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Posts Tagged ‘stencil art’

Handwriting is on the wall

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Economics, Education, Politics, Protests, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 27, 2016| Leave a Comment »

… between Independencia and Morelos on Garcia Vigil.

That's Mexico's president, Enrique Peña Nieto, leading the charge.

That’s Mexico’s president Enrique Peña Nieto, backed by the military, leading the charge against the teachers’ union.

No to the education reform! Only books will draw this country away from barbarism.

No to the education reform!  Only books will draw this country away from barbarism.

My future is en your hands No to the privatization of education!

My future is in your hands – No to the privatization of education!

To protest is not a crime. No to the education reform.

To protest is not a crime – No to the education reform

Reforms: Energy, Education, Financial, Labor

Reforms:  Energy – Education – Financial – Electoral – Labor

The occupation of the Zócalo continues; yesterday Sección XXII of the CNTE (teachers’ union) shut down the airport; today a federal helicopter is flying overhead as I write, no doubt keeping tabs on a mass march from the IEEPO (State Institute of Public Education) to the Zócalo; the extremely contentious election for governor of Oaxaca is June 5; Guelaguetza 2016 performances are July 25 and August 1; and the new school year is scheduled to begin in mid August.  It could be a long hot summer…

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Eyes are watching

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Back in Oaxaca… I don’t know the story of this mural that recently appeared at the corner of Allende and Tinoco y Palacios.  However, on this Mother’s Day (in the US), it seems appropriate.

A mother’s eye is always watching…

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No place like home

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Markets, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 2, 2016| 4 Comments »

A pause in the Cuba coverage to echo Dorothy, “There’s no place like home” — especially if that home is Oaxaca.  I needed (yes, needed!) chocolate and coffee and, thus, headed toward the Benito Juárez and 20 de noviembre mercados.  As always, even just a grocery shopping trip is a feast for the senses.

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First, a calenda on Calle Independencia of students, academics, and workers to launch the registration of candidates for rector of Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca (UAJBO).

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A peek into el pasillo de las carnes asadas (ahhh, the smells) in 20 de noviembre mercado, while waiting for my chocolate guy to finish with other customers.

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A look at the finished murals (and merchandise) in a newly opened shop at Calle Macedonia Alcalá 100.

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Stopping to gaze up at the “Aves Sin Paraíso” exhibition above the Alcalá.

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Almost back to Casita Colibrí, a new stencil at the corner of Morelos and Tinoco y Palacios.

By the way, I got the chocolate, but couldn’t find my coffee guy in the maze of temporary stalls set up on the streets surrounding the Benito Juárez mercado (it’s undergoing a much-needed renovation).  There’s always mañana — I’m not completely out, yet.

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Nine months…

Posted in Creativity, Culture, People, Tragedy, Travel & Tourism, Violence, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 26, 2015| 4 Comments »

It’s been nine months since 43 students from the Escuela Normal Rural Raúl Isidro Burgos teachers’ college in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero went missing — a traumatic, heartbreaking, and disgraceful anniversary that isn’t going unnoticed.  The Missing Mexican Students Case Is Not Closed For 43 Families, nor for the people of Mexico.

Yesterday, in Tlacolula de Matamoros, the signs were impossible to miss, as we walked down the main street.  The community continues to remember her son, Cristian Tomás Colón Garnica, one of the Ayotzinapa 43.

P1100112“His father traveled from their land when the abduction of the 43 young normal school students was first reported. ‘I am a day laborer. I make 600 pesos [USD$44.50] weekly, maximum, and that’s when there’s work, because sometimes there is no work. My boy wants to be a teacher. That is the job he wants, but they stopped him, they arrested him … What are we going to do?!'”  — from Mexico Voices.
P1100110On the wall, near the stencils above, posters announced events in Oaxaca city in remembrance of the students.  As the murals at the north entrance to Tlacolula de Matamoros proclaim…

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“VIVOS 43 LOS QUEREMOS”

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Feliz 5 de mayo

Posted in Celebrations, Creativity, Culture, Holidays, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on May 5, 2015| 7 Comments »

It’s Cinco de Mayo, but in Oaxaca, like most of Mexico, it’s a business as usual kind of day; schools are in session, businesses and banks are open, and deliveries are being made.  The cervesas and mezcal may be flowing and guacamole may be served, but no more than usual.  Only in Puebla, where the significantly outnumbered Mexican troops defeated the French army in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, is it a big deal.  However, most every city and village has a street named 5 de mayo and in many, like Oaxaca, a street has been named for Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín, the general who commanded the Mexican army at the Battle of Puebla.  By the way, he was born in what was the Mexican village of Bahía del Espíritu Santo, now Goliad, Texas, USA.

As the walls of Oaxaca continue to show, it’s the current battles that remain front and center…

P1050917 copy P1080998 copy P1080893 copy P1080997 P1050398As the mother in the stencil above explains, against the odds like her ancestors 153 years ago, “I will fight today because I don’t want to see you die tomorrow.”

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