Aztec spectacular mixes music, fashion, digital images
February 1, 2008 San Miguel de Allende 

Aztec Concert & Fashion Show
Sat, Feb 9, 7pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
150 pesos

The Aztecs probably never staged a fashion show, but they had a “dress code.” You could tell a person’s status by what they wore.

Several illustrated post-conquest Aztecs books show how people attired themselves. Professor Guillermo Méndez used these books for the fashion show research. Great efforts have being made to achieve authenticity and San Miguel may be the only place in the world to offer such an event.

The show begins with the common person’s attire—loin cloth and mantel for men and huipil and skirt for women. Two warriors in battle garb follow, then a judge and noble woman. An Aztec priest is followed by the profane, a courtesan. Two military comandantes conclude the show. Live pre-Hispanic music and digital big-screen images accompany continuous narration by Professor Méndez.

The show benefits the Biblioteca’s Workshop in Pre-Hispanic Music for Young People, which teaches Mexican children how to play the musical instruments of their ancestors. Tickets are on sale at the theater box office. 

Enjoy brunch, support PEASMA, Audubon Mexico
By Carol Wheeler

Gala Benefit Brunch
Audubon Mexico
Sun, Feb 17, Noon–4pm
Hyder House
US$100 tickets

If you care about the special beauty and charm of San Miguel de Allende, you won’t want to miss this special gala benefit. Love is the theme of Audubon’s brunch—love for San Miguel’s much-admired colonial architecture

(the brunch is at the Hyder House, famous for its unique blending of several old houses into one splendid location); love for one’s significant other (show how you feel by escorting your S.O. to this event three days after Valentine’s Day); lovebirds (a regular Audubon theme); and most overwhelmingly, love for San Miguel and its environment, a most fragile love object.

The event supports PEASMA (Proyecto Educacion Ambientale de San Miguel de Allende), our town’s much-respected and very successful approach to teaching school children how to respect, preserve and enjoy their natural surroundings.

Last year, PEASMA gave regular programs in 28 urban schools and two schools in the campo, introducing more than 8,000 children to environmental education through workshops about birds, air, water, flora and fauna. PEASMA also helps the children’s classroom teachers to coordinate environmental lessons with regular classroom work. PEASMA’s program has been so successful that its staff has been asked by officials to expand the program all across the state of Guanajuato.

In addition to teaching during the school year, PEASMA’s dedicated staff spend their summers working on environmental issues. In the summer of 2007, Audubon sponsored an environmental summer camp for children in the ranchos outside of town, giving them a rare opportunity for hands-on environmental learning.

Come and drink champagne, eat lox and bagels while you listen to music by the Bobby Kaplan Trio and watch “Birds of Paradise,” a Barbara Porter fashion show, around the pool at Hyder House. The price of helping to preserve San Miguel's environment through its children is US$100 a ticket, which includes a year’s membership (US$30) in Audubon Mexico. Tickets are on sale in the Jardín, at La Conexión and through Audubon board members. Call Bob Haas at 152-0804 or 044 (415) 153-3333 for more information.

Carol Wheeler is a board member of Audubon Mexico.

Community Meeting

Va Por San Miguel de Allende A.C. invites all city residents interested in preserving both cultural and natural patrimony to their third public meeting at El Recreo (“El Sindicato”), Recreo 4, February 7, Thursday at 7pm. Please RSVP vaporsanmiguel@gmail.com  or vaporsma@gmail.com. 

Biblioteca Publica de San Miguel, A.C.

Notice of Annual Meeting
February 26 / 11A.M. 
Insurgentes 25

Agenda:

1. Attendance

2. Quorum Call

3. President´s Annual Report

4. Treasurer´s Annual Report

Eight designers showcased at new home
By Connie Mullis

Art & Design Opening
Sat, Mar 1, 6:30–9pm
Moras 3
US$125

Eight local interior designers will stage a newly built 9,000-square-foot home to display their talents and raise money for Hospital de La Fe.

C. DeWayne Youts will furnish the third floor with furniture, accessories, statuary, drapes and lighting for the living and dining rooms. Jonathan Hartler at Evos will decorate the entryway and library with furniture, lighting and artwork. Isaac will use hanging space in the gallery for works from Atenea and other artists.

Kirsten West of Sazón, using their exceptional pottery, will decorate the working and serving kitchens on the third floor and the wine tasting/dining room on the first floor.

Margarita Escobar of Namuh will feature furniture from China, Japan and Korea in one master bedroom and bath on the second floor. Donna Mattson will use bed linens, towels and furniture from her Buenas Noches store in the second master bedroom and bath.

Martha Grife at Casa del Inquisidor will appoint first floor rooms with furniture, upholstery, hardware and objets d’art.

Enjoy the spectacular San Miguel view while sitting on the roof in Landgrave outdoor furniture.

The house and the contents are for sale, with a percentage of the profits, during the fundraiser, going to Hospital de La Fe Foundation and Doctor’s Healing Hands, which provides care to indigent people. The last two fundraisers paid for a new elevator in the hospital and furnished seven patient rooms.

A cocktail party celebrates the first viewing of the house. A limited amount of tax-deductible tickets are available at hospitaldelafefoundation.org or fundaciónhospitaldelafe.org and by calling 154-7635.

Recycle paper; more trees and less trash
By Eugenia Velasco and Daniela Morales

Close your eyes and think about the variety of ways we use paper every day. How important is paper in your everyday life? Each tree takes care of us by providing fresh air, but later on, it may be turned into paper in many different ways.

Paper was invented in China by Ts’ai Lun in 105 BC Even though there had been paper found from as early as 200 BC made of silk and lime, that type was used mainly for packing. At the Emperor’s court, Ts’ai Lun was the first to organize mass paper production and the first to patent the formula. Everybody wanted the formula but the patent holders kept it a secret until the Arabs invaded China and forced them to reveal their methods.

In 732 AD, paper-making was introduced by the Arabs into Spain. Around 1580, it was introduced to Mexico by the Spanish conquistadores, although the Aztecs and Mayans had already developed a different type of paper and had been using it in their culture. The first paper workshop in North America was founded in Pennsylvania; soon, paper workshops were developing all around the United States, promoting a new form of communication.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, paper manufacturers greatly improved their production techniques. 

In modern-day Mexico, paper waste comprises 14 percent of total garbage production. In San Miguel de Allende, paper waste in all its forms totals up to 15 tons daily. Recycling one ton of paper waste could save up to 17 full-grown trees with a 20 cm diameter, 26,500 liters of water and 1460 liters of combustible fuel. Paper can be recycled between 6 and 15 times.

Considering the huge effort mounted over the course of our history to industrialize paper, and the huge demand on resources to make it, we have the responsibility to recycle it as much as possible. Everyday, paper waste comes out of our kitchens, offices, parties, and schools. Everyday, in every way, our precious trees are supporting us. Remember these small tips for a bright future, because recycling can make a difference.


Four Simple Ways to Participate

1) Take your paper to the recycling center:
Recicladora de San Miguel
Libramiento a Dolores 6, Colonia Olimpo
Phone: 150-7203
Mon to Fri, 9:30am–5pm
Sat 9:30–3pm

2) Gather your paper at home (eg magazines, newspapers, cardboard, etc.) All of these must be free of oil and humidity.
Go-Housing, in support of Environmental Education Project–PEASMA, will pick up directly at your home. Call Daniela Morales at 154-9161 or 152-7072.

3) We also offer our Spanish-English recycling paper workshop. Gathering takes place at Juarez Park’s kiosk, Feb 7 & 8 from 11–11:45am. It is limited to 25 adults.

We also have a compost workshop that starts at 10am and lasts about 45 minutes. It will take place on the same days and place. For further information, contact Eugenia Velasco or Wendolyn Vazquez at 152-3686 or 152-0897.

4) Come and buy your paper recycling kit at Hidalgo 13, Colonia Centro at Save the Children (FAI) store.

Las Rancheritas cross borders 

Art & Crafts Exhibit
Rug Hookers of Agustin Gonzales
Sat–Sun, Feb 2–3, 10am–6pm
Instituto Allende fair
Ancha de San Antonio 20

Folk art collectors and rug hook art fans can see new collections at the upcoming Instituto Allende art and craft fairs. The public can meet the women who hook rugs and purchase work directly from them.

According to the group’s organizer Bonifacia Tovar, sales in San Miguel for December and January have hit an all-time high. Combined with sales in the US topping US$3500 by the group’s promoter and marketing assistant Charlotte Bell, the craft cooperative is doing very well. Petra Ramirez had the best sales, with one rug selling for US$750. Now she can put a roof on her little house. She is the breadwinner of the family, since a car accident 25 years ago left her husband disabled. Sales are beginning to have a real impact on the whole village.

Perhaps one of the most exciting venues for the group was a November exhibition at the Glenn Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center in Hillsboro, OR. This was the first time the rugs were shown in a gallery, along with Bell’s photo documentary exhibit of the women in their homes and with their families.

This has become an annual show. In December the rugs were shown at the Travis Heights Art Trail and at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar in Austin, TX.

The schedule for 2008 includes Seattle in the fall and the Rug Hooking Knows No Borders conference in San Miguel, August 3–8.

Three master rug hook teachers from the US and Canada will give classes in advanced techniques to participants. Some class time will be spent at the Telesecundaria in Augustin Gonzales where “hookers” from El Norte will join those of the village to improve their art and learn from one another. This international event promises to spread the growing fame of our local group of artisans. They have been written about twice in rug hooking magazines in the US. These articles brought extensive donations of wool from rug hook groups in the US and Canada. Rug hooking requires a wool fabric lacking in Mexico.

Organizers of Mujeres en Cambio began the Rug Hook Project in the mid-nineties. The organization primarily provides scholarships for women and girls. However, its mission includes creating money-making opportunities—the Rug Hook Project has been the most successful. Their fundraising luncheons are held the third Thursday of each month at Hacienda de Las Flores where the rugs are displayed.

To learn more about the Rug Hook Project or as they are affectionately known, Las Rancheritas, visit www.rughookproject.com.  For information about donating wool, having a show of the rugs in your area or purchasing a DVD about the group, contact char@charlottebell.com,  (512) 447-2150. To speak with the group organizer about visiting the village, contact Bonifacia Tovar 044 (415) 149-4409 or Sara Tovar 044 (415) 149-8494.