During the three days of May 9-11, 1911, the revolutionary forces of Francisco Madero fought the decisive battle of Juarez against the diaz government. On the 11th, the treaty which deposed Porfirio Diaz was signed in the ex-aduana here in Juarez. So yesterday, there was a small celebration behind the building with dancers and various riders dressed as Madero, Villa and Orozco. The crowd was small but enthusiastic. -david sokolec
Lots of Mexicans, among others, love boxing, and just bfore the Christmas holidays, the Sol y Luna cafebreria had a literary boxing match between the workshops of Elmer Mendoza and Edgar Rincon Luna. The cafe set up a boxing ring, and names from each workshop were drawn at random to read against each other. The event was packed; the readers wonderful, and it was not only a great way to start the season, but an excellent antidote to all of the negative things going on in the city.
In addition there was puppet theater form Argentina.-david sokolec
Today Juarez celebrates its 350 anniversary. Happy Birthday-Feliz Cumpleanos Juarez
Yesterday I joined thousands of others for a march for peace in this city. Lots of people had different agendas, but generally it was an opportunity to vent. There is not one person in this city who has not been affected by this, and this was an opportunity to give voice.
With chants of Se ve, se siente, Juarez esta presente and Juarez Unido Jamas sera vencido, we marched with white banners, flowers and balloons under a sky finally turned sunny and warm after a weerk of cold.
Later that night in an entirely separate series of events, there were the march of various groups to the Cathedral in celbration of the Virgen de Guadeloupe and a packed mission de Guadeloupe for a concert of early Christmas music by the early music singers of UACJ.
In short it waw typical of this city, a full vibrant anxious environment.-david sokolec
Solucion para Juarez
For those of you who use to drink here but are now afraid to come over or who just haven’t been here awhile, here are a few photos from the Mariscal, one block from Juarez avenue. They are promising renewal, but this is what we have now. Lots of people on both sides of the bordereeused to drink here-david sokolec
There are so many places where Juarez seems like a movie set. Here I was staring across the street one rainy night-david sokolec
Instead of going to see Break: The Urban Spectacular at the Cultural Center, I went to the far more genteel affair celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Biblioteca Arturo Tolentino. It was lovely. Though there was no cake, there were loads of people, various dignitaries, local tv and newspaper crews and a string quartet (or was it quintet) from UACJ. Tonight the celebration will continue with two plays beginning at 6 pm called Nino con Luna and La Vibora inconforme by Grupo Teatro Esquilo Bajo under the direction of Guadalupe Fileto. Tomorrow at 10 am there will be a reading of children’s poetry by local author Osvaldo Ogaz, and Saturday at 6 pm there will be reading by local authors along with music. Last night’s affair was a worthy cause, much good feeling, though from the video in today’s Diario, I probably should have gone on the the Cultural Center to see the Break dancers. -david sokolec
I love this in a display window here in downtown Juarez-david sokolec
All weekend I was kept busy attending literature readings by accomplished poets from France, Norway, Argentina Mexico etc as well as going to a wonderful breakfast for the participants Sunday morning at the Ramada. Friday night I went to see Concha Buika, the amazing internationally famous singer from Majorca. This was all for the beginning of the Chihuahua festival, and the organizers gave out free tickets to the Concha Buika show as they will for all of the events which have a charge. In addition there are an enormous number of free events. But Buika’s concert was something extraordinary, and showed how you don’t need a huge production to leave lasting impression. (Are you listening Britney -among others?). With just her voice and a piano and hand drum, she mesmerized and transfixed the audience of 1700 in the theater. This is one of the important sides of Juarez people don’t always know about-david sokolec
One of the things I love about Juarez is the way people improvise and use whatever they can to get the job done. This is a city of one to two million, but you see horse drawn carts, burro drawn carts, bicycles turned into steam table conveyers, and people trudging on foot with huge carts carrying everything.-david sokolec
