sky meadow state park, va

piedmont trail

natural arch

liz and donna

la puerta a México

It's been three weeks since our return and I have been missing Mexico intensely--the landscapes, visual arts, architecture, history, food--all of it, but most especially, the people. From Mexico City, to Oaxaca, to the Sierra, to a small lagoon on the Pacific coast, we constantly encountered kindness, patience, warmth, deep intelligence, and soul-touching creativity. And even though I learned about my own Mexican heritage 16 years ago, I realized during our time there that I understood so little about Mexico and its people, along with their challenges, hopes, concerns, and rightful pride. So much to learn and I am grateful this door opened.

father's day, zócalo, Puebla

Miguel Angel Leyva Hernandez, artist and philosopher, Oaxaca

Juana Chávez, weaver and chocolatier, Teotitlán del Valle, Estado de Oaxaca

Rudilio Jimenez Garcia, proud of his Zapoteco heritage, Oaxaca

Angel, grandson of Señor Jimenez Garcia

tourist from Veracruz, singing on top of Monte Albán

teotihuacán, valley of mexico

After having reached its peak of a quarter million residents, this once thriving and diverse metropolis was abandoned around 750 CE, but it was never lost or forgotten. Because of the enormity of the pyramids, some 600 years later the Nahuatl-speaking Mexica peoples assumed the site had to have been built by the gods, and so they named it Teotihuacan, "The Place of the Gods."

Temple of the Feathered Serpent

Pyramid of the Sun, one of the largest structures in prehispanic mesoamerica. Aligned with the mountain beyond.

Pyramid of the Moon, as seen from the Pyramid of the Sun

meuse and muse

While reading Sally Mann's new memoir, Hold Still, I learned a word of such beautiful precision: meuse. She writes, "When an animal, a rabbit, say, beds down in a protecting fencerow, the weight and warmth of his curled body leaves a mirroring mark upon the ground. The grasses often appear to have been woven into a birdlike nest and perhaps were indeed caught and pulled around by the delicate claws as he turned in a circle before into rest. This soft bowl in the grasses, this body-formed evidence of hare, has a name, an obsolete but beautiful word .  .  . Each of us leaves evidence on the earth that in various ways bears our form . . .

Since reading this I have been thinking of my father-in-law, Mike, and the day that we drove to southwestern Virginia then hiked up the mountain to the cabin where he had lived for 35 years. I stepped into the world of Muse--memory and inspiration--with his impressions and traces of life lived with fierce creativity, focus, and devotion. Poignant evidence.

I remembered the photos I took on that day--his birthday--two years ago July. It was days before Shadow, his beloved labrador had died, and she, with her sharp memory and enthusiasm prevailing over her ailing hind legs, beat us all to the top.

denia, joel & david (the cutest little boy ever)

our lady of the westside

I'm drawn deeply to this barrio in San Antonio. Margaret, mi abuelita, grew up on Ruiz Street and I remember visiting my great-grandparents at that house as a child. Leonor, my great-grandmother, making tamales and giving me coffee with dollops of sugar added by me. Then running around in happy delirium chasing and being chased by all the Sorola cousins. The house is not as I remember it, and I couldn't even find it this time. But now it's the murals. Given Margaret's intense and poignant devotion, I can't help but most adore those of our Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.

Cristo Rey Church, Perez Street, where my aunt Rita was baptized.

Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center

Colorado & Ruiz

Guadalupe Community Center,  W. César Chávez Blvd & S. Trinity

June 2016 update

Chupaderas & Guadalupe

S. Brazos & Guadalupe

W. Poplar, Claudio A. Bemmato, 1999

moving north--at La Bandera Molina, Zarzamora & Magnolia

studies in gray - united states botanical garden

where i live

brass band at good foods grand opening, rhode island ave, dc

vodou in chicago

What an extraordinary moment too see Vodou--including Bizango secret societies--receiving public respect. Why this spectacular exhibition is at a natural history and not an art museum is another matter. Still, the Field Museum continues to champion Vodou, having hosted Sacred Arts in 1995.

We went two days before the new year and the exhibition was jam packed and sold out! People of all ages were engrossed, inquisitive. They zoomed in and read the labels then stood back and tried to understand the larger context. One mother tried earnestly to explain to her young son why some people interact with the spirit world, why their ancestors are so beloved. Most of these objects--so dizzyingly complex with meaning and history--were never intended for outside eyes. And yet here they were, beheld by the public, with an intuitive understanding that this was an enormous gift.

I first received this gift in 2002 when I met Marianne Lehman, a Swiss national and Haitian citizen, who started this collection in 1986. Now the Foundation pour la préservation, la valorisation et la production d'oeuvres culturelles haïtiennes (FPVPOCH), based in Pétion-Ville, Haiti, oversees the collection.

entrance to the field museum

Reading about the history of domination and resistance experienced by the Haitian people.

Pwen Ibo. A pwen is a concentrated point of energy of a lwa (sprit) or an ancestor. Outsiders may be alarmed by the use of bones, but here the meaning is different. They keep the spirits close. Ibo refers to Ibo peoples of Nigeria, who were among those enslaved. Many chose suicide over enslavement.

Ezili Freda, lwa of love and luxury, in the form of a doll.

second exhibition hall

Bizango soldier. Bizango secret societies rose from a world where untold brutality was the norm. They fought tirelessly against the horrors of slavery and injustice and many people credit them for their part in overthrowing the French colonial system. Some Vodouists declare that the work of Bizango is done, they are no longer needed. The exhibition challenges this assumption and asks who else can provide protection when the state and elite continue to disenfranchise and oppress?

Boy taking in the bizango soldiers.