From Xico

A Values Clash -- What Was This All about?

In his book, Cultures and Organizations, Software of the Mind: Intercultural Cooperation and its Importance for Survival, the Dutchman Geert Hofstede suggests that our values are pretty much set in concrete by the time we’re ten years old. And we tend to assume these are the best values. They are not completely immutable and we can learn, but to sum the book up, it’s no wonder cultures and the people in them have problems with each other. As a USAer in Mexico, I am aware that all of us USAers bring blind spots in spite of our best intentions. How could we not? Unfortunately many of these blind spots lead to condescension. Fortunately at least some Mexicans are fully as capable of being condescending in return. That’s the New Yorker in me, this last sentence: the “give as good as you get” solution to problems. A week or so before Christmas, I was standing on line in the Xalapa Costco waiting to pay for my stuff as were a lot of other tired looking shoppers, their carts often filled to overflowing. A girl of about ten with an almost empty cart stood two people ahead of me Suddenly there was a parting of the seas to my right as a woman pushed her cart through the crowd, followed by a boy also pushing a cart, both overflowing. As if the abundance in the cart weren’t enough, the woman had a large expensive dog bed flopping over one arm. The girl moved to one side. The woman kissed her, clucking about how crowded the store was and how glad she was that she’d thought to have her daughter save her a place on line. By now, a lot of people stood behind me, too, so indeed she’d have had a good wait if she’d gotten at the end of it. Slim and expensively dressed in what I’d call cute-chic: form-fitting jeans, a red and white checked shirt, red and white checked high heels a perky hair style and tons of jewelry, she didn’t make it hard for me to decide she was rich. Now I have prejudices against people I assume are super-rich, especially when they wear a lot of obviously not fake gold. And my New York blood, its values coursing through it, boiled over. In New York, when I was growing up, breaking into a line like that, well, I can’t imagine anyone even TRYING to do it the way she did. The only way to successfully break into a line would have been to say something like I’ve got to get this medicine to my grandmother in five minutes or she’ll die. This isn’t to say people are mean: people with full carts often let a lonely soul with nothing but a container of milk in without even be asked to. But this woman was brazen. Our eyes locked. A long, loaded silence. I finally said, “I imagine you have a very important appointment so you had to break in.” “No,” she said. “I just found it convenient to have my daughter save me a space. “ A sort of smile. “Do you have a very important appointment? If you do, I can let you go ahead of me.” No. I said, but some of the people behind me might. We’ve all been waiting some time.” She shrugged and switched to English: elegant, correct English. “They don’t seem to have a problem. Why do you?” “It doesn’t seem fair,” I said somewhat lamely. She just kept smiling at me. Sort off smiling. “You think you are better than the rest of us, don’t you,” I asked. “What does it matter to you? As I said, if you are in a hurry, you can go ahead of me.” And then she was at the cash register, her back turned. End of conversation. No sign from anyone that anything odd had happened, none. The people on line remained enveloped in the world they were with. Frequently people shop in families, so I was actually odd being by myself. The cashiers were friendly and neutral when it was my turn. And I really wished I’d kept my mouth shut. On her way out, the woman turned, looked at me, smiled and waved. So what were people thinking, do you think?

Observations about Mexicans from Our Friend David Town

 I´ve started wondering about cultural differences and similarities between Gringos and Mexicans.  Here are some observations from our friend David Town.  I would REALLY like to know what some of you Mexicans think about us Gringos!  You don't have to sign if you don't want to--Esther

 

2012/1/22 David Town <[email protected]>

David's Discoveries and Eccentric Rules of thumb:(General comments not especially applicable to anyone, in particular, but to everyone)

1. Try not to be or appear to be in a hurry when listening to, talking to, and interacting with Mexicans.

2. Realize that fate and resignation are very important, in Mexico, as are courtesy, humor, and being liberal and gracious with one's time and energy. If upon coming here, Mexico seems more formal than the United States, it is, on numerous levels, but the formality is neither stiff nor stuffy, per se, in my view. It is democratic in that it respects the inherent, intrinsic, and acquired dignity of individuals, transcending class, status, and economics, per se. The matter of courtesy, in my view, is very important-it means that every man and woman is worthy of respect and has dignity. Mexicans, even in business, like to chat and have some personal give and take,before getting to the point, and, remember, in Mexico, the point may not be the point that you are taking for granted or are attempting to deal with, believe me! Ha. I am not being frivolous nor superficial in mentioning this.

3. If truly interested in getting to really know Mexico and the Mexicans, express an interest in their children, their parents, their animals and pets, their grandchildren and their grandparents, dependent on the age level that you are dealing with.

4. If you have problems with pronunciation of words in Spanish, ask people how to say a word, or, to repeat it, slowly, watch them as they speak, develop diplomatic eye contact, don't appear distracted, bored, unattentive, or disinterested. In Mexico, being a good listener is important, and, frankly, multitasking is a part of dialogue and conversation. on more levels, than you would likely assume, upon arrival in Mexico. I fully realize that I am preaching to the choir but I am sharing my ex periences and observations, James and Esther.

5. There are nuances, subtleties, and regional differences one has to learn, become aware of, understand, and master. For example, Eva Adelina, 20,  a member of the family where I live, speaks much more rapidly, in a machine gun style, unlike her two sisters and her parents.

As a result, one might conclude Eva Adelina is brushing you off, is detached, is in a hurry, and is not really interested in you, and, those assumptions, upon knowing her, as time evolves, are absurd. She merely speaks fast as do many people that live on the coast, in Mexico, do, but Eva Adelina has never lived on the coast. In general, people in the mountains or upper plateaus speak more more distinctly than people do in the lowlands. People in Naolinco speak slower than people in Xalapa, Jalapeños speak slower than people in Coatapec, and people in Coatapec speak slower than people, on the coast, or in the port city of Veracruz. These distinctions and nuances are important, socially, culturally, and historically.

6.There are regional and local differences in Mexico, in terms of culture, cuisine, language, social manners, and attitudes, to a greater extent, than in other places. Mexicans in Jalapa and in Coatepec, especially, Catepec eat a lot of potatoes, mashed, in patties, boiled, mashed with salsa and hot sauce. Rice and beans are very common in Xalapa and in Coatepec but, in Coatepec, black beans, while used in restaurants, are eaten less in homes in than in Xalapa. Butter beans, pinto beans, habas, and other dried beans are popular in homes. The hospitality issue: When offered food to sample, a treat, coffee, hot chocolate, tea,  atole, juice, graciously accept the offer because refusealto do indicates rudeness or some might conclude that you think what you have been offered is beneath you.

7. Do not flash your money in public. Years ago, in San Miguel De Allende, I was exchanging dollars for pesos, at a bank, and a Gringo, talking to another Gringo, in my line, said "I always regret trading real money for this crap". Many Mexicans don't understand English but many do, and attacking their currency, whatever the problems of the peso, is tantamount to attacking their sovereignity, is very rude, and I was embarrassed, and remember, this incident, all too vividly, thirty five years,later. Body language and vocal inflections often speak volumes, by the way.

8. It is best not to discuss Mexican politics, in public, and, if you do so,even in private, do so amongst intimates and good friends, because, the truth is, under the Constitution of 1917, still in effect, for foreigners to discuss Mexican politics, in public, can be used asa reason for deporting a foreigner, even if these lawsare rarely enforced, admittedly, they can be, and they have been. What are the reasons for this being a part of the Mexican Constitution? French and United States intervention in Mexico, historically, and the aggressiveness of foreign commercial interests, in Mexico, during most of the nineteenth century, and part of the early twentieth century. Best wishes and warm regards. Godspeed.

As Always,

David G. Town

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David G. Town

 

On Reading in Spanish

A couple of posts ago I wrote about what I might or could know about Mexicans and mentioned that Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz was supposed to offer clues to Mexicanidad.  Since then I have read the whole Laberinto de la solituda of Octavio Paz. In Spanish yet.  Why in Spanish?  We  were brought up with the notion that reading something in the original is better than in translation.  This issue has some relevance to the discussion of foreigness, I think. 

I discovered that (probably to the horror of my Spanish teachers) I could get through reading a fair amount of Spanish by reading English-language mystery stories and bestsellers in Spanish (junk, in other words, I guess.)  The first one I attempted a number of years ago was a John Grisham novel – I can’t remember which one.  Indeed it was eye opening (or ear-opening maybe).  The first thing I noticed was how strange the cadence was.  Grisham´s characters personify the US south.  They don’t have Spanish accents or even a Spanish lilt – EVER.  At that time, I was still pretty awkward in Spanish so I had to look up what seemed like every other word. Doing this led me to realize just how much of a book is in the translator’s hands.  The translation for one word would seem apt to me, for another it wouldn’t.  It is very hard for a translator to find a way to express the author´s culture rather than his own.  Often the flow of the language seems generic, if I can call it that, or more like that on TV. 

Also I realized that as a native English speaker, I was familiar with a wide variety of English without giving it much thought.  Thus, the English of Dickens, of PD James, of Walter Mosely and George Pelikanos doesn’t phase me and more important, tells me something about place and character.   I could pretty much tell a fair amount about the background of authors and characters and where they came from.  I do have trouble with some UK English, I have to confess. For years I had a very hard time making any of these distinctions when I read Spanish.  Spanish slang, which varies from place to place REALLY baffled me.  I could start to tell a few things about writers in Spanish especially the fact that Spanish writers often use longer sentences and more words than current writers in English.  And I actually got to where I could recognize that some writers just weren’t very good.  I got to the point where I thought many Spanish language writers liked William Faulkner,maybe in part because HE liked long, convoluted sentences. I can now kind of tell styles apart: Gabriel Garcia Marquez vs. Carlos Fuentes, for instance.  And I can get absorbed in the stories, too, and make somewhat intelligent comments.

But I persist in reading US bestsellers in Spanish translation.   I read books I have not read in English.  And I think the virtue in doing this lies in reading non-literary Spanish; reading conversational Spanish.  I think this kind of reading is good for everyday Spanish.

At this point, I can kind of overlook the weird Spanishness of translations of PD James, for instance.  I’m not sure how that came to be or whether it has to do with the work itself.  NowI’m reading Aeropuerto by Arthur Hailey in Spanish. If that isn’t a potboiler I don’t know what is. It’s  okay and easy which means I can read a LOT of Spanish at once.  At this point, the Spanish doesn’t make the characters sound misplaced in Chicago.  I suspect partly it’s because Hailey’s English is pretty generic and can be translated into pretty generic Spanish, but this isn’t the whole reason.  I think one’s brain does some shifting from one language to another in terms of shades of accent and tone and so forth as one gains experience.  Reading Spanish works in the original language as a native English speaker raises for me the question of whether indeed it is always better to read something in the original.  Andrea Camilleri, an Italian author is reportedly so happy with the work of the man who translates him into English that he gives him prominence on his title pages.  Camilleri is an interesting person to think about translation with.  His series of detective stories set in the not-so-imaginary town of Vigata in Sicily feature not just Italian in the original, but local dialects.  Apparently Camilleri works with these dialects so that even Italians who don’t speak them can get the flavor and still understand what the characters say.  Stephen Sarterelli who is the translator manages shades of dialect in English which sound faintly like shades of New York (New Jersey?) Italian to me and which work quite well to add color.  Now obviously I wouldn’t be able to appreciate Camilleri in Italian, but I do in English.

I’m moderately fluent reading Spanish.  I can read pretty much without a dictionary.  This is what our instructors wanted us to do: read wihout a dictionary.  But there are drawbacks to being a foreigner and reading without a dictionary, and I really am not sure that any but the most fluent of foreigners can really read a book in a foreign language and get the real original flavor this way.  For instance, I don’t have the easy flexibility of knowing the same word’s meanings in various contexts without thinking about it or looking it up. This leads me to feel a certain stiltedness and lack of spontaneity.  AND it matters where you look it up!  Dictionaries vary hugely.  I find that wordreference.com is the best option since it has not only long lists of possibilities but forums where different nuances are discussed.  Of course this slows you down a bit.  One approach I like is to start out looking up a lot of words.  Authors tend to repeat their vocabulary, so after awhile, with the same author, you look up less and less and can get more into the flow AND learn more and more vocabulary.  I took a course in the short stories of Gabriel Garcia Marquez from a wonderful, lively, very literary Colombian who was teaching at UNAM in San Antonio because he had had to leave Colombia as a political refugee.  He LOVED Colombia and he loved Garcia Marquez and after reading many, many stories with him guiding us, I really think we got the hang of Garcia Marquez in his native Spanish.  It was WONDERFUL.  AND much to his joy, our maestro got to return to Colombia.

A problem with reading Mexican or Latin American or Spanish Spanish literature as opposed to popular stuff is that it is literature: it doesn’t help that much with going to the store to buy milk or asking your neighbor why there were four military Humvees at the entrance to the colonia or how their sick child is or whether they think the new governor is any different than the old.  For this, go for the junk novels in translation I say.   And read them out loud if you don’t get much out-loud practice every day.

 

 

 

On Reading in Spanish

A couple of posts ago I wrote about what I might or could know about Mexicans and mentioned that Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz was supposed to offer clues to Mexicanidad.  Since then I have read the whole Laberinto de la solituda of Octavio Paz. In Spanish yet.  Why in Spanish?  We  were brought up with the notion that reading something in the original is better than in translation.  This issue has some relevance to the discussion of foreigness, I think. 

I discovered that (probably to the horror of my Spanish teachers) I could get through reading a fair amount of Spanish by reading English-language mystery stories and bestsellers in Spanish (junk, in other words, I guess.)  The first one I attempted a number of years ago was a John Grisham novel – I can’t remember which one.  Indeed it was eye opening (or ear-opening maybe).  The first thing I noticed was how strange the cadence was.  Grisham´s characters personify the US south.  They don’t have Spanish accents or even a Spanish lilt – EVER.  At that time, I was still pretty awkward in Spanish so I had to look up what seemed like every other word. Doing this led me to realize just how much of a book is in the translator’s hands.  The translation for one word would seem apt to me, for another it wouldn’t.  It is very hard for a translator to find a way to express the author´s culture rather than his own.  Often the flow of the language seems generic, if I can call it that, or more like that on TV. 

Also I realized that as a native English speaker, I was familiar with a wide variety of English without giving it much thought.  Thus, the English of Dickens, of PD James, of Walter Mosely and George Pelikanos doesn’t phase me and more important, tells me something about place and character.   I could pretty much tell a fair amount about the background of authors and characters and where they came from.  I do have trouble with some UK English, I have to confess. For years I had a very hard time making any of these distinctions when I read Spanish.  Spanish slang, which varies from place to place REALLY baffled me.  I could start to tell a few things about writers in Spanish especially the fact that Spanish writers often use longer sentences and more words than current writers in English.  And I actually got to where I could recognize that some writers just weren’t very good.  I got to the point where I thought many Spanish language writers liked William Faulkner,maybe in part because HE liked long, convoluted sentences. I can now kind of tell styles apart: Gabriel Garcia Marquez vs. Carlos Fuentes, for instance.  And I can get absorbed in the stories, too, and make somewhat intelligent comments.

But I persist in reading US bestsellers in Spanish translation.   I read books I have not read in English.  And I think the virtue in doing this lies in reading non-literary Spanish; reading conversational Spanish.  I think this kind of reading is good for everyday Spanish.

At this point, I can kind of overlook the weird Spanishness of translations of PD James, for instance.  I’m not sure how that came to be or whether it has to do with the work itself.  NowI’m reading Aeropuerto by Arthur Hailey in Spanish. If that isn’t a potboiler I don’t know what is. It’s  okay and easy which means I can read a LOT of Spanish at once.  At this point, the Spanish doesn’t make the characters sound misplaced in Chicago.  I suspect partly it’s because Hailey’s English is pretty generic and can be translated into pretty generic Spanish, but this isn’t the whole reason.  I think one’s brain does some shifting from one language to another in terms of shades of accent and tone and so forth as one gains experience.  Reading Spanish works in the original language as a native English speaker raises for me the question of whether indeed it is always better to read something in the original.  Andrea Camilleri, an Italian author is reportedly so happy with the work of the man who translates him into English that he gives him prominence on his title pages.  Camilleri is an interesting person to think about translation with.  His series of detective stories set in the not-so-imaginary town of Vigata in Sicily feature not just Italian in the original, but local dialects.  Apparently Camilleri works with these dialects so that even Italians who don’t speak them can get the flavor and still understand what the characters say.  Stephen Sarterelli who is the translator manages shades of dialect in English which sound faintly like shades of New York (New Jersey?) Italian to me and which work quite well to add color.  Now obviously I wouldn’t be able to appreciate Camilleri in Italian, but I do in English.

I’m moderately fluent reading Spanish.  I can read pretty much without a dictionary.  This is what our instructors wanted us to do: read wihout a dictionary.  But there are drawbacks to being a foreigner and reading without a dictionary, and I really am not sure that any but the most fluent of foreigners can really read a book a foreign language and get the real original flavor, this way.      For instance, I don’t have the easy flexibility of knowing the same word’s meanings in various contexts without thinking about it or looking it up. This leads me to feel a certain stiltedness and lack of spontaneity.  AND it matters where you look it up!  Dictionaries vary hugely.  I find that wordreference.com is the best option since it has not only long lists of possibilities but forums where different nuances are discussed.  Of course this slows you down a bit.  One approach I like is to start out looking up a lot of words.  Authors tend to repeat their vocabulary, so after awhile, with the same author, you look up less and less and can get more into the flow AND learn more and more vocabulary.  I took a course in the short stories of Gabriel Garcia Marquez from a wonderful, lively, very literary Colombian who was teaching at UNAM in San Antonio because he had had to leave Colombia as a political refugee.  He LOVED Colombia and he loved Garcia Marquez and after reading many, many stories with him guiding us, I really think we got the hang of Garcia Marquez in his native Spanish.  It was WONDERFUL.  AND much to his joy, our maestro got to return to Colombia.

A problem with reading Mexican or Latin American or Spanish Spanish literature as opposed to popular stuff is that it is literature: it doesn’t help that much with going to the store to buy milk or asking your neighbor why there were four military Humvees at the entrance to the colonia or how their sick child is or whether they think the new governor is any different than the old.  For this, go for the junk novels in translation I say.   And read them out loud if you don’t get much out-loud practice every day.

 

 

 

Artpace in San Antonio announces curator Regine Basha as new Executive Director

Today's News

via www.artdaily.org

Hurray for Artpace in San Antonio. It remains one of the most interesting and surprising sites for new art I've seen.

Green Mexico

From Notimex in La Jornada, 11 January 2012 (my translation)

Tokyo, 10 January. The President of the Senate, José González Morfin, called today in the name of Mexico for immediate action against climate change. Without it, the costs will grow increasingly great.  In fact it may be too late.

The Senate leader said that his country is convinced that in the matter of climate change, the most costly thing is to do nothing, that is to say, if there is no action now against climate change, the economic costs for nations will be significantly greater.

While participating in the twentieth annual reunion of the Forum of Asian-Pacific Parliaments in Tokyo which this year is dedicated to climate change, he emphasized that inaction and inertia are a luxury which the world simply cannot permit itself.

He repeated that success in the conservation of the environment and our natural resources depends on the capacity to act immediately. 

Governments, parliaments, businesses and society ought to work together shoulder to shoulder to protect our environment before it is too late, emphasized González Morfin.

For this, he suggested that in this meeting, they share different national experiences so that, through parliamentary diplomacy they find ways to collaborate and reach understanding enabling nations to advance together in this sruggle.

Senator González Morfin emphasized that in Mexico the General Law on Climate Change will transform his country into a more efficient economy more efficient by enabling stable economic growth and care of the environmnet.

He said that the economic global crisis is a unique opportunity to replace practices of production and consumption.

Before representatives of parliaments from the different countries which are attending the meeting.....he maintained that these existing practices have shown themselves financially unviable and a threat for natural resources on a global scale.

The goal consists of creating incentives for economic and social actors to join the effort to transition to a green economy....

In an adequate environment, the care of nature can be a powerful motor for technological innovation, economic growth and material progress, said the functionary.

For that, ... he reminded everyone that the Senate of Mexico constituted a Special Commission over Climate Change and on the past 6th of december approved of the law.

In his message in the name of the Mexican delegation he emphasized that this had to do with legislation which sought to transform Mexico gradually into a more efficient economy, more productive, and at the same time, an economy with a smaller carbon footprint.

He maintained that he was talking about a specific legal framework for confronting the threats of climate change, which are among the most immediate on a world scale and on an internal basis to distribute responsibilities of mitigation and adaptation at federal, state and municipal levels.

He said that the new law also contemplated more active participation by diverse sectors of society and redefined the role of the National Institute of Ecology to give greater power to establish public policies.

The new legislation will permit Mexico to convert itself into a nation ever more responsible in terms of ambiental sustainability, a matter of great importance for future generations, said González Morfin.....

Naive Observations of a Foreigner in Mexico

 

 

Living in our corner of Mexico is really different from living in the United States.  It’s really foreign, the ubiquity of Coca Cola notwithstanding.  After six years here, I still feel foreign and I know I always will.  That´s not a bad thing.  And it doesn’t mean people are cold to us or ignore us or don’t include us.  It just means that there are real cultural differences between the people who were brought up here and us.  The longer I’m here, the more comfortable I feel, but sometimes the less I feel I know and understand.  I was thinking recently about Donna Leon, an American, who writes mysteries with a Venetian hero.  I think she’s lived in Venice longer than we’ve lived here, but I would really be reluctant to pretend to plumb the minds and hearts of our Mexican friends and neighbors, to make them the main protaganists at any rate, as she does, and I’m not sure that will change.  It’s not that people of different cultures don’t grow close and loving – they marry each other, for crying out loud, and stay married.  It’s just that I keep becoming aware of all the different angles people see the world from.

Foreigners notice pretty quickly that Mexicans tend to be courteous and helpful.  Sales people are rarely rude; even police asking for a mordita are often polite about it.  At this point in my life here,I know it’s not because Mexicans are wishy-washy nice.  More I think it has to do with the importance of treating each other with respect pretty much no matter what the circumstances for the sake of all concerned. When I first came my New York City instincts got me in trouble for loudly insulting a civil servant when he wasn’t providing the service I thought he was supposed to provide.  I can immediately tell when I’ve gone too far.  People’s face muscles move downward into a stiff, stern position.  They straighten their backs. They tell you (or they told me) they’re going to call the police, and lo and behold a policeman appears, rifle in hand.

Americans tend to dwell on respect and disrespect, too. But in the US, in some situations at least you’d be a wuss if you didn’t go for the jugular and expect such treatment in return. Oh yeah?  Oh yeah.   Look at US politics: it thrives on insults. It thrives on dividing people into enemy factions.

In Mexico, in public, I rarely hear raised voices. I´ve been aware of people being angry at each other, but it’s always expressed quietly.  This quiet anger can seem pretty powerful to me.

Octavio Paz addresses the issue of respect in his book, The Labyrinth of Solitude, which he wrote in the 1950s. While Mexico and Mexicans have changed since then, at least in some places his observations seem on target.  At least around here, in public, people do not come out charging: they seem relatively passive.  Contained would probably be a better word.  Yet Paz would say that it is a fundamental defensiveness against insult rather than an acceptance of it.  People don’t insult because they don’t want to be insulted.  Often it seems to us Gringos that they tell you what you want to hear.  Primarily I think this is because they don’t want to get into a brouhaha.  “Of course I can get done by Saturday,” vs. “Well Saturday would be too hard.” “But I need it by Saturday.”  “Maybe you could find someone else.” “But I hired you…..” at which point the conversation can descend into insults. The trick is to figure out when something will be done by Saturday and when it won’t.  And there are clues.

Anyway, Paz argues that Mexicans withdraw into solitude by their absence of confrontation.  And it’s interesting to note that while Mexico is a noisy country, Mexicans themselves are pretty quiet. Noise, like the noise of the first bus at 530am, the noise of street vendors touting their wares over loudspeakers, the gong of a metal stick against gas containers as the gas delivery trucks rumble by, the call of the cacahuate man, the radios with speakers directed out windows, and especially the cohetes, the rockets that people set off for any number of reasons: to tell people it’s time to get up and go somewhere, to celebrate parts of mases, just to make general noise in the midst of celebrations.  Just for fun.  But people are quiet.  You can go to a party usually set up in the street with giant speakers blaring out music and people dancing, but the PEOPLE are quiet.

People are also quiet-private-about their grief although the ceremonies aren’t private.  I’ve described velarias.  The living room is filled with flowers and an altar and the coffin.  People pour in with offerings and sit for awhile and eat and talk, but there is no crying, none that I’ve seen.  That may happen in private, but not in public.  When I lived in Uganda, deaths were the time of wailing and crying and rending clothes and ululating.  Here when someone conveys sad news – the neighbor telling us her husband had a stroke, ‘I´m so sorry,’ I say.  ‘Ni modo,’ she responds.  And that is that for the moment.  When Jim’s siblings died, we would tell people what had happened, ‘Ni modo,’ they’d say.  Their faces would convey sympathy, but there would be no gasps of ‘how awful.’  Rather they say, ´Sadly, that’s the way it goes.’

 

Paz talks about the need to protect oneself with this approach.  I also think (as does he) that it has to do with the fact that Mexicans are much more aware of the fragility of life, the closeness with which disaster lurks, the speed with which a good living can turn to dust, their powerlessness to change this.  And so we must also consider, in looking at how we see Mexicans, why we see them the way we do and how they see us.  Next post (or soon) I’d like to talk about some of this, again with the lens of Octavio Paz as a starting point.

 

 

 

 

Coffee and the End of the World, among other things

Narcotrafico, border issues and immigration continue in the news up north.  While on that side of the fence we found ourselves often asked questions about safety, what was going on, etc. etc. We dont even bother suggesting that grandkids might enjoy a visit here anymore.  Obviously there are serious problems, but in this country of 106 million people, daily life goes on for ordinary folks pretty much as before.  We find ourselves not enjoying the view of large State Police pickups and even larger military vehicles loaded with armed police and soldiers patrolling the roads.  I am not sure what their purpose is, but they are intimidating.  I do wonder how much profits for US automakers and gunmakers have been helped by their addition to Mexican forces.  I don't really want to address these problems in the blog, at least not at this point.  I'd rather let you know of the other stuff that fill our lives. If you want some reasonably reliable sites for news of the uglier aspects, the Americas Mexico Blog is a good starting point. 

We are still struggling with Hughes satellite service for our internet so there still won’t be many (any) pictures for awhile.

While in big cities customs are fading, in our colonia they persist.  Yesterday was Three Kings Day., the traditional present-giving day and lots of kids were out showing what they’d received.  Girls got mostly dolls of all sorts.  Boys had trucks and cars.  There were a couple of radio cars, but mostly ones that were motorized by hands.  Two boys had trucks with horses in them.  Everyone looked happy.

I bought two  fruit called chicozapotes.  They are UGLY.  They were in the bin right under the bin for mamey zapotes. Mamey zapotes are sleek looking,with a rough light-brown skin, kind of egg-shaped with a point on one end.  They have a fairly sweet orange flesh which can have a touch of bitterness.  The chicozapotes were sort of round, sort of lumpy and  battered looking.  They had dirty orange flesh BUT tjhey tasted sublime.  They were a little more expensive.  You know that old saw, don’t judge a book….

As you mostly know, we  had a sad summer and fall with two of Jim’s siblings dying.  It is quite clear to us by now that at our age death has much more immediate impact: not grandparents or great-aunts or your parents friends or even your parents.  Instead, siblings and close friends and famous contemporaries whom you admire and are shocked to learn are gone.  Roger Ebert addresses this truth here as well as giving some insights into how one lives with it. Ebert’s blog is a treasure.

Guillermo is picking our coffee now and this year we are going to process some of it and try roasting it.  First batch has been processed and is continuing to dry.  Guillermo and his son took about twenty kilos up to a processor in the colonia yesterday.  The first step involves washing off the fruity top layer of the coffee bean.

There is a fair amount of noise about the Mayan calendar predicting the end of the world this year.  I have lifted almost all of an Aztlan listserv pos by David Hixon, PhD which provides good information.

"Dr. John Hoopes... has authored a well-researched and extensive blog entry regarding 2012.  We, the current moderators of Aztlan, have asked list members to refrain from back-and-forth discussions of the 2012 phenomenon on our list.  But we have promised to forward any messages that relate to solid research being published online or in print.  To that end, here is a link to Dr. Hoopes' new resource for both academics and the general public:
What You Should Know About 2012: Answers to 13 Questions
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reality-check/201112/what-you-should-know-about-2012-answers-13-questions

"He wrote, in part
"'[This blog entry] originated in my email answers to two international journalists, one from China and the other from Bulgaria, as an attempt to answer some of the most common questions that I've been fielding from the media over the past several years (my first interview on this topic was in 2006).  If there's anything in the post that you think merits correction or clarification, please don't hesitate to let me know.  I'm trying my best not to perpetuate any more disinformation on the topic than is already out there!  I keep hoping that providing basic information in clear terms will lead to more sophisticated and interesting questions about the Maya and Mesoamerica.  I've thought for a while now that the 2012 hype and the massive tourism that will accompany it will result in a watershed for quality knowledge about the pre-Hispanic Americas.'

"Please contact Dr. Hoopes directly with any comments or questions at:
 
"Hoopes, John W. <[email protected]> "

__________________________________________________
We have had very chilly weather recently. At least three people have died from the cold in our area..

Coffee and the End of the World, among other things

Narcotrafico, border issues and immigration continue in the news up north.  While on that side of the fence we found ourselves often asked questions about safety, what was going on, etc. etc. We dont even bother suggesting that grandkids might enjoy a visit here anymore.  Obviously there are serious problems, but in this country of 106 million people, daily life goes on for ordinary folks pretty much as before.  We find ourselves not enjoying the view of large State Police pickups and even larger military vehicles loaded with armed police and soldiers patrolling the roads.  I am not sure what their purpose is, but they are intimidating.  I do wonder how much profits for US automakers and gunmakers have been helped by their addition to Mexican forces.  I don't really want to address these problems in the blog, at least not at this point.  I'd rather let you know of the other stuff that fill our lives. If you want some reasonably reliable sites for news of the uglier aspects, the Americas Mexico Blog is a good starting point. 

We are still struggling with Hughes satellite service for our internet so there still won’t be many (any) pictures for awhile.

While in big cities customs are fading, in our colonia they persist.  Yesterday was Three Kings Day., the traditional present-giving day and lots of kids were out showing what they’d received.  Girls got mostly dolls of all sorts.  Boys had trucks and cars.  There were a couple of radio cars, but mostly ones that were motorized by hands.  Two boys had trucks with horses in them.  Everyone looked happy.

I bought two  fruit called chicozapotes.  They are UGLY.  They were in the bin right under the bin for mamey zapotes. Mamey zapotes are sleek looking,with a rough light-brown skin, kind of egg-shaped with a point on one end.  They have a fairly sweet orange flesh which can have a touch of bitterness.  The chicozapotes were sort of round, sort of lumpy and  battered looking.  They had dirty orange flesh BUT tjhey tasted sublime.  They were a little more expensive.  You know that old saw, don’t judge a book….

As you mostly know, we  had a sad summer and fall with two of Jim’s siblings dying.  It is quite clear to us by now that at our age death has much more immediate impact: not grandparents or great-aunts or your parents friends or even your parents.  Instead, siblings and close friends and famous contemporaries whom you admire and are shocked to learn are gone.  Roger Ebert addresses this truth here as well as giving some insights into how one lives with it. Ebert’s blog is a treasure.

Guillermo is picking our coffee now and this year we are going to process some of it and try roasting it.  First batch has been processed and is continuing to dry.  Guillermo and his son took about twenty kilos up to a processor in the colonia yesterday.  The first step involves washing off the fruity top layer of the coffee bean.

There is a fair amount of noise about the Mayan calendar predicting the end of the world this year.  I have lifted almost all of an Aztlan listserv pos by David Hixon, PhD which provides good information.

"Dr. John Hoopes... has authored a well-researched and extensive blog entry regarding 2012.  We, the current moderators of Aztlan, have asked list members to refrain from back-and-forth discussions of the 2012 phenomenon on our list.  But we have promised to forward any messages that relate to solid research being published online or in print.  To that end, here is a link to Dr. Hoopes' new resource for both academics and the general public:
What You Should Know About 2012: Answers to 13 Questions
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reality-check/201112/what-you-should-know-about-2012-answers-13-questions

"He wrote, in part
"'[This blog entry] originated in my email answers to two international journalists, one from China and the other from Bulgaria, as an attempt to answer some of the most common questions that I've been fielding from the media over the past several years (my first interview on this topic was in 2006).  If there's anything in the post that you think merits correction or clarification, please don't hesitate to let me know.  I'm trying my best not to perpetuate any more disinformation on the topic than is already out there!  I keep hoping that providing basic information in clear terms will lead to more sophisticated and interesting questions about the Maya and Mesoamerica.  I've thought for a while now that the 2012 hype and the massive tourism that will accompany it will result in a watershed for quality knowledge about the pre-Hispanic Americas.'

"Please contact Dr. Hoopes directly with any comments or questions at:
 
"Hoopes, John W. <[email protected]> "

__________________________________________________
We have had very chilly weather recently. At least three people have died from the cold in our area..

Coffee and the End of the World, among other things

Narcotrafico, border issues and immigration continue in the news up north.  While on that side of the fence we found ourselves often asked questions about safety, what was going on, etc. etc. We dont even bother suggesting that grandkids might enjoy a visit here anymore.  Obviously there are serious problems, but in this country of 106 million people, daily life goes on for ordinary folks pretty much as before.  We find ourselves not enjoying the view of large State Police pickups and even larger military vehicles loaded with armed police and soldiers patrolling the roads.  I am not sure what their purpose is, but they are intimidating.  I do wonder how much profits for US automakers and gunmakers have been helped by their addition to Mexican forces.  I don't really want to address these problems in the blog, at least not at this point.  I'd rather let you know of the other stuff that fill our lives. If you want some reasonably reliable sites for news of the uglier aspects, the Americas Mexico Blog is a good starting point. 

We are still struggling with Hughes satellite service for our internet so there still won’t be many (any) pictures for awhile.

While in big cities customs are fading, in our colonia they persist.  Yesterday was Three Kings Day., the traditional present-giving day and lots of kids were out showing what they’d received.  Girls got mostly dolls of all sorts.  Boys had trucks and cars.  There were a couple of radio cars, but mostly ones that were motorized by hands.  Two boys had trucks with horses in them.  Everyone looked happy.

I bought two  fruit called chicozapotes.  They are UGLY.  They were in the bin right under the bin for mamey zapotes. Mamey zapotes are sleek looking,with a rough light-brown skin, kind of egg-shaped with a point on one end.  They have a fairly sweet orange flesh which can have a touch of bitterness.  The chicozapotes were sort of round, sort of lumpy and  battered looking.  They had dirty orange flesh BUT tjhey tasted sublime.  They were a little more expensive.  You know that old saw, don’t judge a book….

As you mostly know, we  had a sad summer and fall with two of Jim’s siblings dying.  It is quite clear to us by now that at our age death has much more immediate impact: not grandparents or great-aunts or your parents friends or even your parents.  Instead, siblings and close friends and famous contemporaries whom you admire and are shocked to learn are gone.  Roger Ebert addresses this truth here as well as giving some insights into how one lives with it. Ebert’s blog is a treasure.

Guillermo is picking our coffee now and this year we are going to process some of it and try roasting it.  First batch has been processed and is continuing to dry.  Guillermo and his son took about twenty kilos up to a processor in the colonia yesterday.  The first step involves washing off the fruity top layer of the coffee bean.

There is a fair amount of noise about the Mayan calendar predicting the end of the world this year.  I have lifted almost all of an Aztlan listserv pos by David Hixon, PhD which provides good information.

"Dr. John Hoopes... has authored a well-researched and extensive blog entry regarding 2012.  We, the current moderators of Aztlan, have asked list members to refrain from back-and-forth discussions of the 2012 phenomenon on our list.  But we have promised to forward any messages that relate to solid research being published online or in print.  To that end, here is a link to Dr. Hoopes' new resource for both academics and the general public:
What You Should Know About 2012: Answers to 13 Questions
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reality-check/201112/what-you-should-know-about-2012-answers-13-questions

"He wrote, in part
"'[This blog entry] originated in my email answers to two international journalists, one from China and the other from Bulgaria, as an attempt to answer some of the most common questions that I've been fielding from the media over the past several years (my first interview on this topic was in 2006).  If there's anything in the post that you think merits correction or clarification, please don't hesitate to let me know.  I'm trying my best not to perpetuate any more disinformation on the topic than is already out there!  I keep hoping that providing basic information in clear terms will lead to more sophisticated and interesting questions about the Maya and Mesoamerica.  I've thought for a while now that the 2012 hype and the massive tourism that will accompany it will result in a watershed for quality knowledge about the pre-Hispanic Americas.'

"Please contact Dr. Hoopes directly with any comments or questions at:
 
"Hoopes, John W. <[email protected]> "

__________________________________________________
We have had very chilly weather recently. At least three people have died from the cold in our area..