Saw you in the Ojo
1
Saw you in the Ojo
3
D IRE C TOR Y PUBLISHER Richard Tingen
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Alejandro Grattan-Domínguez Tel: (01376) 765 3676, 765 2877 Fax: (01376) 765 3528 Associate Publisher David Tingen Graphic Design Roberto C. Rojas Diana Parra Morales
Index...
FEATURE ARTICLES
8
COVER STORY
Patsy Krakoff jumps forward in time and writes about an Ojo awards luncheon in the year 2068, during which a former editor of the magazine, having been artificially preserved, makes a special appearance. 12 FAMOUS PEOPLE Bert Slocombe remembers a long-distant time when he had a chance encounter with one of the greatest men of the 20th century, Mohandas Gandhi.
Associate Editor Victoria Schmidt Art Critic / Contributing Editor Rob Mohr
Bernie Suttle remembers the brief and highly unusual time he once spent in a Catholic confessional.
Book Review Panel Margaret Van Every Margaret Porter Clare Gearhart
Office Secretary 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
34
6
Editor’s Page
46 LAKESIDE NEWS
10 Ramblings from Ranch 16 Profiling Tepehua
LAKESIDE LIVING
Kathy Koches tells us all about the new children’s library in San Juan Cosala—and the benevolent Ex-pat and Mexican mothers who made it all happen,
48 FOR DOG LOVERS Catherine Moore relates a true story about how a dog changed her father’s last years, and hence made those same years much better for her, as well. 50 AMERICAN HISTORY Dr. Lorin Swinehart relates how unmitigated cruelty to animals forever cost the country’s citizens one of their best sources of sustenance.
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 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.
4
COLUMNS THIS MONTH
26 ABSURDIST HUMOR
Theater Critic Michael Warren
Sales Manager Bruce Fraser Carmene Berner
8 Cover By Amanda Murray
Special Events Editor Sandy Olson
Roving Correspondent Dr. Lorin Swinehart
COVER STORY
VOLUME 35 NUMBER 1
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
22 Welcome to Mexico 34 Lakeside Living 44 Focus on Art 56 LCS Newsletter
Saw you in the Ojo
5
COLUMNIST
Editor’s Page
By Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez RONALD REAGAN— Actor!?
T
here are those who disagree with just about everything that was ever said by Ronald Reagan, the politician—and it has been fashionable for them to likewise rudely dismiss the President Reagan’s long career in the entertainment industry. But with what follows, we’ll try to make a case for Reagan, the actor. Item: While still in college in Iowa, Reagan used to broadcast the Chicago Cubs baseball games. No big deal, except Reagan never actually saw the games. Instead, working off a telegraph play by play of the game, he created the illusion that he was actually in attendance, watching the ballgame unfold—and did it so brilliantly that no one ever suspected the truth. Now granted that was not exactly like playing Hamlet, but a quick wit, compelling voice, engaging manner and a vivid imagination are usually some of the tools a fine actor uses to ply his trade. Item: Only a few short years later, Reagan was signed by Warner Bros. Studio, and soon appeared in one of Bette Davis’ most famous films, Dark Victory. Playing the rather bland part of a charming young country-club loafer, Reagan brought to the role a sadder, darker dimension which registered with audiences, hinting as it did at some of his personal history in dealing with a failed, alcoholic father. Item: Another triumph soon materialized when Reagan was cast as the legendary George Gipp in Knute Rockne—All-American. Gipp had been one of the greatest college football players of his era, time and again having taken Notre Dame to victory over heavily-favored opponents. Gipp was not, however, the standard sports hero. On the team’s long train rides out to play college teams on the West Coast, Gipp would spend all his time in the gambling car, playing and beating the card-sharks that always went
6
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
along on such trips. But Gipp is best remembered for the speech he made when he was soon to die of a severe throat infection. Taking the hand of Coach Rockne, whom he revered, Gipp said something that I’ll bet no college football player has ever forgotten: “Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it, and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they’ve got and win just one for the Gipper. I’ll know about it and I’ll be happy.” “Dying” on-screen is one of the hardest things for an actor to bring off, with many failing to truly touch our emotions because they’re trying so hard that the scene ends in bathos rather than pathos. Reagan did it in pitch-perfect style—and Notre Dame football players are still being shown the movie (some 100 years later!) in the hope that they can go out and again “win one for the Gipper.” Item: In 1944, Reagan starred, along with Robert Cummings and Ann Sheridan, in King’s Row. The movie was extremely daring for its time, dealing (though in various degrees) with incest, psychiatry, medical malpractice, class distinction, sadistic surgeons and insanity—and all this in a prim and proper small town in the Midwest around the end of the 19th century. Reagan plays a carefree playboy whose life-style is crushed when his family’s money is embezzled by
the owner of the town’s main bank. Thereafter, he takes a night job with the railroad, moves in with Sheridan and her poor family, and becomes a working stiff—until one night when he slips and falls under a slow-moving train. Severely injured, he is attended by the town’s most prominent doctor, who has long hated him, and decides to (needlessly) amputate both his legs. Thereafter, the young man sinks into an unfathomable depression until later, in finally learning the truth from his boyhood friend, (Cummings, now a psychiatrist) actor Reagan does an amazing turnaround, going from deep grief to fully recovering his once-formidable fighting spirit— and all in one brief scene that might have taken another good actor several scenes to achieve the same effect. Unfortunately, Reagan’s screen career did not end there, as he went on to a lackluster series of movie and TV roles that demanded little more of him than he simply show up on the dates of the filming, silly films like Bedtime for Bonzo (in which he costarred with a chimpanzee) and the terminally dull movies he made with his wife-to-be, Nancy Davis. Today, most people only remember the last stages of his acting career
and judge him accordingly. But here, we have a cultural divide: Americans place a very high premium on consistency; Hispanics believe in judging a man by his best moments, and believe that once he has done something exceptional, he always has it in him to do it again. We leave it to our readers to judge which method is the more equitable. Alejandro GrattanDominguez
Saw you in the Ojo
7
AN OJO CELEBRATION: The 75th Awards Luncheon By Patsy Krakoff
S
eptember, 2068 We jumped into our personal Hover Pod, parked near the Malecon, and handed a Bitcoin voucher for $500 pesos to the kid to watch it. We hurried down Colon toward Tango restaurant. It was a brilliant sunny day in Ajijic, even if it’s now artificial. We remember 2018, the last year we had real sunshine and clean air. That was before the snows came, before pollution blocked the sun— before nuclear debris and radiation floated down from the Global Wars up North. Looking up, my husband Rob pointed to the protective glass bubble that shields the lake. “Looks almost real, huh? Here’s hoping they don’t have any power outages.” “How can they? Everything’s solar, backed up by hydrogen fuel cells and enough energy reserves to last until the end of the 21st century.” He almost tripped, suddenly looking downwards. “Careful, honey, they still haven’t fixed the potholes they promised in the last elections.” “Plus change, plus ç’est la même…” We’ve lived at Lakeside 65 years. Many things have changed, others stay the same. Rob and I are alive, thanks to nanobots, implants, artificial joints, and the latest bio technology and engineered nutrition. He is 137, I’m 133.
8
We use artificial intelligence in an embedded brain chip that’s connected to the Internet 3.0. We get information simply by glancing up at our 10th generation Google glasses. What we don’t know or understand, we ask our domestic robot to research from home and he’ll text us. Lord knows, at this Ojo luncheon, we might need to look up names of a few old movies, actors, writers, and book titles. When you have lunch with Ojo writers, it’s a game of intellectual ping-pong. People play trivia with obscure factoids—some not even true. We intend to have fun at this 75th year reunion organized by Alejandro Grattan, Editor Emeritus. Although deceased, he made advanced arrangements with the Cryology Bank in Guadalajara to be thawed and rebooted in time for this historic event. He invited the best creative minds from the early 21st century—and then added Ed Tasca, John Ward, Rob Krakoff, Mel Goldberg. Alejandro stood at the entrance to the Tango. Wearing traditional shirt, trousers, belt and silk neck foulard, he looked great for being dead. The cryotherapy services where he has been for the last 45 years must have top-of-the-line rejuvenation
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
services. “Grattan, you look great! How’s death treating you?” Rob asked. “Can’t complain. Well, I could but I can’t remember why. Woke up with a helluva headache, and lost a few pounds. Apparently this cryotherapy and rejuvenation process puts a little spring in your step. I feel great!” “Thanks for inviting us. Did you like my latest piece?” “You know, that reminds me of a story back in Hollywood with John Huston and—” “Oh yeah, you told me that one. Did you hear the one about the Rabbi, the Italian, and the Pollock sent to the electric chair for murder?” “Alejandro!” A pretty lady gave him a kiss on the cheek and off he went on her arm, whispering, “You know, this reminds me of the time Errol Flynn and Rita Hayworth…” John Ward arrived next with his beautiful wife, the dancer Val Jones. Both glided smoothly up the steps, a sure sign they had recently replaced hips and knees. He called to us, “Hey, you two!” John was obviously buying time to remember our names. “It’s Patsi, John,” I replied. “Patsi and Rob Krakoff?” “No, no, I’m John. It’s John and Val. And no, we’re not going to screw off. We just got here.” “Krak-off, John, Kra—oh, never mind.” Fortunately, the Ojo had supplied us with large print name tags. We watched the gathering of literary figures. Ed Tasca reached out to greet Mel Goldberg who—while putting on his glasses to read Ed’s name tag—promptly fell into a gaping pothole. “Come on, let’s get a good table.” We were anxious to learn the Best Article Awards for the Ojo de Lago. Alejandro Grattan began by thanking his writers for all their fine work over the last 75 years. “You know, it’s getting harder to find good writers these days because of
technology. Seventy-five years ago, no one had immediate access to facts and good writing ideas with a click of a mouse. Today, anybody can borrow ideas, and generate great original content.” He hesitated for a moment, so I spoke up. “Alejandro, what advice do you have for new authors who want to write for the Ojo?” “Frankly, I’m not looking for new writers. My new editing robot and writing software can do it all. I log on, tell it what I want, and in minutes, it scans all the published articles and writes a new piece using some of the same material—and I get something that’s funnier than before. It even catches those pesky Canadian and English spellings. Then I can retreat to my cryo-pod until the next issue and catch up on my sleep.” “But, aren’t you afraid of plagiarism? What if a writer recognizes you’ve used his work?” He scoffed. “First of all, nobody can remember what they read or wrote last week, let alone over the last century.” The crowd of now obsolete writers began grumbling—getting out of their seats to lunge at Alejandro. But bread was served, so they sat down quickly and grabbed it. A few began chanting for justice. Others asked him to repeat what he said, since they couldn’t hear. “Okay, okay, I understand your pain.” He tried to calm the audience. “I want to be fair. How about this, if you spot your writing from a published piece, we’ll pay you the same fee as before.” The crowd jumped to their feet shouting and throwing food. Others tried catching it. “Okay, then we’ll double your fee!” And so it was that the crowd gradually calmed down. Alejandro announced the winning articles and awarded trophies to the writer bots. Someone asked for seconds, taking his promise of double pay to heart. A Hover Van from the Cryology Bank arrived to take him back. I felt sad that we might not see him again until the 100th anniversary, but glad he was in such great shape after being kept on ice for so long. Ed. Note: The real Ojo Awards Luncheon, our 24th, will take place on September 18, noon, Tango Restaurant. Zombies will not be admitPatsy Krakoff ted.
Saw you in the Ojo
9
RAMBLINGS FROM THE RANCH
M
any of us living Lakeside have noticed the dramatic decrease in needy street dogs. Thanks to many hardworking volunteers, devoting time to shelters and spay and neuter clinics progress continues. The Ranch houses anywhere from 80 to 90 dogs rescued from abusive situations or that have been abandoned. In fact, the organization and the dogs rely on volunteers and to be a Ranch volunteer, loving dogs is the only requirement. A typical day, generally a few hours, starts like this - a friendly volunteer will give you a ride at around 9:00 a.m. or we’ll give you directions. New volunteers receive a thorough orientation for their own and the dogs’ safety. Usually there are two dogs in a kennel where you’ll find a card indicating the dogs’
10
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
name and special instructions as needed. Like all dogs they each have their unique personality and volunteers are able to match their skills with the dogs’ temperament. Basic activities include walking or jogging with dogs, as well as grooming, bathing or training. Some volunteers are soothers who choose to work with dogs who have had a harsh past and lost their trust in humans. These volunteers might sit with the dogs gently coaxing them to allow humans into their hearts again so they can be someone’s forever pet. Other volunteers choose to work with puppies. The hardest part of that job is deciding how many puppies to play with in a day. One thing that’s certain is all dogs stand alert at their kennel doors when the leashes come out. By mid-morning the dogs are back in their runs ready for lunch. Feeding up to 90 dogs is quite a process, but the system runs well and every dog is fed in a timely manner. Once lunch is distributed the bowls are picked up then washed, ready for the next day’s meal. The best job of the day is passing out doggie cookies. Everyone gets a treat and happiness abounds. After the cookies are gobbled up it’s nap time – for the dogs. Ordinarily that’s at about 1:00 and the dogs are quiet and calm, grateful for the attention they’ve been given. To find out how to volunteer, adopt a dog or make a donation please contact The Ranch: www.adoptaranchdog@outlook.com or 331.270.4447.
Saw you in the Ojo 11
A Man For All Seasons By Bert Slocombe
S
ometimes chance meetings between people of different ethnicity, cultural mores and religious beliefs can leave their imprint for good, even to the point of changing one’s life objective and purpose. Such was my good fortune as a young British soldier, who, after completing war-time service in Europe, was assigned to India with thousands of others to wind down the centuries long love/hate relationship between a restless, economically deprived, and occupied people to a paternalistic, self-seeking, and authoritarian colonial nation: As a young English school boy, I was taught in school that India was the Crown’s Jewel and pride, an example of Britain’s exemplary political skills in government! It was not until my military time spent in India, when I immersed myself in the history and culture of this sub-continent, and began to appreciate these colorful and hospitable peoples of many faiths and political persuasions that I realized my school text books on India were far from what I now knew to be true. It was a shocking truth I had difficulty in accepting that I was a citizen and part of a nation that for centuries had held a whole Asian nation under its political and military thumb and had mercilessly exercised an economic stranglehold on its wealth and human potential.
12
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
From my boyhood I had heard occasionally from my parents about an Indian man named Gandhi, and sometimes I had seen photos of him in the News Chronicle the family’s daily newspaper, skinny, and scantily clad with a dohti or loin cloth which immediately turned me off. It was in 1947 that this kaleidoscope of events began to make sense when the Padre of my Regiment stationed at the Indian Military Academy in Dehra Dun close to the foothills of the Himalayas informed us that Mr. Mohandas Gandhi was coming into our area and was scheduled to speak to a large group of Indian ‘Outcasts’ at a close by area called ‘Happy Valley.’ The ‘Outcasts’ were the millions of ‘Untouchables’ who, by virtue of their birth were classified into the ‘favored’ or the ‘unfavored’ of Indian society, which I learned to loathe with almost a holy hatred. In the Hindi language these millions of Indian society were called ‘pariahs’ which literally means ‘dogs.’ Fortunately, under the progressive government of Mr. Nehru, this nefarious word was legally outlawed. Our Regimental Padre, a progressive and outgoing product of the British Anglican Church, had, unknown to us, contacted Mr. Gandhi’s secretary, and asked if it would be possible for the Mahatma to spare a little time for a few of the Regiment’s Interested members? Within a week Mr. Gandhi
answered in the affirmative and a date and time was arranged. I had already made up my mind that I wanted to become a ‘working’ volunteer in the New India and already had agreed to be an assistant manager of a Tea Plantation high up in the hills of Shallong in Assam, Northern India: Awareness of cultural norms are important in sealing friendships in any country and India was no exception. Entering Mr. Gandhi’s lowly residence we removed our army boots and socks before walking into the room where Mr. Gandhi was sitting cross legged on a raised wooden dais with his entourage of devoted followers. We guys sat cross legged on the earth floor in front of him. Mr. Gandhi was well aware that many of us young soldiers had to return to England to complete our education hindered by several years of war, and he encouraged us to do just that before returning to India to share our modern skills and know-how with the newly free India scheduled for complete emancipation in 1948. Mr. Gandhi welcomed us to ask him any question related to the future inevitable independence of India and this we did with alacrity. “Would the new Indian government welcome those of us who would like to return in a ‘working’ capacity?” He made it quite clear that we would be welcomed back into the work force of the new and progressive India but with one proviso--that in our working activities in assisting building up the new Indian nation, we would not be allowed in any way or form to undermine the loyalties of the Indian people to their newly elected government. During this friendly conversation of around 3 – 4 hours Indian tea was provided for us and were welcomed to leave the room at anytime to stretch our legs (We were not accustomed to sitting cross-legged for any length of time) or to attend to bathroom needs after the cultural expression of putting
our hands together, and briefly bowing our head towards our host. Mr. Gandhi was adamant that we learn to speak and write Hindi the national language of India, and not to rely on the corrupted form of Urdu which all commissioned officers stationed in India had to learn. Throughout this historic interview Mr. Gandhi never once mentioned the shameful ways we British had treated him over the many years he had led his people in ‘Non-Violent Disobedience’ activities against the British Raj as his way of gaining Independence for his people: Not once did he mention his continual personal vilification and demonization by a frustrated British government. Neither during this long dialogue did Mr. Gandhi in any way condemn Britain’s long-time economic plunder and exploitation of his people. On leaving, my thoughts were only of this amazing man’s extraordinary gift of ‘forgiveness,’ which to me were truly ‘God-Like’ in a world seething with mistrust and fear of each other: Mr. Gandhi whose presence was removed by an unforgiving assassin’s hand of a fellow Hindu just before his nation’s emancipation and freedom will always have a very special place in my own thinking of how I perceive other nations and the healing power of forgiveness.
Saw you in the Ojo 13
THE ONE-EYED BOY By Gabrielle Blair
T
oday my heart aches from too much plenty. Irritation, anger, fear weighs me down. The tears stored up push like a tidal wave against a fragile dyke. I stroll the impersonal city streets and see the desolate lives of the infirm beggars, forlorn, patiently extending their plastic cups for a few pesos; they crouch beside the cathedral doors. I drop my five peso coin, the last of my change. But I still have a couple of five hundred peso notes. I have chosen to give to the woman, with her dirty children spread around her. The man with the big open sore on his leg attracts more sym-
14
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
pathy, and thus more hand-outs. Within the cool, dim basilica, the service is in progress. A richvoiced baritone sings a hymn and my tears flow. In the pew in front of mine, a woman dabs her eyes with a balled up tissue. Her husband rocks their little one-eyed boy in his arms, who looks around with his one good eye. When in the service people turn to shake hands, the father turns to take my hand. I make a point of shaking the hand of the baby too and am rewarded with an enormous smile. Later, before I leave the cathedral, I tell the boy’s parents that they have a beautiful baby and I ask his name – Gabriel. Baby and I shake hands again and I tell him he’s beautiful – in English. The parents smile too and my pain diminishes. I’ve met someone with my name and I know that in Mexico this has special significance Outside a man walks his little dog dressed in a baseball cap, necklace and booties. He pauses to adjust a twisted bootie on a front paw and tells me proudly how pretty his dog is. I agree. He’s not asking for money. There are other ways to give. The city seems a better place now and I walk back the way I came with a light heart.
Saw you in the Ojo 15
COLUMNIST
PROFILING TEPEHUA By Moonyeen King
President of the Board for Tepehua
moonie1935@yahoo.com
T
he Tepehua Community Center proudly opened the door to its Gymnasium at the end of July. The first week was very slow with only a few people. As weeks passed, more people came. “If you build it, (they) will come,” appropriately from the movie “Field of Dreams.” The purpose of the gym was to provide an alternative activity for youth hanging around the street corners of Tepehua inhaling or drinking their choice of passive suicide. All ages are coming to the gym, including women. The instructor, Carlos, is a professional whose earlier life echoed that of the
16
boys; he lived their stories. The Community Center has always been orientated to the whole family, but the recreation was always used by women and children because men would not come. The Center can now offer recreation that men/boys can enjoy as well as women. At this point, the classes are free three times a week, because of a generous mentor who is paying for the professional’s time. The gymnasium will have to come up with a way to become sustainable. Once we get some more donations for equipment, sustainability should be
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
the easy part. There is a difference between weightlifting and gymnastics, one builds muscle mass and the other improves balance and grace. One aims at strength and the other perfection of movement. It’s easier to fail with gymnastics as the movements demand perfection to work, whereas weightlifting is a challenge that the body can overcome with much less time. The perfect mix of the two is required, obtainable balance and muscle tone, wherein lies therapy for a healthier mind. The earliest reference to weightlifting dates to China’s Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC – 256 BC), but also Egypt and Greece, from artifacts found. Gymnastics started around 393 AD in Greece, the word derived from a Greek word meaning “to exercise naked,” which they did. (Tepehua doesn’t!!) The Romans, after conquering Greece, turned it into a more formal sport and used it to train their legions for warfare. In Japan they have taken weightlifting to another extreme in recent years, tying weights to the expanded part of the corpus cavernosum of the male urethra. To strengthen the muscle they even flagellate with bricks. Please do not call the author
to translate, It’s an ‘ouch!’ Incarcerated men devised exercises for small places. Charles Salvador (alias Charles Bronson) was one such prisoner and even wrote a book on the subject, advocating not allowing your circumstances to waste your mind or body. Poverty is a little like incarceration, where vision for a future is small and opportunity non-existent. Like most group efforts, you can change circumstances and create a door where there was none. The only failure is if you do not try.
Saw you in the Ojo 17
Touched By Katina Pontikes
I
was eager-eyed, cheerful, twenty-one years old. I had completed my junior year of college and my roommate and I were deciding what we should do with our lives. She was thinking that Chicago would be fun. I was giving serious consideration to the fact that I didn’t want to date underclassmen and there weren’t really any guys I was wanting to go out with. I was pretty much tired of our social scene. Such was the cerebral focus of our life contemplation. We had some friends who were sisters and we shared with them our shallow goals. They perked right up. Their dad was a highly successful executive and was on the board of directors of a large retail establishment. Payday! According to them all we had to do was go and meet with him, tell him what we would like to do, and he would use his influence to ensure that we would be hired. We were gleeful in our youthful enthusiasm. We planned our attire, borrowing clothing from one another to create professional outfits from what had been primarily blue jean-based wardrobes. We discussed how to apply our makeup to convey worldly sophistication. We role played how we would answer serious career questions, guessing at what might impress a man who ran a large corporation. We agonized about how we would make up for our lack of experience with creative, exaggerated explanations of past minor job stints that would have prepared us for our new jobs. We summoned the courage to call the famous company to reach the office of the president. An executive assistant explained that his daughters had referred us and all that was needed was to come in for our individual interviews. We lamented that we couldn’t go in together, to offer moral support to one another. I expected that meeting to place my life on an upward trend. I was so excited and buoyant that I could hardly wait for my audition. I showed up fifteen minutes early and an older woman had me sit in luxurious surroundings. I smelled wood polish and exotically scented fresh
18
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
flowers in Chinese bowls. I declined her offer of coffee, fearful that my nerves might already have me exhibit tremors in my moves. Her phone buzzed, and she looked up at me over her reading glasses. “He is ready to see you,” she stated dryly. I popped up, trying to project an upbeat confidence. The velvety carpeted office oozed success, a perfect balance of masculine furnishings with bright flashes of occasional crystal. A large antique globe perched between two leather chairs, where I was told to take a seat. The man’s hair was gray and groomed perfectly, as though he had just left the barber’s chair, perhaps after having a hot shave. His suit was cut close to his body and his tie had a slight glow to it, perhaps some silk fabric. I certainly wasn’t used to such wardrobe on my scruffy campus. Impressive. Our discussion began lightly. I relaxed and laughed. He asked about what I wanted in my job in Chicago and I poured forth my rehearsed mature -sounding answers. He stood from his desk and strolled as he talked about his position on the board of the store where I hoped to work. He made it clear that one word from him and I could have whatever job I wanted. Relief! He smoothly circled the desk and stood next to me. His hand reached and touched my neck, then squeezed my skin and lifted my hair in a flagrantly intimate gesture. I froze and felt a huge surge of adrenaline. I hadn’t practiced for this. How could I react without offending the father of my friends? Did they know he did this? Was this a test? My mind raced, and I decided to act like a statue, ignore what was happening. He circled me with his fingers tickling my neck. The interview ended. He no longer smiled. I did not know what I was supposed to have done, would never know. I got the job. katcpon@ yahoo.com Katina Pontikes
Saw you in the Ojo 19
Only For Lovers Of Words By J. D. Hicks
W
hen I was a university student, I often went to the library. Even on a Friday or Saturday evening, I’d enjoy stalking books among the stacks. It may sound sinister or unhealthy, but I was merely a developing bibliophile. Because I was a habitual user of the library, the staff knew me because I was the only person who regularly, indeed ever, borrowed a particular book: At 8” thick and weighing 9 pounds, Funk and Wagnall’s Unabridged Dictionary was not a tome to be taken lightly. The first time I plopped the heavy Funk and Wagnall’s on the counter-
20
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
top at the front desk, the startled librarian surveyed the big pulpy block of erudition and observed that the huge book could not be checked out because it was a reference book. I explained that I had found the giant dictionary in general circulation and that the checkout slip inside the green binding showed I could lawfully take it out for the normal checkout period. You can’t shoot a rocket higher than the heights of my elation as I lugged this Sequoia of books out of the library. In the coming months, I’d renew the dictionary many times, and in my one-room apartment, I’d scan the columns of small print for— For the answers, I refer you to Mr. Stommes, my charming eighthgrade teacher, who required his students to locate and learn the definitions for weekly vocabulary lists. This taught me two lessons. First, I discovered that if I ever hoped to broaden my knowledge of the English language, I needed to study it. Before Mr. Stommes, I had depended on my own guesswork or the offhand explanations of others for the meanings of words. I had never thought I needed to study the English language, because I had thought I owned it. Even apart from words I was completely unfamiliar with, there were words on the vocab lists whose meanings I had previously guessed and used. After checking the dictionary for these words, however, I realized that my guesses had erred. (I recall at the time the word puberty suggested fearsome and forbidden sexuality. I never uttered the word above a whisper. Later I was relieved to learn it described a phase of human development and I hadn’t been using an obscenity.) I saw that if I wanted to achieve clarity when I read, wrote, or spoke, I had to consult the lexicon for reliable definitions. The second lesson I learned was that words, even single words, could
entertain me. I found that words could delight with humor as in borborygmus or oologize or enchant with sound as in glossolalia or sylvan or tintinnabulation or intrigue with meaning alone as in eschatology or psychopomp. Beginning in the eighth grade, I set aside my baseball cards, the stamps, the penny and dime collections. By the time I entered the university, I was an experienced word collector. When I found a word I wanted to remember, I added it to my list. Like a bird fancier scanning tree branches for a new species to put on
his life list, I searched for a new word perching on the line of a page, or I hunted them in the vast expanses of unabridged dictionaries such as Funk and Wagnall’s or Webster’s International. I sought the novel, the exotic, the beautiful or plain, the melodious. Birders understand this, for they are outsiders in pursuit of an intangible reward. I am an outsider as well, but I am a worder and go wording in the inexhaustible English language. If you are a worder, I hope we meet someday on a quiet path somewhere among words.
Saw you in the Ojo 21
COLUMNIST
By Victoria Schmidt
Life and Death Along la Carretera
R
ecently we’ve taken up residence on a road that is lateral to la carretera. The carretera is an integral part of our daily life. The rumble of traffic has become a constant in our daily life. We haven’t yet been able to discern the day of the week by the amount of traffic, but we can tell when the traffic is normal, and when there is a slow down. We can also tell when the cows across the other side of the carretera venture into the road. For some reason, this displeases the motorists. We also have horses nearby that occasionally slip their pens and decide to graze along the road. Horns start blasting, and perhaps the drivers think that this will make the animal in question move out of their way. This is an ill-conceived notion as it only serves to frighten the animals and they do move, but more in a circular direction, keeping the road blocked. Then there are the drivers who will lie on their horn because traffic isn’t moving and they are so far back, they cannot see what the problem may be. Inside the house, someone will say: “Oh, the cows have escaped again.” The best thing I’ve found is to drive slowly through the small herd and try not to scare them. But then, there is always someone who thinks that a horn is an answer to everything. Entrance onto the carretera is not
easy on this little street. The flowers hide our sight of the oncoming traffic. I try not to go that way anymore, especially when one day a display of five wreaths appeared…the Mexican way of marking the anniversary of an untimely death that has occurred at the road. The other type of death along this road has been dogs and cats. The carcass of a dead dog lies barely along the side of the highway. I wonder how many cars, motorcycles, buses, bicycles and pedestrians pass by this poor animal each day, and yet it remains there. I don’t know whose job it is to clear the road, but my heart aches each time I see it there, and become even more paranoid about my dogs escaping the garage. Besides the horns or claxons as the Mexicans call them, there are the sirens of the ambulances and the policia, along with the squawks of transito pulling over someone who has violated traffic regulations. Trucks aren’t quiet either; especially those with air breaks or frenos. I never heard them before we moved to Mexico, and I don’t like their way of blasting through the air. Tanks are probably quieter. I miss the sounds that are no longer a part of our daily life: the voices, laughter and music of our vecinos as they passed by our home in our old neighborhood. We don’t hear the serenade of the gas trucks, the melodies of the water trucks, the flute of the knife sharpener, or the call of fruit vendors. I especially miss the foot traffic by our front gate, and the quick chats with my friends as they pass by. Each place we have lived in Mexico has had its brightness and shade. Our new home is filled with plants and trees and space galore. We do not miss our old house. But we miss our neighborhood, our barrio. Until one moves on, it cannot be known how much of the neighborhood life had seeped into our hearts. Victoria Schmidt
22
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
Saw you in the Ojo 23
The Born-Again Loser By Julie Elizabeth Mignard
I
guess you’ve heard about the born loser. You know, that guy who got caught stealing penny candy in 1959. He was in juvey by the time he was 10 years old. It’s not that he was any worse than most of the guys his age. It was just that he got caught every time he stepped over the line. So Joey Dee was 21 when he decided he’d had enough of the bad side and he repented of wrong doing and tried very hard to be a good person. He met a good person girl who slept every night with pink foam curlers in her hair and she believed in him as being a good person. He bought her a tiny ring and they got married. Now his life was Joey and Annie. But somehow Joey and Annie never became winners. OK, they weren’t bad people, Joey tried to be a working stiff and Annie tried to be a housewife with sparkling clean floors and a bouncing baby or two. The baby never appeared and the floors faded until there wasn’t any sparkle left. One day Joey came home from his work at the gas station and found Annie gone. She left a note. “I am sorry Joey. I just don’t love you anymore.” Once again Joey was a loser. A born-again loser. It was just his fate. After the divorcé of course
24
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
he got fired at the gas station. The rent was due, his car was already repoed on account of it was from a pay by the week used car lot. Joey was down the road drinking in a nameless beer joint when he met a guy who said Joey needed a tattoo. So Joey decided to have a “Born Loser” design on his left bicep. Except the tattoo guy was drunk too. So he ended up with “Born Looser” on his arm. It was pointless trying to join the human race. Joey became a vagrant. The other vagrants called him Looser because of the tattoo. So after awhile he even lost his name. He had been a bum for fifty years when he got herded onto a bus with all the other old vagrants in a city wide homeless clean up. The bus was old and stinky, just like him. By the pre-dawn dark the next night while all the passengers slept the bus was backed into a shipping container on a dock somewhere and left running while the container was sealed. The ship went to China where the contents were recycled. He became fertilizer. All except for his tattoo. It became a lampshade.
Saw you in the Ojo 25
PRIEST MURDERED. ALTER-BOY HELD By Bernie Suttle
M
om said, “We are going to a mission at the church.” A mission was a session designed to scare everyone into repentance with hell-fire and brimstone. “I said, “Do I halfta’ go?” Mom said, “It’s good for us all to go.” We went. A tag-team of two pale, gaunt, under-fed, unhappy-looking monks preached the mission. While these guys were yelling, then whispering their scary message, confessions were being heard to aid any repentant parishioner before he changed his mind and missed out on salvation. Mom told me to sit still. I was doing my best but these guys and their dramatics were a pain. I needed something to do so I said,
26
“I’m going to confession.” Mom smiled and said, “Fine, Son.” I climbed out of the pew past my grumbling sister, Meg, and then I saw it. The sign over the confessional said, “Father O’Keefe”. I froze. It was the dreaded pastor. My buddies had told me tales about him, which would have led them to leave the faith if their mothers didn’t stop them. As an altar boy I sat next to him during mass one Sunday at the side of the altar while the
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
choir sang. I liked being a server and wanted to see and be seen by my family in the congregation. “Where are they? They usually are down the left side near the door by Saint Joseph?” Father O’Keefe jabbed his elbow into my ribs. Accompanied by significant spittle, he whispered, “If you look out dere again I’ll t’row you off ‘da altar.” Whenever I went to confession I was concerned about how I appeared to others. Were they wondering, “What has he done?” “For all the time he’s taking he must be a world class sinner.” “Obviously he can’t be repentant. He’s here every week”. As I approached the confessional I wondered, “Will Father O’Keefe recognize my voice?” The typical confessional is three small, attached chambers. The one in the middle is for the priest. It has a chair and a light for reading, which he turns off when a confessor shows up. The priest’s section is between two smaller enclosures with kneelers for penitents. Communication is through a gauzed, ten-inch square window with a sliding door operated only
by the priest. When he is hearing one confession the sliding door is open and the other is closed. When waiting on the closed side I found humming keeps the other side’s words obscured if not confidential. “There’s no way out. I’m committed. Mom’s watching. Here goes. I’ll lower my nine-year-old voice and use a Russian accent.” I open the door and step into the pitch-black, silent, penitent cubicle. I kneel in front of the pastor’s closed window and practice, “Bless me Father for I have sinned” and I start making up benign transgressions that I think won’t upset the pastor too much. Everyone knows he’s under doctor’s care for cough and high blood pressure. Several minutes go by and I don’t see or hear anything. Maybe he opened the window when I entered and is waiting for me to start. So I begin with my new accent and altered voice. “Bless me father, for I have sinned.” No response. “Father, are you there?”… I repeat with increasing volume. “Father are you there?” Still only silence. No light on
the other side. Maybe the old priest dozed off. “Hi, are you there? I’m over here and ready.” Still nothing. “People in the church, including Mom, will be wondering what terrible sins I’m confessing to take so long.” I know he’s been sick. Maybe he died over there in his cubicle? Will people think the enormity of my sins caused his demise? I can see it now, a headline in The LA Times, “ALTAR BOY CONFESSES. PRIEST DIES.” “I’m getting out of here.” I step out of the cubicle into the blinding light of the church. I see Mom note my reappearance as though just remembering that I had accompanied her to church. My sister Meg leans over and says, “I wondered how long it would take you to realize that there was no priest. He went out when you went in. It took you a long time to figure out what was going on. You dummy!” Bernie Suttle
Saw you in the Ojo 27
My Karma Ran Over My Dogma! By Judy Dykstra-Brown
T
he small disk t h a t had been pinned to my visor pinged off the steering wheel and landed on my lap as we jolted over the rutted dirt road. I picked it off my leg before it was jostled off onto the gray carpet covered with gravel and slips of paper containing scribbled lines of inspiration for future poems. Quickly, I glanced at the words printed on its front. “My karma ran over my dogma.” I had thought it hilarious when I saw it pinned to the sweater of the man reading poetry at the L.A. coffee shop almost twenty years ago. I’d married the man it had led me to, who had worn it to every poetry event we’d attended for fifteen years afterwards. But when he turned seventy, it was suddenly obvious that he was wearing out fast. We’d been trav-
28
eling and setting up our art in art and craft shows for fourteen years by then. Setting up his sculpture booth and my jewelry booth was an 11 hour ordeal, of which lugging in and positioning his 300 pound stone and wood and paper sculptures were only a small part. We had moved to Northern California to live by art, but instead, as much as we loved our life, I had a feeling it was killing him. So I planned it all out. In spite of the fact that I was only 54, we would rent out our home and studios and move to Mexico to live simply so he could retire. On an initial two month trial run, we found the town where Bob was sure he wanted to retire, bought a house, and returned to California to sell most of our worldly goods. Our van sat in our driveway fully packed to the ceiling, kayaks on top packed with books and art supplies. Ready to leave for Mexico within a few days, we decided to both have our yearly physicals while we could still use our health insurance to do so. The day before we were set to leave, we received our results. When it was Bob’s turn, the doctor motioned me in as well: Pancreatic cancer. He lived just three weeks longer. Friends tried to dissuade me from
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
moving to Mexico without Bob, but one of the last things he’d said to me before he died was, “Jude, I think you should go ahead and move to Mexico by yourself,” and I agreed. We had already closed down our lives here. Now that he had journeyed on, it was time for me to do the same. I dealt with what needed to be dealt with and hit the road for Mexico with Bob’s ashes in the bow of the Kayak, leading the way. At the height of my career, I would have never thought of retiring. This entire move was calculated to prolong Bob’s life and to give him the leisure to create art without the pressures of setting up shows—lugging his 300 lb. sculptures half way across the nation and back, but he was now fulfilling his karma on another plane while I pursued the life I’d planned for him. So had this entire adventure of living in Mexico simply not been part of his karma, or was karma such an intricate tapestry that it was impossible to untangle yours from that of those near and dear and even strangers met in passing? Surely, the unbelievable interplay of serendipity was more than coincidence. Some force that is called karma by some, fate or synchronicity by others, and God, Allah or The Great Spirit by others, may be what determined who walked into your life; but it was up to you to decide whom you let walk away, whom you let stay, or whom you refused to let go. Now, here I was, driving eleven young men, one young woman and a puppet theater complete with sound system and fifty 3/4 scale puppets to a tiny village on the other side of the largest lake in Mexico.“The school is here, Judy,” said Eduardo, as he pointed to a dull gray building much-enlivened by a huge mural no doubt painted by the students themselves. I pulled up in front of the school and Isidro, Jose Luis, Mario, Roberto and the other young men
who formed the membership of the loosely-jointed cultural council of her own small pueblo started to assist the husband and wife team who constituted the entire backup cast of the puppet theater to unload their equipment. When their own truck had broken down en-route on the other side of the lake, villagers had told them to call the leader of this young band of artists, poets and dancers, and inevitably, I had been the one they called. How many times had I proven to be their backup player when plans, money or a vehicle had been needed to further their plans for the cultural enrichment of their small town? I had not resisted the charms of synchronicity and so had allowed myself to be pulled into the slow current of life in Mexico that, although it was not free of obligation–to family, friends, community–was nonetheless contingent on another sort of energy not so dependent upon schedules or clocks or calendars. Here things happened because they happened and you were drawn into them because you were present or known or because you had been willing to be drawn in the past and so were known to be someone open to chance and willing to play along in this great jigsaw puzzle known as Mexico. Here in this life I had fashioned so Bob could be free of the regulation of a job, applications, shows, schedules, boards of directors, groups, clubs and all of the “have to’s” of our former life, I had instead freed myself. Who knows, from day to day, whether we are part of someone else’s karma or Judy Dykstrawhether they are Brown part of ours?
Saw you in the Ojo 29
Catherine Deneuve Says #Metoo Is Driven By “Hatred Of Men.” (REUTERS)
P
ARIS — Actress Catherine Deneuve joined 99 other French women claiming that men are being unfairly targeted by sexual misconduct allegations, adding that the #MeToo campaign amounted to “puritanism” and was fueled by a “hatred of men.” In the aftermath of accusations against Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein, many women took to social media to share their stories of being sexually harassed or assaulted, using the #MeToo hashtag worldwide as well as #balancetonporc — or #SquealOnYourPig — in France. The 74-year-old Deneuve, who is one of France’s most famous screen stars, was among those warning that the “legitimate protest against sexual violence” stemming from Weinstein scandal had gone too far. “This urge to send men to the slaughterhouse, instead of helping women be more autonomous, helps the enemies of sexual freedom,” the 100 performers, scholars and others said in a column published Tuesday by Le Monde daily. The man’s right to “pester” a woman was an essential part of sexual freedom, they said in the open letter, describing the campaign as “puritanism.” Marlene Schiappa, the French minister tasked with cracking down on violence against women, has said that
30
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
the Weinstein scandal forced a rethink of attitudes toward sexual harassment in France, a country that cherishes its self-image as the land of seduction and romance. “We defend a right to pester, which is vital to sexual freedom” Schiappa kicked off nationwide consultations on a law that is due to include steps to fight sexual harassment on the streets as well as extend the statute of limitation for rape of minors. In late October, protesters in Paris disrupted the opening of a retrospective of Roman Polanski’s work following new rape allegations against the French-Polish film director. But for Deneuve and the other signatories of the letter, including writers and journalists, this went too far. “This vigilante (online) justice has punished men in their jobs, forced some to resign, when all they did was touch a knee, try to steal a kiss, talk about ‘intimate’ matters in a work dinner,” they wrote. “We defend a right to pester, which is vital to sexual freedom.” In a text published on the France infotv website Wednesday, feminist Caroline De Haas and more than 30 activists strongly criticized the letter signed by Deneuve. They said “It’s a bit like the awkward work colleague or annoying uncle who doesn’t understand what’s happening.” French defenders of seduction have previously warned against a backlash that could demonize romance. “France is a country of men who love women,” Guillaume Bigot, who has written about the Weinstein fallout in France, recently told the Associated Press. “Seduction is a profound part of our national identity ... the culture of the ‘French lover’ and the ‘French kiss’ is in danger because of political correctness.” (Ed. Note: The Ojo welcomes comments re the above-expressed point of view.)
Saw you in the Ojo 31
The Torsollini By Michael McLaughlin michaelmcmx@gmail.com
T
he actual name is the “torsollini,” but we have come to know it as the “tortellini” pasta shape. Many legends lay claim to the origins of this pasta shape, but all involve a beautiful Italian girl. A strong local tradition has it in the province of Modena this pasta was born in the tiny village of Castelfranco Emilia. One night during a trip, Lucrezia Torso (1877-1953) stayed at an inn in the small town. Some legends suggest it was Venus disguised as Lucrezia that inspired the shape of the tortellini – But all legends agree she was a very beautiful woman. And she was also an highly educated girl, even in those times, and lectured on the definite and elliptic integrals of prime numbers, the calculus of residues, and the retrograde motions of heavenly bodies. She also spoke Greek and Latin and could read Cuneiform. Men in her presence were described as Senza cervello…without brains.
32
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
During the night the host of the inn became so captivated by Lucrezia’s beauty that he could not resist the urge to peek into her room through the keyhole. The bedroom was lit by only a few candles, and so all he saw was her navel. This pure and innocent vision was enough to send him into an ecstasy, and inspired him to create the “torsollini.” Upon graduation from the University de Bologna in 1897, Lucrezia was denied professorship throughout Europe. She was quoted as saying, “No man takes me seriously. They offered me fortunes to look at my navel. What silly creatures men are.” In 1902, feed up, she became a nun and finished her advanced degree in Mathematics. She lived the rest of her life in a cloistered nunnery in Turin. In 1942, on orders from Mussolini, a picture of her navel was used on a box of De Cecco tortellini for the war effort and national morale. Upon her death in 1953 the picture of her navel on the pasta box was removed after a plea of decency from Pope Pious XII The original, authenticated black and white picture of her navel, taken in 1897, is kept in the archives of the Commissione Nazionale Forme di Pasta in Rome. The picture of Lucrezia’s navel was last seen in 1974.
Saw you in the Ojo 33
Sandy Olson
Phone: 331-283-8529 Email: sandyzihua@hotmail.com
OPEN CIRCLE Sunday morning finds many Lakeside residents at the Lake Chapala Society and Open Circle, a forum on a variety of stimulating topics. A social hour with coffee and snacks at 10 am is followed by an interesting lecture and discussion at 10:30. September 9 Mental Mechanics: Fast Track to Much Greater Mental Clarity and Life Enjoyment Presented by Al Lopez By the time you were three, you could understand and speak a language, and you could have learned more languages. Also, you had learned to walk and run and you could have learned to swim and play an instrument, too. Can you imagine how much more you would have progressed in your life had you continued to learn at that rate every three years? What happened? At some point you started to blur and block your mind with tension, haste, anxiety and cluttered thinking. But Al Lopez maintains you can recover a lot of that amazing capacity you had as a child through a coaching process that he calls mental mechanics. Al Lopez With 27 years of experience as a mental mechanics coach in eight countries, Al Lopez has authored eight books on the subject and has earned a generous endorsement from Stephen R. Covey. Al has a master’s degree in organizational behavior from Brigham Young University, has lectured at the University of Texas, and is a mental mechanics coach. He currently lives near Guadalajara. September 16 The New Psychology of the Mexican People Presented by Raúl Ruiz In 2014, Raúl Ruiz spoke at Open Circle and sketched the historical, anthropological, and psychological forces influencing how contemporary Mexicans think and act. This 16th of September, the day Mexico celebrates independence from Spain, Raúl will update his appraisal, taking into account recent changes in the world that, combined with the recent Mexican presidential election, have shaped new attitudes toward political and economic challenges favcing Mexico and Mexicans. He got his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1978 from ITESO, after which he worked for state and private companies during his first 12 years of practice. Since 1990 he has been in private practice as psychotherapist for individuals, couples and families. He has also taught in different universities and institutes, and was a trainer in leadership skills for corporate executives throughout Mexico. The lake area has been his home since 2014. September 23 Implications of the Law of Karma for You Raul Ruiz Presented by Victor Youcha, D.C. Victor will continue his discussion, begun several years ago, of Spiritual Law, delving deeper into the Law of Karma—its implications for us in this lifetime. Other spiritual laws will also be discussed. Victor J. Youcha, D.C., is a chiropractor with a practice in Ajijic, who also teaches to the chiropractic profession in Latin America. He has been a student of spirituality most all his life, having studied Yoga and meditation at Swami Satchitananda’s ashram in Santa Cruz, California, and then was a devotee of the Guru Maharaji. Later he studied with Lakota and Ojibwe spiritual teachers—meditation, Yoga, Qigong, sweat lodge ceremonies and vision quests. For the past 17 years, he has been a student of spiritual law through teachings derived from Eckankar.
34
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
September 30 Traveling with Songs Along the Way Presented by Olga Kaplounenko Olga will talk about her travels to different countries and her music-related experiences during these trips. A polyglot, she will sing in the languages of the countries visited: Russian, Swedish, English, French, Italian, and Spanish. Olga is a Muscovite, married with one son. She has a master’s degree in electrical engineering as well as a degree in music and jazz vocals from the Moscow Jazz College. She has worked as a guest researcher in Denmark, Sweden, and later in Silicon Valley, where she worked for 16 years. While in the US, she sang solo and in different choirs. When her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s five years ago, she moved to Mexico where she’s been involved with Los Cantantes and has participated in the LLT productions “Drowsy Chaperone” and “Tickle Your Fancy.” She also plays piano and guitar, but singing is her passion. October 7 The Impact of Trauma on Families, Friends, and Intimate Relationships Presented by Julian Labadie, M.A., CADC III A family member gets bad news from the doctor. A Olga Kaplounenko longtime marriage begins to disintegrate. Your grown child is abusing drugs or alcohol. These kinds of experiences may qualify as “trauma” and leave traces on your mind and emotions, on your capacity for joy and intimacy, and even on your biology and immune system. The speaker will increase our awareness of the broad scope of trauma, its impact on both those directly affected and on the people around them. He presents the opportunity for individuals to heal through a change in perspective and action. Julian Labadie holds a master’s degree in counseling along with nearly 40 years of education and experience in treating addictions, marriage and family therapy, and working with families affected by profound mental, emotional and physical illness. INTERESTING NEWS If one goes to amazon books, and types in the full name of our Editor-in-Chief, this is the first thing that comes up: “For more information about the author and his highly acclaimed book The Dark Side of the Dream, please visit his website. Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez was born in El Paso, Texas, the oldest son of an Irish father More about Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez Bestselling Books: The Dark Side of the Dream, Breaking Even, Whereabouts Unknown” MARRIAGE FOR BETTER...AND WORSE Clever Little Lies is Lakeside Little Theatre’s first production of the 2018-19 season. It’s directed by Collette Clavadetscher. Show dates are September 14-23. Showtimes are 7:30 pm, evenings, and 4 pm matinees. The first Saturday and both Sundays are matinees. Sensing from her husband that something is wrong in their son’s marriage, Alice invites the young couple over for a cocktails and cheesecake interrogation. As one set of lies after another breaks down in this comedy of falsehoods and infidelity, Alice offers an object lesson by creating a new web of fanciful deceit about her own marriage. Or is she telling the truth? Tickets are $250 pesos and available at LLT’s Box Office, 10 to noon every Wednesday and Thursday, also one hour before curThe Cast: Barbara Pruitt, Zane Pumiglia, tain. Email: tickets@
Donny Bryant, M.A. Bruneau
Continued on page 36
Saw you in the Ojo 35
lakesidelittletheatre.com or call (376) 766 0954 ROMANCE IN THE VILLAGE Viva la Musica finishes its summer concert series, “Romance in the Village.” Friday September 21 “Piano Romance” with Sergio Parra, pianist and composer, who will play a program of Chopin, Messiaen, Ibera and Debussy preludes. This performance is at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Riberas del Pilar. There will be a champagne and canapé reception in the garden at 3:30 pm and the concert is at 4 pm. Tickets are $400. Tickets will be available at the Lake Chapala Society Thursdays and Fridays from 10 to noon and also at Diane Pearl Colecciones and and Mia’s boutique, The cost is $500. LOVE THE BALLET The Ballet de Jalisco has commissioned a well known choreographer, Mark Godden, to create a new ballet of Carmen. The world premier will be performed at the Degollado Theatre in Guadalajara on September 21, 22 and 23. Viva la Musica is sponsoring a bus to the September 23 performance. Check with LCS Mondays or Thursdays, 10 to noon. THEY GOT PERSONAL The Gin Game is the next Naked Stage production. It’s directed by Don Chaloner and runs September 28, 29 and 30 at 4 pm. Here’s the review: “Snappy dialogue and quick wit crackle in this Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatic comedy that was called, ‘the closest thing the theatre offers to a duel at 10 paces’ by The New York Times.” Meet Weller and Fonsia, two strangers who are about to enter into a seemingly harmless game of gin rummy. When Fonsia goes on an instant winning streak, tensions build within their new friendship and the conversation starts to get Cast: Ed Tasca and Diana Rowland personal.” The Naked Stage is at Hidalgo #261 on the mountain side of the carretera in Riberas del Pilar, across from the Catholic Church. Parking is available in the parking lot of the Baptist Church, behind the theater. Donation is $100. The Box Office and bar open at 3 p.m. Reservations are by email at: nakedstagereservations@gmail.com. For those who use Facebook, look for The Naked Stage for breaking news and updates. WOULD YOU BELIEVE 1.6 MILLION HITS? Jim Cook and and his wife Carole moved from Oregon to Ajijic, Mexico in 2007. Since his arrival, Jim has made it a point to learn as much as possible about Mexican history and culture. He and Carole have visited many of Mexico’s colonial cities and ancient pre-hispanic ruins. They chronicle their journeys in their photo-journal blog called Jim and Carole’s Mexico Adventure. Since 2007, the blog has attracted more than 1.6 million page views from people living in over 130 countries and territories on every continent in the world including Antarctica. The couple is tireless in visiting and chronicling well known and not so well known sites all over Mexico. Check out their website: cookjmex.blogspot.com/. It’s a great resource for planning a trip. Jim Cook Jim provides an index for easy research. VIVA LA MUSICA AND “LIVE AT THE MET” Here are the fall bus trips planned by Viva for opera at the Teatro Diana. Saturday October 13 Aida by Verdi. Set in ancient Egypt, the tragic story of a cap-
36
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
tive Ethiopian princess in love with an enemy general, with Anna Netrebko in the title role (216 minutes). The bus leaves at 10:30 for the noon show. Saturday November 3 Samson and Delilah by Saint Saens, the biblical story of seduction an betrayal, with Elinaa Garanca as Delilah and Roberto Alagna as Samson (184 minutes). The bus leaves at 10:30 for the noon show. Saturday December 15 La Traviata (The Fallen Woman) by Verdi. The famous opera of love and misunderstanding, set in Paris with Diana Damrau as Violeta and Juan Diego Florez as Alfredo (187 minutes). The bus leaves at 10:30 for the noon show. Viva bus trips to the Met Opera are $450 and $550 for non-members. Tickets are available at the LCS ticket area Thursdays and Fridays from 10 to noon, or by calling Rosemary Keeling at 766-1801. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO LOW SEASON? It does seem that new residents are pouring into town almost daily from north
of the border. We surmise that many baby boomers are feeling financially pinched in these golden retirement years and are looking south for relief. Our friends in charge of fundraising events will soon catch on and start planning parties all year long. We hear that rentals are disappearing, house sales are booming and don’t let me get started on carretera traffic. Check out the crowd at the Tuesday organic market….. CLOSE TO HOME If you don’t want to travel to Guadalajara, try Viva la Musica events coming to the Auditorio Thursday, October 18 The Janus Quartet playing Shostakovich, Dvorak, Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart Friday, November 9 The Nath Quintet playing Brahms Clarinet Quintet op. 115, followed by the Schumann Piano Quintet op. 44 Thursday, December 6 The Jalisco Ballet Gala MARK YOUR CALENDARS We’ve heard from the planners of Feria 2018, which is November 9-11 this year. The theme is “The Colors of Nature” and artist lectures will be toward that theme. For a fuller experience check Feria Maestros del Arte’s website www.mexicoartshow. com for information on the individual artists, plus information on all aspects of the Feria - even hosting. Arnulfo Vázquez Rodríguez believes working with barro (clay) is in his blood. He is third generation beginning with his grandmother who taught her trade to Arnulfo’s well-known father, Salvador Vázquez Carmona (featured in the book “Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art”), who then passed it on to Arnulfo. New hours are 9:30 to 5:30 Friday and Saturday and 9:30 to 4:30 on Sunday. Admission will be $80. The venue is Club de Yates on Ramon Corona just past the fish restaurants. For Feria questions (general information, volunteering, artists), contact feriamaestros@gmail.com.
Saw you in the Ojo 37
NEVER SELL SIGNED BOOKS! By Mel Goldberg
I
sold my autographed books at the Bookman’s Used Book store in Flagstaff. I hated to do it but I got over $300 which really helped. I started walking back to my car, wondering why used book stores always seem to be in older parts of town. That was when I saw a burly man standing next to my car. He grabbed my arm and indicated he had a gun in his pocket. “Get in the car and keep your mouth shut. You drive.” As I opened the door I saw three other people in the back seat of my car, two men and a woman. They somehow looked familiar, like old friends I hadn’t seen in a long time. “How’d you get into my car? What do you want?” The woman leaned forward, her hands on the back of the driver’s seat.
38
“Why’d you sell us?” The question puzzled me. I looked at her carefully as we entered my car. Her short, dark, hair and her jeans and turtleneck sweater made her attractive in a masculine sort of way in. Then it hit me. “Kinsey? Kinsey Milhone?” “You got that right, buster. So answer my question.” Now I began to get a bit scared and stammered. “I . . . uh . . . I needed the money.” The man in the passenger seat pushed his gun into my ribs. His knees bumped the dash of my small Hyundai, so I knew he was tall. He glared at me, and I could see his eyes were blue. I was shocked. “I know you. You’re Philip Marlowe.” “Very clever, you young punk. Start the car and let’s get going. Head west
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
on old Route 66.” I did as I was told. He poked the gun in my side again. “We bust our asses solving crimes and our writers take the time to sign your damn books and this is how you treat us? You could have sold Ellery Queen. Or even that Belgian wimp, Hercule Poirot.” I faltered over my words. “They’re not worth very much.” A man in the back sneered. I could sense his disdain. “You got that right, kid. No one wants to buy them.” I turned briefly to see who it was. “Oh my God,” I said. “You’re Lew Archer.” “No kidding.” My passenger set the gun on the seat next to him and took a small bottle of Jim Beam from his coat. “Don’t try anything stupid.” After he took a swallow, he handed the bottle to the back seat. Archer took it. “Lew’s right,” said Kinsey. “Who the hell wants Queen. That’s not even a real name for Crissakes. It took two people, Frederick Dannay and Manfred Lee, to write his stories.” Archer took a sip. “You even sold Sam Spade. Didn’t you appreciate his trouble with Brigid O’Shaughnessy? And that gold falcon. How could you do that?” Archer handed the bottle to the oth-
er man, who shook his head and said he didn’t drink. “That stuff’s deadly for us Indians.” I immediately recognized the deep distinctive voice of Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn. We sped along in silence. Lew handed the bottle back to Marlowe. Kinsey sat back, her arms crossed. Leaphorn broke the silence. “Good thing Jim Chee isn’t here. He’d probably want to perform a Blessing Way ceremony for you.” “Pull over,” said Marlowe. “This is where you get out.” I maneuvered the car to the side of the road. I knew where we were. The forest was menacing and dark on the narrow highway. Trees and grass, but no houses. “Wait a minute. How do you expect me to get back?” Leaphorn laughed. “You can always walk. Be glad we didn’t drop you out on the Rez.” I exited the car and heard thumping from the trunk. “Who’s in there? “That’s army deserter Lieutenant Fredrick Henry. Got in the trunk by himself when you sold A Farewell to Arms. A first edition, no less.” “It didn’t have the jacket.” “It was signed, you goddam loser. You think writers should just give their signatures away? There’s always got to be a price.” “I’m sorry,” I stammered. I looked at the ground and said more softly. “I didn’t know. What can I do?” Marlowe waved me back into the car, gun in hand. “You’re a pain in the ass.” “Yeah,” added Kinsey. “And I really liked your small apartment, especially my place on your bookshelf with all my other books.” I got back into the car, drove back to the Bookmans. When they left, I went in, told them I had changed my mind, and bought back evMel Goldberg ery book.
Saw you in the Ojo 39
The Border Wall By William Franklin billstjamespl@gmail.com The border wall The border wall Paint it white and watch them crawl to the border wall. 25 billion to defend our shores From housepainters And gardeners And the poor Refugees from the south We’ll bear any burden To keep them out. With a border wall. Children crying in a cage mothers lost and the world dismayed tries to remember what we stood for when we freed the world from Fascist chains Let’s make America great again And build a wall sovereign we stand strong and tall and hide the shame of a border wall. The border wall The border wall Paint it white and watch them crawl to the border wall.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT For the 24th consecutive year, El Ojo del Lago will hold its Annual Awards Luncheon on the 18th of September at 12 noon at the Tango Restaurant in Ajijic. Those who made a literary contribution to our magazine over the course of this past year are cordially invited and encouraged to bring along a guest. The luncheon is the Tingen Family’s way of expressing its gratitude to the many fine writers who are the main reason for our success. SEE YOU THERE!
ATTENTION ARTICLE CONTRIBUTORS! Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have had to change our deadline for all articles of whatever nature from the 15th of each month to the 10th. We hope that will not inconvenience our many wonderful contributors! 40
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
Saw you in the Ojo 41
Buennota By Susa Silvermarie
B
“
uenota, la Gloriosa told herself, for she found herself very good.” from Luis Alberto Urrea’s House of Broken Angels Buenota, I told myself, for I found myself very bad. Bad was good, and the parents had no idea when they made me read this book that I was the spittin’ image of la Gloriosa inside my baddie heart. A Buenota woman, mmm, she could be my new superhero. I could draw her adventures, Las Aventuras de La Buenota...And that was the beginning. My parents required the book, their favorite author’s newest novel, and they didn’t see much of me for the next three months. Summer vacation, and the graphic arts Original Superhero competition, with the fabulous scholarship to Parsons School of Design was due in September. I would win. They would stop harassing me about my “immature comic books fetish” and stop telling me to grow up. Yeah, to turn into their version of a goody girl with high-falutin’ literary interests like theirs. Nope, for me it would be the Parsons School of Design in Manhattan or nothing. And La Buenota would be my ticket. Her first adventure had to be as superlative as her name. It was a lot of pressure, this contest. But La Buenota thrived under pressure, didn’t she? She was my model, but I was her Creator! She’s the Bad Ass Buenota and she’s not what anyone expects. Ferocious, but not with a stupid bare-legs outfit. She would be out to please no one but her own badass self. Her powers, hmmm…
42
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
Whoever said you get only one? Each morning she flies out her window over Albuquerque and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains as she intercedes for the planet. She turns invisible in an instant. Seeing through anything? Each day of her smart life she is less fooled by surface appearances. As for super strength, stamina is her middle name. But her real wildness is the power of her heart, focused like a super laser out onto the idiot world “leaders”. She brings them to their knees all right, but not like the superheroes of old. Not using their own kind of brute, so-called, strength. Superpowers? Maybe. Or you could say La Bad Ass Buenota uses the unstoppable powers of an Everyday Goddess. Wait, my comix readers have to buy this. Am I changing the genre altogether and making a literary comic book? Horrors-- my parents might actually approve. No, wait, it all depends on her frickin’ first adventure. I have to introduce her to the world of comic book readers in such an unforgettable way that my name goes to the top of the prize list. I’ve got it! Presenting, La Bad Ass Buenota, Chicana Superheroina. She shows up undercover at one of the “parties” at an Airbnb place, the kind where the high school girls get invited on Instagram and Whatsapp, the parties where they’re given drugs like Ecstasy and spiked drinks, and never get to go home again. They’re kidnapped, or murdered and returned in a body bag. In Texas, in San Diego, in Tijuana, in Puerto Vallarta, and one by one, in every single other place where they try to stick their dirty mitts entrapping girls, La Buenota is the Hero who brings down the fricken’ sex traffickers of planet Earth! La Bad Ass Buenota is born. The scholarship is in the bag. Now to my drawing table. Susa Silvermarie
Saw you in the Ojo 43
Focus on Art By Rob Mohr
Reflective Melancholia - Photographer, Yazkara Godinez
“
N
o painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does.” John Berger, Art Critic Solo exhibitions are always a time of reflection for an artist, a bringing together the gifts she or he has created, especially so for Chapala artist Yazkara Godinez, whose keen eye and ability to discern the nuances of human moods which define her works. This collection of photos, the strength of her images, confirm this artist’s subjective, biased, and creative interpretation of her chosen subjects, a positive bias because the result, as in all fine arts, is dependant on an artist’s unique background, understandings,
and creative vision. Photographers have a distinct set of skills - today expanded by digital images which can be creatively modified in a variety of ways to strengthen the impact on viewers. Recently Yazkara participated in a course in Guadalajara taught by Costa Rican photographer Eloy Mora, who, in turn, was a student of Eugenio Recuenco, a distinguished photographer from Spain. Their collective focus was on light and group photos which partially or wholly recreate scenes from human history, such as the Last Supper or the Death of Marat. Their positive influence expanded Yazkara’s visual vocabulary by adding the element of light from multiple sources, which causes a sharply focused, psychological result. (see link)
The transition from chemical (scientific) photographs first developed in the 1800s, to digital images, has radically changed the possibilities open to the creative photographer, enabling them to fine tune their interpretation of subjects. Artists Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946), Edward Steichen (1879 - 1973), and Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987), who focused on aesthetic results, each designed to shock the viewer by transforming a photo from an image of perceived reality into significant works of fine art, which results, in part, from the separation of technical and intuitive aspects of a photo where such fineness is most dependant on intuition, sight, and insight. These qualities are apparent in Yazkara’s capacity to capture melancholy, and more subjective moods, mirrored by human reactions to reality, which become visual footnotes pointing to breakthrough photographic works created by Helmut Herzfelde (1891 1968), Hanna Hoch (1889 - 1979) and Max Ernst (1891-1976), who added psychological and surreal elements to heighten the impact of the images they created, thus confirming their status as fine art. Her photograph of Obscure (a young woman), with elements of dress from a Shakespearean play, captures the deep reflective state that has washed over this subject. (photo 1) The intensity of her melancholic
mood captures our full attention. The girl is both known and unknown in the same moment. Her mental distance - the unknown quality - is at the core of the success of this work. The composition is solid and simple, keeping attention on the core mood expressed. Photography is the art of real life – however manipulated, and real life creates true art. Jonathan Jones—The
44
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
Guardian More complex in construction, but with equal impact, her photo Damian conveys a complex sensuality, where we are seeing his face in a place absent from time, an image of his consciousness captured apart from his physical manifestation. (photo 2) Perhaps this
Damian (Greek word to tame or heal) is the Christian physician who was martyred with his twin brother Cosmo in fourth century Syria, who is considered the Saint of Physicians in the Roman Catholic Church. The fractured surface of the photo adds texture and richness to the image, and imparts a visceral sense of mystery, notes of visual magic that hold viewers attention and invites our creative speculation as to the meaning of the work. Art Critic, Clement Greenberg, observed, “Photography is the most transparent of the art mediums devised or discovered by humanity which is why it proves so difficult to make a photograph that transcends its almost inevitable function as a document, then become Fine Art.” Yazkara’s photographic art does just that. Yazkara Godinez’s one woman exhibition opens with a public reception beginning at 7 PM on September 22, 2018 in the Centro Cultural Presidencia Antigua in Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico. All are invited. (Link to photos) https://photos. app.goo.gl/1TSLzU3ENPFbtpy2A Ed. Note: With this issue, Focus on Art comes to the end of a 12-year run, during which Rob has done much to create understanding and appreciation of Lakeside’s many artists and artisans. They owe him a great debt of gratitude, as does this magazine. Luckily, Rob will continue to contribute to our pages with articles about anything that just happens to catch Rob Mohr his fancy.
Saw you in the Ojo 45
New Biblioteca Casa De Los Suenos In San Juan Cosala Opens By Kathy Koches
T
46
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
he grand opening of the children’s library, Biblioteca Casa de Los Suenos in San Juan Cosala was held on July 30th at 5pm. The library is a dream come true for the children of this small village, and also for the founder, Ken Lienemann. He purchased the building and financed the remodeling, including water, sewer and electrical upgrades. He also provided hundreds of books, 95% of which are in Spanish. The shelves contain books suitable for beginning readers and picture books for the younger children. For children ages 6-12, in addition to fiction and some of the classics, there are books about science, biology, animals, weather, oceans, chemistry and the arts. There is also a small collection of children’s books in English. The new library also contains a “reading friendly” area where children can sit on bean bag chairs, carpet or stools to read, play games and use the magnetic white board for games with numbers and letters. There is also a special chair, designated as the “Storyteller’s Chair” where a reader will hold a story hour for children once a week. This chair be-
kids was looking at a biography, one girl was reading a book about ballet. Kids grabbed the magnetic numbers and were doing math on the magnetic white board. It was really magic. What will happen when they begin the story reading hours! The librarians are Blanca Vasquez and Lupe Flores Cornejo. They are assisted by a cadre of local women who have been trained to be volunteers who know how to work with children and encourage them to think and ask ques-
Lupe Flores Cornejo
Blanca Vasquez
longed to the abuela of the house, and has a plaque with her name, to insure her spirit will remain in the new library. Over 150 kids have already visited the library, in groups of 25. Teachers are asking if they can use the library as a resource center to teach classes. The children who have visited immediately grabbed books off the shelves and plopped down on the floor. One little girl was reading a book on the human anatomy-every time you turn a page it peels back another layer: skin, muscles, nerves, circulation, organs, bones. Yes, it was presented at a very accessible level but still, SCIENCE?!? One of the older
tions. When he decided to begin this project, Ken’s priority was to make it a village library, that the people will take ownership of, take pride in, and use. “I’m doing it because I want every child in this village to have access to books, to experience the joy of reading. To learn to read, to do better in school, to have dreams that are bigger than the village. That is our value.” Kathy Koches
Saw you in the Ojo 47
The Old Man And The Dog By Catherine Moore
D
ad had been a lumberjack. He had entered grueling lumberjack competitions, and the shelves in his house were filled with trophies that attested to his prowess. The years marched on relentlessly. The first time he couldn’t lift a heavy log, he joked about it; but later I saw him straining to lift it. He became irritable whenever anyone teased him about his advancing age. At sixty-seven, he had a heart attack. He was lucky; he survived. But something inside Dad died. His zest for life was gone. Offers of help were
48
turned aside with sarcasm. The number of visitors finally stopped. Dad was left alone. My husband, Dick, and I asked Dad to come live with us on our small farm. We hoped the fresh air and rustic atmosphere would help him adjust. Within a week, I regretted the invitation. He criticized everything I did. I became frustrated and moody. Alarmed, Dick set up weekly counseling appointments for us. At the close of each session we prayed, asking God to soothe Dad’s troubled mind. I drove to the animal shelter that afternoon. Each pen contained five to
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
seven dogs. As I neared the last pen a dog in the shadows of the far corner struggled to his feet, walked to the front and sat down. He was a pointer, one of the dog world’s aristocrats. But this was a caricature of the breed. Years had etched his face and muzzle with shades of gray. His hipbones jutted out in lopsided triangles. But it was his eyes that caught and held my attention. Calm and clear, they beheld me unwaveringly. I pointed to the dog. The kennel officer shook his head. “He appeared out of nowhere and sat in front of the gate. We brought him in, figuring someone would be right down to claim him. That was two weeks ago and we’ve heard nothing. His time is up tomorrow.” “You’re going to kill him?” “Ma’am,” he said gently, “we don’t have room for every unclaimed dog.” I looked at the pointer again. The calm brown eyes awaited my decision. “I’ll take him,” I said. I drove home with the dog on the front seat beside me. When I reached the house I honked the horn twice. I was helping my prize out of the car when Dad shuffled onto the front porch. “Look what I got for you, Dad!” Dad wrinkled his face in disgust. “If I had wanted a dog I would have gotten one. And I would have picked out a better specimen than that bag of bones.” Anger rose inside me. “You’d better get used to him, Dad. He’s staying!” We stood glaring at each other like duelists, when suddenly the pointer pulled free from my grasp. He wobbled toward my dad and sat down in front of him. Then slowly, carefully, he raised his paw. Dad’s lower jaw trembled as he stared at the uplifted paw. Confusion replaced the anger in his eyes. The pointer waited patiently. Then Dad was on his knees hugging the animal. It was the beginning of a warm and intimate friendship. Dad named the pointer Cheyenne. Together he and
Cheyenne spent long hours walking down dusty lanes. They spent reflective moments on the banks of streams, angling for tasty trout. They even started to attend Sunday services together, Dad sitting in a pew and Cheyenne lying quietly at his feet. Dad’s bitterness faded, and he and Cheyenne made many friends. Then late one night I was startled to feel Cheyenne’s cold nose burrowing through our bed covers. He had never before come into our bedroom at night. I woke Dick, put on my robe and ran into my father’s room. Dad lay in his bed, his face serene. But his spirit had left quietly sometime during the night. Two days later my shock and grief deepened when I discovered Cheyenne lying dead beside Dad’s bed. I wrapped his still form in the rag rug he had slept on. As Dick and I buried him near a favorite fishing hole, I silently thanked the dog for the help he had given me in restoring Dad’s peace of mind. The morning of Dad’s funeral dawned overcast and dreary. This day looks like the way I feel, I thought, as I walked down the aisle to the pews reserved for family. I was surprised to see the many friends Dad and Cheyenne had made filling the church. The pastor began his tribute to both Dad and the dog that had changed his life. And then the pastor turned to Hebrews 13:2. “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” For me, the past dropped into place, completing a puzzle that I had not seen before: the sympathetic voice that had just read the right article. Cheyenne’s unexpected appearance at the animal shelter, his calm acceptance and complete devotion to my father, and the proximity of their deaths. God had answered my prayers, after all.
Saw you in the Ojo 49
THE BUFFALO—An American Icon By Dr. Lorin Swinehart
T
he two huge buffalo grazed peacefully alongside the gravel lane, the first wild members of that species I had yet seen, and I gave in to the compulsion to stop and leave the car, armed with my trusty Rite-Aid disposable camera. At the time, I was on a fifteen day backpacking adventure in Montana and had crossed over into Alberta for some wilderness time in the Canadian Rockies. The buffalo, intent upon their noonday meal, were indifferent to my presence. When I apparently approached too close, one let out a loud snort, and I retreated to the safety of the car. He decorates the seal of the U.S.
Department of the Interior, as he once decorated our nickels. His name in the Lakota language was Tatanaka, meaning “He Who Owns Us,” because they had been “root people,” foraging for food, before migrating to the Great Plains and encountering the buffalo. At one time, he flowed across the prairies in herds of thousands, part of a population estimated at 10,000,000 or more. One herd was described as being 25 miles wide and 50 miles long. By 1902, there were a mere 24 left at Yellowstone National Park, protected by the Lacey Act of 1894, and perhaps 325 altogether south of the Canadian border. The great herds of buffalo were
exterminated by human greed and carelessness in less than twenty years. William Cody, known as Buffalo Bill, estimated that he had killed 20,000 in the course of his career, mostly to provide meat for railroad workers constructing lines across the West. Bill boasted, rather than apologized for his feat, causing even the outdoor writer Robert Ruark, himself an avid big game hunter, to charge that Bill wore a beard because he lacked a chin. Cattlemen wanted the buffalo gone in order to repopulate the West with Texas longhorn cattle. Railroad men wanted them gone because the vast herds sometimes blocked lines and could derail a train. Telegraph companies wanted them gone because they sometimes knocked over poles while scratching themselves on the rough surfaces. The US government wanted them exterminated as the most efficient way to, in turn, exterminate the native peoples who depended upon them for food and shelter, yet another dark chapter in the long history of genocide directed against the continent’s first human inhabitants. If massacres and epidemics were insufficient, destroying the Indians’ most important food supply should finish the job. When a bill to protect the remaining herds miraculously passed both houses of Congress in 1874, President Ulysses S. Grant killed it with a pocket veto. The buffalo’s interaction with humans has never been pleasant. I once stood gazing up at a steep cliff, near the Montana town of Choteau, a place known as the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. There are many such sites in the West. The romantic image of a lone huntsman charging across the prairies on horseback and dispatching a buffalo with his bow and flint tipped arrow came very late in the game. After the prehistoric eohippus vanished, there were no horses in the Americas. The modern horse arrived
in the sixteenth century as part of the white European invading force. Some times people acquired horses by simply stealing them from the Spaniards. Other horses, alarmed at the prospect of toting around a fully armed conquistador with his forty or so pounds of clanking armor, seized the first opportunity to run off and join other herds of wild mustangs. In short, native peoples possessed no efficient method of supplying meat and hides for the winter prior to the arrival and the domestication of the horse. The buffalo jump was their solution. The brutal reality underlying this somewhat humorous phrase is far less enchanting than the vision of the lone hunter pursuing buffalo on his horse. Buffalo were stampeded and forced to run off the edge of a cliff. Pulling this stunt off required some ingenuity. I have herded horses, and I have herded cows, recalcitrant critters who never seemed in the mood to cooperate. Buffalo would be no different. Hunters, numbering as many as a hundred, would don buffalo robes and, thus disguised, lure a herd to good grass and water near a cliff. Then, without warning, men would set fires, arm themselves with torches, run, shout and wave their arms, causing a stampede. A buffalo’s eyes are nearer the ground than a human’s, and what looks like flat land to him can actually be the tip of an abyss. A sudden screeching stop was out of the question, with an entire herd of panic-stricken buffalo speeding behind at thirty miles per hour. The scene beneath a buffalo jump would rival and perhaps surpass those occurring routinely inside a modern slaughterhouse. From my own rural Ohio boyhood, I remember my amazement each New Year’s Day, hog butchering day, when the pigs were shot. By evening, living creatures had been converted to hams, shoulders, tenderloin, side meat, sausage and crackling.
MID-MONTH BONUS! Idiotic Idioms is Tom Nussbaum’s humorous article about what Mexicans who can speak a smattering of English must think when they hear American and Canadians speaking in idioms such as “She’s feeling under the weather today.” Idiotic Idioms can be found at http://chapala.com/ elojo/index.php/mid-month-articles Each mid-month, we offer superb articles that while a bit too long for our print version are perfect for our digital format. Check it out!
50
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
Many buffalo sent plummeting over a jump did not die a quick or easy death. Those remaining alive would have suffered multiple fractures and internal injuries. A buffalo’s horns and hooves would have torn other buffalo to shreds, fractured femurs were driven into stomachs and viscera, and lungs were punctured, causing many to drown in their own blood. Those remaining alive but severely injured were dispatched with arrows or flint knives. The cruelty did not end there. Orphaned calves, bleating in anguish, were rounded up and brought back to camp to become living targets for children’s spears and arrows, after which they were skinned out, their hides donned by hunters on their way to slaughter even more buffalo. From the viewpoint of a buffalo, the arrival of the horse and the repeating rifle would seem to have been a blessing. To be fair to the people of the plains, there was no other realistic means of survival, and they did put to use all parts of their prey, unlike white invaders who simply massacred buffalo, often leaving the carcasses to rot in the sun, yet another example of the human propensity for cruelty as entertainment. In American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon, author Steven
Rinella documents some of the kills reported by 19th century hunters. Attempts to restore the buffalo continue with some success. It is estimated that today there are approximately 2500 to 4000 buffalo inside Yellowstone National Park and perhaps 30,000 outside its boundaries. Recently, three wild buffalo calves were born in Canada’s Banff National Park, the first in 140 years. In parts of Ohio and the Midwest, buffalo are raised commercially. However, the widespread use of barbed wire make the great herds of the past re-emergence unlikely. Barbed wire also put an end to the great cattle drives as well to the cowboys who survive only as part of the American mythos. I have dined on “bison burgers” a few times and have been told they are more healthful than beef, possessing lower percentages of fat and cholesterol. Perhaps the white man would have been well advised to preserve the buffalo and allow cattle to vanish into obscurity.
Dr. Lorin Swinehart
Saw you in the Ojo 51
A.A.A.D.D.— KNOW THE SYMPTOMS!
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
Courtesy of Christy Wiseman
I lay my car keys on the table, Put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, And notice that the can is full. So, I decide to put the bills back On the table and take out the garbage first... But then I think, Since I’m going to be near the mailbox When I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my check book off the table, And see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, So I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Pepsi I’d been drinking .
Thank goodness there’s a name for this disorder. Age-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.
I’m going to look for my checks, But first I need to push the Pepsi aside So that I don’t accidentally knock it over.
This is how it manifests:
The Pepsi is getting warm, And I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Pepsi, A vase of flowers on the counter Catches my eye--they need water.
As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
I put the Pepsi on the counter and Discover my reading glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back on my desk, But first I’m going to water the flowers. I set the glasses back down on the counter , Fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I’ll be looking for the remote, But I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table, So I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, But first I’ll water the flowers. I pour some water in the flowers, But quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back on the table, Get some towels and wipe up the spill. Then, I head down the hall trying to Remember what I was planning to do. At the end of the day: The car isn’t washed, The bills aren’t paid, There is a warm can of Pepsi sitting on the counter, The flowers don’t have enough water, There is still only 1 check in my check book, I can’t find the remote, I can’t find my glasses, And I don’t remember what I did with the car keys. Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really baffled because I know I was busy all day, And I’m really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, And I’ll try to get some help for it, but first I’ll check my e-mail....
52
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
STREET CLEANERS
Les Cases D´Alcanar, Cataluùa, Spain By Julie Galosy
T
here were two of them. The Laurel and Hardy of dust men except the skinny one was short. They had an elaborate act, complete with costumes and props. The biggest prop was the huge sweeper machine. Hoarding two giant circular brushes, it moved along, its behemoth bulk sucking debris into its core from the gutters of the village. Regally perched atop this metal monster sat the driver. Squat and fat, he inhabited the throne, cigar clenched in his teeth, and carefully navigated the narrow Catalan streets. At a snail’s pace he positioned this carriage along the curb in order to place it in an advantageous position to sweep and suck. Speed was not a priority. The pace was nearly languid with the huge man atop his chariot. He was the king of basura. Contrasted to the crawling pace of the machine and its Jaba, the Hut Master, the other man, his partner, was
a frenzy of activity. Broom in hand he scurried along the pavement into the street, sweeping debris ahead of him at a marathon pace. Never breaking stride he grabbed the public trash bins along the way, offering their contents to the waiting jaws of the steel monster. He worked double time jutting from sidewalk to curb and back again. He swept in a near-panic throwing everything to within inches of the omnivorous jaws of the garbage sweeper as it trolled after him down the lanes. Everything fell under his broom as people jumped aside to avoid the choreography of the cleaner. While Jaba remained sequestered atop the machine, the sweeper darted to and fro like a one-man ant farm ensuring that no tiny bits of dust or dirt or rubbish escaped the vacuum and the bristles of the machine. The sweeper was a very thin man.
Saw you in the Ojo 53
The Ojo Crossword
What is “Bycatch” and why should I care? A book review by Clare Gearhart
I
ACROSS
DOWN
1 Small bunch of flowers 6 Fish 9 Baby powder 13 Warning 14 Copy 15 Tightwad 16 Capital of Morocco 17 House Pet 18 Friend (Sp.) 19 Against 20 Illness 22 Viper 23 Shade 24 Executive 25 Asian nation 27 Painter Richard 29 Merciful 33 Wing 34 Hardly any 35 Not any 36 Month 39 Not young 40 Afloat (2 wds.) 41 Fight 42 Jimmy 43 Ocean 44 Bucked 46 Legion 49 Part to play 50 Boy 51 Bundle 53 Consume 56 “A” shaped house (2 wds.) 58 Sego lily´s bulb 59 Throat infection 61 Anger 62 Stringed instrument 63 Food group 64 Zero 65 More able 66 Realm 67 Young woman 68 Bird homes
1 Biblical woman 2 Black __ 3 Hydrophobia 4 Persia 5 Time zone 6 Chocolate tree 7 Opaque gem 8 Marked by careful attention to detail 9 Dickens´Tiny __ 10 East 11 Body movers 12 Cut hair short 15 American-Indian language 20 Tableland 21 Sketched 24 Tiny body part 26 Albanian monetary unit 28 Sew 30 Aurora 31 North northeast 32 Oolong 34 Travel 36 Flurry 37 Baby dog 38 Representative 39 Commanding 40 Billions of years 42 Money 43 Loafer 45 Sudsy 47 Inhabits 48 Baby eagle 50 Sense odor 52 Exits 53 U.S. Department of Agriculture 54 Sky light 55 Canal 57 Opera solo 58 Compass point 60 Epoch 62 Container
54
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
n Bycatch, the author, Sally Asante, provides us with an unflinching study of the psychological nuances of violence and guilt set against the background of the genocide in Rwanda. On the micro level, she speaks to the guilt and shame of a woman whose life course was largely determined by a tragic accident in her early teens. On the macro level she exposes the unspeakable violence of the Rwandan men who perpetrated genocide at a faster rate than Hitler, primarily using machetes as their weapon of mass destruction. Why read this? First, to better understand the redemptive qualities of the heroine as she finds the courage to speak the truth of her experience and thus find greater peace in her own life. Second, to realize that the perpetrators of the violence are not simply horrendous monsters, but rather people much like ourselves, who have given themselves to carrying out the frenzied abstract notion of exterminating “others” for the greater good of their country. Take a deep breath, and look at the title for a moment. Bycatch is defined as “the portion of a commercial fishing catch that consists of marine animals caught unintentionally”. Now think of the times you and your friends have been caught up in movements or events that weren’t of your making and led to unexpected behaviors, some good, others not so good. Perhaps an afternoon of drinking followed by ugly arguments and words uttered that might have been best left unspoken. The author’s choice of the title piques our curiosity, and draws us into a story that gives the reader perspective on both deeply personal situations as well as the divisive and unkind world of today’s political climate. Cole, the heroine, experiences a fearsome tragedy in her early teens. Burying the truth and carrying on proves to control her life in many ways. She becomes a highly respected court reporter, with a penchant
for foreign travel and an aversion to lasting relationships. Because of a chance meeting with a suave and accomplished Rwandan gentleman while on assignment in Bruges, she takes a position as a court reporter in Tanzania where the U.N. tribunal sits in judgement of those involved in the Rwandan genocide. There she confronts her former lover who stands accused of horrendous crimes. The story proceeds to examine both their lives, their joys and loves as well as their deepest secrets. It is a tale of redemption on a personal level and an insight into the minds of the perpetrators, recognizing both their humanity and their extraordinary viciousness. Perhaps the most stunning facet of the novel is the author’s fearless examination of the nuanced emotions of the characters. Rarely is an author able to dive that deeply. Beyond that is the graceful architecture of the story, a carefully constructed and balanced tale which is quite satisfying. In addition, the author’s evocation of exotic locations and her ability to develop fully rounded characters make reading a pleasure. This is not an easy read, nor was it meant to be. It is a book that reverberates in the mind providing comfort and understanding in a world of apparent chaos. The book is available both on Kindle and at Diane Pearl’s in Ajijic. Clare Gearhart
Love Among The Wrinkles By Margie Keane
Tears irrigate wrinkles In Mama’s face, trickling Down, splopping off her chin. “I’m old,” She says, “I looked in the mirror And it shows an old crone, but I feel so young. Where has my life gone? How can I be loved? With my grandchildren I feel loved. They make me forget my wrinkles Because they treat me like I’m young and their vitality trickles through my veins but that rotten mirror! Why does it show me so old? How can anyone love this old Wrinkled face? I can’t even love It. When I look in the mirror I see crepey skin, moles, wrinkles. Outside my youth seems to have trickled Away yet inside I still feel young. I look at my mother and tell her to me she is still young, That to me, she’ll never seem old. She talks of my father whose life trickled away in cancer cells. She said “At seventy he still wanted to make love But by the time he shook out the wrinkles He forgot what It was he wanted.” She says I’m a mirror of him. I tell her life itself is a mirror, and her eyes reflect the young person lurking behind her wrinkles, that they are the chronicles of her life, not of old age, I see creases from laughter, marks of love I leave her then, and I feel a dampness trickling into ditches beginning in my face, trickles trapped in tiny creases. I look in my mirror. My husband is standing behind me, looking at me with love, and I cry. Not for my mother, no longer young but for the two of us. We’re growing old. Laugh lines? Worry lines? They’re wrinkles! I say to him “Let’s not let our lives trickle away. We’ll be young always. We’ll shroud the mirrors showing us old and we’ll make love among the wrinkles.
Saw you in the Ojo 55
Over 60 years of “People Helping People”
The
Lake Chapala Society
News
www.lakechapalasociety.com
3rd Annual Giving 2018 Helping people. Changing lives. Ayudando Gente. Cambiando vidas. The Lake Chapala Society 2018 Annual Fund needs your support! Welcome to September and the start of our 2018 Annual Giving Campaign. For over 60 years, LCS has been a positive force, bringing people together and impacting lives in the Lakeside community. From helping newcomers successfully integrate into our community to providing continuing education, social programs, and services for our longer-term residents, the LCS provides everything from Spanish language instruction to ESL classes, a Student Aid Program and a highly-regarded children’s art program. We offer over 100 programs, classes, services and activities monthly to the Lakeside community. The Annual Fund Campaign raises additional funds needed to maintain our campus and programming. Membership and activity fees alone cannot cover all of the goals that LCS hopes to achieve. These fees provide less than half of what is required to continue the good work of LCS. Your contribution is crucial to support the mission and vision of The Lake Chapala Society. The annual fund goes directly to support all of the LCS programs and services that members, non-members, and the community at large value and enjoy. The Annual Giving drive runs through December 31, 2018. Donations can be made online or make your donation in person at the LCS Service Office. Please join us in creating the future of The Lake Chapala Society! On behalf of the members of the Board, administration, and staff at LCS, I thank you for your encouraging support. Respectfully, George Radford Secretary / Chair of the LCS Fund Development committee
New to Lakeside? This is For You.
“Introduction to Lakeside” classes are held the second Thursday of every month in the Sala at 9 a.m. This month’s class is on Thursday, September 13. Topics include much of the information you need for living Lakeside. The cost for the course $250 pesos. You may register in the office or on the LCS website. Available to LCS members only. Your LCS membership must be current during the classes.
56
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
September 2018
Prueba Mexico: Mock Death You Say!
Mexico is not Mexico without its fiestas, and the Day of the Dead is nothing without a good thrill rich in tradition. Instructor: Alfredo Pérez. Course fee:$350 pesos. Class is November 1 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the South Campus. Min/Max students required: 15/30 (must be 15 years old or older). Enrollment ends October 26.
PEP Mexico’s Winter Holidays and Traditions
Understand the fascinating traditions surrounding Mexico’s winter holiday season. Instructor: Judy King. Course fee is $550 pesos. Classes will be held Wednesday, October 10, 17, 24, 31 and November 7 and 14 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the South Campus Board Room. Min/Max students: 11/20. Enroll at the LCS Office by October 4.
PEP Need a Driver’s License?
Sign up by September 28 for a course on driving in Mexico, renewing or obtaining a new license and taking the Jalisco driver’s exam. Cost is $750 pesos. Maximum of 16 attendees. Class is Wednesday, October 17 from 2 to 4 in the Sala and Thursday, October 18, from 7 a.m. to noon. LCS members only. Payment for any course must be received in the LCS Service office seven days prior to the date of the class. Pay in person or online using Paypal.
LCS Language Classes
LCS offers a variety of Spanish language courses and classes for those of you who want to learn Spanish or brush-up on your language skills. One of them is sure to suit your schedule and interests. Introduction to Spanish This casual class for beginners covers the Spanish alphabet, simple vocabulary, phrases useful about town, and information about Lakeside and Mexican culture. Classes are held the first Tuesday of each month in the Gazebo, from 12 until 1:30 p.m. and continue for three weeks. Tuition is $220 pesos. Members only. Next class is September 4. Warren Hardy Spanish Classes Classes meet two days a week for an hour and a half each session at the Wilkes Education Center (Biblioteca). The program is based on the Warren Hardy Spanish language course designed for the adult student. Several levels of instruction are available to suit the student’s proficiency. Classes run from September 3 to October 22. Register for classes at the LCS office or online. You may also register at the Blue Umbrella Patio from August 27 to 31. A representative will be there to recommend the appropriate class for your skill level. Tuition for the course is $900 pesos; the required textbook is an additional $670 pesos. Other instructional materials may be purchased separately. This is a members-only class. Your membership must be current for the duration of the class. For more information, visit www.lakechapalasociety.com.
New Library Children’s and Young Adult Section
Our English language library recently introduced a Children’s and Young Adult book section for the children and grandchildren of current members. Search the database on the LCS website under the “Children’s Lit” genre. LCS also has a 50 pesos Student Membership category for young people who love to read. Must provide current school registration. See the Service Office.
Volunteers Needed
If you are interested in any of the volunteer positions indicated below, or if you would like to offer your skills and time to any of LCS’ many programs and activities, contact volunteer@lakechapalasociety.com, fill out a form on the LCS website, or pick up one at the Service Office. The ESL program especially needs volunteer instructors. We need an experienced and knowledgeable volunteer handyman who can maintain and repair buildings on the LCS campus. Must be reliable. Requires five to ten hours a week. The LCS library needs volunteers who are computer literate, in good physical condition and who love to read. We also need a volunteer to repair books. Talking Books LIbrary needs volunteers who can be on call from 10 a.m. to noon on Thursdays. The Chess Club needs bilingual volunteers. to work with young chess enthusiasts. Conversaciones en Español will return on October 8. Glucose screening will return in November.
British Consul Agent Arrives
British Consular Officer Ceri Dando will be at LCS the last Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. until 12 noon to answer your questions and provide guidance regarding passports. Representative Dando may be reached at 333 139 4314 or by email cpdando2000@yahoo. com.
U.S. Citizens Voter Assistance
Democrats Abroad will return this summer to assist any U.S. voter regardless of, or lack of, party affiliation. They will take requests for absentee ballots and make a ballot box available every Tuesday through October 23 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the Blue Umbrella Patio.
Tech Classes Return!
Sign up by email only with your member number and expiration date lcs.tech.training@gmail.com. Membership must be current. In the Sala, 10 to 11:30 a.m. September 6 Managing Your Passwords with Technology Keeping your passwords in a safe and secure place. September 20 Ebooks on your Kindle, iPad, tablet or laptop Why are ebooks so popular? How to read them and how to find thousands of free books. September 27 Tech Security We discuss viruses, protecting your data and VPNs.
Follow us on Facebook
For all things LCS, you can like us at www.facebook.com/lakechapalasociety.
Saw you in the Ojo 57
September Activities
*Open to the Public ** US Citizens (S) Sign in (C) Member card Health Insurance * IMSS & Immigration Services Mon+Tues 10-1 Lakeside Insurance Broker Tues+Thur 11-2 Health and Legal Services * Becerra & Galindo Services Thurs 10:30-12:30 Blood Pressure Screening Mon 10 -12 British Consulate last Sat 10-12 Hearing Aid Services (S) Mon+Sat 11-4 Ministerio Publico Wed Sept 5+26 10-2 My Guardian Angel Tues 10-12:30 Optometrist Claravision (S) Thur 9-3 Skin Cancer Screening (S) 2nd + 4th Wed 10-12 US Consulate** (S) Wed Sept 12 10:30 register 10 Lessons(C) Basic Yoga Wed 2-3 Beginner’s Photography 2nd+4th Mon 12-2 Cardio Dance Exercise Fri 12:30-1:30 Chair Yoga Fri 2-3:30 Children’s Art Sat 10-12* Children’s Chess Club Sat 12-1* Children’s English Class Sat 9:30-10:30* Exercise Mon+Wed+Fri 9-10 Exploring Spanish Wed 12-1:30 Sat 11-12:30 Heart Dancing Tues 4-5:30 email sign up Help with Tech Issues Thurs 1+3+4+last 10-11:30 Intermediate Hatha Yoga Tues+Thur 2-3:30 Introduction to Lakeside (S) 2nd Thurs 9-1 register+cost Introduction to Spanish Tues 12-1:30 register+cost Line Dancing Tues+Thurs 10-11:15 PEP and Prueba Mexico Series(S) register and cost; check office Photography Club 1st+3rd Mon 12-2 Stretch and Balance Exercise Tues+Thurs 8:45--9:45 Tai Chi Chih Beginners Fri 10-11 Tai Chi Chih Continuing Fri 11-12 Taller Comunicacion Ninos de Mexico Sat 11:30-1; check office Tech Help Desk Thurs 12-2 Walk For Fitness Wed 10-11 Warren Hardy Spanish Classes (S) Mon-Sat register+cost Write-to-a-Prompt Writers’ Group Thurs 10-12 Libraries Book & Video Mon-Sat 10-2 Library of Congress Books**/ Talking Books,Audio Thurs 10-12 Wilkes Mon-Fri 9:30-7, Sat 9:30-1* Social Activities (C) All Things Tech Fri 10-11:30 Bridge 4 Fun Tue+Thurs 1-5 Discussion Group B Wed 12-1:30 Everyday Mindfulness Mon 10-12 Film Aficionados Thurs 2-4:30 Games Group Mon 1-4 Mah Jongg Wed 2-4:30 Next Chapter Book Group 2nd Thurs 12-2 Scrabble Fri 11:30-1:30 Spanish/English Conversation Sat 11-12:30* TED Talk Learning Seminars Tues 12-1:15 Tournament Scrabble Tues 12-1:50 Veteran’s Outreach Starting Sept. 10 Mon 10-2 Service and Support Groups * Al-Anon (in Spanish) Mon 6-7:30,Wed 5:30-7:30 Lake Chapala Painting Guild 2nd Fri 1:30-3:30 Lakeside AA Mon +Thurs 4:30-5:30 Needle Pushers Tue 10-12 Open Circle Sun 10-11:30 Toastmasters Mon 7-8:30 p.m US Voter Assistance Tues 10-12 Ticket Sales Mon - Fri 10 a.m. to 12 noon
58
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
Video Library September
All video rentals are now for five days. The Video Library needs couriers to bring us DVDs. We pre-pay them and have them shipped to the address of your choice. Contact: keanhombre@ prodigy.net.mx
New Member Activities
Basic Yoga Wednesday from 2 to 3 p.m. Learn how to move, to maintain your alignment, and become comfortable with yoga poses. Bring a mat; chairs will be available. Heart Dancing Tuesday 4 to 5:30 p.m. Gentle stretching and movement to music for all ages and physical conditions. Limited to 12 participants. Email to barbarahildt@gmail.com Beginners Photography Second and fourth Monday of the month from 12 noon to 2 p.m. Email sambrit10@gmail.com.
Free Friday Family Films for September
Free Spanish language films for the family are shown every Friday at 7 p.m. at Wilkes Biblioteca Pubica de Ajijic at Galeana #18. Open to the public. Bring the family. Septiembre 7 Extraordinario Julia Roberts Septiembre 14 Nacho Libre Jack Black Septiembre 21 El Caldero Mágico Disney Septiembre 28 Hombre de Familia Gerard Butler
Check It Out!
Our amazing website is a place where you can register and pay for our many classes and events.
TED Talks
Tuesdays In the Sala 12 noon to 1:15 p.m. Members only. Bring your card. Tuesday, September 4 The Success of Non-Violent Civil Resistance by Erica Chenoweth, political scientist. No longer available through TED Talks (find it on Youtube), this presentation is extraordinarily appropriate today. If the internet is not available, the facilitator may read the transcript aloud and provide you with copies. This talk is well-worth it. Tuesday, September 11 How to Make Stress Your Friend by Kelly McGonigal, Health Psychologist. Stress. It makes your heart pound, your breathing quicken and your forehead sweat. But while stress has been made into a public health enemy, new research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case. McGonigal urges us to see stress as a positive and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others. Tuesday, September 18 The Case for Optimism by Larry Brilliant, epidemiologist and philanthropist. We’ve known about global warming for 50 years and done little about it, says Google. org director Larry Brilliant. In spite of this and other depressing trends, he’s optimistic. From Skoll World Forum, Oxford, UK,www. skollfoundation.org. Tuesday, September 25 What We’re Learning from Online Education Educator Daphne Koller, entices top universities to put their most intriguing courses online for free, not just as a service, but as a way to research learning. Koller with Coursera cofounder Andrew Ng, may discover an unprecedented pool of data on how knowledge is processed.
Amatitan Tres Mujeres Distillery Bus Tour
Look for a new LCS bus tour to the “true” birthplace of Mexico’s signature beverage, tequila. Citizens of Amatitan have long claimed that agave tequilana weber, the blue variety of agave, from which authentic tequila is distilled, is native to the small canyon of El Tecuane near Amatitan. Look for an announcement for the tour in an upcoming edition of the newsletter.
New American Legion Outreach Program
The American Legion Post 7 and LCS will sponsor a veterans’ outreach program providing news and information about services available to veterans and their dependents every Monday starting September 10 from 10 to 2 p.m. on the Blue Umbrella Patio. Contact Roger Van Parys at (376) 766 4720 or email rvanparys@hotmail.com. Open to the public. Costco Returns Thursday, September 20
Thursday Film Aficionados
Open to LCS members only. Bring your card. All films shown in the Sala from 2 to 4 p.m. No food. No pets. September 6 Mostly Martha 2001 Germany In a German restaurant, chef Martha is the undisputed supreme ruler, and woe to any customer who would dare criticize her cooking. The pressures of her private life and work combine to force her to call her attitudes and life choices into question. Shown here about ten years ago; one of the best “food themed” movies ever made. (103 minutes) September 13 Run Lola Run 1998 Germany After a botched money delivery, Lola has twenty minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks. This Sundance Festival winner is dazzling, creative, and exhilarating! Miss this one at your own peril! (77 minutes) September 20 The Nightingale (Ye Ying) 2013 China The story of an elderly man and his granddaughter who walk together through much of China with a bird in a cage. (97 minutes) September 27 First Reformed 2018 USA Forty-six-year-old Reverend Toller is the pastor at a historic church in upstate New York that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad that helped slaves escape to Canada. A tormented past and worldly concerns bring the pastor to the edge of despair. (109 minutes)
September Bus Trips
Wednesday, September 12 Centro Self-Guided Walking Tour Visit historic 17th, 18th and 19th century architecture and admire their stunning artwork and murals. The Instituto Cultural Cabañas is a must. Relax and people watch in the beautiful plazas, have lunch in the Plaza de los Laureles or dine in the elegant Hotel Mendoza or other nearby dining spots. Bus leaves promptly at 10 a.m. from the sculpture in La Floresta. Cost is $370 for members; $470 for non-members. Wednesday, September 26 Galerias Mall/Costco Major retailers like Sears, Best Buy and SuperWalmart are here. Dine at popular restaurants. Cost to members is $370 pesos; non-members $470. Bus will depart promptly at 9:30 a.m. from the sculpture in La Floresta. Please note: Tickets must be purchased no later than two days before any LCS bus trip.
THE LAKE CHAPALA SOCIETY, A.C. 16 de Septiembre #16-A, Ajijic, Jalisco LCS Main Office: (376) 766-1140 Office, information and other services - Monday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Grounds open until 5:00 p.m. LCS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President - Carole Wolff (2020); Vice-President - Sandra Britton (2019); Treasurer - Tim Boardman (2019); Secretary - George Radford (2020); Directors: Azucena Bateman (2019); Howard Feldstein (2019); Nicolas Hanson (2019); Philip Newbold (2020); Janis Sirany (2019); Elizabeth Villaseñor (2020). Immediate Past President: Ben White * Executive Director - Terry Vidal
The LCS Newsletter is published monthly. Deadline for submissions is the 14th of the month preceding publication. Submit all news items to lcsnewsletter2016 @gmail.com Note: The editorial staff reserves the right to edit all submissions according to time, space availability and editorial decision.
Saw you in the Ojo 59
60
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
Saw you in the Ojo 61
Service
* ADVERTISING / DIRECTORY - EL OJO DEL LAGO Tel. 765-3676
* ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS - ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS Tel: 766-5961
Pag: 58
* ANIMAL CLINICS/PET SHOP - CATS LOOKING FOR PERMANENT HOMES Cell: 332-1665-863 Pag: 20 - CLINICA VETERINARIA SAN ANTONIO Tel: 766-0808 Pag: 25 - DEE’S PET HOTEL Tel: 331-765-7074 Pag: 57 - LAKESIDE FRIENDS OF THE ANIMALS AC Tel: 765-5544 Pag: 17 - MASKOTA’S LAKE Tel: 766-0287 Pag: 58 - PET PLACE Cell: 333-1964-150 Pag: 16 - PET FOOD AND GROOMING Tel: 766-3062 Pag: 56
www.tel.chapala.com
DIRECTORY
Tel: 766-3372 - HAIR BY SASHA Tel: 765-2223, Cell: 33-3362-1272 - HILDA WORLWIDE Cell: 33-3676-2514 - NEW LOOK STUDIO Tel: 766-6000, 33-3950-9990
Pag: 14 Pag: 42 Pag: 08 Pag: 51
* BED & BREAKFAST - CASA DEL SOL Tel: 766-0050 - CASA FLORES Tel: 766-5493 - CASA TRES LEONES Cell: (045) 331-350-6764
Pag: 12 Pag: 23 Pag: 11
- LAKE CHAPALA SERENADE
- ART21STUDIO Tel: 33-3170-6135, 33-3677-3482 - AZTEC STUDIO - DIANE PEARL COLECCIONES Tel: 766-5683 - LA BELLA VIDA Tel: 766-5131 - SOL MEXICANO Tel: 766-0734
Pag: 43 Pag: 07 Pag: 10 Pag: 19
- STEREN Tels. 766-0599, 766-0630
Pag: 53
* BOUTIQUE / CUSTOM SEWING
Pag: 45
* AUTOMOTIVE - FRATS Tel: 765-2505, 765-3946
* BAKERY - COLIBRI GARDEN Tel: 765-4412, Cell: (045) 333-156-9382 - ROCHATAS Tel: 387-763-0295
Pag: 08 Pag: 47
* BANK INVESTMENT - INTERCAM Tel: 766-5978 - MULTIVA Tel: 766-2499
Pag: 38
Pag: 39
Pag: 53
Pag: 32 Pag: 49
Pag: 49
62
- LA NUEVA POSADA Tel: 766-1444, 766-1344
* LEGAL SERVICES
* INVESTMENT - INVESTMENT Tel: (387) 763-0782
Pag: 59
- L&D CENTER Tel: 766-1064
Pag: 59
- AUTOMATIC GARAGE DOOR OPENERS Tel: 766-4973 Pag: 26
- REAL ORTEGA & SONS-Hardware for Carpenters Tel: 765-2404, 765-3404 Pag: 56
Pag: 59
* GARDENING
* MALL / OUTLET
Pag: 07
- AJIJIC WATER GARDENS Tel: 766-4386 - GARDEN CENTER Tel: 765-5973
Pag: 37 Pag: 57
* GOLF Pag: 12
- CONFORT SOLUTIONS Pag: 40 Tel: 33-1228-5377 - GENERAL HOME SERVICES - Amancio Ramos Jr. Cell: (045) 331-520-3054 Pag: 58 - PISOS Y AZULEJOS DE LA RIBERA
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
Pag: 45
Pag: 41
* COMMUNICATIONS
- TEPEHUA TREASURES Tel: 763-5126
Pag: 03
* LUMBER
* GARAGE DOORS OPENERS
- ATLAS COUNTRY GOLF COURSE Tel: 33-3689-2620
- BAJA GRILLS Tel: 106-2430 - NAPOLEON Tel: 766-6153
- CENTRO LAGUNA Tel: 766-5514
Pag: 02
* MEAT/POULTRY/CHEESE - TONY’S Tel: 766-1614
Pag: 20
Pag: 30
* MEDICAL SERVICES
Pag: 21
- ALTA RETINA Tel: 766-1521, 688-1122 Pag: 47 - DR. BEN - CERTIFIED PLASTIC SURGEON Tel: 766-4871, Cell: 333-105-0402 Pag: 33 - MOVILIDAD SIN LIMITES Tel: 331-864-5155 Pag: 41
* CONSTRUCTION
Pag: 22
* HOTELS / SUITES
- SOLBES & SOLBES Tel: 331-520-5529, Cell: 333-676-6245
Pag: 24
* CLEANING SERVICES - AXIXIC SPRING CLEANING Tel: 766-5140- Cell: 33-1075-7768 - SUPERIOR CLEAN Tel: 331-837-2086
Pag: 47
* LIGHTING - CALLI Tel: 766-5922
Pag: 11
Pag: 12
* HEARING AIDS
- LAKESIDE INSURANCE - EDGAR CEDEÑO Cell: (045) 33-3106-6982 Pag: 24 - PARKER INSURANCE SERVICES Pag: 22 Tel: 765-5287, 765-4070 - PROTEXPLAN U.S. Toll Free 1-800-608-5743 Mexico Toll Free 01-800-681-6730 Pag: 10 - TIOCORP Tel: 766-4828 Pag: 19
* GRILLS - CHRISTINE’S Tel: 106-0864 - EDITH’S Cell: 33-1310-9372 - GLORIOSA
- FERRETERIA Y TLAPALERIA GALVEZ Tel: 766-0880, Fax: 766-2440 Pag: 66
Pag: 39
Pag: 26
* CONSIGNMENT SHOP
* BEAUTY
* HARDWARE STORES
* INSURANCE
* FUMIGATION - BUGS OR US Tel: 762-1516, Cell: 331-269-6518 - MOSQUITO CONTROL Cell: (045) 331-498-7699
766-1760 765-4444 766-5555
Pag: 27
* CANOPIES
- ISHOPNMAIL
Pag: 15
Pag: 21
* FISH MARKET - COSTALEGRE Tel: 108-1087
066 765-2308, 765-2553 766-3615
* FURNITURE - LONAS MEXICO Tel: 766-0045, Cell: 33-3956-4852
Pag: 16
Pag: 03
* CASINO - FOLIATTI
Pag: 19
* ELECTRONICS/ TECHNOLOGY
* ART GALLERIES/HANDCRAFTS - CUGINIS BOUTIQUE Tel/Fax: 766-1790 - MI MEXICO Tel: 766-0133
- C.D. SANDRA ANAYA MORA Cell: (045) 331-218-6241 - DENTAL HEALTH ONE Tel: 106-0826 - DR. ALBERTO DON OLIVERA Tels: 765-4838, 765-4805 - DRA. ANGELICA ALDANA DDS Tel: 765-5364, Cell. 331-351-7797
Pag: 59
* BOOKS
EMERGENCY HOTLINE AMBULANCE - CRUZ ROJA FIRE DEPARTMENT POLICE Ajijic Chapala La Floresta
- OTICON Tel: 765-4805, 33-1350-1156
DENTISTS
* BEER & LIQUOR STORES - BETO’S WINE & LIQUOR Cell: (045) 333-507-3024
Cell: 331-250-6486 Pag: 59 - ROBERTO MILLAN - ARCHITECT Pag: 20 Tel: 766-3771, Cell: 331-340-3758 - ROOFING & WATERPROOFING SPECIALISTS Pag: 49 Tel: 766-5360 Cell: 331-282-5020 - SIKA Pag: 32 Tel: 766-5959
EMERGENCY NUMBERS
Pag: 14
- PLASTICA LIFT Tel: 33-1864-5155 - VARICOSE VEINS TREATMENT Tel: 765-4805
Pag: 23 Pag: 57
* 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: 50
- SUSIE PATCH Tel. 766-3654 - TOM BARSANTI Cell: 331-265-1062, From US/Canada: (281)-303-5824 - TRUDIE NELSON Cell: 331-074-3308 - VISTA ALEGRE Tel: 33-2002-2400
Pag: 42
Pag: 41 Pag: 30 Pag: 05
* RENTALS/PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
Pag: 06 Pag: 14
* MUSIC / THEATRE / EVENTS - D.J. HOWARD Tel: 766-3044 Pag: 58 - THE NAKED STAGE READER’S THEATRE Pag: 39 - THE SPOTLIGHT CLUB Tel: 331-845-1523 Pag: 35
- COLDWELLBANKER CHAPALA REALTY Tel: 766-1152, Cell:(045) 331-386-7597 Pag: 52 - FOR RENT Pag: 57 Cell: 333-667-6554 - FOR RENT Pag: 53 Cell: 333-461-6017 - HACIENDA PMR Pag: 55 Tels: 766 3320, Vonage: 503 914 6017 - SANTANA RENTALS Cell: 315-104-3283 Pag: 48
* RESTAURANTS/CAFES/BAR * PAINT - QUIROZ-Impermeabilizantes Tel: 766-2311 - QUIROZ-Pinturas Tel: 766-2311
Pag: 57 Pag: 22
* POOL MAINTENANCE - EQUIPMENT AND POOL MAINTENANCE Tel: 766-1617, Cell: 33-3952-4175 Pag: 45
* REAL ESTATE - ALL-IN-1 Tel. 766-1161 Pag: 25 - AJIJIC HOME INSPECTIONS Tel: 766-2836 Pag: 26 - ALTO LAGO Tel: 33-3627-6437, 33-3627-6438 Pag: 31 - BETTINA BERING Tel: 766-1049, Cell. 33-1210-7723 Pag: 29 - CHULA VISTA NORTE Tel: 766-2177 Cell: (045) 33-1892-2194 Pag: 16 - CIELOVISTA Tel: 33-2002-2400 Pag: 05 - COLDWELL BANKER CHAPALA REALTY Tel: 766-1152, 766-3369 Fax: 766-2124, Tels: 765-2877 Fax: 765-3528 Pag: 68 - CONTINENTAL REALTY Tel: 766-1994 Pag: 19 - CUMBRES Tel: 33-2002-2400 Pag: 05 - EAGER & ASOCIADOS Tel: (376) 766 1917, 1918 Pag: 67 - FOR SALE BY OWNER Cell: 331-697-6863 Pag: 43 - FOR SALE BY OWNER U.S. 210-861-5400 Pag: 56 - GEORGETTE RICHMOND Tel: 766-2077 Pag: 11 - GRUPO CORPORATIVO ARELLANO Cell: 331-331-0249, 333-667-3122 Pag: 47 - JUDIT RAJHATHY Cell: (045) 331 - 395 - 9849 Pag: 17, 27 - LINDA FOSSI Tel: 766-0303, 333-502-7831 Pag: 35 - LORI FIELSTED REALTY Cell: 331-365-0558 Pag: 37 - MICHAELA SIRBU Cell: 333-141-5979 Pag: 30 - MARGARITA AVILA Cell: (331) 268-3927, 765-2877 Pag: 40 - MPR REAL ESTATE Tel: (315) 351-5167 Pag: 48 - RADISSON BLU - Ajijic Resort, Spa & Residences Tel: 766-4525, Cell: 332-255-5972 Pag: 02 - RAUL GONZALEZ Cell: 33-1437-0925 Pag: 03, 33
- AJIJIC TANGO Tel: 766-2458 - ARMANDO’S HIDEAWAY Tel: 766-2229 - BAR JAMON Tel: (387) 761-1139 - CASA LINDA Tel: 108-0887 - EL ANCLA Tel: 106-2011, Cell. 33-1552-8014 - ELEGANTE Tel: 766-1066 - GO BISTRO Cell: (045) 33-3502-6555 - GOSHA’S Tel: 766-2121 - GRUPO PASTA Tel: 33-3615-4952 - HUERTO CAFÉ Tel: 108-0843 - LA CASA DEL CACAO - LA CASA DEL CAFE Tel: 766-2876 - LA CASA DEL WAFFLE Tel: 766-1946 - LA HACIENDA DE DON PEDRO Tel: 766-4906 - LA NUEVA POSADA Tel: 766-1444, 766-1344 - “LA TAVERNA”DEI QUATTRO MORI Tel: 766-2848 - LOS MOLLETES Tel: 766-4296 - MEL’S Tel: 766-4253, 331-402-4223 - MOM’S DELI & RESTAURANT Tel: 765-5719 - PANINO Tel: 766-3822 - PERRY’S Tel: 766-2841 - SIMPLY THAI Tel: 766-4767, Cell: 333-393-2770 - SOUTHERN SISTERS RESTAURANT Tel: 688-1525, Cell: 331-329-8748 - TEPETATE THAI RESTAURANT Tel: 766-2020 - THE HOT DOG SHOP Tel: 766-3807, Cell: 333-662-9990 - THE PEACOCK GARDEN Tel: 766-1381 - TONY’S RESTAURANT CAMPESTRE Tel: 331-433-6112 - TRIP’S BURGER - YVES Tel: 766-3565
Pag: 66 Pag: 32 Pag: 51 Pag: 18 Pag: 53 Pag: 27 Pag: 06 Pag: 23 Pag: 25 Pag: 59 Pag: 58 Pag: 58 Pag: 11 Pag: 49
Tel: 765-5680 / 33-3452-5864 Pag: 13 - EL CHANTE ASSISTED LIVING Tel: (387) 763-2555, Cell: 332-163-2309 Pag: 45 - HAPPINESS - Care Residence for Elderly Cell: 33-3137-9604 Pag: 14 - LA CASA NOSTRA Tel: 765-3824 Pag: 03 - NURSING HOME LAKE CHAPALA Tel: 766-0404 Pag: 18 - OHANA Tel: (01387) 761-0403 Pag: 37 -THE MOON Tel: 331-357-4205 Pag: 44
- TOTAL BODY CARE Tel: 766-3379
Pag: 22
* TAXI / TRANSPORTATION - ARTURO FERNANDEZ Cell: (045) 333-954-3813
Pag: 13
* TREE SERVICE - CHAPALA TREE SERVICE Tel: 762-0602
Pag: 56
* TOURS
* SATELLITES/ T.V. - AJIJIC ELECTRONICS S.A. DE C.V. Tel/Fax: 766-1117, 766-3371 - SHAW SATELLITE SERVICES Te: 33-1402-4223
Pag: 21 Pag: 58
* SELF STORAGE
- CHARTER CLUB TOURS Tel: 766-1777 - TIA STEPHANIE TOURS
Pag: 09, 13, 15 Pag: 24, 38, 49
* WATER - TECNO AQUA Tel: 766-3731, 108-0808
Pag: 55
- SELF STORAGE-BODEGAS CHAPALA Tel: 766-0661, Tel/Fax: 766-1045 Pag: 28
* SEPTIC TANK PUMPING - JP HOME SERVICES Tel. 766-1569, Cell: 333-968-2938 - REYNOBAÑOS Tel: 763-0879, Cell: 333-815-1775
Pag: 46 Pag: 48
* SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS - FAR Tel: 331-321-6969 - LAKE CHAPALA SOCIETY Tel: 766-1140 LOS NIÑOS DE CHAPALA Y AJIJIC Tel: 765-7032
Pag: 38 Pag: 56-59 Pag: 60
* SOLAR ENERGY - SUN QUEST ENERGY Tel: 766-1761, Cell: 33-1603-9756
Pag: 32, 43
* SPA / MASSAGE - LA BELLA VIDA Tel: 766-5131
Pag: 19
Saw you in the Ojo
Pag: 03 Pag: 21 Pag: 10
The Ojo Crossword
Pag: 28 Pag: 07 Pag: 33 Pag: 43 Pag: 56 Pag: 42 Pag: 30 Pag: 42 Pag: 10 Pag: 38 Pag: 39 Pag: 24
* RETIREMENT/REST/NURSING HOMES - CASA ANASTASIA
Saw you in the Ojo 63
CARS
FOR SALE: 2015 Honda CV- R I Style, loaded 17,000 km, like new, American Owner, Purchase Gonzalez Gallo, Price: $298,000 pesos. Call Rob: House, 762-1516, Cell, 331-269-6518. FOR SALE: 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Laredo package. Orig. USA - legally imported, Mexican plated, 127,000 gentle miles, Well maintained, V8, 4WD w/ tow package, auto, Burgundy color, cloth seats. $3,000 USD. Chapala 106-0900. FOR SALE: 2017 Pulsar 200 AS, motorcycle: black - perfect condition, 18,700 Km, $38,000 pesos firm. Mexican title (factura) paid and clear. cglane2007@yahoo.com – 376-766-1218 “Chris” FOR SALE: Mazda CX9 Touring. SUV made in Japan. 2010. Jalisco plates. 126,000 km. Rear camera. Dealer service records. Selling due to move. Cell: 331-417-0972. FOR SALE: 1994 Mazda Miata MX-5. 5 speed stick (one of the best ever) Air Conditioning, Great condition all around, 166k miles, runs perfect, Many new parts, $6800 usd, Email: wolfsburg4wd@gmail.com. FOR SALE: 2007 Ford Mustang, New Paint, Mexico City Plates, $100,000mxn. Email: redsfv89@gmail.com. FOR SALE: 5 speed, special Edition, 1.8. motor, super economic, 4 cylinder, all paid, drives, perfect with. a/c. 322-100-968, only. $54.999. FOR SALE: Mercury Mariner Premier 4 dr. SUV, 100,000 miles, leather interior, Jalisco Mexican platted white, new tires,
V-6. $4000 US or best offer. 766-5896. FOR SALE: 5x8 enclosed trailer with Jalisco plates, Single side swing rear door, Hard to find here in this condition, photo to follow. Call 333-461-5442 to see, Price: $28500 pesos. FOR SALE: 2003 Harley Davidson 100th Anniversary Wide Glide MC FXD in excellent condition. Has window-shield and saddle bags. Asking $5,000 US or $100,000 Mexican pesos. Email: jausten09@yahoo.com. FOR SALE: VW Sportvan (Compact SUV) - 2007 - Manual - Mexican Plated, Engine: 4 Cylinders. Transmission: Manual - 5 speed + R, Mileage: 85,630 miles. Price: $99,500.00 pesos. For viewings contact Pablo at: Cell: 33-1424-1667. Email: pcabralk@gmail.com. FOR SALE: Jaguar XF, 2011, 5liter V8, 87000 Kilometers, that is only 54000 miles, Top of the line Premium Luxury, Mexican plates, it has all the bells and whistles you can desire, 6 speed auto with 4 driving modes, paddle shifter on the steering wheel, dual climate, cooled and heated seats, 12 positions adjust seats with memory, lumbar support, stereo, CD 6 disks, USB MP3. Price to sell $315000 pesos, all tenencias payed, Serviced by USA Jaguar Dealer. Email: rennicint@yahoo.com
COMPUTERS
FOR SALE: Mac Os High Sierra, 8 gb, 13 inches, mint condition, call if u want to buy it 322-100-9681 in Ajijic. $ 599 us. firm. FOR SALE: Asus tf 300 t 10.1 inch tab-
let with detachable keyboard to give upto 12 hours battery life, leather like case, original charger, comes with two apps for free live u.s. and uk mainstream tv and one for free movies. not kodi. $2300 pesos. Price reduced to $1800 pesos. Now $1500 pesos. an ideal way to watch live tv movies and tv shows on the move or as a second tv. FOR SALE: Motherboard and Amd FX 6100 processor with fan. Price for all $1,900 pesos. Email: peteredwards052@gmail. com. FOR SALE: Mitsubishi EX200U DLP Projector 2300 Lm HDMI-Adapter Remote TeKswamp, PLUS Projector-Gear Projector Ceiling Mount for MITSUBISHI EX200U, PLUS 100” wall screen. $5000 MX. Email: egweiss@outlook.com. FOR SALE: Logitech Harmony Smart Control with Smartphone App and Simple All In One Remote – Black, $75 on Amazon ($70 + $5 tax), New in box, very, very slightly used one time, wife doesn’t like. $1500 MX, Same price as Amazon, but it is HERE without shipping and 16% IVA. Email: egweiss@ outlook.com. FOR SALE: Slightly used Android TV Box USTVNOW + 70 More channels. It gets USTVNOW and over 70 more channels in a common list. Of couse you need a USTV Now account to use it but it is easy to change the account. The additional 70 channels cost $30 US Dollars per YEAR; some entertainment lots of news, some sports. Opra WInfrey Network , BYU TV, Golf Channel, PAC12 Networks, MSNBC, CBSN, Euronews and lots more. USA number +1-917- 2009099 OR whatsapp ONLY 331-650-1635 (this phone is not receiving calls but whatsapp works!) Mark. FOR SALE: Used ASUS MA97R2.0 Motherboard. Complete with drivers and manual. Socket 3. Price $1,500 pesos. Email: peteredwards052@gmail.com. FOR SALE: I have up-graded my PC and have a good used AMD FX 6100 8 Core Processor and fan assy. for sale. Socket 3, 3.3 to 3.9 GHz. Price: $800 pesos. Email: peteredwards052@gmail.com. FOR SALE: Custom built desk. 2x6 construction to support attachment of dual monitors and steel arms. $2200. Monitors with dual desk mount monitor stand $3300. Keyboards, Mouse, Speakers $1100. Tower and power supply $5200. Email: dlemel@ dlemel.net.
PETS & SUPPLIES
FREE: Daschund and Mini Schnauzer for Adoption. They are Clifford, a beautiful male daschund, 10 months old, and and Mitzy, a lively female mini-Schnauzer of six years. Both are housebroken, up-to-date on vaccinations, and neutered. No special diets or medications. It’s preferred that they be adopted together, but if necessary they can be placed in separate homes. Sweet-tempered and loving, each would make a wonderful companion. Please PM me for details. Email: klmchaffin5254@gmail.com. FOR FREE: One small male poodle, I might even pay you to take him if his mother agrees. Please email: 1988jeopardychampion@gmail.com. I’m in Chapala Haciendas #2.
GENERAL MERCHANDISE
FOR SALE: Air compressor with paint attachments. “WOLFOX’ brand. Has hose, paint sprayer and some other fittings. Paid $2,499.90 in Chapala. Asking for $2,000. 4000 Watt gasoline generator. Just had oil changed; air cleaner cleaned and spark plug sparked. Costs today in Chapala, $8,936.00. I’ll sell for $7,500.00. 1995 Ford Windstar.
64
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018
Mechanically it’s great. A/C needs recharging. Currently Mexico/Jalisco registered and insured. $3,274.90. Zmodo security system, Has 3 cameras but you can add more. Have cables and flat screen monitor. Cost US$400 in California. Will sell for US$325 or pesos. Please email: 1988jeopardychampion@gmail.com. I’m in Chapala Haciendas #2 FOR SALE: Original Prada Shoes, size 24.5 mexican, Only 1 time was used, price $3000 pesos. Call to Alma 331-005-3109. FOR SALE: Individual Brass Headboard, Price $2,200.00 pesos. Call to Alma 331-005-3109. FOR SALE: 125 piece Craftsman mechanic’s tool set for sale. $3000 pesos. 7621695. FOR SALE: Two outdoor brown wicker Pacific Sun Loungers, like new, still in box. $3000 pesos for both. 762-1695. FOR SALE: Harley Davidson Parts- air filter, oil filters, 6 quarts oil, 2 covers, brake lock, and battery minder for ’99 later twin cam and sportster evolution. Make offer. dbphend@gmail.com. FOR SALE: I have two new tubes of hollister karaya5 stoma paste .purchased two months ago in original packaging. $500 pesos for both. Email: derekyoungmex@gmail. com. FOR SALE: Frigidaire upright freezer, new from TioSam in November of 2016. $11,000 pesos new, asking $3500 or best offer. Email: pablosemanas@gmail.com. FOR SALE: 130w powered studio monitors, price is for the pair and will need to be picked up, I am located in agua escondida, possible to take them nearby for gas money. $8,500 Pesos for the pair. (they are $22,000 new on Merc. Libre). Email: daviesgareth@ gmail.com. FOR SALE: I have 9 tubes that are used that were recovered from a recent industrial project my company did, I replaced 200 odd here in agua escondida, these are the ones I have left over $150 pesos per tube, located in Agua Escondida. They are 58mm x 1.80 m. Email: daviesgareth@gmail.com. FOR SALE: Guitarra Clásica Goya Modelo 4 (1980s): $300 US, Top: Solid red cedar / Back/Sides: Laminate Mahogany. Neck: Mahogany / Fingerboard: Indian Rosewood. Goya guitar made in Spain (not in Sweden) In good condition, with some nicks and dings, but still in full playing order. Comfortable playing action/string height. A wonderful tone. Patricio: patricktimothymullikin@ hotmail.com. FOR SALE: Collection of about 90 flags from various areas. Some beauties: 333723-0376. FOR SALE: Mio GPS. Best buy says it is the best one for Guadalajara. New $3,000 pesos Selling for $1,000 OBO. Hardly used. 333-723-0376. FOR SALE: Shaw 35 inch satellite elliptical dish. $1,000 pesos OBO. 333-723-0376. WANTED: Looking for a used treadmill, nothing fancy. 331-751-7520. FOR SALE: I am selling a Sonos Play 5 (2nd generation) speaker. It is less than a year old. I brought it with me when I moved here 2 months ago. The speaker was purchased for $550usd new. I will let it go for $425usd. If you are interested in seeing and hearing it, please let me know. Email: mexicanmahayana@gmail.com. FOR SALE: Custom-Made TournamentSized Pool Table. Three-piece slate table with playing area of 50 in by 100 in. Premium felt replaced 17 months ago, as were several pockets. Accessories include balls, triangular game rack, rotating cue stand, seven cues (including two shorter cues for tight shots),
bridge, wall rack for balls, custom leather cover, and a nearly full box of tan chalk to match the felt. $25,000 MXN. Please email InsightSolutionsPublishing@gmail.com or text 331-325-0552 for more information. (I usually have my phone on silent, so I’ll see a text before I realize a missed call). FOR SALE: handmade classical guitar from Paracho. Purchased several years ago from the master luthier himself. Hard case is included in the sale. $6,500.00 pesos . Email: neptune54321@gmail.com. FOR SALE: Small, aluminum cargo trailer made in the U.S.A. by TOWBLAZER online see, the U.S.A. trailer store for specifications and prices. The trailer can be towed by motorcycle or automobile and is rainproof. $15,000 pesos. Email me at lawandrew29@ outlook.com or text only to 333-949-8770. WANTED: In search of about 40 Hardcover Law Books or other books that look like law books (such as an Encyclopedia set) for use as props in a Lakeside Little Theatre production in February 2019. Would need to use books for about 3 weeks (From February 4th thru 25th, 2019). The photos are some examples of the type of books that would work for this production. Email: shellie@checkoway.com. FOR SALE: 3 Wheel Scooter, Battery operated 3 wheel Tzora scooter. $8000 pesos. 331-330-1050. FOR SALE: Indian exercise clubs handmade, hard wood 1 1/2 pounds each. $1200 pesos for set of two. Wayne 766-1860. FOR SALE: Unopened and current Lipi-
tor 80mg #90. $1000 in Chapala Haciendas #2 email: Itzel_solis@hotmail.com. FOR SALE: Never used, full size double sided stainless steel kitchen sink. 33 inches by 19 inches 766-4360. $1000 pesos obo. FOR SALE: Cabinet/drawer handles, Never used cabinet/drawer handles, all 12 200 pesos 766-4360. FOR SALE: Aqua Pump for fountains, waterfalls and aquariums. Paid $25 asking $250 pesos obo 766-4360. FOR SALE: Up right home oxygen concentrator 5 liter, Everflo, with extra oses and canulas. New $13,421.37 pesos, will sell for $6,000.00 pesos. Cal Charlie 331-219-8448 or email sundevil306@gmail.com. WANTED: 2 bicycles, we’re looking for two. A standard sized one for a man, and a short one for a woman, happy to borrow, rent, or buy. Any leads appreciated! stymiebopcaretakers@gmail.com. FOR SALE: Four golf bags. Two ladies’ and two mens’. From MXN$500-1200. Three travel bags MXN$600 each. 11 assorted woods from $100-150 each. 24 assorted irons $100 each. 3 putters $200 each. Email: Aivarsamy@gmail.com. Tel: 766-2225 FOR SALE: Celestron 15x70 Skymaster binoculars, About 1 year old...not a scratch. Paid $2640mp new and asking $500mp (firm). They’re great but quite honestly just too heavy for Heidi. If you have questions or are interested, call me at 331-442-3930. Rick FOR SALE: MABE slide-in stove, 3 years old, glass top missing. $4,500 MX pesos. Call Pierrette 106-2131 for more details.
Email: kenypierrette@hotmail.com. WANTED: Wanted to buy Aluminum boat, 16 to 18 feet, with or without motor, prefer welded bass model. With or without trailer. Email: edholthe@yahoo.com. FOR SALE: Sony bravia 22 inch tv. 720 hd hdmi and usb ports. Lightly used. $1700 pesos. Email: derekyoungmex@gmail.com. WANTED: Nordic Track Ski Machine... contact at ShalomBeWell@gmail.com. WANTED: Gazelle Glider...contact at ShalomBeWell@gmail.com. WANTED: Schwann Airodyne Exercise Bike...contact at ShalomBeWell@gmail.com. WANTED: Hi i am here until the end of August and am looking for a massage table so i can do some Reiki, willing to beg borrow or borrow and beg. Do you have one i can use, maybe do a trade of sorts. Please let me know. Email: lsdoucette@hotmail.com. FOR SALE: Unblocked Hisense F32 smartphone, with clear protector case, in original box. Features: 5” screen, 16GB, fingerprint sensor, Android 7 Nougat, 4GLTE, Dual SIM, Micro SD expansion slot, 13MP camera, 1.4Ghz Octa-core processor. New price $4,500 - $5000 pesos. $2,500 pesos OBO. Call (045) 331-453-6800 FOR SALE: Commercial Meat Grinder. Asking $8000 pesos. Email: Email: jausten09@yahoo.com. FOR SALE: 2016 Italika motorbike, this a white, 125cc motorbike with only 5000 kilometers. Comes with helmet and a new, cover. Located in Roca Azul Rv Park and price is $12,500 pesos. Jalisco plates paid
up thru 2018. It has been well maintained and is in excellent condition. E mail me at lawandrew29@outlook.com if you want pictures. Or call me at 333-949-8770 after 10 a.m. or before 10 P.M. Please, reduced price is now $10.500 pesos FOR SALE: Fine China, Mikasa Black Chrisma. Dinner plates alone sell for $20 USD each. Will sell the entire service for $250 USD or $5000 pesos, 766-4360. FOR SALE: Professional padded shoulder bag for transporting your office. Room for two laptops and lots more. $400 pesos, 766-4360. FOR SALE: Audio Technica Professional mic and 4 channel 48 V power supply, frequency response 10-25,000 Hz. Call: 766-4360 for more info will sell together for $200 USD or $4000 pesos. Email: casitarodante@yahoo.com. WANTED: We are looking for 2 modern comfortable armchairs, queen size mattress and a twin mattress, all in very good/excellent condition. Also, any suggestion of consignment stores or furniture stores would be most welcomed. Email: mexicanmahayana@gmail.com. FOR SALE: 2 Oaxacan Large Hammocks. $10 or $200 pesos each, 766-4360. WANTED: Looking to buy a used, small, outdoor storage shed. Prefer plastic. With shelves. Roughly 6’ x 5’, or smaller. Need it delivered and assembled. Email: v.v.kaskow@gmail.com.
Saw you in the Ojo 65
66
El Ojo del Lago / September 2018