The excursion is coming together as a series of pilgrimages:

1) To stand before the image of The Virgin of Guadalupe, which miraculously appeared on the blanket of Juan Diego during a vision of Her on the hill where once stood the temple of Tonantzin, the Aztec earth mother goddess. The blanket now hangs in the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
2) To seek out the artist Diego Rivera, a hero of my son, James.
3) To seek out the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli. When the Aztecs were a band of snake- and bug-eating outcasts, one of their priests had a vision -- Huitzilopochtli said that if the Aztecs worshiped him with human blood sacrifices, they would receive unimaginable power and riches. They did, and they did.
4) To see the popular, enigmatic revolutionary leader Subcomandante Marcos, instigator of the seven-year-old, ongoing (and, of late, relatively bloodless) civil war in Chiapas. Through the Zapatista mailing list I learned that on February 24, the EZLN, The Zapatista Army for National Liberation, is planning to meet in San Cristobal de Las Casas in Chiapas and will march en mass to Mexico City. Could be interesting.
5) To visit the secluded, ultra-surrealistic "village" built by the eccentric, filthy rich Englishman, Edward James.

Soon after I had designed the image of myself in the last issue (#11), I began to see strange images in the lower part of the picture: two reddish, demonic characters leaning in on an Aztec-like skull complete with the characteristic, stylized butterfly on its forehead.

Studying e-spanish? These e-links e-helped me.
e-dictionary
e-translator

"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move; to feel the needs and hitches of our life more nearly; to come down off this feather-bed of civilisation, and find the globe granite underfoot and strewn with cutting flints."
--- Robert Louis Stevenson

America's Ten Most Underrated Cities
Ten great American cities, once dismissed as bad news, that deserve another look.
Now, who's that at number six? From Utne

Pope John Paul is considering naming Saint Isidore of Seville the patron saint of Internet users and computer programmers, Vatican sources said. Saint Isidore, who lived in the seventh century, was believed to have written the world's first encyclopaedia, the Etymologies, which included entries on medicine, mathematics, history and theology. The Vatican first went online in 1996 with its website http://www.vatican.va which it has used to publish thousands of Catholic Church documents and Papal speeches. The site is powered by three host computers named after archangels - Raphael, Michael and Gabriel.

In Defense of the 70s
So often in pop culture, the '70s are portrayed as a "tasteless decade characterized by bellbottoms, barbiturates, disco music and bad hair." However, Victor Brockris studies the people who defined the decade such as John Lennon, Patti Smith and Jean-Michel Basquiat and argues that the '70s was America's finest hour. From Gadfly

William Taft was the last President of the United States to keep a cow on the white house lawn.

Welcome to Meth Country
"I would rather investigate a homicide than a meth lab," says Andrew Tafoya, a lieutenant who investigates drug crimes. Why is Tafoya so wary? Because beyond being illegal, methamphetamine labs -- which are spreading across the rural west -- are highly toxic sites, containing chemicals and fumes that cause cancer, brain damage, and immunity and respiratory system problems. From Sierra

WALKABOUT: (Australian aborigine in origin.)
A period of wandering, of variable length, undertaken as a sporadic interruption of routine life. (For spiritual cleansing.)

Princess Diana was Humphrey Bogart's seventh cousin.

Raiders of the Lost Art
An array of "pre-Columbian" artifacts, including pottery and textiles, were left behind by the many cultures that rose and fell throughout the Americas prior to the European conquest. Rigoberto, a third-generation huaquero, or looter, spends his days looking for them. From Utne.com

No Shitting in the Toilet is a celebration of everything that is perverse about travel. It's about getting stranded and ripped off. It's about sitting alone in a tiny room counting cockroaches and feeling sorry for yourself. It's about being totally clueless, hopeless and pathetic and loving every minute of it.

Ceci n'est pas une 'quote'.

The term "anchorman" was coined with regard to the respected Walter Cronkite on "CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite", likening his lead position to that of an anchor on a relay team. For a time in Sweden, TV news anchors were called "Cronkiters" in honor of Mr. C.

Our Remote-Control President
Can a TV show replace politics or offer a preferable parallel world, a sort of benign Manchurian candidate? The West Wing might. From New York Magazine

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be."
--- Douglas Adams

Nostalgia: Whitewatergate, Cattlegate, Nannygate, Helicoptergate, Haircutgate, Travelgate, Troopergate, Gennifer Flowersgate, Filegate, Vince Fostergate, I Wonder Where Those Whitewater Billing Records Came Fromgate, Joycelyn Eldersgate, Paula Jonesgate, Federal Building Campaign Phonecallgate, Lincoln Bedroomgate, White House Coffeegate Drug Dealer Donationsgate, Buddhist Templegate, Web Hubbellgate, Lippogate, Chinesegate, Blame Kenneth Starrgate, Right-wing Conspiracygate, Zippergate, Lewinsky Jobsgate, Perjurygate, Kathleen Willeygate, Los Alamosgate, Wag-the-Doggate, Juanita Broaddrickgate, PBSgate, Bomb the Aspirin Factorygate, Eleanor Roosevelt's Ghostgate and Hillary's Memoir Advancegate -- I miss Clinton already.

Titanic blunders.
They spend so much on authentic sets and costumes for movies. How about a little care for authentic speech? From Vocabula

Chapter 37 of Emily Post's 1922 Book of Etiquette
Traveling at Home and Abroad

A Colombian Liver with your Turkish Cornea?
Children in the Third World are no longer just work slaves or sexual toys, they're also spare parts. In this interview on Freezerbox, a Montreal doctor reveals the seamier side of the global organ transplant trade, where a human body can be sold for $35,000, and a skeleton alone can go for $200 a gram. From Freezerbox

To think is to be. - Descartes
To be is to do. - Nietzsche
To do is to be. - Confuscius
Do be do be do. - Sinatra

The Case of the Missing Mars Water
NASA Science NewsPlenty of clues suggest that liquid water once flowed on Mars --raising hopes that life could have arisen there-- but the evidence remains inconclusive and sometimes contradictory. From NASA Science News

"Adventurous men enjoy shipwrecks, mutinies, earthquakes, conflagrations, and all kinds of unpleasant experiences, provided they do not go so far as to impair health. They say to themselves in an earthquake, for example, 'So this is what an earthquake is like', and it gives them pleasure to have their knowledge of the world increased by this new item."
— Bertrand Russell

Hunter Thompson may well have thought his wild rock 'n' roll destiny was death at age 27, but 30 years later he still checks his spelling. From Independent

Again....Hunter
Hunter S. Thompson never ceases to surprise us. Matt Welch chronicles the legendary gonzo journalist's unpredictable path to his latest incarnation: sports columnist at ESPN.com. From Online Journalism Review

Excerpts from a reader survey in "Transgender Tapestry" magazine:
(Please check one)
I am: (_) male (_) female (_) male to female (_) female to male (_) helping professional (_) other
And I consider myself a: (_) man (_) woman (_) third (4th, etc.) gendered (_) nongendered person (_) intersexed person (_) cross-dresser (_) transvestite (_) transgenderist (_) I do not consider myself transgendered (_) I'm not sure whether I'm transgendered (_) pre-operative transsexual (_) postoperative transsexual (_) nonoperative transsexual (_) androgyne (_) butch (_) femme (_) other
My sexual orientation is: (_) heterosexual (_) bisexual (_) gay man (_) lesbian (_) asexual (_) pansexual
I am attracted to (check all that apply): (_) women when I present myself as a woman (_) men when I present myself as a woman (_) men when I present myself as a man (_) women when I present myself as a man (_) transpeople (_)the individual, regardless of their gender

MIT's Invention Dimension
Inventor Archives organized alphabetically by inventors' last names.

By seeing almost nothing, astronomers say they've discovered something extraordinary: the event horizons of black holes in space. From NASA Science News

Why do McDonald's fries taste so good?
An engrossing tour of northern New Jersey--home to the world's largest flavor companies--and reveals how processed and frozen foods come by their taste. From Altantic Monthly

Kamikaze pilots wore helmets.

Zen for Dummies
Do you find personal enlightenment hard to come by in the digital age? The interactive Zen meditation tutorial on Do-not-zzz.com may change the way you stare at your computer's glare.

haiku's inventor
must have had seven fingers
on his middle hand

From Yahoo's Picks of 2000 :
F*ckedCompany.com
http://www.fuckedcompany.com/
the most intriguing way to watch the bubble burst. (Featured June 12)

Why did they use the (*) when they went ahead and used the word in the url?

Eisenhower's Farewell Address
Dwight David Eisenhower served as president of the United States from 1953- 1961. A few days before he left office he warned the country in a televised address about the military industrial complex. From TomPaine.common sense.

Empathy with the Devil
Absolute evil: a man batters his wife to death, watches a video with his kids then shoots them, has lunch with his parents before killing them too. Why?

Frequently asked questions about Zen

Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that but not with all those flies and death and stuff.
--- Mariah Carey

Ten Worst Corporations of 2000
A list of the worst corporate citizens of the last 12 months, from the makers of StarLink genetically modified corn to the manufacturers of those magically disintegrating Firestone tires.

It's a Real, Real, Real, Real, Real World
Forget 'Temptation Island' and 'Survivor II.' What if reality TV were based on, well, reality? From MotherJones

Vagabonding - n.
(1) The act of leaving behind the orderly world to travel independently for an extended period of time.
(2) A privately meaningful manner of travel that emphasizes creativity, adventure, awareness, simplicity, discovery, independence, realism, good humor, and the growth of the spirit.
(3) A deliberate way of living that makes the freedom to travel possible.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

Look Ma, No Hands
The phenomenon is not as rare as one might think: healthy people deliberately setting out to rid themselves of one or more of their limbs, with or without a surgeon's help. Why do pathologies sometimes arise as if from nowhere? Can the mere description of a condition make it contagious?

Eco Travels in Mexico

Rubicon [n. ROO-bi-kon]
The actual Rubicon is a river in Northern Italy that flows into the Adriatic Sea. The river is renowned because Julius Caesar prompted a three year civil war when he crossed this river in 49 B.C. to march against Pompey. It is part of English idiom to say that one has crossed or passed the Rubicon when a decisive and irrevocable step has been taken. To commit to a given course of action that permits no return is to cross the Rubicon. Using the word Rubicon as a figurative boundary, limiting action was first seen in the 1600s.

"Travel was flight and pursuit in equal parts."
--- Paul Theroux

Predictions for 2001:
(1) The ABC science correspondent will report that dowsing rods really work. He'll praise his own objectivity.
(2) MIR will splatter all across France, outraging the French (and only the French).
(3) Those who claim that power lines and cell phones are linked to cancer will now find that Play Station-2 is even worse.
(4) An investigation will be launched into the sinister forces that control the falling of dead oak trees.

The word "gullible" is not in the dictionary.

Victims of Fashion: Sacred Peaks and Stone-Washed Jeans
The White Vulcan pumice mine, which supplies stones to denim companies, sits atop 90 acres of land in Arizona's San Francisco Peaks--land considered sacred to 13 Native American tribes. The mine's owner wants to expand. The tribes want the mine shut down. From Earth Island Journal

A Porn Reader
Romp, giggle, tease, cuddly, spank: Consider the nursery-speak of porn, were the mad old feminists right after all?

"Travel in general, and vagabonding in particular, produces an awesome density of experience ...a cramming together of incidents, impressions and life detail that is both stimulating and exhausting. So much new and different happens to you so frequently, just when you're most sensitive to it.. A day seems like a week, a week a month... You may be excited, bored, confused, desperate and amazed all in the same happy day. It's not for comfort hounds, sophomoric misanthropes or poolside fainthearts, whose thin convictions won't stand up to the problems that come along."
— Ed Buryn

Hotels and Resorts in Mexico
A list of hotels and resorts with web sites in Mexico.

Desert of Dreams
The desert is the ultimate tabula rasa where one's mark can last a lifetime, be it from the earthworks of artists, trails of primeval visitors or the pockmarked craters of bombs. In the Southwestern United States, we excavate some of America's recent marks, like the ruins of Biosphere II and the bombing range at White Sands, New Mexico. From Artbyte

The first self-propelled car was invented in 1769

A Cultural History of Alcohol
A drink, it seems, is more than something we swallow. In the British journal, Social Issues Research Centre, Desmond Morris takes a look at the cultural meanings behind our glass of beer, wine, and spirits.

"The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it"
--- Rudyard Kipling

Rethinking Barbie
Goddess of bulimia, anorexia, and all the wrong values for girls — or an emblem of freedom and choice? It's Barbie, the world's most perplexing doll

The End of Courtship
Are modern-day courtship rituals dead? University of Chicago anthropology professor Leon Kass argues that when it comes to love and sex, young people today are nervous predators and anxious trophy hunters, in part because they have no rituals to guide them. From The Public Interest

Samuel Johnson's advice for travelers:
1. Turn all care out of your head as soon as you mount the chaise.
2. Do not think about frugality: your health is worth more than it can cost.
3. Do not continue any day's journey to fatigue.
4. Take now and then a day's rest.
5. Get a smart seasickness if you can.
6. Cast away all anxiety, and keep your mind easy.
This last direction is the principal; with an unquiet mind neither exercise, nor diet, nor physic can be of much use.

Images of Mexico
Mexico via camera.

"....And the best landscapes, apparently dense or featureless, hold surprises if they are studied patiently, in the kind of discomfort one can savor afterward. Only a fool blames a bad vacation on the rain."
— Paul Theroux

Taking the Plunge, Naturally
So, you've decided to take a plunge with your own backyard pool, but you don't want to immerse yourself in all sorts of nasty chemicals? Build a natural pool that uses plants to clean and sunlight to heat the water. Plus, you'll save money in the long run on equipment, storage space and the chemicals. From Permaculture Magazine

"It is better to be quotable than to be honest."
--- Tom Stoppard

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