime talks featuring visiting professors from Croatia, who wil talk about Aquaculture. Everyone is welcome to bring their lunch and enjoy the presentations.

Upcoming seminars at noon in Room 815

• Tuesday, February 3, Sustainable Aquaculture
• Thursday, February 5, Designing Aquaponic/RAS systems

SFCC and AARP Foundation® Tax-Aide announce they will offer in-person tax assistance and preparation by appointment. AARP Foundation Tax-Aide is the nation’s largest free tax assistance and preparation service. The services are provided by volunteers from the community. Appointments can be made now at https://www.sfcc.edu/taxaide.

Yvette Varela, the local coordinator of AARP Foundation® Tax-Aide Program said, “We’re excited to partner again with Santa Fe Community College to offer this free service through the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide. This year we will be offering Saturday morning appointments from 8 to 11 a.m. in addition to the Monday through Friday appointments from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tax preparation services are being offered in English and Spanish in classrooms near the spacious Campus Center.”

Appointments are required. Make an appointment at https://www.sfcc.edu/taxaide. Appointments, which are expected to fill quickly, will be available from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday beginning Monday, February 2 and ending Wednesday, April 15. Individuals who do not have internet access or those who need more information, please call 505-428-1780 during tax appointment hours.

AARP Foundation® Tax-Aide Fast Facts

Appointments: Required and can be made at https://www.sfcc.edu/taxaide.

Where: Rooms 408 and 410 in SFCC main building (near Campus Center) 6401 Richards Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508

Dates: Monday, February 2 through Wednesday, April 15

Days and times available: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday

Cost: Free

Phone: 505-428-1780 during tax appointment hours

Please Note: Individual appointments must be made for each member of a household or group that is filing a return. For taxpayers who are married and filing jointly, both individuals must be present to sign documents. Exceptions may be made only when a spouse is unable to be present due to health issues.

What you need to bring:

• Prior year return
• Driver’s License or State ID of the primary filers
• Social Security Card or ITIN Letters for all taxpayers and dependents
• Social Security and other income documents: 1099SSA, W-2s; 1099’s for retirement income or self-employment; interest, dividend, capital gains or brokerage statements; Unemployment (form 1099-G); gambling wins (form W2-G and related loss documentation)
• Bank information (routing and account numbers) for direct deposit or direct debit
• Individuals eligible for State/County Rebates or Credits– bring 2025 property tax bill(s) or rent information, and other household income
• Supporting documents for itemized deductions or credits: childcare, college, or vocational training information (1098-T), medical expenses not covered by insurance (no over-the-counter or medical cannabis expenses) – including mileage, charity donations, property tax bills or receipts and mortgage interest paid
• Self-employed Income and Expenses Documentation: 1099 NEC or other income, employment related expenditures, and business mile documentation.
• Be Well New Mexico or other Market Place Insurance documents (1095A)
• IRS Identity Theft PIN (IPPIN) letter for taxpayers and/or dependents

The AARP Foundation® TAX-AIDE program cannot prepare returns that include:

• Married individuals who file separately
• Rental income
• Self-employment returns with expenses of more than $50,000 or more, home office deduction, employees, inventory, operating loss or insurance with Be Well NM (Form 1095A)
• Royalty income with associated expenses; Solar Credits; or Casualty Losses
• Some special tax forms – check with the site volunteers

Some New Tax Law Changes:

• Federal: Qualified employees may be eligible for non-taxation of tip and overtime income – please use the worksheets below to gather information and determine eligibility.
• Federal: You may qualify for an interest deduction for purchasing a new vehicle that meets federal requirements – please use the worksheet (available for download at https://www.sfcc.edu/taxaide or pick-up on site in advance of appointment).
• State: Qualified medical expenses will no longer be used for reduction of taxable income, they can only be used if you can itemize your deductions.

The following forms will be available at the tax preparation site, or you may download the forms at https://www.sfcc.edu/taxaide:

• 2025 Tax-Aide Intake Booklet
• 2025 Itemized Deductions Worksheet
• 2025 Education Credits Worksheet
• 2025 Self-employed Income/Expenses Worksheet
• 2025 Qualified Tip Deduction Worksheet
• 2025 Qualified Tip Deduction Worksheet for Self-Employed
• 2025 Qualified Overtime Deduction Worksheet
• 2025 Qualified Passenger Vehicle Loan Interest Worksheet
• 2025 Tax-Aide Intake Booklet
• 2025 Itemized Deductions Worksheet
• 2025 Education Credits Worksheet
• 2025 Self-employed Income/Expenses Worksheet
• 2025 Qualified Tip Deduction Worksheet
• 2025 Qualified Tip Deduction Worksheet for Self-Employed
• 2025 Qualified Overtime Deduction Worksheet
• 2025 Qualified Passenger Vehicle Loan Interest Worksheet

Santa Fe Community College’s Library and Creative Writing program present the free online Spring 2026 Writing Generation (Wri-Gen) Series beginning Feb. 18 led by esteemed authors. Each author will read at an introductory session. In a follow-up Zoom meeting the author will engage the participants in a writing exercise/creative session. Attendees can go to any of the sessions by registering just once at  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SFCCWriGenSpring26. The sessions begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and will feature these writers: Jamie Figueroa (Feb. 18 reading; Feb. 25 creative session), Swati Avasthi (March 18 reading; March 25 creative session) and Ramona Emerson (Apr. 22 reading; Apr. 29 creative session).

At the end of the semester participants will have an opportunity to share their work during the final Zoom session on May 6. Registrants will receive a Zoom link via email the morning of each event.

SFCC Library Director Valerie Nye and SFCC professor of English and Creative Writing Austin Eichelberger are coordinating the free Writing Generation Series, which began in Spring 2024.

Nye said, “As a librarian, I love seeing people discover their voices through this series. The Wri-Gen Series invites participants into a welcoming, creative space where they can learn from authors, respond to prompts, and build confidence in their writing. The closing reading each semester is always moving and memorable.”

Eichelberger added, “These events are about giving people space and inspiration to write. We’re excited to offer this series that gives the online community an opportunity to engage with creative writers while developing their own voices.”

The public is welcome to attend one or all sessions. Since the Wri-Gen series began more than 100 people have attended the free online sessions.

Jamie Figueroa

• Reading: 6 p.m. February 18
• Creative Session: 6 p.m. February 25

Bio: Jamie Figueroa is a critically acclaimed writer whose work interrogates lineage, colonial legacy, and the poetics of place. A passionate storyteller drawn to the sacred, the broken, and the luminous, she believes in the power of story to reclaim, reimagine, and heal—and is most alive when helping others uncover the language of their own truths. With deep roots in her Boricua/Puerto Rican (Afro-Taíno) heritage and a life lived in northern New Mexico, she explores themes of lineage, memory, and cultural reclamation through her writing.

She is the author of the novel Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer (Catapult, 2021), praised by The New York Times Book Review as “a beautifully crafted, poetic book,” and by Publishers Weekly as “brimming with spellbinding prose, magical elements, and wounded, full-hearted characters that nearly jump off the page.” The novel was an Indie Next Pick, longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, shortlisted for the Reading the West Debut Fiction Award, and selected as a Good Morning America Book Club Must-Read. It was also named one of the most anticipated debuts by Electric Literature, The Millions, Bustle, and The Rumpus.

Her genre-defying memoir-in-essays, Mother Island: A Daughter Claims Puerto Rico (Pantheon, 2024), continues her exploration of ancestral memory and cultural reclamation. The book received a starred review from Kirkus and was named one of the Los Angeles Times’ “6 Books to Shake Off Colonialism and Rethink Our Latino Stories.” It has been recognized as one of the most anticipated and essential nonfiction books of 2024 by Ms. Magazine, Elle, SheReads, Lupita Reads, Hispanic Executive, and Latinx Publishing.

Figueroa’s essays and fiction have appeared widely, including in The New York Times, McSweeney’s, Elle, American Short Fiction, Emergence Magazine, Agni, The Boston Review, and Kweli Journal, among others. She wrote her first poem at six, published her first poem as a teenager, and committed fully to a life centered around her writing practice in 1998. A devoted teacher of craft and creative courage, she is on faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts MFA Creative Writing program and has taught in public schools, colleges, community spaces, and universities nationwide since 2010.

A Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA) alum and faculty member, she has received a Truman Capote Award and was named a Bread Loaf Rona Jaffe Scholar. Figueroa also served on the Carol Shields Prize Authors Committee, helping shape one of the most significant literary prizes for women and nonbinary writers of North America for the initial four cycles of the prize.

Figueroa is currently in her third year of doctoral studies in Visionary Practice and Regenerative Leadership at Southwestern College, where the heart of her research is on Creative Sovereignty through the lens of a Cuentista/Curandera. Her work poses a profound question to writers at all stages of their journey: “When you sit down at your desk to write, who owns you?”

Read more about other featured authors in the press release.

For additional information about the series, please contact SFCC Library Director Valerie Nye via email at valerie.nye@sfcc.edu or call 505-428-1506. For more information about SFCC’s Creative Writing program visit https://www.sfcc.edu/programs/creative-writing/.