AROUND TOWN

Meetings & Lectures

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship 

For those who believe in God and are more rational, the notion that God is with us and involved in our everyday lives is not an easy thought. Rev. Dr. Thomas D. Lynch, an Interfaith Minister, Professor Emeritus from Louisiana State University and the Executive Director of the University of Texas Pan American programs in San Miguel, explores the concept of a personal God and explains why it is a problem for some. 

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. 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.


Midday Rotary Club

On Tuesday Dec. 16, Lou Christine shares his experience on the topic "So you think you have a book in you..." Lou Christine began writing with a sports column and rock and roll review for a Hawaiian weekly in the late seventies, later attending the University of Hawaii. His novella, All You Have to Do Is Want It, won the Maui Authors Guild’s first-place prize in 1991. Christine’s first, full-length novel, Kill ‘em with Kindness, a contemporary Hawaiian adventure, was a regional bestseller. Christine has penned five novels, a work dealing with Chinese astrology, a number of film scripts and produced a play in San Miguel. He is a frequent contributor to Atención. In 2006, Christine’s “Uncle Lou,” an essay about his father, was selected by the late Tim Russert from over 60,000 submitted for The New York Times bestseller, The Wisdom of Our Fathers. 

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 12:30. Visit www.rotarysma.org for more information.


Social and newcomers club

The social and newcomers club meets every Tuesday night either at a local restaurant or a house. The club also runs rubber bridge on Friday at noon at Casa Payo restaurant. The bridge group raises money for kids’ projects. The Tuesday night group gives socks, gloves, soap and shampoo to the elderly every holiday season. They meet every Wednesday behind the church on the plaza and every Christmas they give presents to children in a selected elementary school. 

For more information about the weekly dinner, call Jean Schikel at 152-4299 or Paula Nesti, 152-4299.

Classes & Workshops

Chess: patio and terrace

Chess players meet Mondays 5–6:30pm in the north portal of the Biblioteca Pública’s central patio. The library closes at 7pm, but Café Santa Ana lets them carry on for another hour or two.

Players meet three times a week at Casa de la Cultura on Chorro: Saturdays, 10am–2pm, Wednesdays and Fridays, 4–7pm.

Tours & Excursions

Saturday Adventure Tours

Adventurers, here is your opportunity to witness a real traditional Mexican posada, Saturday, December 13, 6–10pm, at the seventeenth-century Hacienda de Landeta. Free transportation leaves from Instituto Allende at 5:30pm. There will be piñatas, raffle prizes, a cash bar, hors d’oeuvres and a sit-down dinner, plus traditional music accompanying the Virgin Maria on her burro, looking for a room at an inn. Tickets (donation 300 pesos) are available at Casa Maxwell, El Pegaso and in the Jardín.


Botanical Garden tour

El Charco del Ingenio (Jardín Botánico) offers two-hour tours on Tuesdays at 10am sharp. Bring a hat, water and good walking shoes. Fees are 50 pesos for members and 80 pesos for nonmembers. Private tours are 150 pesos per person (minimum five). 

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

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

Performances & Events

Arthur Murray benefit

The Arthur Murray Dance Party on December 13 will donate all proceeds to assist the Cruz family, whose house burned Thanksgiving night. Patrons at the November 28 event at Romanos spontaneously collected money for the elder daughter who escaped injury. Admission to the Saturday dance is 300 pesos and includes hors d’oeuvres and wine courtesy of Planta Baja, a group salsa lesson 7:30–8:15pm, demonstrations and general dancing to ballroom, swing and Latin styles in the big ballroom at El Sindicato, Recreo 4. Call Christie Olvera at 044 (415) 106-4401 for information. 

Christmas sale helps elderly

Help San Miguel’s home for the Elderly at the Pre-Christmas Alma sale, Friday, December 12, 10am to 1pm, callejon Lejona, Colonia La Lejona. For the best prices on unique and pre-loved gifts visit this sale, and if you have time say hello and Merry Christmas to the residents!


Karaoke fundraiser for Teen Writing Workshops

Come sing, dance and help raise funds for 30 high school students to attend the Teen Creative Writing Workshops during the Fourth Annual San Miguel Writers’ Conference. Karaoke Night begins at 8pm with host Anne Nicolai, on Friday, December 12 at Dila’s, Ancha de San Antonio 31. A 50-peso donation is requested and Dila’s will donate 10 percent of all drink purchases to the scholarship fund. For more information, contact Jody Feagan at jody@sanmiguelworkshops.com. 

Iguana Festival de Artes ‘09

As part of their month-long “Festival de Artes ‘09,” which includes a repertory of four plays in English and Spanish and great music events, Iguana Productions will sponsor an invitational arts and crafts fair on February 21 and 22. The organizers are looking for participants who design or produce original products of high quality not ordinarily shown in local fairs. Antique items, quality ethnic clothing and textiles from other countries are welcome. "Teen tables" will be available for teenagers who wish to show and sell their specialities. In addition to vendors, the organizers are looking for street performers, amateur or professional, who will mingle and can entertain for tips. There will be food concessions and a circus performance to add to the atmosphere of the fair. Prospective vendors should contact Sharon Conklin at sharon@theatersanmiguel.com  with requests for information.



Films & Videos

Meditation Center: Fearless Mountain

The Meditation Center at Callejón Blanco 4 presents Fearless Mountain at 5:30pm, Thursday, December 11. This documentary by Tony and Andrew Anthony gives an insight into the lives and teachings of the forest-dwelling monks of the Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in the ancient Theravada tradition. The film echoes the sweetness of a simple and spiritual life in a remote corner of northern California to which only a few can commit.. It is a timeless message of hope for the modern world. Meditation Center presentations are free, but donations are accepted.





Audubon Sightings 
The Northern Shoveler dabbling duck on the Presa
By Walter L. Meagher; Photography by Wayne Colony

Ducks arrive in El Charco every week, populating the presa with as many as seven species, for nature—unlike the mathematician—prefers multiplicity. The most plentiful of our ducks is the Mexican Duck, a shallow-water duck par excellence. The male Northern Shoveler (Shoveler for short), with long body and green head in breeding season, is handsome indeed, but this species has this odd distinguishing characteristic: a long bill wider at the tip than at the base. It is a curiosity, but I mock no creature.

Species diversity is driven by two engines: habitat specialization and sexual preference. Some peahens (female peacocks), long ago in evolutionary time, selected mates with long tails. This preference had a runaway effect: tails got longer and showier. Is the Shoveler’s bill long and wide because females gave a greater preference to this sign of feeding competence?

Now consider habitat specialization among freshwater ducks: they feed by diving or dabbling. Divers swim underwater, chase and catch small fish and hardy crustaceans; dabblers, content with vegetation and small crustaceans, feed on the water’s surface and just below it, often upending, showing their bottoms to the sunshine. The Shoveler is a dabbler, a puddle duck, but more specialized than usual, having 110 fine projections (called lamellae) along the edges of the bill. It is the way of the dabbler to take into its mouth a volume of water from which it sifts edible bits and pieces, rather like the baleen whale, in principle.

We don’t know what any of the ducks find to eat in the dark water of the shallow presa, but we must suppose that the advantage gained, in the evolutionary life of the Shoveler, is sufficient to favor genes for producing a special bill. All are glad it comes here every winter, displaying a body-form unique among its kind, and adding color and interest to reservoir waters.

Volunteer Opportunities

The Community Connections section of the Atención website at www.atencionsanmiguel.org  lists nonprofit organizations that assist children and families; promote education and schools; provide food, potable water and medical treatment; and even take care of animals and the environment. This section provides descriptions, contacts and information for donors or volunteers.

Does your nonprofit need some extra help, perhaps for an upcoming event? Send short requests for volunteers to edit@atencionsanmiguel.org  with “Volunteer Opportunities” in the subject line. 



Leading with English

FINO (Fundación de Niños Olvidados) is looking for volunteers who love elementary-age children to help teach its unique dual curriculum of English and leadership skills called “Leading with English” on Wednesdays, 11:45am–3pm in the village of Jalpa, located 20km from San Miguel. Transportation provided. Contact Elizabeth at finoac@gmail.com if you’re interested in serving once a week for a minimum of four to six weeks, or go to our website at www.finomex.org.

Children’s books in English to nonprofits

Occasionally, the Biblioteca Pública on Insurgentes receives donations of books it already has, and if they are not sold at the Bodega de Sorpresas, they become available for nonprofits to take. If you are interested in what might be available, see Kathleen in the Librarian’s Office, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10am–6pm.

Biblioteca seeks Board Vice-President and Volunteer coordinator

The Biblioteca seeks a candidate for Vice-president of the Board of Directors. This is an extremely important position and highly gratifying in that it offers the opportunity to participate in policy decisions that determine the future of the entire operation.

The institution also needs someone to coordinate volunteer inquiries with available positions, do orientations and cultivate a network of full- and part-time residents who want to process books; teach art, English or computer classes; publicize events; work in a bookstore or help with displays. 

If you are interested in either of these positions, please contact Gregory Diamant, President of the Board of Directors, Biblioteca Pública, at gdiam@aol.com.