México City (1)


Source: WTL photo© on site in Mexico City, December, 2008.
Image: Looking down the commercial street, Calle 20 de Noviembre, directly toward the Zócalo (central square) and the Catedral Metropolitana.
Comments: Using the complicated rhetorical device of hyperbolical litote (look us the meaning of these words), there are more than twenty-four million important aspects of the humanities to be illustrated, analyzed, discussed, questioned, pondered, etc., in Mexico City, but, in this course there is only limited time and just enough server space to evoke the complexity and confusion and magnificence of this the world's largest city. We shall start, here, then, within a couple of blocks of the center of the metropolis, the power center of the country, and once upon a time it was the supposed axis mundi. We shall start simple, with a branch of a Mexican bank, Banamex on the corner on the right, a couple of blocks of simple stores, cars including the green and white taxi (the professor-photographer was toreando coches at the risk of his life), one of the (in)famous VW Bug peseros, a few pedestrians here and many more farther down the street, and a couple of kids on bicycles. Welcome to Mexico City. ¡Bienvenidos a México! (Generally speaking, Mexicans refer to Mexico City not as la ciudad de México, but just as México.)
Humanities topic: You can see hints in the street decorations in this image of holiday decorations. What major Mexican holidays are celebrated in December? Note: Mexicans spell their country and city with an "x," but Spaniards spell both with a "j." Can you explain the difference? Mexicans are "right," and Spaniards are "wrong," but in one sense both are right. What's going on here?