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Birthday Fiesta

Sunday, June 17th, 2007

Even though my birthday was last wednesday, I had preferred to stay in the zocalo to watch the June 14 commemoration. So last night I picked up friends Sharon and Max and we went to Mica and Bardo’s for cena (afternoon meal eaten at 4pm). Sharon brought a gift of a big jar of chopped garlic from Sam’s Club for Mica as the garlic cloves here are tiny and labor intensive to peel. Max brought a gallon of helado (ice cream.)

I had requested Mica’s shrimp sauteed in olive oil, chili, tomato salsa, garlic, oregano and the juice of oranges…cooled and eaten with fingers…heads and all. mmmm! We also had a juicy mixture of tuna, tomato, chili, garlic and I don’t know what all…wrapped in a flour tortilla and sauteed…also eaten with fingers. mmmm. We all ended up muy satisfecha (satisfied) and muy lleno (full). Mica had bought a chocolate cake soaked in rum with strawberries and my name written on top. We decided six candles were sufficient…I am 63 now. (Wow, how did that happen? Sounds old!) They didn’t even push my face in the cake…mordida…the price you pay for the fiesta…or cake…or your birthday? But they did sing a very long birthday song in Spanish. I felt like a very respected third-ager (last third of your life-span) and very celebrated.

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Just For Fun

Friday, June 15th, 2007

Meri and Mary Rain, volunteers at the Casa de los Amigos where Barbara and I stayed in Mexico City came to visit me this week. They were great fun and kept me company on my birthday as we sat in the zocalo to watch the march and commemoration activities of the June 14, 2006 police attack. Mary Rain, incidentally, is from Oregon and will begin a graduate program in urban planning & community development at Portland State in August. Meri will take a consulting position in San Francisco with the Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit providing leading-edge management strategies, tools and talent to help other nonprofits and foundations achieve greater social impact.

After siesta yesterday, we spent the evening with Mica and Bardo and a Zapotec weaver from Xachilla and one of his 10 young sons. Over mescal, beer, tacos and ranchero songs, and many laughs, Meri and Mary Rain inspired them with their fluent Spanish to expound on Uses & Custumbres, village life and Mexican politics. Bardo, baracho by this time, kept getting Meri and Mary Rain (who calls herself Lluvia…Spanish for rain) mixed up so Meri solved the problem this way:

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Anyway, Meri turned me on to this web site:

Guy named Matt dances a goofy dance all over the world.

From “About Matt” on his website:
[read on]

June 14 Symbolic Strike

Monday, June 11th, 2007
On June 14, this thursday, there will be a megamarch at 10:00 am (daylight savings time) from the crucero of the aeropuerto to the zocalo. There will be a symbolic strike encampment in the zocalo, the teachers say 10% of their ... [Continue reading this entry]

Mexico City

Friday, June 8th, 2007
When Barbara and I were in Mexico City last week it almost felt as if the resistance had moved to that city. We stayed in a Quaker guesthouse about two blocks behind the Monument To The Revolution. A ... [Continue reading this entry]

Heading Off Another Year Of Unrest?

Monday, May 28th, 2007
This morning's news...for the benefit of the English-speaking reader... El Universal Lunes 28 de mayo de 2007 High ranking judge calls for inquiry Federal, state and municipal authorities committed grave violations against fundamental civil rights during the Oaxaca conflict that began in May 2006, ... [Continue reading this entry]

An Old Friend Visits

Sunday, May 27th, 2007
My friend Barbara and I hitch-hiked Europe the summer of 1965. Then I didn't see her for thirty years. Then I found her on google about ten years ago...living 30 minutes from my house in Oregon. She ... [Continue reading this entry]

Abastos Market

Friday, May 18th, 2007
DSC_0155.JPG Yesterday Sharon and I went shopping for furniture for her new digs when we came across this tired fruit vendor who had probably been up before sun-up. Sharon is moving from a third-floor bird's-nest apartment ... [Continue reading this entry]

URO Visits The Zocalo

Friday, May 18th, 2007
DSC_0171.JPG Last tuesday the teachers kicked off their usual June strike with a march to the Zocalo. It was pretty low key with teachers entering in small groups and with a few speeches and songs in ... [Continue reading this entry]

“Oaxacans Like To Work Bent Over”

Tuesday, May 15th, 2007
This is the title of a paper issued this month by Seth Holmes with an M.D. from the University of California at San Francisco, and a Ph.D. in cultural and medical anthropology from UCSF and U.C. Berkeley. His paper, "'Oaxacans ... [Continue reading this entry]

Thousands Bare All In Mexico City

Monday, May 7th, 2007
18,000 people disrobed (from a distance) in the Zocalo in Mexico City. PH2007050601154.jpg Photo Washington Post by Claudio Cruz -- Associated Press

Worker’s Day May 1

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007
International Workers Day is traditionally a big holiday in Mexico with workers getting the day off to celebrate. Oaxaca had a huge march...thousand walking to and out of the Zocalo. The APPO contingent showed up about noon...a few ... [Continue reading this entry]

Wages

Monday, April 30th, 2007
May Day is coming up. An op-ed piece was printed in the Oaxaca Noticias daily newspaper criticizing the employment practices of WalMart and VIPS. I and many expats here usually tip 20% to help make up for their ... [Continue reading this entry]

This Side Of The Border Problem

Friday, April 27th, 2007
Oaxaca is Mexico's second poorest state with many mountain villages nearly empty of working age men. But over half of the poco English speaking men I have talked to have said they learned the language by working on the East ... [Continue reading this entry]

Black In Mexico

Thursday, April 26th, 2007
Until 1650 there were more African slaves in Mexico than anywhere else in the Americas. Until 1810 there were more Africans living in Mexico than Spaniards. (From Bobby Vaughn's dissertation "Race and Nation: A Study of Blackness in Mexico" ... [Continue reading this entry]

Making Tejate

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007
Tejate is a rich frothy drink that is famous in Oaxaca. You get hooked on it. Labor intensive, it is made with criollo corn boiled in wood ash and ground and mixed with toasted and ground mamey seeds, ... [Continue reading this entry]

International Driving

Sunday, April 22nd, 2007
Don't know if it's just Oaxaca or maybe it's the whole of Mexico. However, my dentist says that drivers in Oaxaca are worse than in Mexico City! But in Xalapa they were ever so polite...big fines meted out ... [Continue reading this entry]

Arrazola & Zaachila

Friday, April 20th, 2007
Charly and I took the long way around to Arrazola about 10 miles south of Oaxaca City where copal wood Alebrijas are made...the most famous craft in Oaxaca. Most of the pieces are carved out of one piece of ... [Continue reading this entry]

Xalapa Veracruz

Tuesday, April 17th, 2007
About 5 miles from Cuatapec, Charly and I caught the annual Xalapa (pronounced halapa) Fair the night before we took the comfortable 1st class bus back to Oaxaca. A small nino was earnestly helping his mom set up her display ... [Continue reading this entry]

Cuatepec Veracruz

Monday, April 16th, 2007
A designated "Magic City" the signs say. About 5 miles from Xalapa Veracruz NE of Oaxaca on the east coast of Mexico, I wouldn't say it was exactly "magic" but this pueblo of about 4000 people was certainly charming. ... [Continue reading this entry]

God Help Oaxaca

Sunday, April 15th, 2007
On April 11, in a speech memorializing the 88th anniversary of the death of Mexican hero Emiliano Zapata, a leader of the teachers union, Pedro Matias affirmed that the month of May 2007 will bring a series of mobilizations which ... [Continue reading this entry]

Anniversary of Death Of Zapata Today

Tuesday, April 10th, 2007
Emiliano_Zapata.jpg Emiliano Zapata (August 8, 1879 – April 10, 1919) was born to Gabriel Zapata and Cleofas Salazar in the small central state of Morelos, in the village of Anenecuilco (modern-day Ayala municipality). He was of mixed ... [Continue reading this entry]

AP Correspondent Romero Fired But Damage Done

Friday, April 6th, 2007
Those of us who have been living here through the teacher strike have been yelling our heads off about the misreporting of Rebeca Romero on the Associated Press Wire Service that were picked up by local media throughout the United ... [Continue reading this entry]

Hail In Oaxaca!

Saturday, March 31st, 2007
It was hot as hell today...stayed home and worked on the video footage of a Tajate demonstration of Mica's mother yesterday. Then at 6pm this! Actually we got hail when I was here last June too... mexico32_019_2.jpg[Continue reading this entry]

Tranquilo Oaxaca?

Wednesday, March 28th, 2007
On Monday morning March 26, I went to my dentist appointment. The dentist was 45 minutes late. She explained there was a taxi strike and she had had to walk to work. The dust in this country is ... [Continue reading this entry]

Dual Pricing

Tuesday, March 27th, 2007
Found a hilarious travel article on Bootnall today about the luxury tax...or dual pricing for foreigners as it is called: The Luxury Tax - Asia, Europe, South America By: Adam Jeffries Schwartz The following is a guide to how the luxury tax is ... [Continue reading this entry]

Atenco Foreshadowed Oaxaca

Monday, March 26th, 2007
A brutal repression and massacre of resistors by federal and state police in the small city of Atenco, 15 miles south of Mexico City, in May of 2006, foreshadowed the repression that was to follow June through November 2006 in ... [Continue reading this entry]

Taco Surprise

Friday, March 23rd, 2007
Yesterday, after a leisurely visit over coffee at the Nueva Mundo coffee shop in the Centro with Sharon, I drove out to Plaza del Valle, past the University, to Oaxaca City's northern style shopping plaza which is newish...built within the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Straight Talk From New Mexican Ambassador

Friday, March 23rd, 2007
Mexican Envoy Highly Critical of U.S. Role in Anti-Drug Effort By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 23, 2007; Page A11 The United States has contributed "zilch" to Mexico's efforts to combat the nations' joint problem with criminal narcotics gangs, Mexico's new ... [Continue reading this entry]

Where Are The Bracero Payments?

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007
The "braceros" were a huge group of Mexicans allowed into the United States on special work visas between 1942 and 1964 to allow Mexican workers to replace Americans who had entered WWII. Most of the braceros worked in agriculture but ... [Continue reading this entry]

Family of Brad Will To Visit Oaxaca

Sunday, March 18th, 2007
Family of Murdered Independent Journalist Brad Will to Visit Mexico City and Oaxaca According to a press release issued by the family of Bradley Roland Will, the independent US photojournalist shot and killed last October 27th in Oaxaca, they will visit ... [Continue reading this entry]

Watching Calderon

Sunday, March 18th, 2007
"I know I am running risks, confronting strong forces," he said on the presidential jet. "But I think the key to life is to live it intensely." He is making many promises as did Fox. And no mention of taxes. We'll ... [Continue reading this entry]

Largest Drug Raid in History…in Mexico

Saturday, March 17th, 2007
The LA Times reports today from MEXICO CITY — Authorities confiscated more than $200 million in U.S. currency from methamphetamine producers in one of this city's ritziest neighborhoods, they said Friday, calling it the largest drug cash seizure in history. The ... [Continue reading this entry]

Where Are The “Disappeared?”

Saturday, March 17th, 2007
Latest news in Oaxaca: The Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos, CNDH has formally confirmed that the "violence" in Oaxaca was carried out by the ministerial, state and federal police troops, thereby agreeing with the complaints of the APPO regarding violations ... [Continue reading this entry]

Zocalo At Night

Saturday, March 17th, 2007
Intimidating, the Governor thought the tourists would feel safer with them there...among other political reasons. Gone from the Zocalo are the PFP with their menacing night sticks and bullet-proof vests and their rifles and sidearms...for shooting and for tear gas. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tlacalula Again

Friday, March 16th, 2007
When Jennifer got in the car she looked at me and asked if I used to go to the Beanery coffee house in Salem where she worked at one time. Of course I had. Michael and Jennifer from Portland Oregon ... [Continue reading this entry]

Violence “Worries” The Pope

Saturday, March 10th, 2007
Today’s big headline in the Oaxaca Noticias says Preocupa al Papa la violencia en Oaxaca (The violence in Oaxaca worries the Pope). Oh, really?

Protesting Donald Trump With Poise

Saturday, March 10th, 2007
More on the beauty pageant to be staged at Monte Alban: Auditions to be Held April 18 in New York City Toward a Protest with Poise Aimed at Donald Trump and NBC By Cha-Cha Connor Spokesmodel, Popular Assembly of Models for Oaxaca "In solidarity ... [Continue reading this entry]

10th Oaxaca MegaMarch

Saturday, March 10th, 2007
Maria and I missed the 10th Megamarch in observance of International Women's Day March 8. Probably just as well because Maria is mega cautious. Instead, we went to Teotitlan again in search of rugs for her daughter.

Slim’s Pickings in Mexico

Friday, March 9th, 2007
My Mexican cell phone air time is astronomically expensive. My Mexican friends have resorted to text-messaging...a few pesos cheaper than calls. The TV stations are controlled by one man...and the news they give by the government. Wonder ... [Continue reading this entry]

Mescal And Lamb With Consumme

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007
10am Sunday morning, one of the mescal vendors at the Tlacalula Market latched onto Maria and I with a dozen sample cups of mescal..from Mango Crema to the rare Tuvala Agave...after which we made an imperative beeline to the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Graffiti At IAGO Library

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007
Internationally renowned painter, Francisco Toledo, has approved the use of his IAGO art library and the Alvarez Bravo museum for many things-from conferences on the current situation-to the future of Oaxaca. The latest daring move is the recreation on ... [Continue reading this entry]

Arrest Of NYU Professor

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007
He was picked up outside the “Curtaduria," a space for arts and performance in the next-door barrio of Jalatlaco. Last week, a professor of German citizenship from New York University was arrested, photographed, finger-printed and interrogated by elements of the State ... [Continue reading this entry]

Monte Alban & The Miss Universe Contest

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007
I had worked with my friend Maria, psychologist & nurse practitioner, for some ten years in Oregon. On Saturday February 24 she arrived for a ten day visit with me. I have been leading her all over Oaxaca ... [Continue reading this entry]

Protestor In The Zocalo Fountain

Tuesday, March 6th, 2007
Last Friday Ana and Steve saw a man take off his clothes down to his shorts and climb into one of the fountains in the Zocalo. I got a call from Ana: "Eunice get down here with your ... [Continue reading this entry]

Contemplating Going “Home”

Friday, February 23rd, 2007
I was quickly stopped by a policeman. "Have you been drinking? Have you been smoking pot? Your eyes are all red! Then he made me stand, in high heels, on one foot and count to forty. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Following Trouble?

Wednesday, February 21st, 2007
Good grief! Either I am following trouble around the world or trouble is following me! First a violent demonstration on a university campus in Istanbul...then the tsunami in Thailand...then the coup in Thailand...then the subway strike in ... [Continue reading this entry]

Solitude In The Sierra Norte

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007
In search of a little alone time yesterday, I drove 40 miles (but two hours) north of Oaxaca City up into lush, pine-clad crests descending deep into river canyons to the Sierra Juarez, the birth-land of Benito Juarez, Oaxaca's beloved ... [Continue reading this entry]

Wedding In Teotitlan del Camino

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007
My friend Bardo is from Teotitlan del Camino near the Puebla border and his parents, three brothers and a sister still live there. Bardo's father, Don Bardo, a furniture maker, and Dona Mari raised six children in their big open-air ... [Continue reading this entry]

CoCo’s Cantina

Saturday, February 17th, 2007
The last time Max partook of his Brandy Presses at Cocos, a working man's bar with classic swinging louvered half-doors near his apartment, he met with an altercation with a burly self-professed "communist" Mexican who insisted on appropriating Max's drink. ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Looming Tower

Thursday, February 15th, 2007
Have recently finished the acclaimed "The Looming Tower" by Lawrence Wright which is a history of Islamic radical fundamentalism beginning in the 1930's and 40's and ending with the bombing of the World Trade Center. Including the ridiculous and ... [Continue reading this entry]