The here and now... and what and why

Complacency is a trap. At least that’s what I was thinking when I up and left the comfort of a Yankee prep school gig, where I taught music, amongst other things, for 28 years. There was also that life long career as a composer, musician and artist.

First, it was a year in St. Thomas, USVI, working as a reporter and shooting photography and then, a year in San Agustin Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Time passed.
More time passed and a year back in the Athens of America followed by a hasty return to Oaxaca where it is all happening.
A couple of years in San Sebastian Etla and now, just down the road in San Pablo Etla. Life is good.

Click on an image to see it larger.
For additional photography please visit my flickr page.
You can find my music on Jango (World & latin - Worldbeat) and at iTunes and most online stores.
¡Soy consciente de todas las tradiciones del Internet!
If you are coming to Oaxaca, please contact me for tours or advice.

Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo
The view from Corazon del Pueblo

The hereafter re me

My photo
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
Musician, photographer, videographer, reporter, ex-officio teacher, now attempting to be a world traveler

Thursday, May 19, 2011

If a tree falls.....

While I was delivering photos and eating wonderful fresh mole negro tamales in Teotitlan del Valle, each with an avocado leaf flavoring the chicken, stuff was happening.  The teachers are marching and blockading roads, buildings and businesses.  And we have had amazing storms, some of which have been causing quite a bit of damage.  I got a call from my friend, spixl, to tell me that one of the huge laurel trees had come down near the zocalo.  It turns out they have diseased roots, so others may be in peril.  Go check out her shots of the tree at her blog, View from Casita Colibri. 

3 comments:

Peter (the other) said...

Somewhere I had received the impression that all of those trees in the Zocolo had been cut down by the authorities during the violent demonstrations ___ years ago?). I had mourned their green canopy so enjoyed in 2000-2001 (?) on my only visit. So this news was both good and bad (and now it seems an attempted resurrection). Having grown up through the arboreal denuding affected by the Dutch Elm disease in Brookline of the 50s-60s, I am quietly emotional about the lives of shade trees. Yet, fungi must live too... (sigh).

Christopher Stowens said...

Not all all, Peter. The zocalo still has wonderful huge trees. The shadiest corner is the northeast and the sunlight dapples the people and shoeshine guys daily. Back when they were renovating the zocalo, maybe in 2005 or so, a couple of the trees were damaged and last year one fell down on the southwest corner, but the trees are beloved by everyone so they will be nurtured, protected and restored as needed. Check out the photo of the cranes lifting the most recent damaged tree at spixl's blog.

Peter (the other) said...

I am fond of tree doctors... and vets :-). The one trip to Oaxaca placed a spy in my heart that keeps suggesting a return trip someday... I can understand your love for the place. It is also wonderful how your photographic abilities have helped you integrate into the local life.

I too, have two homes, although of a more longitudinal spread. In my Santa Monica home (just left a couple of weeks ago) many of the trees planted in the first half of the last century, are either in natural decline or are beset by fungi (including many of the great palms). The sensibilities of our times are anti-shade trees as they often drop leaves and/or need regular maintenance, so how the trees will be replaced is a subject of interest (although left to its own nature, Santa Monica is a desert). My Paris home, where I write this, looks over the experimental gardens and laboratories of the botanical garden (Jardin des plants) and I watch as they maintain the lovely rows of trees, also just past peak maturity.