From Marquez to Moctezuma
By Kathleen Blake Bohné

The Martes Literarios (Literary Tuesdays) discussion group will continue to explore Gabriel García Márquez this week, and then move onto Nahua literature later in July. After reading and examining Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude in June, the group will focus on his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, “La soledad de América Latina.” To whet your appetite for the next topic, we are including a brief background and excerpt of Nahua literature, one of the ancestors of the magical corpus of writings bequeathed to us by Latin American writers.

Nahua narratives, poems, songs and other literary works come to us from the post-Classic period of Mesoamerican civilization: the time immediately before its clash with the Spaniards. Although there are still 1,250,000 speakers of Nahua dialects living in Mexico today, the best-known literature comes from their distant and tragic past. The Aztecs and others recorded their writings in pictoglyphic books and stelaes, most of which were destroyed by the conquerors. However, a few did survive the flames and were transcribed into our alphabet with the help of those who could “read” the pre-Hispanic compositions. This small remnant of Aztec culture was gradually added to by missionaries interested in the indigenous religions and philosophies who recorded the words of the last elders trained in the great Nahua oral tradition. In fact, two universities were established in 16th century New Spain devoted to preserving this fading literary culture, which represents a tragically rare meeting of European and Mesoamerican 
minds. Friars worked alongside young indigenous students and sages, all learning and absorbing the knowledge of the others. 

This encounter produced a new body of Nahua literature as the indigenous cultures were impacted by the arrival and spread of Christianity; there were proselytizing texts used by missionaries to explain Christian concepts to the “indios”, as well as dramas based on Biblical stories. Perhaps the most fascinating to us are the poems and songs composed by pre-Hispanic authors such as Nezahuacoyotl, and the narratives told by those who witnessed the Spanish conquest and told of the searing defeat of the Mexica, the fall of Tenochtitlan. These works make us feel we have glimpsed, however briefly, the bright light of a nearly-lost civilization and help us to empathize and relate to the doomed inhabitants of ancient Mexico.

The following excerpt is from a conquest narrative dictated by surviving Mexica warriors to Fray Bernardindo de Sahagún (1499 - 1590) and preserved in the Florentine Codex. 

AND MOCTEZUMA WEPT

Here is said how Moctezuma wept, and the Mexica wept, when they found out that the Spaniards were very strong.

And Moctezuma lamented his troubles at length; he was afraid and shocked. He told the troubles of the altepetl (literally, “water/mountain”; refers to the Nahua ethnicity). And everyone was very afraid. Fear reigned, and shock, laments, and expressions of distress. People talked, assembled, gathered, wept for themselves and for others. Heads hung, there were tearful greetings, words of encouragement, and stroking of hair. Little children’s heads were stroked. Fathers would say, “Alas, my children, how is it with you, that what is about to happen has happened to you?” And mothers said, “O my children, how is it with you who are to behold what is about to happen to us?”

And it was told, presented, made known, announced and reported to Moctezuma, and brought to his attention, that a woman, one of us people here, came accompanying them as interpreter. Her name was Marina and her homeland was Tepeticpac, on the coast, where they first took her.

And then at this time the messengers who saw in each place to everything [the Spaniards] needed began hardly to pause [on arrival in Mexico], but to run right back [from whence they came].

At this same time [the Spaniards] came asking about Moctezuma: “What is he like? Is he a youth, a mature man, already old, advanced in age, or an old man but able? Is he aged, is he white-haired?” And they replied to the gods, the Spaniards, “He is a mature man, not corpulent, but slim and slender, on the thin side.”

When Moctezuma heard this, that many and persistent inquiries were being made about him, that the gods wanted to see his face, he was greatly anguished. He repeatedly wished to flee, to hide, to take refuge from the gods. He thought of, imagined, invented, weighed, and turned over in his mind that he would go into a cave somewhere. He made it known to some people with whom he consoled himself, with whom he was comfortable, with whom he frequently conversed, and they said, “The way is known to Mictlan, Tonatiuh ichan [his house], Tlalocan, and Cincalco for remedy, whichever suits you.”

The one he preferred was Cincalco. It became well known, word spread among the public. But he was not able to do it, not able to hide and take refuge. He took no steps; it came to nothing. What the rainmakers had said when they influenced and instigated him, confusing him and turning things around him, when they claimed they knew the way to the abovementioned places, was not carried out, could not occur. [Moctezuma] just awaited [the Spaniards]; he strengthened his resolve, mastered his emotions, and resigned himself entirely to whatever he was to see and behold. 

From the Florentine Codex, “The Conquest of Tenochtitlan” translated by James Lockhart

Excerpted from “In the Language of Kings” by Earl Shorris and Miguel Leon-Portilla





For the love of literature
It was a dark and stormy night…

There are two sides to every story, even the story about stories. The world is filled with aspiring writers eager to contribute to the world’s collection of literature and almost as full of those trying just as hard to filter all those contributions.

Writers may feel that rules stifle them and publishers are quite certain they don’t stifle enough of them—that too many writers pen long novels because they don’t have time to write a short one. Dorothy Parker famously said, “This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.”

The Bad Writing Awards, created in honor of Victorian novelist Edward George, give us a taste of what publishers sift through:

“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”

—Edward George Bulwer-Lytton

Writers of course have their own perspective and probably feel about publishers pretty much the way dogs feel about lampposts. Some writers agonize over each sentence, staring at a blank screen and waiting for those proverbial drops of blood to appear on their foreheads. Oscar Wilde once said he’d agonized all morning over his poem and finally put in a comma; in the afternoon he took it out again… Others are more cavalier, Mark Twain for instance said that writing was easy, “all you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” And Raymond Chandler, not one to suffer from writers block, said, “when in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand.”

No matter how many brutal rejections come along, how many “Dear Sir or Madam: I am returning this submission to you because someone has scribbled gibberish all over it and put your name on top,” there will always be a record of the truly catastrophic mistakes made by those self-same keepers of the gate. Harry Potter comes to mind…George Orwell’s Animal House, turned down flat because “It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.” The Diary of Anne Frank, Catch-22, Stephen King’s Carrie, John le Carré, not to mention Norman Mailer’s The Deer Park which was returned with the remark: “This will set publishing back 25 years.”

So many bestsellers rejected by publishers whose vision was apparently impaired, blind to the potential blockbusters lying in the slush pile. We’ll end with the words of Somerset Maugham: “There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.”






Letters to the Editor


Editor,

This is in response to the excellent letter from Jorge Juarez Peñaflor in the last issue of Atención, on the condition of life in Mexico that is driving its hard-working population to flee to the north. With utmost respect on a small issue in his letter, I feel that Mexicans DO have a choice but to “flee from the corruption, the poverty, and the injustice of Mexico,” as he states.

To me, the US government is a willing accomplice in injustice to the Mexican people, soon to be corrected, I hope, to the determinate of big business and special interests.

From time-to-time, I think it’s appropriate to remind myself that the quality of life and standard of living enjoyed by citizens and legal immigrants in the United States of America didn’t happen automatically. This “American Dream” that millions of illegal aliens so cherish and want to attain for themselves was fought for and won over a period of many decades by American citizens and legal immigrants alike at great hardship and sacrifice to themselves, often at deadly odds with their employers and big government.

For instance, in the 1870s Pennsylvania company-own coal towns, big business wanted cheap labor; they wanted child labor, they weren’t concerned about safety—if you’re hurt in an accident, you’re fired! Legal Irish immigrants fleeing from the potato famine were desperate to oblige. The owners then charged outrageously high prices at the company stores and entire families were trapped for life by debt. Then the legal and desperate Welsh miner immigrants arrived and showed up for work. Wages were slashed for everybody. You wanna protest? You’re fired!

The Irish finally formed the secret Molly Maguires to literally fight back for reforms. The companies retaliated by forming their own security forces, and they even hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to try to find and eliminate the ringleaders. People died on both sides, but it began to capture public attention for reform.

We still had kids working in sweatshops at very low wages and terrible conditions at the turn of the last century, as well as many decades before. It was perfectly legal, to the delight of big business and US government. If you didn’t like it, your kid got fired! And so are you, as soon as word gets to your employer. But public outcry eventually led to the child labor laws—at a terrible cost to the parents who lost their livelihood in retaliation because they dared to speak up and got blacklisted.

Eventually public outrage over all these inequities lead to the Federal fair wages and standards act; including the minimum wage, standard work week and the beginning of a movement for occupational safety and health laws. It was the workers who made these changes possible.

I’m just suggesting that this “American Dream” millions of illegal aliens are now demanding in even greater numbers every year actually was earned by many people before them who entered the United States legally, by birth or legal immigration. Legal immigrants and their fellow citizens fought for the right to an “American Dream” for themselves and their descendents under the laws of the United States.

I respectfully disagree with Mr. Juarez that illegal immigrants entering the United States do so because they don’t have a choice. Of course they do.
They can stand up, demand and fight for reform at home, just as has been done over the decades in the United States by legal immigrants and citizens alike...and even most recently when the people of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics overthrew their government, the world’s second greatest power, because the will of the people prevailed.

It seems to me that public outrage in the United States is finally going to force the US government, kicking and screaming, to actually secure US borders and ports for the safety sake of citizens and legal immigrants, to the great dismay of corporate lobbyists and special interest groups. It seems to me if Mexicans want to create a dream, how about doing so in the wealthiest country south of the Rio Grande, and they can be proud to have created “The Mexican Dream.”

Kindest regards,
George W. Sickler

Editor,

It might have been called “the social event of the season.” It could have been titled “the gala of the year.” But the seriousness of its purpose overshadowed any description of the evening. It was Patronato Pro Niños’ seventh annual Auction and Raffle Drawing. It meant that Niños could continue furnishing medical, dental and prevention services to almost 10,000 children a year. In the past this event provided almost one half of Niños annual budget. But due to the expansion of services now offered, this will supply less than one third of the budget. Regardless, the Executive Board extended its sincere thanks to the 200 plus who attended.

It was indeed a gala event, held at the Salon De Fiestas in the Fraccionamente La Luz on the Salida a Querétaro. Beautifully decorated in the Western theme of the evening, “Boots and Brooches,” there was a silent auction of two hours and then the live auction. Veteran professional auctioneer, Scott Swenson of Austin, for the fifth straight year, came to San Miguel to offer his services pro bono. After the dinner and auction, the drawing of the winner of the raffle concluded the evening.

As the bookkeepers tally up the results of this enormous effort on the part of about 40 volunteers, Niños expresses its thanks. All members of the organization are so grateful to San Miguel residents, who turned out in great numbers, and out-of-towners who had heard of the work Patronato Pro Niños is doing. Already, plans are being laid for next years auction!

Gracias, San Miguel,
Gene Crane

Editor,

It’s been raining cats and dogs, literally. Those unlucky enough to have ended up in the city pound’s holding pits are soaked to the bone, the little food they get is soaked and the only water comes from the sky in torrents. The roof that Amigos de Animales put up last year is makeshift at best. This town is so full of charities that we are tapped out. The SPA is full, Amigos de Animales spay and neuter campaign funds are stretched to their limit and the city says they have no money. They did however split the cost of building housing for the city police dogs with Amigos de Animales. What is it going to take to make the city get out of the animal cruelty business.

Cathy Eignus

Editor,

Glenda and I are knocked out by the community’s response to the recent Casita Linda benefit concerts. The concerts were not only fun, they also raised enough funding to build several houses in the rural areas surrounding San Miguel. It still amazes me that we can make a difference here just by doing what we love to do.

There is NO way these concerts could have taken place without the generous and even Herculean efforts of the following people: Casita Linda volunteers Mike Hager, Jean and Michael Gerber and Carol Jackson; from Select Realty Larry and Martha, Ruth, Melissa and Jeff; the Biblioteca’s indisputable king of comedy and good will, José Luis, and his right hand man Antonio; and graphic designer Fran Schiavo. Most of all, we’d like to thank the musicians who gave it their all for no immediate reward: Ken Basman, Hopalong, Ken Bichel, Wendy Bichel, Rio Negro (Camille, Beto and Federico), Billy White aka Guillermo, Mark Young, Antonio Lozoya, and Ian Hoffman. Those who were in the audience could see how much they put into these shows. Even if you missed the concerts, when you run into any of these people on the street, please stop and say thank you—they just did a really good thing for San Miguel de Allende.

Sincerely,
Doug Robinson

Editor,

Thanks to all of you who attended this week’s “Doug Robinson: Plays Well With Others” concerts to benefit Casita Linda, the wonderful organization that builds simple homes in the campo for families most in need. I thought you would like to know the results.

Through an amazing combination of events, we raised close to US$16,000—enough to build 10 houses!

Had we taken in only at the door, the amount raised would have been under US$4,000. But a few other milagros happened along the way.

1) A few weeks ago, Jerry Rothman and Kathleen Cummings had decided to buy one house (US$1,500). They agreed to let us announce their pledge during the concerts to get other people revved up.

2. Kathleen’s daughter and son-in-law, Annie and Chanler, also held back their pledge to buy a second house until the night of the concert, so we were able to announce that as well.

3. We told the audience that if anyone pledged to buy 1/3 of a house for US$500, flamenco guitarist extraordinaire Guillermo (Billy White) would come to their house to do a private concert. Six people took advantage of that offer.

4. By the time we opened the doors to the second concert on Tuesday, tickets were sold out. One man, unable to get in, whipped out US$500 and asked if that would get him a seat—which of course it did.

5. During the intermission of the second night, another gentleman announced in the lobby that he would match donations of up to US$3,000. Two individuals took him up on his offer each donating US$750 and a third matched the entire amount for another US$3,000. Result: an additional US$7,500.

So, our wonderful community came out in force that night. We had virtually no costs—all of our musicians very generously donated their time and talents, including Antonio Lozoya, Ian Hoffman, The Rio Negro Trio (Beto, Camille, Federico), Ken Basman, Billy White (Guillermo), Mark Young, Ken Bichel, Hopalong, and Wendy Bichel.

The talented Fran Schiavo designed a terrific-looking poster, free of charge.

And the Casita Linda volunteer team, headed by Mike Hager and Mike and Jean Gerber, worked like demons to take care of all of the operational details, so the production came off without a hitch. They even stood in the Jardín for hours on end, collaring people to buy tickets.

Doug and I are so proud of everyone involved in this effort, and grateful that we had this opportunity to make a difference. This never could have happened in San Diego, of that we are sure. 

With gratitude,
Glenda Robinson

P.S. If you don’t know much about Casita Linda, you can check them out—(M)and even make a donation— at www.casitalinda.org. They can build a small home with electricity and water for US$1,500 in about 10 days using volunteer labor, including that of the families they are helping.





Editor,

The role of the SPA in our community?

I have long maintained that this organization should change its name to reflect the reality of its mission for the last several years, i.e. that of a retirement home for street dogs. Nothing against that, of course, but its web-site is very misleading in claiming to be a shelter which takes in unwanted dogs, whereas the reality is that it houses some sixty-odd street dogs, i.e. the common garden variety one sees around the town all the time, and which, let’s be honest, are really not readily adoptable.

The organization is very proud to proclaim that it is a no-kill shelter, which is all well and good were it not for the fact that by keeping these basically unadoptable dogs, year in year out, they have no room for adoptable dogs which people like myself are constantly picking up and being left with the job of trying to find good homes for them— at considerable personal expense, I might add.

I know of many, many people who have tried to have a dog taken in at the SPA, only to be told they are “full” and that they can if they wish go on a waiting list. I understand this can be anywhere from six to eight weeks, if not longer. Needless to say, people who just cannot keep a dog for whatever reason, are not in a position to wait this long.

I had the unpleasant experience myself this week of taking two adorable little dogs I had picked up in one of the markets, one a purebred skye terrier in good health other than the fact that he had lots of ticks, and another darling little dog fully grown and weighing only 8lbs— both highly adoptable— well, since I have a full house already, as anybody who knows me can attest, I thought I would take them to the SPA since I had been told by the very charming President, Natalie Hardy, only a few days previously that she had set aside three cages specifically for small dogs, which “walk out the door since we don’t have any.”(i.e. among the long-term residents).


Much to my surprise, I was told by the Vice President, who happened to be there, that they could/would not accept “my” dogs even though they admitted to having two cages free, since they “would have to go into isolation and our isolation quarters are being used by a litter of puppies with parvo (distemper). We have our rules.” And so since there apparently was no room (nor welcome) at the inn, so-to-speak, I took myself off with my two foundlings, which are a great joy and are being neutered/spayed on Monday by my wonderful veterinarian, Dr. Edgardo Vazquez, who nearly had a fit when I told him of my experience at the SPA:

“You are not telling me that they turned these two wonderful, healthy dogs away because of a litter of puppies with parvo ?”— I said that, sadly, this was indeed the case. Well, he thought this was “madness” (locura) since it is a given rule in any shelter worthy of the name that the moment an animal is diagnosed with distemper, they are immediately euthanized. (Oh yes, I was told at the SPA “we have to protect our dogs”.)

End of story. I just feel that people should be aware of the true situation at this organization and that they should know what it is they are contributing to if they are giving funds. (I do realize that apart from the retirement home aspect, the SPA does fulfill a useful service by offering low-cost veterinary care.)

When I first came to SMA 14 years ago, I considered that the SPA was run in a very sensible way— in that dogs which were quite obviously not going to be readily adoptable, were humanely put to sleep, and so lots of people went there all the time to find a dog which they would like to adopt and there was a very quick turnover of dogs— now some of those there have been there for years (and I was told not too long ago that the cost of maintaining these long-term animals is running at an incredible figure, which I shall not give as I am not certain if the figure was accurate—but believe me, it was staggering).

Yours,
Anne Rusling

Editor,

I would like to thank Mr. Olson for his letter to the editor so that the residents of San Miguel can be better informed about our community’s schools. The community’s interest and desire for information about their children’s schools will ultimately improve San Miguel’s level of education for the students and improve the working conditions of the teachers.

First, Sierra Madre Bilingual School was formed to expand the options available in San Miguel. One of the policies of the school is to help place families and students in schools that best fit their needs. We realize that not everyone is concerned with official credits and that not all students are interested or able to go to the university after high school. Nonetheless, whatever educational direction a family decides to take, all students do deserve the best education possible.

Second, although we have been invited to locate the school in the Campestre Montessori school facility, and we have the blessing of living in a community with experienced and qualified people to help with instruction, there was no mention in the article of running a multi-million dollar institution. We are instead using the recommended curricula of two respected accrediting agencies, from both Mexico and the United States, to evaluate and accredit our work. Thousands of students have graduated from these programs, and Sierra Madre’s students will be among them.

A typical day at Sierra Madre beings at 9am and ends at 3pm. We will have a half hour snack/break from 10:30-11. Most courses are not taught daily but rather taught in 1.5-hour periods to allow the students, during school hours, to begin their independent studies and ask questions about their homework. I agree with Mr. Olson that there is life outside of schoolwork. We are working hard to allow time during school hours to do assignments, but of course the amount of homework taken home will vary from student to student.

Director
Lisa Wright
sierramadrehighschool@yahoo.com 

To the Editor,

I read it twice and still failed to see the point in Mr. Olsen’s letter of July 6th. Every avenue towards education adds to the whole and it seems to me the efforts of the new college prep school should be applauded and supported, not attacked. As a homeschooling father of four, I can say with absolute certainty that alternative approaches to education not only work, they're better. Children tend to live up to what is expected of them; as the old saying goes, reach for the stars, at least you’ll be above the tree tops.

Sincerely,
Mark Bohne