A light-hearted look at San Miguel’s architecture

Lecture and Slide Show
Weird Windows and Dazzling Doors
Robert de Gast 
Tue, Feb 10, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
60 pesos (members 50 pesos)

San Miguel writer and photographer Robert de Gast has been roaming the streets and alleys of our fair city for years, examining its architecture and making photographs of many of the town’s beautiful (and sometimes bizarre) windows and doors. He presents a slide show of his extensive collection on February 10.

“I remain fascinated by the highly individual ways in which doors and windows are used and decorated,” he said. “I have thousands of pictures from many barrios around San Miguel but I have never seen two identical doors or windows. While the windows may not be as imposing as the doors, the variety of styles and designs is just as mind-boggling. Though not exactly a spoof, my talk will not be very serious either. Let’s call it ‘light-hearted’.”

De Gast, born in the Netherlands, is a longtime resident of San Miguel and the author of nine books, including The Doors of San Miguel and Behind the Doors of San Miguel. He lectures frequently and teaches a photography course called “Point and Shoot with a Pro.”

A recent issue of Independent Traveler advised: “Don’t miss Robert de Gast if he’s giving a lecture.” Admission fees benefit the library’s many programs. The talk lasts about an hour and ends in time to allow attendance at the PEN lecture at nearby Bellas Artes.

Extranjeros: 1937–2009
By Arturo Morales Tirado

Lecture
Four generations of foreigners in San Miguel
Arturo Morales Tirado
Tue, Feb 10, 1:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

Over the past seven decades, San Miguel has been home to four generations of foreigners and Mexicans born elsewhere. For convenience, one can group them by decades as postwar, counterculture, consumers and co-existers. They have enriched the cultural diversity of this small cosmopolitan city, unique for its cultural heritage. These four generations also have reflected historical moments that have affected the planet, the hemisphere, the country and the city.

The postwar influx of foreigners to San Miguel slightly predates the war, beginning 70 years ago with two men who fell in love with San Miguel de Allende and, further, were committed to it. They were US citizen Stirling Dickinson (who died in 1998 in a car crash here) and the Peruvian Felipe Cosío del Pomar. Like many other amazing stories, this saga began with the efforts of extraordinary men. They founded the first summer program of the arts and handicraft school that would give rise to what is today Bellas Artes. Their efforts also generated one of the first state laws in America for the protection of a city with unique cultural and natural heritage: Ley de Protección de la ciudad típica de San Miguel de Allende, which dates from 1939, and is still in effect.

Following them, in the 1940s and 1950s, the first big wave of foreigners in the 20th century arrived in San Miguel, morally shocked by the drama and tragedy of WWII and the birth of the Cold War. San Miguel offered a unique place to live for foreigners, with fewer than 25,000 inhabitants in those years, a termperate climate, and a historical, cultural and natural heritage preserved by accidents of local history.

In the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, in the context of the search for new forms of expression and co-existence and new social paradigms, San Miguel de Allende was an open city. More than ever, the site begun to produce the new “mestization” as foreigners and Mexicans formed couples. This generation, in a natural way, diluted both cultures, forming many bicultural young people who were open to the world and yet whose multiculturality was rooted in traditions and local identities within the social and ethnic wealth of San Miguel.

Consumers followed the end of the idealistic dreams. In the 1980s and 1990s, with the rise of consumer society and consumerism, San Miguel de Allende saw the arrival of another generation of foreigners, often outside the context and evolution of the city.

The fourth generation of foreigners and non-native Mexicans arriving in San Miguel at the beginning of the 21st century have new attitudes. They want to co-exist, and they make an effort with the local population to be part of this worldwide community, a cosmopolitan personality characteristic of San Miguel nowadays.

Sexy eyes, slightly crossed
By Professor Guillermo Méndez

Lecture
The Magnificent Maya: Part II
Guillermo Méndez
Wed, Feb 11, 3pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

They were the most advanced of all the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica. The Maya inhabited southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and the western boundary of Honduras and El Salvador. They built cities and paved roadways, although they used no wheeled vehicles of any kind. Their astronomers plotted the movements of the visible planets and stars using a mathematics that included zero, a rare accomplishment in world history.

They were the only people of the New World to develop a complete written language that could express in writing, anything spoken.

The Magnificent Maya: Part II is the follow-up lecture to Part I given last week. The focus of Part II is Maya religion, politics and sex. Religion permeated every aspect of ancient Maya life. Everything in nature was sacred and possessed spiritual energy. Maya cosmology was complex but intimately connected to daily life. Maya politics in the Classic Period (AD 250-900) centered on semi-divine kings who ruled and expanded their influence through warfare, marital unions (they could have “secondary” wives) and diplomacy. The beautiful (sexy) Maya, male or female, would have had an intentionally deformed skull, filed and inlaid teeth, decorative facial scars and, if lucky, slightly crossed eyes.

Getting yourself grounded
By Richard Adelman

Talk and Movement Experience
Never Fall Again!
Richard Adelman 
Tue, Feb 10, 3pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
Donation 50 pesos

Falling, or the fear of it, becomes an issue for many people as they age. Here in San Miguel the unpredictable streets present a particular challenge, at least for inexperienced foreigners. As you approach 60, the cobblestones can feel like an obstacle course. At this age many people begin to experience increased pain and stiffness, slower reflexes, weaker vision, diminished body awareness, and poorer concentration. All of these interfere with gracefulness, adaptability, and safety in walking.

Yet there is no reason to think that an accident is inevitable. In this event, you will learn guidelines to help you develop a realistic and “earthy” attitude, resulting in improved coping skills. This includes learning how to anticipate and prepare for difficulties by centering and grounding yourself before and during walking. You will experience a repetoire of very gentle movements to improve your head-to-toe body awareness, coordination, and balance as you walk. (Participation in the movements is optional--you are welcome to simply sit and watch.)

These movement sequences are my personal synthesis from three disciplines: Feldenkrais, Pilates, and Somatic Psychology. Commenting on the Feldenkrais Method, anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “It is the most sophisticated method I have seen for the prevention and reversal of deterioration of function. We´re condemning millions of people to a deteriorated old age that’s not necessary.”

This approach combines common sense with advanced biological and psychological science in a unique way. I have helped many people move beyond fear, frustration and denial to stability, security and self-confidence. Dagmar Helman, an 80-year-old healing minister in San Miguel said, “During the one and one-half years I have worked with him, Richard has helped me not to fall, to accept and deal with injuries dating back to World War II, and to live joyfully in my aging body.”

If you have enjoyed my monthly Atención column, “Listening to Your Body,” this is an opportunity for us to work personally. I will talk briefly about how my work applies to a wide variety of movement, musculoskeletal and neurological difficulties and will give a brief demonstration of hands-on tablework with an audience member. Private appointments will be available at LifePath, Recreo 80. For questions about this event or private sessions, call 044 (415) 114-3069 or write richardadelman@lifepathretreats.com.  

Focusing on emotional recovery
By Sergio Rodríguez

Lecture
Rebuilding When Your Relationship Ends
Fri, Feb 13, 3pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
Donation 50 pesos 

Are you hurting? If you recently ended a love relationship, you are. Those who appear not to hurt have either already worked through a lot of hurt, or have yet to feel the pain. So go ahead, acknowledge that you’re hurt. It’s natural, expected, healthy, even okay to hurt. Pain is nature’s way of telling us that something in us needs to be healed.

The end of a love relationship is a life-shattering experience. Whether sudden or with years in the making, whether the result of divorce, break-up or the death of your loved one, one thing remains constant—your need to heal your heart, rebuild your trust and get on with the rest of your life. 

There is an adjustment process after the end of a love relationship, with a beginning, an end and specific learning steps along the way. You can use the pain as motivation to learn and to grow. It’s not easy. But you can.

The process is like climbing a mountain. Rebuilding means climbing that mountain. Some people don’t have the strength to make it to the top; they stop off somewhere on the trail. Some are seduced into another relationship before learning from the pain. They too drop out before reaching the top, and miss the magnificent view of life that comes from climbing the mountain. Some withdraw into the shelter of a cave, in their own little worlds and watch the procession go by—they don’t reach the top either. And, sadly, some choose self-destruction, jumping off the first cliff that looms along the trail.

Where to start? How do I climb? How about a guide and a map? That’s what the Rebuilding seminar is—a guide and a map prepared by others who have already traveled the trail. As you climb, you’ll discover that tremendous personal growth is possible, despite the emotional trauma experienced from the ending of your love relationship.

Rebuilding has been offered worldwide with more than half a million participants. It is a “straight to the heart” group experience, using time-tested materials. It is focused on emotional recovery, giving you the tools to grow beyond the pain and confusion of your loss. The seminar begins on February 19, 11am–1pm at LifePath Center. Join us for the introductory lecture at the Biblioteca on February 13, or contact sergio@lifepathretreats.com.  

Soul painting and butterfly wings
By Cheri Long

Presentation
“The Chaos Trilogy”
Roland Salazar Rose
Mon, Feb 9, 3–5pm
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
Donation 50 pesos

The celebrated Roland Salazar Rose is such an artist that he has become a “soul painter.” The San Miguel octogenarian gives a lecture on “The Chaos Trilogy” on February 9, including a slideshow of his work and a reading. This is a unique opportunity to be moved to the core, to see the self and the universe through this maestro’s eyes. 

In his latest book, The Chaos Trilogy, Salazar presents three series of his paintings whose themes have emerged from, and relate to, Chaos Theory as defined by Edward N. Lorenz, whom Rose quotes: “A butterfly, flapping its wings in Hong Kong, may change the tornado pattern in Texas.” Salazar’s works cause us to see with microscopic precision, but also through the scopes of satellites. He combines all his many resources in this series.

His medium “is of special interest to artists,” he writes, “due to the visual attributes that result. Oil pastels, charcoal, graphite, soft and hard pastels can be intermixed in Sal-Zar ... it saturates the paper ... softens the medium.” The wings of Rose’s butterfly strokes change the tornado patterns of our souls. His e-books by ramblin/rose publications include If Only... with poems by Bill Pearlman; Mexican Vibrations; Twenty: A Magical Number; Mexican Secrets, also with poems by Pearlman; Aztec Deities; and The Chaos Trilogy, which will be available for purchase at this lecture. Rose’s books can be downloaded at no charge at www.e-artbooks.com.  

Cheri Long is a freelance writer and book editor whose articles and poems have been published online and in many magazines and newspapers.

The worship of Mammon

Class
Globalization 101
Six sessions: Wed & Fri, Feb 11–27, 1–2:30pm
Preregister: 150-0025 or admin@globaljusticecenter.org  
600 pesos for the course

Corporate capitalism has morphed into a global stage that leaps beyond traditional national bounds, popularly called “globalization.” Just what does this mean in historical terms? What are its implications for the world’s people, particularly the middle classes and the poor? How is it affecting relations between the wealthy north and the global south? What does it portend for nations seeking to preserve their cultural integrity? Indisputably, globalization has transformed the world in which we live. Will the current economic crisis spell the end of globalization?

These are among the questions that will be examined in a February course offered by the Center for Global Justice. This is your chance to bring up all those questions that you were always afraid to ask about the “g” word. The course will be team taught by Betsy Bowman and Cliff DuRand, founders of the Center for Global Justice. Retired university professors, they have been studying and writing about the process of globalization for over a decade now.

They also have been exploring alternatives to corporate-led globalization, alternatives that can better meet the needs of people and lead to more just societies. These too will be examined in the course as we consider the solidarity economies being developed in Latin America, where the existing form of globalization has become widely discredited.

“Freedom is Slavery”

Lecture
Immigration and Human Rights
Eugene Gogol 
Wed, Feb 11, 10:30am
Center for Global Justice
Sala Quetzal
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25 
50 pesos


The anti-immigrant raids carried out at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, which resulted in the jailing of some 387 Guatemalan and Mexican workers, followed by rapid-fire Orwellian court proceedings and harsh sentencing, exposed the US government’s determination to ride roughshod over the human rights of another significant segment of the US population—the undocumented millions who work in the fields and factories, in construction and in cleaning offices, hotels and homes.

Will the new Obama administration change this criminalization/demonization of undocumented workers, give them respect and restore their full human rights? Eugene Gogol discusses that question in the Center for Global Justice’s Snowbird Symposium. Gogol is an independent scholar and activist who has written on Latin American issues in La Jornada and El Dia. He wrote The Concept of Other in Latin American Liberation.

Castle of the spirit
By Alejandro Negrete 

Lecture Series
Teachings from Spirit
Alejandro Negrete 
Eight-week series; sixth class:
The Inner Castle
Fri, Feb 13, noon–1pm
Sala Quetzal 
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos


It is time to begin believing, to begin building your inner castle, castle of the spirit. Do not grumble, do not take revenge on anyone. Forgive everyone and yourself. That is the beginning of understanding. Your suffering should not be, is not correct. Suffering makes no sense. Understanding hurts, but it is not suffering. In order to begin you must see, and not be brought down by your shortcomings; that would only be to suffer. Our shortcomings are what they are. The spirit cleanses them away, washes the earth in order to sow in it once more, becoming new earth, fragrant within the inner self, where the seed of light germinates once more.

First we must clean our hearts. Forgiveness is to feel absolute compassion, love and charity for yourself and everyone. You are children of the spirit. Spirit loves you more than anything in the world. You should feel yourself to be a divine being.

Start believing that it is possible to live life in absolute plenitude, joy and fulfillment. Overcome the inner obstacles that keep you from discovering divine nature and immense potential. Building an inner castle means constructing a new self founded in truth. Truth is love, an ever-expanding, ever-changing spontaneous outpouring of the most delicate beauty expressing itself through us, being born from the very core of our essence. To incarnate love, we must embark on the sacred journey of self-realization.

The journey begins by releasing all which makes us suffer, all which closes our hearts to the world and to ourselves. It begins through the forgiveness made possible by compassionate understanding. Compassionate understanding is only possible when we know ourselves intimately, when we have touched the fountain of love within our hearts and can distinguish between that which is true and that which is false within us.

Suffering makes no sense because suffering is an illusion. It only appears to be real because we believe it to be real, and we therefore enact it in our lives. The impressions of the mind are so swift, that there is an almost automatic identification with what the mind projects, but through observing ourselves serenely by being centered in our true self, we can begin to see through many of the thought patterns that create the suffering we experience in our lives and liberate ourselves from them. We are fallen angels who must recover the memory of our angelic nature and return to our original state. There is nothing other than this.

Alejandro Negrete is a certified facilitator and teacher of the Pneuma System. He offers spiritual counseling, Christic Reiki Healing and Pneuma Breathwork sessions in his private practice. He teaches the second module of the Pneuma System, called The Transpersonal Universe, during January, February and March. Info: alepneuma@yahoo.com.  Pneuma System: www.inkarri.org.