La Quinceañera: a celebration of budding womanhood
The transition from childhood to womanhood is a significant passage for adolescent girls in almost all cultures. In Mexico, it is marked with the celebration of the Quinceañera, or 15th Birthday. From...
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Mexico living: five questions
Let’s start at the beginning. The five most commonly asked questions before I came to Mexico were:
Why not stay in California and retire?
Won’t you miss your friends a...
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When taking the bus in Mexico, timing is everything
I write for fun, and I love my adopted Oaxaca. Don't take me literally. I try not to take myself too seriously; neither should you. Still, there is truth in here somewhere, and it's as much about me an...
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Mexico is a noisy place
Mexico is a noisy place. Unless your cave is very high up the mountain, far beyond human habitation, noise is an integral part of your life.
Certain kinds of noises are universal, occurring with equ...
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Water and culture shock in a Mata Ortiz, Mexico
Juan Mata Ortíz is a small village of potters, farmers and cowboys in Northern Chihuahua. About 30 years ago, an unschooled artistic genius, Juan Quezada, taught himself how to make earthenware jars i...
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Athletics, tour guides, evangelism and Mexico border crossings
Below are some archives of letters to the editor that Stan has chosen to answer with open responses.
August 23, 1996: A Border Resident Shares Her Experiences
Sandy Weisel writes:
Hi, I just love ...
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Mexico's Native American peoples and the global economy
I wrote his in early 1995. Thankfully, the decency and good will of the average Oaxacan had not vanished along with their purchasing power and hopes for the future.
Teen age gangs, on the rise, have m...
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Truth in packaging: Mexico elections in 1994
In a place where the image of something can attain more significance than its substance, the propaganda war is waged without letup. Just like at home... (The wall of the governor's official residence, ...
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How to survive - and stay - in Oaxaca
This was written in 1994. How to survive - and stay - in Oaxaca, were very much on my mind. (The picture is of the Oaxaca State Band playing their Sunday concert in the zocalo.) Photography by Diana Ri...
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