global212

"A (wo)man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face."
-- Jorge Luis Borges

...and this is but a short wrinkle in time, the closing of one chapter, looking onward to the next.
lam, august 2005

It was back to Guerrero, reconnecting and connecting past, present and future NYC migrants. While Tlapa is the commercial center, most are from the surrounding small towns, with Mixteco speakers concentrated in the southeastern part of the state that borders Oaxaca. While in San Juan Mixtepec the cars had license plates from a dozen or so US states and in Nieves, all were from California, mostly San Diego. (There was one Alabama plate, but he must have been the town rebel...) Most Tlapanecos are concentrated in New York City, but the signifiers do not come from the license plates on the streets since, like most NYC dwellers, most do not drive. They are found on the signs, in the money exchange places or in other businesses. The local watering hole on the zocolo, Bar 103, is named after 103rd Street, where the owner lived for six years in New York.
While I certainly do not feel like I am fluent in this language, I certainly have a better idea of the grammatical structure and as always, when you learn a language, you learn more about the culture, which will help in connecting with this somewhat invisible community that is marginalized not only in Mexico, but within the Mexican community in NYC. Many Mixteco speakers are right in my backyard in the 90's/100's streets on the Upper West Side or in East Harlem, so there will be no excuse not to practice - although the variety I was learning is a bit different from the Guerrero variety, undoubtedly setting me up for some intercultural faux pas.

As much as we were looking forward to the three day respite down on the coast and even though Puerto Escondido is one of the greatest surf spots in the world, the summer humidity really made it impossible to do anything but lounge. I think it was just as hot as the NYC heatwave...the only difference was that I could hang in the hammock and hail for another margarita...

Mixteco speakers from Guerrero, Oaxaca and Puebla from the Mixteca region as well as speakers from Baja California/San Diego attended the annual Mixteco Congreso in Tilontongo. About 2 1/2 hours east from Oaxaca City, Tilontongo is considered the cultural heartland of the Mixteco culture as the ruins of Monte Negro were the ceremonial grounds for the ancient Mixtecs. The ruins are only partially excavated so far, but are of equal importnce as Monte Alban and Mitla, two other archaeological sites closer to Oaxaca. Mixteco has primarily been an oral language for hundreds of years and only in the last 15 years has there been a movement to create a standard written language, but yet keep the 48 different oral varieties distinct. It's in these yearly Congreso gatherings, where they discuss and flesh out all these important issues relating to the revitalization and maintenance of the language.

Mixteco is turning out to be quite challenging. Apart from it being tonal, meaning that each word has about ten zillion meanings depending on the pitch, it's also very glotal and nasal, sounding nothing like Spanish - or anything else you've probably heard. The 48 different varieties makes it difficult to communicate. Just when I think I have something mastered, I come to find out they say it one way in western Oaxaca and an entirely different way in eastern Guerrero. However, crosscutting all varieies, the language is very beautiful, focusing a great deal on nature, the self and how it all relates to the community. It's very metaphorical. For example, "kata ye'e" is to sing, literally translated to running mouth. To dance "kata yu'u" is running feet and "kata yivi" is running people, but not to be confused with "kata yi'vi", running excrement, otherwise known as diarrea.