13 Comments
Mar 20, 2023Liked by Mike Leavy

Thanks Mike, I appreciate how you repeatedly qualify the shortness of your description and at the same time, you convey a lot of information well. 🙏🏼

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Thanks Doug! Striking a balance between "facts" and editorial commentary is a challenge for me - happy to hear that I might be getting the balance right (to shamelessly steal from a Depeche Mode song)

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Mar 20, 2023Liked by Mike Leavy

this is the stupidest thing i have ever read

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Mar 20, 2023Liked by Mike Leavy

sorry typo. i meant most brilliant.

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I would have settled for “one of the stupidest”

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Mar 20, 2023Liked by Mike Leavy

I can see why you like Mexico so much :-) The more I learn, the more I appreciate its roots in values that I too share, such as inclusivity. Thanks again for an article that I can actually absorb in a subject (history) that I have traditionally struggled with.

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Glad you are finding the subject absorbable and that it’s resonating with you, Christy!

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Your response

simply float away" reminds me of a saying from my Mexican upbringing, "Tablita de salvación". I bet I could float and be saved from the ocean's (life) turbulent waters from any piece of your flotsam and jetsom.

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Interesting article and fascinating difference with the inclusion / exclusion of the native population. We discussed the life of Benito Juárez in the University, but I don't think we touched on this overall cultural aspect. And certainly not the difference between how Mexico and the U.S. treated the indigenous population.

Still I wonder sometimes what the overall attitude is today. I'll never forget a conversation I had with a rather well-to-do Mexican woman one day in a plaza principal. My early days in Mexico like 12 years ago. Okay, I'll name the town: SMA. After learning I was from the states, she said: Oh, you did it right. You exterminated your Indians.

I didn't get into it with her, but I was shocked and soon left.

Thanks for the article Mike!

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Yes, there is definitely prejudice today in Mexico, but that exchange you had seems pretty far out there - I’ve (thankfully) never encountered that attitude. Hopefully that kind of attitude is dying, but classism and racism still abound. Take care Victor and thanks for the comment, I really appreciate the opportunity to hear your perspective and experience.

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Yes. I think it was a one-off. I've talked with many people since then and have never encountered anything remotely similar. Not sure why I even brought it up. :( I need to remind myself once in a while to stay focused on the positive. Anyway, keep up the good work.

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Where were you, Sir, when I needed to fulfill my university History 101? I might have changed my major to history. "I wasn't born yet", you say. OK. I forgive you, then.

"Mexico is a civilization defined by the inclusion of cultures from the Americas and Europe." Sadly, I suspect the tendency may be motivated by a wish to be more European. Perhaps, evidence might be revealed when you share your "recklessly light-on-detail" story of Maximiliano y Carlota and who and why invited them to Mexico.

ps. I might borrow "The Variegated Paths" expression for the title of my memoir.

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"Sadly, I suspect the tendency may be motivated by a wish to be more European" ah yes, why do so many of us aspire to be something else? I am looking forward to writing about Maximiliano y Carlota (which will, of course, be so light on detail that it may simply float away from the Substack servers - I'll add some artificial weights to it just in case).

Thanks for the comment - and feel free to borrow as much or as little of my randomly typed out ravings as you wish!

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