The saint and the city
By Arturo Morales September 19, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Lecture
Las Fiestas Patronales
Arturo Morales
Wed, Sep 24, 1:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

The cultural richness of San Miguel de Allende and this region are manifested in the city’s exuberant celebration of its patron saint that closes the cycle of holidays and celebrations of September.

Our city received its name from the famous friar who founded the first Spanish town of San Miguel Archangel in 1542 around the San Miguel River (today, the Laja) and the stream of Cachinches wetland, Fray Juan de San Miguel. However, it was the Otomí leader Conin, later baptized Hernando de Tapia, who helped spread Catholicism in the region by integrating Mesoamerican indigenous rituals with Catholic rites and beliefs. San Miguel’s unique rituals embody a long cultural heritage and constitute one of the city’s most important cultural monuments. 

With multiple roots and suffused with local identity, the festival of the patron Saint Michael the Archangel mixes Catholic liturgy and indigenous rituals. The holiday falls near the autumn equinox, the end of the green, fertile season, and marks the harvest and the transition to winter.

In his lecture and slide show about the city and the saint, Arturo Morales explores how ancient rituals have found their modern translation in explosions of fireworks and dancing and the movement from pre-Hispanic spirituality to modern-day, cosmopolitan San Miguel de Allende.

Living from the heart
By Alejandro Negrete

Lecture
The Path toward Happiness
Tue, Sep 23, 6–7:30pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
Donation 50 pesos

What is living from the heart? Clearly it is not a romantic idea and though it sounds easy, it is not. Living from the heart is living in a state of Love, that which pushes us to live at our highest potential for the good of all beings.

It is the desire and inspiration to find true happiness and live it here and now. Love is that which unifies all human beings as equals regardless of race, gender, culture, or religion. Love is the power that can restore us and the planet to a state of harmony and peace.

This series of four talks explores how to live from the heart in order to find happiness and be able to gradually transcend negative energy such as anger, fear and depression. Learning practical techniques and meditations will help cultivate insight, equanimity, compassion and love toward ourselves and others.

Come and increase the strength of your love!

Future topics

September 30: Transforming Suffering

October 7: Heart of Compassion

October 14: Creating a New World 

Alejandro Negrete is a certified facilitator and teacher of the Pneuma System. Information: 120-2179, alepneuma@yahoo.com.  Pneuma System: www.inkarri.org.  

The illness, the patient and the family
By Dr. Jose Valencia

Lecture
Alzheimer’s 
Dr. José Valencia
Mon, Sep 22, 3pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
Donation

Peter, 46, heads a family of two girls, ages 7 and 11, and a son, 15. Ann is a beautiful woman; she is an insurance agent and loves painting, exercising and theater on weekends. Peter loves outdoor activities like camping. He is an architect directing the construction of a huge compound two hours away from their town. Their life is a wonderful one, even though they have few hours to spend together.

That morning the telephone rang—it was his mother, crying that her husband, Tom, had been acting weird last year, but was now aggressive. The neurologist’s diagnosis fell like a ton of rock: Alzheimer’s disease. 

She couldn’t sleep the past week because of Tom’s continuous wandering. Sometimes he threw away his clothes and stood by the window. Police answered a neighbor’s call twice.

Peter immediately decided to take his parents into his home. Family life changed totally. Tom needed assistance every few hours with feeding, dressing, bathing and taking medication. The first night, Tom spent four hours crying, screaming, hitting the door and walls.

Family equilibrium vanished in frequent fights, zero social life and poor communication with the three children, who started exhibiting abnormal behavior. Ann left her classes to provide her father-in-law all-day attention.

Finally, a friend recommended that the family ask for help from a specialized team of a geriatrician, social worker, psychologist and nurses. 

This is not a story, but a part of everyday life for many families who care for an Alzheimer’s patient.

Now Tom spends his day in a comfortable facility and on weekends a nurse helps him in the morning and some nights at home. Alzheimer’s is not one-patient disease: the whole family falls into a tangled web where guilt feelings play an important role.

Alzheimer’s patient care is more complicated than managing medication. It is mandatory to ask for help from those who have enough experience to handle the problem.

A knock-your-socks-off dessert
By Craig Landry

Lecture
Super-nutrition Made Easy and Delicious
Craig Landry
Wed, Sep 24, 3–5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
Donation

What if you could have an absolutely knock-your-socks-off dessert as your main course and have health benefits in the process? Sounds too good to be true? Well, it really is true. According to recent and ongoing nutritional research, we could be doing a lot better and enjoying it a lot more! You are invited to experience this lively and entertaining presentation. Even those who are considered knowledgeable about nutrition may be pleasantly surprised. Guilt-free coffee? Guilt-free chocolate? Count me in! Food samples will be distributed.

I am a clinical physiologist, in private practice for 20 years, specializing in aging reversal. I attended medical school at Louisiana State University and Tulane, did brain research at Baylor and taught at the University Center for Pain Medicine.

Alexander’s Eutony method
By Carol Lopez

Lecture
Grounding into the Body 
Ana Marìa Muñoz 
Fri, Sep 26, 5pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Reloj 50A
50 pesos 

Body posture affects how we function in life. It is possible to reduce physical and mental discomfort, increase flexibility and balance muscle function by becoming aware of and changing the way we move and “live” in our bodies in everyday life. As we age, muscles lose strength, joints tighten, and posture problems and shrinking increase. Many ill effects can be avoided by changing the way we move our bodies.

Ana Marìa Muñoz offers an introductory lecture for her coming workshop, “Grounding into the Body,” based on Gerda Alexander’s Eutony method. The lecture is about how use of the body affects the way we live. You also will be guided to experience some body improvements through attention, perception and very gentle movements.

Lecture
Sexuality and age
Dr. José Valencia
Fri, Sep 19, 3pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

No matter the country or how vast the sexual experience, there’s a moment in the lives of men or women when self-esteem collapses because of cultural beliefs about youth and aging. Years yield maturity and experience, and a focus on quality rather than quantity. Gymnastic sex is for another part of our lives. The first step to loving another is loving oneself, no matter your age or number of wrinkles.

Environment and Public Policy lecture

The UNAM conference series at Teatro Santa Ana in the Biblioteca Pública continues on Saturday, October 4 with the lecture by Maestro Eduardo Vega, “The Environment and Public Policy” (Medio ambiente y politicas públicas).

The series began with Dean of Economics Dr. Roberto Escalante’s lecture on “Food Sovereignty” and will continue over the successive months with lectures by the leading specialists from Mexico’s most distinguished university.

A special lecture on “The US election from the Mexican perspective” will be confirmed for mid-October.

Entrance to the lectures is 100 pesos. All funds raised will be used to improve the internet technology in the Biblioteca Pública.