Street Thoughts

The spirit listens only when the speaker speaks in gestures. And gestures do not mean signs or body movements, but acts of true abandon, acts of largesse, of humor. As a gesture for the spirit, warriors bring out the best of themselves and silently offer it to the abstract.
Carlos Castaneda.
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Gracias por su visita / Thanks for visiting.

Back in School / De regreso a clases

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Gracias por su visita / Thanks for visiting.

Desire / Erised

Desire
Deepak Chopra Feat. Demi Moore.

A lover knows only humility, he has no choice.
He steals into your alley at night, he has no choice.
He longs to kiss every lock of your hair, don't fret,
he has no choice.
In his frenzied love for you, he longs to break the chains of his imprisonment,
he has no choice.

A lover asked his beloved:
- Do you love yourself more than you love me?
Beloved replied: I have died to myself and I live for you.
I've disappeared from myself and my attributes,
I am present only for you.
I've forgotten all my learnings,
but from knowing you I've become a scholar.
I've lost all my strength, but from your power I am able.

I love myself...I love you.
I love you...I love myself.

I am your lover, come to my side,
I will open the gate to your love.
Come settle with me, let us be neighbours to the stars.
You have been hiding so long, endlessly drifting in the sea of my love.
Even so, you have always been connected to me.
Concealed, revealed, in the unknown, in the un-manifest.
I am life itself.

You have been a prisoner of a little pond,
I am the ocean and its turbulent flood.
Come merge with me,
leave this world of ignorance.
Be with me, I will open the gate to your love.

I desire you more than food or drink
My body my senses my mind hunger for your taste
I can sense your presence in my heart
although you belong to all the world
I wait with silent passion for one gesture one glance
from you.
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Gracias por su visita / Thanks for visiting.

Empty streets and points of view.

Letter
To My Loved Ones in Mexico: This, Too, Shall Pass.
To the Editor:
Last Friday morning, my phone woke me up. “There is a flu epidemic. Schools are closed.”
My mother’s voice came in waves. I didn’t know what she was talking about. I hadn’t heard anything or read anything in the Mexican newspapers. Since I hung up with my mother, I’ve been experiencing whatever feelings an expatriate is supposed to feel: fear, anguish, sadness and, of course, a little dose of guilt. I fear for my family and friends, I worry for what is happening, I am sad for my city, and I feel guilty for being in New York and not with them.
“How could this happen?” I kept asking myself and Drew, who listened to me for hours rant about the absurdity of the situation, unable to provide answers.
This was not the way it was supposed to happen. The apocalypse had to come from outside.
This is what hundreds of films, books and songs have taught us. When the nuclear holocaust happens, we, the inhabitants of Mexico City, will defeat radiation and become, next to cockroaches, the only living beings on the planet. We survive constant waves of crime and have been hostages of violence, corruption and popular demonstrations that choke the city every day. We drink the water from our faucets (sometimes) and eat street food whose secret ingredient is salmonella without the smallest discomfort. How could this happen to us?

I spent the weekend staring at pictures of my empty city and couldn’t avoid crying. But the thing about epidemics is that they take time. And we are not used to things that take time. We want immediacy and certainty.
People have been working from home. Restaurants are closed. Bars closed before churches did.
Mel is heartbroken because the event that would consolidate her own public relations firm was canceled and months of work were wasted. “Canceled,” she said, when I asked if it hadn’t been postponed. I knew she had tears in her eyes.
Noni wakes up every morning hopeful. But when she peeks out of her Roma neighborhood apartment, the sun is shining but the streets are empty. It’s the collective nightmare that never ends.
Monica thought it was an overreaction from the government until a woman in her office fell ill. Now she wants to play Six Degrees of Separation. The target is not Kevin Bacon but a victim of flu. Yes, we are Mexicans and prone to laugh at our misfortunes. Cynicism is our best medicine.
And today, my fellow Mexicans, a week into the emergency, you can’t and shall not forget this. You are a survivor. It’s in your DNA. But we are not bulletproof. We are vulnerable and should take care of one another.

Next time you are stuck in traffic, swearing and hating the city, you might remember how good chaos is and how wonderful routine feels when you lose it. I know it’s easy for me to say. I am in Brooklyn being a passive observer of what is happening in my city.
And yes, Noni, one morning (very soon) you will wake up and the sun will be shining, the streets will be flooded with people and a demonstration will make you late for that appointment. The collective nightmare will be over.
Cristina Padrés
Brooklyn, April 30, 2009
The writer is a curriculum developer and editor from Mexico City living in New York.
New York Times

Marc Siegel
Profesor de Medicina, Universidad de Nueva York, especialista en gripe porcina: "Esta gripe durará lo que dure en los noticieros": "Tengo 52 años y he vivido y estudiado unas cuantas pandemias: ésta es de las suaves. La gripe porcina este año es benigna en todas partes menos en los medios, que sí contagian una epidemia de miedo más virulenta que nunca". Hay una "hipocondria causada por los medios de comunicación (...) y la están alimentando los estados. ¿Por qué tiene que salir un jefe de Estado a hablar por la tele de una vulgar gripe? Bastaría con un subsecretario; cualquier portavoz médico sería suficiente", recuerda: "Cada año la gripe causa miles de muertos sin que merezcan ni un segundo de televisión ni un titular ni siquiera en Internet. Les pido que utilicen su circuito humano neuronal de la razón y el sentido común y bloqueen el centro neuronal del miedo, que compartimos con los animales".
Fuente: La Vanguardia.

Por qué sólo mueren mexicanos.
La pregunta ha sido formulada en distintos países, entre los que se cuenta, por supuesto, el nuestro: ¿por qué el virus A/H1N1, que según datos de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) ha infectado a 898 personas en el mundo, ha resultado letal únicamente en poco más de una veintena de los 506 mexicanos contagiados? La primera respuesta podría ser –dando por cierto que las autoridades nacionales actuaron con la celeridad que se requería– el "factor sorpresa" en el surgimiento de la epidemia.

Sin embargo, en días posteriores a la declaración de emergencia sanitaria del pasado 23 de abril, el sistema de salud pública nacional exhibió un patrón de ineficiencia: falta de capacidad en casi todos los ámbitos (diagnóstico oportuno, material de protección para el personal, seguimiento de contagios y laboratorios adecuados). Además, han salido a la luz pública relatos indignantes de apatía y soberbia médico-burocrática hacia algunos de los enfermos, así como cobros que podrán ser reglamentarios, pero que resultan absolutamente fuera de lugar en el contexto de una crisis de salud pública como la actual. Por otra parte, el Ejecutivo federal ha actuado sin conocer la importancia de la información precisa, puntual y transparente en circunstancias críticas, en una patente descoordinación con los gobiernos estatales, con una grave tendencia a las colisiones declarativas, entre sus propios funcionarios, y con una desoladora insensibilidad ante los impactos económicos de la epidemia en una población ya afectada por la crisis global y por los saldos del desastre de más de dos décadas de políticas económicas neoliberales.

Por fortuna, el A/H1N1 parece ser menos contagioso y mortífero de lo que se temió en un principio, pero de cualquier forma su surgimiento ha dejado al descubierto un sistema de salud pública devastado por el pensamiento privatizador dominante, por la corrupción inveterada, por la arrogancia de los gobernantes y por su desprecio a la población de ingresos insuficientes, que en México es la gran mayoría.

Ante la demolición deliberada de la estructura de bienestar social y de una política de salud pública dirigida al conjunto de los habitantes –y la adopción de esquemas de atención individuales y demagógicos, como el Seguro Popular–, el Estado no puede reaccionar con la precisión, la puntualidad ni la coordinación que se requiere en circunstancias actuales, y se vuelven inevitables los retrasos fatales en el diagnóstico y en la administración de tratamientos adecuados. A ello debe sumarse la insatisfactoria condición física de muchísimas personas, en un país en el que no se cumple el precepto constitucional de la salud como un derecho inalienable.

Si la mitad o la cuarta parte de los fondos destinados al rescate bancario –en el contexto del Fobaproa-IPAB, legalizado por los partidos Revolucionario Institucional y Acción Nacional– se hubiesen dedicado a remozar y construir clínicas y hospitales, a financiar a las instituciones de salud pública, a restablecer centros de investigación suprimidos por el salinato y a crear sistemas de monitoreo epidemiológico, la actual emergencia habría encontrado a México mucho mejor preparado, y es posible que –como ocurre ahora en las naciones ricas y hasta en algunas con subdesarrollo similar o peor que el nuestro– los infectados por el A/H1N1 habrían podido ser atendidos en forma oportuna y eficaz.

Las lecciones de la epidemia son inocultables. No sólo es necesario restructurar –vista su inoperancia– el sector salud público, sino que se requiere también, y con urgencia, emprender un inequívoco cambio de rumbo en materia económica, aplicar el principio harto conocido de que la principal riqueza de un país reside en su población, y que es en ella y en la elevación general de su nivel de vida, por tanto, donde deben realizarse las principales y más significativas inversiones, y no en subsidiar al capital especulador ni a los poderes fácticos, ni en financiar gastos corrientes desproporcionados y ofensivos. De otro modo, la próxima epidemia –es un hecho que ocurrirá, aunque nadie sepa en qué momento– podría ser devastadora.
Editorial La Jornada. Mayo 04 2009.
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El Rodeo

A view of El Rodeo Lagoon from Xochicalco.
Xochicalco ("sho-chee-cal-co") is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in the western part of the Mexican state of Morelos. The name Xochicalco may be translated from Nahuatl as "in the (place of the) house of Flowers". The site is located 38 km southwest of Cuernavaca, about 76 miles by road from Mexico City. The site is open to visitors all week, from 10am to 5pm, although access to the observatory is only allowed after noon. The apogee of Xochicalco came after the fall of Teotihuacan and it has been speculated that Xochicalco may have played a part in the fall of the Teotihuacan empire. It has been speculated that Xochicalco may have had a community of artists from other parts of Mesoamerica.

The architecture and iconography of Xochicalco show affinities with Teotihuacan, the Maya area, and the Matlatzinca culture of the Toluca Valley. Today some residents of the nearby village of Cuentepec speak Nahuatl.

The main ceremonial center is atop an artificially leveled hill, with remains of residential structures, mostly unexcavated, on long terraces covering the slopes. The site was first occupied by 200 BC, but did not develop into an urban center until the Epiclassic period (A.D. 700 - 900). Nearly all the standing architecture at the site was built at this time. At its peak, the city may have had a population of up to 20,000 people. [Wiki]

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Theme Day: ShadowsswodahS

Vangelis. The Little Fete.

"I take a bottle of wine and I go drink it among the flowers.
We are allways three ... counting my shadow and my friend the shimmering moon.
Happily the moon knows nothing of drinking, and my shadow is never thirsty.
When I sing, the moon listens to me in silence. When I dance, my shadow dances too.
After all festivities the guests must depart. This sadness I do not know.
When I go home, the moon goes with me and my shadow follows me"
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.
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Gracias por su visita / Thanks for visiting.

Lightness and Darkness

Besides flu, earth tremors, worst politics, etc, there is skies and life everywhere. Thanks a lot for your kind words of concern about the city.
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City Moments

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Earthquake, What next

MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)--A 5.6 magnitude earthquake shook Mexico City early Monday afternoon, sending frightened residents into the streets and saturating phone lines, but causing no apparent significant damage.

The quake rattled nerves of Mexicans already coping with an outbreak of the swine flu that has killed an estimated 149 people.

The combination of the higher death toll from the flu and the quake weakened the peso, which had lost nearly 5% from Friday's close to MXN13.975 per U.S. dollar.

The quake briefly interrupted a press conference in which Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova was giving an update on the flu emergency situation.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter was in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, home to the resort of Acapulco, which lies roughly 360 kilometers from Mexico City.

The earthquake's depth made serious damage less likely, said Jim Dewey, a research geophysicist with USGS.

"Certainly strong shaking could be perceived, but it wouldn't likely cause extensive damage," Dewey said. "It was 25 miles deep, so that puts some distance between it and the surface of the ground."

Telephone service in parts of Mexico City was lost briefly. A spokesman for phone company Telefonos de Mexico (TMX) said lines were temporarily saturated with call volume, as usually happens after earthquakes, and that there was no reported damage to exchanges.

Mexicans, accustomed to earthquakes, largely shrugged off the tremor, worried more about the killer flu. "Ah, we're accustomed to earthquakes around here," said Leopoldo Garcia, a 70-year-old retiree walking around the city.
The Wall Street Journal.

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Virus Nightmare

La Jornada

Acaso es verdad que se vive en la Tierra?
Acaso para siempre en la Tierra?
Sólo un breve instante aquí!

Poesía Náhuatl.

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Gracias por su visita / Thanks for visiting.

The Mexican Road

The Mexican Road or The unreachable welfare of people. And besides, virus in Mexico, its to much. / El Camino Mexicano o El inalcanzable bienestar del pueblo. Y ademas, virus, es el colmo.

[ A virus (from the Latin virus meaning toxin or poison) is a sub-microscopic infectious agent that is unable to grow or reproduce outside a host cell. Viruses infect all cellular life. The first known virus, tobacco mosaic virus, was discovered by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898 and now more than 5,000 types of virus have been described. The study of viruses is known as virology, and is a branch of microbiology ].
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Break at The Park

Björk
Volta
"The Dull Flame Of Desire"
( Feat. Antony Hegarty )

I love your eyes, my dear
Their splendid sparkling fire

When suddenly you raise them so
To cast a swift embracing glance

Like lightning flashing in the sky
But there's a charm that is greater still

When my love's eyes are lowered
When all is fired by passion's kiss

And through the downcast lashes
I see the dull flame of desire.

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Earth Day

Previously posted.
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Colina de los Brujos

Ver. 2

Witches Hill. A place full of magic and legends, near Tlayacapan, Sacred Valley of Tepoztlan and Mexico City.
Happy sundaY
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Rothko

Rothko taking a little nap.
"I will say without reservations that from my view there can be no abstractions. Any shape or area which has not the pulsating concreteness of real flesh and bones, its vulnerability to pleasure or pain, is nothing at all. Any picture which does not provide the enviroment in which the breath of life can be drawn does not interest me".
Mark Rothko.
[Born Marcus Rothkowitz (Latvian: Marks Rotko; September 25, 1903–February 25, 1970), was a Latvian-born American painter and printmaker. He is classified as an abstract expressionist, although he himself rejected this label, and even resisted the classification as an "abstract painter".]
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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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