Every Day is Magic: Ada Limón
In her 2015 collection, Bright Dead Things, a National Book Award finalist for poetry, Ada Limón writes of moving to Kentucky: “Confession: I did not want to live here.” It’s perhaps not a surprising sentiment coming from a coastally oriented person who was raised in Northern California, attended college in Seattle, and then spent over a decade in New York City.
But Limón and her husband, Lucas, have been in Lexington for seven years now and the effects of settling into this place are noticeable in her new book, The Carrying (Milkweed, Aug.). It’s a phenomenally lively and attentive collection replete with the trappings of living a little closer to nature. While Bright Dead Things is marked by a preponderance of light, such as images of fireflies and neon signs, The Carrying features numerous appearances by various trees, birds, and beetles. Limón also demonstrates a greater willingness to be explicit in naming colors, particularly green. “It’s crazy green, the whole book,” she says. “Lexington is the greenest place I’ve ever lived.” Similarly, where in Bright Dead Things, Limón tells a lot of stories and anecdotes, in The Carrying she is very present in her thoughts and experiences.
As it turns out, these shifts in focus have another, altogether unexpected source. While putting Bright Dead Things together, Limón was diagnosed with chronic vestibular neuronitis, which can cause bouts of vertigo. “If I’m really having vertigo, it’s pretty intense and I really have to focus,”
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A Philly dance group is helping Mexican American children connect to their roots
“Andrea Garcia was a professional folklore dancer in her native Mexico. But, after moving to Philly in 2016, she became a domestic worker. As a way to help her three kids connect with their Mexican identity and take a break from electronics, she cocreated Ñuuxakun in 2021. The dance group offers a bilingual and bicultural experience for kids in South Philadelphia, and has developed a following over the last year, with several forthcoming holiday performances…”
https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/philadelphia-dance-group-nuuxakun-20231216.html
Some GOP candidates want to use force against Mexico to stop fentanyl. Experts say that won’t work
“MIAMI — Ron DeSantis wants suspected drug smugglers at the U.S.-Mexico border to be shot dead. Nikki Haley promises to send American special forces into Mexico. Vivek Ramaswamy has accused Mexico’s leader of treating drug cartels as his “sugar daddy” and says that if he is elected president, “there will be a new daddy in town.”
Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner for the 2024 nomination and long the person who has shaped his party’s rhetoric on the border, has often blamed Mexico for problems in the United States and promises new uses of military force and covert action if he returns to the White House…”
https://www.wlrn.org/americas/2023-10-10/latin-america-mexico-fentanyl-opioid-gop
Criminal Violence in Mexico
“…AMLO’s tactics have largely failed to curb violence. Though homicide rates have dropped marginally, the country still reports over thirty thousand crime-related deaths per year. Mexico’s 2021 midterm elections were its most violent in decades, attacks on journalists rose to record highs, and anti-corruption reforms have floundered…”
https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/criminal-violence-mexico
Mexico asks China for help on fentanyl, slams US critics
“MEXICO CITY, April 4 (Reuters) – Mexico’s president said on Tuesday he had written to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, urging him to help control shipments of fentanyl as he fended off criticism in the U.S. that Mexico is not doing enough to stop trafficking of the synthetic opioid…”
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-asks-china-help-control-fentanyl-shipments-2023-04-04/
Politicians say they’ll stop fentanyl smugglers. Experts say new drug war won’t work
“…Even if China and Mexico were willing or able to help fight the cartels, stopping fentanyl smugglers would still be incredibly difficult.
The U.S. is actually seizing record amounts of fentanyl in drug busts, but the drug is so cheap to manufacture, the cartels just make more.
That doesn’t mean the fentanyl crisis is hopeless. According to Trone, a more promising strategy is to focus on reducing American hunger for drugs.
“That’s the only chance we’ve got,” he said. “Without the Mexican government’s help, without the Chinese government’s help, we can’t win [against the smugglers]. So we have to go on the demand side, work on all the things with education, work on treatment, work on prevention.”…”
Stark warning Britain may be on brink of becoming a ZOMBIELAND: Experts fear explosion of fentanyl — a drug 50 times stronger than heroin which has ravaged America — as Mexican cartels seek to reap billions from an untapped European market
“Britain faces being gripped by its own fentanyl epidemic, according to experts who fear that the devastating zombie-esque scenes plaguing US cities are coming soon to a high street near you.
EU drug enforcement chiefs believe that Mexican cartels are seeking to expand their billion-dollar empire beyond American shores, putting Europe’s untapped market in their crosshairs…”https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11727627/Is-UK-brink-fentanyl-crisis.html
