Nearly the new year…

I just went to get some photocopying done and they asked if I wanted it “Engargolado”. This is a Mexicanismo according to the RAE (Spanish version of the Oxford dictionary) meaning “bound with a plastic spiral ring thing” (see photo). I asked what the origin was and she said she didn’t know but it probably comes from “gargola”, a gargoyle. Now maybe it’s because of my life-long fascination with Ghostbusters, but I think that’s a great image, a gargoyle’s claws holding together your document for you. I’m presuming that’s the origin, but I’m about to start work and I can’t be trolling around the internet for hunky-punk related info… Photos from another successful trip to Tequila coming soon : )

And for phrase of the week (these are going to be almost all from José): Ay, el equipo de México, jugaron como nunca y perdieron como siempre… Which doesn’t really survive translation well as: Ay, the Mexico team, they played like never and lost as ever. If you can do better than that, feel free to comment a translation : ) Hasta pronto…

sunny and windy. Hope I’ll not freeze when i get to London manaa… Yesterday I tagged along with Sita and her entourage of professors to a Citrus Museum in Riverside and some Mission or other. Photos here: Slideshow, separately. Amongst many other things, learnt that lemons are a genetically diverse bunch. Bit like dogs, I s’pose. Hence the Buddah’s Fingers variety, which we may try to cultivate one day:

People know you’re serious when you make it in TequilaAficionado.com! Check out the 2nd to last paragraph…

Tequila attracts academic study
Thu, Dec 08 @ 02:01 AM

An education program in Jalisco offers a course on the role of tequila in rural development and popular culture.

During the week, Agustín Arce, 27, teaches administration to high school students in Tequila, Jalisco. On the weekends, he studies the fiery spirit that made his hometown famous.

Last month, Arce and 14 classmates began delving into topics as diverse as tequila’s origins, its role in rural development and its growing influence on art, music and popular culture through a new continuing education program at the University of Guadalajara (U de G). The program takes an academic approach to the subject, which most people only learn about in a bar and truly appreciate the next day.

“We think that people should know more about tequila — not only as a drink, but its origins, the (agave) plant and the process,” said Marcela García Bátiz, publicity director for U de G Virtual.

While a diploma program in tequila perhaps looks frivolous at first glance, numerous universities have offered courses investigating other alcoholic beverages, including beer, wine and Scotch whisky. And with tequila reaching dizzying levels of popularity both at home and abroad, García Bátiz said it was a pertinent topic — especially in Jalisco, where residents take a special pride in the drink.

‘JALISCO IS MEXICO’

The state’s history in fomenting the popularity of tequila — along with mariachi music and charreria — makes Jalisco the most Mexican of the Republic’s states in the eyes of local boosters. The state adorns its license plates with the image of an agave plant and its tourism secretariat coined the slogan “Jalisco is Mexico . ”

The drink, which previously masqueraded under the names vino de tequila and mezcal de tequila , played an important part in Jalisco’s development. A special tequila tax funded the construction of the state legislature and the implementation of Guadalajara’s first public waterworks system. The nature of agave cultivation influenced the architecture of Jalisco’s haciendas. Since the passing of appellation of origin laws in the 1970s, only beverages made from blue agaves grown in Jalisco and designated regions of Guanajuato, Michoacan, Nayarit and Tamaulipas may use the tequila name.

“Tequila is a beverage that identifies Jalisco and Mexico in the entire world,” García Bátiz said.

A PLANT WITH MULTIPLE USES

It’s also “a very broad subject,” she said, which U de G researchers have studied for decades. Recent research has also focused on the agave plant, tequila’s principle ingredient.

Research points to some of the agave plant’s properties, which include insulin, possibly benefiting diabetics. Rural development officials are pitching miel de agave, or agave syrup, as a sweetener that is ideal for soft drinks. Increased miel de agave production could also provide another market for agave growers, who in recent years have been receiving record low prices for their harvests.

The U de G course, officially titled “El Tequila, su cultura y su entorno,” enrolled an eclectic mix of teachers, foreign graduate students, tourism officials and journalists. All signed up for different reasons, but everyone expected to profit from the experience in some way.

“I live in Tequila, was born in Tequila, I’ve always worked in that community,” Arce explained, adding his knowledge of the beverage was previously somewhat limited. But as a teacher, he saw growing opportunities for his graduating students, equipped with an in depth knowledge of tequila, to find employment in his hometown’s burgeoning tourism industry. “I’m taking this course so I can pass on the information,” he said.

STUDYING COMMODITY CULTURE

Sita Gaytan, a graduate student in sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, serendipitously found the course. She is spending several semesters in Jalisco researching her thesis, which explores tequila culture from a crossborder perspective. The course offered her the chance to gain a wealth of information, she said, as well as access experts from academia and the tequila industry.

“I’m interested in how commodity culture shapes ideas about national identity and citizenship,” she explained.

Along with teaching academic modules, the course organizers scheduled trips to a tequila distillery and a hacienda and also planned sessions with culinary experts.

The non-credit course runs until March, when García Bátiz said the university would decide whether or not to offer it again. It could eventually become part of a degree program, she added.

BY DAVID AGREN
Special to The Herald Mexico
El Universal

via BoingBoing: 70 per cent of respondents said they feared US officials more than terrorists or criminals. Well, you know my thoughts on this…

Have a look at this lovely site, I’ve mentioned it before, but now it’s rehomed at forgivenessletters.com. The idea is people send in their anonymous letters asking for forgiveness and they get published in a blog stylee. Then the best ones get included in a book. I’m curious to see whether this will take off. It was a chance to include one of my favourite poems too. Catch it before it’s updated…

Yesterday we went round Amour Fou for a BBQ which was grand and to return 21 Grams and Ghost Dog. Lovely crowd of people there as always. Today, we’re off to t’cinema I believe…

Ooh, and we had our tree lopped for the princely sum of 40 gringo bucks. I got the angle wrong on the “after” photo so it doesn’t look like much cos there’s another tree behind it. Needless to say the tree “surgeons” just climbed the tree with a machete hacked about like crazy and then drove off with the branches in tow. One out of two for Health and Safety ain’t bad… They seemed sober anyway.

I’m well behind on my film reviews. One of these mornings… I highly recommend Sunlight (2007) by the way, see it in all its glory in the cinema if possible.

See what I’m reduced to whilst waiting for Sita to get home from her tequila class?