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Postcard from Morelia, Mexico: Crash history course in Michoacan

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Above: Portion of “Defenders of National Integrity, Cuauhtemoc and History,” Alfredo Zalce, 1952, Museo Regional Michoacano Nicolas Leon Calderon

A Spanish Baroque house built in the 1700s is home to the Michoacan Regional Museum Dr. Nicolas Leon Calderon. With the oldest artifacts in the museum dating from more than 1000 years BC, the collection chronicles the history of and life in the state of Michoacan until hundreds of years after the dramatic impact of the Spanish Conquest.

Oh, Emperor Maximilian I (1832-1867) is said to have slept here (I believe this a more reliable claim than that of owners of almost every old house in central Virginia boasting “George Washington slept here.”). The home belonged to Francisca Roman de Malo and her husband when Maximilian stayed there in 1864 at the beginning of his brief reign. Francisca served as lady-in-waiting to Empress Carlota (1840-1927).

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Postcard from Oaxaca, Mexico: ‘Nobodies’ populate walls

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Above: Detail of “Los Nadies,” or “The Nobodies,” woodblock print murals by the Colectivo Subterraneos in the Xochimilco barrio of Oaxaca

Existimos, porque resistimos. Por los oprimidos, por los invisibilizados, por aquellos que quisieron enterrar, los subterraneos, existimos.

We exist, because we resist. For the oppressed, for the invisible, for those who wanted to bury, the underground, we exist.

Artist Statement of Colectivo Subterraneos

The one-story building at the corner of Calle Jose Lopez Alavez and Calle Bolanos Cacho, Barrio de Xochimilco, was a deep burnt red color until a team of enthusiastic artists armed with rollers gave it a new coat of deep pink this fall. They quickly papered the rough stucco canvas with a series of large, exquisitely detailed woodblock prints the young artists created as part of Colectivo Subterraneos.

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A season when cemeteries reunite the living and the dead

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Above: No rearranging of the surroundings would be needed to film a horror movie in the dark and cavernous Cimitero delle Fontanelle in Naples, Italy.

It’s not surprising that a writer who would include Haunting the Graveyard as part of a book title is drawn to cemeteries. A few random headstones can reveal stories about individuals and entire communities.

Someone in the family demonstrates great patience with sating my taphophilia wherever we travel. Naturally, All Saints Day and All Souls Day are among my favorite times to do so. Posts in this blog are filled with the resulting photos, and the links below will take you to a few from our past travels. So many graveyards from which to choose….

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