Sunday Tlacolula Market Meander Map For Sale
It’s Sunday in the Oaxaca Valley. Time to spend the day at the amazing Tlacolula Market. Located about 45 minutes from Oaxaca City on the Carretera Nacional–Mexico 190–between Teotitlan del Valle and Mitla, the market is the biggest and IMHO, the best in the region. I suggest you get there by 11 a.m. and stay […]
Independent Book Publishers Winner is Textile Fiestas of Mexico Travel Guide Book
Congratulations! The Independent Book Publishers of America (IBPA) just announced its latest 2017 Silver Winner for the coveted Benjamin Franklin Award. And, the winner is: Textile Fiestas of Mexico: A Travelers Guide to Celebrations, Markets and Smart Shopping, written by Sheri Brautigam and published by Thrums Books. Sheri went to Portland, Oregon, last weekend as a […]
Textile Fiestas of Mexico: New Guidebook for Smart Travelers
The book, Textile Fiestas of Mexico: A Traveler’s Guide to Celebrations, Markets and Smart Shopping by Sheri Brautigam and published by Thrums Books, is hot off the press. It’s a comprehensive guide to some of Sheri’s favorite Mexican textile villages and towns. I contributed two chapters! Sheri invited me to cover Teotitlan del Valle, the […]
Clothing Matters: Dress and Identity in Oaxaca
In planning for a visit to India in November 2016 and on the recommendation of a friend, I ordered a copy of Emma Tarlo’s book, Clothing Matters: Dress and Identity in India. What strikes me are the similarities between Mexico and India and the politics of cloth as a statement of belonging, assimilation and independence. […]
Oaxaca Women’s Creative Writing Retreat Gives Voice to Lee Schwartz
Minerva Rising Literary Journal just published a piece written by Lee Schwartz on their blog that I want to share with you. Her voice is stunning, real, painful and alliterative. I love listening to her descriptions and following her words on the page. What she writes about has universal truth and especially resonates for me. Lee […]
Cultural Dialogs: Dance of the Feather in Teotitlan del Valle
On Wednesday night this week, the San Pablo Academic and Cultural Center hosted the first in a series of community dialogs about indigenous life in Oaxaca. The restored chapel was filled to standing room only with Teotitecos and friends who came to hear a panel discussion introducing the new book, La Danza de la […]
The Day Carlos Fuentes Died: Courage to Speak Up
The Los Angeles Times pays tribute to the life of Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes who died Tuesday, March 15, 2013 at the age of 83. Fuentes was a prolific writer who crafted over 30 novels and non-fiction works. He was an outspoken and frequent critic of Mexican politics and government. As the story goes, he […]
Oaxaca Lending Library “On The Rocks” Concert Shakes ‘Em Up
What do expats, snowbirds, Norteños and extranjeros do for fun in Oaxaca [besides learning Spanish]? The Sunday afternoon concerts hosted by Jane Robison at Casa Colonial are one way to get together, shake-shake-shake to 60’s and 70’s classic rock, drink Margaritas, swill some Victoria, slurp an agua de jamaica and support the good work of the Oaxaca […]
The New York Times 36 Hours: Oaxaca, Mexico Back-story
Freda Moon, travel writer for The New York Times, contacted me on July 29, 2011 to say she was working on a feature about Oaxaca. Travel information about the city hadn’t been updated at the NY Times since 2007 and Freda thought it was about time. Her editor agreed! Freda was leaving for Oaxaca the […]
Cows, Pigs, Calaveras: Carved Wood Figures of Placido Santiago Cruz
This week I was in Oaxaca city for two days visiting with silversmiths Brigitte Huet and Ivan Campant! I went with them to present their work at Susanna Trilling’s Seasons of My Heart Cooking School in San Lorenzo Cacaotepec. This mecca of the culinary arts is located about 40 minutes from the city in the […]
Want to Live in Mexico? Advice from a Wisecracker!
Nobody Knows the Spanish I Speak is a zany memoir by Mark Saunders (Fuze Publishing, LLC, McLean, VA, ISBN 978-0-9841412-8-9), who, with his wife Arlene Krasner, moved to San Miguel de Allende (SMA) shortly after falling in love with the place. The book’s tag line is “Drop out. Sell everything. Move to Mexico. Sounded like a […]
Clay Times Magazine Features Dolores Porras Video Review
Oaxaca is known for folk art and especially pottery. Potter Dolores Porras was one of those exceptional self-taught people who took their traditions, skill and creativity to the next level. The Atzompa pueblo, where she lived and worked, provided the cooking vessels and ornamental pottery for Monte Alban, one of the earliest cities of Mesoamerica. […]
Art Book Binding. What Is It and Why in Oaxaca?
When I talked with Lisa Gilbert about teaching an art book binding workshop in Oaxaca, I had a smattering of an idea about how beautifully elegant and simple the process can be. Lisa follows the path of all the great book binding artists who have gone before her. And, she is an expert in her own […]
Novelist, Poet and English Professor Robin Greene Leads Creative Writing Workshop
Robin Greene, novelist, poet, English professor, yoga practitioner, parent and wife, is a native New Yorker who is a “Southerner by choice.” She came to Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1989, and joined the faculty at Methodist University where she is now Professor of English and Writing, the Director of the Writing Center, and Literary Editor […]
Liza Bakewell, MADRE: Perilous Journeys with a Spanish Noun, Gets Oaxaca Welcome
http://wp.me/pRHvb-pB My friend and Oaxaca colleague Shannon Sheppard writes about her experience reading the book, her impressions, and connecting Liza with both the local and ex-pat community in Oaxaca. I think you will find her comments entertaining and informative. Click on the link above to read My mobile office is now two feet from Highland […]
Book Review — Madre: Perilous Journeys with a Spanish Noun by Liza Bakewell
Liza Bakewell takes us where we may never have thought to go: Down Mexico’s dusty back roads and cobblestone alleys, across neighborhood plazas lined with madre-derrogatory grafitti, through bustling markets, in a high speed car zig-zagging the wrong way down a one-way street, in provocative conversation with wise and deferential men, sequestered on the coast […]
Oaxaca Lending Library Talk: Why Living Together is Complicated
Biological Evolution vs. Intimate Relationship: How We Are Wired & Why That Makes Living Together Complicated is the subject of a talk by Stephen Hawthorne, LCSW, scheduled for Thursday, June 23 at 5 PM at the Oaxaca Lending Library, Pino Suarez #519, Centro Historico, Oaxaca. The cost is 50 pesos (less than $5 USD). A Licensed Clinical […]
Book Review: Weaving, Culture and Economic Development in Miramar, Oaxaca, Mexico
Book: Weaving Yarn, Weaving Culture, Weaving Lives: A Circle of Women in Miramar, Oaxaca, Mexico; published by Almadia, 2010; photography by Tom Feher, text by Judith Lockhart-Radtke; ISBN: 978-607-411-059-3 Book Review by Norma Hawthorne Stunning photographs and intimate personal interviews of indigenous Mixtec women weavers accentuate what it means to keep culture, community, and weaving […]
Film Review: Woven Lives—Contemporary Textiles from Ancient Oaxacan Traditions
This documentary film is a visual feast for the senses that takes us on a sensory journey across Oaxaca, Mexico. Here we meet the exemplars – the outstanding artists, artisans, and curators who are keeping the weaving traditions alive. This film captures sense of place, history, culture, and diversity. It creates a vital thread from […]
A Gift: Lifting Your Creative Voice Chapbook from the Oaxaca Women’s Writing Retreat
Today I received an extraordinary gift. Morgen, one of the participants from our women’s writing and yoga retreat, has collected the product of what we wrote and spoke during our week together in March and created a chapbook. I received this just moments ago as did the other women who were with us. It came […]
Woven Lives/Vidas Entretejidas Movie Trailer — Public Premiere Coming April 23, 2011
Carolyn Kallenborn wrote to me today about the progress she is making to distribute the final cut of her film about Oaxaca weavers, “Woven Lives/Vidas Entretejidos.” I want to share her update with you and provide the link to the movie trailer on YouTube. The film features six weavers, one of whom is our dear […]
Is Oaxaca Safe for Families?
I asked this question to my friend Lauren who spent a year there in 2009-2010 with her husband and three children. They rented a house in San Felipe del Agua, took Spanish lessons, and immersed themselves in the cuisine, the culture, and the very agreeable climate. “We had an amazing year in Oaxaca,” Lauren said. […]
2010 in Review: Thank You Readers and Subscribers
First, I’d like to wish you all a joyous, healthy, and satisfying new year. You have my heartfelt appreciation for subscribing to and following Oaxaca Cultural Navigator. Here’s some stats I received from WordPress about the blog this year that I thought I would share with you. Prospero ano neuvo! Norma *** The stats helper […]
Travel Guide to Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca: Self-Guided Tour Map
You have been asking for a self-guided tour map that highlights my favorite artists and artisans in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico. I have been promising to create and publish this map for some time! It’s now completed and I am offering it for sale at $10 USD for one copy. How to order? Click […]
Five Meaningful Books About Mexico to Recommend and Why
I travel to Oaxaca, Mexico, regularly and someday, hopefully soon, I will be there more frequently for longer periods of time. I am fascinated by the richness and vibrancy of the culture, archeology, history and art. Art is everywhere. From the food in the markets to the textiles and crafts to fine art expressed through […]
Book Review: The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
If you want to understand Mexico and the U.S. more fully, read this book. Subtle themes of identity, conflicts between people and countries, emptiness, loneliness and belonging punctuate Barbara Kingsolver’s most recent novel, The Lacuna. Lacuna is a complex word and Kingsolver uses it with agility and depth. It means a gap, a hole, a […]
Spanish Language Schools in Oaxaca
Oaxaca is full of language schools. Walk around the Zocalo and Santo Domingo church area and you will see small groups of gringos sitting on a bench or on the church wall or a sidewalk cafe sipping a limonada or naranjada with lessons in hand, practicing in dyads with classmates who become friends. From time […]
Book Review: The Life and Times of Mexico by Earl Shorris
If you are a repeated visitor to Mexico and you are interested in a historical, social, political, cultural, artistic commentary, then this comprehensive, 700+-page tome by Earl Shorris is a must read. Shorris’ insights into why Mexico works the way it does is rooted in its experience as a Spanish outpost in the New World, […]
Bibliography Oaxaca: Reference Library
These books are in my collection and they are wonderful. My three favorites are: 1491, A Perfect Red, and Made in Mexico. Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art is one of those coffee table book treasures that is now out of print and if you can find one on Amazon, you have to pay a […]
