Author:bill
The one thing we have been lacking in our writings about this lovely group is video footage other than a few short clips that we posted sometime back. Mostly it’s been still images. Through the group’s teacher Nicolas Lizarraga I got hold of a video of the group performing at the national competition this last year where they won third place overall. So with it in my hands I posted it to YouTube for you to see. Be patient, the […]
This beautiful article/speech was sent to me recently, I thought it absolutely brilliant. It gave me words and a means to express what I had been feeling about our work with the Xunutzi dance group, clearly it has meaning for everyone. I have chosen photos from dances performed at the El Coronado ranch this last weekend to accompany the article because for me the group embodies the very spirit of this article. It was given by Karl Paulnack, pianist and […]
Last summer I got an email from friends who live in Washington D.C. and were planning to visit us over the Christmas holidays. They were told by acquaintances in the Phoenix area that they should avoid southeastern Arizona, the area where we live, because it would be too dangerous for them to travel there. And under no circumstances should they consider visiting Mexico because that was far worse. When we communicated with the people who had given that advice, they […]
Funny where the world takes you at times. A desire to upload this blog before going to Mexico tomorrow and trouble with the internet at home took me to none other than McDonalds in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Clearly it is not someplace I frequent, but the WiFi is free and the coffee not too bad. The experience came complete with a birthday party right in front of me as I configured this post. Being a military town near the border […]
My great grandfather came to Mexico from southern France in the mid 1850s in search of opportunity and a new life. When he arrived in northern Sonora, he fell in love with the beauty of this unique landscape, its people and married. When I was young, I can remember my mother talking about how he regretted leaving Mexico for southern Arizona, an area that had recently become part of the United States through the Gadsden Purchase. I don’t know if […]