So here we are now at 6,200 feet enjoying incredibly mild weather yearlong, a severe drought and growing water shortage, unrestrained development, and a once-exuberant city that has almost withered away under the relentless grind of Covid restrictions.
Signs of life are returning to San Miguel de Allende.
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A pandemic of new murals all over San Miguel de Allende, many with iconic images from pop culture and high art, carry a simple message: Put on a mask.
If Frida, Vincent van Gogh, Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” Klimt’s stylish “Lady in Gold,” and da Vinci’s mysterious “Mona Lisa” and her Botero-esque alter-ego can put on masks — and look fabulous — so can we.
That’s the hope, anyway, of the city’s Directorate for Culture and Tradition which has sponsored the creation of the 10 murals.
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A cynic might say there are more murals, statues and pictures wearing masks in San Miguel de Allende than actual people.
I wouldn’t know.
Lately, the only people I hang out with are murals, statues, and pictures. And they all seem to be wearing masks.
Which is why I prefer their company to that of people who will not wear masks. They even look smarter than people without masks.
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I know “curated” does not mean “stuff left over.”
A curator searches through his or her museum’s basements, files, archives, vaults, hallways, and subterranean sanctorums in search of pieces that support an important theme or idea.
The hope is that, as a whole, a curated show will tell a story or bolster an idea. A curated show is more than a theme — say for example, pictures with something red in them.
There is no doubt that during self-isolation, we have changed. As our lives slowed down, our perception has improved. I dare say that we are all seeing, feeling, hearing, loving, fearing in ways our previously busy, noisy, distracting, and demanding lives would not permit.
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These days, we walk around Parque Juarez.
No, not walk around in Parque Juarez.
Just, walk around. The perimeter.
We circle the park, as you would circle a fishbowl.
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Look below for the annotated version with links dipped in fresh hot chocolate for the good homebody feeling:
Really good reads:
#1 “Fuck the Bread. The Bread is over.” By Sabrina Orah Mark, Paris Review, May 7, 2020. “In February, as a plague enters America, I am a finalist for a job I am not offered.
“I am brought to campus for a three-day interview. I am shown the library I’ll never have access to, and introduced to students I’ll never teach. I shake hands with faculty I’ll never see again. I describe in great detail the course on fairy tales I’ll never offer.” Continue reading
Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More 