More culture and art at the Biblioteca, New fountain refreshes Los Frailes, PPKBZON honors Sareda Milosz, Tirzah celebrates turning 100, It's crazy! No House & Garden Tour next week

José Luis Mendoza Aubert, coordinator of the Biblioteca Pública's Cinemateca program, has been named the library's new cultural and artistic director. His expanded duties now include the creation, administration and operation of all the various cultural and artistic activities of the Biblioteca Pública.

For José Luis, the new position is an invaluable opportunity to create a wider cultural umbrella that embraces, entertains and culturally stimulates the Mexican and international communities. "I want to further realize the great potential of this institution with many new projects for both children and adults."

José Luis, who has worked at the library for the past seven years, has coordinated activities at the Santa Ana Theater, Cinemateca and Sala Quetzal. Active not only behind the scenes of the theater, he is also well known as the creative and comic force behind the youthful theater group El Comedia del Universo. The group, which now includes 25 teenagers, was established approximately six years ago and presents one or two major productions annually. "Comedy is one of the easiest and most effective methods to develop a culture of theater and to introduce local kids to the performing arts," he commented.

Although he is an experienced comedian, for José Luis the work involved in this new position is not to be taken lightly. "I want to put the library on the cultural map and collaborate with state and national groups and institutions to upgrade the events that the library offers. There are an infinite number of possibilities if we establish links with universities, the Department of Culture and other institutions in Guanajuato and Mexico City," he said. "With between 1,000 and 2,000 people attending events at the library every month, it's time to open the spaces of the library for new and different artistic expressions."

All ideas are welcome. To contact José Luis, email him at alephamour@hotmail.com or call 152-7305, extension 116.

One of the San Miguel areas taking the lead in developing a Neighborhood Watch program is Fraccionamiento Villa de los Frailes, largely because it already has had an active community organization for the past eight years.

The organization recently received a donation of a 12-foot cantera fountain from members Jim Picone and Ruth Probst for one of the area's five parks. They said they hope that their donation will be a spur to more expats "to give something back to beautify and maintain San Miguel."

Picone and Probst saw the need for the centerpiece for the Parque de los Azulejos, "the park of the tiles," though the tiles today are nothing like their original beauty. They plan to bring in replacement tiles for the concrete benches around the new fountain and install decorative tile chessboards into the benches. They also hope to find donors for six or more decorative wrought iron benches for the park.

About 50 residents attended the dedication of the new fountain May 30.

A membership drive is underway for the Unión de Residentes del Fraccionamiento Villa de los Frailes, which already includes half of the owners of the more than 450 homes in the community on the outskirts of SMA on Salida a Celaya. About 60 percent of the owners are Mexican and 40 percent are foreigners, officers estimate.

"It is hard to get everyone to join because some owners live here only part of the year, and some have renters who do not see the importance of contributing to improve Los Frailes," said Ezio Pinciroli Zicarelli, vice president.

The president of the Unión is Graciela Uriegas, the original force in starting the organization.

The organization's secretary is Shirley Eguiluz de Salazar, and the treasurer is Yolanda Villegas de Rubio. Dues are 150 pesos a month-"only five pesos a day to keep our community beautiful," said Eguiluz de Salazar. She has lived in the area for 11 years; Pinciroli moved to Los Frailes 12 years ago; Uriegas has been a resident for 15 years.

"When I arrived, Los Frailes was not in very good shape," Pinciroli said. "There was trash everywhere, we had no water, security was poor and we had no sense of community." The association credits him for getting a well built for Los Frailes, working with city officials.

The Unión now hires four full-time employees to maintain and beautify Los Frailes. With more dues income from a successful membership drive, officers would like to hire additional employees for security patrols and possibly have a guard station to check vehicles entering the neighborhood.

In 2004 the Guanajuato Department of Parks and Community Affairs honored Villa de Los Frailes as the best-run neighborhood in the state, Pinciroli said.

One of the goals of Neighborhood Watch programs is to have stickers for all vehicles owned by residents of a neighborhood, so that police patrols can determine which cars at night may not belong there. The Los Frailes group hopes to implement that idea soon. Of the 40 blocks in Los Frailes, 25 already have block captains.

Dr. MaryAnn Brooks-Mueller is the primary organizer of the Los Frailes Neighborhood Watch, working with Miguel Kegel, the police officer assigned as liaison to the foreign community and as coordinator of San Miguel's Neighborhood Watch program.

Other San Miguel communities taking the lead in developing their own Neigborhood Watch programs are the San Rafael, Olimpo and La Lejona colonias and the barrio of Piedras Chinas.

Kegel has stressed in all community meetings about Neighborhood Watch programs that the programs are for far more than crime prevention. They bring both Mexican and foreign neighbors together to identify common problems and explore solutions.

Former newspaper and magazine reporter and editor Carol Schmidt hosts www.fallinginlovewithsanmiguel.com which includes blogs, forums, city news, SMA FAQs and photos.

Founder of local radio station XESQ Don Manuel Zavala, affectionately known as PPKBZON, is the one-man institution that keeps sanmiguelenses abreast of the news of the city and the contributions of its citizens.

On June 6, Don Manuel read a translation of Lou Christine's article "Sareda's Toughing It Out" (Atención, June 2.)

Don Manuel noted that Sareda Milosz is the kind of person who is welcome in San Miguel for her community spirit and contribution. He asked listeners to pray for her in her battle with cancer.

Tirzah Mailkoff, long-time resident of San Miguel, internationally recognized music teacher and founder of the music room at the Biblioteca Pública, celebrated her 100th birthday last week.

Friends and Biblioteca staff drank a toast to the grande dame, Felicidades Tirzah!

It's crazy! No House & Garden Tour next week

The Biblioteca Pública's weekly House and Garden Tour will be canceled on the following dates:

June 18 (due to the local procession of Día de los Locos) and July 2 (Mexican election day).