AROUND TOWN

Meetings & Lectures

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

This week the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship celebrates International Women’s Week as Sandy Brooks lifts up the name of Irene Sendler (Irena Sendlerova), a Polish Catholic woman who saved the lives of 2,500 Jewish children by removing them from the Warsaw Ghetto through a series of techniques which eventually had her questioned and tortured by the Gestapo.

Brooks has been an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of New York for 15 years, where she facilitates a poetry circle and has served in numerous leadership positions. In retirement she teaches English to foreign students at the International Center in New York City. In 2002 she produced a documentary-drama based on the book A Bintel Brief (Yiddish for “a bundle of letters”), which detailed the lives of newly arrived immigrants in the United States.

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

Guillermo Gonzalez Engelbrecht, general manager of the Consejo Turistico de San Miguel de Allende, is the guest speaker at the Midday Rotary Club meeting on Tuesday, March 4. Guillermo talks about the San Miguel Tourism Board, where it is now, its plans for promoting tourism in San Miguel in 2008 and its ideas for the future.

The San Miguel Tourism Board, initiated by Guillermo in March 2005, is funded by municipal and state governments and by private industry.

Raised in San Miguel, Guillermo holds a degree in tourism and hotel management from the Universidad de la Salle Baja in Léon. He has worked at the Instituto Allende where he started with Jaime Fernandez as a tour operator and went on to become the dean of administration. At the San Miguel Hotel Association he continued his promotion of our town and in October 2003 he became Director of Tourism and Economic Development for the city.

The Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday meets every Tuesday at their new location, the Hotel Real de Minas at the intersection of Ancha de San Antonio and Stirling Dickinson. Check-in time is 12–12:25am and the meeting starts promptly at 12:30. Visiting Rotarians and others interested in Rotary are invited to attend this meeting. Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world. For more information, please go to the website: www.rotarysma.org. 

The Rio Grande vs. the Rio Bravo lectures

The Xenophobia of Intervention, the Spider in the Web, The Country that Fell Asleep, The Face behind the Mask, Cross Culture and The Bubble Effect in San Miguel are just some of the subjects to be covered in the sixth series of one-hour lectures at the Warren Hardy Spanish School (front of the church San Juan de Dios, blue door on San Antonio Abad), March 4–6, 5:30–6:30pm. The cost is 50 pesos per lecture. For more information call Tuli Hardy at 154-4017. The lecturer is Beldon Butterfield.

“The Heavens Are Telling” lecture series continues

Explore the relationship between cosmology, spirituality and religion as this nondenominational lecture series by Rev. Dr. Harold Weicker continues, March 11, 18, and 25 from 10:30am–12:30pm at St. Paul’s Church.

“The Heavens Are Telling” series will consider questions such as: Where do we come from? What are we part of? What are some of our responses to the glory that surrounds us? Is there a discernible—even a mandatory—relationship between cosmology, spirituality and religion? In the final session, Weicker addresses the question raised by the eighth Psalm: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?”

“We will view what we cannot adequately describe through videos prepared by some of the best scientists in the world,” says Weicker. Discussion and the sharing of beliefs and opinions are encouraged. St. Paul’s Church is located at Cardo 6. For more information call 152-0387, or visit www.stpauls.org.mx 

From the old to the new nuclear age: What have we wrought and what must we do?

David Stea, Ph.D., is a semi-retired professor, in both the US and Mexico, of geography and environmental/international studies. In the fifties he worked as an engineer with Sandia Corporation, prime contractor to the US Atomic Energy Commission. Leonard Bird, Ph.D., is a semi-retired professor of literature, atomic veteran, antinuclear activist and the author, most recently, of Folding Paper Cranes: An Atomic Memoir. Both have homes in San Miguel.

During the Cold War and the associated arms race, nuclear weapons development was at its apex. From reminiscences based on firsthand experience, this talk will review the value-free atmosphere that prevailed among those who worked on these weapons of mass destruction, and the “Mutually Assured Destruction” doctrine which dominated US foreign policy at the time.

Twelve months ago the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the big hand of the “Doomsday Clock” from seven minutes to midnight to five, the closest to midnight we have come since the end of the Cold War in 1989. Why the move, and to what effect? To what degree is US policy a major contributor? To what degree did this move represent the actions of foreign governments? What must be done to move us away from the precipice?

Join us for this talk, Wednesday, March 5, 10:30am, in the Sala Quetzal, Biblioteca Pública, Insurgentes 25.

Classes & Workshops

Chess workshops

Free chess workshops meet Mondays—children 8 to 12 years old at 4–5pm in the Sala Infantil, and adults at 5–6:30pm in the central patio of the Biblioteca Pública. The Biblioteca has good chess sets, but bring your own if you like. Twenty-two players crowded the north portal of the patio on February 18. Alex the Russian and Jeffrey the Canadian continue to be formidable. Some players meet in the patio informally around 5pm on other days of the week.

Ten players gathered at Mama Mia, Umaran 8, on Wednesday, 5–7pm. With the warmer weather, assistant manager Martín opens the rooftop terraces so we can play chess like aristocrats. The restaurant has tournament-class sets, long inlaid tables, attentive waiters and spectacular views of churches, mountains and sunsets. In keeping with this unique setting for a chess club, we were treated to a total lunar eclipse on the night of February 20. Celestial events move with such stately precision that your own struggle for pawn position assumes a more dramatic cast. Unfortunately, I lost two games due to malign lunar influence. 

Chess classes for kids also are available now at Casa de la Cultura in Chorro, Wednesdays and Fridays, 5–7pm. Adults play chess there starting at 10am on Saturdays.

Beginning mosaic workshop

Mosaic artist Jenny Norman offers a half-day mosaic workshop on March 6 from10am–1pm. She is known in local art venues, such as the gallery Molinos de Viento and the Instituto Allende’s Arts and Crafts Fair, for her juxtaposition of tile pieces and colorful grout on pale wooden bateas, or bowls. Workshop attendees are introduced to various mosaic techniques, materials and tools. Included in the workshop are design elements, tile cutting and incorporation of final design by gluing pieces of tile to an approximately 10x10 inch base. The workshop mostly uses shards of colorful local Dolores Hidalgo tile.

Each participant receives his or her own tile nippers as part of workshop tuition. Materials are provided for the workshop project; however, participants may also bring “found objects.” A second session, for the purpose of grouting, may be scheduled, depending on interest.

Cost for the workshop is 500 pesos. Pre-enrollment is required. For more information, contact Jenny Norman at 154-6797 or email at jennyvdesigns@yahoo.com. 

Sixth gathering of facilitators for healing

“I’ve seen true beauty; a feeling of oneness and come away with a peaceful, easy feeling and a little ‘spaced out’.”

This was one reaction from an earlier session. One never knows what will happen. The next Gathering of Facilitators for Healing, an “energy exchange,” takes place at noon on Thursday, March 6, at Privada de Pila Seca 5 (turn into cul-de-sac opposite Pila Seca 45.) The meeting is free and open to the public. Facilitators are invited to participate. For more information call 152-0376.

Hatha yoga classes

Hatha yoga asanas strengthen the body, promote balance and cultivate mindfulness. All levels are welcome Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 6–7:30pm at the Centro Shakti yoga center on Ancha de San Antonio (above La Finestra restaurant, between Blockbuster and Santa Clara ice cream). For more information, please contact Joanna at 152-1271 or francisjoanna@hotmail.com. 

Ruling Your World: a one-day workshop

We all wish for a way of living which allows us to realize our highest aspirations while attending to the routine requirements of our daily lives. At the same time, we encounter both internal and external obstacles which we spend a lifetime trying to tame. The Shambhala Buddhist tradition teaches a reliable basis for calming this struggle: the practice of mindfulness/awareness meditation, combined with a realistic view of how to manage our emotions and balance concerns about our own welfare with the need to consider the welfare of others.

The one-day “Ruling Your World” workshop, based on the book by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, is for anyone with an interest in the practice of meditation or the task of managing life’s challenges with a sense of dignity and calm. The workshop is rewarding regardless of religion or meditation experience and it is not necessary to have read the book to benefit from the workshop. 

Acharya Allyn Lyon, our most senior teacher in Mexico, is leading the workshop. She has studied and practiced the Shambhala Buddhist path for more than 25 years and is currently the Resident Teacher at Shambalacalli Buddhist Meditation Center in Tepoztlan, Mexico.

The workshop is on Saturday March 8, from 9am–4:30pm at Shambhala Meditation Center, Terraplén 34, in Centro. Bring a lunch—drinks are provided. A 400-peso donation is requested. A one-hour introduction to the workshop is held Wednesday, March 5, 5:30–6:30pm at the same location. The free event provides an excerpt from the book and an introduction to the meditation practice. Donations are invited.

For further information contact Robert Merchasin at 154-4890 or write to rmerchasin@mac.com. 





Book cover workshop

The Authors’ Sala is pleased to offer a 3-hour, hands-on workshop with award-winning book designer Margot Boland. The workshop will take place in a beautiful private home.

Boland says that even for non-artists, designing a cover for your book can have an impact on its content. Writers will see how they might visualize a dramatic cover for their work. Boland gives guidelines for design and discusses common pitfalls—information that can be useful for authors working with a publisher as they review possible covers from the design department. It’s well known that an exciting cover design sells books.

The workshop is intended for authors who self-publish, those negotiating with a publisher or those who need some visual inspiration for that “novel in the drawer.” Each participant will come away with an original book cover design. This workshop takes place Saturday, March 8, 10am–1pm, 100 pesos. Reserve: Susan Page, 185-2225 or susan@susanpage.com. 

Trips & Tours

Instituto Allende trip to Guanajuato

This field trip offered by Instituto Allende is a great chance to see the city deemed a World Heritage site by the United Nations. Special attention is given to the colonial architecture preserved in residential areas.

Guanajuato is lovely; its underground tunnel system makes riding beneath the busy streets a unique experience. Above, in the city’s lively plazas are many places to stroll and shop. Other stops on the itinerary are the University of Guanajuato and the city’s stately governmental buildings, along with a number of museums, including the home of native son Diego Rivera.

The trip leaves at 9am, Saturday, March 1, from the Instituto Allende, located at Ancha de San Antonio 20. The cost is US$65, all-inclusive. All Instituto Allende tours are led by bilingual guides. Reservations must be made in advance. For more information visit or call Instituto Allende, 152-0226.

Saturday Adventurers

This Saturday, March 1, the Adventurers will learn from Tomas LeNoir, the “Amber Man,” all about this 30-million-year-old gem that is mined in Chiapas. We will learn about the difficulty of digging out these ancient pieces of resin and see how, under the talented direction of Tomas, he turns them into glowing baubles for necklaces and rings. Did you know there is a rare moss green amber, and a wine red? His settings in gold or silver are exquisite, you can’t resist making a purchase.

Then we go out to Eugenio Canales’ large ranch, where he breeds and trains thoroughbreds. The ranch is in a beautiful setting near the lake, providing vistas of the water through the trees. There are training rings of various sizes, the largest being capable of hosting an international horse show. It is here that we will be given a dressage show by Eugenio Canales, an award-winning trainer and rider. If there is time, he will give ups a tour of his charming home.

A suggestion—take your camera! This tour leaves from inside the Jardín, across from the Parroquia at 10:30am.

Center for Global Justice: Peñón de los Baños Trip 

Peñón de los Baños moved north of Los Rodriguez in the seventies when the Mexico City airport was being built on ejido land. The original inhabitants soon dispersed and the ejido needed inhabitants, so people from Celaya and Salvatierra went there to live. Today 50 or 60 families live on the ejido with their 500 head of cattle. They live by subsistence farming and selling milk. It’s not a luxurious lifestyle, but they are independent: they don’t work for a boss and they don’t work for wages. Only a few centuries ago in Europe, people who had to work for wages were pitied.

Six members of the ejido have banded together to generate more income. Some of them have children who want to go to college; all of them have children in the US. They dream that someday their children will be able to return to their ejido. The Center for Global Justice has helped them with their dream. They decided to build a greenhouse and grow organic tomatoes. The center’s revolving loan fund advanced them some money as did the Bernie Weissman Foundation. Their greenhouse is built; they will plant next month. The first crop should be ready by May.

Join the center for a visit on Saturday, March 8, 9am–4pm. The 300-peso fee includes transportation, translation, comida and guides. To reserve, please come by the office at Calzada de la Luz 42 or call the center at 150-0025.

International Lions Club

The International Lions Club sponsors another trip to Uruapan for the artisans market during Holy week. The group leaves on a first class bus Tuesday, March 18 for two nights and three days. On the way, the bus stops in Morelia for lunch, and then goes to Tzintzuntzan, the straw market, and the reed factory.

On Thursday, the group leaves for Pátzcuaro, stopping in Santa Clara, the copper town, allowing time for shopping and lunch before leaving for San Miguel.

The cost of the trip, including hotel, bus, breakfasts and all tips, is1850 pesos each, double occupancy, and 2290 pesos single occupancy. Part of the cost goes to support a clinic that dispenses glasses to the needy and gives diabetes testing on Thursday mornings at Correo 63. For information and reservations, please call Jean Schickel at 152-0934 by March 5.

Films & Videos

Snowbird Symposium Film Series

The films for this week’s Center for Global Jusice Snowbird Symposium Film Series are The Fourth World War (3pm, Monday, March 3) and What a Way to Go: Life at the End of the Empire (3 pm, Thursday, March 6).

Shot on the frontlines of struggles spanning five continents, The Fourth World War is the untold human story of men and women who resist being annihilated in the current global conflict. While our airwaves are crowded with the talk of a new world war, narrated by generals and filmed from the noses of bombs, the human face of war is rarely seen. The film weaves together the images and voices of the war on the ground—from the front lines of struggles in Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Palestine, Korea, “the North” from Seattle to Geneva, and the “War On Terror” in New York and Iraq. Narrated by Michael Franti and Suheir Hammad, the film runs seventy-five minutes, with music from the likes of Manu Chao, Asian Dub Foundation, Ozomatli and DJ Moosaka.

What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire focuses on overpopulation, climate change, peak oil and mass extinction from a long list of ongoing crisis that threaten the survival of our planet. In dealing with these biophysical problems, the film addresses the trajectory of human culture since the rise of agriculture in the context of our human nature, the two factors that have brought us to our present situation. In doing so it asks questions that repel most Americans, breaking our culture of silence. One reviewer stated that What a Way To Go is nothing less than two physicians presenting a diagnosis of terminal cancer to a patient who currently feels and looks just fine. Both films will be shown at the Teatro Santa Ana. Admission is 50 pesos.

Bioneers winter film series

On Tuesday, March 4, from 3–4:30pm, the Bioneers films celebrates International Women’s Day with films made by three different women activists.

Jeannette Armstrong, of the Okanagan people of British Columbia, and the granddaughter of Hum-isha-Ma, the first Native American woman novelist, Jeannette has carried on the writer’s tradition with becoming Canada’s first Native American novelist. Jeannette grew up in the traditional Okanagan ways, and has helped maintain the cultural traditions of her people by co-founding the En’dokin Center where she teaches writing to young people. She is also an activist for indigenous ways and preserving land and culture, traveling widely.

Tzeporah Berman is an eco-warrior, having cut her teeth working with Greenpeace and the Ruckus Society. She is now program director of Forest Ethics and fights to save one of the world’s last great boreal forests and ecosystems in Canada. She has helped innovate citizen-based strategies that invite corporations to work with them instead of against them. She returned to Bioneers this year to report on some of the successes of the fight to save the “lungs of the Northern Hemisphere.”

In a different setting, urban activist Majora Carter, has led her community, the South Bronx, to a remarkable turnaround. While in college she became involved with local art projects, a period during which New York City proposed that the South Bronx become the dumping ground for 40% of the city’s garbage. Switching quickly from art to agriculture, she started to involve people in planting trees. With the help of a MacArthur grant, Carter has become a well-known urban activist who has led the revival of a community.

The films will show at Teatro Santa Ana. Tickets cost 50 pesos. An optional Conversation Cafe is held after the films.

Zen Video Series

The fifth presentation in our series is the documentary Joko Beck–Nothing Special. Only a few teachers actually embody the Zen quality of nothing special with such a remarkable presence, clarity and simplicity as Joko Beck, author of well-known books Everyday Zen and Nothing Special. This documentary gives a unique glimpse into Joko Beck’s teaching, her daily life and work.

It is fascinating to watch and listen to a Zen teacher who has touched so many people’s lives with her down-to-earth wisdom and compassion. Joko says: “When every moment of your life is your practice, there is then an erosion of the ordinary way of seeing things. We are trying to get some magic at the end and ignore all the hard training that needs to go on in-between. Practice is a road you go down, not a place you get to.”

Seating is limited; early arrival is recommended. We request a 20-peso contribution. 

This video will be shown Thursday March 6 at 5:30pm at the Meditation Center, Callejon Blanco 4, off Quebrada.

Performances & Events

March luncheon for Mujeres en Cambio

Please join us for lunch at 2 pm on March 13 at Hacienda de las Flores, Hospicio 16. All proceeds from the lunch go to provide educational scholarships to young Mexican women from the rural communities surrounding San Miguel.

Michele Vallon from the Night Kitchen Caterers is preparing a Moroccan chicken tagine and couscous that promises to dance on your tongue. The meal is complemented with an assortment of salads, side dishes and desserts prepared by Mujeres en Cambio core members. Entry to the March luncheon is by prepaid ticket only and tickets are available for 120 pesos at Casa de Papel, Mesones 57A. For further information: contact Joan at 152-2820.



Volunteer Opportunities

Does your nonprofit need hands? Send your short requests to edit@atencionsanmiguel.org  with “Volunteer Opportunities” in the subject line. 


First Annual Volunteer Fair

Join fellow sanmiguelenses at the First Annual Volunteer Fair, hosted by the Biblioteca Pública. With more than 30 exhibits by local organizations and nonprofits, this is an event you shouldn’t miss. Friday, February 29 and Saturday, March 1, from 10am–2pm, in the Biblioteca Pública courtyard.


Save A Mexican Mutt (SAMM) is a charitable organization that rescues, spays/neuters, provides veterinary care, socializes, and transports highly adoptable Mexican street dogs to the United States for adoption. We need volunteers to foster dogs for up to six weeks and to transport dogs to the United States. If you live here full or part-time and can provide a temporary loving home for one of the many dogs in line to be transported to their forever homes or are traveling to Texas, New Mexico or Colorado by car and can transport one or more dogs with you, please contact Kelly Karger at info@saveamexicanmutt.org and see our website at www.saveamexicanmutt.org.  (Save A Mexican Mutt is a US 501c3 charitable organization. Donations to SAMM are tax deductible on your US federal tax return.)


Field volunteers needed for Patronato Pro Ninos

PPN, one of the oldest and most vibrant charities in SMA, is looking for a selective group of volunteers who would be willing to dedicate two or more mornings per month to go out to the outlying areas of the municipality of San Miguel de Allende to visit schools, talk about the work that PPN is doing to assist children with medical and dental problems, and to invite those children who need medical attention to the office of PPN for evaluation and assistance at little or no cost to the family. The volunteers ideally would either be reasonably fluent in Spanish and/or have a car/truck/SUV which can withstand the back (mostly unpaved) roads of the municipality. If interested, please contact Steve Livingston at steve@stevelivingston.com  with your name and contact information. 


Feed the Hungry looking for screening volunteers

Feed the Hungry is looking for volunteers to help with the preventive medical screening of our school children. We are looking for persons with one or more of the following skills: Bilingual persons, drivers with access to vehicle with high ground clearance willing to drive out to the ranchos, computer data input persons. This medical work is being conducted in cooperation with Patronato Pro Niños for the children our organizations serve. For more information please contact us on 152-2402 or contact@feedthehungrysma.org. 


Pro Musica

Pro Musica de San Miguel AC puts on more than 30 classical music concerts throughout the year in the city. We are looking for volunteers to fulfill various roles. These include helping out as ushers at St Paul’s church and other venues during concerts, selling tickets prior to the House and Garden Tour at the Biblioteca on Sunday mornings, helping to organize suppers in private homes after concerts for our musicians and patrons, and assisting with publicity, marketing and fundraising. We are a fun group of people to work with and the music is fantastic! Contact Pro Musica’s President, Michael Pearl, at 152-2688 or email him at mpearl5493@aol.com.