Showing 76—100 of 118 results

A festival of Guadalupe Stan Gotlieb

This is a tale of one festival, two celebrations, and three women. It is my longest article. (Pictured are women from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec parading in Oaxaca.) Photography by Diana Ricci In mid... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

Take this debt and shove it Stan Gotlieb

Perhaps one of the most "dated" of my articles, I also count it among my most prophetic. The debtors movement continued to grow. As of this writing, they remain the Mexican middle class's most powerful... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

Fear and freedom of the press Stan Gotlieb

Since I started printing my articles on the World Wide Web, I have received many letters. Some have been critical, some flattering; some seeking and some offering information; some expressing fear for ... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

Happy Columbus Day Stan Gotlieb

This story is over 500 years old, and as up to the minute as tomorrow. Next Columbus day add another year, change a few details, and it will still be fresh. (Pictured is a Mayan house in the Yucatan.) ... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

After the TLC Stan Gotlieb

I'm no economist, but I knew what people were saying: that things were getting worse for them, and for their families and friends. In 1995, Mexico appeared to remain a great place for a smart foreign i... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

The second front Stan Gotlieb

This was written in early 1996. In March of 1996, under intense pressure from his own party, Governor Figueroa stepped down. (Pictured is a teacher's union march going by the Governor's official reside... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca

The bye-bye blues Stan Gotlieb

Economic statistics aren't very sexy. Also they are misleading, often. As my daddy used to say, figures don't lie, but liars figure. Voodoo economics, now forever identified with George Bush, is an old... read more

perspectives social-issues

Say goodbye, Gracie Stan Gotlieb

If a prophet is not without honor save in his own country, becoming an expatriate is doubly dishonorable. Photography by Diana Ricci Being an expatriate is like being a heretic. Your old coreligionis... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

Bread and circuses Stan Gotlieb

Nobody loves a circus more than the average Mexican; and nobody needs bread more... This story was written in 1995. (Pictured is one of the Radish Festival exhibits.) Photography by Diana Ricci On Se... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

The middle class revolt Stan Gotlieb

Showing amazing sticking power and protected by their "respectability" and urban savvy, the Barzonistas continue to be a major voice in the national clamor for reform. (Pictured is a Barzon-sponsored t... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

Let the people decide Stan Gotlieb

Working under the guns of the Mexican army, the Zapatistas, like many indigenous movements before them, struggle to survive with dignity and in peace. To this end, they have tried to involve a broad ba... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

Monarch butterflies: fewer where you live this year? Stan Gotlieb

These Monarchs were snapped by a young entrepreneur who walked around with a fistful of copies of different photos, gleefully selling to Gringos like us who, even though we had our own camera, lacked c... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Letters from Mexico - everything comes to those who wait... in the Zócalo Stan Gotlieb

In some towns, it is called the Plaza Nacionál, the Plaza de las Armas, the Parque Independencia, or the Plaza Centrál, but wherever you go, the local folks know it as El Zócalo. Whether it is a hug... read more

perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Mexico electronico Stan Gotlieb

Technology is changing the face of Mexico. As in the U.S., the new technologies manifest themselves in strange and unpredictable ways; and affect the political landscape with outcomes which are alterna... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

The Williamsburg farce Stan Gotlieb

Every once in awhile, I write a piece that doesn't seem to go out of currency. This unfortunately is one of them. (The photo shows part of a children's drawing contest for Day of the Dead.) Photography... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues

The struggle continues Stan Gotlieb

When this was written in the fall of 1994, there was still a sense of hope in the air: for democracy, for the economy, for a fair and equitable relationship with the U.S. People still believed that wit... read more

indigenous-groups perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Sequoia Park or Oaxaca, there's no place like home Stan Gotlieb

Of course we miss the Zocalo, and the more active social life in Oaxaca, but there are things we don't miss so much. It's different. read more

perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

I don't mind you disagreeing: Mexican emigration and the economy Stan Gotlieb

From time to time, I receive letters like the one I have reproduced below. Most often, they are well thought out and not without compassion, as is this one. Usually, I answer them in my "Letters To The... read more

perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Spring-time boogie: From Oaxaca to California Stan Gotlieb

Misol-Ha, where the trail takes you behind the falls. Situated between the Mayan ruins at Palenque and the city of San Cristobal, in the highlands of Chiapas, this site has been developed as ejido (co-... read more

perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Rain, rain go away: Summer in Oaxaca Stan Gotlieb

Whether rain or shine, the protests in front of the government palace in Oaxaca go on. This banner, with likenesses of Ricardo Flores Magon and Emiliano Zapata, says "This paradise, this flag, this lan... read more

perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Traffic control, Mexican style Stan Gotlieb

This picture was taken in the Sumidero Canyon, a man-made lake in Chiapas. The cliffs reach over half a mile in height in places. © Dan McWethy, 2000 Gringos call them "speed bumps". Mexicans nic... read more

perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Lila Downs Stan Gotlieb

Lila Downs Sanchez and her band will be appearing at the Alvaro Carillo Theater in Oaxaca on February 12. It's a benefit for the Casa de Mujer. If you're in town, don't miss it. Photography by Diana Ri... read more

music perspectives Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Why am I laughing? Street clowns in Mexico Stan Gotlieb

Some days you have to laugh to keep from crying; some days you have to laugh, period. The following stories are true, but the names (and other details) have been changed to protect the author. read more

perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Mutual aid and survival in the mountains of Oaxaca Stan Gotlieb

This road, graded to a high standard for gravel-based bituminous construction, was less than one year old when it washed out. Fortunately, there was still enough mountainside left to make a bypass. Man... read more

perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

Green means food, red means starvation: Agriculture in Mexico's Mixteca Alta Stan Gotlieb

These bells were removed from the church at Santa Maria Tiltepec. An earthquake caused severe structural damage to the bell tower in June of 1999. Erosion caused the red gashes in the surrounding hills... read more

perspectives social-issues Oaxaca, Oaxaca

« 1 2 3 4 5 »

Showing 76—100 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.