Feliz Navidad By Margie Harrell   Each year as December approached and my warm-and-fuzzy holiday feelings began, I would dream of making a trip to Bethlehem to experience a once in a lifetime Christmas Eve. My first holiday season spent in Mexico told me I need look no further to enjoy a deep spiritual bond […]

Tapalpa: The Land Of Colors By Stephen Stanton   Nestled in a quiet valley on the Tapalpa Mesa, this first “Pueblo Mágico” of Jalisco, Tapalpa, is still the living image of a lifestyle lost and even forgotten by many Mexicans. The quiet cobblestone streets, the traditional architectural style, the aroma of wood stoves and fireplaces

History and Vision for the Lake Chapala Society By Arthur Melby   (Editor’s note: Arthur Melby, 92, is a longtime resident of Lakeside and was president of the Lake Chapala Society from 1989 to 1991. A native of Chicago, he served in military intelligence in Central and South America during World War II, owned a

YOUR BLACK BRAIDS NEATLY DRAPED By Bill Frayer   Your black braids neatly draped  You sit attentive  On the white plastic bucket  In the sheet metal shade.  You love your family, I can tell. You sit so still, back to, In the lee of the Blazing desert sun. I worry in that instant Through the

JANICE IN WONDERLAND(Tales from Mexico) By Janice Kimball, M.F.A.   I thought it didn’t matter what happened to my body after I was dead. For me, dead is dead. That was before I discovered my cemetery plot was in the wrong neighborhood. I bought the plot in the old Ajijic Panteon. Teo’s daughter arranged it.

THE HEMINGSES OF MONTICELLO By Annette Gordon-ReedBook Review by Alice Hathaway   The sub-title of THE HEMINGS OF MONTICELLO is “An American Family.” The first known member of that family was a young African woman who was impregnated while being transported to slavery in America in the 1730’s, She named the daughter she bore Elizabeth

Agave Blood, Poems by Bill Frayer Reviewed by James Tipton   Popular Lakeside author Bill Frayer has just published another fine collection of poetry: Agave Blood. The first, and longest, section, “Mexico,” celebrates Bill’s deepening connection with Mexico and its people and his discovery of the “delicious now,” where he is learning “That my present

STROLLING THROUGH TIME By Mildred Boyd   No one traveling between Chapala and Ajijic recently can have failed to be intrigued by it. Over the last few months, a long, blank stretch of drab concrete retaining wall has begun to come alive with color and movement as Javier Zaragoza performs yet another of his artistic