Showing 51—75 of 118 results

Letters to the editor Stan Gotlieb

Stan offers relevant comments by readers -- and sometimes answers them Since going on the World Wide Web, I have received many letters from readers of my column. Reprinted below i... read more

perspectives politics social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Sauce for the goose Stan Gotlieb

A detail on the facade of the Governor's Palace at Uxmal, a Mayan ruin in Yucatan province. Photography by Diana Ricci Yesterday, the shoe dropped from the other foot. You may recall that I recently ... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Non-students, then and now Stan Gotlieb

The champion Oaxaca state high school band, playing in the courtyard of the ex-convento de Santo Domingo. Few will go to University. Of those who do, some will be students and some may become "porros".... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Behold, a flock of tourists Stan Gotlieb

A tomb in the panteón (cemetery) of San Felipe del Agua, outside of Oaxaca City, decorated for Day of The Dead. Photography by Diana Ricci It has been a quiet summer season, and the zocalo (town squ... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Dodging rockets in Oaxaca Stan Gotlieb

The author and mate /photographer Diana Ricci, at the entrance to their 100-year-old Apartment building in Oaxaca in 1996. Photography by Diana Ricci Miracles are part of everyday life to the people ... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Columbus Day in America Stan Gotlieb

In Parque La Venta, Villahermosa, Tabasco, rests an artifact from the Olmecs, who flourished some 3,500 years ago. Photography by Diana Ricci Yesterday was Columbus Day in the U.S. of A. There were p... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

The more things change, the more they are the same Stan Gotlieb

The ruins at Yagul, a few miles outside Oaxaca city. Photography by Diana Ricci I read a very interesting newspaper article the other day. It was a wire service feed from Pacific News Service, writte... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Dancing in the streets Stan Gotlieb

A French theater troop presents a "son et lumiere" performance of an ancient indian legend, in the reconstructed ruins of Monte Alban (1995). Photography by Diana Ricci One of Oaxaca's many fine ar... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Music in the streets Stan Gotlieb

The Oaxaca State Band plays a Sunday Concert in the Zocalo. Photography by Diana Ricci The trucks arrive about 11 a.m. Two small flatbed trucks, piled high with folding chairs. Half a dozen workers m... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Borders suck Stan Gotlieb

Sitting in California, Old Mexico, in July 1996, I realize how much of my time is wasted dealing with borders, particularly the one between here and the Old Country (Pictured is a fruit stand on the ro... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Thank you and goodbye Stan Gotlieb and Diana Ricci

See Stan and Diana. See them change. See how their hair has gotten grayer. See how Stan has on a shirt, for a change, not a t-shirt. Can you tell Stan is... read more

perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Where do they get these ideas? Stan Gotlieb

There's nothing like leaving home to help a person see things a new way. Traveling from my home in Oaxaca to the U.S. in the spring of 1996 provided exactly such an experience (Pictured is a performance artist doing her thing on the plaza in front of the Cathedral.). read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Small world indeed Stan Gotlieb

When I wrote "Getting And Giving Back", in the spring of 1996, I had no idea that I would be meeting Gerardo a few weeks later. (This statue is in the ex-convent in Cuilapan, near Oaxaca.) Photogr... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Getting and giving back Stan Gotlieb

The church in Ocotlan de Morelos, near Oaxaca, that artist Rodolfo Morales had restored as a gift to his community. Photography by Diana Ricci Much of Mexico is poverty-stricken, but only in economic... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

The bye-bye blues Stan Gotlieb

An Easter pageant in Tlacolula, near Oaxaca. Photography by Diana Ricci We're out of here! Our bags are almost packed, except for a few last minute gifts for the kids and the grandkids. Arrangements ... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Oaxaca Newsletter issue 14 Stan Gotlieb

"BORDERING ON CHAOS": READ IT, BUT BE A SKEPTIC Andres Oppenheimer, a Central America hand reporting for the Miami Herald, has put out a very interesting book on the roots -- and likely outcome -- of ... read more

perspectives politics social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Day of the Dead: death and decoration in Oaxaca Stan Gotlieb

The panteon (cemetery) in San Felipe del Agua, a suburb of Oaxaca, decorated for Day of the Dead. Photography by Diana Ricci All my life, I have been a coward about death and dying. It's all so unsan... read more

day-of-the-dead indigenous-groups Oaxaca, Oaxaca

The rites of Spring Stan Gotlieb

This is a love song and a lament. Ojala (it should only be), I'll sing it every spring for many years to come. Photography by Diana Ricci Springtime has come to Oaxaca. The jacaranda trees are in ful... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

Privatization and the national pride Stan Gotlieb

After this was written, the federal agency in charge of the Pemex sales withdrew all offers and returned all bids. This was a dramatic demonstration of how little support neoliberalism has among the pe... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

Is this where we turn off for Agua Azul? Stan Gotlieb

Travel guide books are good to have, and I have many. Still, they do have their faults. This was written after an intense, 2,000 mile, 2 week trip through the Mexican part of the Ruta Maya. (Pictured a... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

How the U.S. helps Mexico eradicate the Zapatista resistance Stan Gotlieb

It's not a new story: the U.S. government, and the business interests it represents, lend "counterterrorist" or "countersmuggler" aid to a Latin American government, and the "aid", which happens to loo... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

Pina Palmera update Stan Gotlieb

Hi. Please pass this on to all the people who have been getting communications from me, through you. It is meant to be a semi-final report. I just got back from a lunch meeting at Casa Colonial, and ... read more

perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Frequently asked questions Stan Gotlieb

Before you send me an EMail, check here to see if your question has already been answered. Since going on the World Wide Web, I have received many letters from readers requesting specific i... read more

perspectives question Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Mixed messages from home Stan Gotlieb

Here's a slice from a decades-long sausage of U.S. interference and bumbling diplomacy when it comes to Mexico, written in 1996. "Alas, poor Mexico", the saying goes, "so far from God and so close to t... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

An orphan's Christmas in Oaxaco Stan Gotlieb

Expatriates, especially "older" folks, are often without families. Those with families "back there" can get a little wistful during the Holidays, too. (Pictured is a Day of the Dead figure of wire, pap... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

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Showing 51—75 of 118 results

Stan Gotlieb

I am a traveler. Some people are drunks and some play Bingo. I like to pack a suitcase and boogie. I get restless when I have been too long in the same place, the same job, the same social scene. That's why I travel: for stimulation. So far, I have lived in 15 cities, in four countries, on three continents.

On the other hand, I like my comforts, the more so the older I get. I am not a loner, so I look for places with the possibility of community. And, having been born and raised in Minnesota, I like warm places.

With all this, I had no immediate intention of going anywhere when, in 1993, an aunt died and left me a few thousand dollars (I didn't know she was rich, and I wasn't sure she liked me). At the time I was working in a legal aid office dealing with domestic issues, and the combination of overwork and icky cases was burning me out. So, in the fall of 1993, I gave notice, and in January of 1994 I packed my bags, rented out my house, and headed south. I had visited in many places in Mexico over the previous 20 years, but chose Oaxaca because since first coming here in 1973 it had remained in my mind. Mexico, I told my friends, is the ideal place: very close to here, but very far away.

In some ways, all the cultures I have lived in, including the many that exist in the U.S., were bizarre structures through which I moved as invisibly as I (the "real me", whoever that is) could manage. I guess that aspect of me is part of what makes any creative person: the need to figure out what the hell is happening, and what significance to give to events and people who on the face of it might just as well be happening on Mars.

Nothing about Oaxaca was difficult for me (however much I pretend to complain in my writing). I love the "vamos a ver" (let's go and see how it works out) attitude. I accept the fact that I will always be an outsider to the local folks: people from the next State are so viewed, so why not me? I have my "family" here among the extranjero (foreigner) community, and like all families, I like some better than others and some not at all. The climate (5,100 feet) suits me.

Of course, I miss my old friends, most of whom could not for various internal and external reasons share in my expatriate wanderings. It takes a long time for new friends to become old friends -- although I have observed that the process is speeded up in small town atmospheres such as we have in the expatriate community of Oaxaca.

The day to day reality is not much different than it was "back there": work, sleep, eat, socialize, make love (and occasional war) with Diana, scratch for the rent, and go to the beach whenever the time and money permit. Also, I have to admit, it's fun being a medium sized frog in a very small pond. I like the notoriety, such as it is, and it makes me feel good when I can give others information (power) that they didn't have before, like how to get to x and where to find y and have you seen z. Because aside from writing, which is fun, I am really a "matchmaker" by nature: a living walking connection between here and there, so-and-so and such-and-such.

In the final analysis, I am just trying to keep my grip and have some fun and talk to other folks in hope that they will talk back to me. I enjoy my role (and I often think of it as just that: a sort of persona that time and circumstances invented for me) of "Mr. Internet Oaxaca". It tickles me that a whole lot of people find something that I say worth reading, even if a lot of it is free: with five million or more information providers on the Internet also giving it away, I take pride from that.

Carl Franz says "everywhere you go, there you are". He's not the first person to say that, but he made it the central empowering notion of a valued travel guide, and that is why I give him the quote. To me, the notion that you can "transplant" yourself is an erroneous simile. It's like saying you can grow a cranberry bush in the Sahara. The successful process is more like grafting, where you join your developed personality to roots that are already viable.

However, the problem does not end there. You can graft almost anything to almost anything else, and get a viable hybrid, but what will it do, and how pleasing will the result be? My guess is that a pleasing graft occurs when the cutting and the root share some common characteristics.

This means that if you value punctuality above everything else, you would find life here very frustrating, but if you know how to be punctual but don't value it more than reading a good book, you could probably adjust. Relaxed cultural values regarding punctuality compose one of the roots of plants that grow well in this soil. Among the many others are patience, tolerance, a sense of humor and a nonjudgemental attitude.

The Mexicans reciprocate in kind: they accept us as they find us. Sure, we scandalize them some times, but most often they just shrug their shoulders and assume that our craziness is just the way "we" behave. And don't forget that Mexicans differ even more from one part of the country to another than do we: what you need to bring with you changes, depending on where you go and what you are doing.

There is no-one alive who should never think to move to Mexico. There is no perfect profile for making the move. The best indication of being able to make it here is having made it here, and even that isn't sure. Circumstances change. Things happen. Life's a cabaret. For me, Oaxaca is happy hour.