Beyond the tip of the iceberg
By Sallie Kravetz March 14, 2008 San Miguel de Allende
Lecture
Antarctica: Sharing the Splendor, a Multimedia Journey
Audubon de Mexico
Tue, Mar 18, 4pm
Villa Jacaranda
Aldama 53
Free to members, 50 pesos nonmembers
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Despite its frigid climate, Antarctica is fast becoming a hot spot for tourism. As a photographer and digital storyteller, I was one of a group of 14 travelers, most from San Miguel, who ventured there this past December. |
Since our return, I’ve been working on a presentation designed to share this adventure.
With a history of challenging even the most heroic explorers, what draws people to want to become a member of the “frozen chosen?” Isn’t such travel too risky and harsh for the untested? Maybe, but our group persevered. We wanted to see giant blue-green icebergs, get a glimpse of penguins in the wild, experience light-filled nights and breathe the clearest air on the planet. Every 50 years, the world’s scientists join together to shine the spotlight on both Poles and collaborate on a massive scale about current and future issues. The first project like this started in 1832. In 1957–58, it was called the International Geophysical Year. This year is called the International Polar Year and I’m ready to share our journey.
I’ve consulted the internet, to augment my own photography creating a “media-rich” digital story. The presentation incorporates surprises and may be as much fun for the audience as it is informative. It is a given that you are bound to run into a few penguins.
In the course of my 30-year career as a fine arts photographer, I’ve spent a lot of time in San Miguel, although I live in Baltimore. One of my San Miguel images was selected as a prizewinner by Women in Photography International and my work has been selected for the past two Garden Club calendars. The Antarctica trip gave me a chance to try nature photography. I had seen photos of the Antarctica landscape and I was enchanted.
My guiding principle, in the words of the poet Louise Bogan, is “in a time lacking in truth and certainty and filled with anguish and despair, no woman should be shamefaced in attempting to give back to the world, through her work, a portion of its lost heart.”
In addition to being an experienced fine arts photographer, Sallie Kravetz is a recently retired high school library media specialist.
Having fun in the toxic soup
By Dr. Craig Landry
Lecture
Enjoyable Detoxification, Nutrition and Aging Reversal
Dr. Craig Landry
Fri, Mar 21, 2pm
Sala Quetzal
By donation
We live in a toxic soup of chemicals, manmade molecules, other toxins and age-promoting substances. Even the so-called “purified water” you drink may not be quite so pure.
This presentation provides seldom-publicized information on the numerous exposures we have, as well as easy strategies for minimizing exposure and eliminating toxins once consumed. Enjoy reversing your aging process with the guidance of a well-experienced professional and the support of friends.
Dr. Landry is currently organizing an aging-reversal group and believes that achieving robust, youthful health can be fun and enjoyable and he incorporates this belief into all of his interactions.
Dr. Landry is a clinical physiologist in private practice for over 20 years addressing everything from arthritis to cancer, pain elimination to anti-aging medicine. He attended LSU Medical School and Tulane Medical School. He’s authored a textbook on neurology, did brain research at Baylor College of Medicine and taught at the University Center for Pain Medicine.
Epic poetry at the Biblioteca
Lecture Series
PEN Writers Aloud
Wim Coleman
Thu, Mar 20, 4pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos
Wim Coleman is a San Miguel author who frequently writes in collaboration with his wife, Pat Perrin. Their most recent published novel, The Maya Gateway (Windstorm Creative, 2005), is a philosophical thriller that mixes digital technology with ancient shamanism. Their work together has also been published in German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Romanian, and Spanish editions. An award-winning playwright and poet, Coleman will present Canto I of his verse epic-in-progress, The Comedy of Falstaff. When completed, this oversized comic narrative will follow Shakespeare’s beloved character Sir John Falstaff from the moment of his death on a long journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Coleman has described his poem as a “cabaret epic,” and also as “a massive nursery rhyme for adults.”
Cosmic equilibrium lost in lunar eclipse
By Rossana Quiroz Ennis
Lecture
Duality in Pre-Hispanic Culture
Rossana Quiroz Ennis
Mon, Mar 17, 5:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos
Order and chaos, life and death, day and night, sun and moon, man and woman. Throughout the world these opposites have inspired myths that somehow try to represent the structure of reality. In pre-Hispanic cultures, these myths relate to the origin of the universe, Earth and all its creatures.
Just a few days ago we witnessed a total lunar eclipse, an event which many ethnic groups in America were able to predict and which was sometimes taken as a bad omen in the sense that the moon “was eaten” or “killed” by the sun. For a moment, cosmic equilibrium was lost and one of the opposites had to win or survive against the other. It was thought to be a moment of distress and danger.
In a few days we will witness the Spring Equinox, the point in our solar calendar when the sun reaches its mid-point as it rises on the horizon, dividing the day (at least at the equator) in two exact halves. This astronomical event also was well known among pre-Hispanic cultures. Many temples in Mesoamerica were oriented in relation to the equinox, a moment in which balance was found.
These two examples serve as a preface to the concept of duality in pre-Hispanic culture. First will be a brief account of the myths and iconographic symbols that describe the origin of the universe and human kind. Secondly, we’ll explore how the universe maintained its contraries in balance and how humans could support or endanger such equilibrium. Finally, we’ll look at how these ideas and symbols were woven into people’s everyday lives and how archaeology can analyze excavations and material culture collections.
The vast archive of Mesoamerican images will be guidelines to duality, unity and opposition ideas in the cosmogony of pre-Hispanic societies. This archive also includes archaeological sites important for their astronomical orientation and some pre-Hispanic ethnographic traditions that relate to the structure of the universe.
Proceeds from the lecture will help finance the restoration of one of San Miguel’s most important ceramic collections, which may viewed through a slide show at the event.
An Aztec book as old as San Miguel
By Guillermo Méndez
Lecture
Codex Mendoza
Wed, Mar 19, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos
One of the most fascinating documents of the immediate post-conquest era in Mexico is the Aztec book known as the Codex Mendoza. The codex was commissioned by the first viceroy of New Spain (Mexico), Antonio de Mendoza. It was made by Aztec scribes in the style of the early sixteenth century. Since the Aztecs had no written language, their books contained only images. Nevertheless they were able to communicate a great deal as the Codex Mendoza reveals. The codex was made at about the same time that San Miguel de Allende was founded: 1541–42.
With a little knowledge it is possible to “read” this document and gain considerable insight into the culture of the reigning indigenous power in central Mexico in the early sixteenth century. The codex contains sections on the history and conquests of the Aztec kings, the tax or tribute lists of conquered cities, and perhaps most interesting of all, a section on Aztec daily life, including birth ceremonies, marriage rites, child-rearing practices, education, warfare training and moral customs.
The Codex Mendoza is the subject of an illustrated lecture (in English) by retired professor of humanities Guillermo Méndez. The proceeds of this lecture will benefit the Pre-Hispanic Music Workshop for Mexican kids.