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

Monday, January 2, 2012

2501 Imigrantes come to the city.

In what will prove to be the most photographed art installation in years, Alejandro Santiago's huge project lines the streets and sits in front of Santo Domino.
I went to see this amazing work when it was at the CaSa in nearby San Agustin Etla in July of 2007.  Please check out the photos and more of the background by clicking on that post.  That way I do not need to repeat myself.
Santiago and his remaining neighbors created 2501 life-size sculptures, each one representing a person who had left his village.  The men leave.  The very young and the very old remain.  And lots of lonely women.  Imagine if that happened where you were.
If the people around you left, would you look the other way?
Would you just ignore it?  Could you just walk past?
Or run past?
Immigration is a very complex subject.  I have strong feelings about it.  First, the daily wage here is about $4.50 US a day.... a day!  Think about what you might do if you could make in ten times that somewhere else.
Also, too, I am in immigrant of sorts here.  Imagine if you were living on $1000 a month in the US, say on Social Security.  That money would allow you to live reasonably well here and would not even get you a place to live in much of the US.

It sure is something to ponder.

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