Letters

Editor,

I have been part of the San Miguel art community as a painter for over 20 years. I was born and raised in Mexico City and moved to San Miguel in part due to the vibrant art scene. I very much appreciate our city’s embracing of the arts in all forms, and I believe that our rich and interesting art community is a result of the diverse group of people who make up this international city.

I was honored to be invited to exhibit my art in the Biblioteca for the month of July. My paintings are nudes. The exhibit was approved by José Luis, the Biblioteca’s staff member who organizes Café Santa Ana’s art exhibits. I put a great deal of time, effort and money into advertising the exhibit and invited friends from out of town to come to San Miguel to see it. I spent my own money to provide refreshments and labor for the opening.

Last Thursday, I received a call from an employee of the Biblioteca demanding that I remove my paintings immediately. I was given no explanation at all. I had to hire a truck and men to remove my paintings with only a few hours’ notice.

The premature and forced removal of my artwork, which was scheduled to be on display for the entire month, has been both embarrassing and humiliating for me.

I do realize that nude subject matter can be controversial. However, nude works of art have been a legitimate and well-appreciated art form since the beginning of time. I find it shocking that a public institution in an artistically sophisticated city like San Miguel has given in to censorship and provincialism. I still do not know who made the decision to remove my paintings or why, but I have heard the library received complaints, and that the word pornographic was uttered. Please! My art is far from pornographic and it is simply unbelievable to me that the Biblioteca would take such an uninformed, uneducated decision that flies in the face of support for, and understanding of, the arts. Perhaps a better course of action would have been to organize an educational talk to discuss the definition and meaning of art. I would have been happy to participate.

While my paintings were removed from the Biblioteca, paintings depicting violence, murder and battle gore remain on the walls. Plays are produced in the Biblioteca theater in which vulgar street language is used. I do not disagree that these other paintings should be allowed to remain, or that the plays should be allowed to be produced “uncensored.” I am simply pointing out the hypocrisy of the decision to remove my paintings.

How does an institution like the Biblioteca, which claims education as one of its goals, justify censoring art? Will they now begin to censor the books? The Biblioteca’s actions are not only sad, but they also set a dangerous precedent for our community.

Lourdes Cordero

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The art exhibit of Lourdes Cordero

Last week, the Biblioteca Board asked the artist Lourdes Cordero to take down her exhibit from the Café Santa Ana. I hope the following information will clarify the reasons for that decision.

Our department heads have a certain autonomy in managing their areas of responsibility within the limits of the mission and the role of the library in this community. This is especially true in the case of the newspaper and the various spaces reserved for performances and art displays.

Cordero’s works consisted of 10 large canvases that were on three walls of the café and all of them consisted of erotic subject matter. A number of parents strongly objected to exposing their kids to what they considered unsuitable materials for a public space used by children every day and extensively on Saturdays, when they use that immediate area for their choir rehearsals and theater activities.

Hence, we decided to ask Cordero to remove the works and replace them with others that had less controversial subjects. As she did not have replacements, she took back the works in question.

In her letter, she states that paintings depicting violence, etc., are on the Biblioteca walls. I can only assume she is referring to the Quetzalcoatl mural in the Sala Quetzal depicting one of the seminal creation myths of Mexico. I hardly think that is a valid comparison.

Cordero also states that plays in the theater use vulgar language at times. Yes, but the theater is a controlled environment and a parent can decide whether she wishes to purchase a ticket for her child. Paintings in an open space and open to everyone’s view in a room are quite different indeed.

She is understandably annoyed with our decision and felt we are doing a poor job in educating the community in art appreciation. I agreed with her that we need to do a better job and as we are dependent upon volunteers to help us with our classes, I invited her to discuss with us the possibility of creating a course in art appreciation. I know many of you in our community also could be of assistance in helping us teach the children and adults of San Miguel.

To prevent a repeat of this unfortunate situation, we are creating a committee that will take into account the special environment of the Biblioteca in order to review submissions for approval.

We all have to realize that the Biblioteca is in many ways like a school with scores of young children coming every day for classes, cultural events, homework assistance and other activities that extend to every nook and cranny of the facility. During the summer school vacation, the Biblioteca also is used as a form of day care where parents drop their kids in a safe environment while they are off at work.

We sincerely apologize to Lourdes Cordero and in no way meant to demean her work.

Gregory Diamant, President of the Board of Directors of the Biblioteca Pública

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Editor,

I always read the weekly column by Charles Miller, “The Computer Corner” for interesting and helpful information. Over the past few years I have contacted Charles on at least three occasions for help with a computer problem and he has always had the solution. Not only does he respond within hours with an email, but he also calls to follow up to make sure the problem is resolved. What a great resource Charles is to all of us who rely on our personal computers for online information and communications. Thank you from all of us whom you have helped by sharing your vast technical knowledge and for your kindness and professionalism.


Jim Grant

Editor,

Dear Atención friends, I hope to find you in great spirits and happy. I’ll be short on this subject, I’m a local native biker of San Miguel; I grew up in the streets of Barrio la Palmita, near Hospicio street.

My dear mountain bike friend, Alberto “Beto” Martínez, is having a hard time. He was diagnosed with cancer Monday, July 13.


He is very well known in San Miguel, as is his father Don Ventura. He lives at Hospicio 1, and owns Bici-Burro bike shop.

I’ll hope you are free to add this website http://thebetomartinezmedicalfund.blogspot.com/, so he’ll get some help from friends and people who would like to donate.

Thanks for your social work and pray for his health.

Daniel Hernandez Rangel
LAET & Lic. Psychology