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Adan Carriaga carves a detail on a bulto in 2005. He started carving wood at age 10, crafting likenesses of Frankenstein that he sold for $10 in Old Town. (Tina Larkin/Albuquerque Journal)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A few months before Albuquerque High School’s Class of 1975 graduated and said goodbye to the halcyon days of youth and each other, we crowded together on the gym bleachers for the traditional group photo.
Holding court at the top of the bleachers were the cocky jocks, studs and stars of school.
Adan Carriaga was not among them.
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He could have been. At Bulldog City, he was the golden boy with glints of gold in his hair. He was the heartthrob, a popular party boy who ascended the social hierarchy summit as a 6-foot-3 basketball standout at a school where basketball is a religion.