Around Town, Oct 13, 2006

Meetings & Lectures

UU Fellowship

Joseph Dispenza, a former Roman Catholic monk and university professor, proposes that our religious beliefs are killing us at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Sunday, October 15. Still, he suggests, we may be approaching a post-religion world where traditional organized religions are lumbering toward extinction, leaving us the responsibility of caring for our souls on our own.

Dispenza is the cofounder of LifePath in San Miguel and the author of a dozen books on spirituality and personal growth. His newest book is God on Your Own: Walking a Spritual Path Outside Religion.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30am at La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15. Visitors are invited to attend the service and then join the UUs in the hotel restaurant for brunch. For more information, visit www.portalsanmiguel.com/lifestyle/unitarians/unitarians.html 

Midday Rotary Club

On Tuesday, October 17, Kathleen Devine and Roger Hind, both members of the Mujeres en Cambio Core Group, will be the guest speakers at the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday. 

Mujeres en Cambio is a 10-year-old charity that raises funds to provide scholarships to girls in the campo, so that they can complete their education from grades 7 to 12. They presently support 135 girls, some of whom have continued on to university. These girls come from extremely poor families and must maintain a high GPA to qualify for—and remain in—the program.

The Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday meets every Tuesday at 12:30pm at the Villa Jacaranda Hotel, Aldama 53. Visiting Rotarians and others interested in Rotary are invited to attend this meeting. Lunch follows at 1:30pm in the hotel dining room. For more information see the website at www.rotarysma.org 

Classes & Workshops

Computer obedience training

Another session of Roger Hind’s acclaimed computer classes for new users and for those who want to better learn the basics begins soon. Roger is particularly well known for his ability to put those suffering from “computerphobia” at ease.

The classes will be held in the computer training room at the Biblioteca and will cover these topics: introduction to computers and computing, introduction to Windows and basic Windows techniques, introduction to the Internet, Internet browsing and searching, basic Internet-based email, introduction to word processing, and managing Internet-based email attachments

Classes will be in plain English (no computerese!). Each student will have his or her own computer, and there will be lots of hands-on exercises to reinforce the principles as they are presented.

Classes will run from 10:30am until 1pm and will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays over four weeks, beginning Tuesday, October 31. Pre-enrollment, including payment of the course fee of 350 pesos, is required. Places are limited to 10 people, who must have either temporary or full membership at the library. A temporary membership costs only 150 pesos, of which 100 pesos is refundable when you leave San Miguel.

Please note that the classes are for PC users—we do not have Macs.

To enroll, take your membership card and 350 pesos to the front desk at the library. Note that Roger donates 100% of the course fee to the library’s scholarship fund.

Roger has written a detailed manual that is an essential adjunct to the class. The manual will be available at the first class for 150 pesos. If you can’t make the course beginning on October 31, Roger will be repeating the course beginning on November 30. Enrollments are also open for this course.

If you would like more information about the course objectives and content, contact Roger by phone at 154-6552 or by email at rogerhind@hotmail.com 

Tours & Excursions

Saturday Adventurers

On Saturday, October 14, the Adventurers will learn about the craft of papier mâché from a maestro who has worked for the Hernández family’s first-class papier mâché factory for 16 years. He will demonstrate how a gooey mess made from fresh rolls of paper, glue, flour and water evolves into shiny red apples, lush oranges, bananas and very edible-looking pan dulce. Then, we visit Alma Caballero’s spectacular and elegant home with its soaring arches and magnificent views of the green countryside from the patio. We will see how being built into a hillside gives many levels to the home. Then we will be shown the sala, with its very large bóveda ceiling, which gives perfect acoustics for the grand piano. The tour leaves from inside the Jardín, across from the Parroquia, at 10:30am.

Botanical Garden tour

Every Tuesday morning discover the marvels of cacti and other Mexican plants, as well as the history of El Charco, with Mario Mendoza, vice-director. An additional privilege of this visit is the opportunity to see the plants in the nursery that is not ordinarily open to the public. Many rare species and plants threatened with extinction are protected and propagated at El Charco. 

Entrance fee is 30 pesos (waived for members) and the tour is 50 pesos. All proceeds benefit the garden. The tour is in English and starts at the main entrance at 9am and lasts about 2 hours. Bring a hat and water. Space is limited, so reserve by calling Mario at 044-415-101-0338 or send email to charco@unisono.net.mx 

Wildflower walk

As part of the monthly Garden Lecture Series presented by El Charco, there will be a wildflower identification tour on October 18 starting at 9:30am at the main entrance of the botanical garden. The tour is guided by Richard Cretcher, photographer and author of Guide to Wildflowers of San Miguel de Allende, and Mario Mendoza, vice director of the garden. The cost for the identification walk is 100 pesos for nonmembers and 70 pesos for members of the botanical garden. Reservations are required; send email to nzerriffi@hotmail.com  to save a space.

Cretcher’s book includes 165 photographs of flowers, identified with botanical, Spanish and English common names where they are known, size of the blooms and interesting facts about the plants. Color-coded pages reveal when the flowers bloom and where they were photographed. This guide will be available for sale.




Performances & Events

Shalom San Miguel Sukkot

The members of Shalom San Miguel are enjoying their week of adult camp this week, otherwise known as Sukkot. Their tent, actually a sukkah, is set up outside the group’s usual meeting place in the Quinta Loreto TV Salon. The sukkah symbolizes the frail huts in which the Israelites lived during their 40 years of wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. It also serves to remind Jews of the biblical account of how God protected them, provided for their needs in the wilderness, and by implication, still watches over them today.

On Saturday, October 14, at 9:30am, the eighth day of tenting, or Sukkot, called Shabbat/Shemini Atzeret, there will be special services to include the “Geshem” prayer, a traditional prayer for rain.

Shalom members hope the prayer will bring rain to the agricultural areas around San Miguel that might profit from a good soaking, but spare their tent until the traditional meal inside the sukkah is completed. This is because the sukkah roof, following tradition, is open enough to allow those in the sukkah to see the stars through the roof at night.

The next day, Sunday, October 15, at 9:30am, still another important Jewish holiday celebration follows: Sinchat Torah. Simchat Torah is a joyous festival, affirming the Torah as a tree of life and demonstrating a living example of never-ending, lifelong study. The Torah scroll is unrolled so that the final words of Deuteronomy can be read, then the whole scroll is rolled all the way back to Genesis, the first words, to start the whole book all over again. Since the scroll stretches over the length of the room, it is an impressive ritual.

The Torah scroll is then carried with singing and dancing around the room seven times. During these seven circuits, or hakafot, members, especially the children from the Hebrew class, will wave brightly colored flags and sing Hebrew songs.

To emphasize the joyousness of the holiday, it is traditional to drink wine with the traditional meal in the sukkah after the service. All members of the community are invited to attend these events at no charge. For more information, contact Joanne Charm-Yakerson by calling 152-0018 (zahava3@yahoo.com ), or Dan Lessner at 154-9983 (drdan@cybermatsa.com.mx ).

Films & Videos

When truth takes over

The Meditation Center continues its Nonduality Dharma film series Thursday, October 19, with a 5:30pm showing of When Truth Takes Over. In this riveting satsang (association with Truth), an unusual young teacher, Adyashanti, explores how we shift from being moved by a personal self to being moved by a deep surrender to truth. He calls this shift a change of occupancy.

Adyashanti is a California-based teacher who had been practicing Zen Buddhism with great zeal and devotion for 17 years when he spontaneously awoke in 1996. He has a terrific sense of humor, a completely unpretentious presence, and a unique ability to put the ineffable into words that can pierce the listener’s heart. The author of Emptiness Dancing, The Impact of Awakening, and My Secret Is Silence, Adyashanti invites all seekers of peace and freedom to take the possibility of liberation in this life seriously. 

The Meditation Center is at Callejón Blanco 4, near Quebrada. A 20-peso donation is suggested to help cover film program costs. Please come early to ensure a seat, because the meditation hall is not large.

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