An update – Moving Forward

by mike · January 5, 2018

I’ve been holding off on this post for a couple of days. I’ve known I needed to let people know what is happening because I haven’t posted since my return from a trip to California.

I haven’t posted because a couple of weeks ago, I had a minor stroke on my right side. It was very frustrating to type because the fingers on my right hand refused to go where they were supposed to. Typing has been second nature to me for most of my life. It really hurt my confidence – and so did falling – nearly every time I tried to move around. Frustrated, uncoordinated, mired in a lack of self-confidence, it was a moment beyond my comprehension.

But now, thanks to my dear friends here in Morelia, I am improving enough to get around (slowly) with a cane, I am sleeping in my bed upstairs, and beginning to see the time when I will be walking the caminos of Michoacan again and taking pictures. This was a minor stroke brought on by hereditary high blood pressure. My doctor says I should be able to recover fully with rehab. I am on that road now. I cannot say enough about the people who rushed to my aid when it happened and the Mexican medical system that made it possible to quickly assess the problem and help me correct the issues.

So, here on the blog and in my plans for the future there will be some delay this year. I need to take some time to finish recovery and move into a new phase of my work. I had planned to jump into a project-based approach to photography this month. That looks like it will be delayed until sometime next month but it will be as soon as I can make it. We will be diving into the daily lives of people in the pueblos of Michoacan and the issues they have overcome in one of the poorest states in Mexico. We are strongly committed to presenting the positive stories that are so rare in journalism of any sort about life in Mexico. Yes, there are big problems, but it is how people work through them to live positive, successful lives that interests me and I believe says so much about the people of this beautiful and culturally rich area.

So please, forgive me for being absent. I am returning. There will be some posts from before I left of a wonderful concert I saw at Amati. I will post them later today or tomorrow. And there is a LOT to come in this new year. There will be a Patreon page, opportunities to join and support the work we’re doing, print sales and exhibitions and much more.

Stick around. It’s going to be interesting and fun.

Mike In Mexico