Barak Obama in Mexico City

No Spring Break for Obama South of the Border

By Ben Pershing
On occasion, politicians jetting overseas are accused of going on cushy "junkets." But given the thorny agenda for President Obama's imminent trip to Mexico and the Caribbean, he may just return home by the end of the jaunt wishing he had stayed in Washington. There will be no talk of puppies on this visit, and no Easter egg rolls. Just illegal immigration, Cuba policy, a drug war that is spiraling out of control and America's alleged culpability for dragging down every economy in the hemisphere.

When Obama went to Europe, he drew praise from some quarters and criticism from others for projecting humility, apologizing for the country's past mistakes and stressing that the U.S. needs help on a variety of fronts. Obama looks likely to take a similar tack on this trip. In an interview Wednesday with CNN en Español, Obama said, "There's no senior partner or junior partner," in our relationship with Latin America. He said that the U.S. wouldn't meddle in the political affairs of other countries, and refrained from criticizing Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan leader known for his anti-U.S. rhetoric. "We want to listen and learn as well as talk, and that approach, I think, of mutual respect and finding common interests, is one that ultimately will serve everybody," Obama said. [The Washington Post]
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Callejon de San Juan de Dios

San Juan de Dios Alley in the oldest part of the city.
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Kaleidoscopic Spring

What do you see?
Jacaranda is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of South and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The genus name is also used as the common name. In many parts of the world, such as Mexico and Zimbabwe, the blooming of this tree is welcomed as a sign of spring.[Wiki]
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Betsabee Romero. A vuelta de rueda III

Carrito de Cuerda / Clockwork Little Car

Ponchada por el paisaje / Puncture by The Landscape

Hombre y Flores / Man and flowers
Instalacion de Betsabee Romero / Installation by Betsabee Romero
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Betsabee Romero. A vuelta de rueda II

Carrito de Cuerda. Instalacion de Betsabee Romero. / Clockwork Little Car. Installation by Betsabee Romero.
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Betsabee Romero. A vuelta de rueda I

City Neighbors.




Driving Slowly by Betsabee Romero.

EXPOSICIÓN TEMPORAL
Betsabeé Romero. A vuelta de rueda
Atrio de Templo de San Francisco
Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México
Del 15 de febrero al 26 de abril de 2009
A VUELTA DE RUEDA,
el Atrio de San Francisco, sitio evocador de épocas y personajes que han transitado reales y simbólicamente por el corazón de una Antigua Ciudad.
La Torre Latinoamericana, el Sanborns de los Azulejos, el Banco de México, Bellas Artes, la calle de Madero, historias largas, itinerarios ancestrales, aceras insuficientes para un paso continuo y multitudinario hacia el interior y el exterior del Centro Histórico.
A VUELTA DE RUEDA, frase coloquial llena de imágenes,
por un lado la velocidad, contra la que tengo muchas resistencias
y, por otro, descripción del ritmo cadencioso y lento con el que se tiene que transitar en esta zona, tan saturada de momentos y monumentos importantes de la historia de la ciudad y de la vida de las personas.
A VUELTA
Redunda en la posibilidad de dar un giro simbólico a la rueda,a la circularidad de los significados, al eterno retorno de las reflexiones, a la movilidad y al ritmo.
DE RUEDA
Figura atávica, instrumento y forma mítica, ojiva arquitectónica, mirada de Tláloc.
Lugar de la memoria, rodillo, sello, rosetón, cúpula, gloria abierta, ventana hacia la memoria en movimiento.
El automóvil, en A VUELTA DE RUEDA será desde un principio: sedentario, continente de trayectos aprehendidos, pieza, complemento, parte de un todo, visto y vivido en sus contradicciones y sinsentidos.
Betsabée Romero.

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The Monastery

Happy Easter.
Good Friday, also called Holy Friday, Great Friday or Black Friday, is a religious holiday observed primarily by adherents to Christianity commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Golgotha, an event central to Christian theology. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and often coincides with the Jewish observance of Passover.

Based on the scriptural details of the Sanhedrin Trial of Jesus, the Crucifixion of Jesus was most probably on a Friday. The exact year of Good Friday has been estimated as AD 33, by two different groups, and originally as AD 34 by Isaac Newton via the differences between the Biblical and Julian calendars and the crescent of the Moon.

Here, Cathedral and Convent of La Asuncion. This compound has three churches and a chapel, which is said to be the oldest chapel on the American continent. The cloister houses valuable frescos of Saint Philip of Jesus, a Franciscan martyr in Japan.
Cuernavaca's downtown cathedral dates from 1552.

Artist Robert Brady lived and died in a former 16th century meteorological observatory of the Franciscan seminary behind the Casa de la Torre, leaving a fascinating and rich collection of art he had collected over his lifetime. Works by Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Paul Klee and Francisco Toledo are among the 1400 pieces in the collection. This museum was second choice as the location for Mexico's Guggenheim Museum, which is being constructed in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

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Holy Week / Semana Santa

Sculpture of the Virgin of Guadalupe located in the atrium of Cuernavaca Cathedral (near Mexico City).

In the Catholic Church, Holy Thursday (also known as Maundy Thursday) is the day that we celebrate the Last Supper, at which Christ instituted the Mass and the Sacrament of Holy Communion. It is the first day of the Triduum, the three days before Easter Sunday, during which we commemorate Christ's Passion. [About.com]
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Fishing Moments

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Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

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Viravento

Mannequin with Pinwheels.
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The Doors of Perception II

Casa de la Mariposa Blanca / House of The White Butterfly

Friday Door

Beers Door

Background

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The Doors of Perception I

The Doors of Perception is a 1954 book by Aldous Huxley. The title comes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell:

"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern."
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After Class, On The Bus.

Virtual Graffiti or The Art Of See or Jazz In A Nova.

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The Mask

"Graffiti is not a subculture restricted to few, graffiti is a refined form of art available to all"
MindGem.
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April 2009 Theme Day: Yellow

I

Tower of The Palacio de Cortés, residence of conquistador Hernán Cortés after he moved to the town of Cuernavaca from Mexico City. It was intended to be the seat of his encomienda.

Construction of the residence was started in 1526, for which the local population was employed. Cortés decided to build his residence on top of a hill, on the ruins of the lordship of Cuauhnahuac. This place had been used by the Aztecs to collect tribute, and therefore it was a symbol of Cortés' dominance over the conquered territory.
II

Betto Stylist

How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the Sun.
Vincent Van Gogh.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

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For Your Eyes Only

Street Love Scene

About The Other Dream

I put a wide street in the end of your dream
in case you escape don’t lose the route

I put a lamp, a sign in the woods
I put a clear moon without clouds over the trees

I put my beating heart in your hand
and I wait for your return with the wind in the afternoon.

Mario Bojórquez

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Sunday Cycling

Every Sunday morning, some of the biggest streets in car-flooded Mexico City are handed over to bicyclists, who roll in by the tens of thousands. Joining them are skateboarders, Rollerbladers, toddlers on push toys and parents behind strollers in what has become a weekly festival on (small) wheels.

The leftist government of Mayor Marcelo Ebrard launched the program in 2007, barring cars, trucks and buses from the regal Paseo de la Reforma and other streets around historic downtown.
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Lucid Dreams

Lucid Dream.

A lucid dream is a dream in which the person is aware that they are dreaming while the dream is in progress, also known as a conscious dream. When the dreamer is lucid, they can actively participate in and often manipulate the imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can be extremely real and vivid depending on a person's level of self-awareness during the lucid dream.

A lucid dream can begin in one of two ways. A dream-initiated lucid dream starts as a normal dream, and the dreamer eventually concludes that they are dreaming, while a wake-initiated lucid dream occurs when the dreamer goes from a normal waking state directly into a dream state with no apparent lapse in consciousness. Lucid dreaming has been researched scientifically, and its existence is well established. Scientists such as Allan Hobson, with his neurophysiological approach to dream research, have helped to push the understanding of lucid dreaming into a less speculative realm.
[ Wiki ]

See Carlos Castaneda, Books.

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Beginning

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Pulse for Life

… and I will leave. But the birds will stay, singing: and my garden will stay, with its green tree, with its water well. Many afternoons the skies will be blue and placid, and the bells in the belfry will chime, as they are chiming this very afternoon. The people who have loved me will pass away, and the town will burst anew every year. But my spirit will always wander nostalgic in the same recondite corner of my flowery garden.

Y yo me iré. Y se quedarán los pájaros cantando;
y se quedará mi huerto con su verde árbol,
y con su pozo blanco.

Todas las tardes el cielo será azul y plácido;
y tocarán, como esta tarde están tocando,
las campanas del campanario.

Se morirán aquellos que me amaron;
y el pueblo se hará nuevo cada año;
y en el rincon de aquel mi huerto florido y encalado,
mi espiritu errará, nostalgico.

From “El Viaje Definitivo”
( The Definitive Journey )
by Juan Ramon Jimenez.
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Sketches: Sun Bath / Baño de Sol

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The Golden Branch

The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.
The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
Moralities, ethics, laws, customs, beliefs, doctrines - these are of trifling import. All that matters is that the miraculous become the norm.
Henry Miller
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Marketing

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Benito Juarez

Back View

Zocalo / Main Square at evening.

Natalicio de Benito Juarez / Natalicious of Benito Juarez

Benito Juárez García (March 21, 1806 – July 18, 1872) was a Zapotec Amerindian who served five terms as president of Mexico[1]: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872. For resisting the French occupation, overthrowing the Empire, and restoring the Republic, as well as for his efforts to modernize the country, Juárez is often regarded as Mexico's greatest and most beloved leader. Juárez was recognized by the United States as a ruler in exile during the French-controlled Second Mexican Empire, and got their support in reclaiming Mexico under the Monroe Doctrine after the United States Civil War ended. Benito Juárez was the first Mexican leader who did not have a military background, and also the first full-blooded indigenous national to serve as President of Mexico and to lead a country in the Western Hemisphere in over 300 years.

Juárez's famous quotation continues to be well-remembered in Mexico:
“Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz”, meaning "Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace." It is inscribed on the coat of arms of Oaxaca. [ Wiki ]
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