On Thursday, January 26, 2012, I went to see the Dr. Alt exhibit at the Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco in México City’s Tlatelolco hood, not too far from where I live. I went with some American friends that are now living in México City:  Jim Johnson, Nicholas Gillman and Brad Conrad.

I had heard about the Dr. Atl art exhibit while I was in Dallas and just had to go because not only had I admired Atl’s paintings but I also live in the neighborhood Dr. At lived in, Col. Santa Maria la Ribera, and too, I live on Dr. At street as well.

The is show was great, I loved seeing all the works in one place, in the Museo Colección Blaisten in the Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco.  Andres Blaisten, art collector and connoisseur, and for whom the museum is named after, did a great job in the presentation of Dr. Atl’s works.

As reported in the LA Times:

Dr. At, … was a muralist, an educator and a civic activist who once helped save a colonial-era convent from demolition by moving in and living there. He published books, invented paints and signed his works “Dr. At,” an imaginary honorific using the Nahuatl-language word for water.

Born Gerardo Murillo in Guadalajara in 1875, Dr. At is one of the most accomplished and enigmatic figures from the golden period of modern art in Mexico. …

I say, this is a must see exhibit of one of México’s utmost painters and a big part of Mexican history.  Exhibit runs through April 16, 2012.

click image below for a slide show exhibit of Dr. Atl

Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco
Ave. Ricardo Flores Magón N. 1
across from the Plaza de las Tres Culturas – “Square of the Three Cultures”
Col. Nonoalco-Tlatelolco
Cost is only $20.00 pesos, like $1.50 USD
How to get there

With Michael Parker we didn’t do the Olmedo museum because we were going to spend the whole afternoon on the canals – stopping at the la Isla de las Munecas – Island of the Dolls.

click image above for slide show of my day

Though I had been to the canals in Xochimilco several times, this was the first time I was going to the Island of the Dolls, a place I often heard and read about: and I was looking forward to it.

I won’t say much except to say the island creepy and I wouldn’t want to be there after dark alone.  The time we went, there were no people just dolls, dolls that were slowly deteriorating.  There was a sitting area so all eight of us had tequila drinks!  LOL

click here for a short video of my day visit to Xochimilco

So why the dolls?

The story goes that the island’s only inhabitant, Don Julian Santana, found the body of a drowned child in the canal some 50 years ago. He was haunted by her death, so when he saw a doll floating by in the canal soon after, he hung it in a tree to please the girl. He hoped to both appease her tortured soul and protect the island from further evil.

One doll in a tree, however, was not enough to ease Santana’s troubled mind. He continued to fish dolls and doll parts out of the canal whenever he saw them, hanging each one carefully on the island. There weren’t enough canal dolls to satisfy Santana’s tortured spirit, so he began scavenging more from trash heaps on his rare trips away from home. Later in life, he began trading his home-grown fruits and vegetables for dolls.

Many stories have been associated with the island over the years. A popular tale was that Don Julian had gone mad and believed the dolls to be real children who he pulled from the canal and tried to revive. But the truth, as told by his family members who now run the island as a tourist attraction, is that Don Julian simply believed the island was haunted by the spirit of the little girl. For reasons only known to Don Julian himself, he believed that he could make the dead girl happy and keep evil at bay by hanging discarded dolls in all of the island’s trees.

Info from the Web Urbanist.

Here I am in a group shot

Below is a picture of me with my landlord and friend: Bernardo Plasencia:

Without Bernardo’s help, I wouldn’t be back in Mexico City

Well yesterday, Sunday, August 28, 2011, I was in México City’s Alameda Central in Centro Historico and I saw that this guy had made quartz crystal rings – I thought cool.  Why not wear a quartz crystal instead of having it in my pocket with my change – always gets in the way when making change; carrying the quartz crystal in my back pocket didn’t work – especially when sitting down, OUCH.

purchased quartz crystal stone ring

Well, I wore my ring with great pride: thought it looked cool.  BUT this morning, I took my laundry to be washed and the laundry lady’s little girl of about five years of age noted my ring.  And in a tiny five-year old Spanish language voice asks me: Why are you wearing that big ring?  At first I ignored her, but she asks again.  AND then I said, because it looks pretty.

Well this tiny little girl cracks my face when she says:  Women only wear big rings like that, men don’t.  Needless to say, I CLUTCHED MY PEARLS: I was at a loss for words — and her mother didn’t say a thing either: like we didn’t hear that. LOL

I loved seeing this old car parked on the street, obviously being driven today.   Was it from a collector of vintage cars?  I don’t think so because it was parked on the street and too, not in mint condition. Had to be someone’s everyday ride.

Note the orange color in the middle of the windshield

Seeing this car, I couldn’t help but remember when I drove an old car myslef, a turquoise colored 1964 Ford Galaxie 500, I would often get comments from Yuppies: cool car, but what’s your other car –- a BMW?  What other car? This is my only car!

But the fun part of finding this car is this: you know how a lot of people like to fancy up their cars by hanging all kinds of things on their review mirror?  Well this driver is no exception – take a look and the orange color dangling from the rear view mirror: maybe this car is only driven on Halloween!

Note the roll of toilet paper on the car seat — yep, someone’s everyday ride.

I just had to see what I had been missing for the last nine months that I have been in Dallas.  As I walked up Dr. Atl to Salvador Diaz Mirón I could see water shooting high from the fountains at the park — they never worked the whole time I lived there.  The park was now clean and the trees trimmed so one could see the centerpiece of the park, the Moorish Kiosk, Kiosco Morisco as it is known.  As I walked toward the park, I walked in front of the Russian restaurant, Kolobok, one of my favorite places I used to eat.  It was wonderful to hear kitchen help ladies holler at me:  Que Milagro, What a Miracle: a miracle to see me because to them I had just disappeared. We chatted a while, told them I had moved and was only visiting and that I would return to eat.  I cut my conversation short because I just had to see, walk and sit at the park – like I used to do.

click photo above for slideshow

When I left Col. Santa Maria la Ribera in September 2010 the park and the Kiosk were a mess because of remodeling.  Now the park looked so fresh and inviting.  The Kiosk, built like in 1884, was now clean and had freshly painted. The old marble floor in the middle of the Kiosk was gone, replaced with a wooden floor that looked great with the pattern design.  The park has four fountains at each corner of the park and they were all spewing water high into the air – beautiful.  The benches that had been removed from around the park, because they had built concert-sitting areas, had returned too.  It made my day, it was all lovely.  After enjoying the park, I walked the neighborhood and saw my old barber and the ladies that did my sewing.  It was great seeing old faces.  I never ventured to my apartment that continues to sit empty:  Not going back.

After visiting Santa Maria, I went to La Zone Rosa where I bought a spiral notebook to write my thoughts:  I had so many things I just had to write down.  As I was sitting at a sidewalk café this 80-year old lady had some straw donkeys she wanted to sell.  She held them for me to see and told me the donkeys were for feast day of Corpus Christi.  What?  She tried to explain what the ritual was about, but I was just not getting it so she gave up:  LOL.  Well, the lady was so cute, I bought two.  I love my treasures, folk art, I bought from that lady, but what I never did find out what donkeys had to do with the feast day.

(untitled)Jesus Chairez

The last time I posted here was in September 2010 having left Mexico City’s Col. Santa Maria la Ribera for Dallas, Texas.  After arriving in Dallas, I was asked to return to Dallas’ Community radio station KNON 89.3 FM – The Voice of the People.  I served on KNON’s Board of Director’s as President from October 2010 until the end of April 2011. A tenure that went well.  For example,  I helped in make some positive changes while at KNON, like for one, getting the Jesse Garcia Radio Show on the air.  But I came to realize that radio was not my dream so I left KNON in order to pursue and concentrate on my writing; I already had a career as a radio producer and announcer on the radio show I had created: the Sin Fronteas radio show which aired from July 4, 1993 – July 3, 2005.  Being the President of the Board of Directors at KNON was a full time job with no pay.  Too I was getting an itch to travel and as a friend said,  … I “seem to be searching for the right balance, bouncing back and forth across the border with eternal optimism, nostalgia for friends and openness to adventure.”

Life in Dallas has been fun and exciting, seeing old friends, going out to art openings and going to parties; though I have not taken the time to blog about it.

Well, my yearning for Mexico City has taken its toll for I am going back to Mexico City for the summer, arriving in late June 2011 and staying until the end of September — maybe longer.  Looking forward to a fill of  daily Vitamin T: Tostadas, Tamales, Tacos, Tortas, Tlacoyos, Tlayudas, Tortillas, Tinga, agua de Tamarindo, Tesgüino, Tejate, Tepacheand of course TEQUILLA.

Want to keep up with my life as a Chicano in Mexico City, then this follow this blog.

Next posting:  Mexico City – YEA.

Jzs

I moved to DF where I got more cultured in the Mexican way of life, where I learned that being Texican, Tex-Mex, is NOT Mexican at all – there is a difference.

In a lot of ways, living in DF was a culture shock too, the customs, the food (no Tex-Mex with chili con carne and cheddar cheese on my enchiladas), and no Spanglish:  If I tried to mix a sentence with English and Spanish I was not understood and thought strange.

The word Latino and most especially Hispanic does not exist here.  The whole time I was here I never heard these two words used to identify one, unless it was by a visiting friend from Texas.

I found it fascinating how I had been such a Latino activist in Dallas and then when I moved to México City I was now considered a GRINGO – no kidding.

I often got the nickname gringo and or güero, two common words I, as a Latino, would call white folks back home.  I found my nicknames most interesting because I didn’t every consider myself white, but those words have nothing to do with being white.

Gringo or güero has nothing to do with color, but with the culture of those living North of the Rio Grande.  I think my nicknames had a lot to do with my Texas twang in speaking Spanish – Como Estan Y’all.

From Dallas Texas to México City’s trendy bohemian Col. Roma and then to el Corazon de Col. Santa Maria la Ribera – it was all grand.  I met some remarkable and inspiring people from all around the world, developing some incredible friendships that will last for a lifetime.

I adore México City and often pinched my Latino hairless nalgas to see if I was awake:  making sure that it was not a dream – living in the city I so much admired after first arriving in the big enchilada during the Christmas holiday season of 1986.

What opened my eyes to moving was when my obsessive, prying, meddlesome, snooping, busybody, interfering, hmmm, did I forget a name?  Yes, GREEDY, landlady raised my rent 400% when my contract expired — this for a torn up junky apartment that she couldn’t rent until I moved into the place and fixed it up. I gave the apartment lots of love, glitter and glamorous zesty parties and then landlady wanted it ALL.

Though we settled on just a 100% increase, my landlady’s action got me to thinking: why stay in México City?  I am retired, I have a pension, I have good health and I am still young enough to move around with ease: So I can live and travel most anywhere in the world.

So with that thought in mind, I decided to leave México City, the land that was my grandparents, and venture back to be Dallas based to write my first book: DFW to DF and back.  Once completed – I will venture out once again, next stop, I don’t know exactly yet but Buenos Aires seems to be calling my name.

I will miss the vibrant life that is México City: Chapultepec Park, the bike, walk and skate Sunday’s on Paseo de la Reforma, Xochimilco, La Zona Rosa, Col. Roma & Col. Condesa, Centro Historico, the Zocalo, Bellas Artes, Alameda park, the cool bars on Repulica de Cuba, my lovely cantinas, my sidewalk cafés, the weekly tianguis in my hood, my lovely Mercado’s, my comida garnacha (street food) where I got a fill of  daily Vitamin T: Tostadas, Tamales, Tacos, Tortas, Tlacoyos, Tlayudas, Tortillas, Tinga, agua de Tamarindo and of course Tequila.

I will miss my charismatic neighborhood, Col. Santa Maria la Ribera:  I will miss the many fun and passionate parties that I had on my loggia – a place where I met the famous and infamous.  I will miss my wonderful funky Mexican, Russian, Spanish, Japanese cafes and that long-established cantina — Salon Paris.

I’ll remember the park in front of my house: the parque Alameda Santa Maria la Ribera where a gorgeous 100+ year old Kiosco Morisco sat only yards away from my front door.  A park that I could see and people watch from my big and lovely veranda:  Didn’t need a television.

Col. Santa Maria la Ribera was fun in a quirky and eccentric sort of way, a must see when visiting DF.

But I do have to admit though is that what I will miss most about my life in México City is being pampered — with a cleaning lady, a cook, having someone to do my laundry and then folding and ironing.  I will miss living the life of a rich white woman.

I do have to thank my landlady for opening my eyes to:  I don’t have to plant roots in México City.  Time to start another chapter in my unscripted lifestyle. Though my living in México City is over, my visiting is not – I still love this town.

People know that I sold everything to move to México City and I had to do it again on this move: no regrets — I’ve learned not to get too attached to things and places.  Enjoy them and move on for there will always be more fantastic new things and new places to enjoy.

Adios mi México lindo y querido – I will be back, especially in June, July and August when it’s sweltering in Dallas.

It is not adios forever: but see you later México City.

Jzs

PS:  Fine points about my journey in México City will come later in my book: So be watching for that.

Was he a left over from last nights party? Had he been there all night?  Had he walked so far that he was just too tired to push forward?  Did he just want to camp out at this location because he liked the view?  Whatever the case, this guy sleeps wherever he pleases – his home on wheels.

My friend said, a “German artist named Pia Lanzinger is doing her final of three performance pieces with a group of sweepers. Friday they did the Rockettes, more like ‘pass the shoe from me to you’ in slow motion, passing brooms and batting around a ball made from recyclables taped together.”  Sounded like fun and original, and this was their last performance, so off I went.

I most enjoyed hearing the sweepers sing.  Though they mostly sang off key it was most enjoyable to hear their music, songs, that these sweeper created themselves.  All the music and poetry conveying their lives on the street — working as sweepers.  Afterward I spoke to a couple of the sweepers and they beamed when I asked questions – hell I beamed from their energy too.

The German artist Pia Lanzinger did a excellent job in working with the sweepers.   Lanzinger’s work focuses on “social phenomena and their effect on the individual, her site-specific works are based on research conducted with the co-operation of people in their own social environment. In recent years she has devised a number of projects for the public realm,”  México City being one of them.

It was a lovely day :-)

Here a short video of what I heard that day

And here are the pics: Pia Lanzinger sits with the crew

Click photo below to view a slide show.