At a private dinner with former President of Mexico, Vicente Fox (Nov 2012))

Here, with Julian Nava http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Nava

      Maya turns 9 years old (May 2013)

Celebrating Una Noche Mexicana with UCLA folklorico. Ciani's last performance as a graduating senior (May 2013)

  the 2013 addition to the DDLM Altar, calaca in cap and gown

Florida trip to Miami then Tampa – Valentine’s Day Week 2014

  FIU Dean's Lecture Series

 Miami downtown 

                                                                                           Bayside Miami. Un plato tipico Cuban cuisine. Home of the famous Cuban sandwich

  Famous domino park. Calle Ocho Little Havana – Miami

Famosito “Bello” has been a cigar-roller for more than 50 years, here on Calle Ocho in Miami. Now his grandson rolls his special brand.

Croqueta, tambien Guayaba con Queso

 Tampa Bay Times Forum

 Black and Brown & College Bound Summit, Marriott Waterside – Tampa

Ybor City Historic District, called tobacco city. First settlement of Cubans in late 1800’s

Seatte, WA April 2014

  \

at drum - tree ceremony, April 2014

Maya with amiguita Fatima  With cousin Ruby

Day after Easter, Maya insisted on wearing an Easter egg necklace and funky glasses

15th Annual Bishops's Dinner, Well Springs, Aptil 2015

Kulkulcan - Quetzalcoatl (feathered serpent) staff that I made May 2014

6/5/14: Although I went to school for MANY-MANY years, and legally hold the prestigious title of Ph.D., and am a Doctor of Philosophy; . . . it’s western philosophy. The multiple branches or doctrines are Epistemology, Logic, Aesthetics,... Metaphysics , and Ethics.

It’s the line of thinking that although has propelled many powerful and productive ideas like Democracy, Politics, and Class Analysis, it’s linear thought has more than anything created world systems like colonialism, imperialism, neoliberalism, and exploitation. As Che Guevara would call “systems of misery and alienation.”

Western Thought tries to find and prove Truth and Reality; but Indigenous Philosophies accept multiple truths and realities as given, seek balance, and promote social and communal responsibility.

As such, as red nations and/or descendants of colonial subjects, slaves and subversives (peasants, peones, campesinos, obreros, etc…), Western Philosophy is simply not enough for us . . . even as ‘westernized” or “western” as we have become and simply now ARE.

Thank you to Ysidro Ramon Macias for most recently helping me shed some of the Western thought, give language and honor our spiritual lineage of Feathered Serpent (KulKuKan - Quetzalcoatl) on our continent; and assisting me with an expanded understanding of our indigenous epistemologies, ontologies, and thoughts. One by which to live a good lifetime I would say.

Of course thank you to Maestro Andres Segura, for sharing “La Esencia de las Cosas” (the essence of things as he called it), the works of Miguel Leon-Portilla, Jack Forbes, and Vine Deloria, Jr., books like Black Elk Speaks, Lame Deer-Seeker of Visions, the many teachers I’ve had the honor of meeting in this lifetime; like Juanita Centeno, Archie Fire Lame Deer, Wallace Black Elk, Don Kuiz, Tony Portillo, Jimi Castillo, and many others.

Of course, I thank mostly my mother, for her spiritual fortitude. I knew I chose her to be my mother (while still a spirit) for a reason.

1) Our world views are cyclical; we interact daily with Spirit and Dream Worlds. In other words, there’s little distinction between the physical/material and the spiritual. All is ENERGY, and all is CIRCULAR. The structure of Hunab Ku, Wanka Tanka, Ometeol, Great Mystery is based on mathematics, experience and observations; where past is future, future is past, cycles with no beginning or end; all is half-programmed and half-choice.

2) Law of Duality; all life from the smallest bacteria to the largest galaxy, is 2-fold. All Material has Spirit. Creator is BOTH he and she! There’s neither the feminine nor the masculine, neither the negative nor the positive, but both together; 2 but 1!

3) Law of Causation; all that is physical and mental has cause and effect. Every change is produced by some cause. There are no by-chances or accidents. Any one thing is produced through the agency of another. There is no such thing as “separateness” . . . only that we are interconnected and related to everything . . . and all our actions produce reactions., and everything in turn is connected there on.

4) Law of Compensation; simply, all the events we experience in life are for our spiritual growth. These include all those tragedies we’ve experienced, not just the jubilations. We are born with the responsibility of haven chosen our birth and circumstances. Then Creator gives you not what you want, but what you need. That is, the universe operates to provide you with the material experiences you need for your spiritual advancement.

Tiahui Quetzalcoatl!