El Ojo del Lago - August 2014 by El Ojo del Lago

Saw you in the Ojo

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

Saw you in the Ojo

PUBLISHER Richard Tingen

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Alejandro Grattan-DomĂnguez Tel: (01376) 765 3676, 765 2877 Fax: (01376) 765 3528 Associate Publisher David Tingen Graphic Design Roberto C. Rojas Sandra Hernandez Special Events Editor Sandy Olson Associate Editor Jim Tipton Contributing Editor Mark Sconce Drama Critic Michael Warren Art Critic Rob Mohr Roving Correspondent Dr. Lorin Swinehart Sales Managers Omar Medina Bruce Fraser 2IÂżFH 6HFUHWDU\ Rocio Madrigal ADVERTISING OFFICE Av. Hidalgo # 223, Chapala Mon. thru Fri. 9am - 5pm Sat. 9am - 1pm Tel. 01 (376) 765 2877, 765 3676 Fax 01 (376) 765 3528 Send all correspondence, subscriptions or advertising to: El Ojo del Lago http://www.chapala.com ojodellago@prodigy.net.mx Ave. Hidalgo 223 (or Apartado 279), 45900 Chapala, Jalisco Tels.: (376) 765 3676, Fax 765 3528 PRINTING: El Debate El Ojo del Lago aparece los primeros cinco dĂas de cada mes. (Distributed over WKH ÂżUVW ÂżYH GD\V RI HDFK PRQWK) &HUWLÂżFDGR GH /LFLWXG GH 7tWXOR &HUWLÂżFDGR GH /LFLWXG GH &RQWHQLGR

Index...

FEATURE ARTICLES

COVER STORY

0DUJDUHW $QQ 3RUWHU ÂżQDOO\ FDWFKHV XS ZLWK &KDUOLH .OHVWDGW ZKR GHVSLWH severe personal and physical setbacks, continues as the guiding force behind the local Red Cross. We all owe Charlie a huge debt of gratitude for his fund-raising activities; to paraphrase the slogan, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The life they (Red Cross) save might be our own.â&#x20AC;?

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LANGUAGE SKILLS

Cindy Paul, a long-time Lakeside resident, knows a thing or two about learning to speak Spanishâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and suggests that we learn to crawl before trying to run. But the crawling can come easier than most of us think.

POETRY

Libby Colterjohn, hard at work on a memoir set in the Far East during the years leading up to World War II, pauses to remember her VRXO PDWH RI PRUH WKDQ ÂżIW\ \HDUV

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Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Page

Anitaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Animals

Imprints

Uncommon Sense

Welcome to Mexico

Hearts at Work

Lakeside Living

Profiling Tepehua

Child of the Month

Bridge by the Lake

LCS Newsletter

FICTION

Carol Bowman, a well-established WUDYHO ZULWHU YHQWXUHV LQWR ÂżFWLRQ and to the surprise of no one, does it amazingly well.

LAKESIDE PROFILE

, 0 %XUQHQ SURÂżOHV &DUROLQD $\Dla, an ex-pat retiree from Chicago whose skill and dedication has EURXJKW DERXW WKH EHDXWLÂżFDWLRQ of an entire community here at Lakeside.

Reserva al TĂtulo de Derechos de Autor 04-2011-103110024300-102 Control 14301. Permisos otorgados por la SecretarĂa de GobernaciĂłn (EXP. 1/432 â&#x20AC;&#x153;88â&#x20AC;?/5651 de 2 de junio de 1993) y SEP (Reserva 171.94 control 14301) del 15 de enero de 1994. DistribuciĂłn: Hidalgo 223 Chapala, Jalisco, MĂŠxico. All contents are fully protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the written consent of El Ojo del Lago. Opinions expressed E\ WKH DXWKRUV GR QRW QHFHVVDULO\ UHĂ&#x20AC;HFW WKH views of the Publisher or the Editor, nor are we responsible for the claims made by our advertisers. We welcome letters, which should include name, address and telephone number.

COVER STORY

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El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

LAKESIDE LIVING

VOLUME 30 NUMBER 12

Saw you in the Ojo

Editor’s Page %\ $OHMDQGUR *UDWWDQ 'RPLQJXH] For more editorials, visit: http://thedarksideofthedream.com

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his past July 4th marked the 75th anniversary of what baseball historians call one of the greatest moments in all of American sport. In honor of that moment and of the man who today is widely considered one of the most beloved athletes of all time, we decided to rerun what follows here.) “The Iron Horse” In the great wave of European immigrants who came to the United States toward the end of the 19th century was a certain German family named Gehrig. In 1903, they had a son, Henry Louis Gehrig, who would become a legend in his own lifetime. But long before that time arrived, Gehrig’s mother had been lucky enough to find work as a cook in a fraternity house at Columbia University in New York City, where Gehrig later enrolled, hoping to earn a degree in engineering. But something stood between him and obtaining that degree: an awesome, God-given talent for playing baseball, a gift which would soon land him with one of the greatest franchises in the history of sport, the New York Yankees. In time, Lou Gehrig would play on two of the Yankees’ most famous teams, “Murderer’s Row” and the “Bronx Bombers.” In seven of the 14 seasons he played, he batted in more than 150 runs, and in 1931, he established a major league record of 184 RBIs, a record which endured into the 1980’s. In 1932, he hit four consecutive home runs in one game. In 1934, he led the American League in batting average, home runs and RBIs. He left baseball with a career batting average of .340, 493 home runs and 1,990 RBIs. But his most memorable achievement was playing in 2,130 consecutive games, a record which went unbroken for more than 50

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

The Unforgettable Lou Gehrig

years, and earned the incredibly durable Gehrig the nickname “The Iron Horse.” When Gehrig finally came out of the Yankee lineup, it was only because he had developed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a hideous disease which is today known as Lou Gehrig Disease. A short while later, he was honored at Yankee Stadium, and before a crowd of more than 50,000, he gave the audience one of the most emotional moments ever recorded in the history of American sport. His speech opened with, “For the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” Gehrig died in 1941 at the age of 38. One year later, the famous film producer Sam Goldwyn (equally infamous for his mangling of the English language, as well as common logic) was offered the chance to make a movie of Gehrig’s life story. However, knowing little about baseball, he declined. Then he was shown a film clip of Gehrig’s farewell speech and afterwards, with tears running down his face, Goldwyn declared “I’m going to make this film, even if it doesn’t make a dime—as long as millions of people see it!” And millions of people did see it. The Pride of the Yankees starred the redoubtable Gary Cooper; perfect casting, for both Cooper and Gehrig epitomized what was best

in the American character: good, strong, dedicated men who went about their work with very little fuss or fanfare. Indeed, for most of his professional life, Gehrig had labored in the shadow of teammate Babe Ruth; flamboyant, free-wheeling Babe Ruth, who leveled opposing pitchers, loose ladies and bourbon bottles with equal gusto, while Gehrig lived quietly, devoted to his wife and to his work with underprivileged children. Today, in an era of pampered athletes, illegal strength-enhanc-

ing steroids, monstrous salaries, out-of-control egos and cynical media manipulators, Lou Gehrig still stands, some 75 years after his death, as a silent sentinel guarding what is left of integrity in the world of professional baseball. Sometimes, the greatest game of all is how a man lives his life. Alejandro GrattanDominguez

Saw you in the Ojo

CHARLIE KLESTADT—Cruz Roja, and Blessings %\ 0DUJDUHW $QQ 3RUWHU

harlie and Ann Klestadt celebrated their 542nd month of marriage over dinner at Roberto’s the other night. I didn’t recognize him because he wasn’t wearing his green, white and red 16th of September top-hat, and his hands weren’t full of Cruz Roja raffle tickets. He explained, his eyes twinkling, “Ann and I do this once a month, instead of only once a year.” She looked delighted and he seemed relaxed, and I couldn’t help but think that no one deserved it more – to be out on a starry night with his beloved, celebrating blessings. Charlie will dislike that last sentence. The concept of ‘deserving’ something is not in his ken, which I learned after I’d approached him about a profile for the Ojo. “I want any story about me to be about Cruz Roja and all the people who work to make it happen,” he insisted, “and not about me, or my accident.” Last year, Charlie was injured in a hit-and-run while crossing the street, but has since made a full recovery. As a memento of the incident, he’s keeping the rip in his right ear, which lends him a certain ‘extraterrestrial’ élan. When asked about it, he spreads his fingers Vulcan-style and intones, “Live long and prosper.” You can’t help but laugh and feel warmly toward the generous soul in front of you. Cruz Roja is our local Red Cross, consisting of a clinic staffed by a medical team and support personnel, plus the local ambulance service. There are two communities involved in its governance and finance – Mexican and expatriate – with numerous volunteer groups that form respective and collective committees. In addition to leading the fund raising for the Volunteer Committee, Charlie takes pride in the progress of Cruz Roja operations and its people. “We have a great medical team at the clinic right now, probably the best there has ever been,” he says. “Dr. Sam did a lot to ensure that quality and pride was reflected in the team’s work. Then there are people like Norm

Pifer, who really make things go.” He also mentions Mike Patino, a sevenyear international Red Cross volunteer, who often lends counsel to the medical team. The stories of praiseworthy Mexican and ex-pat volunteers flow from Charlie’s impressively detailed memory. Finally, he chuckles, “I’d better stop naming names because there have been, and still are, so many great people in our organization, too numerous to mention. I appreciate every one of them.” It costs at least $310,000 pesos to fund the clinic and ambulance service each and every month. About half of the money comes from donations for medical assistance at the clinic and ambulance transport donations. (Everybody pays something; only 18% of all patients served pay nothing.) Each month, the Volunteer Committee is on the hook for the other half – about $155,000 pesos – raised largely from raffle ticket sales, events proceeds, the canisters and LCS table donations, as well as donations direct to Cruz Roja Mexicana, Chapala bank accounts and walk-in donations at the clinics. “It’s a cash business, and that can be a little tricky,” Charlie says. “The cash must come in each month so that we can operate the clinic and emergency services.” That’s why he’s out there,

Charlie and wife Ann

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

raffle tickets in-hand, asking for your involvement in the monthly miracle. If our values define who we are, then I wondered where Charlie got his gift of humility. In 1938, Charlie’s parents – Kurt and Martha (Nauman) – fled Nazi Germany and settled in New Jersey. Charlie, an only child, was born in 1944 in Newark, where the family struggled with disadvantage but never lost its faith in the promise of America. “When I was a teen, I’d hear my father tell stories of what it was like to live under the Nazis, and how my parents got out, but how many in our family did not.” Like many adolescent males, Charlie disapproved of his father’s meekness in the face of such an enormous evil. “I thought that he had been sort of a wimp,” he says, his face aghast as he recalls his youthful lack of any real understanding. “But as I grew up, I began to see the beauty in my father – he had been forced to endure and pay witness to all that horror, and yet he was still able to keep his spirit intact. He was the gentlest, good man I have ever known, never bitter. Once I realized these things, I wanted to be just like him. And I’m still trying.” Charlie met Ann Miller while she was attending the Women’s College at Rutgers and he was over at the Newark College of Engineering. They married in 1969 and have one son, Marty. Charlie retired in 2006 as a vice-president of marketing at Mobil Oil and followed the Mexico-bound Ann to Ajijic. They’re a close-knit, supportive trio. “We’re really lucky to have each other,” he says, his eyes shining. When asked to name his top dreams and concerns about Cruz Roja, Charlie says, “We need to rebuild the Chapala Clinic, but it would cost $10 million pesos to do it right.” The funding would be split between the federal, state and international Red Cross, with an equal share coming from the local community. “My concerns are that we keep the medical team we have, improve

professionalism and do more handson training,” he says. He also cites the need for more expatriates to step up and help with fund-raising and to serve on the volunteer board. “I am so grateful to have the opportunity to do some meaningful work for my community. But it is real work, and we need people willing to get down into the nitty gritty of it.” If you happen to see our local blessing, Charlie Klestadt, support Cruz Roja by making a donation or purchasing a raffle ticket. More, commit to regular financial support and ask how you can become a hands-on volunteer. Cruz Roja: How to donate: (Put in a box) Charlie Klestadt or any other raffle volunteer can accept donations. Cruz Roja table at the LCS during opening hours. Canisters in various locations. Walk-in donations are accepted at the clinic in Chapala. One-time online donations at www. cruzrojachapala. com, a US 501(c) (3) Note: Cruz Roja is working on monthly online payments; stay tuned. Margaret Ann Porter

Saw you in the Ojo

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hiss ques hi q qu question uessti tion ion on comes comes om mes u up p fre ffrerequently, asked by both quen qu entl tly, ly, a sk ked d b y bo b oth h “newbies” and non-newbies to lakeside. Is there a SPCA here locally, like we had in the US or Canada? The answer is a firm: No! There is no local formal agency that handles animal pick-ups, nor is there a formal housing arrangement for dogs that might be picked up by good intentioned people who rescue a dog off the street. That leads to the topic - What is a street dog? It can be defined as a dog who has probably lived and thrived to some degree on the street for a long time. They may have an owner, or not, but have spent most of their time on the loose. They may be thin, but not emaciated. They may have a limp or scars, but it’s from old injuries and they are not currently in acute pain. They may need grooming, but are not incapacitated from their condition. They

are “street wise.” Sometimes they become a group of dogs who spend time together. They also may have a territory they frequent, with places they go to eat, such as a house with kind people who put out kibble for them, or they stop by a store or restaurant that gives them food. Even if they have an owner, the dog frequently does not wear a collar. They are fairly knowledgeable about crossing streets. These dogs may or may not be spayed or neutered or vaccinated, most often not. If you wish to help a street dog, the easiest way to do this is to provide water and food. Do not “rescue” it and try to bring it to

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

a shelter which is already at capacity – support its life where it lives. That leads again to another question: Why are the shelters so full? There are many reasons for this situation. First, there are more animals looking for their forever home than there are adoptive homes. Until a dog or puppy is adopted from a shelter, generally another one cannot be taken in. If people do not adopt from a shelter and instead buy a dog or puppy of unknown heritage or health from a street hustler who produces these animals for profit only, one puppy or dog remains awaiting adoption at a shelter. The Spay Neuter programs at Lakeside are making progress, and they do need our continued support, but there are still many unwanted puppies and kittens being born. Sometimes a person who has a good heart and good intentions ‘rescues’ a dog off the street that does not require rescuing, and after a period of time of keeping the animal, they want to bring it to a shelter. Frequently people who have a pet do not make a plan for the care of their pet in the event of their own demise or being incapacitated, and often times that animal is taken to a shelter, with the care cost to be absorbed by the shelter. Sadly, people of many nationali-

ties ‘dump’ animals on the street when they move away, cannot / do not want to care for them anymore, etc., and the animal will probably be brought to a shelter, again with the cost being covered by the shelter. The next Anita’s Animals article in October will help explain the difference between a ‘street dog’ and a ‘dog in crisis’ that needs rescuing, how you can help and what responsibilities goes with this rescue action. Anita and her volunteers wish to thank those many Lakeside individuals who go about their daily life and without fanfare help animals.

HENRY DAVID THOREAU

—Prophet of Silence, Simplicity and Solitude %\ 'U /RULQ 6ZLQHKDUW

oday, 150 years after his passing, Henry David Thoreau still dares us to shred the scripts inflicted upon us by society and live lives of integrity and self-actualization. “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps he hears a different drummer,” he tells us. Thoreau, the ultimate individualist, excoriated the practical mediocrity and acquisitiveness of his society, much as he attacked the cruelty of slavery and an unjust war. The perception of Thoreau as an antisocial hermit is in error. His sojourn in his cabin alongside Walden Pond lasted two years and two months, an experiment in reducing life to the basics, so as to arrive at a deeper sense of self and of man’s place in the universe. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essentials of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, to live and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” He lists those essentials as food, shelter, clothing and fuel, branding all else as luxuries that hinder the elevation of mankind. He once collected three pieces of limestone, later throwing them out in disgust when he learned that they needed to be dusted every week. “Our life,” he says, “is frittered away by detail.” There are few more public enterprises than publication, and Thoreau was very much a public man. His journals fill more than thirty volumes. His essay “On Civil Disobedience” exerted a powerful influence upon Tolstoy, Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Thoreau was a passionate ecologist, pleading, “To preserve wild animals implies generally the creation of a forest for them to dwell in.” Disdaining most possessions, he observes that the cost of a thing is the amount of life one is required to exchange for it. “Simplify! Simplify! Simplify!” he commands, and then warns, “Avoid all enterprises that require new clothes.”

Questioning society’s presumptions, he tells us, “The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?” He praises solitude, arguing, “I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” He admonishes our noise-addicted times with, “Silence is the universal refuge, and the sequel to all dull discourses and foolish acts, “adding that an orator is never so eloquent as when most silent. His love of nature is perhaps best exhibited in such sentences as, “I rejoice that there are owls,” and, “I believe in the forest, and in the meadow, and in the night in which the corn grows.” Considering our own age, Thoreau seems almost clairvoyant when he accuses, “It is the luxurious and dissipated who set the fashions which the herd so diligently follows.” The peaceful naturalist was also a fiery abolitionist speaker and opponent of the Mexican War, which he labeled an act of aggression against a militarily weaker neighbor. He chose jail rather than pay taxes to support such unjust causes. His earlier pacifism vanishes in his ardent defense of John Brown, condemned to death for arming slaves and fomenting rebellion. I first met Thoreau in the pages of a high school literature text when I was a quietly rebellious 17-year old underachiever. He spoke to me as no one up to that time had. He continues to challenge and inspire to this day. In our age of angst and anxiety, characterized by the orgiastic frenzy of Black Friday, with Keeping Up with the Kardashians and the Real Housewives of Long Island, Beverly Hills, Nashville or Purgatory, society could well profit from the wise words of the Sage of Concord. Lorin Swinehart

Saw you in the Ojo 11

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Pisac, Past & Present

t’s only a few blocks drive Artisans’ market lane, Pisac, Peru along Pisac’s narrow streets before the central plaza appears. Only one side of the plaza is visible on this Thursday morning, and scattered among its handicraft shops are a café with wi-fi, a pizzeria, and an ATM. The other sides are hidden by the sea of market stalls which covers the plaza, sheltered by a canopy of plastic tarps connected overhead one to the other and billowing in the occasional breeze. Pisac has the looks of a place able to house no more than a couple of thousand souls, but today is a market day and the stalls spill into narrow side-streets. The quality and originality of the work offered here blurs the distinction between artisanship and art. The unquestioned centerpiece of this market is an awe-inspiring array of handwoven textiles in brilliant natural dyes that employ both traditional and original designs. Here these fabrics can be found fashioned into everything from alpaca sweaters and scarves to sturdy backpacks. There’s also plenty of visually arresting work in wood, leather, and stone – including acres of jewelry – and artisans can sometimes be seen working on a new piece while tending shop. A knowledgeable collector with deep enough pockets can find great values here, but no small Native artisan weaving on a number of the more moderately priced items simple belt loom turn out to be available at artisan markets across Perú. The smell of freshly baked bread drifts from a brick oven, and there’s no way to resist sampling a still-warm loaf before departing. A dozen guinea pigs – soon to be bound for the dinner table – graze in a nearby pen. The Spanish built the present-day town of Pisac along the Urubamba River half a century after the Conquest, but the surviving terraces of its predecessor, Inca Pisac, are still draped across the mountains above less than three miles drive away. The signature terraces – stacked 40 high - are visible throughout much of the switchbacked drive from the market. Their design takes advantage of mountain runoff by channeling it through the fields on its way to the river below. -HZHOU\ YHQGRU DW WKH DUWLVDQ The terraces also served to prevent eromarket, Pisac, Peru sion and landslides, and contained rich soil hauled from the valley below that enabled Inca farmers to produce crops otherwise unsustainable at these altitudes.

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

Stonework first visible as no more than a thin line along the terrace crown resolves itself at closer range into the buildings of a village which once housed several hundred inhabitants. The buildings are scattered across nearly two square miles of the slope, and include fortifications, aqueducts, granaries, homes, and ceremonial spaces. The ramparts of the Q’allaqasa – the citadel – contain 20 towers that overlook the site from a perch on the ridge above the terraces. At the temple to the sun god, shadows cast by a rock outcropInca ruins at Pisac, Peru ping known to the Incas as “the hitching post of the sun” are believed to mark the change of seasons. What appear to be the mouths of small caves in a nearly inaccessible hillside across a ravine from the settlement are actually the face of an Inca cemetery not yet fully excavated by archeologists. Incredibly enough, skeletons are still visible in some of the open-air crypts. Two thoughts stay with me on the ride back down the mountain. The first thought is that while lowlanders’ perspective of mountains is bottomup, the Inca hung their fields from mountain ridges and villages which anchored them, connected by mountain trails known only to them. Perhaps this is not surprising, since the Inca migrated to the Sacred Valley from higher altitudes to the south, but it reflects a valuation of geography that’s fundamentally different from that of the Spanish conquerors. The second thought is sheer amazement that the Inca society – without benefit of the wheel, the arch, or the horse – managed to produce such monumental architecture in the space of about only 100 years. It begs the question of what contribution the Inca might have made to human development if not for the Conquest.

Saw you in the Ojo 13

Dear Sir: I read a comment letter you printed in June’s issue, from Cesar Cisneros, that was nothing more than a personal attack on Robert Nipper for an article he submitted (May issue) as part of the Lakeside Conservative Group. Mr. Nipper was called every name this person could think of including; a racist, a parasite, an ugly gringo, and on and on and on. The comment was so scathing that it forced me to go back and look at what Mr. Nipper had submitted that would cause such hateful rhetoric. What I found was that Mr. Nipper had taken the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States and broke its elements down into what each means to a Conservative. Mr. Nipper is a racist? Nowhere did he verbalize hatred for minorities of any race, creed or gender. He did make the comment that “We the People” does not include “illegal aliens.” That is in reference to the fact that the United States has immigration laws immigrants are expected to adhere to just like Mexico has immigration laws and that “gringos” are expected to adhere to. Cisneros evidently has a problem with that. “Provide for the Common Defense” is one of the elements Mr. Nipper defined. He said, “Common Defense suggests that [ALL] citizens should feel safe, without giving special biased consideration to homosexuals, those of any other color, ideology, or religion.”

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

That means to me that we should [all] be considered equal, including homosexuals, those of another color, ideology or religion. And, that is what our current laws reflect. There is no racist intent in his comment, yet in Cisneros’s limited view he conjures up racism. Mr. Nipper also stated, “It is indicative of the American dream that by our individual efforts we may succeed and prosper.” Again, where is the exclusion clause for minorities Cisneros paints in what was said? “Individual” means individual, Mr. Cisneros… and, I hope you can grasp that concept? People who are self-motivated are welcomed into the United States. Those that wander into America looking to live off the American Taxpayer should not be welcomed. Cisneros’s rant went on to include hatred of our Constitution and blaming Mr. Nipper and those who came before him, for stealing America from the Native Americans. I doubt Mr. Nipper had much to do with that. The letter got so ridiculous that I found myself laughing out loud! I feel empathy for him and hope he can rise above such blatant hatred of us “gringos,” as he referred to us. We are not going home, Mr. Cisneros. We love Mexico, too. Get used to it. What you need to realize is—had a Conservative made the comments you made about Americans, but instead directed them at Latinos, they would have instantly been tagged “a racist.” We’re sorry you hate us, and hope you can find help. I commend the editor of Ojo del Lago for offering both liberal and conservative view points. But when a letter is so obviously a hateful rant and personal attack, I question publishing it. Lynda Nunez, San Antonio Tlayacapan Our Editor Replies: Re Mr. Cisneros letter, I knew that some might think it was intemperate— but because the Ojo rarely receives letters from our Mexican readers, we decided to run it by way of encouraging greater response from this large segment of our readership. We appreciate your interest in the magazine.

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The Paradox of Choice? %LOO )UD\HU

t doesn’t seem like that long ago when if we didn’t get to see a particular film we wanted to see in the theatre, we had to just hope it would come on television someday. Some did, but most did not. I recently took a history of foreign film class from a professor emeritus at a local university who told us that back in “those days” even film critics could not see all the films they had to review and sometimes had to rely on second-hand impressions from others to write a review of a film! Of course, that was a rather long time ago. VCR’s solved this problem, to a large extent, in the 1980’s. Today, of course, we can find, probably through streaming on our computers, many old films. Our problem today is almost the opposite. How can we decide what film or television series to watch when we have so many choices? In fact, we have almost innumerable choices about so many things, it’s becoming difficult to decide how to spend our time. Not only do we have a plethora of choices of what to watch on our televisions, we have to decide, in many respects, exactly how we wish to spend our valuable leisure time. I have always enjoyed reading magazines and books. Lately I am subscribing to The Economist, The New Yorker, Time, The Atlantic, and The Sun. Those alone provide me with more than I can comfortably read in a week. When you add in my daily online reading of The New York Times, The Guardian, as well as various blogs, it just doesn’t leave as much time to read the books I’ve been accumulating on my Kindle and on my night stand. I am sure many readers are experiencing the same squeeze. When you consider the additional choices of whom to spend time with (since you can’t spend as much time as you like with everyone), what new recipes to try, where to travel to, and even how to spend a relaxing afternoon, the choices can almost become paralyzing. I remember a 2006 TED Talk by Barry Schwartz, in which he argued,

counter intuitively, that too much choice actually made us less satisfied than if we had fewer options to choose from. His reasoning went something like this: When we are forced to choose a product, for example, from a very limited number of choices, we make the best selection, knowing we made the best choice we could. However, when we are faced with a large number of choices, the pressure to make the best selection can haunt us. We make a choice but almost immediately wonder if we, indeed, made the best one. I think this is a very contemporary cultural problem. As we are faced with more options in our lives, we, quite naturally, want to take the time to make certain we are making the best possible choice. We may select a dinner at a restaurant and be disappointed when we compare what we ordered to what we might have had instead. We select a new car, and wonder if we got the best possible deal on the vehicle. We even select a vacation hotel, yet find ourselves wondering if we might have made a better choice. Finding satisfaction with our choices comes down to deciding clearly what you want or need, making a selection, and letting go. This process of simplifying our lives by carefully choosing what’s important is what many ex-pats have done by choosing to live in Mexico.

Saw you in the Ojo 15

“TALK LIKE A HOOSIER PIRATE” SPANISH %\ &LQG\ 3DXO

n my thirty-six years living at Lakeside, I’ve heard hundreds of newly ensconced ex-pats make the same rash promise: “I’m going to learn Spanish this year.” Flushed with excitement and love for a new life and a new culture, they always say this as if learning a language was simply a chore on their To-Do list. Unpack. Buy a Mexican-plated car. Find a maid. Learn Spanish. The disappointing truth is that it’s not that easy. Few Gringos possess the ear required to hear and pronounce a musical romance language. The vast majority of Gringos speak English, a language targeted more at doing business than hearts and flowers. Death by Soft Consonant Nothing induces a new Spanish student to quit class faster than not being able to understand anything the teacher says in Spanish. Whatever Spanish teacher you end up with will invariably speak with either a native Spanish accent or a decent approximation of one. Their “r’s” and “t’s” will sound indistinguishably like soft “d’s,” for example, their “b’s” like “v’s” and their “v’s” like “b’s.” This confusing difference alone makes it very hard for a native of, say, Indiana to understand half the Spanish words the teacher pronounces. Now, if the beginning Spanish teacher were to pronounce Spanish words the way an Indiana Hoosier would pronounce them, they might keep their students longer. In “Talk like a Hoosier Pirate” Spanish, the student is encouraged to pronounce everything the way a pirate would, harsh “r’s” and all. More importantly, the teacher also uses Hoosierpirate pronunciation, so that the beginning student can understand it. For example, the “Talk like a Hoosier Pirate” Spanish teacher saying the sentence ”La vaca no usa una bata” would employ harsh “v’s” and “b’s,” and the student would be much more likely to understand that cows do not wear bathrobes, and therefore, more likely to come back to class again. Death by Conjugation

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

The Spanish class dropout rate is hardest hit by outright panic over conjugations. Since Spanish involves a complicated method for conjugating verbs, teachers force new students to memorize that method, a Herculean task for the beginner. To make things even harder, they must memorize each conjugation for each verb’s “person” when an irregular verb is involved. And, as we all know by now, the mostused verbs are almost always irregular. Basic “Talk like a Hoosier Pirate” Spanish Method “Talk like a Hoosier Pirate” Spanish requires zero conjugation. The method is simplicity itself: Memorize the 100 most-used nouns and verbs. Use only infinitives. When speaking in the past, say “Ayer” before the sentence. When speaking in the future, say “Mañana” before the sentence. “Talk like a Hoosier Pirate” Spanish students can learn a few verb infinitives and a few nouns the first session, and speak to their new gardener that very day. You are not fooling your listeners; they are well aware that your Spanish is awful. But you will be able to communicate quite a few ideas, and that’s the whole point. The fundamental basis of “Talk like a Hoosier Pirate” Spanish is to accumulate enough rudimentary Spanish to get through your first year in Mexico. That way, instead of running for the hills, you will be motivated to go to a real Spanish course later, without panicking, and master the real stuff. “Todos ganan!” Cindy Paul

Saw you in the Ojo 17

%\ 9LFWRULD 6FKPLGW

Which Provider?

hen we first moved to Mexico, people back in Minnesota asked us “What are you going to watch on TV?” Now, that would not be my first question when asking about another country…but, I explained, unlike the United States, they have cable television that had more than a few English-speaking channels. Satellite is available here as well. One would think that only the United States operates in the 21st century. “Newbies” to Lakeside ask a lot of the same questions. Which provider is best? Well, we’ve tried them all, and my answer to them is always the same: They are all the same: hundreds of channels of nothing to watch. If I had grandchildren, I would drive them mad with stories of what television was like when I grew up. Soap Operas ruled the day. Mom watched hers as she dusted, cleaned and ironed. Then she got a job. We exercised to Jack Lalane and I anxiously awaited “Captain Kangaroo.” There were the “Mouseketeers,” and there was always an afternoon movie. One hour of national and local news, and we were back to real honestto-God programs. “Mayberry RFD”, “Maverick”, “Bonanza”, or “Perry Mason.” These programs had a beginning, middle and an end and usually a moral to the stories of “My Three Sons”, “Father Knows Best”, and “Eight is Enough.” Friday nights were special as we gathered around to watch the line-up and had our dinner on TV trays! Sunday nights we watched Walt Disney. “Star Trek”, “Outer Limits” and the “Twilight Zone” jump started our imaginations. That was when there were only three or four channels to watch. At 10:00 a voice would come through the speakers saying “Parents: It’s 10:00. Do you know where your children are?” The TV signed off at midnight with a poem, a plane in flight, and the National Anthem. Television was a group effort then. A program had an entire staff that

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

included, of all things, writers! The three main networks worked hard to provide great programming. They would never have dreamed of a rerun on the same day! They wouldn’t even rerun a program in the same month. Now we have 500 channels of nothing to watch. And you can watch reruns every day. Somewhere along the line, public service announcements stopped reminding us that there were people who needed help, and services available to help them in their time of need. The Fairness Doctrine eliminated the FCC rule about receiving government funds in exchange for public service announcements. Equal time for partisan politics was eliminated. The 24-hour “news” cycle began. And “infotainment” was born. The soap operas dramatically exited in favor of game shows and cooking shows. And “Reality TV” became the big draw, where people lived in houses together and plotted and planned against each other. Other programs put people in near impossible situations to test their survival skills, or cooking skills, or job skills, all the while showing the American public the worst sides of human behavior. Writers in TV land became fewer and further between because reality shows didn’t need writers, they needed producers and plotters. Stories became fewer and fewer. Here in Mexico, the best Christmas present I ever bought was a pair of wireless headphones for my husband. He watches his shows, and I don’t have to listen. Now we have shows about pawnshops, antiques, and crime channels. Occasionally we can find some History or Discovery channel gem, but they are few and far between. Which provider? Please! Give me a book or a DVD of a good old movie any day. Victoria Schmidt

Saw you in the Ojo 19

THE GIRL ON THE OLD SHINGLED ROOF %\ &DURO / %RZPDQ

“

ait until your father gets home.” Whenever I heard that daunting phrase, a veil of gloom passed over me like an invisible plague. I knew what was coming. I knew that my stomach would do flips at the dinner table and our kitchen would become the courtroom, where witnesses testified and guilty verdicts were handed down. With three sisters, there should have been enough blame to go around, but that’s not the way it went. I always held onto the flimsy hope that one of them would be the target. My older sister’s face showed smug satisfaction, aware that she had managed to avoid detection, while the two younger ones winced with relief, whenever Mom directed that warning to me.

I can’t ever remember my mother issuing one reprimand for childish pranks or unacceptable behavior. Never a “go to your room,” “don’t talk back,” not even a “stand in the corner for five minutes.” Her problem-solving skills for child rearing amounted to one solution, “Wait until your father gets home.” Then he would come home, dragging from 12-hours in a hot foundry, working as a tool and die maker at the local steel mill. He wanted dinner as soon as he arrived, but I never knew why, since it often resulted in such unpleasantness. We’d all take our assigned seats around the table; little Susie and middle Donna across from me, “goody-twoshoes” Judy beside me, and Mom and Dad anchoring the ends. We’d pass the food around, but before one mouthful

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

could be enjoyed, the trial began as Mom offered her opening statement. “Leroy, do you know what Carol did today?” I hated the fact that my behavior served to ruin so many of his meals. I think he hated being the Judge. He’d ask for details, obtain sister witness statements, announce his judicial decision and order a penalty. The appetite-killing dinner hour reflected a dismal end to his hard days labor. Clearing one’s plate remained mandatory, with Mother reminding us at least once every meal that “children in India were starving.” I gulped down each morsel, swallowing repeatedly to force it into my churning pit, eager to receive permission to be excused from this gastronomic ordeal. And so it went meal after meal. Once, when Daddy’s work-related toils had been too grueling, his exhaustion triumphed over his role of doling out verdicts and punishments. As Mom’s rendition of “Leroy, do you know what…” poured from her lips, he rose and hurled the ceramic plate. As the gravy, peas, beef strips and mashed potatoes oozed down the oil-cloth covered wall, the dish crashed to the floor. He slammed the door behind him, seeking the sanctity of his beloved barn. Mother sat there, mouth agape. Then came that spring day when critical events caused a turning point. In our one-hundred-year-old farmhouse, my bedroom could be locked from the inside with a bolt and latch. I scraped the crusted layers of paint until the reluctant rod slid into the brace. I wanted to be alone. I felt like sulking, as only a seventeen yearold can sulk. I heard Mom’s quick footsteps coming up the stairs. She knocked, pressed the unyielding handle and in a fluster shouted, “Carol, open this door, I want to clean your room.” “Mom, I’m old enough to clean my own room. I’ll do it later.” I cringed when the familiar response rolled out. “If you don’t open the door this instant, we’ll just have to wait until your father gets home.” Defiance seethed. I refused, she retreated and I didn’t care. The wait was short-lived. I heard his booming, but tired voice. I heard my name flying back and forth. I heard his heavy footsteps on the treads. It wasn’t even dinner time. “Carol, open the door so your mom can clean your room.” His voice resonated with its usual authoritarian tone, but I detected a hesitation that he had no appetite to settle another trivial infraction which involved his only daughter who willingly helped him with farm chores. So I tempted fate. “Daddy, I told Mom that I would clean my own room, later. If you want the door open, you will have to break it down.” The thud of a foot against wood shattered the moment. Snapping like a dry twig, the hinges screeched as they ripped from the splintered frame. The protec-

tive barrier from the rigors of family lay prone on the floor. My father stood on the sheared-off door. I knew I had forced this confrontation. I knew he would never tolerate such a taunt. And now I knew it was too late. The partially open window remained the only avenue of escape. The scene deteriorated into a flash of teenage impulsiveness. I had a bursting desire to flee, an urge to fight back with biting words. I knocked the screen from the getaway route, and with one crazy move, I found myself teetering on the old shingled porch roof. Curled up tiles waited to trip a silly girl, boards creaked, the slant so steep, I dared not look at the concrete sidewalk below. My father appeared at the window, shouting for me to come in off the roof. I saw one foot poke through the open space and panicked. Three piercing words, said with a teen’s vengeance to wound a parent, spilled recklessly from my lips: “I hate you.” His foot disappeared from the opening. I saw his contorted face, wearing a stinging ache that I, his favorite daughter, had inflicted. I saw him withdraw, dragging the fractured door and our ruptured relationship behind him. He didn’t utter another word. Rejection followed. I had heard the “wait until…” refrain for the last time. My presence within the family unit withered. At the dinner table, my father wouldn’t even ask me to pass the salt. No one cared what I did, where I went, when I came home. I wondered with initial glee how far I could take this carte blanche freedom. Driving my car to wild dances in another county and arriving home well after midnight didn’t even cause a stir. Where’s the punishment, why no trial? Without direction, my attitude drifted into one of recklessness and rebellion. High school graduation loomed in one month and I dreaded the aftermath. What would I do then? Mom told me that she and my father had been summoned to the Principal’s Office. Although my grade point average placed me second in the graduating class, school officials decided that due to episodes of insolence, I didn’t merit the Salutatorian Award. That newsflash smacked like a wallop. I had earned that accolade, but my cheering squad had “gone missing.” “Mom, do you think Daddy will come to my graduation anyway? I really want him to be there.” I heard myself pleading, begging for redemption, for forgiveness, for someone to care about me again. “I have no idea, Carol. You will just have to ask him yourself. Wait until your father gets Carol L. Bowman home.”

Saw you in the Ojo 21

7KH *LIW 2I /RYH

For fifty years I was his wife, Partner, lover and friend for life. We learned that love was ours to give This made our lives a joy to live. Our lives were full of usual things, Like family and all that brings. The good and bad were ours to share, And life was fun and problems rare. We worked to raise our family And watched them grow up strong and free. The all excelled at what they did, Each wonderful, talented, loving kid. Our hearts were full of pride for each, As to their goals they strived to reach. And then in time, with much elation, They gave to us a new generation. But life is only temporary And one sad day death came our way. It broke my heart to see him go; That man of mine, I loved him so. Oh, how I miss so very much The feeling of his gentle touch, The smile upon his wrinkled face, The warmth and thrill of his embrace. There is no moral to this tale, Except to say love’s not for sale. It must be given from the soul To make, from two, a single whole. Above all else, he was my friend And soul mate to the very end. For those of us who’ve been so blest, We’ve truly lived and known the best. By Libby Colterjohn libby.colterjohn@gmail.com

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

Saw you in the Ojo 23

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an you imagine a man saying to his hangman, “Here, let me help you tie the noose”? Or somebody without insurance, who needs heart surgery, but is opposed to Obamacare? It happens. Everybody knows the Republicans oppose labor unions, unemployment insurance, safety regulations, and the minimum wage, but still, working people vote for them. This tends to be regional. In Ohio, a good majority of workers voted for Obama in 2012. In the South, however, Republicans have successfully played to lingering racial resentment, with Reagan condemning “welfare queens,” and Newt Gingrich calling Obama

the “Food Stamp President.” The populations receiving the most public assistance are, weirdly, the Republican states, where public assistance is supposedly most hated. Among conservatives, psychological responses often dominate logic. There are plenty of studies on this phenomenon. When a liberal mind is confronted with a fact, there is a strong tendency to accept it. But the conservative mind typically rejects facts in order to maintain faith in ideology against any assault of logic. The level of education is a reliable predictor of voting patterns, along with geography. Tea Party rallies commonly featured misspelled signs that often said, “Keep government away from my Medicare.”

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These days, Democrats accept almost as much corporate campaign cash as Republicans, which weakens their enthusiasm for standing with the working class. Many people now think the parties make little difference economically, although that’s not quite true. Obama has worked for economic recovery, but has been stymied by the Republicans. The Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch want lower taxes and deregulation. They are major manipulators of American voting patterns. The Koch brothers poured millions into conservative think tanks and political action committees, including Americans for Prosperity and the Heritage Foundation. These groups are major financial supporters of the Tea Party. They have provided buses to bring people long distances to Tea Party rallies. They set up centers to help people who want to organize a Tea Party in their area. Rupert Murdoch provides hours of free television time and advertising. Fox News even sent Glenn Beck to organize, lead, and be a speaker at a big Tea Party event, all on Murdoch’s payroll and with free television publicity. Rupert Murdoch has a large viewership by appealing to the lowest common denominator. The outrage and sarcasm of his anchors provide no news, but plenty of entertainment and raw red meat. He instructs the anchors what the party line is, and that will fill the broadcast day. For example, Fox News hammered away at a demand for Speaker John Boehner to appoint yet another select committee to investigate Benghazi, and sure enough, Boehner caved. Millions of viewers are brainwashed by watching Fox News and are driven only by mindless emotion and unfounded beliefs. They vote Republican against their own best interests because Murdoch has trained them. An important characteristic of conservatives is generalized fear. They fear Mexicans, Muslims, blacks, conspiracies,

taxes, ambiguity, and even fear their own country – “The feds are coming in black helicopters for our guns.” Studies have identified conservative needs for a high level of certainty and order. This is what made George W. Bush so admired among conservatives when he said, “You’re either for us or against us.” Conservatives loved his unambiguous certainty, but in the context of invading Iraq, it was simplistic. France and Germany weren’t against us; they just didn’t agree that invasion was a good idea. It’s the reason conservatives go crazy when Obama turns to diplomacy instead of military confrontation. The conservatives want an authoritative, certain solution to everything and see diplomacy as ambiguous and uncertain – even weak. Republicans want control over people’s lives (especially sex and reproduction). Being in control enhances one’s sense of security. Democrats prefer freedom, which reflects their humanism. Working class people, when they vote Republican, do so for a variety of reasons – none of them rational. The Republicans got us into two disastrous wars and ran up a huge debt. They created Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib, to America’s shame. They ruined the economy with their supplyside economics. And now, as the Democrats are trying to clean up their mess, Republicans do their best to prevent the cleanup. They fight against making the very rich pay taxes, they refuse to let Obama close Guantánamo, and they block remedies to reduce the unemployment that they created. They shut down the government, costing more jobs. They talk war against Iran. For working people to forgive such brutal facts, and still vote Republican, brands their behavior as undeniably masFred Mittag ochistic.

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Hearts at Work $ &ROXPQ E\ -DPHV 7LSWRQ

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every day takes figgering out all over againâ&#x20AC;Ś.â&#x20AC;?

exican poet, writer, diplomat, and Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz writes that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tomorrow, we shall have to invent, once more, the reality of the world.â&#x20AC;? Indeed, all of us have to invent, each day, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the reality of the world.â&#x20AC;? Children, in play as well as in life, create a â&#x20AC;&#x153;realityâ&#x20AC;? that seems to serve, at least for that immediate day. Adults, likewise, create a reality each morning that will never be completely consistent with the reality of the previous morning, or the following one. Sometimes circumstances press heavily upon us. I remember leaving Fruita, Colorado, to head toward a Mexican orphanage on the Sonoran desertâ&#x20AC;Śearly on the morning of September 11, 2001. Pulling out of the drive, in high spirits because I was once again headed to Mexico, to work at La Casa Esperanza orphanage, a neighbor rushed toward me to tell me a plane had just crashed into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. I thanked him, turned on the car radio, and headed south. A few minutes later a second plane had crashed into the other tower, and the world, for all of us, was forever changed. Every day is a new world, a new reality. In recent years we have witnessed melt-downs in the world financial markets, as well as in US real estate, forcing most of us to create new realities out of the external realities that have been imposed upon us. Perhaps a reality that includes significantly less money. Imagine how all of those families that received word that their soldier sons or daughters stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan would not be returning with their comrades, in fact would never return, had to re-invent themselves, recognizing that the concept of family familiar to them yesterday will never be the same. As we age, of course, we have new realities pressed upon us: we are no longer in the work force, no longer in fine health; we are facing the loss of old buddies, of loved ones, of spous-

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

0\ 'DG - 5REHUW 7LSWRQ at Age 98 es who perhaps had been with us for many decades Many senior citizens have huge difficulties with short-term memory, and they have, then, not only the problem of living on after so much has been lost, but also with the problem of fighting to retain even a simple awareness of what just transpired moments before, those moments themselves lost almost immediately. They have to immediately â&#x20AC;&#x153;inventâ&#x20AC;? the reality of the world, struggling to put forth a sensible picture of themselves, even though each day they wake with a little less. As I write this, my dad, J. Robert Tipton, sits in his assisted living home in Ashland, Ohio, where a kind staff does its best to make his life a reasonably pleasant one. In spite of losing his beloved wife a few years back, in spite of no longer living in the house he and his cousin built back in 1941, in spite of no longer being active in corporate or community affairs, in spite of no longer being a church leader, in spite of no longer being able to hear well, in spite of no longer being able to do what he loved best--working with exotic woods, crafting beautiful bowls on his lathe--my dad usually faces each day as he always has, with a rather remarkable enthusiasm considering his circumstances. In a couple of weeks I will be back in north central Ohio for a large family gathering, perhaps our last, to celebrate my dadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 100th birthday. Calamity Jane, that old cussing, tobaccochewing, courageous woman of the Wild West, summed it up well: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every day takes figgerinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; out all over again how to live.â&#x20AC;? Jim Tipton

SMELLING MEMORIES %\ .DWK\ .RFKHV

y little dog cocks her head to one side, her black nose quivering as she detects a scent. I sit wondering what it might be, as the smell is undetectable to me. Something has caught her attention and her tail begins to wag – is it the delicious aroma of something cooking? Perhaps another dog nearby? Her sense of smell is 1,000 times more developed than mine. But can she or we really “smell memories?” Scientists have long known that smells are one of the best ways to evoke the past. Studies have shown that memories triggered by smells are more vivid and

more emotional than those triggered by sounds, pictures or words. According to the latest research the aroma of breakfast is a man’s favorite smell, while for a woman it is a newborn baby. People can remember smells with 65% accuracy after a year, while visual recall is about 50% after three months. Research has shown that smell is the sense most linked to our emotional recollection and that 75% of emotions are triggered by smell. A childhood memory of mine is the overwhelming scent of a small room filled with too many flowers. This evokes the painful memory of

the living room in my childhood home, filled to overflowing with floral arrangements sent to us when my parents died. It was many years before I could enter a florist shop without being flooded with feelings of sadness and loss. Ah, but then there is the smell of fresh brewed coffee. I awaken each morning to that lovely smell, wafting up the stairs to tempt me to get out of bed. My husband rises early, brews a fresh pot of coffee and brings me a cup every morning. As it turns out, the phrase “wake up and smell the coffee” is true. When you are asleep, your sense of smell shuts down. You can only smell the coffee after you are awake. Being from the Pacific Northwest, I love the smell of a pine forest. I can close my eyes and for a few seconds I am transported back to the lush green forests. And I love the smell of the sea and the tangy, salty taste on my tongue that reminds me of the many years I spent at the beach, learning to surf in the warm California waters. And then there is the scent of the people you love. There have been many articles and research papers on how scent play a big part in sexual attraction, but it is more

than that for me. It is that indefinable “something in the air” when your mate is around that makes you feel their presence and their love. A certain person could be the furthest thing from your mind until you catch a whiff of something and suddenly you are transported back in time. Old Spice cologne or freshly mown grass never fails to make me think of my Dad and Jade East will immediately make me think of my high school boyfriend. I wear my favorite perfume most days called L’Air du Temps. My children and grandchildren have told me that they associate “Grandma” with this scent. Do you ever wonder how people will remember you? What scent will cause that ache or longing inside of them when you are gone? The true gift is the quality of the person associated with it and their love, care, devotion, time and energy. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “Memories, imagination, old sentiments, and associations are more readily reached through the sense of smell than through any other channel.” Take a walk down memory lane with me today. What is a scent you associate with someone or something you love?

Saw you in the Ojo 27

R ET TURN OF CABO SAN LUCAS )LFWLRQ E\ .DWK\ / 3ULFH

“

w,” Courtney cringed and lifted the strap over her shoulder. This was the worst sunburn, ever. She always used sunscreen, but had not done so that day. After checking into the hotel, they’d hit the bar. Nothing after that was clear but she must have had way too much tequila, then fallen asleep on the sand. She was now toasted beyond belief. Her head throbbed and she felt queasy. “What was in those drinks, anyway?” she wondered, “and where’s Phillip?” He hadn’t been beside her on the beach when she finally woke.

It had been his idea to fly to Cabo San Lucas for their seventh wedding anniversary. Courtney had not been thrilled, but Phillip had promised it’d be fun. On the flight down he had been so enthusiastic. It had been years since he had expressed interest in anything so Courtney had high hopes this trip might renew the spark in their increasingly stale marriage. Tomorrow they were supposed to go fishing. They’d have to cancel. Phillip would be disappointed but there was no way she’d be able to sit in a boat, rocking on the waves. She began to worry. Where was Phillip? Initially, she thought he

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

might have come back to the room, although she couldn’t understand why he’d leave her passed out on the beach. Why had he just left her there to burn? Where was he? Twenty-three years later, sitting at the back of a dark, smoke-laden blues bar in Chicago, she saw him. It had to be her imagination, but that “I know you” pull was strong. She continued to watch and recognized Phillip’s mannerisms. He was chatting up a blond with long legs, although it didn’t look like he was making much progress. He had a bit of a paunch, now, and his hair had thinned, but there was no mistaking those eyes or the shape of his nose, the dimple in his chin. Life had certainly been a challenge since he disappeared so long ago. She had managed to raise their two young children by herself. Her parents had been supportive and had stepped in to help on many occasions. Phillip’s parents, too, had stayed involved in their lives, though Courtney suspected they blamed her for his disappearance. There had, of course, been police inquiries. Was it a case of a jealous wife murdering her husband? A drug-related kidnapping? A suicide? In the end, Phillip’s disappearance went into the cold case files. His mother had been heart-broken. Courtney shook her head, “You bastard. How could you do that to your own mother?” The not-knowing what happened had killed them all. So, Phillip hadn’t been man enough to tell her he wanted out, that he’d screwed up his life or found another woman. No, Phillip had taken the coward’s way out and simply disappeared, leaving his children to grow up without a father. Maybe that had been for the best. Courtney wanted a closer look. Ignoring the appreciative stares as she crossed the room, she focused on the man at the bar. Should she

say hello or simply walk past? Closer now, she glanced over. He didn’t even look up, focused as he was on landing the blond. Should she confront him, make a scene, or leave it alone? After a short stint outside, Courtney returned to her seat to listen to the featured performer, their daughter Chelsea. Was that why he was here? He wanted to hear her sing? Doubtful. Chelsea used a stage name, so maybe Phillip didn’t even know it was her. So much had happened in the years leading up to this night, so many things Phillip had missed: Chelsea learning to ride a horse; the delight on her face after her first cartwheels on the balance beam; how beautiful she looked for Senior Prom; her graduation, with honors, from a prestigious performing arts college. What would Chelsea think if she were told her dad, who had walked out of her life when she was three, was in the audience? And Brad? He’d taken it particularly hard, growing up without a father. Should she tell them he was alive? No, she wouldn’t hurt them again. She would, however, let Phillip know she found him. She looked over to see him encouraging the blond to leave. The blond indicated she wanted to stay until the singer had finished. Courtney, too, waited for the end of Chelsea’s set, then slipped out to follow them. She quickened her pace to catch up but pulled back when she heard the squeal of tires. She watched as a car ran the light at the intersection, was broadsided by a truck and careened down the sidewalk, smashing Phillip and the blond into the brick wall of the building. Two weeks later, on what would have been their thirtieth wedding anniversary, Courtney was back in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. From the deck of a chartered fishing boat, she scattered his ashes into the sea.

Saw you in the Ojo 29

CAROLINA AYALA—A Foorce of Natuure %\ , 0 %XUQHQ

iving in the Midwest in the early 60’s I woke from a nap one warm June afternoon to discover the top two floors of my home had disappeared. That force of nature, the tornado, had visited me and I responded by immediately moving to London. Not since then have I experienced such force, but a few weeks ago, there it was in my West Ajijic neighborhood. This time it had a name and face: Carolina Ayala! Carolina and her husband Alex had retired from the Chicago area a few months earlier. Horrified by the basura and weeds at the entrance to the Villa Lucerna area off the carretera, Carolina took on the area, challenging the local habits and approaches to the surroundings. She walked house to house

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

to discuss how the residents felt, gathered some supporters and some not. More importantly, she fell to her knees and started the management of the detritus that had accumulated over the years in the area. She dug, and carried away brush and trash by the wheelbarrow load. She hired helpers

to plant rows of blooming flora along the roadsides, utilizing donations from a few believers, hauled buckets of water in the middle of the afternoon and slowly transformed the area where she lives. Setting an example by doing was amazing enough, but watching her interact with the locals was a step beyond. She approached everyone with any potential trash in their hands and explained why Mexico, her country and theirs, deserved better treatment. She challenged children, adults and animals to change long-standing habits by not throwing or depositing trash at the side of the road, and she smiled while she did it. The result is a transforming community, with many residents fascinated by Carolina, her work ethic, her determination and her ability to transform a messy area. This resulted in a more pleasant looking area and an increase in pride and commitment. There have been many who have now donated what they could-some large ones but more small, to be part of the changes. Local government has expressed interest even as Carolina continues to expand her work. She is a true force of nature….and I’m so glad to have witnessed the transition.

Saw you in the Ojo 31

Sandy Olson

Phone: 331-283-8529 Email: sandyzihua@hotmail.com

PAST EVENTS

7+( 1$.(' 67$*( The most recent production of Naked Stage was Mass Appeal, directed by Graham Miller. The cast members were Allen McGill and -RKQ -RQHV. IBPA AWARD $OHMDQGUR *UDWWDQ has won a Benjamin Franklin Digital Book Silver Award from the Independent Book Publishers Association. The awards are presented yearly and the winners are given a big publicity push. His book, The Dark Side of the Dream LV DYDLODEOH LQ .LQGOH DQG quality softback. The award is much the same that former Lakeside resident, the late Roberto Moulun, won last year for his superb collection of short stories, The Iguana Speaks My Name Both books were published by Mikel Miller of Egret Books ),567 $118$/ .$<$. 3$''/( 3$57< It was a big day for Lakeside paddlers on July 27, when the /DNH &KDSDOD .D\DN &OXE had an eventful day for kayakers and their friends. They set off in the morning, paddled across the lake and back and arrived back at noon, when friends watched them come in from Maria Isabel Restaurant. Owner LeonDUGR &RUQHMR hosted the day-long event. Visitors were invited to see recent photos in the new club room, which is part of the sports bar. Another activity that day was a kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; paddle in the afternoon, organized by &RPPRGRUH :D\QH 5HQ]. Club members assisted local children in the fundamentals of paddling. They learned fast and had a great time.

COMING EVENTS IT ISNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T TOO LATE FOR ROMANCE The Lakeside Little Theatre Leonardo Cornejo and Wayne Renz ZLOO WHOO XV DOO DERXW LW LQ WKHLU ÂżUVW offering of the fall season, The Last Romance, to be directed by Ann Swiston. This romantic comedy asks: Is it too late for love and romance for an aging widower? Can it be made to bloom? It opens on Friday, August 29 and runs through Sunday, September 7. This play will be a fundraiser to help pay for solar installation and the many recent improvements and renovations to the theatre. Tickets are available for all seats at a special price of 225 pesos. Season ticket holders, please note that this is an extra, seventh special fund raising show in the season and is NOT included as part of your season ticket. Tickets for The Last Romance will EH DYDLODEOH DW WKH %R[ 2IÂżFH IURP a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, August 26 and Wednesday, August 27, and daily thereafter (except Sundays) for the UXQ RI WKH SOD\ DW WKH %R[ 2IÂżFH IURP 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and one hour before Cast members from left: Peggy Lord show times. Directions are available at Chilton, Ken Bridges and Candace www.lakesidelittletheatre.com. Luciano. Performances will be at 7.30 pm for the six evening shows, and at 3 pm for the three matinees on Saturday, August 30 and the two Sunday shows. A GREAT NEW SEASON

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

Season tickets for the upcoming 50th Anniversary Season of the Lakeside Little Theatre ZLOO JR RQ VDOH DW WKH ER[ RIÂżFH IURP D P WR 1 p.m. on Tuesday, August 26 and Wednesday, August 27. The 2014/2015 season includes six productions: God of Carnage, directed by Roseann Wilshere, Betrayal, directed by Neal &KHFNRZD\, Sinderella, directed by Paul .ORHJPDQ, :URQJ 7XUQ $W /XQJÂżVK directed by 3HJJ\ /RUG &KLOWRQ, The Night of the Iguana, directed by Dave McIntosh, and The Dixie Swim Club, directed by %DUEDUD &OLSSLQJHU The price of 1100 pesos is an amazing value for six shows in your chosen seats, and also LQFOXGHV //7 PHPEHUVKLS D Âł.LFN 2II 3DUW\Â´ on Saturday, September 13 and other special RIIHUV 6L[ VKRZV IRU WKH SULFH RI ÂżYH Learn more about Lakeside Little Theatre at www.lakesidelittletheatre.com. CONTROVERSY ON STAGE The August production of Naked Stage will be The Twilight of the Golds. It is directed by Allen McGill in his directorial debut at Naked Stage. Cast members are 'DP\Q <RXQJ &OD\ 0F$GDP 6KLUOH\ $SSHOEDXP +HOHQD )HOGVWHLQ and -RKQ -RQHV The performance dates are August 22, 23 and 24. 7KLV FRQWURYHUVLDO VHULRFRPHG\ WDFNOHV WKH ÂżFWLRQDO LVVXH RI JHQHWLF WHVWLQJ WKDW GHtermines the sexual orientation of an unborn child. When Suzanne Gold-Stein discovers her son is destined to be gay, she considers aborting the fetus, much to the dismay of her gay brother David, whose sexual orientation has never been fully accepted by his conservative family. The Naked Stage is located at #10A Rio Bravo. Directions: west on the carretera from Ajijic, south on Rio Bravo, about two blocks down behind Danielâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Restaurant on the east side. Danielâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s is open for lunch and dinner with a no host bar available at 3:00 p.m. The ER[ RIÂżFH RSHQV DW and the show starts at 4:00 p.m. The e-mail address for reservations: nakedstagereservations@gmail. com. Reservations guarantee a seat until 3:50, after which seats will be sold to those waiting without reservations. MUSIC HATH Front Row: Clay McAdam, Shirley Appelbaum CHARMS Back Row: Director Allen McGill, Damyn Young, We heard from -RKQ John Jones Missing: Helena Feldstein .HHOLQJ 9LYD 0XVLFD President, about exciting musical offerings from now to the end of the year. 6XQGD\ $XJXVW Guitar recital by Duo Medina-Gracian, a virtuoso guitar duo from Guadalajara playing music by Albeniz, Bizet, Piazzolla and Ernesto Nazareth arranged for two guitars. 7KXUVGD\ 2FWREHU at 7.00 p.m. Violin and piano recital featuring Robert Markus, violin, and Rosa Maria Valdez, piano, playing works by Brahms, Moncayo, Carrasco, de Falla and Bartok. 7KXUVGD\ 1RYHPEHU at 7.00 p.m. The Revueltas String Quartet with Diego Rojas and Cesar Huizar, violins, Manuel Olivares, viola, and Yalissa Cruz, cello. Program includes Rudo by Domingo Lobato, Five Novelettes by Glazunov and American Quartet by Dvorak. 7KXUVGD\ 'HFHPEHU , at 7.00 p.m. Christmas Concert with the Hermosillo family singers and their friends Hector Lopez and Paty Hernandez , back by popular demand. These concerts will be in the Auditorium at 4.00 p.m. Tickets are 200 pesos and will be on Sergio Medina and Hugo sale at the Auditorium, Diane Pearl Colecciones, and LCS ticket booth Thursdays & Fridays 10-12. Ernesto Gracian

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MUSIC AS A MUSE The $MLMLF 6RFLHW\ RI WKH $UWV (ASA) is bringing talented musicians DQG VNHWFK DUWLVWV WRJHWKHU WR GHPRQVWUDWH KRZ PXVLF FDQ LQĂ&#x20AC;XHQFH DQG and inspire an artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. Three musicians from Orquesta Axixic will play while artist 5DQG\ 7XPEOLQ completes a portrait. This half hour demonstration will take place at La Bodega restaurant on Monday, September 1, following coffee at 9:30, and the ASA business meeting at 10.

ONGOING EVENTS DONUTS AND DOING THE TRAIL Lakeside hikers meet on Tuesdays and Fridays at 9 am at Donaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Donuts on the carretera. All levels of walkers are welcome. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a loosely knit, friendly bunch that welcomes new members. Just a few of the hikers are pictured below. Nobody knows how long the group has been going, but *HUU\ *UHHQ, the original hiker and author of (out of print) Walks and Trails Around Ajijic, copyrighted in 2005, had by then been exploring and mapping the area with his GPS for seven years, and leading hiking groups in the area. Some of the local well known trails are the Front: Lynne Leatherdale, Jim Boles, Levi, Saddle, the Ceremonial and Larry Laframboise Grounds, the Three Crosses, the Grotto and Chupi- Back: Gary Silverberg, Karl Dyer and Doug naya. Burnside If people want to know more, they can call &RRUGLQDWRU -LP %RZOHV at 376-766-5127 or get on the email list: bolesjim@yahoo.com Hikes are at different skill levels, so it would be a good idea to FKHFN ZLWK -LP EHIRUH JRLQJ RXW WKH ÂżUVW WLPH 7KH KLNHV UDQJH IURP WZR KRXUV WR DOO GD\ 6,;7< *5((1 7+80%6 ÂŤ â&#x20AC;Śshow up at -RKQ 0F:LOOLDPVÂś veggie club every month. The $MLMLF 2UJDQLF 9HJHWDEOH *URZHUV was started six months ago and has now grown to sixty members. They are like minded people who are interested in growing food the organic way. They meet once a month to share their expertise on growing vegetables and herbs here in the Lake Chapala area. The July meeting featured guest speaker 0DUJDULWD $OYDUH] who is an expert on urban agriculture and now represents Earthbox of Mexico. The club meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 10 at Azul Frida Restaurant, Carretera #61 in West Ajijic. The next meeting will be on August 13. New members are welcome. They can contact John John McWilliams and His Rooftop at mcwilliamsmx@gmail.com or by phone at Garden 376-7660620. 648($.< :+((/ 5($',1*6 La Rueda (the wheel), a coffee/gallery in San Juan Cosala, stages monthly readings in English. They are held on WKH ÂżUVW :HGQHVGD\ RI HDFK PRQWK DW Readers in July were =RÂżD %DULVDV Paris Drebes, GloULD 3DOD]]R 0HO Goldberg and -XG\ '\NVWUD %URZQ The next meeting will be on August 6. Featured are 0DUJLH .HDQH 'DYLG %U\HQ 6DQG\ 2OVRQ 0DULR 3XJOLVL and -HVXV /RSH] 9HJD 3DWULFLD +HPLQJZD\ DQG /DUU\ 5HHYHV Judy says that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Although the reading begins at 3:30, please arrive at 3:00 to order your coffee, beer, desserts or wine, as they will not be served during the readings.â&#x20AC;? Mario Puglisi

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

Directions to La Rueda: at the only stop light in San Juan Cosala, turn towards the ODNH *R RQH EORFN DQG WXUQ ULJKW DW WKH SOD]D RQ 3RUÂżULR 'LD] 'ULYH WZR EORFNV RU VR past Viva Mexico restaurant on your right. Writers who want to read, or those needing further information, can contact Judy at 387-761-0281 or email her at jubob2@hotmail.com. WHAT AN ENERGETIC BUNCH Over the last months the newly appointed Board for The School for Special Children (formerly The School for the Deaf) has been working overtime to launch a new mission and fund-raising year. Members of the new Board include 0DU\ 'DOH :LOVRQ, President; 0DULW]D )UH\VOLQJHU, Vice President for School Operations; 0DU\ (OOHQ 0F&DQQ, Recording Secretary; Sonia Ulloa, Treasurer .DUHQ 5LFKDUGVRQ and Robin Lawrason, Public Relations, and -LP /OR\G, Member at Large. 7KH QHZ %RDUGÂśV ÂżUVW SULRULW\ LV WR PDNH LPSURYHPHQWV DW WKH VFKRRO SURMHFWV WKDW include cleaning and repairing the aljibe, installation of hot water for the kitchen and bathrooms, adding night lighting to the administrative area for after-hours work by teachers and staff, building an entry ramp for wheelchair bound students. A generous donation by long-time supporter Norine Rose helped fund many of the repairs needed at Seated from left: Mary-Dale Wilson, Maritza the School. Freyslinger, Standing from left: Mary Ellen McThey also intend to ÂżQG IXQGV IRU D GULYHU Cann, Jim Lloyd, Sonia Ullia, Karen Richardand expenses for the son and Robin Lawrason, new van given by DIF to bus students to the school. SIXTY YEARS AND GOING STRONG This is the sixtieth year that the 1HLOO -DPHV &KLOGUHQÂśV $UW 3URJUDP has been alive, every Saturday from 10 to 12, all that timeâ&#x20AC;Śand lively is a good word to describe the fun that children are having on these mornings. &KLOGUHQ EHWZHHQ WKH DJHV RI DQG \RXQJHU RQHV GR VOLS LQ VRPHWLPHV FRPH to the back area of the Lake Chapala Society and experience a wide array of art projects under the guidance of such talented teachers as -HVXV /RSH] Vega, -DYLHU =DUDJR]D and $QWRQLR /RSH] 9HJD They are all early graduates of the program who are giving back to the commuFrom left: Krishna Estrada, Jessica Garcia, nity by volunteering Xitlali Hernandez, Xochitl Hernandez, Diana as instructors. The regular and Estrada,, Brad Mowers, Maestro, and Francisco special art projects Nava, Assistant. include paper makLQJ RLO SDLQWLQJ JHQHUDO GUDZLQJ ZDWHUFRORU SDLQWLQJ SKRWRJUDSK\ Ă&#x20AC;RZHU PDNLQJ DQG hand puppets. Other dedicated volunteers are 6X]DQQD %DLOOHUJHDX -RH 6PLWK -HQQLIHU 6WDQOH\ 5REHUWD +LOOHUPDQ 'DQLHOOH 3DJH and &DQGLV )OHVKHU 'RGGV $1' 63($.,1* 2) 7+( &+,/'5(1Âś6 $57 352*5$0ÂŤ 5R\ 1RODQ D ORFDO ÂżOPPDNHU LV MXVW DERXW WR EHJLQ D YHU\ LQWHUHVWLQJ YLGHR SURMHFW Her Legacy lives on ....The Neill James Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Art Program. He documents what Neill James did to help the children of Ajijic live their dreams through art, from inception of the program to the current LCS Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Art Program. Fourteen accomplished graduates of the program will be featured in the video. 7R ÂżQG RXW PRUH DQG VHH KRZ \RX FDQ KHOS IXQG WKLV YLGHR JR WR https://www. indiegogo.com/projects/her-legacy-lives-on-the-neill-james-children-s-art-program-inajijic-mexico AMERICAN LEGION IN CHAPALA Saturdays: 3:30 - 6:30 p.m. Fish Fry Sundays: Burgers & Dogs 12 - 3 p.m.

Saw you in the Ojo 35

Dear Sir: I may be a bit behind my reading, but I’m whole-heartedly behind Lorin Swinehart’s guest editorial in January’s El Ojo: “Wildlife Crime -- A Moral Outrage!” Swinehart brilliantly connects the dots among wildlife poaching, arms dealers, modern day slave traders

and drug dealers, pointing out that the illegal wildlife trade brings in $7 - $10 billion annually to these criminals. Excellent article that should make us all stop and consider the real cost of our ivory trinkets. Kelly Hayes-Raitt www.LivingLargeInLimbo.com

Dear Sir: Ms. Marita Noon seriously errs in her criticism of President Obama’s creation of the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument, in her column in the July issue of El Ojo. The Antiquities Act of 1906, signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt, gives the president the authority

to restrict by executive order the use of federally owned lands. The Act empowers any president to protect historical and cultural areas as national monuments. The legality of the Act has been reaffirmed repeatedly by the Supreme Court, which has ruled that it gives any president almost unfettered authority with regard to the nature and size of the

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

area to be protected. President Obama acted in full accordance with the law when he made his decision. To date, sixteen presidents have used the act. Congress has also acted 40 times to create national monuments. Many of our most cherished national parks were first protected under the Antiquities Act, including Grand Canyon and Zion. I know the Organ Mountains area well, having flown over the region many times while I lived there. From any altitude up to 10,000 feet, the area does not appear conducive to successful livestock grazing, so one questions the degree to which ranchers will be inconvenienced by the President’s decision. As for the concerns of ATV drivers, I have personally witnessed, both from the air and on the ground, the mindless destruction caused by their activities in Florida’s Big Cypress Preserve and elsewhere before the National Park Service took jurisdiction over those lands. Their complaints do not generate much sympathy. One is left wondering which aspect of the American dream Ms. Noon regards as suffering from the preservation of such unique sites as Grand Canyon. It would seem that the avaricious activities of some mining companies and the barbaric behavior of ATV owners

meet with the approval of Ms. Noon. Or, given that she has included the recent controversial prisoner of war exchange under her heading of detracting from the American dream, could it be that her evident hostility toward President Obama has simply clouded her judgment. Contrary to Ms. Noon’s assertion that area residents opposed creation of the monument, there has actually been widespread support for it throughout New Mexico and in Dona Ana County. The President is to be commended for his action to protect the Organ Mountains. The new national monument, consisting of 496, 000 acres, comprises a region of unique Chihuahuan Desert flora and fauna, as well as a multitude of historical sites, including Billy the Kid’s Outlaw Rock, thousands of Native American petroglyphs and pictographs, the Butterfield Stagecoach Trail, Geronimo’s cave and the site where astronauts trained for the Apollo space mission. It is to be hoped that President Obama and his successors will continue to set aside unique public lands for the benefit of all citizens rather than for the predations of the avaricious and destructive few. Sincerely, Lorin Swinehart lorinswinehart@yahoo.com

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SOJOURNER’S TRUTH %\ 0DUN 6FRQFH

y now, most Americans are aware that the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States fathered at least one and probably five other children with a house slave girl by the name of Sally Hemings.* But I wonder how many know, as historian Annette Gordon-Reed writes in her book, The Hemingses sees e of Monticello, that “…slave women we were w ere unprotected against rape. Forcing a slave woman to have sex against her will was waas a consid considered a trespass against her owner. If her owner raped her, it was no crime at all. What the violation meant to the woman was irrelevant.” And, as our own Lakeside historian, Fred Mittag, points out, “Sexual exploitation was a part of it. Many a Southern white boy had his first sexual experience in a slave shack. It turned out that arch segregationist Strom Thurmond had a black daughter. The woman by whom he had his black daughter was his mother’s maid. He was the 1948 Dixiecrat nominee. He wasn’t that far removed from the slave holder. “The college textbook said that Jefferson’s wife had died and he was far too vigorous a man to be sexually inactive, so he turned to Sally Hemings. That was about how it was worded. There was no consideration, of course, as to how she might have felt about it.” Until now.

Poet prodigy, 18-year- old Sojourner Ahebee, Philadelphia, PA, recently spoke about her new poem Valentine for Sally Hemings wherein she speculates how Sally might have felt about her 36 year relationship with Thomas Jefferson. “This poem was sparked after my completion of a history paper that touched on Thomas Jefferson and the way in which his historical legacy has been presented to the average American citizen for centuries. This poem rose from a place of great frustration and indignation for the sexual abuses put upon Sally Hemings, Jefferson’s slave. I wanted to understand Hemings´ history as a means of understanding all the historical tension that Black women in America still carry with them to this day. Through Valentine for Sally Hemings I wanted to question our often contradictory ideals of American liberty/freedom, and Thomas Jefferson’s political and personal life which offered a plethora of contradictions waiting to be addressed.” The following proves again the power of poetry: Valentine for Sally Hemings there’s a dead jefferson in every black girl’s belly, an unknown hunger for something stolen. I found a poem in these parts, in the belly of a black girl. I was told to look in the garage, into the person I almost liked, at the bottom of an odd blue sock buried in my dresser drawer: the hiding places of my life. oh, but if you only knew the way I wanted to love the dead president, rescue him from the depths of a stomach, feed him the warm soil from a Virginia plantation, feed him pages from my history books, heavy with lies. but then I heard Sally scream, and wondered what she’d think of me, I heard Sally scream and wondered what all the black girls with bloated bellies would think of me in my confusion: the way I mistaked his breath, smelling of lavender and france, for liberty, when this scent was made of more potent stuff, of silence, of a black girl’s blood against white sheets. I went looking for a poem in the darkness, a love poem for Sally, an apology, a revelation, a dead man haunting the hallways of a breaking girl. ### *The 1998 DNA analysis (exact match) removed most doubts.

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

Mark Sconce

Saw you in the Ojo 39

PROFILING TEPEHUA %\ 0RRQ\HHQ .LQJ PRRQLH #\DKRR FRP

“

ife isn’t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain” Rain. Life giving on one hand and life threatening on the other. The Mexican rain God Tlaloc has teeth like combs, and myths tell us that rain is like semen that replenishes Mother Earth. Here in Mexico one can find “rain sticks” that make the sound of rain on a tin roof when the stick is shaken or turned upside down. Rain sticks are made from the long, thin Capado cactus. The cactus is dried, the thorns are removed and beaten into the dried shell. Small pebbles are put inside. It is the small pebbles hitting the thorns that give the very pleasant sound of rain on a tin roof. The rain stick originated in Chile, but is popular all over South America. Drumming on the tin roofs of the habitats of Tepehua, the rain sounds like marbles as the echo bounces off the cement floors and walls of the 10 x12 homes. The walls bead with sweat. The beds and clothes absorb the dampness and the moisture in the air, and the children squeal with delight because they are allowed to play in the warm rain. Buckets are put outside to catch the precious liquid, and buckets are placed strategically inside in an attempt to stop the water from invading the home. A drive

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

through the area will reveal drying mattresses and clothing on roof tops or hanging on fences. There are, incredibly, no bitter faces. ‘Solo Agua’... it is only water. Water. The most precious of entities, without which we cannot survive, and which is gradually becoming endangered by pollution and population explosion all over the planet. In Tepehua, the dry season always brings relief and short memories. The Community Center of Tepehua medical staff get many requests for help when it is raining and they find the children sick with congestion from damp beds and clothing. The dry season is the time to rip off and repair the roofs. This is progress – previously the thinking was: accept the inevitable, wet season we are wet, dry season the holes in the roof provide ventilation. When the streets are flooding with rain, the water mixes the human and animal waste, and the children playing in their bare feet (to save their shoes for school) inevitably bring parasites into their home. Because of the lack of hygiene in most homes, the whole family is infected. They are learning and changing as rapidly as the seasons of Mexico. With help to obtain materials, the men of the village are learning they do not have to live that way...there is another way that protects their families. Yet they still celebrate the rain god, Tlaloc.

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CHILD

of the month

%\ %DUE &RURO

his beautiful little girl is Mayte, diagnosed shortly after birth with Cerebral Palsy. Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a broad term used to describe a group of chronic “palsies” – disorders that impair control of movement due to damage to the developing brain. CP usually develops by age 2 or 3 and is a non-progressive brain disorder which means the brain does not continue to worsen throughout life. The symptoms however often change over time; sometimes getting better and sometimes getting worse. CP is one of the most common causes of chronic childhood disability. Mom says that Mayte was a healthy baby. However at 5 months she noticed that Mayte was not acting like a normal child; she never moved her hands, could not roll or move her feet and had difficulty with feeding. The family took her to a Pediatric Specialist who suggested therapy. No neurological testing was done until much later. It was then that Mayte was diagnosed with Spastic Cerebral Palsy. CP cannot be cured; however a variety of resources and therapies can provide help and improve the quality of life for the individual. Mayte attends at Fundacion Teleton (a government funded therapy program in Guadalajara) three days per week. They suggested she contact the DIF in Jocotopec. On June 18, 2014,

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

Mayte was referred to Niños Incapacitados by the DIF and subsequently accepted into our program. At the moment we are helping the family with transportation to and from Guadalajara for her physical therapies and medicines. In the coming months, Mayte will undergo genetic testing and a host of studies, all of which are quite costly. There could also be some mechanical aids (wheelchair, braces, etc) necessary but only time will tell. Much remains unknown about the disorder’s causes but evidence supports theories that infections, birth injuries and poor oxygen supply to the brain before, during and immediately after birth are common factors. Premature infants are particularly vulnerable. Severe illness such as meningitis during the first year of life, physical trauma, and severe dehydration can cause brain injury and result in CP. Most children with CP can live long, happy, quality lives. However, the severity level of the child’s condition, as well as improper management of his or her symptoms, may put the child at risk for diminished life expectancy. As Director of the Jocotopec Clinic, I thank you again for the opportunity of presenting one of our children. Reminder, the Niños Incapacitados monthly general meetings will resume in September. Please join us on September 11th, 2014 to meet another one of our children. Our meetings are held at the Real de Chapala Hotel in Lower La Floresta, starting with coffee at 10:00, meeting at 10:30. If you would like to learn more about Niños Incapacitados, we encourage you to visit our website at www.programaniños.org or call Rich Petersen (376-765-5511) or Barb Corol (376-766-5452).

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BRIDGE BY THE LAKE %\ .HQ 0DVVRQ

Duplicate bridge fans are well aware of the importance of overtricks but sometimes you need to be in the correct contract before those additional tricks can materialize. In this month’s hand, South opened 1 spade with 17 high card points. North responded 1 no trump which in their system was forcing for 1 round – he was intending to jump in spades at his next opportunity to show 10 to 12 points with 3-card spade support. However, when South switched to hearts with his second bid, North also changed plans and raised to 3 hearts and South was happy to continue on to the heart game. West led the 3 of hearts, as a trump lead is often effective when declarer’s second suit is trumps and the defence would like to cut down on any potential ruffs in dummy. In this particular deal it wasn’t a substantial factor as the North hand was a flat as the proverbial pancake. The declarer was pleased to note that the contract did not appear to be in any danger provided there were no very bad splits in the opponents’ holdings so he looked around for any potential overtricks. But first things first he would need to check how the trumps were divided. Winning the opening lead in hand with the ace he crossed to the king in dummy and was gratified that the trump split was the best possible from his point of view – 3-2. Drawing the last trump with dummy’s jack, declarer rattled off 5 spade tricks while pitching the club 7 and the diamond 3 on the last two. He now played a club to-

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

wards the dummy and called for the queen which held the trick. He then cashed the club ace and conceded a low diamond to the opponents for what turned out to be their only trick as he could ruff his last club in the dummy and his last diamond in hand. 4 hearts making twelve tricks for 480 points turned out to be a very good match-point result for this pair as there were many other pairs making only eleven tricks for 450 points. How can that be, you ask? Surely this declarer’s play was good but not outstanding? That is correct but the big difference was that most of the other partnerships played in 4 spades after the same bidding start and there are only 11 tricks available in a spade contract. There is a long-standing theory in bridge that, in most cases, it is better to play in a 4-4 trump fit rather than a 5-3 fit and this hand lives up to that standard in spades (sorry, in hearts!) Take a look at the hand diagram again and imagine you are in 4 spades and let’s say you get a trump lead, though that doesn’t really matter. You can draw trumps and take the club finesse just as the other declarer did but you will have to lose another club trick as you have nowhere to park the 7. So if you add this principle to your bridge lexicon you will get better results if you can apply it at the table. But be sure to let your partner in on your secret! Questions or comments: email: masson.ken@gmail. com Ken Masson

%\ 7HUL 6D\D

ifferent sizes, different breeds, you see them trotting in packs or sometimes alone, but they all have that same desperate look about them. The street dogs are wary, dirty, and smart. We had lost our dog to cancer three years ago and once we settled in Mexico, we started actively looking for another little companion. People in California are required to keep their pet on a leash at all times. We did not realize that many people here do not leash or collar their dogs. What we thought was a street dog usually had an owner nearby. My husband carried dog treats in his pocket whenever he went for a walk around the neighborhood. So picture this: My husband is walking along and sees a little dog trotting down the sidewalk all by himself, not wearing a collar. He calls out to the dog and gets down on one knee holding out a morsel. The dog comes to him happily wagging his tail. My husband pats him on the head and begins thinking of taking him home. Suddenly there is a shadow over my husband and he looks up into the face of a very large man. “What are you doing with my dog?”…… This happened so many times; my husband stopped stalking street dogs. One evening we were taking a walk along a busy street and I spotted a thin, brown dog about the size of a Labrador running across the street. I was so afraid he was going to get hit, I covered my eyes. There was no screeching of tires on pavement though and I opened my eyes to see this dog coming toward me on the sidewalk. He was a beautiful thing. He had soft, golden brown eyes and an intelligent face. He stopped in front of me looking for a handout. We happened to be standing in front of a burger joint and I asked my husband to go in and get a hamburger patty for the dog. I started petting him and talking to him gently to keep him there. He sat down on the cement while I scratched behind his ears. He looked as if he had been on the streets for quite a while. The

pads on his feet were worn and he had a few healed scars on his neck as if he had been in a fight with another dog. He was very thin but not unhealthy looking. He liked the petting but kept an alert posture watching people walk by. What was taking that burger so long? A group of teenagers walked by and figuring I had nothing else for him, he began to follow them. He seemed very determined and I wasn’t about to try and hold a street dog against his will. I watched as he followed the group of kids down the sidewalk. Then, deciding they had nothing for him either, stopped, looked around and saw more people across the street. He carefully looked both ways for cars then cantered across all four lanes. I watched him working the people, wagging his tail until someone gave him a treat. Then he was off looking for another handout. By the time my husband came out of the burger place, there was no sign of him. “What the heck? Did they have to go out back and kill the cow?” I asked him. “It smelled so good in there, I decided to order us dinner”, he answered. “Where’s the dog?” Teri Saya

Saw you in the Ojo 45

)LQN %\ -DFN )LQN

OME E ST S STUDIES TU UD DIE IES now w iindicate in ndi dica dica c tte e here are he are re thatt tthere n tea t a that te at substances in preve vent ntt may help prevent cancer. IN SOME COUNTRIES, cats were officially considered part of the personnel of museums, prisons, libraries and post offices. The New Zealand Postal Service only recently crossed cats off its list of personnel. “PSYCHOANALYSIS is that mental disease of which it believes itself to be the cure.”--Karl Kraus JOHN PAUL JONES, famous naval hero of the American Revolution, was illegitimate by birth, an actor by trade, lived under an assumed name for most of his life, was wanted for two mur-

ders, was tried d ers,, w ffor or the th he rape rap ra p of a girl, yyoung oun ung g gi g rl, and and died di penniless. n nile iless ss. EVELYN wife) STUDEV VEELLYN Y (my my w IED PHYSICS in college. She says the Fourth Law of Inertia is that a body at rest tends to watch television. CERTAIN POLITICIANS should have pimps for brothers so they would have someone to look up to. ONE OF THE MANY ERRORS IN THE BIBLE accounts for the fact that Michelangelo’s famous painting of Moses shows him with horns protruding from his head, this because the Hebrew word for horns and light rays are easily confused. THE NAZIS REVIVED the use of the guillotine during World War II, but with one grisly change. They forced the victim to lie on his back with his eyes uncovered so as to see the blade coming down. LOCAL EXERCISE GURUS tell me there is no such thing as spot reducing; otherwise gum-chewers would have skinny faces. EVELYN SAYS that if you believe the inscriptions on all the tombstones you read, bad people never die. I TOLD MY DOCTOR that I was looking poorly, my hair was falling out, my body was sagging, and my complexion was blotchy. He said, “Well, I’m not sure what the problem is, but at least your eyes are perfect.”

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT The 20th Annual Ojo Awards Luncheon will be held on Tuesday, the 23rd of September, 12 noon at the Tango Restaurant. All those who contributed tto our pages from October 2013 through Se September 2014 are cordially invited and encourag couraged to bring one guest. All the food, drinks and entertainment will be provided by the Tingen Family, that as always wishes to express its gratitude to the many talented writers who are the main reason for our magazine’s success. :H¶OO VHH \RX WKHUH

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

Saw you in the Ojo 47

DANCING WITH TED %\ %RQQLH / 3KLOOLSV RWWHUZRPDQZULWHV#\DKRR FRP

he blizzard created mountainous snow drifts and partially covered Sarah’s farm house. It was Sarah and Ted’s retirement gift to each other, their escape from New York City. After many years of renovation it was completed a week before their fiftieth anniversary, the week Ted had died. Icy winds turned fence posts and antique farm implements into Arcticwhite sculptures. Gusts of wind moaned and outbuildings creaked. It had been several hours since Sarah’s power had gone out. She shivered and felt cold to the bone. She looked longingly at the empty hearth, unused because of her smokeinduced asthma and sat huddled on the couch, wrapped in blankets. She was surrounded by loose photos; paper coated light-sensitive, chemical memories of long ago vacations with Ted. They’d hiked, canoed, explored jungles and fished great rivers. Tracing-paper thin skin covered her blue-veined hand as it surfaced above the blankets. She tried to pick up photos but her fingers were numb. Still bundled in blankets, with several photos trapped in the folds, Sarah shuffled into the bedroom and plopped down in the rocker. One photo fell to the floor; it was their last vacation and captured the moment Ted and Sarah laughed as they tried, in an awkward manner, to display her forty pound King Salmon—Chinook. She laughed out loud. “Ted, remember our trip to Alaska and the grizzly bears running off with your fish?” Ted didn’t answer; he never did, but she spoke to him anyway. She used both hands to cradle and pick up her favorite photo. They were on a beach in Hawaii. Her hair was in a long, thick braid that reached almost to her waist. Ted had scooped her up in his strong arms. “God, we must have been in our twenties.” Sarah heard the wind howling. Again she shivered, and felt a little confused. She was not sure if it was nighttime or if storm clouds had brought on the darkness; she pulled two votive candles

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

from her pocket, lit them and set them on the bureau. She opened the middle drawer, pulled out Ted’s favorite sweater and smelled it. “I miss you,” she said. Every evening, just as she had before he’d died, she’d say, “What shall we have for dinner tonight?” Then she’d set the table for two and cook enough for each of them. Each day, she’d make her way down the long driveway to the mailbox and say, “Look Ted, we’ve got mail today.” Every night, before she went to bed, she’d splash his cologne on pillows that lay where he used to, cuddle up next to them, and say, “Good night, Ted.” Sarah struggled to her feet, pulled the blankets tighter around her neck and shoulders, and closed her eyes. She remembered the last time she and Ted had danced; she saw his silver hair and laughing green eyes. She hummed, felt her body swaying, almost felt his arms holding her, and she danced with him again. Sarah stopped dancing, opened her eyes and saw one of the candles sputter and go out. Most of the room was wrapped in darkness. Her heart pounded. Her breath exited in ragged wisps of brief visible cloudlets; warm air meeting cold. “Ted,” she said. “I’m not cold anymore, Look, I’ve even stopped shivering. I don’t need all this, this stuff.” She threw off blankets, coats and clothing, down to her slip. “I’m kind of tired, though. Perhaps it’s time we go to bed. Thank you for my dance.” Sarah lay on top of the bed, curled up next to Ted’s pillows, and slept. ______________ She heard ocean waves and opened her eyes. She and Ted were on the Hawaiian beach; they were young again. She looked into his eyes. “I’ve missed you so much, but this can’t be true.” He smiled at her. “Yes, Sarah,” he said. “It’s true.” Ted scooped her up in his arms. “I’ve been waiting for you.” Sarah threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Ted carried her into the ocean; the pounding surf drowned out their laughter.

THE OJO INTERNET MAILBOX (Wherein we publish some comments about our previous issues.)

MOCTEZUMA—The Emperor Barry Foster Hi Herbert, I found this article as well as your May 2014 article on La Ola to be very interesting. It is nice to see that these young girls have a safe place to stay with people who love and care for them. It is too bad that there are not more Safe Homes available to these girls as well as young boys. It appears that Mexico is starting to realize that such places are required in many communities. I enjoyed the History lesson on Moctezuma as well. Keep up the excellent work, Your friend, Barry Foster. Stay in touch Focus on Art - September 2012 Bob DeLong Milo, I have been trying off and on for years to connect. We were friends in Mexico at UDLAQ in 1968 when you had the 52 Chevy. I was friends with Dewey and the entire gang. I live in

New Zealand now but would love to make contact. Good years back then. Bob Jack London’s People Of The Abyss John Paddock Sad, but true. Thanks for the reflection. The Bunker Mentality In Albania Wendy I lived in Tirana from 2007-2009. My maid would take me to the bunker where she learned how to shoot. It was eerie. A mentality that I never fully understood. I have a souvenir pen holder in the shape of a bunker. Great story very accurate. It’s Okay To Get Old—Everybody Does It, Sooner or Later! Ethel Hello, just wanted to say, I liked this post. It was funny. Keep on posting!

Saw you in the Ojo 49

*5803< *528&+< DQG *5,3,1* %\ &DURO $ &XUWLV

h, my god! Another sunny day in Mexico! The almost constant, nice weather puts me in a continual foul mood, and the day has hardly begun. I mean itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s irritating to have the sun foisting its rays down on us so often. What I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give for some grey, rainy times. Well, only if it rained for an hour in the middle of the night and turned overcast during my nap time. And the birds! Will they just shut up! Canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t they let a person sleep in a little longer? What do they have to be so happy about? OK, there are lots of flowers and insects to feed upon and there arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tall buildings to avoid, but their cheerful tunes make me nauseous. If itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not the birds, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the terrible racket from the propane and water trucks. Why do the trucks have to announce themselves? Really, canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t people just come out and wait quietly on the street for the trucks to come by? Next come the children and their parents headed to school. They make their way laughing and talking. Me? I believe in silent lines, none of this family joy so early in the morning. Just as I settle down with my coffee that, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have you know, I have to make from freshly ground beans since thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no Starbucks nearby, I have to put up with the Fabulosa truck on the street. If people just wore clothes that needed dry cleaning, I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to put up with this added irritation. And it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop there. I have to

traverse the topes to get anywhere. Why canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t they just install four ways stops every block? I would be happier sitting at the lights than traversing over speed bumps. And even when I treat myself to lunch in a restaurant, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m inflicted with really slow service and exorbitant prices. Why does it take so long for the wait staff to take my order? Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t they know Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m retired? It can be three minutes for someone to pay any attention to me. Why donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the restaurants hire a wait person for each table? As if thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not bad enough, when I order I have to wait for the cooks to prepare the food. There arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t any pre-made dishes under warming lights in Mexico. They need to get as advanced as the USA restaurants. Who needs fresh food prepared to my order anyway? And the prices here are ridiculously high, also. Just what is a restaurant thinking when it charges 90 pesos for fish and chips, cole slaw, fresh bread, French fries, and a drink? I mean thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s $6.80 in the States. I could drive through McDonalds and eat my burger in the car with the heater going and the wipers keeping the snow off my windshield for the same price! Another gripe I have is how those up North donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand how tough I have it here. My son, who lives in northern New Hampshire, was complaining about the weather in March. It was negative 15 degrees and two more feet of snow had been added to the mounds already on the ground. This caused power outages, rough driving conditions, and really high heating bills. So what, junior! We lost our power for an hour last Saturday. I have to drive through the tight, cobblestoned roads around the lake area hoping to come home with my rear view mirror still attached to my 1-ton truck. And costs? Well, we now have to pay a whopping 800 pesos in property taxes. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t whine to me, kid. I just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get why there arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t more grumpy people down here in paradise. Carol Curtis

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

TARAHUMARAS OF COPPER CANYON: An Endangered Species %\ .DUXQD

arahumara women give birth holding on to a low branch delivering the baby into a nest of grass. A boy’s umbilical cord is buried in the fields to secure a future good farmer; a girl’s, next to the hearth. New mothers go back to work 24 hours after giving birth. Fathers take off three days, lest their farming utensils be cursed and break down. Tarahumara people live scattered in and above the canyons of northern Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental, where they retreated five centuries ago from invading Spaniards. They are one of the purest and most unmixed of any Indian tribe in Mexico. Tarahumaras value people over things. Respect is essential in their culture. Disrespect is offensive and may cause illness. Healing is achieved only after correcting the erred attitude. They are loyal to their god, a father-mother figure, to their own traditions and their own culture. They regard work as necessary but lacking intrinsic moral merit of its own, and secondary to spiritual obligations and other matters of the soul. The Tarahumara are reticent and private people. They speak only when necessary and without looking directly into the face. Most of the world knows them only as long-distance runners. They have been known to irritate American ultra-marathoners by beating them while wearing huarache sandals and stopping now and then for a smoke. Tarahumara women wear multicolored skirts layered one on top of the next, giving them a flowery look. In this spirit of intentionally supporting the betterment of

the underpriviledged, “Luz de Malla,” a local Lakeside non-profit, does fundraising tours. We center our efforts on supporting fishermen families through educational and environmental programs. Luz de Malla our non-profit, believes that if yougive a person a fish you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish sustainable, you feed him and his descendants for a lifetime. Luz de Malla’s Our fund-raising tours are aimed at the educated traveler who values the quality of the experience over the number of sight-seeing tours. We focus on getting a closer look at cultural traditions. We go out of our way to provide our travelers with direct opportunities to interact with indigenous groups who are on the verge of being overwhelmed by modernity. Luz de Malla Tours are high end tours, so expect the best in comfort and quality traveling. Our Majestic Copper Canyon Tour is also for travelers who feel that intense contact with nature is the ultimate luxury. Join us to experience the grandiosity of CopperCanyon and the Tarahumara Indians in an ambiance of comfort, where attention to detail counts. With proceeds from this tour, travelers will support a recently formed 35-fishermen cooperative in Chapala. These fishermen are changing from traditional wildcaught fishing practices to fish farming, the harvesting of fish in a controlled environment inside the lake. Our fishermen are eager to adapt to 21st century fishing techniques!

Saw you in the Ojo 51

BRIN NGIN NG HOP PE TO THOSE WHO HAVE NONE —Whaat Hoope Houuse is all about!! %\ .LQD 'XWUR

n what I thought was to be a typical Thursday morning, I journeyed to Hope House in Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos, parked, walked to the entrance and stood helpless as my heart was slowly consumed by three little boys who had just arrived. It was immediately apparent they were brothers, joined not only by blood, but by carrying the shared burden of looking out for each other. They were so young, much younger than the other boys currently living at Hope House, but they had the serious countenance that comes from survival on the streets—a look I have seen on too many young faces. A social worker from a state governmental agency had just dropped them off, asking if Hope House could watch them over the weekend until a more permanent solution could be found. I looked at them, sizing up their ages, my best guess: 1, 4 and 6. Seeing such little boys in the doorway and knowing without words they had come from abusive conditions, simply broke my heart. Until today Hope House’s youngest boy had been 8 years old. The staff looked at each other and wondered what to do. They weren’t prepared for “little” boys. They had no toys, no baby bed, no baby clothes nor diapers, and yet they knew that even with these limitations they could provide a better home than the one the boys had known. The decision was unanimous: they would make whatever adjustments necessary to keep all three brothers together at Hope House. As the day progressed, I learned a little more of the boys’ story—The oldest brother had wandered the streets scavenging for food, had dug through trash and begged from those he found the courage to ask. He was dirty, cold, and hungry. Denied the right to a “normal” childhood, the oldest played “mom” to his younger brothers. Food was scarce, but he shared what little food that was

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

found as the three huddled together wishing for a better life. They were welcomed with loving arms. Finally safe, they received food, clothes and medical attention. That day I unsuccessfully tried to comfort the baby, but the only one who could calm him was the one who comforted him all along, his oldest brother. Remembering the old life of neglect they experienced, it took a while for the boys to settle in to their new surroundings. During meals they hid food in their clothes, still unsure when the next meal would come. At night, sleep was often disturbed by nightmares of their old life. After a while, the boys began to grow accustomed to their new home. One night as the oldest reclined on his bed, he placed his hands behind his head and wondered aloud, “What will I do, now that I am rich?” Hope House exists to provide a better life for boys ages 2-18. Hope House is dedicated to helping break the cycle of neglect and abuse by providing abandoned, abused, orphaned and poverty-stricken boys with a safe and loving home, the opportunity to receive counseling, an education and vocational training so that they can have the HOPE of a better future. If you desire to know more about Hope House, would like to visit, or to see how you can positively impact the life of a young man, please call. (376) 762-0032. Office hours: Monday - Saturday 8AM-4PM (For English, please call Monday or Friday.)

THRILLER IN AJIJIC

abid Chihuahua Productions presents “Thriller in Ajijic,” a mock-u-mentary about the Organizing and Staging of the International “Thrill The World” Flash-Dance event that happens at exactly the same time, every year, around the world. Using local actors and ordinary folk, the film makers have created a full-length movie covering the planning leading up to the event, highlighting the beauty of Mexico and particularly the Lake Chapala area. There will be a Red Carpet Premiere in the Central Plaza of Ajijic on Sunday, August 24, 2014 starting at 5:30 PM. After that the awards ceremony will take place and finally the film will be shown inside the grand salon of “Club Exotica” behind Restaurant “El Jardin.” Dignitaries from Chapala, Ajijic and the State of Jalisco are expected and there will be open seating. Tickets are 150 pesos and are available at the Red

Cross booth at Lake Chapala Society, Mia’s Second Hand Store on the Ajijic Carretera and Diane Pearl Colecciones at Colon #1. This is a fund-raiser for the Cruz Roja Mexicana. For more information go to www. thrillerinajijic.com

A CIRCLE OF HELL %\ *DEULHOOH %ODLU

There is a place that I have seen, Yes I have seen it, shamed I’ve been. A filthy place of waste and slime, With blue-black gashes in the grime. Lurid colors, sulfurous yellow, Moonscape dead, black-gold lies shallow. Behold the tar sands, not long found, Millennia formed, in surface ground. The mighty, winding river’s oiled, Athabasca’s streams by tailings soiled. Tributaries, vein-like, split the land, Effluence spewing, seeps through sand. Monster machines’ great gaping maws Devour the banks with chomping jaws. Trucks waiting catch the feast disgorged, Overflow dribbles, black stuff purged. Trundling, trucks criss-cross grey mire, Spired smoke-stacks belch demonic fire. Behold the tar sands’ vista grand! Raped, ruined, size of England. Through power, greed, theft, some earned Black-gold’s fortunes; who’s concerned? Plundered, abandoned, stripped, unwell, Left behind, a circle of hell.

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The Ojo Crossword

ACROSS 1 Duo 0XIĂ&#x20AC;HU FRPSDQ\ 10 Can Do 14 WomenÂ´s magazine 15 Risen 16 Want 17 Used 2x manuscript 19 Cooked 20 Butane 21 Guiding principles 23 Meager 26 Bout 28 Frost 31 Night bird 32 End of Page 33 Congressional vote .LG ZGV

37 National emblem 39 American Association of Retired Persons (abbr.) 40 Has shoes on 42 Carve 45 Animal soup 49 Cation 50 Shininess 53 Past 54 Central nervous system 55 Accumulate debt 56 Baseball player Hank__ 58 Absurd 60 Teaspoon (abbr.) 61 Blare 63 People of Ethiopia 69 Goofs

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

70 Bogus 71 After eight 72 Alleviate 73 Adolescents 74 Fun DOWN 1 High-school club 2 Wing 3 Ailing 4 Rule 5 Charts 6 Tax agency 7 FawnÂ´s mom %H ÂżUP 9 Lounge 10 Ammunition 11 Slanting 12 Acid drug 13 Compass point 18 Entrance rug 22 Of this 23 Weep 24 Communication Workers of America (abr.) 25 Loose gown worn at mass 26 Day time tv show 27 Drug 29 California (abbr.) 30 Leer 32 Pro 35 Talk incessantly 36 Celtic 38 Advertisements 40 Oracle 41 Possessive pronoun 42 Attack 43 Honey abr. 44 Responds 45 Energy unit 46 Sticky black substance 47 Freudian term 48 Aced 51 Messy 52 Grass cutting tool 56 Poisonous snake 57 Imitating 59 Building Projection 60 ChildrenÂ´s love 61 Stinger 62 Time period 64 Garden tool 65 Lodge 66 To Feel Sick 67 Compass point 68 Behold

Know Thyself—Say what?! By William Franklin

omeone important said, “Know thyself.” Someone else said, “To thine own self be true.” And Davy Crockett said, “Be sure you’re right, then go ahead.” And my Cub Scout Handbook said, “Be square and obey the law of the pack.” And of course I want to be sure I’m right (so that I can go ahead) and I do want to know myself (a little bit maybe...depending) and, honestly, this seems very important: To thine own self be true (if I only knew what it meant). So yes, I would like to know who I really am in a deep-downinside-of-me way. If I could, I would. The whole thing sounds great. But I can’t think of anything harder. Life doesn’t come with a good set of instructions. What instincts I have are faint at best and at worst cause trouble. And self-knowledge for me wasn’t low hanging fruit. I couldn’t shop for it or make it or bake it. And so, though I loved Davy Crockett, his little motto, once I started reading the existentialists, made me realize I was putting way too much pressure on myself and that, in the final analysis, his motto was a bitch. Most people are running blind, that is the human predicament by the way, and if we knew what we were doing we’d be gods according to my high school lit class. We start, according to John Locke, as blank slates, (later we get a tattoo), then we go on the prowl, looking for something to do or get. The best of us will do and get at a fairly mediocre level because we start out blank and therefore without a clue. Even Davy Crockett, as cunning as he was, was doomed by his particular blank slate. So, not a little resentful, in my letter to Davy I said, “Dear Davy Crockett, you said I should be sure I was right. How was I supposed to do that? You left that part out. You started out with ‘be sure’, as in ‘Hey, seven-year-old kid, be sure you’re right.’” So Davy Crockett, hero that he was, didn’t help me with the important stuff. He laid a version of the ‘know thyself’ pressure trip on me but gave no clues as to how to do that. Then he went to Texas and got shot.

I’m still all in when it comes to self knowledge. But the stuff they’ve come up with to help me understand myself is just scary. And what about all that happens inside us that we can’t see? How are we going to know about that? I’ve never been good at tracking what’s invisible, I always had problems with what’s mutable and when I get to trying to explain the ineffable, I’m a bust. But of course there are things we can know and should know that aren’t too much trouble. Everyone should know their address if they have one, I should think. And if you have an ATM card you should know your pin number. Those things are doable and there’s nothing mystical about them. I also think it’s wise to keep the list short though I know it’s a human impulse, once a list is started, to make it as long as possible. And I wouldn’t mind that as long as self-knowledge isn’t on the list.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;People Helping Peopleâ&#x20AC;?

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News

www.lakechapalasociety.com

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A Messsage From the President As many of you know next year we will celebrate 60 years of LCS presence at Lakeside. We started small in 1955 with fewer than 30 members. The organization was founded in a store front in Chapala and had a small lending library, offered informal classes in English to local kids and established a place in the local cemetery where foreigners could be buried. Fifty-nine years later the LCS has grown to 2,800 members, has its own grounds in the center of Ajijic and offers classes for both foreigners and Mexicans. We have one of the largest English-language lending OLEUDULHV LQ /DWLQ $PHULFD DQG LV RQH RI WKH ÂżUVW VWRSV IRU most Norte Americanos seeking a new life in Mexico. The LCS Board of Directors is anticipating the number of members we will need to plan for as we prepare for the next sixty years. Seventy-eight million baby boomers will retire at a rate of roughly 4.5 million per \HDU PDQ\ RI ZKRP ZLOO ÂżQG FRPIRUWDEOH UHWLUHPHQW GLIÂżFXOW WR ÂżQG FRQVLGHULQJ WKH SUHVHQW VWDWH RI WKH HFRQomy, rising health care costs and the loss of value for retirement accounts in the United States and Canada. Retirees are not the only people interested in relocating. The Internet has created business opportunities for working age individuals who can conduct business anywhere there is a broad band connection. That change is happening now as young adults move here to take advantage of living here and working from home. As I talk to people who have moved to Ajijic, or those who are considering moving here, approximately half of them have discovered Ajijic by word of mouth. A young lady I recently met found out about our community from a US ex-pat while traveling in a remote village in India. I believe the LCS needs to do more to promote the benHÂżWV RI OLYLQJ KHUH In the next few months I will be working with the committee to develop articles we can market to major US and Canada newspaper markets promoting Lakeside. We also are planning a new member orientation session to answer the many questions new arrivals may have. If you have ideas on how we can reach out to potential new members, I would like to hear from you. Please send your thoughts to me at president@lakechapalasociety.com.

Facebook World You can now follow LCS on Facebook. We will use Facebook to keep the world up to date on what is happening here at LCS on a daily basis. To keep yourself up to date Please visit: ZZZ IDFHERRN FRP ODNHFKDSDODVRFLHW\ DQG /,.( XV

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

August 2014

Sandra Lopez, a recipient of the LCS scholarship aid program, is a an enthusiastic, knowledgeable, very busy young professional with a degree in Business Administration. She has begun her new career as staff member of a new business Lakeside - Chapala Lake Adventure, in Riberas. This company specializes in unique, bilingual historic and cultural adventure tours. Like most people who have the opportunity to work with a start-up business, her responsibilities are varied: marketing, tour planning, human resources, and accounting, she also acts as an ambassador to public. Sandra received LCS student aid from high school through university. Sandra received her degree from the Technologico Superior on the libramiento. She is a sterling example of the students that LCS VXSSRUWV

(QJOLVK $Q\RQH" The Wilkes Education Center (WEC) of the Lake Chapala Society will be registering students age 15 and up to learn English. Classes are free but students are required to purchase their own text book at $350 pesos. Tell all of your Mexican friends and associates about this program if they are interested in learning English. Registration will be held at the WEC from August 11 through the 13 from 11 am to 3 pm. The academic schedule goes from September through April. It is very common for up to 350 students to register for this program. We need volunteer teachers. Command of the English language is WKH RQO\ UHTXLUHPHQW :H SURYLGH VXSSRUW IRU ÂżUVW WLPH WHDFKHUV ,I you are interested e-mail the ESL manager at inezme@gmail.com.

New Mail Courier Service for Canada LCS now offers a volunteer mail courier service for our Canadian members starting August 1st. The service is for regular envelopes weighing up to 30 grams only. Stamps for destinations in Canada: $15 MXN Stamps for destinations outside of Canada: $23 MXN Canadian members please step up. This service is for you. The ofÂżFH ZLOO EHJLQ WR VHSDUDWH PDLO ZLWK 8 6 YV &DQDGLDQ VWDPSV :H need volunteers traveling to Canada to courier the mail with Canadian VWDPSV WR &DQDGD -XVW FRQÂżUP ZLWK WKH YROXQWHHU DW WKH VHUYLFH GHVN that you have the correct mail. You will still need to sign for it. Likewise, we will need Canadian members to bring us stamps to maintain an inventory. Contact administraion@lakechapalasociety for details. The LCS mail courier service is for members only.

Casi Nuevo News Our personalized estate sale services are available to people who are changing homes. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to take it with you? Too PDQ\ LWHPV WR ÂżW DIWHU GRZQVL]LQJ" /HW RXU WHDP RI H[SHUWV sell your excess household items quickly and make your moving job easier. We also buy selected items for cash. Our experienced team will price your items and showcase them for quick sales. No item is too small or too expensive. Large consignment items? No problem. We can recommend D ORZ FRVW TXDOLÂżHG PRYHU WR SLFN XS DQG GHOLYHU FRQVLJQPHQW items to our store. Contact our manager Jacqueline at 766-1303 or email jacquelinesmith230@gmail.com for further information. :H DUH DQ DOO YROXQWHHU RUJDQL]DWLRQ 3URÂżWV VXSSRUW WKH children in our three charities: LCS Community Education Program, School for Children with Special Needs, and Have Hammer...Will Travel. We are the red store with the corner door across from 7-Eleven in Riberas de la Pilar. Our hours are from 10 am to 3 pm Monday through Saturday. Call 376 106-2121 for more information.

2nd Annual Children's Summer Art Camp

During the week of July 21st, more than 130 children from age ÂżYH DQG XS WRRN SDUW LQ H[FLWLQJ VSHFLDO FODVVHV LQ MHZHOU\ ZDtercolor, papier-mĂ˘chĂŠ, and ceramics during workshops at LCS. They learned to work in various media using a a variety of materiDOV DQG GHÂżQLWHO\ XVHG WKHLU LPDJLQDWLRQV The Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Summer Art Camp, coordinated by the LCS Children's Art Program (CAP), over 50 volunteers taught, supervised, and shared their talents and enthusiasm with the kids to continue Neill James' legacy. This year the program celebrates its 60th anniversary. For a second summer the Ajijc Society of Artists (ASA) helped LCS sponsor this art camp. Members of the Lake Chapala Painters Guild, Amigos Beading Group, Feria Maestros del Arte, and many members of the community donated time, materials, and money. Volunteer workshop coordinators included Maestros Antonio LĂłpez Vega, (a CAP legacy artist), Dan Williams (ASA member and CAP Saturday volunteer), and ASA members Deena Hafker, Bobby Lancaster, Anita Lee, Barbara Passarella, Flo Rhodes, Libby Shipman, and Lois Schroff. The children enjoyed a healthy snack and a drink each day thanks to Margaret Lawson and Jennifer Stanley. Open House on Saturday, July 26 showcased and sold the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s art created during Art Camp. The popular Children's Art Cards were also on sale. As always, the kids received a major part of the sale price.

7KH 3DWLR &DIp In response to the deteriorating quality of coffee and products in our CafĂŠ, LCS has now assumed full control of its operations. %HJLQQLQJ LQ WKH ÂżUVW ZHHN RI $XJXVW \RX ZLOO QRWLFH D QHZ OLQH RI items for sale, as well as delicious coffee. The food will be acquired from local vendors, mostly those that can be found in our local organic food markets including â&#x20AC;&#x153;Colibri Gardenâ&#x20AC;?, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pays Ismeldaâ&#x20AC;? and others. We are conscientious about low sugar and gluten free products but uncertain of the need. Please let us know about your dietary limitations so we can consider as many needs as possible. We are open to your suggestions for other items, just take your comments WR WKH VHUYLFH RIÂżFH We will be working to keep prices as affordable as possible. You will continue to see Rosaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s face on the other side of the counter. Be patient as we close for a day or two, or have minimal service, while we clean and set up new equipment. 2XU ÂżUVW WDVN KRZHYHU ZLOO EH WR EUHZ D JUHDW FXS RI FRIIHH 3OHDVH give us a chance and re-visit the cafĂŠ.

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AUGUST ACTIVITIES

VIDEO LIBRARY NEW ADDITIONS

*Open to the Public ** US Citizens (S) Sign in required (C) Membership card required

New for August See the Video Library bulletin board and the binders on WKH FRXQWHU WR ÂżQG ÂżOPV RI LQWHUHVW

&58= 52-$ Cruz Roja Sales Table M-F 10-1 CRIV Monthly Meeting 2nd W 2-5 +($/7+ ,1685$1&( IMSS & Immigration Services M+T 10-1 Met Life Health Insurance T+TH 11-2 San Javier Last TH 10-12 +($/7+ /(*$/ 6(59,&(6 Acupuncture 1st +4th + Last F 9-2 Becerra Immigration F 10:30-1 Blood Pressure F 10-12 Diabetes Screening (no sign up) 2nd+3rd F 10-12 DIF T 10-2 Hearing Aid Services (S) M+2nd+4th SAT 11-4 Loridans Legal T 10-12 Ministerio Publico 1st+3rd W 10-2 Optometrist (S) TH 9-5 Pharmaceutical Consultations 4th M 10-12 Skin Cancer Screening (S) 2nd + 4th W 10-12 US Consulate 2nd W 10-12 /&6 3$7,2 LCS Patio, Bus Trips & Sales Table

M-F 10-1

LESSONS Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Art SAT 10-12* Chidrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Reading Program SAT 9-10* Exercise M+W+F 9-10 HH Workshop Demo W 10-12* Intermediate Hatha Yoga T+ TH 2-3:30, SAT 1-2:30 Line Dancing T+TH 10-11:15 LIBRARIES Audio TH 10-12 Book & Video M-SAT 10-2 Library of Congress Books**/ Talking Books TH 10-12 Wilkes M-F 9:30-7, SAT 9:30-1 SOCIAL ACTIVITIES All Things Android M 10-11:30 Beginners iPad Classes TH 10-12, Begins 21 Aug Bridge 4 Fun M+W 1-5 Conversaciones en EspaĂąol M 10-12 English/Spanish Conversation SAT 11-12 )LOP $ÂżFLRQDGRV VW UG 7+ %HJLQV $XJXVW )LOP $ÂżFLRQDGRV QG WK /DVW 7+ %HJLQV $XJXVW Genealogy Forum Last M 2-4 iStuff Discussion Group F 9:30-10:30 Mac OS 1st M 12-1 Mac User Group 3rd W 1-2 Needle Pushers T 10-12 Open Gaming (open to the public from 2) M 1-3:45* Pathways to Inner Peace SAT 2-3:30* Scrabble M+F 12-2 Summer Film Festival TH 1-3, ends 14 August Tournament Scrabble T 12-2 Windows Discussion Group F 10:30-11:45 6(59,&( 6833257 *52836 Gamblers Anonymous W 11-1 Information Desk M-SAT 10-2 Lakeside AA M +TH 4-6 Ninos de Chapala y Ajijic F 10-12 Open Circle SUN 10-12:30 SMART Recovery W 2:30-4:30 7,&.(7 6$/(6 0 ) The discussion, philosophy, digital camera, and mah- jongg sessions will be postponed until September.

El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

The Grand Hotel # 6589 The story of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend as they live out their adventures between the two World Wars. Local Color # 6590 A successful artist looks back with loving memoULHV RQ WKH VXPPHU RI KLV GHÂżQLQJ \HDU 7KH WDOHQWHG EXW WURXEOHG 18-year-old aspiring artist befriends a brilliant elderly alcoholic painter who has turned his back on not only art but life. Based on a true story. Yellowstone, Battle for Life # 6577 Filmed over the course of a year in Yellowstone, this documentary tracks the area's wildlife as they grapple with life and death within one of America's last wilderness regions. The Out-of-Towners # 6579 George (Jack Lemmon at his comedic best) DQG *ZHQ 6DQG\ 'HQQLV .HOOHUPDQ OLYH LQ WKH VPDOO TXLHW WRZQ RI 7ZLQ Oaks, Ohio with their two young children and pet dog. George, who works for a plastics company, believes he is a shoo-in for the company's vicepresident of sales job, a position that requires they re-locate to New York City. George is looking forward to their future life in The Big Apple and all WKH DPHQLWLHV DQG EHQHÂżWV RI OLYLQJ LQ WKH ELJ FLW\ Seven Boxes # 6582 It's Friday night in AsunciĂłn, Paraguay and the temperature is sweltering. VĂctor, a 17-year-old wheelbarrow delivery boy, dreams of becoming famous and covets a fancy cellular phone in the infamous Mercado 4. He's offered a chance to deliver seven boxes with unknown contents in exchange for a quick US$100. What sounds like an easy job soon gets complicated. English subtitles Into the White # 6583 Norway, WWII: A group of British and German DLUPHQ DIWHU VKRRWLQJ HDFK RWKHU GRZQ ÂżQG WKHPVHOYHV VWUDQGHG LQ DQ abandoned isolated hunterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cabin in the wilderness. After their initial friction, they realize that they must team-up to survive, thus beginning an improbable friendship. Based on a true story. 7KH )DPLO\ # 6578 An entertaining, nonsensical look at the Manzoni famLO\ D QRWRULRXV 0DÂżD FODQ UHORFDWHG WR 1RUPDQG\ )UDQFH XQGHU WKH ZLWQHVV SURWHFWLRQ SURJUDP ZKHUH ÂżWWLQJ LQ VRRQ EHFRPHV FKDOOHQJLQJ DV WKHLU ROG KDELWV GLH KDUG 5REHUW 'H1LUR DQG 0LFKHOOH 3ÂżHIIHU Paul 7ZR VFL Âż JHHNV PDNH D SLOJULPDJH WR $PHULFD V 8)2 KHDUWland. where they accidentally meet an alien who takes them on an road trip that alters their universe forever. For the past 60 years, Paul, the alien, has been hanging out at a top-secret military base. When he discovers he's been taken prisoner, the space-traveling smart-a** decides to escape DQG KRSV RQ WKH ÂżUVW YHKLFOH RXW RI WRZQ D UHFUHDWLRQDO YHKLFOH UHQWHG E\ the two geeks, beginning an unforgettable road trip. Six additions to our series inventory: House of Cards second season of the U.S. version; Call the Midwife third season; Veep second season; Boss ZLWK .HOVH\ *UDPPHU ÂżUVW VHDVRQ 7KH 1R /DGLHV 'HWHFWLYH $JHQF\ complete series and Castle-after a serial killer imitates the plots of his novels, successful mystery novelist Richard "Rick" Castle gets permission from the Mayor of New York City to tag along with an NYPD homicide team to investigate. Comedy/crime/drama This is a partial list of the new additions for August. See the green catalogs at the Video Library or the LCS web page for the complete list. If you have any VHS tapes that you would like to have transferred to DVD discs, we can do that for you for 50 pesos a tape â&#x20AC;&#x201C; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cheap. We welcome suggestions for new movies from you, the viewers. Mention to the volunteer on duty any movie or series that you think the membership of LCS might enjoy. If you would like to be contacted regarding the status of your request, leave your name and email address.

Bus Trips for August

Experimenta Mexico

Cost is 250 pesos; Sorry, no refunds or exchanges. Galerias Mall - Thursday, August 7, leaving from the sculpture at La Floresta promptly at 9:30 am. Tonala/Tlaquepaque - Wednesday, August 20, leaving from the sculpture in La Floresta promptly at 9 am.

Continue your education with this multi-cultural program open to the Mexican and ex-pat communities presented in truly unique format. A hands-on approach to teaching about the rich traditions of Mexico. Education bundled with entertainment. Experimenta Mexico programs, like our Spanish classes, require pre-registration. If we do not have a pre-determined number of people signing up, the program will be cancelled. Please signup by the dead line, or contact us to reserve your place. Contact H[SHULPHQWDPH[LFR#ODNHFKDSODVRFLHW\ FRP. Dinero, Tequila, y Amor...no hay otra cosa mejor! (Money, 7HTXLOD DQG /RYH QRWKLQJ LV EHWWWHU SUHPLHUV )ULGD\ $XJXVW 8th from 5 to 7 pm. The title of this program is a traditional toast DW WKH ÂżHVWD LQYLWLQJ \RX WR OHDUQ DERXW WKH ULFK WUDGLWLRQ RI WHTXLla in Jalisco and Lakeside. Learn about agave, the jimador, and the varieties and complexities of quality tequila. You can even learn about making your own tequila label. Try a sip or two while youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re at it. Register before August 1. Requires 30 participants. Mi Mero Mole, a Mexican expression for something you like a lot, premieres Friday, August, 22, from 1 to 3 pm. In pre Hispanic Mexico, mole was prepared for the ruling class-the food of royalty. When the Spanish came, mole took on additional attributes adding to its richness. Mole, one of MexicoÂ´s contributions to world cuisine, is used in modern Mexico as a dish for celebrations like marriages and baptisms. Mole comes in several varieties with legendary origins in Puebla, Oaxaca and Tlaxcala, and can have over one hundred ingredients including chocolate, different kinds of chiles, almonds, cilantro, bread, cinnamon. Members pay $200 pesos and non members $250 for each event. Sign up at LCS by August 13. Requires 30 participants.

iPad/iPod/iPhone Classes The next beginnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; iPad/iPod/iPhone classes resume Thursday, August 21 from 10 to 12 pm in La Sala. Each session consists of four classes held on consecutive Thursdays starting at 10 am sharp and ending about 11:45 pm. To enroll, or for further informaWLRQ H PDLO .HLWK 0DUWLQ DW OFVLSDGFODVVHV#JPDLO FRP ,QGLFDWH RQ the subject line â&#x20AC;&#x153;LCS iPad Classesâ&#x20AC;? to avoid having your message wind up in the spam folder. Please provide your LCS member number when registering.

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+RVW $UQROG 6PLWK SUHVHQWV UDUHO\ VHHQ ÂżOPV RI KLVWRULFDO DQG VRFLDO VLJQLÂżFDQFH August 7 The Mexican War A documentary of the war between the United States and Mexico from 1846-1847. August 14 Callas Forever An incident in the life of the beloved prima donna Maria Callas. Starring Fanny Ardandt and Jeremy Irons. Showings are at 1:00 in the Sala. Members only.

LCS Spanish Classes Introduction to Spanish: This is a casual class offered for the beginner that covers the Spanish alphabet, simple vocabulary and phrases to use about town for shopping, and other useful information on our area and Mexican culture. &ODVVHV DUH KHOG WKH ÂżUVW 7XHVGD\ RI WKH PRQWK DQG UXQ IRU three weeks at the LCS campus from noon until 1:30 pm. Materials are provided and tuition is $175 pesos. Sign up at the LCS RIÂżFH IURP DP WR SP 0RQGD\ WKURXJK 6DWXUGD\ &DOO 1140 or email lakechapalasociety.com for more information.

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LCS BOARD OF DIRECTORS President - Ben White (2016); Vice-President - Cate Howell (2015); Treasurer - Michael Searles (2015); Secretary - Carole Wolff (2016); Directors: Lois Cugini (2015); Ernest Gabbard (2016); Aurora Michel Galindo (2015); Fred Harland (2015); Ann D. Houck (2016); .HLWK 0DUWLQ :DOODFH 0LOOV 3HWH 6RGHUPDQ Executive Director - Terry Vidal

The LCS Newsletter is published monthly. Deadline for submissions is the 17th of the month preceding publication. News items may be e-mailed to Reba Mayo rebaelizabethhill@yahoo.com; cc to Terry Vidal tqv56431@yahoo.com Note: The editorial staff reserves the right to edit all submissions according to time, space availability and editorial decision.

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El Ojo del Lago / August 2014

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EMERGENCY NUMBERS

Service

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