AROUND TOWN


Meetings & Lectures

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meeting

Due to a submission error by the Unitarians, this was printed as last week’s meeting. It was re-scheduled for this week.

Reverend Jeffrey G. Jones discusses the challenge of facing serious setbacks in a completely bilingual service titled “Learning to Fall” or “Aprender a Caer” at this Sunday’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meeting.

Life can be difficult. Whether it is a serious illness, broken relationship, financial or other crisis, these are parts of real life. How do we prepare? Perhaps it is by learning to fall. La vida puede ser difícil. Si es una enfermedad seria, relaciones deshechas, cri sis económica u otra crisis, estas son partes de la vida real. ¿Cómo nos preparamos? Tal vez, es por aprendiendo a caer.

Rev. Jones is the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fredericksburg, Virginia, which he has served for eight years. After spending a six-month sabbatical in San Miguel de Allende in 2007, Rev. Jones and his family have returned to improve their Spanish, renew friendships, and once again, enjoy the Mexican culture.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30am at La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15 and welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Visitors are invited to attend the service and then join the UUs in the hotel restaurant for brunch.

Midday Rotary Club addresses the Biblioteca at the crossroads

What is the role of a library in the twenty-first century? And what specifically is the role of a library in the unique community of San Miguel? How can the Biblioteca continue to fulfill its mission of serving Mexican youth in new and different ways and improve its standing as a community center for our diverse community?

Midday Rotary Club is proud to have Gregory Diamant, the President of the Board of the Biblioteca Pública as their guest speaker on Tuesday, August 26. He will explore the above questions and present some fresh ideas that have come from the Board, staff and volunteers of the library.

Gregory Diamant moved to San Miguel almost four years ago from New York. His career was mostly spent managing businesses, primarily in footwear manufacturing and in specialized surgical instrument manufacturing. Three years ago he began volunteering at Atención as a proofreader. Soon after, he was asked to join the Biblioteca board as vice president. In March 2008, he was elected president of the board.

The Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday meets every Tuesday at Hotel Real de Minas at the intersection of calles Ancha de San Antonio and Stirling Dickinson. Check-in time is 12–12:25pm and the meeting starts promptly at 12:30pm. For more information, visit www.rotarysma.org. 

Classes & Workshops

Chess: Five days, three locations

Free chess workshops for adults meet Mondays 5–6:30pm in the central patio of the Biblioteca Pública. A dozen players occupy the north portal of the patio each week. The library closes at 7pm, but Café Santa Ana lets players carry on for another hour or two.

Players also gather at Mama Mia, Umarán 8, on Thursdays, 5–7pm.

Chess players meet three times a week at Casa de la Cultura on Chorro: Saturdays, 10am–2pm, Wednesdays and Fridays, 5–8pm.

Relationship Survival Training

Is your relationship suffering from the stress of moving to a foreign country or perhaps it’s just not firing on all its cylinders. Tune it up in this relationship enhancement workshop. Survival Training is a fun workshop that is not about disclosing your private affairs; it’s about learning new (relationship friendly) skills. Give your relationship the “shot in the arm” it deserves. It’s fun and non-threatening and has a money back guarantee.

The workshop begins Monday, September 8, 12–2pm, and continues Mondays and Thursdays for three weeks until September 25. It’s done in a group setting yet disclosure is not required. All relationships will benefit from the training, but romantic relationships will flourish. US$280 per couple.

Facilitator: Norman Araiza, M.A., former California licensed marriage counselor with 30 years experience helping couples.

For more information, call 152-5454.

Tours & Excursions

Botanical Garden tour

For the next few months, El Charco del Ingenio (Jardin Botanico) offers tours Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (rather than one tour a week on Tuesdays). The start time is 10am sharp (instead of 9am) and tours last two hours. A hat, water and good walking shoes are recommended. Fees are 50 pesos for members and 80 pesos for nonmembers. Private tours are available for 150 pesos per person (minimum five). 

The easiest way to Jardin Botanico is by taxi. Staff will call for a taxi for the return trip to town.

Reservations are not necessary. If you have any questions, email nzerriffi@yahoo.com . 

Films & Videos

Twelfth Eckhart Tolle video

The Meditation Center of San Miguel, callejón Blanco 4, presents the twelfth installment of a 13-week series of Eckhart Tolle videos, Touching the Eternal, from a 2002 retreat in India. Each video is about an hour and a half long; they show at 5:30pm on consecutive Thursdays continuing August 28. The presentation is free, although contributions are accepted.

Center for Global Justice: In the Valley of Elah

The final entry in the Center for Global Justice Summer Film Series is In the Valley of Elah, a powerful story that exposes the dehumanization of soldiers as a side effect of the senseless military invasion of Iraq.

In this Paul Haggis drama, Tommy Lee Jones plays Hank Deerfield, a retired military man investigating the mysterious disappearance of his soldier son, Mike. Charlize Theron is the civilian homicide cop in the small town near the base where Mike recently returned from a combat tour in Iraq. When this unlikely pair ends up investigating the mystery together, they encounter some suspicious covering-up from the army. Deerfield gets access to his son’s camera phone that contains startling video footage from combat overseas.

Performances are all Oscar-worthy: Jones’s craggy, weather-beaten face hiding grief and anguish beneath a steely facade until they threaten to boil over. His mug becomes a symbol for an America with no other choice but to confront its own grave flaws if it’s ever to find any answers. Susan Sarandon is the anguished mother waiting at home, and Theron is strong and sure, as a single mother who bravely faces, among other challenges, harassment in the workplace. Josh Brolin is her ex, the chief of police, and Jason Patric and James Franco are among the impassive faces of the military.

Reviewers’ comments:

“A somber condemnation of US foreign policy, wrapped in an absorbing whodunit.”

“It is extraordinary that a film this muted could resonate with a message this strong.”

“Though some of Paul Haggis's themes are heavy-handed, In the Valley of Elah is otherwise an engrossing murder mystery and antiwar statement, featuring a mesmerizing performance from Tommy Lee Jones.”

In the Valley of Elah screens Thursday, August 28, at 3pm in Teatro Santa Ana. Admission is 50 pesos.


 
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