Articles 2019

“Bridging The Gap” By Marilyn Thielking   The immortal Rudyard Kipling once wrote, in describing the huge chasm that existed between the culture of his own country and that of India, “East is east, and west is west, and never the twain shall meet.” Had Kipling amended this to read, “South is south, and North […]

LAKESIDE LIVING Sandy Olson Phone: 331-283-8529 Email: sandyzihua@hotmail.com July 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. July

SPREAD THE STUPIDITY—Just For Fun Courtesy of Christy Wiseman   * Only in This World do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front. * Only in This World do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and

Breathless By Margie Keane   Jeremy and I had been sweet on each other since second grade and now, at 19 we were engaged—supposed to be engaged, that is. Just yesterday I was in town to do some shoppin’ and as I walked by a fence I heard familiar voices – the voices of my

Ramblings From The Ranch By Christina Bennett   No offense to the Chihuahuas, but I’m a big-dog kind of girl. The first time I went to The Ranch, I stepped out of my car and heard dogs barking. Lots of dogs. The dogs are ecstatic to see people—staff, volunteers, potential adopters. They know they will

Be Home When The Streetlights Come On By Marilyn Armstrong   When I was growing up … and even when my son was growing up in the 1970s, kids went out to play. Alone. Unsupervised. Unstructured. Disorganized with not a single adult to keep an eye on us. We built “forts” and “clubhouses” out of

The Forgotten Village: A Community Development Project By Bernadine Janzen   Butterflies en Mexico (BeM) has been involved with a pueblo for almost 3 years just 4 kilometers outside of Chapala. Most people don’t know where that is. We call it the Forgotten Village. We have committed 5 additional years to the community. BeM implemented

“A Flickering Flame In The Dark Night” By Rosamaria Casas   Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, the greatest writer of Mexico’s 17th century, has been described by a contemporary poet as “A flickering flame in the dark night of Colonial Times.” Her name was Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana, but upon

THE SPIRIT OF ’76 —Persecution, Slavery, War and Genocide in Revolutionary America By Dr. Lorin Swinehart   Any cataclysm, like a war, brings out the very best in some, acts of courage, kindness, forgiveness and self sacrifice, while causing the very darkest of traits to surface in others. As we have all too often observed

Life Askew By Julia Galosy The Writer’s Corner   The most powerful relationship in fiction is between writer and reader. The writer can only progress to a certain point while presenting a fictional world, the imagination of the reader completes it. Over time fiction has become more sparse and readers’ imaginations have flourished. Enter Flash