Guest-blogger Jim Johnston on Mexico City’s Centro Histórico: Five things to see with your feet off the ground

Born in New York City, Jim Johnston grew up in the woods of New Hampshire. After studying architecture at the University of Virginia and graphic design at the School of Visual Arts, he worked as a professional artist and potter in New York City for 27 years. He moved to Mexico in 1997, where he continues working as an artist and writer. A few years ago, I was fortunate to make his acquaintance through our mutual friend, the writer Janice Eidus, and I've been a fan ever since.
I follow and warmly recommend his blog, Mexico City: An Opinionated Guide, which has the same title as his book. If you're going to visit Mexico City or, especially, if you happen to live here, get your copy from amazon.com.

Mexico City Centro Histórico:
Five things to see with your feet off the ground

By Jim Johnston

My first visit in 1989 to Mexico City's Centro Histórico was scary. Teeming with manic energy in the daytime, the streets became eerily empty at night. Scars from the 1985 earthquake were evident: tall buildings stood abandoned, gaping holes in the pavement defied you to pass. There were rumors of thieves lurking in doorways and kidnappers prowling in taxis. But as a rule, I like any town that's more than 700 years old and still cookin’. So, of course, I fell for Mexico City, hook, line and molcajete.

Mexico is a city that wears its age well. It’s got Aztec splendor and ruin, Spanish majesty and bombast, 50’s modernism, quirky time-warp shops, smoke tinged cantinas, excellent museums, and street life that never stops.

In the past five years, the Centro Histórico of Mexico City (A UNESCO World Heritage Site) has been transformed. It's busy night and day, and looking better than ever. There are increased security measures, new paving and lighting; hundreds of old buildings have been plastered and painted (gracias a Carlos Slim). New museums, hotels, restaurants, outdoor cafés and shops have opened. Several streets are now traffic-free pedestrian zones (check out 5 de Mayo, Motolinia, and Regina). You can now ride your eco-bici to the centro. New bars and dance clubs are drawing young crowds on weekend nights. It seems like every time I visit (about once a week) I see something new. But one thing hasn't changed-- the intense level of energy on the street, which can excite and exhaust in equal measure.

What to do? I like to take my feet off the ground.

Here are a few tips for keeping above the fray--5 places in the Centro Histórico that are above street level, semi-hidden places I’ve discovered over the years that you are sure to enjoy.


1. Sears Cafe
Go up to the 8th floor of the Sears store, just across from the Palacio de Bellas Artes. The coffee is good and the view is great.

2. Museum of Architecture
Take the elevator to the very top of the Palacio de Bellas Artes (separate ticket required). The changing exhibits on Mexican architecture are OK, but the real treat here is the surprising view you get of the building itself.

3. Pasteleria Ideal (16 de Septiembre #18)
Upstairs, this ‘world of cakes’ is one of the city’s great surreal spots.

4. Shoe Museum
Bolivar #27) Above the venerable Borcegui shoe store is this entertaining mini-museum.

5. Studio of Joaquin Clausell
(Museo de la Ciudad, Pino Suarez #30 at El Salvador). Tucked away on the second floor of this exquisite colonial mansion is the former studio of Joaquin Clausell (1866-1935), a Mexican impressionist painter. For years he used the walls of his studio as a sketchbook, and the result is a delightful mural of overlapping paintings and sketches.

Above and beyond the Centro Histórico you can tour the major attractions in Mexico City on the Turibus. The open top deck affords great views and a wonderful feeling of being above all the hustle and bustle. Click here for information.

-- Jim Johnston

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---> For the complete archive of Madam Mayo guest-blog posts, click here.

Susan Coll's 5 Favorite Comic Novels

The best novelists are sociologists with a wicked sense of humor. In her widely celebrated novels Beach Week, Acceptance, and Rockville Pike, my amiga Susan Coll has upward-striving suburbia nailed. This month Picador has released the paperback edition of Beach Week, so click on through and get your chuckles. Here's what this master of the genre has to say about some of her own comic reading. Over to you, Susan.

Now there is a pig in this world named “Super Sad True Love Story,” the thought of which is nearly as funny as Gary Shteyngart’s self-same novel, winner of this year’s Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. It’s encouraging to see an American--even one who came by way of Russia--win this award, which usually goes to a Brit. A few pages into Super Sad it occured to me that this book does have something of a British sensibility in that Shteyngart's humor relies on the mortification of his male protagonist. This got me thinking about my favorite comic novels--or at least books that had me doubled over in laughter, and I have to confess that the British do seem to have a lock on the sort of droll, dark humor that typically does me in. As do, apparently, men--which is at least the sort of observation that helps get me out of bed and to my keyboard each morning.

1. Our Man in Havana, By Graham Greene (1958), in which a cash-strapped vacuum cleaner salesman in Cuba is pressed into service by British intelligence to hilarious effect, and which, I only just learned from Wikipedia, was made into not just a film but an opera and a play.

2. Burmese Days, by George Orwell (1934), which you can read free, on-line, and which amazon describes as a mix of E.M. Forster and Jane Austen. “Stir in a bit of socialist doctrine, a sprig of satire, strong Indian curry, and a couple quarts of good English gin and you get something close to the flavor . . .”

3. A Good Man in Africa, by William Boyd (1982), about a hapless British diplomat in a fictitious African country in the fledgling days of independence. I wrote about this last summer for NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126501855

4. The Wimbledon Poisoner, by Nigel Williams (1994), a suburban comedy about a man who tries to murder his wife. Confession: I read this so long ago that really all I remember is my own hysterical laughter. While I can’t vouch for how well it holds up, I can tell you who borrowed my book and failed to give it back, so perhaps you can consult with him.

5. Memories of the Ford Administration, by John Updike (1992). Odd that Updike, not known for his comedy, should be the token American on my list. I worked up the nerve to approach him at a conference many years ago, and told him how much I loved this novel. He seemed surprised, and said something about having almost forgotten writing it. I later told this to a book critic who scoffed and said, “minor Updike.” Minor Updike! The definition of an oxymoron? Or the fate, too often, of comic fiction?

--- Susan Coll

---> For the archive of Madam Mayo guest blog posts, click here.
Previous guest-blogger novelists include Janice Eidus; Sandra Gulland; Daniel Olivas; Leslie Pietrzyk; Joanna Smith Rakoff; and Porter Shreve.

Guest-Blogger Janice Eidus on 5 Vampire Links to Sink Your Teeth Into

Creeeepy coincidences!! I just posted my "Haunted Historical Fiction" podcast, and, aside from plowing down the ever-rising Himalaya of e-mail, I have on my schedule for this week "start translating vampire story" (more about that anon). Then, in comes this week's guest-blog post on ... vampires?! Well, it's by my amiga, the crackerjack New York-and-San Miguel de Allende novelist Janice Eidus, author of the sublime The War of the Rosens, whose new -- yes--- vampire novel, The Last Jewish Virgin, is getting rave reviews. National Public Radio's Marion Winik calls it "Twilight... with a sense of humor, a brain, and a feminist subtext." Over to you, Janice!

Five Vampire Links To Sink Your Teeth Into

With my new novel, The Last Jewish Virgin (which I call my Feminist Fashionista Jewish Vampire Novel), I tried to reimagine and reinvent the vampire myth for contemporary times. The main character is Lilith Zeremba, a young woman living in New York City. Proud of her rationality and secular beliefs, Lilith is determined to remain a virgin until she reaches her goal of becoming a mega-successful fashion designer. Despite herself, she finds her soulmate -- her bashert, as it’s called in Yiddish -- in a completely unexpected, untraditional way -- replete with vampires, as well as feminism, real estate, fashion, and a seriously funny look at contemporary urban Jewish life.

While writing The Last Jewish Virgin, I immersed myself in all things vampires, along the way discovering and rediscovering novels, short stories, poems, critical works, films, plays, TV shows, and websites. Now it’s my pleasure to share five delicious vampire sites with you:

#1. New York Times’ critic Jason Zinoman’s series for Slate Magazine on Alan Ball’s HBO show, True Blood.
(Below are links to a few of his columns; you can easily find others). His writing is accessible, witty, and original. While dissecting True Blood, he simultaneously explores the historical, literary, and metaphorical roots of the vampire myth as well as its contemporary incarnations. If you’re drawn to things vampiric (even if you’ve never watched True Blood), you’ll be intrigued. Don’t miss his take on the “vampire-vs.-werewolf” debate (he comes out strongly on the side of True Blood’s vampires), as well as his analysis of how the show’s creators shock and disturb viewers with the increasingly “fluid sexuality” of their characters.

This is Your Brain on Blood;
True Blood Reinvents Vampire Sex;
Style, Soap, Sex – and Splat!

#2. Fresh Fiction
Fresh Buzz generously reprints NPR columnist and vampire aficionado Margot Adler’s “Vampire Book List” in its entirety. Adler’s list is extraordinarily extensive and never elitist. She’s fascinated by the ethical and moral dilemma vampires face because of the tremendous power they wield over mortals. (Among my own favorite vampire books are: Bram Stoker’s Dracula -- like a vampire, it never grows old for me; Fledgling, in which the late African-American writer, Octavia E. Butler, blends the vampire myth with science fiction in order to explore race and prejudice in a fresh way; Anne Rice’s romantic and cinematic Interview With The Vampire; The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas, about a lonely, intellectual vampire obsessed with understanding who he is and how he came to be.)

#3. The Coolest Vampire Art Gallery
Quirky and cultish, this online art gallery straddles the line between serious and kitschy. If you happen to “love the sight of female vampires in art,” and yearn to see portraits of such vampire vixens as “Macabre Mistress” and “Midnight Temptress,” this is the site for you. (You also can vote here on such pressing issues as whether Brad Pitt or Keifer Sutherland is the hotter vampire.)

#4. Only Good Movies: Vampires
A comprehensive list of “best” vampire movies culled from all over the internet, with well-deserved special attention devoted to the Swedish film Let The Right One In (recently remade in English), an exquisite horror/romance based on the novel of the same name. It’s the story of an emotionally fragile, bullied twelve-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a female vampire child who ultimately rescues him from the bullies. (Among my favorite films are Near Dark, the best -- perhaps the only! -- vampire/Western/horror film ever made; The Vampire Lovers, based on Sheridan Le Fanu’s bold lesbian vampire tale, Carmilla; John Badham’s incredibly sensual Dracula; The Lost Boys, the teen/comedy horror film that speaks as much to adults as teens; Andy Warhol’s Dracula, in which Udo Kier’s languid Dracula is wasting away due to the world’s scarcity of virgin blood; The Hunger, surely inspired by Le Fanu’s Carmilla, starring two of our most beautiful contemporary actresses, Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon; and, Vampire’s Kiss, about a deranged vampire/literary agent played by Nicolas Cage -- in other words, one vampire that’s difficult for at least one writer I know to resist.)

#5. Monstrous Vampires
In an entertaining and vivid fashion, this website presents an encyclopedic wealth of information and visuals about all things vampire, from classic literature to real life blood fetishes, from the mythic to the concrete. Read here to learn about “Minor Historical Vampires,” including Vlad the Impaler and Erzsebeth Bathory, as well as “Psychic Vampires” and “Psychotic Vampires.” Along the way, learn a thing or two about “Animal Vampires,” “The Vampire As A Scapegoat,” “Human Living Vampires,” “Famous Vampire Hunters,” and “The Blood Fetish Vampire.” This website may be the Ur-website of all vampire websites.


--- Janice Eidus

---> For the archive of Madam Mayo guest-blog posts, click here.

P.S. Read Janice Eidus's previous guest-blog post for Madam Mayo, apropos of her splendid novel, The War of the Rosens: "Five (mas o menos) directly or very indirectly Mexico-related Websites".

Guest Blog Posts at Madam Mayo

THIS ARCHIVE HAS BEEN MOVED TO:

http://www.cmmayo.com/madammayo-archive-guest-blog-posts.html

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR LINKS, THANKS!





--->Travel writer and writing teacher Richard Goodman
5 Favorite Books on Soul
--->Travel writer and power walker L. Peat O'Neil
5 + Links on Walking
--->Writer Nani Power
5 Interesting Facts About the Monarch Butterfly
--->Poet Sandra Beaseley
5 Poets Turned Prose Writers--->Sociology Professor Clara Rodriguez
5 Latino Stars of Early Hollywood
--->Writer and Mexico City Aficionado David Lida
5 Secrets of Mexico City
--->Visionary librarian Jane Kinney Meyers
5 Links About Lubuto
--->Novelist, Anthologist and Blogger Daniel Olivas
5 Influential Writers in "Latinos is Lotusland"
--->Baja Buff and Business Writer Greg Niemann
5 Favorite Websites
--->Novelist Gayle Brandeis
5 Works of Fiction that Explore the Senses in Fresh Strange Ways
--->Writer and editor Jennifer Silva Redmond
5 Favorite Baja California Writers's Websites
--->Historical novelist Sandra Gulland
Top 5 Research Sites for Historical Novelists
--->Mexico historian Tasha Tenenbaum
"Kahlo de Rivero" and the Long List of World-Class Mexican Artists
--->Novelist and blogger Leslie Pietrzyk
3 Dos and 3 Don'ts for Writers's Blogs
--->Writer, editor, translator, graphic designer Tom Christensen
3 Dos and 3 Don't for Writers's Blogs
--->Poet and playwright Grace Cavalieri
5 Favorite Venturesome and Vivid Movers of the Earth
--->Writer Paula Whyman
5 + 1 Sites on Baking for Writers--- and Other Breadheads
--->King of the Baja Buffs, adventure travel writer Graham Mackintosh
5 Favorite Websites
--->Novelist and lit-bloggerLeslie Pietrzyk
5 Favorite Guest-Blog Posts on Work in Progress
--->Travel writer and Mexico expert Isabella Tree
5 Favorite Books About Mexico
--->Journalist and highway historian Steven Hart
5 Sites at the Crossroads of History, Industry, Commerce and Art
--->Writer, musician, composer, philosopher David Rothenberg
5 Whale Music Links
--->Poet Cathleen Calbert
The 5 Members of the Providence Area Writers Group
--->Novelist Eric B. Martin
5 Links On the Next Roberto Bolaño: Guillermo Fadanelli
--->Travel writer and essayist Richard Goodman
5 Favorite "Collected Letters of..."
---> Medievalist and author Jeff Sypeck
On other writers's blogs
---> Writer and documentary film maker David Taylor
Top 5 Books Read in 2007
---> Children's book writer Nancy Levine
5 Favorite Pug Websites
---> Playwright and writing coach Roy Sorrels
5 Reasons San Miguel de Allende is a Writer's Heaven
--->Poet, writer and teacher Sheila Bender
Top 5 Books On Writing
--->Short story and nonfiction writer John Kachuba
5 Spooky Sites
--->Short story writer and novelist Janice Eidus
5 Favorite (mas o menos, directly or very indirectly) Mexico-Related Websites
--->Comedy writer and stand-up comic Basil White
Top 5 Laugh Links
--->Poet and visual artist Christine Boyka Kluge
Top 5 Websites for Hybrid Writing, Collaborations, and Experimental Work
--->Travel writer Jim Benning
World Hum's Representative 5
--->Short story writer Kate Blackwell
5 + Summer Reading
--->Poet Kim Roberts
Top 5 Litblogs
--->Feng Shui Expert Carol Olmstead
5 + 1 Feng Shui Tips for Writers

--->Want to guest-blog for Madam Mayo? Guidelines here.

Janice Eidus's 5 Favorite (mas o menos, directly or very indirectly) Mexico-Related Websites

Guest-blogging for Madam Mayo today is short story writer and novelist Janice Eidus, who has, by the way, just published a crackerjack novel, The War of the Rosens. Enthusiastically recommended!

I've been delighted, over these last few years, to discover how many things the wonderful and ever-productive Madam Mayo and I have in common. Among these things are our love of good writing in a wide range and variety of forms; our love of the art, literature, language, culture, and the day-to-day world of Mexico; our love of laughter; and, our belief in nurturing good friendships. I'm thrilled to be a guest blogger on Madam's extraordinary blog. I've chosen five (mas o menos) sites to recommend that--- either directly, or very indirectly--- relate to Mexico.

#1. Behler Publications, a new publisher based in Southern California (not that far, geographically, from Mexico), is publishing some very interesting and exciting new work. My new novel,The War of the Rosens, about a volatile and eccentric Bronx Jewish family, is just out from them. Behler has also recently published the very original and offbeat coming-of-age novel, Teched, written by my good friend, Thaddeus Rutkowski. The very indirect connection to Mexico here is that Thaddeus and I have both enjoyed good times writing in the Mexican sun.

#2. Casa Karmina is a beautiful, large, sunny, art-filled house in Mexico that's inspired the many writers who've stayed there over the years. It's an absolutely perfect writer's retreat.

#3. Roy Sorrels is a talented and versatile writer and writing coach who lived in Mexico for many years, and who now lives in New York. Sometimes when he and I are in New York at the same time, we meet for coffee at a West Village café and pretend that we're sitting in a café at the Jardin in San Miguel, sipping tequila. (In the interest of "full disclosure," I will mention that Roy just reviewed The War of the Rosens for CultureVulture online.

#4. Sheila Bender's website magazine, Writing It Real, is a treasure for writers--- she teaches, chats, and inspires. She and I have been friends for a long time. We met in Port Townsend, Washington, when I was teaching at the Port Townsend Writers Conference. Sheila and I have had some mighty good schmoozes in the Mexican sun and shade--- and, she and I have both been happily involved with Author's Sala in San Miguel de Allende.

#5. My friends, Jim Johnston and Patrice Wynne, live in Mexico and both divide their time between Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende, and both are creative in many fields. Jim's an artist and writer, and Patrice is a photographer, clothing and textile designer, and fabulous Mexican tour guide, among other things.

--- Janice Eidus.

To read Madam Mayo's other guest-blog posts, click here.

In San Miguel de Allende

the other week, Mary Morris (on the left) and Janice Eidus (middle) celebrated the publication of their new books--- both fantastic--- Mary Morris's memoir, River Queen and Janice Eidus's novel The War of the Rosens. So here we are (Yours Truly on the right) at Janice's magical, candy-colored Casa Karmina. (Alas! My right shoulder is covering up Janice's very cool Frida Kahlo cameo.)

You Blog, I Blog, Bloggity Blog Blog Blog

So this morning an interesting e-mail exchange with the wondrous NYC and San Miguel de Allende-based writer, Janice Eidus, who has a sure to be fabulous new novel coming out, The War of the Rosens. (She's a well-known writing teacher and author of the story collection, Vito Loves Geraldine, among many other works.) She's the third writer this week who has asked me about blogging and how it can help promote a book. Well, amigas, here's an example: just this morning, the widely-read Phronesisaical, a philosophy, torture, fruit pix, and politics blog of a DC area philosophy professor who goes by the "nom de blogue" Helmut, just--- bless his heart--- mentioned the news that my memoir, Miraculous Air, is now out in paperback. And by the way, "Helmut" himself has an anthology of essays on torture forthcoming with Johns Hopkins University Press. Stay tuned! What's fun is that new readers find my work thanks to "the Phron" while, perhaps, new readers will find Janice Eidus and "Helmut" thanks to "Madam Mayo." Yes, it can get cliquish and circular. But at the same time, it sends readers out in all sorts of fresh directions, no? While I lament the recent and precipitous decline in print book reviews, I love reading blogs. The world seems much larger and certainly quirkier to me as a result. All this said, here at Madam Mayo I don't blog much about book promotion. (Pretty much everything I have to say about that is here.) For an outstanding blog about that subject, check out M.J. Rose's Buzz, Balls & Hype.