WRITING AT THIRTEEN By Maya BarkerAge 13 (Ed. Note: Maya lives in Chapala and is the grand-daughter of longtime Lakeside residents Mark and Adele Cordero. Maya recently read her poem to the Ajijic Writers’ Group and received an enthusiastic response.)   So many times in my life People have told me how well I write. […]

THE  BOGART  MYSTIQUE By Alejandro Grattan(Reprinted by Request)   One synonym for the word “mystique” is magical, and it is indeed magical that today, some fifty years after his death, Bogart is a bigger star than he was even in his wildly successful heyday during the ‘40s and ‘50s. More amazing is that his fans

LETTER FOR THE EDITOR   Dear Sir: (This is in response to “Thunder on the Right” column (April) by Paul Jackson Mister Jackson, I hate to be the one to disturb you up there in Dallas North, but your article has some loose and loony assumptions. Sorry, Alberta oil sands are too costly, too polluting,

GOING ROGUEAn American Life By Sarah Palin413 pagesReviewed by Thomas Hally   Palin’s tome is a critical narrative of her mismanagement during the 2008 Republican White House bid. In a story that could be told in 300 pages instead of 413, she relates personal histories and vignettes about her earliest childhood memories, her adolescence, family,

Geo-Mexico:The Geography and Dynamics of Modern Mexico By Richard Rhoda and Tony BurtonSombrero Books, B.C., Canada, 2010A Review by James Tipton   Ihave several long shelves that hold books about Mexico. This is, after all, my home, my country, and I want to know as much about it as I can. On top of those

LETTER FOR THE EDITOR   Dear Sir: I read your editor’s page article on Monte Cassino and just wanted to add a few more words about it. Anyone familiar with that battle (and there is plenty about it on the web) knows that the battle went on in four stages and certainly I admire the

The Journey To Fluency By Dilia Suriel   Iwitnessed a lady struggling to express herself in Spanish; despite my Latin features she asked: “Do you speak English?” “Exquisitely.” I responded.   She was a retired English Literature professor. She loved words and longed to express herself in Spanish. We embarked in a too familiar discussion,

JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE WORLDPart 4 By Carol L. Bowman Straits of Magellan and Beagle Channel   With the clang of anchors dropping, we witnessed our first view of the magnificent Darwin Mountain Range Ice Field. Ainsworth Island, where a colony of elephant seals gathers every spring to birth their pups, waited in

The Continuing Adventures of Mildred and Suzette… By Katie B. Goode Hopping On The Wisdom Train   Mildred hurried up the steps to the restaurant, late for her weekly lunch with Suzette. “Problem?” Suzette asked as Mildred plopped into her chair. “You know, you give your all raising your kids, think you’ve done a good

GRINGAS & GUACAMOLE By Gail Nott Dating at Lakeside   Home invasions and car thefts don’t generate as much conversation in our small Mexican village of Ajijic as the arrival of a single man or woman who is not accompanied by a full-time nurse. Dating, for those of us who live here, is rather like