¡Mexico Olé!

Hello Amigos!

I´ve arrived safe and sound in Mexico City, Mexico (AKA La Ciudad). No joke, I feel like I´ve died and gone to Florida, only with less humidity, cheaper prices, and full of women who like to talk about cooking as much as I do.

I´m living with the illustrious Grail memeber Rosa Aurora Espinosa. She resides in the southern part of the city, all of a few minutes walk from the Frida Kahlo museum. (Given she´s one of my favorite artists, this is GREAT news!) It´s the first of three weeks free of classes, so this professor/activist of a woman has taken it upon herself to fill EVERY of my waking moments with as much activity as possible, and for good reason--as it stands now, I´ll have more to do than can possibly be done in the next six weeks.

I´ve assumed responsibility to record as much of the past 40+ years of history of the Grail Movement in Mexico, with its accompanying theology, philosophy, and socio-political history as I can muster in the time I´m here. And to beat all, ALL my research is in Spanish! Yep, This Spanish novice has volunteered to read unknown numbers of letters, documents, and conduct and transcribe (and translate!) interviews to piece together a history that has hardly been recorded to date. This is both exciting and daunting, as I will be the first to do so this deeply and deliberately in the course of the Grail´s time in Mexico.

For those who aren´t already aware, the Grail is an international organization of lay Catholic women who have their US headquarters in my hometown of Loveland, OH. They came to the US in the 1940s and expanded to Mexico in the late 1960s-early 1970s. They were formed, here, in the midst of post-Vatican Catholicism, Catholic Action, Student and Women´s Movements, Liberation Theology, and a world in shift. As such, this history is something to be beat! And I get to explore it all...God help me! Seriously.

I had my first interview today: American Expat Teri McDermot. She´s a marvelous woman who´s been in Mexico through the past 40+ years and before that spent about a decade serving as a Medical Missionary (shout out to Pat and Steph in Kenya!!!) in Uganda and South Africa (Hiya Kara!) before returning to the US to chillax in the Bronx (hey BC theo department a borrough or so over!!) before heading south in the 1960s to Mexico.

This woman is incredible, and the whole of the community that she helped found here! I´m so amazed and blessed at this chance to turn these six weeks into a project for the whole of the Grail community.

¡Viva el Grial! ¡ Viva Mexico!

¡Hasta Mañana!