....and I'm back!

*Whew* That was a nice two-month long break. I'm sorry to have ever failed you readers like that. But now that The News decided it wasn't worth its time to maintain the Web site, looks like I'll have to write to you myself, since I can no longer post my latest stories on the blog, Maria's Storytime. However, I might copy/paste the Word documents up if I manage to feel so motivated.

Anyway, today on a wonderfully warm and sunny Saturday afternoon, I was working :/ It wasn't so bad, just an annual art fair for one of Mexico City's private U.S. schools. On the way out, though, I was struck by the contrast in the beautiful school I had just exited, the top-rate hospital I'd just passed by, and the slums immediately facing me across the street.

In the central part of the city, residents are mostly protected from the realities of the metropolis' outskirts. Sure, you see homeless people sleeping in the fetal position under a blanket outside a restaurant; you see children as young as 2 selling gum on the metro; you see families washing themselves in the street because the gov't cut off their water supply; you see mothers, fathers and progeny sitting in a pow-wow with a dingy change cup outstretched.

But where some of these people live, the actual slums, are usually out of plain sight. So I was a little surprised to be caught walking through a shabbier area relatively close to my neighborhood. Granted, this place is far from the worst Mexico City has to offer. I'm not even sure if the word "slum" qualifies. In any event, in the middle of an urban sprawl I heard roosters crowing, saw corrugated metal roofs secured into place by rocks, and saw a rampant lack of municipal attention to public spaces (think rebar poking out of the concrete step where you were about to put your foot). Anyway, here's some pictures while I'm still feeling like a social justice revolutionary.Nice glass roof, and then... (don't know why it's a link)Improvisational roof.