November, 2007

 

Dear Friends and Readers,

 

 

            As I’m sure you know, November 1 and 2 is Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico and the newspapers here have a tradition of printing a special insert of caricatures of famous people, all dead.  It’s fun.

 

            Here’s Oaxaca governor, Ulises Ruiz, dressed in the garb of his “official” Guelaguetza.

 

 

 

            He dances below his poetic eulogy.  “The Devil is feeling ill, he knows it is his fatal destiny to have someone like this, come to share his own Hell.  It was Ulises that Oaxaca suffered, in company with his skinny wife, so Satan has sent him, to an outhouse full of shit.”

            Pretty good!.

 

            And, from one of my favorite cartoonists, Ahumada, the following caught my eye ("One more and then we go"):

 

 

 

 

            And I recently noticed that the European press was covering the virulent reactions to a new campaign in Italy against homophobia, below.  In Italian, it reads, “Sexual Orientation is Not a Choice.”

 

 

            Seems all sides jumped into the controversy.  Left and right had plenty to say.  An opposition senator said the message could “confuse people’s heads.”  Others called it “misleading” and “shameful.”  Another politician said he was “perplexed by the message.”  Out spoken homosexuals said, “Hell, yes, I choose to be gay!”

            And the Vatican spokesmen were quick to proclaim “such an advertisement unnecessary.” 

            It was noted that the campaign was used last year in Quebec, Canada, without incident.

             Keep up the good work, guys!

 

 

            Then just last week, my good friend Diana Ricci, who’s done lots of great photography lately and helps me out all the time with my site, decided to enter a photography contest sponsored by the “Alvarez Bravo Photography Center,” a non-profit organization founded by Oaxaca painter Francisco Toledo.  They generally have a good, left-leaning attitude, like Toledo, of course, and often feature exhibits about social injustice and genocidal dictators and such.  The contest is called “Views of the Movement” and Diana decided to submit her beautiful photo essay, “Voices of the Walls.”  The winners won’t be announced till next February (!) so we’re not exactly holding our breath, but let’s all send good vibes to the judging committee and say a big “Good luck, Diana!”

 

 

            You can see Diana’s photo essay “Voices of the Walls” in our TIME-LINE, under 2006.

 

 

            Then too, Friends, I want to say a big thank you for the lots of great comments on our photo tableau of Samuel Beckett’s “Happy Days”!  It’s still up on the Main Menu, so tell all your friends to see it today!  (It’ll soon go reside in its slot on the Time-Line, of course.)

            We had a great time doing it and I owe a whole lot to everybody who helped.  The work with my great friend, sk dunn, as script consultant was particularly interesting.  She had played Winnie in a beautiful production of "Happy Days" for the Napa Valley Theater Company which was presented at AAA Studios some years ago (See:  TIME-LINE, 1985).

            I had started with the idea of a short book of photos with about eight or ten pages.  I asked sk for her favorite quotes and she quickly showered me with a couple dozen, along with descriptions of the action and where they all fit into the plot.  We went through a couple revisions and gradually pared down the number of scenes and made a few changes in the order.  We had been discussing the true order, that is, Beckett’s in the script, but decided some liberty could be taken, considering “dramatic moment,” and such, and that our boy Samuel would probably acquiesce.  After all, look what John Gielgud does all the time to our poor Bard.

            Even on the day of the shoot, sk rushed a final version to the AAA Studios in Mexico.  She continued to have a lot of input throughout the whole process, like making a wise change to the “umbrella” scenes and communicating that “the tighter scenes work good,” among others.

            I want to send a huge thanks to sk dunn and say that working with her has been enormously rewarding; in fact, my friends, just about like every other time I’ve ever had with her.

 

 

 

 

            Finally, I’ll note a little phenomena that’s been happening, friends, namely that the “page hits” on my humble little site here have been GOING THROUGH THE ROOF!  That’s right, I can look at the statistics from my “server,” thanks to my wonderful techie, Chocho Morales, here in Oaxaca, at any time I want.  A few months ago I was pleased to note that around six hundred people a month were visiting the site and it increased a little bit each month.  Then October flew in with a full 2,842!  Early in the month we broke one hundred per day for the first time but by the end we were around 230!

            Congratulations to everybody!

 

            Addending my usual lengthy “p.s.’s” (ALL NEW THIS MONTH and selected KEYWORDS from the “search engines”), I’ll here say:

 

            I love you all!

 

Your friend,

 

Bill Wolf

 

 

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P.s.  Here goes:  ALL NEW THIS MONTH!

 

Under NEW WRITINGS:

Several new pieces about our Frente Común include

The artistic community’s FIRST ENCOUNTER with AIDS in Oaxaca,

Some of the EARLY ADVENTURES of the Frente Común,

Translating our material into the MOTHER LANGUAGES of the state of Oaxaca,

Our trek to the NATIONAL AIDS CONVENTION in Mexico City,

And our first STATE-WIDE MEETING of AIDS organizations in Oaxaca.

 

On my growing “TIME-LINE” find:

Our production of Samuel Beckett’s ENDGAME at the University of Washington,

Our Bi-Centenial tableau called A FAR OUT FORTH,

Artist Christo’s RUNNING FENCE in nearby Sonoma County,

We bring BLOOLIPS: LUST IN SPACE to the Boarding House in North Beach,

Ed Weingold directs the Soho Repertory Theater’s LENZ,

The class on Mastering the Art of PERSPECTIVE DRAWING,

My first set for a Mexican production, AGUA CLARA,

Followed closely by LOS AMORES CRINIMALES DE LAS VAMPIRAS MORALES

Picasso’s GUERNICA, AGAINST THE WAR,

And, of course, our latest, Samuel Beckett’s HAPPY DAYS.

 

A few new BOOK/OJECTS have gone up too:

One of my first books in Mexico, A TRAVÉS DE LOS SIGLOS,

A look at the student massacre in TLATETLOLCO,

My own version of LOTERÍA MEXICANA, a board game for kids,

And a collected “book” of my STAR CHARTS.

 

And in my little ENCYCLOPEDIA OF IMAGES see:

Our gal, ALDEN, PRISCILLA,

That hunky Spanish actor, BARDEM, JAVIER,

The wise politician, BATRES, MARTÍ,

Our good friend, BEALE, EDIE,

My favorite artist, BEUYS, JOSEPH,

CHRISTO, and JEANNE-CLAUDE, of course,

DORNACKER, JANE

FELILINI, FEDERICO

FISH, DORIS

Another one-named soccer player, GIOVANI,

HEARST, PATTY “TANIA”,

KIISEL, KAROLYN

KING, BILLY

Our hero, MORALES, EVO,

German race-car driver, SCHUMACHER, MICHAEL

Recent images from THEATER, WORLD,

And the unforgettable visions of WILSON, ROBERT,

As well as my usual batch of UN-SORTED IMAGES.

 

 

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P.p.s.  OK, here comes the usual smattering of the Search-Engine KEYWORDS which successfully found our site (E-hem):

 

Getstetner

Desiree Costeau (a full 9 people)

Dory Alley Street Fair

Ruben Leyva

Dino Castro

Tableaux vivant

Craig Puki

Gunaxhii Guendanabani

Male nudes

The Jook Savages

Priscilla Alden

George Washington Crossing the Delaware

Alberto Mayagoitia

Maxim Gorki Lower Depths

Castro Street Halloween

Finoccio’s

Forty Niner Football

Kent State Shootings

Captain Pissgums and his Pervert Pirates (again!)

Laurence Sanders

Dr. Jorge Saavedra (head of the national council on AIDS)

Superwoman

How to build a parade float (glad we could help!)

Blackglama Ads

Famous fluff girls (and)

How to hire a fluff girl

Ralfka Gonzales

Endgame Samuel Beckett

Krapp’s Last Tape Samuel Beckett

How big was the Santa Maria ship (very)

Naked girls running through sprinklers

Jimmy Carter Robotoids

Boy Scouts in Oaxaca (?)

AIDS Emergency Fund

Sharon McNight

Freddie Solomon

Futz

Carol Doda

Johnny Keyes

Doris Fish

Folsom Street Fair (and)

Fucked by space monster

 

… on and on for a full 501 in all!  Whew!

 

Soon!

 

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Another p.s.  I'm sure you know I've been following the carreer of one of my favorite good, left-leaning politicians in Mexico, Leonel Godoy (See also:  BOOKS, "Muchos Leonel Godoy") and have noted that he was running for governor of the state of Michoacán.  The election was just last Sunday.  Well, he WON!

 

Below, the front page of yesturday's LA JORNADA, November 12, 2007.

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS, LEONEL!

 

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P.s.  And don't you just love "synchronicity"?  I mean, I had just recently included in my "Favorite Quotes and Excerpts" this from author Maraget Atwood's "Onyx and Crake":

 

            “… The pharmaceutical companies have been researching new diseases for which expensive medical technologies and drugs will be required.  ‘The best diseases,’ said Crake, ‘would be those that cause lingering illnesses.’ …”

 

            I mean, it's fiction, right?  Now, what do I see in the national papers just the other day?  Below, from Notimex, November 12, 2007.

 

 

            That's right!  The pharmaceuticals are "inventing" diseases.  "Profits" are the principal objective.  Hmmm.

 

 

MORE SOON!

 

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   ...LAST MONTH'S LETTER