March | 2012 | View From Casita Colibrí

Archive for March, 2012

Touch and go

Posted in Buildings, Libraries, People, Places, Signs, tagged Biblioteca Infantil, blind, Braille, Francisco Toledo, Jorge Luis Borges, Mexico, Oaxaca, photographs, photos, street names, street signs, visually impaired on March 11, 2012| 3 Comments »

About two months ago, new street signs began appearing in Oaxaca on each side of each street corner. Eight signs per each 4-way intersection, in Spanish and Braille, are at hand touch and wheelchair eye level, and provide arrows to make it clear if the traffic flows this way…

… or that.

By the way, Oaxaca has a library for the blind and visually impaired — the Biblioteca Jorge Luis Borges, housed in the Biblioteca Infantil in the Barrio de Xochimilco. Named after the blind Argentine writer, the library was founded in 1996 by world-renowned Oaxacan artist, Francisco Toledo. It houses his collection of books in Braille, a permanent workshop teaching Braille, computers with special programs for the blind, and scholarships to outstanding visually impaired students.

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Women on the Alcalá

Posted in Celebrations, Creativity, Culture, Holidays, tagged Día de las Mujeres, International Women's Day, Mexico, Oaxaca, public art on March 9, 2012| 5 Comments »

Yesterday, having just posted Celebrating the Women of Oaxaca, I set off for my cataloging shift at the Oaxaca Lending Library. As I turned up the Alcalá, I was greeted by bevy of beautiful and colorful women in all shapes, sizes, and lifestyles — Oaxaca’s tribute to women on International Women’s Day. By the way, you can see in the distance in one of the photos, the Migrantes are still here.

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Meanwhile, down at the Government Palace, the City Council recognized the history and contribution of 10 women conferring upon each a Distinguished Citizen award; Zapotec women demanded justice for the disappeared and prisoners; and several city workers dismissed over a year ago (according to them, without cause) held a protest demanding reinstatement.

Thus was International Women’s Day in Oaxaca!

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Celebrating the women of Oaxaca

Posted in Celebrations, Holidays, Labor, People, tagged history, International Women's Day, Mexico, Oaxaca, triangle shirtwaist factory on March 8, 2012| 6 Comments »

Today is International Women’s Day, established by V. I. Lenin in 1922, revived by women in the USA in 1968, and recognized by the United Nations in 1975. Here’s to the beautiful, strong, and all around amazing women of Oaxaca!

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¡Feliz, Día de la mujer!

The librarian in me can’t help but include a few resources, I put together a few years ago, chronicling the history of International Women’s Day:

A History of International Women’s Day in Works and Images – cyber edition of the book by Joyce Stevens.
Women’s Day – by Alexandra Kollontai, written in 1913
International Women’s Day – by Alexandra Kollontai, written in 1920.
Lenin on the Women’s Question– by Clara Zetkin.
On International Women’s Day – by V.I. Lenin, originally appeared in Pravda, March 4, 1920.
International Working Women’s Day – by V.I. Lenin, originally written as a supplement to Pravda, March 8, 1921.
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire– provides excellent links to photographs, oral histories, list of victims, etc.
Working at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company – eyewitness narratives and other historical records.
Bessie [Gabrilowich] Cohen – 1999 obituary of one of the last survivors of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire.

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A family business

Posted in Creativity, Culture, People, tagged Celestino Bautista Lazo, Dixza Rugs, El Picacho, Lark Crafts, Leonor Lazo González, Mario Bautista Martínez, Mexico, Oaxaca, rugs, Samuel Bautista Lazo, tapetes, Teotitlán del Valle, The Crafts of Oaxaca, weaving on March 6, 2012| 5 Comments »

Samuel Bautista Lazo is one of the smartest, joyous, and Zen-like people I know.

Sam is my young, previously mentioned, Zapotec friend who is getting his Ph.D. in Sustainable Manufacturing at the University of Liverpool. Sam is from Teotitlán del Valle in Oaxaca, a village watched over by El Picacho, the sacred mountain — whose presence is unmistakable and palpable.

The village is known for its traditional performances of the Danza de la Pluma (about which I’ve posted on numerous occasions) and their skillful and creative weavings with wool. Like a majority of its Zapotec residents, Sam and his family weave — father, Mario Bautista Martínez; mother, Leonor Lazo González; and brother, Celestino Bautista Lazo.

The family was featured last year in an article, The Crafts of Oaxaca, posted on the Lark Crafts website. Like many others, on my first visit in 2007, I couldn’t resist buying a couple of tapetes (rugs), including this one, which now serves as a welcome to all who enter my little casita.

A friend and I returned six months later and had the privilege of climbing to the top of El Picacho with Sam.

And no, I did not join Sam in leaping from one rocky peak to the other!

Looking forward to your return, Sam!

(ps) Here is a Dixza video of Sam from 2008, where he discusses the interpretation of the symbols and patterns woven into Zapotec rugs. You might also want to check out others in his Dixza series from Teotitlán del Valle.

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Marimba in the mercado

Posted in Culture, Markets, Music, tagged marimbas, Mercado IV Centenario, mercados, Mexico, Oaxaca on March 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I love going to my little local mercado on Sunday mornings. Steps leading up to it from Independencia are lined with vendors of street food, flowers, religious trinkets, herbs, you name it! Inside, the cavernous building is teeming with more activity than on weekdays. And, these guys are there to entertain diners and shoppers…

I suspect this is a father and his two sons. Marimba playing seems to be a (masculine) family affair.

It isn’t unusual to see these beautiful instruments being carried through the streets and sidewalks of Oaxaca…

… on their way to set up and play traditional “sones” from Oaxaca and/or old pop standards at a fiesta, in front of a shop, or inside a mercado. Muchisimas gracias for a delightful soundtrack!

One of these days, I’m going to shoot video of some of them, but in the meantime, here are a couple from YouTube: