Headlines from Mexico

Praying Emily Turns South
Mexicans were not amused to listen to CNN reporters saying that “people in south Texas were praying” that the path of Hurricane Emily would veer southwards thus avoiding a direct hit on USA. On CNN maps there did not appear to be much in that area for a hurricane to hit however Mexicans were quick to observe that the area was home to roughly 10 million of their countrymen including the bustling industrial city of Monterey (4 million and counting).

El Jardin off limits till September
El Jardin is closed for a couple of months while they renovate the garden and replace the paving stones. I ran into my neighbor, Polo, the morning they started the work and he was furious. He pointed out that the existing slate paving stones had been specially cut and placed some 40 years ago at great effort and that such fine stonework was almost impossible to replicate now days. He was calling for a revolution and was joined by voices both Mexican and foreign – many were just upset that they wouldn’t have a convenient collecting place to meet friends for a while. The city fathers, in their defense, said that the money for the renovations came in at the last minute and they would lose it if not spent. Detractors had the temerity to suggest that the money would be better spent to get potable water to some deficient areas of town. I ran into dog owners who were pleased it was the first time they could let their dogs run there at will. It is all part of a major federal program to renovate colonial cities. SMA is hoping their overall effort will clinch special UNESCO recognition as a world heritage sight.

Guanajuato Mining Cooperative Sold
Agreement was reached last Tuesday to sell the large and only remaining silver mine in Guanajuato, Santa Fe Mines, to El Rosario Mexico Mining for around $8 million. Rosario is owned by Great Panther of Vancouver. Santa Fe is a cooperative and I surmise the price is rather low because it comes with a lot of labor and environmental baggage that will have to be cleaned up over future years. It seems the main interest of Rosario is to reprocess tailings at the various Santa Fe sites, none of which have operated for over 20 years.

Parking Meters to be Installed in Centro
It was inevitable I suppose and it will be interesting to see where they will find the room on the already very narrow sidewalks but it has been decided to install parking meters in the central part of SMA. The City fathers assure this will be good for local business, the city and tourists. Late-night partiers will probably find them useful as well, as props on their homeward struggle over the rough cobblestones in SMA. A study at the Oregon Research Center incidentally has concluded that cobblestones are good for your health. Has to do apparently with making both balancing mechanisms we all have (muscles in ankles, knees, legs etc. and the inner ear) work together and keep strong. On smooth ground we apparently come to rely too much on just the inner ear.

Short Film Festival Biggest Yet
The Short Film Festival is on for the eighth year with over 300 entiries. Brazil is the feature country and has brought what appear to be some interesting flicks but there are also entries from many countries including Canada and of course Mexico. The real good news is that it is all free! I took in a couple yesterday including an interesting entry by the Russian National Film Board based on Diego Rivera’s muse and two-time wife, Frida Kahlo, titled Frida vs Frida.

Frida was born with polio and suffered a serious tram accident when she was 18. These elements kept her in a hospital bed for much of her life. She thus spent a lot of time in relative solitude fighting her own demons - Frida vs. Frida. She learned to paint in bed and became a highly accomplished artist to the point where she felt compelled to ask Diego Rivera to critique her work. That was the beginning of their long relationship. She was the first Latin American to have a painting hung in the Louvre (The Frame) in 1939. The Rivera’s were the toast of the town in New York and Paris but always were drawn back to their native Mexico.

In addition to her long affair with Rivera Frida also knew Picasso (there was an exhibition in WashDC I saw 2 years ago of Picasso’s stuff during his affair with Frida – he said publicly that she was as good an artist as himself). She also had an affair with Trotsky who lived with his wife in the Rivera's home during his exile in Mexico in the 40’s. That matrimonial house (the blue house) is now the Frida Kahlo museum.

In spite of the Rivera’s politics (he a Marxist she a commmunist) they are credited with strongly influencing American art. Frida’s work is found in all major galleries in the US and Diego has famous murals at Detroit Institute of Arts (commissioned by Henry Ford), California Fine Arts and the American Stock exchange. His mural at the NY City Rockefeller Centre was destroyed because critics thought it included a picture of Lenin, (he later recreated it in Mexico City). There is a small museum in his name in Guanajuato, down the road an hour from here where he was born, and a large mural of his in the Instituto here in SMA, the home of his daughter.