As 2025 moves from the front windshield to the rear view mirror, instead of focusing on the (metaphoric) traffic nightmares of speed demons, red light runners, and auto wrecks that can lead to what Reading the Pictures refers to as “carnage fatigue,” I’d like to follow their example and look back at those experiences and sights that brought me joy — my “rebuke to narcissism and the cult of personality [preferring] togetherness as the new order.”
January 2025 – After a one year absence, returning to my Oaxaca community.
February 2025 – El Día del Amor y la Amistad (Valentine’s Day) decorations in my Jalatlaco neighborhood.
March 2025 – Back to the San Francisco Bay Area and a chilly, but stunning day on the Marin Headlands at Rodeo Beach with a best friend since age 12.
April 2025 – Taking part in the nationwide and massive “Hands Off” protests at the Marin Civic Center.
May 2025 – Attending La Santa Cecilia free concert in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens and being surrounded by enlarged replicas of alebrijes by Oaxacan artisans.
May 2025 – During my East Coast trip to visit family and friends, I stumbled on one of the Newton Artful Pianos in front of the Auburndale Public Library in Massachusetts.
July 2025 – Back in my childhood home watching the fog roll in.
August 2025 – And, then there were the occasional dramatic sunsets — sometimes rivaling those of Oaxaca.
September 2025 – Walking around San Francisco with a Oaxaca/SF gal pal, we came upon a beautiful and massive mural by Lucienne Bloch in the atrium of Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin.
October 2025 – Back in Oaxaca, turning a corner and finding a calenda in honor of el Señor del Rayo filling the street.
November 2025 – Being part of the wedding procession of dear friends in Teotitlán del Valle.
December 2025 – Christmas decorations in the window of Xiguela Café in Barrio de Jalatlaco.
¡Feliz Año Nuevo! My wish for 2026 is that you experience many moments of joy and they help sustain and embolden you through the greed-fueled chaos that tries to engulf and silence us. Muchisimas gracias for reading!
Mexican Peso Converter
View From Casita Colibrí 