Un fin de semana educativo.

Well, I'm finally starting to feel like my UPS minor has some relevance. I decided to tack on Latin American Studies to my list of especializaciones mainly because I've always had a strange interest in that region of the world, but also because I happily discovered one day that I had accidentally completed pretty much all of the requirements by the end of my freshman year. Also, it didn't hurt that LAS and Spanish go together like chocolate and ice cream. Still, I've always sort of felt like my LAS classes were something I have been doing just for fun, because they are interesting to me, but not because I would do all that much with them. Now, however, I am suddenly very glad for everything I've learned about before showing up in Mexico. I do think it is important to be informed about the history and current social context of a country when visiting in order to understand your experiences. While I am by no means and expert on the happenings of Mexico, I at least feel like I have a pretty solid foundation.

Yesterday I was able to tap into last year's Mexican and mesoamerican art history class when the group took a day trip to Ocotlán, a town about an hour away from where we're staying that is a center for popular art. We learned a lot about the artist Rodolfo Morales, who had a pretty big impact on the city before he died a few years ago. Morales was a printer and painter who invested a lot of energy into bringing public attention to the art scene in Southern Mexico, and was also involved in the restoration of a lot of historic buildings around the city, one of which we got to visit. After checking out one of his public murals, we headed to a Dominican convent-turned prison-turned museum that Rodolfo headed renovations on, that now houses many of his paintings, along with those of other Mexican artists. Next, we headed to his house and workshop a few blocks away, which is now a museum of his works. The house was beautiful, complete with a stunning (albeit slightly mysterious and only a tad bit creepy) Secret Garden-esque atrium, but what really got me excited was seeing all his lithographs in a gallery upstairs. The trip really brought me back to last year when I had the opportunity to talk to Arturo García Bustos and Rina Lazo, a couple of Mexican artists who also worked as assistants to Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera - a lot of the same ideas resonated with me. Learning more about Morales and actually seeing so much of his work reinforced what I've already learned about modern and contemporary Mexican art - that is, a main priority is its publicity. A lot of artists favor printing because their works can be quickly and mass-produced, which helps to widely distribute social messages. Murals are all over the place here because they are essentially the most accessible form of communication; not only do they appear in highly visible public spaces, but the imagery is also capable of communicating to the masses, regardless of culture, class or language differences (you get the same idea from all of the street art and graffiti here, which, believe me, is copious - I still need to get some good pictures though). I love the art scene here, and I can't wait to see even more when we head to the Districto Federal next week when we have a break from classes.

Beyond experiencing the art scene, I also love talking with Manuel about a lot of the political and social issues here. We watch the news together every night, and while it can be pretty depressing with story after story about flooding, mine cave-ins and the drug cartels (don't worry Mom and Dad, I really AM safe here), it gives us a good foundation for conversation. We compare a lot of what is going on here to situations in the US, and he asks me my opinion on social issues. Usually I love learning about the popular opinions here, but sometimes, like today at lunch when Manuel asked me how I feel about abortion, I am a little uncomfortable because I don't know how to respond. I want to be honest and share an open conversation about topics that are really important, but I also don't want to offend when I suspect that our opinions strongly diverge. I guess I'm just not sure of the best way to handle the situation. Maybe I am being overly cautious, but maybe it really is a good idea for me to keep quiet sometimes. I'm going to keep feeling out the situation to try and figure this out. Manuel is very well informed about current events, both in Mexico and in the rest of the world, so I can learn a lot from him. Today, though, we managed upon the topic of Mormons (I AM from Utah, after all), and I had to set him straight that the majority of Utahns are not, in fact, polygamists (thinking of you, Tiegs ;) ). On a side note, while Spanish has not been much of an obstacle for me here, I am pretty proud of myself for keeping up with such diverse conversations.

I can't wait for the next session of classes to start in two weeks, so I can learn even more about Mexico's history. I am taking Mexican literature and Mexican history. It will be a nice change from my Spanish intensivo, which I have to say I am getting pretty tired of. The class seems pretty unfocused, and while I've picked up some useful grammar pieces here and there, all in all I do not think I am gaining that much from it. Also, four consecutive hours of one class is a bit much for my attention span. Oh well, I just have to push though one more week, and then we're headed to Mexico City for a few days before the bicentennial Independence Day and the next session of classes.

Here, I will leave you with a few photos from this weekend's events:

Ex-Convento/prisión de Santo Domingo de Ocotlán

Inside Morales' house

One of Morales' murals in Ocotlán