June 2019

The Burial By Herbert W. Piekow   Doña Maria de la Luz Rojas Mercado de Ramirez died Tuesday; because she was not embalmed she was buried the following day. All ten of her surviving children and numerous grandchildren arrived for the viewing. Most of her progeny reside in various parts of the US; only three […]

Pay It Forward By Sue Schools   “Cindy, I’m in the lunch room at work and need to talk to you a few minutes,” Lucy whispered into the phone. “Sure, what’s up?” “You’ve known Bill and me for a few years but there’s something I’ve never told anyone. For the seventeen years we’ve been married

LAKESIDE LIVING Sandy Olson Phone: 331-283-8529 Email: sandyzihua@hotmail.com June 2019   OPEN CIRCLE Sunday morning finds Lakeside residents at the Lake Chapala Society and Open Circle, a forum on a variety of stimulating topics. A social hour with coffee and snacks at 10 am is followed by an interesting lecture and discussion at 10:30. June

Stardust Falls On Lakeside By John Ward Kristine Moily   She shines like the star she is, secretly and humbly. I say secretly, because most people know nothing of her background and humbly because she is humble and unassuming about her talent. She takes the stage and the audience’s attention with a graceful ease, seen

Me And Momma By Sydney Gay “Strike The Tiger In Both Ears”   My Momma was no fool. She was a Baptist dance teacher who loved the Lord. After she died, five hundred students attended the funeral. When she was seventy-two-years old, a Chinese student of the Tao introduced Momma to Qigong and Tai Chi,

Life Askew* By Julia Galosy Deep Learning   As many of you likely know, Deep Learning is a term from artificial intelligence (AI). It means mining data in such depth that the results are the creation of neural networks to tackle complex problems. Although Deep Learning comes from technology it might serve as a metaphor

MARIA CALLAS: A Greek Tragedy By Robert James Taylor   She was recognized as the greatest operatic singer of the 20th Century, idolized all over the world; the ultimate diva whose artistry took her to heights of genius never seen before, and yet before her death in 1977 she would suffer humiliation, neglect, exploitation and

PARACHO—The Guitar Capital of Mexico By Ralph F. Graves   Few will argue that Mexico would be quite the same without its guitars: Mariachis with their lively ranchero renderings, strolling folk singers ready to burst into song at the drop of a few pesos, even local Romeos serenading their favorite senoritas-all rely on the guitar

Why I Love My Ex-Pat Life By Natalie Speakman   When I was younger, travel abroad was something that rarely crossed my mind, but when it did, I’d immediately toss the idea out. It was just too expensive. The thought of actually living overseas was like pondering living on the moon. Impossible, so it never

Crystal Moment By Dr. Lorin Swinehart   “Some days I wake up walking over the desert and see pieces of me everywhere.” —James Tipton It was a warm June evening, with a full moon coursing across a crystalline sky. I had hiked into a remote campsite deep in the forest with my friends Ron and