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Elena Hiatt Houlihan Issue 29, April 2018
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PLEASE NOTE: This is a new format designed for mobile devices. If you are reading this on your computer and don’t see the photos, please click “Display Images” in your browser.
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DETAIL OF MOSAIC WALL
IN PUERTO VALLARTA BY NATASHA MORAGA
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INSPIRATIONAL PEOPLE IN PUERTO VALLARTA…
Dear Friends and Family, Old and New, Near and Far:
Once again this year, I’ve realized that Puerto Vallarta is a magnetic center for creative and fascinating people. Upon my return I discovered a massive
public art project in progress.
Natasha Moraga, a
dynamic and dedicated artist, and her brother Daniel, had the vision to cover with mosaic almost every surface in the Parque Cardenas, the site for the Saturday Market, dance performances, and other community events.
The project is receiving NO government funding. Knowing that she couldn’t do it all herself, and also as a way to raise support, she has been leading workshops in which she teaches people like me and my friends the process, and we then design and apply mosaic to one of the pillars in the park. Our workshop fees pay for materials and for her other helpers to paint and upgrade the park.
Sacred Geometry Wall by Daniel Moraga.
Mosaic Wall by Daniel Moraga
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After 3 days of chipping and gluing tile, here is our besmudged team, Kimberley, Natasha, Lynn and myself, all filthy from the black grout, proudly showing off our design of an Aztec dancer complete with the symbolic serpent and peyote designs on the bottom.
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PAYING IT FORWARD…
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Gabino Sandoval, a creative designer and craftsman, has inspired me since I first arrived in Puerto Vallarta in 2011. Strolling along the Malecon one evening I saw a table of silvery purses made of aluminum poptabs. I had recently spent some years helping create the
Keeping Tabs Sculpture in Pittsburgh
out of 6 million poptabs in remembrance of the Jews killed in the Holocaust.
Here was an artist making beautiful and useful bags from what is usually tossed in the garbage.
We bonded in our first conversation. My friends and I have all bought numerous variations of his bags, and have become close to his family. This year Gabino was invited to participate in the Saturday morning “Farmers Market.” He had a booth but nothing else. Enter Arlene, who created his business name; Robbin, who decided he needed a banner and arranged for the printing, while I did the photography and designed the banner. The family now has expanded their business and are selling in 5 area markets. Arlene’s article on the process appeared in the Vallarta Tribune and Gabino laughingly now says he feels “famous.”
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MOVING STORIES FROM JACKIE AND LARRY LONG
Last Sunday many of us were moved to hear the personal journey of Jackie Long, a public defender in Minneapolis for 34 years, who represented many Native Americans who were losing their children to white families as well as being persecuted by the police.
She later lived in the Black Hills and became an attorney for the American Indian Movement and was appointed to the Supreme Court of the Cheyenne River Souix Tribe. While staying in a trailer with a First Nation family, she helped organize numerous non-profit organizations to benefit the tribe. Interspersed with her stories were Larry’s songs, honoring everyday heroes like Awanakwe, (Water Woman), Pat Bellanger, one of the founders of the AIM movement.
Larry, a Smithsonian Folkways Recording artist, was called “an American troubador” by Studs Terkel. Working with school children, he helps them write songs honoring the elders of many cultures. These touching stories can be seen at
www.communitycelebration.org, and demonstrate why he received the
Pope John XXIII Award for his work in forgotten communities.
Larry is also the Executive Producer of
Dodging Bullets,
a documentary about the effects of historical trauma on First Nation peoples.
He recently returned to Minnesota for an advance screening at the Minneapolis-St.Paul International Film Festival. You can read more about his work at
www.larrylong.org
because this newsletter can’t begin to encapsulate his and Jackie’s many accomplishments as social activists.
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Jackie ended her talk with these words:
“I retired as an attorney in November but have not retired from life. I wanted to have a new goal for my retirement…. It is to help A Thousand Women have a better future. Perhaps I will help them to have an education. Maybe I can buy them out of slavery. I have been studying how to help women in Mexico, at home and abroad. I am not forming an organization; it is a moral goal and a concept to spread to others. It’s easy to be invisible as you grow older, to fall into rote patterns. I wanted to have a goal to give my life a deeper meaning. I also want to try and inspire 1,000 others to help their 1,000 women…
Would you want to take on helping 1,000 others as a life legacy? Think about it.
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| No wonder many of us were in tears as Larry sang this song to Jackie at the end…… though the words without the melody do not do it justice.
Words & music by Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long 2018 / BMI
All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
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She was rich to the core
A friend to the poor
I love you
From her heart she would give
So others might live
I love you
Some people have
So many have not
Enough to get by
The dream lives
The dreamer dies
I love you
Often she’d read
Of people in need
I love you
God has many names
To their doorstep she came
I love you…
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My life is deeply enriched by knowing these inspiring beings who are making such a positive mark in their communities and in the world.
This photograph I took in the Paris Metro is symbolic for me. The cup says “THROWN by Marie Odeville, May 19, 2015” The message is “You could leave a more beautiful trace on the earth” And yes, couldn’t we all, in some way or another and not just environmentally, leave a more beautiful trace on the Earth?
I hope this finds you joyful in where you are in the world, surrounded by loved ones. Once again, remember to take care of your special selves, follow your dreams, and express your love fully to those around you. We are more perishable than we think.
Abrazos y besos,
Elena
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CONNECTING AND RE-CONNECTING
You are receiving this email because I met you somewhere in my travels and wanted to stay in touch…dancing tango in Buenos Aires perhaps? At a riad in Marrakech? A party in San Miguel de Allende? Wandering in Oaxaca, or maybe long ago in France or Bali. You could even be a distant cousin I haven’t seen for years. You may have forgotten me, but I have not forgotten you. If the tales of my travels don’t spark your interest, just hit unsubscribe. Or, if this has been forwarded to you, you can susbscibe below. Merci mille fois! Y muchas gracias!
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