I feel like I’ve been on a bit of a blogging vacation.  That’s ok, though. I’m entitled.  But why have I been so quiet lately?  Mainly because I’ve been waiting to hear what becomes of the Mexico Today program that I’ve been contributing to since June.  Our contracts expired at the end of the year and we’ve been told that we should just be patient for now as planning and negotiations are still ongoing.  That’s fine, I understand… but it makes me a bit laid back and relaxed without a deadline looming. I so hope the program continues, keep your fingers crossed that it does, ok?

I have made such good friends and learned so much through this project.  I’ve learned that there are countless people who love México and are passionate about challenging the biases we read in the mainstream press.  The men and women who are my fellow ambassadors have greatly enhanced my knowledge of  social media with one of the main lessons learned that sharing each others blog posts, tweets, and status updates enhances the reach for all of us.  And enhancing the reach is important when you’re trying to tell a story that is charming and poignant rather than alarmist and bloody.

I’ll never understand how people can be so bigoted and closed-minded – and share their feelings openly online about it, too.  Have you ever read the comments on an online article about Mexico?  So many are filled with venom, anger, and generalities.  I’m not just sad that they are saying hurtful things about México and the people who live here, but they seem to not realize that they are showing the world how ugly and small minded they are.

I’ll get off my soapbox now, and for the time being you can catch me out walking, or knitting my endless table mat or reading on my Kindle while petting a dog.  Life is good and I am enjoying myself.  I hope you are, too!

At the top of this post is a picture of my endless table mat that’s nowhere near ready to be felted. I’d better get back to it now!

Life here has finally settled down a bit since the holidays.  I always love the crush of parties and visiting and the festive feeling but I am often ready for life to calm down a few days before it does! Now life is normal for winter – I am just the right amount of busy.

I wrote a new column for January’s M! Magazine – on food treats from around México.

Last Saturday was the first weekly Organic Market at Plazuela Zaragoza. It was fantastic – everyone there sold out and I’ve been told there will be four more vendors this coming week.  There was so much wonderful food – from organic eggs and quinoa to organic dried mangoes, beautiful organic soaps, and tons of lovely vegetables.  Hector from Molika Bakery was there with his delicious baked goods and Looney Bean was selling coffee so many people were able to have breakfast right there!  The hours are 8 am to noon.

Last Friday was First Friday Art Walk and it was my first time working during the walk.  Paul takes the Friday shift at Luna Gallery so I came over and helped him once Art Walk got going.  The feeling was so festive and there were so many people out and about!  We think at least 200 people came through and I know they enjoyed the current show – Clouds by Dave Robb as well as the other artists the gallery represents.  It was a lot of fun but next month I am going to wear more comfortable shoes!

If you’d like to see a cool video done by blogger MazReal about the Clouds show at Luna, check it out here.

There’s more, too!  Tonight is a talk on Diego Rivera at Recrea and then another art opening – this one is a show by Dory Perdomo at Look.  You could also go to Danzon tonight in the Plazuela Zaragoza, there is dancing there every Thursday.  I love to go and just watch! If you want to know more about what’s going on around town I recommend keeping an eye on Mazatlan Life.

I have been enjoying my free time catching up on some reading. I just finished 52 Loaves, My Year of Meats and Kitchen and and am looking for what to read next. I also decided that the table mat I am knitting for the center of my dining room table still needs a couple more rounds.  I am planning on felting it – then I can start on knitting something for my granddaughter Consuelo with the white and orange yarn she chose when I visited in December. My knitting group and book group meet regularly and I just love them both.

The atmosphere in town is festive and happy.  I believe people are feeling optimistic and positive about life in Mazatlán.  We know people who are buying a house here after living here for several winters.  The symphony is giving four performances that we hadn’t expected, and Carnaval 2012 is already underway, too.

The weather has been a bit on and off – a bit chilly (by our standards) at times.  That means we wear pants and maybe a sweater, though!  Most days are sunny and warm and if it cools off it’s usually at night.  We are having good times here in Mazatlán, I hope you are enjoying yourself, too!

If you read my previous post, you read about my dream for a community center in Mazatlán.  But it isn’t just my dream, it is one shared by many of us.  I hope you’ll read the piece Ken Albanese wrote below and then click on the link to go to the new Community Center topic I created over at the Mazatlán Exchange Forum.  We thought it would be a good place to get the conversation going because of its topic based design.  You can view posts without registering, but in order to post your thoughts you’ll need to sign up.  If you need help with anything, please email me at nancy at countdowntomexico dot com.

I had a dream the other night.  It wasn’t like world peace or anything, but it was a good one nonetheless.  I dreamed there was a space here in Mazatlan where expat individuals and groups were creating all kinds of cultural and educational activities for themselves in English.  Someone was giving a short course on photography; another was giving an acting workshop.  Someone else was doing a multimedia presentation about a famous artist.  There were regular quality films in English.  There were some amateur musicians jamming.  Someone was hosting a panel presentation about nutrition and health.  There was a small play being performed.  The place was overflowing with people sharing their experiences, interests and creativity.

But where did it come from?  Then my dream went into a movie flashback.   Someone had this space that was not really being used.  It was about 800 square feet and he thought ‘maybe the expat community would like to use this somehow’.

So I went to look at this space in my dream.  Sure, it needed some work but it was a nice empty space that fit the bill – it was inside, which is important because you need a place to be dark and quiet (not a courtyard) and it wasn’t next to a noisy restaurant.   There was room to put a little platform stage at one end and enough room for 75 people (once suitable chairs were found).   We’ll have to fix the place up a bit, put in AC, but hmm, I thought, I see how this could work.

‘Hold your horses’, says my benefactor ‘I’m all for community blah blah blah, but this space has got to generate some income.’   “OK, OK, says I (thinking fast).   Here’s how it works – revenue sharing.   A third goes to you, a third to the board so they can pay the bills and a third to the group or person sponsoring the event.   You won’t have guaranteed Income every month (especially in the summer) but here is the other advantage:  with fundraising, we can improve your space.  We can fix up that wall over there and put in some air conditioning and generally take care of maintenance and pay the bills. So you generate a little income and at the same time the space gets some upgrades.  My benefactor smiled.  ‘The space is yours’, he says.

I woke up.

Mazatlan is rich in cultural activity for the expat community.   We are among the best places to reside for music and dance.  Our bar and restaurant scene is bristling with musical activity of every type.  Cultura offers us a remarkable level of classical music and we excel in dance of all types from Ballet to Modern.  In addition, our various clubs (FOM, Lions, Rotary, Church groups, bridge and poker players) have found good locations to carry on their activities.  Artists are opening galleries and offering workshops in their studios.  And of course, our wonderful library is well established and a valuable asset to the community.

Whew!  That is a lot.  But there is one thing that we don’t have: a consistent gathering place where expats can create entertainment and educational events for themselves in English, cost-effectively.  Examples: Theater, film, lectures, multi-media presentations, panel presentations, mini-courses or workshops. It is impossible to predict the range of events that expats might develop for themselves if they knew there was a reliable space where they could be hosted.  Recrea in Centro is a good example.  The space there is limited and primarily for visual artists but they generate a lot of interesting workshops and presentations (primarily in Spanish) for the local community.

The experience of other large expat communities has been that such a location spurs on the sharing of talent and experience in a wide range of areas.  Some people will say: well there is always a space you can rent for an activity or you can use someone’s home.   And this is true when there is an event that is chasing a space.  However, it is the consistent, reliable, availability of the space that often facilitates the creation of events.  Without the space seeking an activity, there tends to be a reluctance to create the activity.

So when the space was available – there was suddenly an unleashing of people’s ideas and creativity.  There was a lot of talent, knowledge and experience in the community waiting for a space to hold it.

In my dreams.

So Mazatlan expats – let’s start a conversation.  Is this something that we need here and is there a way to make it happen?  It need not be as described in my dream; there are many possible routes.  Unleash your imagination and your practical side and see if we can turn a modest dream into a reality.  Place your ideas and reactions here.