Michael Hogan is the author of thirty-one books, including two collections of short stories, and eight books of poetry. He wrote the critically acclaimed novel Abraham Lincoln and Mexico and his best-selling Irish Soldiers of Mexico, formed the basis for the MGM movie starring Tom Berenger. He currently lives in Guadalajara with the textile artist Lucinda Mayo,

There is an old saying, “Listen to the eyes, they have much to say.” This expression can be extended to butterflies. Their eyes are self-revealing: Through external observation, their eyes reveal their structure, from which we can determine their sensitivity, acuity, field of view, and more. By and large, butterflies are visual creatures, and rely

From his new novel: First Church: Spiritual Wokism in the Pews Today We decided we would go to the Halloween party together: I, a senior gay white male liberal minister, and she, a lesbian Anglo/Native American New Age flower child experiencing her early-fifties. She was also the church’s religious education director. Her name was Fred.

In 1961, the final, most difficult segment of the Chihuahua-Pacific railroad was completed. It went from coastal Los Mochis, Sinaloa up through narrow canyons, over bridges, and through mountain tunnels to the top of the Sierra Madre Occidental at about 4,600 feet, and then on across the northern central plateau to Chihuahua’s namesake capital city.

— “Living with materiality is not what I do.” What a treat for me to get to write a profile of Lois Schroff. Born in 1924, she still is delightful at 101. And when I told her how much fun it had been to interview her since I got to ask such personal questions, she

Epidemic Edition! Remember the lore about Typhoid Mary, the cook in the early 1900’s who spread a deadly disease around New York? Well, The Ranch had their own version of this recently when Bert and Ernie arrived. These two Malinois mixes (brothers?) were dropped off by a farmer from Mezcala in mid-March. He found the

September Is “Bulbing” Out All Over There is a pot right outside of my bedroom door leading to the terraza that blooms every year in December. The flower is a hypnotizing red and its long dark green leaves grow most of the year, awaiting the arrival of their flower. I did not plant the amaryllis.