El Ojo del Lago - July 2020 by El Ojo del Lago

Saw you in the Ojo

 DIRE C TOR Y  PUBLISHER David Tingen

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Victoria A Schmidt

EDITOR EMERITUS Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez Tel: (01376) 765 3676, 765 2877 Fax: (01376) 765 3528 Graphic Design Roberto C. Rojas Reyes Diana Parra Morales

Index...

FEATURE ARTICLES

COVER STORY

A FIFTH HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE: The Pandemic, Donald Trump And The Latest Apostasy. Dr. Lorin Swinehart analyzes the current pandemic and former pandemics and the roles they played in history and where COVID-19 may lead us.

Mark Sconce explores the rumors of the origins of the coronavirus.

Proofreader Sally Asante

26 TEARS IN THE MIRROR

Theater Critic Michael Warren

Bob Drynan examines the images of a dream.

Book Review Panel Margaret Van Every Margaret Porter Clare Gearhart

Sales Manager Bruce Fraser Carmene Berner ADVERTISING OFFICE Av. Hidalgo # 223, Chapala Mon. thru Fri. 9 am - 5 pm Sat. 9 am - 1 pm Tel. 01 (376) 765 2877, 765 3676 Fax 01 (376) 765 3528

30 IDIOCRACY AND PANDEMICS

Pag. 22 LAKESIDE LIVING

COLUMNS THIS MONTH 6 Editor’s Page 10 Ramblings from the Ranch 12 Bridge by the Lake

Local humorist and improvisation artist takes us through the craziness of the pandemic.

14 Vexations and Conundrums

32 A LIFE WELL JUSTIFIED

16 Mirror to the Universe

By Alex Grattan from the Ojo Archives.

22 Lakeside Living

34 AWARD WINNING HUMORIST Neil McKinnon entertains us with Conversations With A Mask.

28 Mexican Grace

38 A LETTER FROM MOTHER EARTH

40 Profiling Tepehua

A poem by Judy Dykstra-Brown.

Send all correspondence, subscriptions or advertising to: El Ojo del Lago http://www.chapala.com elojodellago@gmail.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 días de cada mes. (Distributed over the first five days of each month) Certificado de Licitud de Título 3693 Certificado de Licitud de Contenido 3117. Reserva al Título de Derechos de Autor 04-2011-103110024300-102 Control 14301. Permisos otorgados por la Secretaría de Gobernación (EXP. 1/432 “88”/5651 de 2 de junio de 1993) y SEP (Reserva 171.94 control 14301) del 15 de enero de 1994. Distribución: Hidalgo 223 Chapala, Jalisco, México. All contents are fully protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without the written consent of El Ojo del Lago. Opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the 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.

8 Cover by Lorinda Tisdell

8 BATS!

Special Events Editor Carol D. Bradley

Roving Correspondent Dr. Lorin Swinehart

COVER STORY

VOLUME 36 NUMBER 11

El Ojo del Lago / July 2020

Saw you in the Ojo

COLUMNIST

Editor’s Page By Victoria A. Schmidt

A Perfect Storm

he entire world is in turmoil. We all watched as some strange virus began felling people in China. We watched as it began invading one country after another. And in early January, we heard rumors that the virus would come to the Western continents. But it was just another bullet in an unrelenting barrage of political “news.” While we all had the notice in plenty of time, some countries chose to ignore the early warnings. And then, what seemed like a punch in the face, we were surrounded. Our lives seemed to stop as abruptly as a car hitting a brick wall. Every country was trying to flatten the curve. For many, the answer was to make people stay home. Close businesses. And suddenly schools were closed.

Still, most of us were in denial as to the force, depth and breadth of this devilish virus we now know as COVID-19. We learned as information became available bit by bit. The talk was all about what symptoms to watch for. Naively, we thought about two weeks in lockdown and everything would go back to normal. But as time moved on, we found more symptoms, and more problems, and more death. And the lockdowns lengthened. It’s now July, nearly eight months since the first case was diagnosed. Some countries have opened, only to close again. Other countries have tried a “slow open.” Meanwhile, our citizens were losing jobs and many didn’t know where their next meal would be found. Every-

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one seemed to disagree on the proper way to proceed. Often, frustration got the better of us and finger-pointing and blaming, in both Mexico and the USA, sidelined the more important issue: how to maximize our safety. In times of crisis—and this has become the biggest crisis since the 1918 flu pandemic—people naturally look to their governments for solid, strong leadership. And Mexico and the USA’s leaders have been all but absent. Without definitive guidelines, people were in the position of trying to make their own decisions based on differing versions of alternatives. Personally, I commend the governor of Jalisco as he watches, and has been cautious. We all knew that we could go to get groceries, go to pharmacies, and doctors. We knew we needed to wear masks, to wash our hands frequently and use disinfectants, and to keep a safe distance from each other in an attempt to keep the virus at bay. While promises of a vaccine would be available “soon.” Some people in the USA felt that their rights were being trampled on. They were angry and began going out without masks and banded together to demonstrate. Wearing a mask is to protect others from you if you are a carrier. How does this violate your rights? The president tried to reassure the

nation with information that wasn’t exactly scientifically sound. Then suddenly, a video went viral. In Minneapolis, MN, George Floyd was being arrested for a minor infraction—possibly passing a counterfeit $20 bill. We watched in horror at the brutality of the arrest: Mr. Floyd pinned facedown by an officer’s knee on his neck as he begged for breath. Eight minutes and 46 seconds later George Floyd was dead. The spark had been lit. People are scared. And when they are scared, fear can manifest as anger. When a population feels they’ve lost control of their lives, their health, their livelihood, even their safety, reaction is inevitable. And thus the perfect storm gave birth to demonstrations all over the world and galvanized protesters against police brutality towards nonwhites. Even in our tiny neighbor Ixtlahuacan de Membrillos where a Mexican man also died in custody. The demonstrations started out peacefully, but they didn’t stay that way. Buildings were burned, stores looted. Again, fingers were pointed, mostly along political divides. It has been established that the bulk of the damage at night was from different groups with different agendas trying to ramp up the violence for their own purposes. The demonstrations have eased, but the internal fires still rage. Our citizens want control of their lives back. But the problem is time. It will take time to find a vaccine. Vaccines are never 100% effective. And because the world isn’t working together on a vaccine, availability may be an issue. It will also take time to work on problems in policing because change comes slowly, and racism is deeply entrenched. Retraining will be involved. We have become a very impatient citizenry. Therefore, I think 2020 will be forever known as “The Year of Living Dangerously” and when true change began. Victoria Schmidt

Saw you in the Ojo

Bats!

By Mark Sconce

recent New Yorker magazine memo from the Dept. of Versifying caught my eye. It features an Army physician/poet on his way to New York to treat the sick and dying. En route, he recalls poet Walt Whitman on his way to Washington, D.C. to care for the sick and wounded during the Civil War. Walt was blunt: “Such was war. It was not a quadrille in a ballroom. The real war will never get into the books.” The Army doctor/poet records his observations on the corona virus in verse: “New York is a ghost town where even the birds took the last train to Jersey and the night rises blue black as an alley cat . . .” “When I left home,” he continues, “I thought about what I would do when I arrived in New York: treat the sick and pray for the souls of the dead and wonder about 100 years from now, when all of this is just a fairy tale about death becoming a person who takes the form of a bat to fly across the world: the next generations’ story of the witch that eats children.” In short, a bat out of hell . . . Indeed, bats are much in the news after reports of the virus originating in a

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Chinese wet market in Wuhan where bats were being sold as food. But before our gorge rises, let’s step back and review the facts. Like cows, pigs and goats, the bat is a mammal whose meat has crossed the palates of men and women for thousands of years. And not just in China. Hunters in Southeast Asia, India, parts of Africa and even Australia (put another bat on the barbie) bring to market about 13% of all bat species—a group numbering well over 1,300 or about 25% of all mammals. Unlike domestic animals, the bat is as wild as the squirrel, opossum or rat—all of which are sources of food as many Peace Corps Volunteers can tell you. In Chinese culture the bat is always linked with good luck, good fortune, and happiness. Admiration for bats is ancient and, just to make the point, the word for bat is ‘fu,’ pronounced the same as the word for good fortune. In Western culture the bat is often linked with darkness, death, and the underworld. Batman notwithstanding, the bat has a spooky, sinister image, particularly the vampire bat, whose hog nose, sharp fangs, and noticeable ears can often be witnessed on Halloween night. Fact is, bats are afraid of humans, especially so since we’re encroaching on their habitats by building more roads and mines, cutting down trees, hunting wildlife, and trading them in livestock markets. Bush meat is the name given to wildlife kills including monkeys, snakes, rodents, and bats. In burgeoning populations like China’s, food sources are of utmost importance—imagine acquiring a taste for Labradors! A million years of evolution have conferred on bats some amazing aspects and abilities. That he’s the only mammal that can fly certainly is one of them, followed closely by echolocation which allows bats to “see” using sound. This ability inspired the submarine invention we know as sonar. “Blind as a bat” is a myth because bats can see perfectly well and can hunt at times by eyesight only. Aspects like sleeping upside down in bat caves may be merely an issue of “headroom,” but I will defer to D. H. Lawrence who versified his revulsion. Bats! Hanging upside down like disgusting old rags And grinning in their sleep. Bats! While birds and bees typically come to mind when considering pollination, the bat plays a huge role in the process. Over 500 plant species depend on bats to pollinate their flowers, including those of mango, banana, and guava. And don’t forget the agave whose root is at the root of tequila. Unfortunately, evolution has also made the bat resistant to thousands of viruses, some of them, like rabies, able to be transmitted to other mammals. Flight makes the bat nearly ubiquitous, and its urine, saliva, and guano are disseminated on every continent. Bat guano may be a great fertilizer (only $5 per 1 ½ cubic feet), but it can also harbor and spread viruses, the worst being zoonotic, i.e., able to hop or spill over to humans, sometimes through an animal intermediary, e.g., SARS got to humans through the Asian palm civet; Ebola via gorillas and chimpanzees. Chinese scientists have yet to determine the mammal coronavirus uses, but it may be a peculiar animal called a pangolin that looks like a small scaly anteater and is considered the most trafficked endangered animal in the world. Whichever intermediary the virus prefers, it remains extremely virulent and deadly upon making the final jump into humans. In his landmark book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond points out that most diseases afflicting mankind derive from animals. Early farmers protected their livestock at night by bringing them indoors. The snorts, the coughs, the froth, the urine, et al., assured transmission—zoonotic transmission. Survivors became resistant to many maladies and passed on their immunities to their kids. Bats harbor a significantly higher proportion of zoonotic viruses than all other mammals. Imagine being the unwitting carrier of Ebola, rabies, Marburg, SARS, and the various strains of corona! Meanwhile, like them or not, we must live with the bat because the bat helps us live (or not). Me? I can barely account for the ones in my belfry. Mark Sconce

Saw you in the Ojo

COLUMNIST

RAMBLINGS FROM THE RANCH By Wanda White

You’re Invited! What: Doggy Play Date When: 2:00, Date to be determined Where: My house Dear Archie, This is Gaby Jones. I understand you were a Ranch Dog and were recently adopted by the Smith Family. Congratulations! They are very nice people, and I hope you are enjoying your new home. I, too, was at the Ranch, until I was adopted by the Jones’ a couple of years ago. I have two adopted brothers, Rafi and Chapi. We would like to invite you to our house for a play date, tomorrow or Saturday, at 2:00 p.m. Just so you know, I am really cute. Mom has met you and says you are cute, too. (One thing we have in common). Also, I love to play, and I hear

that you do, too. (Another thing we have in common.) We have a pretty good set-up here. If Mom opens all the doors, we can run in big circles all the way around the house. Rafi, who is not a Ranch dog, but was found running on the road in Riberas, is a

El Ojo del Lago / July 2020

great jumper and a really good frisbee player. Chapi, who was lost on a street in Chapala, is kind of a wuss. Mom says he is “sensitive”, whatever that means. All I know is that he is afraid to go through the doggy door. He spends a lot of time in his private playhouse under the bed, but sometimes he comes out and runs with me. Chapi and I like to bark at stuff going by the house, but Dad hates it when we make a lot of noise, so he makes us wear these awful gadgets that beep and buzz when we bark. But sometimes we bark anyway, just ‘cause it is so much fun. We also have a pool. Chapi and Rafi think it is a big water bowl, but I discovered that it is a great place to cool my paws and belly on a hot day. It is very refreshing! Mom gets mad when I get wet then run around the house and jump on the furniture. She says this is why we can’t have nice things. Also, two cats live here. Why, I do not know, but Mom and Dad seem to like them. Mickey, the black one, is pretty laid back. Olive is a calico, whatever that means. She is fun to chase, but Dad yells at us when we chase her. She is also a good hunter and likes to bring in mice and rats. Sometimes they are dead. Sometimes Olive lets me take them into the house. Olive

says they are gifts, but Mom screams really loud when she sees them. I think Olive might be wrong about the gift thing. Anyway, we hope you will come for a play date, and your parents are invited, too. Mom said Friday or Saturday, but really it could be any day. Mom and Dad are at home a lot these days -- something about a virus. Anyway, Mom’s got nothing to do except work on jigsaw puzzles and watch reruns of Downton Abbey. Dad isn’t doing that golf thing, but he still takes a nap every afternoon. Hope to see you soon, Gaby Jones P.S. When you come over, I will give you some hints about breaking in your parents. They think they are training you, but really, you are training them. It’s all in the “look”. When you are cute, you can get away with anything! One more thing – The Ranch saved our lives and they always could use help so here’s some important info for anyone reading your mail – For more information on adopting, volunteering and escorting dogs to their new homes North of the border visit our website www.lakesidespayandneutercenter.com or email us at adoptaranchdog@outlook.com

Saw you in the Ojo 11

COLUMNIST

BRIDGE BY THE LAKE By Ken Masson

his month’s hand contains a good lesson for those who like to rush into the bidding where others may fear to tread. In an event played at the Lake Chapala Duplicate Bridge Club, North opened her 19 pointer with 1 diamond after West passed as dealer. East passed and South responded 1 spade. Now West made a takeout double to show the other two suits which I believe was an unwise decision, being vulnerable, holding only 9 high card points, and in the middle of a live auction. This did not unduly disturb North who promptly raised the contract

El Ojo del Lago / July 2020

to 4 spades to end the bidding. West led the club queen and when dummy came down South saw that he was in a very sound contract. However, as this was matchpoint scoring, declarer wanted to notch up as many tricks as he could in an attempt to beat out as many pairs as possible holding the same cards at the other tables. A quick mental review of the bidding suggested that West was likely to hold nine or ten cards in clubs and hearts and would, therefore, be short in the other two suits. With this in mind, South won the first trick in dummy, cashed the

spade king, and then played a low spade to the jack. Declarer was duly rewarded when West showed out and he drew the last trump. The remaining cards were friendly to South’s cause and he emerged with all 13 tricks for a top score on this board. Most experienced bridge players follow the mantra “8 ever, 9 never” which simply means that when you hold 8 cards in a suit missing the queen, you should always (or “ever”) try a finesse to capture her majesty. However, when you have 9 cards between your two hands you should consistently play for the drop by cashing the ace and king (or “never” finessing), unless the opposition bidding gives you any clues to do otherwise. Circumstances alter cases, as they say, so in this instance declarer was able to change normal strategy based on the information West had unwittingly provided. Of course, there was no guarantee East held the trump queen but all the evidence pointed to a strong likelihood. So the next time you are tempted to enter the fray with questionable values, bear in mind that you might be giving useful information to the opponents. Questions or comments: email: masson. ken@gmail.com Ken Masson

Saw you in the Ojo 13

THE BIG GRAB

oy was I ever naïve! I used to wonder why probate attorneys existed. In my mind, people wrote wills and any lawyer could execute them as they were written, respecting the desires of the deceased, neatly spelled out in black and white. Who needed a probate lawyer? Years rolled by, and friends experienced the dividing of estates. I too went through the ghastly aftermath of the loss of a parent. And I listened

in astonishment as tales of woe occurred when survivors of family or friends of those who had passed experienced the attacks that followed if there was anything at all to divide. Wills be damned! It is as if a cannon is fired and all interested parties begin a race to see who can get to the spoils the fastest. The first common occurrence is what I’ll call the Burglar Effect. Family members manage home access before the body is even in the ground. If they have

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keys, all the better. Excuses abound. Perhaps they have left something at Mom’s house, or they need to be sure the lights were turned off. Then, while they are on their humanitarian mission, they load some beloved object in their car while no one is there to witness. These objects can be as benign as the family bible, a beloved iron pot used by Grandma, or a hand-stitched quilt by great-aunt Cora. Other times the desired loot is as significant as the family china (perhaps they have the only daughter in the family, or some other seemingly rational justification for the action. “No one else will want this Limoges!”). Once, I heard about a helpful relative who spotted a rug that was perfect for their home. The individual rolled it up right there on the spot and carted it off. This was before any inventory of family goods had been conducted, of course. And that is pretty much how the early stage begins. After a will is introduced, relatives and friends process the news. I’ve heard of a friend claiming to be owed a personal debt of X amount, undocumented, of course. Or a sister, estranged from the deceased, who feels a blood entitlement to something

from the estate, “for family reasons.” Challenges abound, and they usually result in some monetary settlement, for “nuisance value.” This means it’s cheaper than paying the legal fees to buy them off with a payment. Heaven forbid if the deceased was gay or unmarried and lived with a partner. Those tales are the cruelest. The beloved is told to vacate the premises, leave the car, skedaddle. Recently, gay marriage helped stem the tide on these stories. But even then, without good wills, protections are limited. I knew of one case where a gay couple lived together for decades, only to have the surviving partner become homeless at an old age, because he didn’t prevail in an estate dispute. Living partners who were told, “The family will take care of you, don’t worry,” are screwed. A whole different area for potential danger lies with the executor. The executor may like wiggling room in handling legal matters. If negotiations are attempted in writing and get somewhat conflicted, attempts may be made to “talk things over,” thereby leaving no paper trail. Beware. Or, record keeping is so much trouble that transparency is lost. Family members all look at estates through their own prism of needs. Half-full glasses are almost empty. Perspective is rock solid, whether it makes sense or not. And emotions run high as competing camps are formed and the Hatfields and McCoys come to mind. Politics in families is just like politics in government. All sides think they are right. So, after all these bleak observations on estates, what have I learned? Get thee to a qualified specialist on estates, draft a tight will, and update it frequently, as life changes occur (which is constantly!). Run, make your appointment now! Katina Pontikes

Saw you in the Ojo 15

COLUMNIST

Mirror To The Universe – Spiritual Health By Rob Mohr

“

ver every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valleys.” Theodore Roethke There is an unseen path, a nonmaterial field in reality, that we all walk along when we open ourselves to the vast scope of what creation offers. Springtime in our garden has forced me to reconsider how the quality of one’s environment sets the tone for our lives. A coherent life in harmony with nature, and those with whom we share life, engenders peace and comfort. We spiritually and physically consume what the organic world offers. Coherence enables awareness, understanding, compassion, and love. But when systems become incoherent and unbalanced by destruction, violence, fear and hate, we live in chaos. Harmony and balance are lost. All of creation seeks coherence, humans thrive when we protect the environment, experience the world with eyes wide open, and treat one another with love and respect. But, with equal force, humanity has also succumbed to the darkness of self-interest. My seventy-year study of the pre-Columbian Maya makes clear humanity’s two natures. Maya artists created beautiful art, yet it depicted ceremonies where victims were disemboweled, or decapitated. Humanity is torn, yet the universe is coherent. Why? “A spiritual matrix of ‘hidden’ quantum and cosmological constructs points to a potential reality which lies behind the space-time reality, within which we ordinarily navigate.” Karl Pribram, PhD Quantum science has revealed that the universe is a coherent system where all its parts work in responsive harmony. But within there is a chaos-point where the system may be threatened with partial or complete destruction. As a counter, scientists and philosophers, like David Bohm, Chris Hardy, Ervin Laszlo, and others, believe there is a nonmaterial universal mind that ensures coherence, one which exists apart from the material realm, where spiritual and the material (physical and quantum) realities interact dynamically.

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The power of this nonmaterial field is evident when we realize that everything that exists in our tangible world is there because we collectively project its creation. Our nonmaterial thoughts, universally connected within this spiritual field, have the power to change everything. Consider the implications. This guiding consciousness, the global mind, is our brain as well. We exist inside a unified field of consciousness, one that is spiritual and not material. We share cosmic memories which entail information, awareness, and a life not governed by space or time. Free from physical restraints, this cerebral mantle underlies and orchestrates everything in the material cosmos. It is a dimension that subtends all that exists, an interconnecting cosmic matrix, that ensures coherence. Pragmatically we engage within this universal mind when we travel without the restraints of space and time where we participate in events thousands of miles away. Or when we have premonitions of future events, or feel a déjà vu connection with our history. “The Vedic texts, which originated in ancient India, discuss mysticism, healing, the wisdom of prophets, contact with ancestors, and the vast array of contemporary spiritual understandings. They further reveal humanity’s role in the spiritual dimension of creation.” We are one with the universe. The water in the sea is the same water as that in our blood. Trees breathe out the breath we take in. Our bodies are digested by nature as a source of creation. Which brings me full circle. We become fully alive and healthy when we live in harmony with our environment, utilize our universal mind, live in ways that nurture life and deepen our spiritual engagement with the nonmaterial, governing field. Humanity’s place, within this coherent cosmos, lights the path into human evolution. Albert Einstein wisely advised, “Look deep into nature, and you will understand everything better.” Rob Mohr

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THE FIFTH HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE

The Pandemic, Donald Trump And The Latest Apostasy By Dr. Lorin Swinehart

“And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born.” —William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming

n the Book of Revelation, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse represent famine, war, pestilence and death. The dread horsemen are said to usher in a time of global catastrophe. As this is being written, the world is in the grip of yet another visit by the pale horse, and his pale rider, this time in the form of the coronavirus, COVID-19. It is not the first and it will not be the last. Bill Gates has recently warned that humanity may be confronted by a new pandemic every twenty years. Given the reality that millions are packed together, too often under unhygienic conditions, in vast megapolises, and the ease with which newly mutated pathogens can be spread globally by means of modernday air transportation, this prediction may be accurate. Some nations have responded in a timely and responsible manner to the latest threat, while others, including the president of the United States, have initially reacted with ineptitude, denial, platitudes, evasion and buffoonery. Almost too late—certainly too late for many—we have begun to come to terms with the reality of our situation. When most people hear the word pandemic, they think of bubonic plague, the Black Death of the Middle Ages. Perhaps, however, the first serious outbreak of bubonic plague was reported by the author of the Old Testament book of I Samuel. In 1141 BC, after the Israelites had suffered two humiliating defeats at the hands of their enemies, the sacred Ark of the Covenant was captured and held hostage by the Philistines. Subsequently, the enemy was stricken with an epidemic exhibiting all the symptoms of bubonic plague. The Golden Age of ancient Greece followed the defeat of the mighty Persian Empire by the Athenians and their allies, led by Pericles. That period of peace and prosperity was not to last. Under siege by the enemy Spartans, the Athenians holed up behind their defensive walls. As is so often the case, a population confined to a small area be-

comes a sort of petri dish for the spread of disease. Soon, an epidemic of what may have been bubonic plague struck the Athenians, annihilating much of the population, including Pericles himself. By 404 BC, after 27 years of warfare, Athenian resistance ended in their defeat. The Black Death, which struck Europe in the 1300s probably first appeared in the Crimean seaport of Caffa in 1344, when the city was besieged for two years by the Tartars. By some accounts, the plague arose when the Tartars cast the bodies of infected victims over the defensive walls. The Italian traders brought the plague with them back to Genoa, and from there it spread throughout the continent. The most widely accepted theory is that the plague, transmitted by rat fleas infected with the bacteria yersinia pestis, originated in eastern Asia and was transported by caravans traveling the Silk Road to the Crimea. It took three forms, bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic. Pneumonic was perhaps the most threatening because it could be spread by breath or sputum. The plague occurred in more than one wave, 13461361 and 1665-1666, being among the most devastating. Possibly up to sixty percent of the European population may have succumbed. Worldwide, the Black Death may have reduced the population by 350,000,000 to 450,000,000 souls, even reaching such outposts as the Viking colonies in Greenland. Many concluded that the plague was God’s punishment for mankind’s sins, and tens of thousands joined companies of flagellants, wandering the roadways of Europe attempting to forestall divine wrath by flogging themselves. Others were convinced that the plague was caused by damp swamp air, a juxtaposition of three planets, the appearance of a large comet in 1340, subterranean gases released by an earthquake, even from having sex with older women. Our forebears can be forgiven for their lack of knowledge. Anton van Leeuwenhoek would not discover his

Continued on page 20

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From page 18 “little beasties” in a drop of water under his microscope for several centuries, and it would take even longer for scientists like Joseph Lister and Edward Jenner to learn that the “little beasties” can cause illness but that preventative measures can be effective. Perhaps there is a fifth horseman, consisting of fear, anger, ignorance, xenophobia, inflaming mobs of the angry, the fearful and the clueless. In the face of any calamity, there are always those who lash out at scapegoats. When the rumor spread that the plague was caused by Jews poisoning the wells, one of history’s worst pogroms was unleashed, leading to the persecution and slaughter of countless innocent persons. In one instance, the entire Jewish population of Freiburg was herded into a wooden structure and burned alive. That Jews, too, were dying of the plague somehow escaped the notice of the crazed rabble. Modern society is not immune from such outrages. In September, 2001, four days after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Frank Roque of Mesa, Arizona, shot and killed an innocent Sikh named Balbir Singh Sodhi because he “looked like a Muslim.” On April 1 of this year, inside a Sam’s Club in

Midland, Texas, 19-year-old Jose Gomez III took it upon himself to defend the world from an innocent Asian family by stabbing three of its members, including two small children ages two and six. Gomez had convinced himself that they were spreading the coronavirus. The FBI reports that hate crimes against AsianAmericans are proliferating. Donald Trump’s references to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus” has most likely stoked the resentments and fanned the flames of violence among the stubbornly ignorant. “In the past, the causes of diseases were frequently not understood. It would not be until the twentieth century that the role of mosquitoes in the transmission of malaria and yellow fever would be recognized. Smallpox so decimated the Aztec and Inca populations that Cortez and Pizarro found it easy to topple once powerful empires. The Spaniards assumed that the pox was God’s judgment upon their hapless victims because of their non-Christian practices, not unlike some tub-thumping preachers who now assure us that the COVID-19 is God’s punishment for whatever offenses they can think of. Covid-19 in all probability originated among the wet markets of Mainland China, those, at least, that specialize in wildlife. The World Wildlife Fund has

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condemned the trade in threatened and endangered species for years. It may be that the pangolin, a species of anteater and the most endangered animal on Earth, much desired as food and a source of quack medicine among some Chinese, is the source of the current malaise. We may never know for certain, but it is apparent that the wildlife trade is part of the tragic story. Perhaps God is angry with humans for the extermination of the pangolin. Zoonotic diseases have been increasing since the 1940s, as habitat destruction and the exhaustion of natural resources continues. Sixty percent of all the infections that affect humanity are zoonotic, having made the leap from livestock or wildlife to humans, including smallpox, SARS, Ebola, HIV, and others. As new roads have been cut into the wilderness to facilitate loggers and miners in their program of ecological devastation, more persons come into contact with wildlife. The crack-brained pronouncements of Mr. Trump are of no help. A short time ago, he suggested that we could either fend off or somehow treat a COVID-19 infection by somehow ingesting either disinfectants or ultraviolet light. Fiber optics anyone? Recently, Mr. Trump stood before St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral holding a Bi-

ble upside down. Given his outspoken enthusiasm for the writings of the embittered atheist Ayn Rand, it may very well be that he was brandishing an antiChristian symbol, much like the swastika, with which so many of his followers are enamored, that he was symbolically flipping the bird at all Christians, even those who continue to slavishly hang upon his every word. Those who number themselves among the so-called Christian Right would be well advised to search their consciences, lest they fall prey to the latest apostasy, wherein Mr. Trump replaces Jesus Christ in their devotion. It is time to seriously reconsider the biblical admonition, “Put not thy faith in princes.” No one knows when or how our current pandemic will end. Eventually, scientists will create a vaccine to prevent the infection and an effective treatment for those already suffering. However, life as we have knew it such a short time ago will never return to that blissful state. A new world dawns before us, and none can know what shape it will take. Lorin Swinehart

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Carol D. Bradley

Email: cdbradleymex@gmail.com Phone: 33-2506-7525 “Culture – the way we express ourselves and understand each other – can bind us together as one world.” —Yo-Yo Ma Our world is experiencing a transformation. Looking away from events, positive and otherwise, is difficult. Demonstrations by many local businesses demanding officials allow them to reopen have sprung up around our communities. Many of our Lakeside venues have been slowly coming back to life. We had a soft opening, where officials inspected various locations to ensure standards and COVID-19 health protocols are being met. Restaurants are now able to open their doors with limited capacity and shorter hours, provided they meet safe protocols—masks, distancing, kitchen cleanliness. I felt sprung from jail, albeit gingerly. I followed all guidelines and attended a few live music venues, saw some friends who felt sprung along with me, air hugs all around. No masks can cover the kind eyes and friendly smiles of people here at Lakeside. Our popular Open Circle presentations have been suspended. Here is their usual inclusion in Lakeside Living for your information: “The Lake Chapala Society hosts Open Circle Sundays at 10AM, a popular community gathering in Ajijic to enjoy a diverse range of presentations. For more information see their website: opencircleajijic.org. During the month of July, Open Circle will remain closed for outdoor monthly gatherings, but will provide weekly videos of the past most highly rated presentations. These are accessible at opencircleajijic.org. On the docket are: Mexican Grace, testimonials by local residents acknowledging the extraordinary kindness rendered by our Mexican compadres in times of need Boom! The Next 10 Years, a forecast by Ken Corbin prior to the advent of COVID-19 Why Education Reform Is Killing America’s Schools, based on the experience and penetrating observations of veteran school teacher David Ellison How the US and Mexico Came Together to Defeat the Last Empire in the Americas, presented by award-winning historian Dr. Michael Hogan and based on his new book Guns, Grit, and Glory That Aging Thing, presented by professional counselor and Open Circle moderator Kat Miller We are also privileged to present a series of five comprehensive written reports by Dr. Todd Stong. First intended to be part of his live annual lecture at Open Circle in March 2020, these reports are on subjects currently most pressing to Dr. Stong. They will appear as he makes them available. Currently on line at opencircleajijic.org are Parts I and II. Part I deals with Lakeside Conditions, including the health of the lake, well water, wastewater treatment, etc. Part II is devoted to Childhood Kidney Disease, which afflicts many children in the villages to the east of Chapala. This area is second in the world for rate of affliction. Learn why and what might remedy this sad and unnecessary situation. Open Circle By Rachel McMillen Change is a constant in our lives. That’s a maxim we have all become more aware of as COVID-19 has infiltrated every area of our lives, but exactly what changes there will be as we slowly emerge from our respective havens is still a matter of conjecture. Here at Lakeside, one of those changes will be Open Circle, although it will not be the first time this popular event has changed. First organized in 1995 by Joan and Roy Forman as New Dimensions, it was held in their home every Sunday morning and emphasized spirituality and various aspects of Buddhism, Sufism and Christianity. Then, in 2001, it changed its name to Open Circle and moved to other homes and restaurants. Shortly thereafter Marianne and Michael Warren approached LCS to see if the organization could utilize the patio area and

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a rental agreement was drawn up. For several years Marianne Warren, Hilary Stewardson, Derek Firth and Jim Spivey coordinated the weekly programs until, in 2011, Jim Spivey assumed total responsibility for the event. In 2015, when poor health dictated he could no longer continue, things changed again and Jim passed the reins over to David Bryen and Margaret Van Every, both regular attendees and supporters. David and Margaret have long been part of the fabric of Lakeside, both being published writers and Margaret also an accomplished musician, and they wanted to free the event from the restrictive rules it operated under and open it up to the community. In order to do this, they immediately established the Open Circle Steering Committee and asked for volunteers. They also asked for input from the Open Circle audience, which resulted in the original spiritual/metaphysical focus of the program expanding to include more art, music, science, psychology, natural history, health, and Mexican history. The result was obvious and has proved both satisfying and rewarding for both of them. Last year more than 13,000 people came to OC, the highest number being 550 for a presentation by David Truly in February. Another success in 2019 was the Mexican Grace program for which nine members of the OC audience pre-auditioned and subsequently presented a five-minute story of moments when they experienced an example of Mexican Grace. The program’s highlight was when a group of Mexican senior citizens, in full traditional regalia, danced for the attendees, who in turn lifted tequila-filled shot glasses and toasted Mexico. Open Circle, the largest and longest-running expat program in Mexico, with a reputation that has spread far beyond Jalisco, was the first to suspend its activities when COVID-19 arrived, realizing the physical characteristics of the meeting area would not allow for the safe distancing required to protect those participating. With the respite that decision brought, both David and Margaret decided it was time to pass the torch yet again, and the steering committee in turn realized that it was time to find a new organization to carry the event forward. So it is that LCS, the leading support organization for both expats and the Lakeside community in general, which has spent these past few months re-evaluating its own programs and re-designing the campus to better accommodate classes, presentations and meetings, will include Open Circle under its umbrella when its doors re-open. Both the board of LCS and Executive Director Steve Balfour are grateful for the work the steering committee has done and are looking forward to continuing the tradition of Open Circle and maintaining both the spirit and the energy that has made this weekly event such a unique and quality forum. NOTE: There is a plaque commemorating Marianne Warren in the ground near the Ken Gosh Pavilion. Not only was she instrumental in getting Open Circle started, she also organized and gave lectures, including the Neill James lecture series. *** Live Music is anxiously returning to Lakeside. Please visit your favorite venue, safely attired and distanced, of course. They are allowed limited capacity and need to sell out to make all their hard work worthwhile. Please tip the musicians and be generous with the wait staff. They have been without work for many weeks and need your support now more than ever. The dynamic duo Black String performs at various venues Lakeside. Like them on Facebook, or any other of our wonderful musicians, to see where they are performing next. Daniel Cordero, one of Lakeside’s finest musicians was at the Iron Horse Bar on June 7th. Daniel was joined by a new artist to Lakeside, Monique Miller, who sang “Me and Bobby McGee.” Not many can do justice to Queen Janis, but Monique delighted everyone in attendance. I will keep tabs on our theatre and arts organizations to find any news on reopening. Stay tuned, readers. Lakeside Living does not know what life will look like as we pass through this together. We wish you all good health and happy survival.

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Tears in the Mirror By Robert Drynan

hen I was a teenager, I found I had an undeveloped talent for graphite pencil and ink drawing. At that impressionable age I wanted to be a marine and so I drew pictures of soldiers in battle. But as much as I tried, I could not draw a woman, the female figure or, more importantly, the feminine face . . . the gentler, more graceful lines escaped me. Years later, I took out a piece of paper and drew some preliminary sketches of our daughter when she was a toddler, but I never completed them. Occasionally, my wife urged me to again take up drawing, but I never seemed to find the time. Now our toddler is a grown woman and living far away, and my wife departed this life several years ago. I have the time but not the inclination to begin living again. One morning in the dawning hours, I awoke from a dream. In the dream I stood in a hot, hot shower, absorbing the heat. When I finally stepped out and toweled off, steam clouded the air of the small room. I stepped to the mirror to wipe it clear of the foggy mist. Something stopped me; a flaw in the mirror? A shadow produced by billowing steam? A curve appeared in the opaque surface and without thought my hand rose, my finger tracing a gentle line across the surface . . . and then another, her cheek, a brow, her nose, the graceful way she combed her locks

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over her forehead, her long neck reaching to receive the sweep of her hair at the nape. I caught the tilt of her head, and the slow quizzical smile on her lips that so often mocked me, and loved me at the same time. There on the surface of the mirror I accomplished what I had believed I was unable to do. I had drawn her, and she smiled back at me! And then inside my head she spoke. “Why are you withering inside? Why have you quit living, now wallowing in your solitude? You have so much to offer. You cannot continue like this. Embrace life. You owe it to yourself; to what we became together . . . you owe it to me.” Was she really there? Or was she just in my head? No, not my head, she is in my heart she will reside there as long as I am alive. If I quit, that part of her dies with me! I stared at the drawing in the mirror, and listened to her words in my heart, “Write, draw, whatever inspires you. Love me through your expression ... don’t remain alone. Please do not withdraw and become one dimensional ... don’t retreat into what you were becoming when we came together. You were so alone, and I showed you how to love. Oh please, do not throw away my most precious gift to you. “Love again! Don’t lose the depth we found together. I will always be within you. To love another will not deny your love for me, it will enrich you and her . . . and me.” The bathroom cooled as I stood there, the mist subsiding. The steam on the mirror was turning to droplets of water. The drawing slowly began to fade, its grace, its beauty dissolving before my eyes . . . disappearing into tears that meandered slowly downward. Robert Drynan

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Mexican Grace This is a new regular feature column inspired by the September 15, 2019 Open Circle presentation of stories that manifest “Mexican Grace.” El Ojo is looking for more anecdotes that relate the many encounters, initiated by expats or locals, that exemplify the special forms of mutual giving and receiving that define the Mexican Grace that brought us to this unique paradise--and that keep us here. Please email articles of up to 900 words, typed in Times Roman 14-point font with a Title and your name at the top to both victoriaAschmidt@gmail.com and loretta.downs@gmail.com. Photos are welcome.

The Kindness of Strangers By Janet Reichert

ast September, I set out from Ajijic for a solo journey to Washington state. When I told my husband, Gary, about my idea of making this trip by car, he was uncomfortable with me being on such a long road trip alone, but I assured him I wouldn’t put myself in harm’s way and that I

would stay in touch. I traveled through Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and down the Columbia River Gorge to the coast. I enjoyed camping and hiking in the Canyonlands of Utah and in Natural Bridges National Monument. Spending time alone in the natural world was bliss.

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My return, by way of Oregon, California and the Baja peninsula, included a ferry ride from La Paz to Mazatlán and was an adventure in itself. I decided to travel down the eastern coast of Baja, along the Sea of Cortez for as far as I could and maybe camp on the beach along the way. I crossed the border at Mexicali and half a day later set up my little tent on the beach near San Felipe. I talked with the locals and was cautioned that the route south, Highway 5, was in rough shape once beyond the San Felipe area. Hurricane Rosa had brought widespread flooding to northwestern Mexico last October and extensive damage to highway bridges and their approaches. I was told that trucks, motorcycles and some RVs were still traveling the road but it was slow going. Though tired and nearing the end of my five-weeklong, 6,600-mile trip, I decided it was worth sacrificing some time for the opportunity to see new scenery along the way and continued south along the Bay of California. I soon encountered the first of dozens of detours down into mostly dry riverbeds and arroyos and up again onto erratically paved stretches between the washed-out bridges. It was mind-boggling to see what the epic rainfall had done as it made its way from the higher elevations down to the sea. Thousands of tons of sand and rock had washed through, scouring and widening the streambeds and arroyos and leaving deep, wide cuts at both ends of the bridges. The rainfall from the hurricane must have far exceeded the average annual rain for that area. As I drove through the mountains and deserts of Baja not quite a month after the storm, I couldn’t help but notice that the deserts looked more like golf courses—flat and uniformly green and with everything in bloom. After a couple of hours’ drive, I reached the part of Highway 5 being rerouted and “improved.” Blasting had left debris all over the “road”—sharp rock fragments of all sizes and shapes—with a bit of a track outlined by the sparse traffic that had passed through being the only indication of the route. No sign of any workers. I speculated that workers and equipment assigned to a project of rerouting and improving the southern parts of Highway 5 must have been relocated to repair the storm damage on other sections of the road. Early in the day, a few motorcycle tourists had passed me and I had

met a semi or two coming from the other direction, but not much else was going on in this long stretch of “deconstruction” zone. It was slow going and, in an especially slow part, a red pickup with some household goods in the truck bed came up behind me. Not wanting him to have to eat my dust for the next 30 kms., I slowed down even more and signaled that he could pass me, which he did. The lone driver waved his appreciation for my courtesy as he drove by. As I drove on, I got more uncomfortable with the condition of the road. With wheels spinning on the loose rock rubble as I climbed up out of the deep “canyons” whose bridges were not yet in service, I cringed imagining what might be happening to the tires. But no going back at this point. After what seemed like hours but was probably less than 40 minutes, I came to a really dicey stretch where there were “options” with no indication of which way to go. To my surprise the red pickup truck was waiting for me with the driver motioning which way to go. Once I had seen him he disappeared again into the cloud of dust ahead. After another long slow period of scrambling up and down and over and through, I came to a “T” in the road with, of course, no helpful signs. But there was the red pickup again, patiently waiting for the crazy gringa in the red car to catch up so the driver could point out the direction to take. Roaring down the road from the opposite direction were the two motorcyclists who had passed me earlier. They must have taken quite a detour before realizing they were going the wrong way. Thanks to the kindness of the driver of the red pickup, I was on course and nearing the end of the construction zone. I never saw him again but I was deeply touched by his concern for me and how he had patiently waited for me at each confusing fork in the road. A few days later my trip ended with the drive from Mazatlán to Ajijic where Gary waited, almost patiently, for my wanderlust to peter out. I told him my adventure stories including this one. He scowled and said, “Did it occur to you that he might have been diverting you to someplace where he could do you harm?” I replied, “Nope, never crossed my mind. The smile on his face was enough assurance for me. Besides, that road was so desolate, he didn’t have to divert me to anyplace else to cause harm.” Mexican grace indeed.

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Idiocy and Pandemics By John Ward

t the height of the “Dark and Stupid Ages,” His Idiotic Holiness, Pope Gregory IX, on June 13, 1233, instigated the first papal bull of his papacy: the Vox in Rama. This was a papal bull which decreed that the domestic cat, which had served us well through the ages as an efficient mouser, was an animal of Witchcraft and should be killed. The actual wording of this papal bull, appropriately named, was as follows: “Thou shalt not suffer a cat to live.” Can you imagine? The Vox in Rama (or “Voice in Rama,” after the city of Ramah in ancient Judah) beseeched archbishops

Mainz and Hildesheim to lend their full support to Grand Inquisitor and all-around decent defender of the faith, Conrad of Marburg, in his efforts to root out satanic cults, their cats, and their adherents in Germany. Naturally, due to pervasive ignorance and cloying stupidity, this religious hysteria and monument to idiotic thinking caught on in the rest of Europe and resulted in millions of cats suffering horrible, torturous deaths at the hands of the faithful, which subsequently resulted in a burgeoning rat population, which subsequently resulted in a burgeoning flea population, which subsequently resulted in the inexorable spread of

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the bubonic plague, sometimes jokingly referred to as the Black Death! Don’t get me wrong. With an Irish father and an Italian mother, I was raised Catholic and stayed that way until I developed the ability to read and reason. I don’t dislike the Catholic religion any more or less than I dislike all religion, so don’t ascribe prejudice to me. Mine is a completely equitable disdain. What irritates me more than anything is stupidity, something that was almost eradicated during the Renaissance and into the eighteenth century, but which is making a strong and bigly comeback in the first part of the twenty first -century. It seems that religion thrives in a miasma of ignorance everywhere and anywhere on the planet. Ignorance of science, philosophy, biology, astronomy, and other scientific disciplines, give religion an important leg up in providing an explanation of phenomena the human race must face. Some of the explanations cannot be proven and so must be accepted without question, for instance: “The Lord works in mysterious ways.” This is the great catch: all that is used whenever someone asks a question that clearly illustrates a conflict in logic where religion is concerned. So people are faced with a choice: believe scientists or believe their religious leaders. Believe those relatively impoverished lab nerds who have nothing to gain personally by coming up with scientific reasons and explanations, or believe those toupe-ed multimillionaire, jetbuying, $4,000 suits who encourage their flock to come to religious gatherings and give up their money, which is now in short supply, or commingle with a congregation when it has been determined that doing so would jeopardize their health and risk their lives to make sure they are continuing to tithe. So which makes more sense? Naturally, the latter appeals to those

who would put an incompetent, selfserving, racist narcissist in the driver’s seat. Just the other day Kenneth Copeland, the richest Televangelist in the USA, claimed, with a chorus of sycophantic “Yes sirs” and “Praise be” and “Halleluiahs,” that he was going to “blow” the COVID-19 virus away, in the name of Jesus of course. Then he pursed his lips and blew, claiming it was now gone! Why wouldn’t people want to believe it was that easy to rid the planet of a deadly virus like that? Of course they would. It’s much better than self–sequestration, social distancing, washing one’s hands thirty times a day, being fearful that someone will cough and the virus will get to your nose . . . But the easy road is not always the safest road. Alabama’s governor, a pathetic half-wit, said there will be no sheltering in place because “we hain’t New York and we hain’t California . . . we’s Alabama!” The Florida governor, after weeks of not imposing any sort of curfew, finally agreed to shelter in place, except for people who want to go to church . . . Many say: “Let them gather, let them get the COVID plague, it will thin the herd.” The problem is they bring it back to those who have had the sense to self-quarantine. Also, these people are stupid, not bad, and stupidity doesn’t deserve the death penalty. So Darwinism is a valid point, but we want to save who we can, no matter how idiotic their views are. Now we are seeing protests and riots over the murder, by police, of George Floyd, an unarmed black man. There is no social distancing in a political demonstration. So between the half-wits screaming to open the hair salons and the demonstrators mingling, how will the incidence of COVID-19 look in about a month from now? The current administration has been criminally negligent in hiding, ignoring, downplaying and invalidating the severity of this new plague. It is true that the economy is suffering, but it is going to suffer more and longer because of an irresponsible attempt to keep it going by telling people to continue going to work to buttress the economy. If the sequestration order had been invoked immediately, by this date everything would have been back to normal. Now, we are looking at the first, and soon a second wave of the pandemic. Who knows how many more there will be. John Ward

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A Life Well-Justified By Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez (From the Ojo Archives)

here is a line in the Bible (one of the very few that I can remember!) which says something about how lucky that man is “who can walk into his own house justified.” Recently, I had cause to remember that line when a friend sent me an obituary notice about a fellow expat I never met—but now will forever regret that I was not fortunate enough to have known him. It would have been an honor just to shake his hand. The obituary was written by Mary Jo McConahay and reads in part as follows: Journalist, investigative poet and social activist John Ross died peacefully today at Lake Pátzcuaro in Mexico, where he had lived on and off for the past 50 years. He was 72. The cause was liver cancer. A national award-winning author of ten books, fiction and nonfiction, Ross received the American Book Award (1995) for Rebellion from the Roots: Zapatista Uprising in Chiapas, and the coveted Upton Sinclair Award (2005) for Murdered by Capitalism: 150 Years of Life and Death on the American Left. The first journalist to bring news of the indigenous Mexican Zapatista revolution to English-speaking readers, Ross was widely regarded as a “voice for those without a voice,” who stood with the poor and oppressed in his brilliantly stylized writing, suffering beatings and arrests during many nonviolent protests. An iconoclast who took every chance

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John Ross to afflict the comfortable and educate the public, in 2009 Ross turned down honors from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which had praised him for telling “stories nobody else could or would tell,” and as an organizer for tenants’ rights. In the chamber, Ross recalled an appearance before the Board 40 years before, when he was dragged from the same room for disturbing the peace. He blamed an “attack” by the San Francisco Police Department for the loss of his left eye. Ross told the Board, “Death was on our plate” when he went to Baghdad as a human shield during U.S. bombing. “Life, like reporting, is a kind of death sentence,” he said. “Pardon me for having lived it so fully.” In 2010, under treatment for liver cancer, he toured nationally with El Monstruo: True Tales of Dread & Redemption in Mexico City, already a cult classic, using a handheld magnifying glass to read his words before packed audiences. One of the earliest resisters of the Vietnam War, Ross spent two and a half years as a prisoner of conscience in a federal penitentiary for refusing the draft. Upon his release, he recounted in a poem, when a prison official walked him to the door, “Ross, he told me with a look of disgust written all over his smarmy mush, you never learned how to be a prisoner.” I can’t think of a greater epitaph, nor of a more magnificent life lived to its absolute hilt—and of such stuff are heroes made. John Ross will forevermore be Alejandro Grattanone of mine. Dominguez

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Conversations With a Mask By Neil McKinnon

ecently, Judy and I celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary by dining at a local restaurant that had just opened after having been closed due to the pandemic. The staff were wearing masks, music was playing and there was a buzz of conversation from other patrons. After a scrumptious dinner, the following took place: WAITRESS: Will that be all or would you care for something else? ME: It was delicious. We’re full but we’ve decided to share a dessert. Bring us a Chocolate Caramel Sundae with two spoons, please. WAITRESS: Of course. Are peanuts okay on your sundae? JUDY: It’s not Sunday. It’s Thursday. ME: It’s okay. She’s only allergic to peanuts on Sundays. WAITRESS: You ordered a sundae. Is it the mixture? Are you allergic to dairy? I’ve never heard of a peanut allergy, just on a sundae. JUDY: No, it’s Thursday. ME: It’s okay. She can eat anything on Thursday. WAITRESS: You mean the day matters? It’s not just the mix of ice cream and peanuts on a sundae? ME: Oh no! It’s more than Sunday. She can’t have peanuts on Wednesday or Saturday either. WAITRESS: You’re pulling my leg. Do you want two dishes or is one bowl fine? JUDY: No thanks, I don’t want any more wine. The conversation made me muse on how things have changed. We have friends who are unable to leave various countries. We know a couple who were trapped for weeks on a cruise ship. Reading about understaffed hospitals and overwhelmed funeral homes caused me to re-muse. Don’t ask me why. Maybe it’s because I once took a course in advanced musing as part of the training for my job as Assistant Message Taker for the Assistant Secretary to the Assistant Manager in a Pork Barrel Construction Company in Ottawa. We learned more than to muse like experts. Our training included climbing tall trees using only spider webs, crossing rivers on inflated condoms and preparing single malt beverages from

fermented bear droppings. My biggest takeaway was learning how to overcome self-doubt through judicious use of pretense and ostentation. But I digress. I was still musing about overwhelmed facilities when I got home and checked my email. A deceased friend, Mortimer Glutenswab, had forwarded a memo that he had received shortly after he passed away. The subject line read, Celestial Newsletter. I share it with you now. To Promised Land Residents: We are watching the virus situation closely as the health and safety of all is our number one priority. Since its escape (some say it was released) from a laboratory in the netherworld, the crisis caused by this minute malevolent critter continues to have an economic impact across Heaven. We know that many residents will experience financial hardship. Our goal is to work with everyone to reduce stress. We are asking all who can pay their rent to please do so. For those who cannot, our commitment is to work with you. In order to get through this together, we are announcing the following programs: 1. Rent Freeze Program – Effective immediately, we have halted all rent increases for eternity, or for three days, whichever comes first. 2. Deferred Rent Program – For those experiencing financial difficulty, and who qualify, we will defer rent payments. Individuals will be required to demonstrate financial need and be in a starvation coma. Remember, rental payments are an obligation that you assumed when you terminated your lease on life and moved here. While we are prepared to be flexible, you must keep us up-todate regarding unexpected windfalls. An example would be a refund you receive for a prepaid funeral that you didn’t use because your spouse buried you in the back garden. Management has a robust safety

Continued on page 36

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From page 34 plan that we are following and adjusting in real time as the situation evolves. The measures include: 1. Insisting that, if you suspect you’ve been exposed or have recently travelled before your demise, that you self-isolate for 14 days and follow directions from the Kingdom Come Health Officer, 2. Disinfecting door handles, clouds and especially halos which tend to become tarnished with use, 3. Providing frontline angels with an updated safety protocol, including free wing clipping as post death travel is no longer allowed, 4. Insisting that social distancing become the new normal—two wingspreads, three for older angels whose wings tend to droop, and 5. Ensuring that all harp concerts and Heavenly Host sing-alongs are performed online or individually from one’s balcony. Newsletter Classifieds Books For Sale: 1) Used copy of Dante’s Inferno. Read how the other half lives. 2) Sex While Social Distancing: A Doit-Yourself Manual. Free Stuff: At times like these, it is normal to feel stress and anxiety. Purgatory Inc., one of our subsidiaries, has launched a digital mental health care platform called Silver Lining, which can be accessed when things get cloudy. Everyone in Heaven is eligible for a two-week free trial. Help Wanted: Musician to play bagpipes while I masturbate. No weirdos need apply. Self-Improvement Workshops: 1) Exorcism & Your Acne. 2) Convert Your Harp into a Dune Buggy. 3) Guilt Without Sex. The following addendum is for newcomers: Thank you for choosing Heaven as the place where you wish to spend your

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afterlife. Unlike our main competitor, we are concerned about first impressions. We understand that you have just died and things may be a little confusing. However, if you would take a quick survey, we would appreciate feedback on your recent passage through the Pearly Gate and on your subsequent experiences. 1. Thinking about your first impression, how likely are you to recommend Heaven to a friend or colleague? Please rate us on a scale of 0, meaning not until hell freezes over, to 10, extremely likely. 2. If you rated us below three, do you wish to be transferred? At this particular time, Hell and Alberta are the only options available. 3. Based on your visit so far, please rate us on the following using a scale of one to five, where 1 = poor and 5 = excellent: • Saint Peter’s welcome: Did he listen and communicate with understanding? • The angels that accompanied you: Were they knowledgeable and did they educate you on our cultural norms? • The transition from life in Saskatchewan: Has it been smooth and easy for you? Why do you think so many choose to stay there instead of joining us? • The Heavenly Host: Have they provided helpful advice and suggestions? • Other alternatives: Are you a candidate for canonization and is this option suited to you? • Timeliness: Were your wings, halo and celestial gown ready when promised? Thank You. Please include your mobile number at the bottom of the page. Together we will Make Heaven Great Again! The Big Kahuna Neil McKinnon

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The Ojo Crossword

A Letter From Mother Earth All the riches you have stolen may be won in vain. As you exploit my waterways and open every vein, surely you can hear me crying out in pain? When it comes to my riches, each madman wants a piece at the cost of reason, willing to break the peace. Will there be no ending? Will the warlords never cease? As you grow one more spare tire around your spreading waist, the spoils build up around you: the garbage and the waste. How much plastic carnage will serve to suit your taste? As you fill me full of chemicals, I become more weak. Yet still you spray and pillage, hour by day by week. The death of soil that nourishes can’t be what you seek!

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 20 22 24 26 27 28 30 32 33 36 38 40 42 45 48 49 53 55 56 57 58 60 61 62 63 65

Dress Painter of melting clocks Captain (abbr.) Healing plant Congealed Ca. University Flower start Cola company Air pollution Kiss Splashed Look at Decorative needle case Spoiled Let go Hit To trouble Sponsorship After eight Seasoner makers Card game Laughing dog Beget Composition Dreary routine Capital of Oregon Opaque gem Sister for short Absent without leave Flake Compose Ideal place Because of this Fake chocolate AM Sold at a discount Small egg Vivacity Popular American desserts Remove unwanted plants Not any

Talks a lot Short for aluminum Rolled chocolate candy brand Music type Deer Swiss mountains Smooth tightly twisted thread Dopes Pillowy Peak Walk slowly Price sticker Round shape Wood Tally Villain Grow acorns Conclusion Regional plant life Horse Layers Boredom Stews Chow Backslides Serf European river Female sheep National capital Depart Men’s counterparts Ladies Siamese Christmas Real Field game Asian country Green Gables dweller Cooking measurement Not young

El Ojo del Lago / July 2020

Fluorocarbons, Roundup, radiation, lead–– all the earth’s blind children just follow where they’re led. Swallowing all the poisons, devouring what they’re fed. All the bleating sheep, the entire driven herd do their best to overlook all the things they’ve heard— every threat of doomsday, every warning word. The cyclones swirl above you. The fires burn me bare. How many floods and blizzards will your children bear? Why don’t you heed the warnings? Don’t you even care? When it comes to what you’re leaving to your son and heir, there may be no more water and there may be no more air. Does this ever bother you? Do you even care? If every son and daughter voiced their pleas aloud and questioned all these foolish sins their fathers have allowed, would they bend their heads in grief? Can they be shamed and cowed? If they beg and bargain, if they plead and pray, will parents listen to the ones who’ve been their prey, or will they keep on throwing their children’s lives away?

Judy Dykstra-Brown

Saw you in the Ojo 39

COLUMNIST

PROFILING TEPEHUA By Moonyeen King President of the Board for Tepehua

moonie1935@yahoo.com

he sudden deaths that happened at the beginning of the alcohol ban, due to people drinking rough sugar cane alcohol that had not been cut properly, shone a light on a beloved past time of the villages... El Pajarate. The local Star Bucks for Sunday mornings, which is truly a delightful experience that many locals and visitors alike partake. East of Chapala the local is open most mornings. Opening time really relies on the cooperation of the cow. There is nothing hygienic about it in anyway whatsoever, which probably gives it the unique flavour. A mixture of sugar cane alcohol, chocolate, sugar, coffey powder...and last but the most important a skirt of hot milk from the udder. In all the years recollection sudden multiple deaths have not been reported before, which doesn’t mean there haven’t been any. In the Middle East, the underground drink there is Sadiki, the word meaning “friend”, when uncut is 90% alcohol, which if not cut properly leads to death, or blindness and alcohol poisoning. Sadiki is made from any natural sugar source with a catalyst like yeast. Sadiki doesn’t need a cow, it just needs a mix of your choice as you would treat Vodka...even a Sadikitini on the rocks. Or flavor it with various flavors like whisky or bourbon. The dangers of alcohol have been known through the years, it can be poi-

El Ojo del Lago / July 2020

sonous for different reasons. In Ireland, Europe in general, when pewter mugs were used for alcoholic drinks, the metal in the mug would leach out and poison the unsuspecting drinker, this only happened to the heavy imbiber. The victim would go into a comatose state and back then proclaimed as dead. Old stories have it that many were buried alive which is why they introduced ‘Wakes’...a family member sat with the ‘corpse’ to see if he would awake in the morning. It is said that is where the saying comes from “For whom the bell tolls”...they would put a little bell in the coffin, so if the occupant woke up he could ring the bell. Another Mexican drink that has a colorful history is Pulque, which dates back to the Mesoamerican era, when it was viewed as sacred and used only by a certain class. Today this unique drink is mainly found in rural or poorer areas, where its reputation is the drink of the lower class. In the 1930s Lazaro Cardenas campaigned against it to cut down on alcoholism in the barrios, but its decline was mainly caused by the rise in popularity of beer. Pulque is returning especially with the young and the tourists, very potent and deadly when abused. Known for its very short shelf life, the challenge today is to preserve it without changing its taste. Men of the barrio buy it by the pint sometimes taking their own jug, and years of tradition has taught them how to use it without danger to self.... or has it? This author has never tried it, although the opportunity in Tepehua Barrio is plentiful, the same for every kind of recreational drug known, an easy escape from poverty and the frustrations life throws at the poor and everyone else up the ladder. How Pulque is made makes very good reading, its process is not a simple one, for those who need to know... The Tepehua Treasures store in Riberas is open three afternoons a week, Wednesday thru’ Friday, if you are running out of reading material...follow the rules, wear a mask...it is the only way as there still is no cure, only prevention. Use your head, wash your hands.

Saw you in the Ojo 41

Service - EL OJO DEL LAGO Tel. 765-3676

Pag: 45

* ANIMAL CLINICS/PET SHOP - BIO MAXCOTA Tel: (376) 762-1486, Cell: 332-115-0076 Pag: 12 - CLINICA VETERINARIA SAN ANTONIO Pag: 06 Tel: 766-0808 - LAKESIDE FRIENDS OF THE ANIMALS AC Pag: 13 Tel: 765-5544 - MASKOTA’S LAKE Pag: 38 Tel: 766-0287, 33-3448-2507 - PET PLACE Pag: 08 Cell: 333-1964-150 - PET FOOD AND GROOMING Pag: 26 Tel: 766-3062

* ART GALLERIES/HANDCRAFTS Pag: 28

* CONSTRUCTION - COMFORT SOLUTIONS Tel: 33-1228-5377 - LETSA - Roofing Coverings 33-3400-0838, 33-1146-2020 - PISOS Y AZULEJOS DE LA RIBERA Cell: 331-250-6486 - SIKA Tel: 766-5959 - WARWICK CONSTRUCTION Tel: 765-2224, Cell. 331-135-0763

- AJIJIC DENTAL Tel: 766-3682, Cell: 33-1411-6622 - C.D. SANDRA ANAYA MORA Cell: 331-218-6241 - DRA. ANGELICA ALDANA LEMA DDS Tel. 765-5364, Cell: 33-1351-7797 - CHAPALA DENTAL CARE Tel: 765-5584, 766-3847 - MOJO DENTAL Tel: (376) 688-2731

- STEREN Tels. 766-0599, 766-0630

Pag: 07 Pag: 09

* BEAUTY

Pag: 29 Pag: 32 Pag: 33 Pag: 35

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- GARDEN CENTER Tel: 765-5973 Pag: 30 - RAINFOREST Cell: 331-241-9773, Tel: (376) 766-4534 Pag: 26 - VEGETABLE GARDEN - Ricardo Jasso Tel: 331-766-8699 Pag: 40

* GAS STATION - BP CHAPALA / AJIJIC

Pag: 37

Pag: 12

* HARDWARE STORES Pag: 35

- FERRETERIA Y TLAPALERIA GALVEZ Tel: 766-0880, Fax: 766-2440 Pag: 46

* HEARING AIDS

* CLEANING SERVICES Pag: 26

- M.D. CARLOS ALONSO FLORES VALDOVINOS Tel: 766-5126, 766-4435 Pag: 11

* COACHING

* INSURANCE

- TRANSITIONAL DIRECTIONS - Life Coaching Tel: 766-2928, +52 331-435-7080 Pag: 12

- HEALTH INSURANCE Tel: 766-0395, 1-888-449-7799 Pag: 13 - LAKESIDE INSURANCE - EDGAR CEDEÑO Cell: 33-3106-6982 Pag: 34 - PARKER INSURANCE SERVICES Pag: 09 Tel: 765-5287, 765-4070 - PROTEXPLAN U.S. Toll Free 1-800-608-5743 Mexico Toll Free 01-800-681-6730 Pag: 18 - TIOCORP Tel: 766-4828, 766-3978 Pag: 14

* COMMUNICATIONS - ISHOPNMAIL Tel: 766-1933 - MACDONALD SERVICES Tel: 415-121-9266

Pag: 03 Pag: 31 Pag: 29

El Ojo del Lago / July 2020

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Tel: 765-3676, 765-2877 Fax: 765-3528 Tel: 766-1152, 766-3369 Fax: 766-2124 - CONTINENTAL REALTY Tel: 766-1994 - CUMBRES Tel: 33-2002-2400 - JUDIT RAJHATHY Cell: 331-395-9849 - LAKE CHAPALA REAL ESTATE Tel: (376) 766-4530/40 - LORI FIELSTED REALTY Cell: 331-365-0558, 765-2223 - RADISSON BLU

Pag: 48 Pag: 31 Pag: 05 Pag: 17 Pag: 47 Pag: 27

Ajijic Resort, Spa & Residences

Tel: 766-4525, Cell: 332-255-5972 - RAUL GONZALEZ Cell: 33-1437-0925 - VISTA ALEGRE Tel: 33-2002-2400

Pag: 23 Pag: 03, 33 Pag: 05

* MEDICAL SERVICES

* RENTALS/PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

- ALTA RETINA - Dr. Rigoberto Rios León Ophthalmic Surgeon Tel: 688-1122, 688-1343 Pag: 20 - DERMIKA Tel: 766-2500 Pag: 09 - DR. BEN - CERTIFIED PLASTIC SURGEON Tel: 766-4871, Cell: 333-105-0402 Pag: 17 - DR. HECTOR G. MIRAMONTES - SPECIALIST IN COSMETIC SURGERY Tel: (332) 203-6398 Pag: 11 - DRA. CLAUDIA LILIA CAMACHO CHOZA Tel: 33-3403-3857 Pag: 27

- COLDWELLBANKER CHAPALA REALTY Tel: 766-1152, Cell:(045) 331-386-7597 Pag: 41 - FOR RENT Pag: 36 Cell: 333-667-6554 - FOR RENT Pag: 30 Cell: 33-1115-6584, 33-3196-9679 - FOR RENT Pag: 34 Cell: 33-1308-4050 - VILLAS DEL SOL Pag: 39 Tel: 766-1152

* MOVERS - BEST MEXICO MOVERS US/CANADA: (915) 235-1951 US Cell: (520) 940-0481 - LAKE CHAPALA MOVING Tel: 766-5008 - STROM-WHITE MOVERS Tel: 766-6153

Pag: 06 Pag: 03 Pag: 12

* MUSIC / THEATRE / EVENTS - D.J. HOWARD Tel: 766-3044

Pag: 06

- MAQUINARIA Y HERRAMIENTAS PROFESIONALES Tel: 387-763-1232, Cell: 33-1892-2142

Pag: 39

* PAINT - QUIROZ-Impermeabilizantes Tel: 766-2311 - QUIROZ-Pinturas Tel: 766-2311

Pag: 39 Pag: 14

* PHARMACIES

* GRILLS - NAPOLEON Tel: 766-6153

- L&D CENTER Tel: 766-1064

* OUTDOOR EQUIPMENT

* GARDENING

* CHIROPRACTOR

- STEAM CLEAN Tel: 33-2385-0410

Pag: 21

- AUTOMATIC GARAGE DOOR OPENERS Tel: 766-4973, Cell: 332-213-8933 Pag: 14

Pag: 30

* LIGHTING

- CENTRO LAGUNA Tel: 766-5514

Pag: 27

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* GARAGE DOORS OPENERS

Pag: 39

- SOLBES & SOLBES Tel: 331-520-5529, Cell: 333-676-6245

* MALL / OUTLET

Pag: 39

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* CANOPIES

- DR. LOWELL BIRCH, Chiropractor Tel: 01-915-706-1588, Cell: 331-319-1799

Pag: 12

- FUMIGA Tel: 688-2826, Cell: 331-464-6705 - MOSQUITO CONTROL Cell: 331-498-7699

* BOUTIQUE / CUSTOM SEWING

- LONAS MEXICO Tel: 766-0045, Cell: 33-3956-4852

Pag: 35

* FUMIGATION

* BEER & LIQUOR STORES

- LA BELLA VIDA Tel: 766-5131 - SO CHIC BOUTIQUE Tel: 331-762-7838

Pag: 16

* FISH MARKET - COSTALEGRE Tel: 108-1087, 33-1173-6144

- INVESTMENT Tel: (387) 763-0782

* LEGAL SERVICES

DENTISTS

* BANK INVESTMENT

- BETO’S WINE & LIQUOR Cell: (045) 333-507-3024

Pag: 26

* ELECTRONICS/ TECHNOLOGY

- MULTISERVICIO AUTOMOTRIZ ESCALERA Tel: 765-4424, 333-440-2412 Pag: 34

- CHRISTINE’S Tel: 106-0864, 766-6140 - EDITH’S SALON Cell: 33-1310-9372 - GLORIOSA Tel: 766-3372 - NEW LOOK STUDIO Tel: 766-6000, 33-3950-9990

* INVESTMENT

Pag: 32

* AUTOMOTIVE

- INTERCAM Tel: 766-5978 - MULTIVA Tel: 766-2499