Copy
Archiving the Pandemic in Oaxaca
A Project of the Oaxaca Lending Library
View this email in your browser

ARCHIVING
THE PANDEMIC
IN OAXACA

How this time
will be
remembered

We have received a nice response to our first call, back at the end of April, for submissions to this project sent in by members and friends who are currently in Oaxaca and those who are back safely in their homes in the US, Canada and other exotic places. Some of what we've received has to do with nature, a comforting and constant source of peace and beauty. Other entries share how they are finding new ways to be social. Please help source this project and share your pandemic experiences. Send your submissions to Newsletter@oaxlibrary.org with the subject line Submission: Pandemic Archive. Thanks and enjoy what we have so far.
 


CUBREBOCAS de OAXACA — RALPH SELL
Saturday April 25th, 2020 10:00.  I masked up and ventured out to see if, what, and how many others were trying to avoid the plague. Santo Domingo´s wall usually finds lots of people, so I headed there. The wall was empty, but a few people walked by as I waited with my camera and flash-on-a-stand. Over the course of about an hour, for all who walked by, I asked if I could add their cubreboca to my Oaxaca Life in the Time of Virus collection. All but one of 25 or so masked pedestrians obliged. Here are two of my favorites. Of note is near the wall at the start of the walkway to Carmen Alta, a group of unmasked jewelry designers/ vendors enjoyed music and each other jiving to Jim Morrison singing Riders of the Storm. I do not know the Spanish word for whatever.

SKULLS and ROSES — K. T. MACLAY
On April 7 in Colonia Guelaguetza in El Centro I ran out of surgical masks and was looking for alternatives.
 



COVID QUATRAINS* — K.T. MACLAY
I am enrolled in a poetry Master Class with Billy Collins that has me fascinated (for the moment) with quatrains...

Postcard From The Living Room
Wish you were here!!


We cannot cook another meal
Nor bake another bread
We killed the kids and ate the dog
We’re scared to look ahead

When we’ve been here ten thousand days
And never seen the sun
We’ll shave our heads and mend our ways
And buy ourselves a gun

If we are freed from our cramped rooms
We’ll breathe a heartfelt sigh
To thank our stars for all those Zooms
Because we did not die
 



*A quatrain is a stanza in a poem that has exactly four lines. Some quatrains comprise entire poems, while others are part of a larger structure. Quatrains usually use some form of rhyme scheme, especially the following forms: AAAA, AABB, ABAB, and ABBA.

INSPIRATION — MARY JANE GAGNIER
May-June, 2020 in the Tlacalula Valley
The birds are breeding, the farmers are planting and the wildflowers are blooming. If you are in Oaxaca, make a point of getting out in nature. If you are not, make it a must on your next trip here.

Tune your ears to the songs of the birds.

Turn your eyes to the myriad tones of this verdant summer.

Be mindful of where you step.


Left to right: Social Flycather (Socially Distanced of coarse) and nest, Lesser Roadrunner, Traditional Sustainable Farming, Campanilla Blanca blooms with Tetecho Organ cactus, Flowering Espadin agave.

THE OLD / NEW NORMAL DINNER PARTY —
OREEN SCOTT

A Dinner Party at my House — The Old Normal and the New Normal. During the old normal I’d invite five people and we would sit around my dining room table that seats six. Food would be placed in the middle of the table and we’d all dig in. That won’t work anymore.

Perhaps you remember back in the day when television was the latest thing and families sat around the television and ate, maybe a TV dinner placed on a TV table. 

I got to thinking about TV tables. Yes, they still exist. I just bought four from Amazon (photograph at left). As you can see nicer than the old models. The new normal dinner party at my house places each guests at a table which is placed six feet distance from all the rest of the tables. My guests now practice social distancing. Food is still placed at the dining room table and guests get their food one at a time and return to their personal table. No, we are not watching TV.

I think if you are wise you will be practicing social distancing for a long time to come. Social isolation is a different matter. We are social animals and we are not meant to be alone. My new normal is working quite nicely.

FLOWERS and FRUIT — BLISS WILSON

It is May and my gorgeous flowers and fruits are happy. They do not give a damn about COVID-19. They are just on the outlook for the next friendly bee…for an instant, did you think of happier times? 

I maintained a safe distance from these mask-less men who came to install my dryer. They noticed the Litchi had fruit and offered to pick them which involved a ladder and much laughter. They happily took home half the haul. Oddly, after waiting 5 years, my tree decided to finally produce fruit in an otherwise dismal year. Trying to cheer me up, I suppose. Guess who gets an extra fertilizer treat!

CELEBRATING WITH FRIENDS —
JOAN and DOUG HARMON

June 1, 2020
It was Barry and Jacque's anniversary. We often celebrate the occasion together and we didn't want this year to be different. So we delivered this piñata and wished them well. Their response was, "What do you do when your friends give you the coronavirus?" We suggest they just said ¡Gracias!

COMIDA DISTANCIA
June 14, 2020
Annalisa's birthday couldn't go uncelebrated. So we did a complete thanksgiving meal (Annalisa's request) out on the patio at a table for 10 with only four of us seated safely apart. Susana Distancia, Mexico's Social Distancing Superhero, was the guest of honor. Piñatas can turn any occasion into a fiesta...the Virus and the Superhero brought a note of levity to our friends during this somber time.

COVID FALLOUT — SHANNON SHEPPARD 
June, 2020
Mexico is using a stoplight system (Semáforo) to illustrate the COVID-19 risk of spread, with rojo (red) being the highest level of contagion, thus only essential services allowed to operate and people instructed to stay home. Oaxaca is still at red and for the past three months, in addition to closed museums and canceled church services, shuttered restaurants, hotels, businesses, and street stalls have been the norm. To see more photos and Shannon’s musings go to View From Casita Colibrí.

LEARNING KOREAN —
DOTTIE BELLINGER

Besides walking the dog with my mask on, I’m at home with my husband of 44 years. I watch a fair amount of TV, especially U.S. news, although I have to limit myself on that to not go crazy.

My cousin got me to watch a very long South Korean TV series and I’ve become addicted. The actors are talented and beautiful, and the production values are very good with complex plots that often involve some level of fantasy or science fiction.

Watching Korean TV has gotten me interested in Korean culture, history and language. I recently started taking an online course in the Korean language to understand more of what I’m watching. I find their writing system fascinating. It was developed in the 1500’s by a king who wanted to make reading and writing easier for the masses. Their letters are geometric and they’re placed in a little rectangular area that contains each syllable. That makes it much easier to break a word into its parts for reading and speaking. So: “Hello!" is: 안녕!
READ THE FULL STORY.

TO SEND IN YOUR SUBMISSION PLEASE
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS. 
PARA LEER EN ESPANOL.

Email your submissions to: Newsletter@oaxlibrary.org with the subject line Submission: Pandemic Archive.

Photo by Ralph Sell

Pino Suarez 519
Oaxaca, Oax. Mexico 68000
951-518-7077
library@oaxlibrary.org

The Oaxaca Lending Library
is currently closed to patrons until further notice.
Copyright © 2020 Oaxaca Lending Library, all rights reserved.
Weekly newsletter for members and friends of the OLL

Our emailing address is: library@oaxlibrary.org

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list