The Light of The Streets

Fisherman

Chainsaw Man Pruning

In the heat of the afternoon

The Light of The Streets

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May 1st, Theme Day: Statues

Nezahualcoyotl  King of Texcoco
Sculpture by Luis Ortiz Monasterio (1956)

Nezahualcoyotl


(April 28, 1402 – June 4, 1472) was a philosopher, warrior, architect, poet and ruler (Tlatoani) of the city-state of Texcoco in Pre-Columbian Mexico. Unlike other high-profile Mexican figures from the century preceding Spanish Conquest,  Nezahualcoyotl was not an Aztec; his people were the “Acolhua", another Nahualtl people settled in the eastern part of the Valley of Mexico, the eastern side of Lake Texcoco. He is best remembered for his beautiful poetry.

Songs by Nezahualcoyotl

The destruction of the Mexican state was foreshadowed by a series of omens and prodigies which took place during the ten years preceding the arrival of Cortes. 
By the "smoking stars" is meant a comet that was visible for about a year.

The sweet-voiced quetzal there, ruling the earth, has intoxicated my soul.

I am like the quetzal bird, I am created in the one and only God; I sing sweet songs among the flowers; I chant songs and rejoice in my heart.

The fuming dewdrops from the flowers in the fields intoxicate my soul.

I grieve to myself that ever this dwelling on earth should end.

I foresaw, being a Mexican, that our rule began to be destroyed, I went forth weeping that it was to bow down and to be destroyed.

Let me not be angry that the grandeur of Mexico is to be destroyed.

The smoking stars gather against it: the one who cares for flowers is about to be destroyed.

He who cared for books wept, he wept for the beginning of the destruction.

___

Amo el canto del zenzontle

Pájaro de cuatrocientas voces,

Amo el color del jade

Y el enervante perfume de las flores,

Pero más amo a mi hermano: el hombre.

I love the song of the mockingbird,

Bird of four hundred voices,

I love the color of the jadestone

And the enrapturing scent of flowers,

But more than all I love my brother: man.

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Zoo

Mexico City Zoo

Happy Weekend!
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Don't Run - Don't Push - Don't Scream
Arizona by Fisgon

Indignation by Magu

The little president: This is inadmissible... they want that I give employment to Mexicans.La Jornada

Immigration Advocates Rise Up in Anger Over Arizona Law

AMY GOODMAN: Juan, your column in The New York Daily News today is about the immigration bill in Arizona.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Yes, well obviously there has been a furor throughout the country over this bill and one of the things occurring now is, most people were not aware that May Day was a scheduled day for immigration rights protests around the country and a lot of immigration advocates are now saying in the last week they had a huge surge of interest by people in their communities to turn out at these May Day rallies. So the Arizona, the new “show your papers or you go to jail” bill has already spurred enormous outrage in the Latino community, the immigrant community, the civil-rights community. Obviously Attorney General Holder now is saying he is considering intervening. Even Lindsay Graham, the Republican senator said yesterday he believes the law is unconstitutional. Some lawmakers are now actually calling – because you know, Major League Baseball is scheduled to have its All-Star Game in Phoenix next year. They’re already calling on Major League Baseball, which depends so much on Latino ballplayers and continues to recruit more, to pull the game, to pull the All-Star game out of Phoenix as a demonstration of what Arizona could be facing if it continues to persist in this legislation. (Fragment) 

Democracy Now!

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Spring Tones

Ver. 0

King Crimson – Cadence and Cascade  (Lyrics)

Cadence and cascade

Kept a man named jade;

Cool in the shade

While his audience played.

Purred, whispered, spend us too:

We only serve for you.

Sliding mystified

On the wine of the tide

Stared pale-eyed

As his veil fell aside.

Sad paper courtesan

They found him just a man.

Caravan hotel

Where the sequin spell fell

Custom of the game.

Cadence oiled in love

Licked his velvet gloved hand

Cascade kissed his name.

Sad paper courtesan

They knew him just a man.

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Tlaloc

Tlaloc, God of rain, fertility and water.

Tlaloc was an important deity in Aztec religion. He was a beneficent god who gave life and sustenance, but he was also feared for his ability to send hail, thunder and lightning, and for being the lord of the powerful element of water. In Aztec iconography he is normally depicted with goggle eyes and fangs. He was associated with caves, springs and mountains.

  

In Aztec cosmology, the four corners of the universe are marked by "The Four Tlalocs" which both hold up the sky and functions as the frame for the passing of time. Tlaloc was the patron of the Calendar day Mazatl and of the trecena of Ce Quiyahuitl (1 Rain). In Aztec mythology, Tlaloc was the lord of the third sun, which was destroyed by fire.

  

In the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, one of the two shrines on top of the Great Temple was dedicated to Tlaloc. The High Priest who was in charge of the Tlaloc shrine was called "Quetzalcoatl Tlaloc Tlamacazqui". However the most important site of worship to Tlaloc was on the peak of Mount Tlaloc, a 4100 metres high mountain on the eastern rim of the Valley of Mexico. Here the Aztec ruler came and conducted important ceremonies once a year, and throughout the year pilgrims offered precious stones and figures at the shrine.

  

In Coatlinchan a colossal statue weighing 168 tons was found that was thought to represent Tlaloc. Some scholars believe that the statue may not have been Tlaloc at all but his sister or some other female deity. This statue was relocated to the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City in 1964. [Wiki]

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Park in The Rock or Rock in The Park

Rock at Luis Cabrera Square
(Rock en La Roma)

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Flashback

The Flatiron Building

The Flatiron Building, or Fuller Building as it was originally called, is located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan, and is considered to be one of the first skyscrapers ever built. Upon completion in 1902 it was one of the tallest buildings in New York City. The building sits on a triangular island block at 23rd street, Fifth Avenue, and Broadway anchoring the south (downtown) end of Madison Square.

The Flatiron Building was designed by Chicago's Daniel Burnham as a vertical Renaissance palazzo with Beaux-Arts styling. Unlike New York's early skyscrapers, which took the form of towers arising from a lower, blockier mass, such as the contemporary Singer Building (1902–1908), the Flatiron Building epitomizes the Chicago school conception: like a classical Greek column, its limestone and glazed terra-cotta façade is divided into a base, shaft and capital. [Wiki]

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The heat, the joy and...

After school, the fountain

... why not

Oops, the authority

just a warning.

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Fisherman

Pescador (Detail) Sculpture [replica] by Gabriel Guerra

Vanished

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People at The Park

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Sunday Afternoon

"In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet"  ~Albert Schweitzer
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Guanajuato Hills

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Trees and Clouds

Detail
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Pixels

Happy Weekend!
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Road Signs

Road to Toluca
-- Welcome Michelle --
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Dialogue With A Deaf Govern

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Graffiti Man

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Stone Man

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Enclosed Skies

Arcos Tower (phone camera shot)

Enclosed

Sirius
Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
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Stop

Traffic Lights at Historic Center.
Have a Great Weekend!

Resiste, Monsi,

resiste

Ortiz Tejeda

Me han dicho que los médicos afirman: hemos hecho todo lo

necesario, todo lo posible”. Estoy seguro de que es cierto y que

ellos, sus asistentes, enfermeras, afanadoras, saben quién eres, qué

significas, y por eso su trabajo ha sido esmerado y sin

limitaciones.

Me preocupa que agreguen: “ahora todo depende de las reacciones de su

organismo. El resultado final está en su capacidad de respuesta”.

Mala apuesta de los científicos, Monsi. Los que somos mayores de 50 (¡!) ya

no podemos confiarnos en imaginarias fortalezas y, además, reconozcamos que

en tu caso tampoco hay antecedente del menor esmero en el fortalecimiento

físico de tu organismo. Desde los orígenes, siempre fueron más importantes para

ti los crucigramas que las patinetas. Las películas de Tin Tan que una cascarita

en la chueca calle de San Simón.

Hay, sin embargo, dos elementos en tu favor: hace ya mucho tiempo que has

rechazado mis rones (fíjate que no dije Cubas) y mis vodkas. No fumas, no

inhalas, no te inyectas. Tu ingesta alimentaria es una vergüenza para todo el

vecindario de la Portales. (¿Dónde quedó la Casa Neri?) Reconocerás que los

resabios evangélicos te hacen bastante morigerado y aburrido.

Pero el argumento más importante es otro: tenemos en México muchas

asignaturas pendientes para que de repente vayas a hacer mutis: impedir que

algunas fechas, como el 2 de octubre, prescriban en la conciencia de los jóvenes

de hoy y de mañana. Que tampoco eso acontezca con los crímenes de Acteal,

Aguas Blancas o Pasta de Conchos. Que Pemex no pase a ser tan mexicano

como el Banco Nacional de… Ferrocarriles Nacionales de… Wal Mart de…

Kimberly Clark de… Que el Estado mexicano sea laico no sólo en la reforma

constitucional, sino en las acciones y el comportamiento cotidiano de los

gobernantes panistas y también de muchos de mi partido. Que las legislaturas

locales, a iniciativa panista (explicable), y con la complicidad (injustificable) de

muchos legisladores, también de mi partido, hayan decidido abordar la máquina

del tiempo y regresar a la Edad Media. De igual manera, tenemos pendiente la

reivindicación merecidísima de algunos grandes mexicanos del pasado siglo:

Demetrio Vallejo y Othón Salazar.

Precisamente por eso te insisto: resiste, Monsi. Ya para el 30 de noviembre

de 2012 no falta nada.

Pero si mis argumentos no te hacen mella, todavía me queda un quinto as,

obviamente irrebatible: ¿imagina lo que puede suceder si te decides a realizar un

fade out? Una esqueliza apabullante, una verdadera avalancha de elegías,

oraciones fúnebres, responsos, artículos de fondo, columnas, comentarios

audiovisuales, testimonios (para ahorita ya tenemos primicias publicadas o

anunciadas), tan sinceros como veraces y contundentes, caerán, como pesada

lápida, sobre ti: ¡A ver! ¿Quién puede desmentir mi dicho, sobre lo que digo

que me dijo Carlos, conversado esa madrugada en las puertas del 62 de San

Simón?

Vas a comenzar a hacer milagros tempranamente: de golpe desaparecerán

tus malquerientes (no los del Estado laico), y realizarás la multiplicación de las

coincidencias y las solidaridades.

Tu amistad ya no será incómoda, conflictiva, comprometedora. Será, al

contrario, una presumible referencia, casi una visa al mundo de la honorabilidad

y las convicciones que tan ignoto les resulta a tus inéditos deudos. Las viudas de

Colosio serán una triste minoría, las tuyas, hasta registro provisional como OP,

podrían conseguir.

Imagino algunas de las declaraciones de las doctoradas plañideras

convertidas de golpe al monsivaisismo: “En la última cena en casa, aceptamos

que nuestras diferencias eran enormes, pero no tanto como el mutuo respeto que

nos dispensábamos”. “En la pasada entrevista que le hice, off the record, por

supuesto, me confesó que…” “Sus lúcidos y muy libres comentarios en mi

programa son prueba del compromiso de la empresa con la libertad de…”

“Reconozco que en privado siempre fui su severo crítico, pero como se lo

expliqué, era para que no supieran que estaba con él”. “Cuándo leí Nuevo

catecismo para indios remisos y recientemente Apocalipstick, me di cuenta qué,

inteligentemente, había aceptado todas mis sugerencias”. “Benito Juárez y Monsi

son pruebas irrefutables de nuestra capilaridad social”. “Nunca fue justo con

nuestro partido, pero en estos tiempos de libérrimas coaliciones, no le

negaríamos una subdelegación en Portales”. “No me responsabilicen, en el

Colegio Nacional, el Seminario y la Academia, no tengo todas la influencia que

dicen”. “En Ecatepec no somos sus fans, pero les juro que allí no lo hemos

excomulgado”. “Yo lo pude descubrir a tiempo: Monsiváis no es un individuo,

es un holding”.

No les des el gusto, Monsi, déjalos que se entripen con las cuartillas que te

quieren asestar, amparados en la impunidad que les garantiza que ya no puedas

ejercer el derecho de réplica. ¡Resiste, Monsi, aunque sea por joder!

¿Cómo va aquello de que hay hombres que luchan un día y son buenos, los

que luchan un año son muy buenos, los que luchan por años son mejores, pero

los que luchan toda la vida son imprescindibles?

En verdad te lo digo (abusando yo también de que estoy temporalmente a

salvo de tus sanguazas y cuchufletas): en este tiempo de vacas flacas que

estamos viviendo, TÚ eres uno de los IMPRESCINDIBLES. (Ya tendré tiempo

de desdecirme en tu convalecencia.) Pero hoy, aunque sea por joder, resiste, Monsi, resiste.

La Jornada

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Urban Scene

Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers... What we call art is a game.

Octavio Paz

Buildings designed with careful attention to aesthetics arouse and enlighten their occupants and that promotes their good health.

Robert Evans

At one of the annual conventions of the American Society for Aesthetics much confusion arose when the Society for Anesthetics met at the same time in the same hotel.

Rudolf Arnheim

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The Mural

“The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be.”

Paul Valery

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The Singer

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