Swimming

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Angie's taking swimming lessons this summer. Here is her second class. At the end of the class she tried over and over to dive to the bottom of the shallow end of the pool to pick up canicas (marbles). She couldn't quite do it. Of course the very next day when I wasn't there with the video camera she did it.

Dancing

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We went to Tuxtla this weekend and I bought Angie a CD from one of those awful Mexican children's telenovelas. She loved the music, played it for hours, and then dragged me in to dance with her in front of her mirror. I look like a fool, but it was fun and I'm glad Rocio taped us. We'll laugh over this one for years.

Maskmaker Interview

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More footage from my documentary-in-the-making about the Corpus Cristi fiesta in Suchiapa Mexico. Here is a couple of minutes from an interview I did with my friend Mariano who is a maskmaker in Suchiapa and makes many of the masks used in the dances and celebrations. It is subtitled in English.

Here he talks about the tiger mask. It's really a jaguar, but it's always called a "tigre" or tiger here. There are dozens of tigers in each of the many processions. They are usually teenaged boys and their job is to be at the front of the procession, reserving intersections so that the procession moves through town smoothly. They also are a kind of announcement of the procession as their shouts can be heard many blocks away.

The celebration of Corpus Cristi is very typically Mexican as it has pre-Hispanic elements (such as the tiger, deer, and serpent characters) as well as Catholic elements such as the Eucharist, and David and Goliath.

I will be posting clips from other interviews and the processions as soon as I can.

Suchiapa Music

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This is a clip from a project I'm working on, a documentary about the Corpus Cristi fiesta in Suchiapa Mexico. I have hours of tape of the fiesta, the dances and processions. This year I started interviewing people: participants, maskmakers, dancers, musicians, etc. I'm going to intercut the interviews with the fiesta footage to give it more context, explain the meaning of the symbolism, etc.

I was at my friend Mariano's house interviewing him. He's a maskmaker that makes many of the masks used in the fiesta. While I was there his two sons (also maskmakers) asked if I wanted to shoot them playing the traditional music. I have about an hour's worth of them playing. This is traditional music played on pre-Hispanic instruments (just a flute and a drum, both homemade). It is meant to be processional music and so it's a little out of context here, but I thought I'd post it anyway to let viewers see something different. I'll probably be using this mostly as a soundtrack over other footage.

I'll be posting something from Mariano's interview as soon as I finish the subtitles. I'll also be posting clips of the dances and processions.

Rocio's Masters Degree

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Well, it's been a big week. Angie and Helena both finished up their school and my wife Rocio and her sister Aurora both received their Masters Degree in Education. Rocio teaches English at a prepa and Aurora teaches history at a private school.

The ceremony was at the auditorium of the local law school. The auditorium was originally a Jesuit church, built in the 1600's.

Oedipus

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Murder, incest, self-abuse, amateur theater....

Hey, at least there are no bunnies.

My other daughter Helena is finishing the first year of prepa (Mexican equivalent of high school). The final project for her English class was to put on the play Oedipus Rex. Helena is going to a brand new private high school and there are only 8 students in her class, only one of which is a guy. So Helena got to play Oedipus (the one boy in the class played the king).

Remember that this is not a theater group; the play took place in a classroom with one hand-held spotlight. All of the students are of course Spanish speakers doing their first play in English.

Angie's School Assembly

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My five year old daughter Angie just finished prescolar 2 here in San Cristobal de Las Casas (the Mexican equivaleny of kindergarten). As part of the celebration her class put on a short show. It had to do with all the animals in the forest being invited to a party. At the end she calls me "Daddo". That's her Spanglish word for "Daddy".

This is the second video in a row to feature bunnies. I promiss the next entry will have more of an edge.