On teaching

Somehow, I have been influenced by some teachers. I couldn't say that is why I became one, but certainly has been a reason to keep in the trade. There is a chance to make a change in the lives of some of the students, let them discover new things, something in them that pups up after a talk or a class.

    I discovered art by a book given to me at prep school by my ethics teacher. The paintings of Modigliani may have never been so illuminating in my life if Gonzalo Lara didn't give me that book. When living in Washington D. C., the same teacher asked me to write for the paper of the same school, so I started to write. Something that was encouraged by Mr. Harding at St. John's College High School when reading American Authors.

    Alejandro Gonzalez Danieli let me savor the joy of writing short stories at the university. An idea could turn into a story, so I could tell whatever I wanted to say, hidden in the text for others to discover.

    There are some whose names just can't remember, but that made a difference. Like my drawing teacher at The Corcoran School of Art, that let me discover the great beauty of the human body, and the joy of drawing the figure.

    I don't know if my work as a teacher has made a difference, but, sincerely, that's what I hope.

Image: http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/41904/facts.modigliani.htm

Crêpes de huitlacoche

    Today I had for dinner Crêpes de huitlacoche with chipotle sauce, and a little glass of tequila - un caballito. Of course it was delicious, but I wonder, who was the brave who decided this kind of food was right. Huitlacoche, or Cuitlacoche (corn smut), is a fungus that grows into corn - Ustilago maydis. It doesn't look nice, as some people had told me. I just could say it looks kind of strange, maybe because I've seen it since I was a little boy.

    The colour of huitlacoche is between dark purple and black, with some tones of green, and the yellow from the corn. It tastes kind of earthy, and it's prepared fried with onion, some garlic and tomato (at least in my house). Just some huitlacoche in a tortilla is great. Of course, some chile has to go with it. It seems impossible not to have chile with our meal. Now, using a crêpe instead of a tortilla makes it different. I have had it with white sauce, and it's very nice. With the chipotle sauce it's magnificent!

    One time, a frind from my wife from chile, visited us in Mexico City. There were two things that shocked her: The first one was in a short trip to an avocado orchard. After some minutes riding, she said with amazement: "When does the city ends!". The second one, with some distaste, she said that everything we eat was tortilla with wathever in it and chile sauce.

    That second statement may be truth, but Mexican cuisine has much more to offer. But yes, we love to eat tortillas, as well as tamales, sopes, pelliscadas, panuchos, bocolitos, migadas, gorditas, tlacoyos and many  corn based dishes. The chile sauce is, or chiles prepared in many ways, always on our table (and there are many varieties of chile with different grades of "picor" or hotness).

    At the end, every culture favors some food, some ways of cooking. I like many stiles. For instance, I like very much Japanese cuisine, some other times I feel like eating pizza with beer. What I had today for dinner is a mixture: a classic French or Belgium dish with tipical mexican ingredients.

    ¡Salud!

    

IDLENESS

I heard many times that idleness was something bad. You should not be idle at all cost. That kind of personas are bad, idleness brings nothing but bad things. You must be actice, always doing something. In that way you avoid bad thoughts and bad habits.
So I decided to start doing things, like listening to music, sit down and enjoy a beatiful view, I sat quietly to have a hot cup of tea or to watch the stars in a warm night, draw the people at a plaza  full of trees. What was the answer to all my actions?: "Do something, stop waisting your time!"
WOW! I thought I was doing something. Sitting and watching a beatiful view wasn't doing something? Neither enjoying a nice cup of tea in a confortable chair? Drawing people in a quite afternoon under a tree wasn't enough?
No, those weren't the kind of things they wanted me to do. That was waisting the time, my time, That was idleness, and I just discovered I love it. Loosing my time let me think and make up stories. It allowed me to draw soemthing I discovered, something that amazed me. Or I could sit quitely smoking my pipe.
What's wrong with idleness? Well, it is very dangerous. You may become an artist.

Like a string.

Today I read: "To exercise right mindfulness, the mind must be neither too taut, nor to relaxed, like the string of a vina." (Kalu Rinpoche). 

(Respirando. Ink and watercolour on paper)

I wonder, what kind of tune am I playing?