A good ending: Giving is a large industry in the impoverished areas around my home in Paradise. The issues that surround charity are never far from the thinking, doing, and realities of people with something to give and those who Read more…
Perfection: I can now define “perfection”, thanks to the invention of the Perfectometer. As you can see in the photo, it is easy to construct from scraps lying around the house. Our friends who invented it are snowbirds, and thank Read more…
Oaxaca has something new for you: In the last days of November, when the temperature drops and we get out our space heater, Diana and I went on an excursion with our pals Stan and Suzanne. We hired a taxi, Read more…
Muertos has come and gone. This year, as in the past, there were new decorations to experience. The masthead photo was taken upstairs at restaurant “La Olla”, and the next two photos show two of many very elaborately decorated skeletons Read more…
Amaranth: When the Spaniards came here, they brought wheat. They virtually wiped out the ancient native staple known as amaranto. In the last few years, amaranth has been making a major comeback. Last Saturday, we attended “Amaranth Day”, held around Read more…
A Health Odyssey This is an idiosyncratic, off-the-wall tale, very much a brain-fugue by the author (me). Cancer is a scary business, and the cure is sometimes worse than the disease. That can’t help but enter into this tale, because Read more…
The people’s Zócalo: In the last couple of months, while I have been battling illness (successfully), I have had some time to reflect on the events in the public spaces and streets of Oaxaca. I have been weighing the balance Read more…
The Markets: I first met Tom (not his name) shortly after I arrived in 1994. He was young, cagey, suspicious and in violation of the law: selling his Guatemalan style pants off the pile on his shoulder without a license. Read more…
Oh, no, not the Library again: There has been another Library blow-up recently, and rumors and some acrimony have resulted. While real people have suffered some real hurt, “The Library is going down the tubes; the sky is falling” should Read more…
Why the panic? The U.S. State Department has just issued another warning. It’s hard to understand why they want to discourage us from crossing the border, since the TOTAL of U.S. citizens killed in all of Mexico in 2011 was Read more…