Even if you have never wondered what ties Mexico to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, I’m going to tell you anyway. It begins with a poem. Longfellow’s epic 1847 poem, “Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie,” is the story of an Acadian girl, Evangeline Bellefontaine (“Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers”), her betrothed, Gabriel […]
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In 1934 during the depths of the Great Depression, horse trainer Tom Smith was living out of a stall at Mexico’s Agua Caliente racetrack in Tijuana. Flat broke, Smith shared the stall with Noble Threewit, who trained horses for a friend of Charles Howard. Howard was seeking a trainer for his new horse, Seabiscuit, a […]
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The mean streets of Tijuana have at last dispatched something other than media reports of killings, kidnappings and cartels. The bloody, dusty, bullet-ridden streets of Tijuana have wached Cejas emigrate, even without proper papers. You may be wondering, Who is this Cejas of whom she writes? Is he a Mexican hero? Is he a famous […]
Continue ReadingIt may be time to add one more famous face to the posters hanging on my wall, the ones of Brando, Depp and Jim Morrison. Someone new may be exciting enough to be placed among them. I know because I heard all about it from Juanita, the Mexican cashier who snatched the special Obama issue […]
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Ever since Al Gore sounded the alarm about global warming, everyone on earth is aware that mankind (an oxymoron if ever I heard one) must preserve itself and the environment if it is to survive. We must waste nothing. These days, you don’t have to be a member of the Corleone family to be in […]
Continue ReadingFor a change, this year I’m not going to fool around with a list of resolutions to alter my behavior, resolutions that have always been elasticized by my characteristic rationalization. There’s always a way around those things if you can only justify your case first to yourself, and then try to fool everybody else. For […]
Continue ReadingEveryone who relocates to Mexico sooner or later cooks a big holiday dinner for visiting family and friends. My first Christmas, everyone I ever knew, casually met, or went to high school with, showed up. Sure they said it was to visit me, but I knew darned well it was an excuse to visit Mexico, […]
Continue ReadingGlobal economy just can’t be ignored any longer, no matter how hard I try. To keep up with the times and learn at least one more language while still keeping things simple, Spanish seemed a good choice because our alphabets are the same. Besides, each Spanish word is pronounced phonetically. What you see is what […]
Continue ReadingSome expatriates muse knowingly that retirement is a state of bliss, while others declare emphatically that it’s the State of Jalisco. So much to do and for once, so much time in which to do it. Many retirees living in Mexico turn to public service, others study Spanish or travel, still others live out a […]
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Without fanfare, President Felipe Calderon has been quietly working on attracting millions of U.S. retirees to Mexico by proposing the expansion of retirement benefits and medical tourism. It is anticipated this proposal will be brought up when President Calderon meets with President Barack Obama on an official visit May 19th, sources say. President Calderon, not […]
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