This weekend I was driving in Juarez and came across two police vehicles, an ambulance, and several cars blocking two lanes of the road. Normally when you see this particular arrangement of vehicles in Juarez the worst possible scenario immediately comes to mind. As I passed the cluster of vehicles I looked over and rather than the horrific scene I had braced myself for, I saw a group of people gathered around an injured dog. As horrible as I felt for the injured dog I had to smile knowing that despite all this city has been through the violence inflicted on Juarenses has not extinguished their humanity. I'm so very proud and lucky that I get to live amongst such wonderful and resilient people.
My mom came to Oaxaca for the month of June and during her last full week in Mexico we went to visit a women's weaving cooperative in Teotitlan del Valle, a village outside of the city of Oaxaca known for its tapetes or rugs. During my stay in Oaxaca in the summer of 2006 I went with my study abroad group to Vida Nueva, a women's co-op of weavers and bought a tapete for my mom. Vida Nueva consists of single women, widows, and single mothers who otherwise might not receive a decent price (or live a decent life) for their weaving in the male-controlled tapete business that dominates Teotitlan. After telling her the story of the cooperative and the women who benefit from it, my mother was eager to visit herself and support this group. Luckily I ran into a friend who was taking a group of students to the cooperative and she was kind enough to let us tag along. Pastora Gutierrez is the founder of the coooperative (the woman on the left in the photo below) and has taken the rugs an...
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