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 […]
Another Promised Land: Anita Brenner’s Mexico at the Skirball Center, Los Angeles
Once the dust of Mexico settles on your heart, you will have no rest in any other land. On September 13, I joined Patrice Wynne and Gloria Orenstein at the Skirball Cultural Center in West Los Angeles for a curator-led preview tour of this landmark exhibition, Another Promised Land: Anita Brenner’s Mexico. The exhibition runs […]
Where are you from? Where are you going? Oaxaca, Mexico. Durham, North Carolina.
Yesterday was a long travel day to get from Oaxaca, Mexico, to Durham, North Carolina. On the early morning flight from Oaxaca to Mexico City, I met Carina Pacheco from San Pablo Villa de Mitla, Oaxaca. She was on her way to Cabo San Lucas where the family has a shop that sells famous Mitla […]
From Oaxaca, Mexico: Feliz Fiestas y Navidad, Merry Holidays, Chag Sameach
Wishing you all the blessings of peace, contentment, safety and good health at this joyous time of year when we think of renewal, looking beyond the Winter Solstice as the earth turns, the days grow longer and all is well in the land. We are dormant now. Slower. More thoughtful, perhaps. In ancient cultures our […]
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 […]
No Plan to Live in Mexico: How I Got Here
The best plan might be NOT to have a plan. I spent my working life doing goals and objectives, setting annual plans and then evaluating whether I met those targets. They became part of my annual performance review. Yet, the serendipity of how my personal life progressed was never a conscious decision. Sometimes I felt […]
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. […]
Que Supresa! Oaxaca in San Diego, California
As I drive south from my son’s home in Huntington Beach, California, on my way to visit Barbara and David, and dear friend Merry Foss in San Diego, I marvel at how the landscape looks like Mexico, how the climate feels like Mexico. Except there is development everywhere, new houses, shopping centers, freeway congestion. Infrastructure. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Working From Home Has New Meaning: From Oaxaca to North Carolina and Back Again
This blog post is about work, working from home, retirement, immigration reform, and travel on the secluded Oaxaca coast. A hodgepodge. You haven’t heard from me much in the past few weeks and I admit I have been remiss in writing and blog posting. I left Oaxaca at the end of April for the luxury […]
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 […]
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 […]
Cultural Preservation & Sustainable Tourism
The artists and artisans of Oaxaca depend upon tourism for their livelihood. Now, almost two years after the APPO “troubles” tourists are beginning to come back to Oaxaca and that is very good. But there are still too few tourists and the economy is hard hit. The troubles hit the villages hard even though they […]