AROUND TOWN
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Meetings & Lectures
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
At this week’s meeting, Reverend Tom Rosiello addresses the relevance of religion in our lives and the role it can play in a largely secular society.
In a society that endorses religious freedom, we can choose whether or not religion has a place in our lives. The choice is not one between belief or non-belief, but one of whether we decide to live our lives superficially or engaged with our spiritual and moral selves in relationship with others.
Reverend Rosiello is the minister of the First Parish of Stow & Action Unitarian Universalist Church in Stow, Massachusetts. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School and Suffolk University Law School, he has been active in social justice causes ranging from AIDS and gay rights to poverty and prison reform. He is currently on sabbatical here for several months.
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.
Midday Rotary Club
Pat Harding, President of Jóvenes Adelante, is the guest speaker at the May 26 meeting. Jóvenes Adelante supports talented but economically disadvantaged Mexican youths from the San Miguel area by providing university scholarships and supplementary programs to ensure their success.
Their support system includes the Mentor Program, which pairs students and mentors, and monthly stipend distribution gatherings where students and members socialize after an educational presentation. Computers are provided (as available) and member volunteers teach ongoing English classes and study sessions in conjunction with the Warren Hardy School. Special counselling or tutoring is set up as needed.
From the 70 applicants for the fall scholarships, the group is selecting the best students with the greatest financial needs and brightest futures. They hope to award 25 new scholarships from sources such as grants, individual sponsorships and fundraising events. In the last month of the group’s spring drive for individual sponsors, three people pledged to support a student’s entire university education.
The Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday meets Tuesdays at Hotel Real de Minas, intersection of calles Ancha de San Antonio and Stirling Dickinson. Check-in time is 12–12:15pm and the meeting starts promptly at 12:30. Visit
www.rotarysma.org for more information.
Purified Water Lecture
Mexican scientist Q.F.B. Manuel Balderas de la Garza has invented a new system based on solar energy which eliminates arsenic and fluorine and gives you an ecological, drinkable water that helps you save money and improve your family’s health through a process that imitates a natural cycle.
Balderas de la Garza talks about his low-maintenance-cost system in a lecture, “Arsenic and Fluorine in Drinking Water,” on Tuesday, May 26, at 1:30pm in the Biblioteca Pública’s Sala Quetzal. The suggested donation is 60 pesos.
Shalom San Miguel
Shalom San Miguel will have religious services for Shavuot on Friday morning, May 29 at 9:30am, with Yizkor on Saturday morning, May 30 at 9:15am as part of the normal Shabbat Service. Both services will be in the Hotel Quinta Loreto TV Salon, Loreto 15.
Stress
Management Lecture
When we are stressed our energy decreases and our health is damaged; all our bodily fluids work more slowly. Emotional information goes directly to muscles, cells and to the whole body. The message received by our body depends on the type of emotional information we have accumulated, until our body becomes sick or doesn’t respond the way it used to.
Armando Padilla Verdad presents “Handling Stress in Times of Crisis” on Tuesday, June 2, at 1:30pm in the Biblioteca Pública’s Sala Quetzal. His talk explains how to liberate yourself from bad energy and recover the well-being of your body.
Lions Club International
The Lions Club meets every first and third Thursday (June 4 & 18) at the Hotel Quinta Loreto, Loreto 15. Check in time is 12:30pm and the meeting begins at 1pm. You may order lunch from the special menu and parking is ample. For additional information, contact Norma Robinson at 120-0726.
Classes & Workshops
Chess: patio and terrace
Chess players meet Mondays 5–6:30pm in the north portal of the Biblioteca Pública’s central patio. Players also meet three times a week at Casa de la Cultura on Chorro: Saturdays, 10am–2pm, Wednesdays and Fridays, 4:30–7pm.
Tours & Excursions
Saturday Adventure Tours
Don’t miss this tour on May 23! First we go to the home and workshop of Eunice O’Hanna to see hundreds of one-of-a-kind necklaces of ceramic beads and semiprecious stones, most inspired by Aztec designs. Her home is covered with tongue-in-cheek murals or paintings, such as Adam and Eve caught right after the serpent appeared!
We go then to a sixteenth-century hacienda, San Nicholas de Puerto de Nieto, one of the first built by the Spaniards to protect themselves from the war-like local Chichimecas. Now it will be used for weddings, receptions, baptisms or big fiestas. A place of dreams, past and future, it looks like a movie set, with spacious salons, graceful arches and stone-paved corridors. Time your fiesta in March or April, and you enter the hacienda under an archway of jacaranda blooms. Thousands of Agapanthus or Lily of the Nile bloom in March. Imagine the ethereal effect of thousands of white globes waving in the sunshine. Cameras a must!
These tours benefit the Centro de Crecimiento school for disabled children and leave the Jardín, across from the Parroquia, at 10:30am.
Botanical Garden Tour
A guided tour in English of El Charco del Ingenio each Tuesday and Thursday, 10am–12:30pm, is a fun and informative activity for people of all ages. Entry is 30 pesos (waived for members) and the tour is 50 pesos. Wear a hat and closed shoes. The juice bar next to the gift shop has water and refreshments. The easiest way there is by taxi. Staff will call a taxi for the return trip. Reservations are not necessary. Information:
www.elcharco.org or email nzerriffi@yahoo.com.
Lions in Tesquisquiapan
On Monday, June 1, the International Lions Club sponsors an overnight stay at the Fiesta del Sol hotel in Tesquisquiapan during the annual National Wine and Cheese Festival.
The Temple of Santa Maria de la Asuncion gracing the town’s main square boasts pink quarry stones and domes that resemble clouds anchored to the earth.
On June 2, comida is at Hacienda Calindo, near Querétaro, built in 1540 as a gift from Hernán Cortés to his mistress and interpreter, La Malinche, according to legend.
Based on 35 people, the cost is 1,100 pesos each for a double and 1,300 pesos for a single, inclusive, plus a donation to the Lions Club, which dispenses glasses and does diabetes testing every Thursday morning at Correo 63. Reserve with Jean Schickel at 152-0934.
Performances & Events
Singles Social Group
Single people socialize and lend support to each other at Woolis Kaban Restaurant at San Francisco 25, next door to HSBC Bank. Singles, couples and anyone interested in meeting new people are welcome every Wednesday, 5–7pm, for 2-for-1 national drinks and delicious Mexican botanas.
Films & Videos
Meditation Center
The Meditation Center of San Miguel presents Good Medicine, Part 1 on Thursday, May 28, at 5:30pm, at Callejon Blanco 4. Please arrive before 5:30, as seating is limited and late arrivals disturb others. The films are free, though donations are always welcome.
Within Buddhism, many stories refer to its founder as the “supreme physician,” a healer of all illness—mental, physical and spiritual. The Buddha’s prescription for right living led directly to tonglen, a Tibetan meditation practice. In this video, American Buddhist nun Pema Chodron shares the gift of this simple and elegant meditation system. It’s a way to befriend ourselves, accept the past we have rejected and widen our circle of compassion.
Volunteer Opportunities
Does your nonprofit need some extra help, perhaps for an upcoming event? Send new, short requests for volunteers to
edit@atencionsanmiguel.org with “Volunteer Opportunities” in the subject line. Listings run for four issues.
Call for cooks!
El Grande Cookoff on July 4, 2009 will be the first annual competition for the best BBQ teams in San Miguel. Proceeds will benefit Feed the Hungry and Patronato Pro Niños.
We need teams. If you like to cook BBQ, we need you. The categories will be Brisket, Ribs, Sausage, Texas-style Chili (no beans), Beans and an Open Category for anything else you can cook on a grill or smoker.
To sign up, stop by the Longhorn Smokehouse, Salida de Celaya 6, or get details online at
www.elgrandecookoffsanmiguel.com.
Seeking muralist
Vía Orgánica, San Miguel’s emerging organic organization, has garnered a prime wall space in colonia Guadalupe for a Green-themed mural. If you have experience in mural design and execution, contact Ronnie Cummins at 185-2194.
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