Margarita Time: What is Cinco de Mayo?
This Friday, May 5, 2023, marks the 161st anniversary of Cinco de Mayo. Why do we celebrate with a Margarita or Corona or Modelo Negro? More than party time, Cinco de Mayo is an important event in U.S. history, and not so much for Mexico. Read on to find out more. First of all, it’s […]
An Immigrant to Mexico, Not an Ex-Pat
This year, I will live in North Carolina for only a few weeks. I will be here to vote. That is mostly why I bought my apartment condo in Downtown Durham, though you could say I could vote absentee ballot. But to do that, you need a permanent address. A post office box will not […]
Seriously, On The Mexico-US Border
Seeing Rachel Maddow in tears compelled me to action yesterday. I called and emailed both my Senators Burr and Tillis (R). I made donations to legal defense funds. I live in North Carolina where gerrymandering has determined national elections. I want to think of these representatives as people of good will with an ethical, compassionate […]
Being a Oaxaca Host: Lessons for People and Nations
My friend Debbie from North Carolina came to visit me in Oaxaca this week. It was a fast three nights and two-and-a-half days. We packed a lot in as the news of the world was (and continues to) unfolding, raging, tangling itself up around us. I wanted to show her my world here. Archeological sites. […]
Oaxaca Women’s Sister March: Taking a Stand for Mexico
We can’t stand by and do nothing, is the sentiment expressed by women around the world who are supporting the Women’s March on Washington, this Saturday, January 21. There are over 600 marches scheduled worldwide, including 15 in Mexico. It’s the same here in Oaxaca, Mexico. We can’t stand by and do nothing. Engage Oaxaca […]
Mexican Immigrants Help North Carolina Friends Dig Out, Clean Up After Hurricane Matthew
I got this message today from dear friends who live near the tributaries of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. The important note is that they are safe, and that they could employ Mexican immigrants (we don’t ask if they have papers) to help them dig out. THANK YOU, to the Mexicans who travel […]
The Latino Comics Expo @Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California
After hiking the wetlands trails of Bolsa Chica (little purse) Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach along the Pacific Ocean, my son decided we should take in some local culture at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in nearby Long Beach. What’s there? The Latino Comics Expo to celebrate it’s 5th anniversary at MOLAA, age 20. […]
Women Weavers in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca: Part One
Recently, I spent the day with a University of Michigan, public policy and economic development researcher, who asked me to introduce her to the Zapotec weaving culture of Teotitlan del Valle. Her expertise is India. Now, she is exploring how India and Mexico intersect and diverge in their support of artisans, particularly weavers. During our […]
Photo Story: Confiscated From Immigrants at the U.S. Border
Feature Shoot highlights the things that the U.S. Border and Customs Patrol confiscates from immigrants crossing over between Mexico and the United States. Photographer Thomas Kiefer and former janitor collected soap, t-shirts, rosaries, and more and then captured them. The mundane tells a story. Thanks to my friend Janet Fish for sharing. This had a […]
Tlacolula Market Christmas Preview: Oaxaca Glitters
I grew up in Tinseltown. My memory is imprinted with pink, blue and white flocked Christmas trees for sale on pop-up corner lots along Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. Glitter was not only reserved for Hollywood. Garlands of sparkling silver ropes and plastic poinsettias could make any California dream of snowmen […]
Levine Museum of the New South Features Oaxaca Cultural Navigator Photo
The Levine Museum of the New South opens NUEVOlution! Latinos and the New South on Friday, September 25, 2015, in Charlotte, North Carolina. It can be seen until October 30, 2016. After that, the interactive, bilingual exhibition will travel throughout the United States starting with the Birmingham (AL) Civil Rights Institute and the Atlanta (GA) History […]
Update: How to get a visitor’s visa to come to the U.S. from Mexico
As many of you know, it is not easy for family members to come to the United States for a visit. In fact, it’s almost impossible. I get lots of questions from readers about how to get a visa for a mother, grandfather, brother or sister to come for a visit based on two posts […]
Sunrise From New Mexico and California Berries
On a pre-dawn Wednesday this week, I was on a plane from Albuquerque to Denver with a connection to San Francisco. It was dark at take-off. The lights of the city sparkled against the black desert that met obscure sky. On the vast horizon I could see shapes of mountains and the lights of Santa […]
One Day in Capulalpam de Mendez: Oaxaca’s Pueblo Magico
High in Oaxaca’s Sierra Juarez, the mountain range to the east of Oaxaca city that borders the state of Veracruz, nestles Capulalpam de Mendez, one of Mexico’s Pueblo Magicos. The village is terraced into the mountainside and the views are breathtaking. Indeed, the altitude can take your breath away at almost 8,000 feet (2,350 meters, […]
Social Justice and Migrant Stories: I Have a Name
I Have a Name has a website. Writer Robert Adler and photographer Tom Feher have embarked on a project to document and personalize the stories of people who seek a better life in the United States. These are the invisible, the undocumented, the nameless, the ones who hide in the shadows, are fearful of discovery. […]
About Immigration, “The Girl” Movie Opens This Weekend, Filmed in Oaxaca
Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez from Democracy Now interview independent film maker David Riker and award-winning Australian actress Abbie Cornish who made a movie about what it means to be involved in the human trafficking of undocumented immigrants who do America’s work. The Girl is an intimate story that reminds us that Mexicans and Central […]
Oaxaca Center Shelters Migrants
The migratory route for people from southern Mexico and Central America comes through Oaxaca, explains Melissa Harrison who is doing a year of volunteer work here at COMI El Centro de Orientacion del Migrante de Oaxaca. Melissa, pictured on the right along with Xindy Li and Lair Martinez, finished her degree from The New School […]
Why Learning Spanish Makes You Smarter
Learning a second language like Spanish or any other language for that matter, makes the brain nimble! according to psychologists and language researchers. I liked this article published in The New York Times, March 18, 2012. Studies show that learning a foreign language as an adult will stave off dementia and Alzheimer’s. It’s like exercise for […]
El Grito and Mexico’s Independence Day: Viva Mexico!
I just finished reading Diversity Inc.’s short timeline associated with Hispanic Heritage Month. It begins with the “discovery” of the Americas by Christopher Columbus (Cristobal Colon) in 1492. Is it a coincidence that Hispanic Heritage Month overlaps with Mexican Independence Day? And what about the definitions of “Hispanic” and “Latino/a”? Are there new insights about […]
Pinatas Galore Plus Great Shopping at Mexican Market “La Cumplidora” in Sanford, NC
Drive by window-shopping is my weakness. I was on my way to meet professor Robin Greene, who leads our Oaxaca Women’s Creative Writing and Yoga Retreat: Lifting Your Creative Voice, at our mid-way breakfast diner in Sanford, NC. Almost there, and I noticed some pretty remarkable, huge pinatas hanging in a store front on the […]
Give Thanks to Latino/a Labor on U.S. Labor Day
Participate in the Facebook Event: Give Thanks to Latino/a Labor on Labor Day Today I’m picking weeds in my garden, getting ready for a big Labor Day shebang that Stephen is preparing for in our North Carolina yard. Sweat is streaming from my brow, dripping onto the earth, and after an hour I have to take […]
Mexican Immigration Heartbreak: Catch 22
Earlier this week I was visiting friends in Morganton and Valdese, NC, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Morganton is fortunate. It has a chicken plant that is still operating. Who are the workers? Latino/a immigrants. No one else wants the job. Morganton is also the home of the deceased, venerable U.S. Senator […]
Witness for Peace in Oaxaca, Mexico: Advocates for Sustainable Agriculture and Immigration Reform
Several days ago, I wrote that Stephen and I were planning to attend a Witness for Peace (WFP) presentation by a U.S. delegation that had just returned from Oaxaca. Nineteen people from across the U.S. ranging in age from 18 to 73 years old, teachers, artists, and advocates participated in this delegation. We did attend […]
Oaxaca Community Museums Are Source of Pride, Attempt to Stem Tide of Outmigration
My friend Bruce lives in Baja, California (Mexico). We are carrying on a correspondence about safety, Oaxaca sights and sounds, and life as gringos in Mexico. He recently sent me the article written below and asked me to comment on it. Here is what I wrote back to him: “Thank you for sending me the […]
Chipil Grows Wild in North Carolina
Jose is with us today helping Stephen in the yard, clearing out the woodshed in preparation for winter, sorting through the detritis of a cluttered garden shed, and making a haul or two or three to the dump. He and his wife just had a new baby boy, his third, three weeks old. They named […]
Visa Update: Injustice Prevails
Our friends in Mexico wrote us a detailed letter this morning about their experience at the U.S. Embassy, what they took with them for supporting documentation to prove they were going to return to Mexico. They took: the last three checking account statements a summary of the family business the paid electric and telephone bills […]
Update: Visa Applicants Must Prove Intent to Return to Home Country
We pursued conversations with Congressman Becerra’s Los Angeles office and were very satisfied with their response. At least we better understood that there is little that can be done after the embassy makes a decision to deny a visitor visa. The congressman’s office has no jurisdiction and cannot influence a decision and even a call […]
Hillary Clinton, Where Are You? Why Are Mexicans Denied U.S. Visitor Visas?
We have been round and round the explanation merry-go-round with Congressman Xavier Becerra’s office in Los Angeles. Our friends from Oaxaca, for whom we provided letters of support and guaranteed their return back to Mexico were denied visas to come to the U.S. to visit their family and attend a brother’s wedding in Santa Ana. […]
Among the Zapotecs of Mexico, National Geographic 1927
We bought National Geographic DVDs from the 1920’s to the 1960’s at a garage sale a couple of years ago and just got around to looking at the table of contents, to discover there was an article written by Herbert Covey in 1927 with photos of Teotitlan del Valle, our village. I was eager to […]
Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, in California
Teotitecos emigrate and settle where their friends and relatives have gone before them. For most, the intention is to go for a few years, find good work, make some money, send it home, and then return. I’ve often asked myself, When is the point of no return? Meanwhile, Teotitecos have been in California for decades […]