Cogan’s Reviews The simplest way to describe this novel is to say that it’s a kind of Mexican “Roots” – a big family survival saga covering three generations of two families, complete with a large cast of characters. Author Villaseñor has based his complex, sprawling tale on the experiences of his own family members and […]
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Cogan’s Reviews While I was writing this review, in May 1998, some 9,000 bush fires were said to be burning across Mexico. I don’t know how anyone ever counted that number, but I wasn’t going to argue. One night we sat on our terrace and counted twelve of them on the other side of Lake […]
Continue ReadingCogan’s Reviews As Ms. Spiegel writes in her introduction: “San Miguel de Allende is infused with history: every cobblestone seems to hide secrets about its past. All the stores and boutiques housed in former colonial mansions; all the restaurants that occupy the courtyards of elegant villas, all the gigantic wooden doorways through which the carriages of […]
Continue ReadingYou’ve heard about those push-and-shove Americans who cross the border with their arms full and want Mexico to stop, look and listen. Well, they’re at it again. These northern do-gooders, wearing Lens Crafters lapel pins and waving the Lions Club banner, are bringing in boxes and barrels of used eyeglasses to give to Mexicans who […]
Continue ReadingEdd Bissell, 64, almost retired as a Tennessee pharmacist and gentleman farmer, has found a new home, at La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, on the Bay of Banderas, on the left bank of Mexico, in the edge of Nayarit, not far north of Puerto Vallarta, between the last range of the Sierra Madres and the Pacific […]
Continue Reading2004. It’s showtime in Athens. The Greeks are all stirred up about the Olympic Games, worrying about terrorist threats and who’s going to pay the bills when the party is over and everybody goes home. Thirty-six years ago, it was a lot like that in Mexico City. Before you read what I remember about those […]
Continue ReadingThis is the story of Mexico City College and the hidden black trick. Some of you may have missed Morris (Moe) Williams, even though he was out and about for more than four decades. Beginning in the fall of 1947, he was an Azteca, a player on the American-style football team at Mexico City College. […]
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Southbound gringos of retirement age have the uncanny ability to immediately identify changes that should be made in Mexican lifestyle. Maybe you’ve heard the laundry list. “Punctuality is in desperate need of instant adjustment. Mexicans simply can’t tell time.” “There would be no language barrier if Mexicans would just speak English.” “These people are devoid […]
Continue ReadingThrough the years, Colima, Colima meant volcano views, small sacks of sea salt, classy museums, pretty parks, souvenir casts and carvings of hairless dogs — and another hour to the beach. ¡No más! The city of palms has new and more meaningful significance. We have discovered The Home of Love and Protection for Children, a protestant […]
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School daze is near which reminds me that most of what I think I know about Mexico education is based on second-hand information. The system is not broken. It never worked in rural communities, out in the country, where so many live near or below the poverty line. There is no yellow school bus, no […]
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