Last May, the first anniversary of Carmen Masip's passing was commemorated by her family, who organized a modest mass for close friends at the San Francisco Church. As I see the changes that San Miguel's downtown area is going through, I often wonder how much more time will pass before the city pays tribute to this unforgettable and influential figure who over the past 50 years played a key role in shaping our city into what it is today.

There's no doubt that life in San Miguel has changed over the last few decades, yet it is still one of the best-preserved and most beautiful towns in Mexico. But let us imagine for a moment what this city would be like if it had modern street lights and neon signs, a parking lot under the Jardín, and instead of cobblestones the streets were paved. Let us imagine a town without the Biblioteca Pública or the Ángela Peralta Theater; that the Chamber Music Festival, now in its 26th year as the most renowned and oldest such festival in the nation, was not here; and that "El Colibrí," the town's first bookstore, had never existed. Envision that the Centro Cultural El Nigromante did not have 34 uninterrupted years of high-quality art exhibits, 15 consecutive years of the Winter Music Festival, or 18 Decembers of the pastorela under the direction of the late Masha Beyo. In every one of these pioneering endeavors to preserve San Miguel's history, Carmen's role was crucial. With respect to the arts, she was the catalyst that propelled San Miguel to the world-renowned status it has today. She was the town's tireless guardian and its chief promoter-its cultural beacon.

In 1954, with her dear friend Helen Wail, an American resident of San Miguel de Allende, she co-founded the Biblioteca Pública on Hospicio Street. Since then, this library has continued to function, largely thanks to the generous donations and participation of San Miguel's foreign community.

In 1959, Carmen and her Oregonian husband, Jim Hawkins, opened San Miguel's first bookstore, "El Colibrí," which still exists today. That same year, they opened the first school in the state of Guanajuato teaching Spanish as a foreign language-the Academia Hispano Americana.

Some of its distinguished lecturers were the Mexican author Jorge Ibargüengoitia, the Catalonian physician Francisco Olsina and the American author Norman Schmidt. 

Carmen Masip was also responsible for rescuing the Ángela Peralta Theater, a small Porfirian architectural gem. In 1968 it was on the brink of being demolished by local authorities who, lacking historical sense and aesthetic vision, did not know what to do with the town's former movie theater. On August 10 of that year, Carmen founded a cultural association through which she single-handedly managed the theater for 10 years. During that period, San Miguel hosted concerts, plays, chamber opera and, in later years, several of the performances of the yearly Cervantino Festival. In the colorful playbills printed for each performance, the following phrase appeared: "A Town Without a Theater Is a Town Without a Soul," a quote from the poet Federico García Lorca. 

Carmen was the first citizen to file a complaint with the INAH regarding the destruction of cobblestone streets, which a few decades ago were going to be removed, and of several colonial buildings that were being "remodeled" according to the commercial whims of their new owners. These actions helped to initiate the current regulations on building in the downtown area, which in turn led to San Miguel's recognition by UNESCO.

In 1979, she helped found San Miguel's PEN Club. That same year, under the auspices of Mexico's National Institute of Fine Arts and with American long-time resident Tom Sawyer, she founded the Chamber Music Festival, which today has granted over 1,000 scholarships to Mexican advanced music students.

 
Born in Spain, Carmen became a Mexican citizen at age 11. Daughter of an eminent Spanish intellectual and, needless to say, an anti-Franco Republican, she always maintained an impeccably liberal personality. She was a fighter for justice, a cultivated iconoclast and a fierce adversary of mediocrity. Carmen was eternally indignant about the philistinism and the phariseeism that often hide in the nooks and crannies of bureaucracy and among San Miguel's bourgeoisie, which just a few decades ago was awakening from two centuries of siesta. All of her public undertakings were imbued with high moral standards and ethics, yet she was not lacking in subtle humor and sarcasm.

A close friend of Felipe Cossío del Pomar, Carmen, in many respects, carried the torch he had lit as the founder of Bellas Artes, the town's cultural legacy. She directed the Centro Cultural "El Nigromante," also known as "Bellas Artes," for 34 years. During that period, excellent Mexican and foreign instructors gave courses in painting, stained glass, sculpture, music, dance and photography, just to name a few. During that time, she exhibited works by such artists as Picasso, Tamayo, Miró and Tàpies. Given her profound sense of democracy, she granted exhibitions to innumerable dilettantes as well. Her merit and unmistakable singularity lay in a rare capacity to instill vitality to all of her undertakings, always with ingenuity and vision. In 1995, the National Institute of Fine Arts granted her the Gold Medal for Promoting the Arts, the fourth one ever granted in the country, and the first to be received by a woman. 

Carmen Masip de Hawkins should not be forgotten. She should be remembered, if only in a modest way, in accordance with her personality: a street or a small plaza named for her, or a monument should do. It would be the minimum gratitude that could be bestowed upon her, and this would barely suffice, for she was a personality who did everything to preserve and elevate the city of San Miguel de Allende, her adopted home.

Easing the suffering of homeless animals
By Jim Karger (Feb 24)

She wandered off the street into the party uninvited. She was not dressed for the occasion-her coat ratty, her body thin and hungry. No one said anything even though she obviously didn't belong, yet a few party guests took pity and slipped her some food from the buffet table. She was quietly thankful, knowing it would cause a scene if she became too visible. My wife Kelly introduced herself, got her a plate and took her to a corner where she smiled and ate, not saying much. When she had her fill, she looked up, knowing it was time to leave. She began to head toward the door into the chill of the high desert night. 

Kelly looked at me, tears in her eyes, but said nothing. I knew what she wanted.

"Let's ask her to stay at our place for a while," I offered.

Kelly smiled and headed straight for the door. I could see her talking with the homeless party crasher and then hugging her. I walked over and was introduced to "Kisha," who dropped her head submissively when I met her, but I could see in her eyes that her spirit had not been broken. 

We walked back to the house together, smiling, the cold night air warmed by the event. At our home, we introduced her to our other animal children. They welcomed Kisha without objection. They have seen many such guests come and go. 

Kisha looked up at us as if to say one more time, "Are you sure this is OK?" Then she laid down by the fireplace next to Goldie to sleep, warm and protected perhaps for the first time in her life. I am reminded of something Margaret Mead once observed, "One of the oldest human needs is having someone to wonder where you are when you don't come home at night." Kisha would come to wonder about us in this way.

Two months after meeting Kisha, it was time for her to find a forever home. We needed room to bring in more guests from the streets and feed and comfort them until they, too, could find the place to be their very own.

The sad reality is that Kisha is rare-she's the one getting help, the one dog out of the thousands of homeless animals wandering the streets in and around San Miguel de Allende. No one can shelter them all. Not even all of us together can take them all in. They are breeding too fast. 

The only long-term solution is a massive and effective spay and neuter program, combined with education-the mission of Amigos de Animales of San Miguel. Since 2002, Amigos de Animales has spayed and neutered more than 4,000 dogs and cats and sponsored education programs with a goal of teaching the young while they are still interested in animals, and open to new ways of thinking. We also provide the City of San Miguel the euthanasia medicine to insure that unclaimed animals not as fortunate as Kisha are humanely euthanized. Before Amigos de Animales, homeless animals were electrocuted. Yet, even with all the wonderful work of our volunteers there remain approximately 12,000 homeless dogs and countless cats roaming the streets of San Miguel and surrounding areas, and they are breeding incessantly. If we are to get ahead of this problem, we must do more.

Amigos de Animales has an aggressive agenda for 2006:

-Continue our program of providing free spay and neuter surgery on a daily basis throughout the year to low-income pet owners. Call 120-0735.

-Hold frequent mini-blitzes in outlying colonias, ranchos and campos. 

-Continue to sponsor our full-scale blitzes. 

-Revamp our education program to become more dynamic and reach more children.

-Partner with other local outreach programs to create an adult-education program. 

-Continue to create a program to reduce the suffering of homeless animals that will become a model throughout developing countries.

We need your help-we need more volunteers and donors. To learn more about Amigos de Animales, please check out our website at www.amigosdeanimalessma.org  Or email us at info@amigosdeanimalessma.org .

Amigos de Animales sales booth
By Teresa Shepro

Are you sleeping on 300-plus thread-count sheets while your dog huddles on a cold Saltillo tile floor? Do you have the latest portable PlayStation and your pet has to put up with a gnarly old chew toy?

Well, doggone it, get off your hindquarters and make tracks to the first-ever Amigos de Animales booth at the Instituto Allende Craft Fair. Our volunteers will be selling dog and cat toys and beds, pet portrait silhouettes, leashes, and papier mâché animals. We also will offer dog and cat theme aprons, potholders, animal rescue support bracelets, and more.

All profits will go to Amigos de Animales' ongoing spay/neuter and community education programs. Every dog and cat in San Miguel, whether owned or not, deserves a decent life. Your purchase for your own pet will help alleviate the suffering of the homeless animals in San Miguel de Allende's colonias, ranchos, and countryside.

The Biblioteca Pública: a 51-year-old institution
From the Biblioteca Pública Election committee (Feb 24, 2006)

How many nonprofits in San Miguel de Allende have an annual operating budget of more than 7 million pesos (that's US $650,000)? Do you know any other institution that has an average of 450 visitors per day? That's almost 150,000 people per year coming through the doors of the Biblioteca Pública, and even if one allows for redundancy, easily 40,000 tourists find their way into the library during an average year. In fact, the sheer number of books catalogued here (70,000) make our library the second-largest privately funded bilingual library in all of Latin America!

There are more than 2,000 members with cards-of which more than 700 are Mexican students. Last year, the Biblioteca provided scholarships for 162 students, 62 of whom attend local universities. That means that 5% of its gross income (or approximately US$30,000) goes back into the community to help further the education of local young people. That's impressive!

Both the Mexican and foreign communities benefit enormously from the services that the Biblioteca provides. Yet, out of the more than 1,000 library members who are eligible to vote in the annual Biblioteca elections, no more than 40 took the time to vote in either of the two last board campaigns. This kind of apathy is really strange. We are entrusting a board of eight members with decisions involving hundreds of thousands of dollars! We expect them to run an institution that includes seven different enterprises (Atención, House & Garden Tour, La Tienda, Cinemateca, Computer Center, Santa Ana Café and Bodega de Sorpresas), not to mention supervision of lectures, live theater performances, painting and computer classes for children, English classes for Mexican adults, twice-weekly sessions of Conversaciones con Amigos, and free wireless access to the internet for those with laptop computers. Yet, fewer than 4% of those eligible to vote turned out to choose this leadership.

The lack of absentee balloting in Mexico is a partial explanation. Is it likely that the usual uncontested elections drain the potential voters of interest? Possibly. It seems strange, however, that when there is a problem with a soap dispenser in the men's room folks know how to contact board members. Interesting that when the movie listings don't quite please some movie-goers, they find their way to the general manager's office. Don't like the merchandise in the Tienda? A letter is bound to be sent to the board president! 

No one who lived in our community during 2001-2002 can ever forget the epic battle for leadership of the Biblioteca Pública. Almost 400 voters turned out to cast their ballots on February 28, 2002! Whatever side people came out on, they at least cared enough to express themselves. Kendal Butler, a former Biblioteca president and one of the leaders of that memorable campaign, perhaps said it best (and we paraphrase her remarks here): "In the context of things, this institution might seem small by other standards, but it is our library and there are those of us who love it!"

On March 7, sanmiguelenses will again have a chance to vote for (or against) officers for our Biblioteca Pública-a cultural gem of San Miguel de Allende. Hopefully, the number of voters that day will exceed the number of soap dispenser complaints.

The candidates are Ali Zerriffi for president; Teodosia ("Teddy") Alten for recording secretary; Mari Paz Espino de Castillo for director-at-large; and Ken Rowland for assistant treasurer (a petition candidate).

Below are brief profiles provided by the candidates.

Ali Zerriffi

In 1981 Ali Zerriffi founded Global Electronic Supplies, Inc., of which he is still the president and part owner while in semi-retirement in San Miguel de Allende. Global Electronic Supplies is a national distributor in Canada of electronic parts and accessories for large manufacturers such as Sony, Hitachi, JVC and Phillips. The company's website also gives it a worldwide scope.

Prior to moving to Canada in 1975, Ali worked as an advisor in the Office of the Minister of Tourism and then in the Office of the Prime Minister of Morocco. 

Ali graduated from Oberlin College in 1969 with a degree in social sciences (Sociology and International Relations). He also holds a degree from the University of Bordeaux (Baccalaureate in Philosophy). 

Ali's main interest is in helping organizations that deal with education, and he has been involved in a few fundraising events in Canada and here in San Miguel. He has been part of the board of directors of the Biblioteca Pública for the past two years as well as a member of the board of C.A.S.A. and a founding member of Opera San Miguel. 

His main hobbies include photography, reading and traveling. He speaks Arabic, French, English, Spanish and some Italian. Ali is married and has two sons.


Theodosia (Teddy) Alten

A longtime resident of San Miguel de Allende, Teddy Alten has already served as recording secretary for nearly two years. She has been a secretary for one group or another for most of her life: She began as class secretary in seventh grade and continued in that position through junior high and high school. (She claims that nobody else wanted the job.)

Teddy was born in Petoskey, Michigan, and grew up in Boyne City, a few hundred miles north of the car manufacturing centers. It is in the snow belt of Michigan and has grown into a ski center for the Midwest. It is also deer-hunting country and an area of outdoor activity, but it is far from museums and concert halls. Her childhood was spent contentedly skating in the winter and swimming or boating in the summer, but she avoided the woods (on her mother's orders) during hunting season. With adulthood came a longing for a warmer climate and urban amenities.

She earned a BA in French at Eastern Michigan and an MA in linguistics at the University of Michigan. A year at the Sorbonne in Paris improved her French, and a summer at the Universidad in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, introduced her to Spanish. These two experiences gave her a taste for the adventure of foreign travel and the expat life. As a result, she spent her working years teaching English as a foreign language, literally all over the world: Bolivia, Chile, Iran, Thailand, China and Indonesia, interspersed with periods teaching French, Spanish and ESL in the United States. Along the way she accumulated a husband-Ivan, an architect and urban planner, who passed away in 2000 after 10 wonderful years in San Miguel-and four children who are now scattered across the United States. Her children and grandchildren, as well as her two stepsons and their families, are frequent visitors to San Miguel.


Mari Paz Espino de Castillo

Mari Paz was born in Mexico City, and as the second of 10 siblings she learned to socialize and to respect the beliefs, opinions and viewpoints of others. From her parents she learned the importance of education and the values of truthfulness, responsibility and self-respect. Her education focused on art and the humanities.

She began teaching at age 20, while she was studying Hispanic language and literature. She completed undergraduate and master's degrees in Latin American Literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

In July 2005, she received a second master's degree in Educational Research from the University of Guanajuato. She continues to teach informally. 

Besides the courses and lectures in Mexican literature that she has given in San Miguel de Allende, Mari Paz has volunteered with teenagers and teachers at C.A.S.A., at Casa Ayuda and in the Biblioteca Pública. In the activities she undertakes, Mari Paz strives to enrich the development of others, and believes deeply in the immense creative potential of humans and in their ability to improve their lives. She is seeking reelection as a director-at-large because she believes in the missions of the Biblioteca and in its benefit to the community.


Ken Rowland

Ken Rowland and his wife made San Miguel de Allende their permanent home a little over a year ago. Ken would like to serve on the board of the Biblioteca Pública as a way of giving to the community that has given so much to them.

He holds a BA in English from the University of California, Davis, and completed three years of graduate work in Educational Theory at UC Santa Cruz, where he taught education theory and philosophy courses after several years of practical experience. Ken taught high school English, special education and alternative programs for 24 years and worked in instructional media for the Stanford University Medical School for four years. When he retired, Ken was a special education consultant assisting teachers in the modification of curricula to meet the needs of individual students at a large high school. He has served on volunteer boards in several capacities, including treasurer and president, and was the financial officer for his wife's public relations firm. He is now writing fiction full-time.

Bodega sale to benefit ALMA 
By Roger Hind (Feb 24, 2006)

ALMA is a nonprofit body that provides a residence in Colonia La Lejona where seniors (both Mexican and non-Mexican) are lovingly cared for regardless of their ability to pay. ALMA presently provides a home, care, clothing and meals for over 30 people, most of whom are poor Mexicans, although there are several American residents whose monthly payment for a private room helps subsidize expenses for the other residents. ALMA provides a wonderful service to the community and depends almost entirely on donations.

If you have not previously visited ALMA it is worth going out just to see the facilities, and the residents always appreciate seeing a new face, even if it's only to say "buenos días."

Attending the ALMA sale and buying an item or two makes a difference. Typically the monthly sale income is enough to cover the monthly utilities. At the sale you will find an eclectic mix of clothing, shoes, household and electrical items-as well as books, posters and LPs-all at great prices! Free tours of the facility with an English-speaking guide will be available during the bodega sale hours. We hope to see you there!

During sale hours, the ALMA van (a two-tone metallic blue/silver Chevy) will provide a shuttle service, departing approximately every half hour from opposite Espino's grocery (near the "Y" formed by Ancha San Antonio and calles Zacateros and Codo). 

ALMA bodega sale
Saturday, March 4
10am-1pm
Jacarandas 148, Col. La Lejona
154-0186

Let's go to the Charreada
By Verónica Byrne (Feb 24, 2006)

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words "Mexican national sport"? Possibly the fiesta brava (bullfighting). Certainly fútbol (soccer). But the real deporte nacional of Mexico, as proclaimed in 1921 by the Asociación Nacional de Charros, is La Charreada.

And what better activity for a Saturday afternoon in the campo, especially given the glorious early spring weather we've been having of late? Well, your opportunity to experience the thrill and tradition of a Mexican rodeo is at hand. Wife and husband team Karla Lorch and Alfonso Butrón are hosting a charreada-La Fiesta de las Alicias-along with other distinctly Mexican and Spanish activities at their Atotonilco ranch.

La Charreada in Mexico has a long and rich history, but before I get into that I want to mention what awaits you in this local lienzo (arena) one week from tomorrow. In addition to the nine events that make up a traditional charreada, which will be demonstrated by three charro teams-Charros San Luis de la Paz, Charros San Felipe Torres Mochas and this lienzo's home team, Charros del Santuario de Atotonilco-there will be ballet folklórico and demonstration bullfighting (read "bloodless": no picadors, no swords) performed by matadors Ernesto "El Queretano" San Román from Querétaro, Pedro Montes from Aguascalientes and sanmiguelenses Julián Cartas and Acacio "Profe" Martínez. The maestros will invite adventurous members of the audience down into the ring to try their hand at caping under the watchful eyes of the experts (don't worry, these are little bulls…).

There will also be a bloodless cockfight. Who knew? Since fighting roosters grow their own spurs, their trainers long ago devised a way to protect them from these small but deadly bionic weapons during training (yes, they actually train). The cocks will all have their spurs covered with little protectors that resemble tiny boxing gloves (no kidding) to prevent any actual slashing from occurring. Since nobody's going to die here, participants will just keep on sparring until one of them poops out. It's really more like cock boxing than cock fighting. 

Any ritual gathering of cocks would not be complete without the obligatory burro del pulque, a cute little sombrero-clad donkey toting a couple of giant jars of the sweet, but potent, fermented cactus juice throughout the crowd for a much needed hot afternoon's refreshments.

And I have it from a very reliable source that this particular burro will also be loaded with tequila shots.

Meanwhile, inside Karla's Louisiana Restaurant, the usual Cajun and Creole cuisine will be replaced with a special Mexican/Spanish comida, featuring paella española (a savory Spanish dish made with seafood, chicken, sausage and rice and flavored with saffron) and a typical Spanish beef casserole.

Also, because she just can't not make it, Karla will dish up her famous Southern fried chicken. It's all served with an array of sides and supplemented by a full bar. For those who don't want to miss any arena action, there will also be a burrito stand outside along with a short bar serving soft drinks, beer and limited cocktails, along with beer boys laden with buckets of ice-cold cervezas roaming the bleachers. And as if all this weren't enough, the festivities will be accompanied throughout the day by Mariachi los Gavilanes.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention one of the best parts: This action-packed, fun-filled Saturday afternoon adventure can be yours for merely 50 pesos (kids under 10 pay half-price), which includes your first soft drink, icy Corona product or national cocktail. The various victuals on hand will be available at reasonable prices. Karla is available at 044-415-153-2863 for information on tickets, transportation options and reservations.

Charreada "La Fiesta de las Alicias" 
Saturday, March 4, 12:30pm
Rancho Potrero de San José
Atotonilco
50 pesos (1/2 price for kids under 10)
Info: 044-415-153-2863

Alternatives in education (Feb 24, 2006)

It was only after we had enrolled that I started to research the Waldorf philosophy and discovered that indeed our instincts were correct and we had stumbled upon a wonderful school. What I discovered was that Los Charcos is a school that is arts-based, holistic in nature and has an integrated curriculum that marries physical, mental and intellectual development at each stage of a child's life.

No more cramming or learning by rote, just mentally appropriate information that seemed to flow naturally into each child. It employs a method of teaching that is geared to the development of the child instead of to the parents or to the mandate of some Ministry of Education.

For those of you who would like to learn more about the Waldorf style of teaching, there will be an Introduction to Waldorf School at the Colegio Los Charcos. For more information email me at mexgoyettes@yahoo.com 


Introduction to Waldorf School
Colegio Los Charcos
Saturday, March 4 
10am to noon
Transport from Kike's 
supermarket at 9:30am