During oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court two weeks ago Justice Antonin Scalia derisively compared the mandated insurance requirement of President Obama's health care law with a theoretical government mandate for Americans to buy and presumably eat broccoli. If the federal government can impose one mandate, why not the other?It was supposed to be …
Author: Alfredo Lanier
My husband and I live on an off-the-grid ranch outside San Miguel, along with the challenging but dear company of four off-the-street dogs and three cats. My interests lie in politics, writing, photography and sundry forms of spirituality.
Bloody Week
Although I consider myself a triple-plated Roman Catholic, one who attended Catholic elementary and high schools, plus college, and was even attracted—albeit very briefly—by the idea of joining a Benedictine monastery, I’ve never fully understood the RCs’ obsessive fascination with suffering. Not suffering as a concept, as in Buddhism which posits that suffering is an …
Uneasy rider
s, Two news bulletins most mothers don't want to hear are "I'm having a baby," from an unwed teenage daughter, or "I just bought a motorcycle," from a son, probably of any age. When you think of bikers, sober-looking CPAs or Episcopal ministers don't come to mind. Bikers are more like Hell's Angels and other …
Cuba on my mind
Omens and premonitions about my homeland have been tap-tapping on my mind, and also on my heart, for the past several weeks. They want attention, resolution.On Saturday night Stew and I walked through the kiosks of the annual Festival of Cuban Culture in San Miguel's main square. The wares were generally predictable and sad: Dusty books …
About the birds and the bees
If the level of partying and fornication--and the number of stings inflicted on nearby humans and animals--reflect the health of a beehive, then Stew's is a doozy. He had installed the bee box, custom-made by a local carpenter, six weeks ago but the actual bees, about seven or eight thousand of them, didn't arrive for …
Inca contraband
One of the biggest surprises during a trip to Peru several months ago was the breadth of its cuisine including one of its signature dishes, broiled guinea pig. We both tried it. It doesn't taste like chicken. Actually I don't recall what it tastes like. It's one of those dishes you order on a dare--"I'm …
Misión imposible
One of Stew's most annoying habits--to retailers and manufacturers of all sorts, that is--is his meticulous filling and filing of all guarantee cards, along with the documentation required for any claims. Quite often a nearly microscopic message at the bottom a "lifetime guarantee" card may warn that to claim any refunds or replacements you need …
Mexican party tips
The centerpiece of the celebration of the baptism of Félix's baby, Edgar, didn't come until the day after the church ceremony and took place outside the family's barebones, one-room home, in a dirt patio under cloudless skies and a huge pepper tree, with a view of the fields farmers had just started to cultivate.The two …
Marching orders for new Catholics
In countries less Catholic than Mexico--practically all other countries except for the Vatican--baptism may be an initiation rite into a particular Christian group. Here it's more like an admission ticket into society, so intertwined are Catholicism and Mexican culture. In and around San Miguel there are churches everywhere you look, decorated with statues of Jesus and …
Looking for home
About a week ago an e-mail from a good friend arrived saying she was looking forward to "coming home", meaning she was coming back to San Miguel. The word "home" struck me as a bit strange, for she is not Mexican, not by a long a shot, but a true Texan, who sprinkles her drawl …
El Rancho Santa Clara 