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Posts Tagged ‘urban art’

Letting the walls do the talking

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Health, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 24, 2020| 10 Comments »

What can I say?

I am so…

With…

From yesterday’s walk, the walls seemed to read my mind.

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Missing mezcal

Posted in Beverages, Creativity, Culture, Flora, People, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 14, 2020| 14 Comments »

Conventional wisdom in Oaxaca: “For everything bad, drink mezcal; for everything good, you also should.”

Lest we forget, the walls of Oaxaca are always there to remind us.

My copitas (little cups) by maestro Vicente Hernandez are always ready for a gotita (a little drop) or two on good days, bad days, and especially days when friends stop by.

Day trips to my favorite mezcal making villages and their mezcaleros, like Berta Vásquez (above) in San Baltazar Chichicapam, were frequent enough to keep the liquor cabinet stocked with a variety of artisanal mezcal made from one or more kinds of maguey (AKA, agave) — arroqueño, barril, cuixe, espadín, jabalí, tepeztate, tobalá, and tobasiche, to name a few!

Alas, since Covid-19 hit the scene, many of the villages are closed to outsiders and, even if they were open, I wouldn’t go — for their health and safety and mine.

However, mezcal aficionado and tour guide Alvin Starkman came to the rescue. Through him, I was able to buy five bottles of mezcal from several different villages and he delivered!

In the event you are trying to read the labels, left to right: Tobalá, Manuel Méndez, San Dionisio Ocotopec; Mezcal destilado con mota (yes, it’s a thing), Rodolfo López Sosa, San Juan del Río; Arroqueño, Fortunato Hernandez, San Baltazar, Chichicapam; Tepeztate, Manuel Méndez, San Dionisio Ocotepec; Espadín, Celso Martinez, Santiago Matatlán.

¡Para todo mal, mezcal; y para todo bien, tambíen!

(ps) This just in! Mezcal Tour Supports Advancement of Indigenous Women — an article about the wonderful ongoing work the above mentioned Alvin Starkman, his wife Arlene, and Mezcal Educational Excursions of Oaxaca are doing.

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Flowers and serpents

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 10, 2020| 24 Comments »

A mural in progress. Jorge kept working…

… while Javier paused to chat and pose.

Also seen August 4, 2020 in Barrio de Jalatlaco, this time on Alianza.

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Song of water

Posted in Creativity, Culture, People, Restaurants, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 6, 2020| 6 Comments »

Oaxaca sings in the rainy season. Afternoon clouds gather, the sky darkens, wind picks up, thunder rumbles, heaven sinks closer to earth, and, if Cocijo is answering prayers, the sound of rain falling — El canto del agua; The song of water.

I knew the minute I saw this mural that it was the work of Fabián Calderón Sánchez (Sanez). Over the years, I’ve been captivated by and posted images of his thought provoking, creative, and powerful uses of indigenous imagery. The facade of El Armadillo Negro restaurant on Calle del 5 de mayo 307, Barrio de Jalatlaco, seen on August 4, 2020.

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Ommm…

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 3, 2020| 8 Comments »

A moment of Zen…

Brought to you by a wall in Oaxaca.

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Archiving the Pandemic

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Health, Libraries, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 30, 2020| 12 Comments »

Back in April, I received a message from my hometown library with the request, Help us tell the story of what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mill Valley. A light bulb turned on, my brain went into librarian/archivist mode, and I thought, we should do that here in Oaxaca. What better way to bring the Oaxaca Lending Library community, both here in Oaxaca and those currently scattered around the world, together and provide a venue to share thoughts and feelings, document daily life, and unleash creativity. And, when this nightmare is over, the OLL will have joined an international effort by public and academic libraries, archives, historical societies, and museums to preserve slices of life from this historic time for future community members and researchers to ponder.

Thus, we formed a small committee, met remotely, and issued our own call for submissions. Members and friends, be they here or there, have been asked to submit photographs, stories in prose or verse, and videos. The response has been beyond my wildest dreams and I invite you to view the most recent edition of Archiving the Pandemic in Oaxaca: How will this time be remembered? The contributions are revealing in a variety of happy, sad, challenging, generous, and talented ways.

July 30, 2020 – Calle de Adolfo Gurrión at 5 de mayo, Oaxaca de Juárez.

The project is ongoing; alas, the pandemic’s end is not in sight. However, my heart is lifted in seeing, reading, and sharing experiences with my Oaxaca Lending Library community and knowing we are part of an international effort to help shape the telling of a community story.

(ps) The QR codes on the image above link to the following articles exposing issues medical personnel are facing battling the virus in Oaxaca:

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Back in the red

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Health, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 21, 2020| 6 Comments »

After only two weeks of semáforo naranja (orange traffic light), as of yesterday, the federal government ordered the State of Oaxaca back to semáforo rojo (red traffic light) in the ongoing battle with Covid–19.

To tell the truth, the move to orange had many of us scratching our heads. Closely following the data released by the state health department, we wondered if Oaxaca really was experiencing a downward trend in the four metrics used to move from one traffic light to another: numbers of new cases, hospital occupancy trends, current hospital occupancy, and percentage of positive cases.

As for cubrebocas — a misnomer, if there ever was one for reasons to follow: Sunday’s stroll about town revealed 15% of people not wearing masks; 50% wearing them correctly; 35% wearing the “cubreboca” ONLY over their mouth, just like the name implies. In Cuba they are called “nasobuco,” indicating they need to cover both nose and mouth — a much better name, methinks!

By the way, according to Richard Grabman over at The Mex Files, “85% of Mexicans are wearing masks in public, compared to 67% of people in the US.”

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These streets are made for walkin’

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Neighborhoods, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , on July 9, 2020| 15 Comments »

A sampling of sites seen from the streets that have saved my sanity while living in the age of Covid-19.

Barrio de Xochimilco

 

Marcos Pérez/Lic. José Vasconcelos neighborhood

 

Calle Independencia entrance to Mercado IV Centenario

 

Calle Santo Tomás at the corner of José Lopez Alavez

 

Calle Marcos Pérez

 

Casa de Barro, Av. Reforma

These streets are made for walkin’ and that’s just what I do!

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Mood on the streets

Posted in Creativity, Culture, People, Tragedy, Travel & Tourism, Violence, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 22, 2020| 8 Comments »

From the streets of Oaxaca, Benito Juárez is masked and throwing hand sanitizer, as the Covid-19 denier-in-chief looks down from el norte.

Police violence and protests captured on cell phones and broadcast live on the internet fill our screens and walls.

George Floyd, plus countless others, are dead but not forgotten.

There is no joy in Oaxaca as the twin plagues of the virus and racism command our consciousness here, there, and everywhere.

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Last Sunday’s scenes

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Neighborhoods, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 16, 2020| 4 Comments »

Last Sunday morning’s walk took us up and across Niños Heroes (aka, highway 190) into Barrio de Xochimilco and Colonia La Cascada. The (albeit sporadic) rains have begun, the field-burning has ended, and planting has begun. Thus, the air was fresh and the sky was varying shades of blue — depending on direction and hour. Humans and Mother Nature showed off their creativity. So, we kept walking…

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

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Dancing on the walls

Posted in Celebrations, Creativity, Culture, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 13, 2020| 6 Comments »

There will be no dancing in the streets or up on Cerro del Fortín this year. Due to Covid-19, La Guelaguetza, Oaxaca’s “máxima fiesta” has been canceled. However, thanks to the artist Bouler (Uriel Barragán), a few of the dancers can be seen dancing on the walls of Barrio de Jalatlaco.

Image of male China Oaxaqueña dancer carrying star

Image of Flor de Piña dancer

Image of male China Oaxaqueña dancer carrying a marmota.

If his work looks familiar, it is because this image from two weeks ago is part of the above series. In addition, he also painted the mural honoring Macedonio Alcalá in Jardín Carbajal.

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From blue to pink…

Posted in Creativity, Culture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 1, 2020| 8 Comments »

Sunday’s walk went from blue to pink — with a few colors in between.

The colors were kind of like my mood over the course of two hours of walking.

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From here to there…

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Music, People, Protests, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on May 29, 2020| 4 Comments »

From the walls of Oaxaca… mural by artist Efdot.

To the streets of the USA… music and lament by singer-songwriter Alex Call.

The message is the same.

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The cat that swallowed…

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Neighborhoods, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 23, 2020| 4 Comments »

Lurking around the corner from the birds. Perhaps this is what they were talking about.

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Hmmm… Could this be the cat that swallowed the canary?

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For the birds

Posted in Creativity, Culture, Neighborhoods, People, Travel & Tourism, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 20, 2020| 20 Comments »

Wandering around the streets and alleys of the Marcos Perez / Lic. José Vasconcelos neighborhood, I began to see birds gathering — and they seemed to be talking.

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“Ahhh, what a comfortable perch.”

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“Is anybody home?”

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“What did you say?”

And then there were the hummingbirds…

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“Please don’t tie me down!”

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“Come fly with me.”

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“I’ll race you!”

What delightful gifts the Argentinian artist Jesus Flores (aka, Walpaq) has left for the people of Oaxaca!

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