Where do they get these ideas?
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.).
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Small world indeed
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...
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Getting and giving back
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...
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The bye-bye blues
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 ...
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Oaxaca Newsletter issue 14
"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 ...
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The rites of Spring
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...
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Privatization and the national pride
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...
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Is this where we turn off for Agua Azul?
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...
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How the U.S. helps Mexico eradicate the Zapatista resistance
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...
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Pina Palmera update
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 ...
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Mixed messages from home
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...
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An orphan's Christmas in Oaxaco
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...
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A festival of Guadalupe
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...
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Take this debt and shove it
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...
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Fear and freedom of the press
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 ...
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Happy Columbus Day
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.) ...
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After the TLC
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...
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The second front
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...
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The bye-bye blues
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...
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Say goodbye, Gracie
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...
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Bread and circuses
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...
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The middle class revolt
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...
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Let the people decide
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...
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Monarch butterflies: fewer where you live this year?
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...
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Letters from Mexico - everything comes to those who wait... in the Zócalo
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...
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