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| Mayor Cesar Poot praises Diego Medina |
Recently,
Cesar Edmundo Poot Perez, the Secretario General of Isla Mujeres, spoke about the
need for students to use their imagination, to aspire to unique
professions, and to dream of new ideas.
He also spoke of how proud he
was of Diego Medina, a local artist and my collaborator on our first
children's book, The Adventures of Thomas
the Cat – Las Aventuras de Tomas el Gato.
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| Yadira Velazquez on far left, Danaee and Freddy on right |
Diego's
family tree has very deep roots on Isla Mujeres, reaching down through
many generations of ancestors. Current family members include one
sister, Danaee, parents Freddy Medina and Yadira Velázquez,
aunties, uncles, cousins, and two sets of grandparents, most of whom
live and work on the island. Diego comes from a very supportive
environment, a family that values education. As a group, they
were delighted to celebrate his success at our book launch on Tuesday, July 8th.
The event was organized by Rubén
Pérez and staff under the sponsorship
of the Direccion Municipal de Cultura.
In
the end, the book distribution portion of the event was postponed to
the evening of Sunday, July 13th.
This
is the last full week of school before the summer break, and most of
the school principals were unable to attend as they rushed to finish
off year-end details.
Hasta Luego
Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, and Thomas the Cat
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| McFaddens, Flynns, and Merandis - donated books |
The
agenda for the evening was to include donating our books to
island schools and kindergartens. New island home-owners Maureen and
Randy McFadden from Cedar Park, Texas, kicked off the idea by offering
to donate ten books to the local schools. Then their good friends
Colleen and Ken Flynn from Austin, Texas, who are also building a home
on Isla, supplemented the donation with another ten books. Not to be
outdone, a third couple – Alison and Tom Merandi said, “We're in for ten books as well!”
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| Some of the local students who attended the event |
In
the meantime, the Medina Family was busy organizing their donation of
ten books, plus city employees Adriana Trejo Glez, Miriam Trejo León,
and Víctor Osorio Magaña contributed another fifteen books! The
municipal staff and school principals now have a total of 55 books to
distribute amongst island and mainland schools. However, the city
staff have a secret desire to distribute one book to each of the
Cancun schools as well. It's a subtle bit of bragging about the
success of one of their own students.
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| Freddy and his sister Mauri Medina |
Direccion
Municipal de Cultura book launch was doubly important to the Medina
family members and supportive friends. Mauri Medina, sister to Freddy
Medina, and Diego's auntie, translated the original story, The
Adventures of Thomas the Cat – Las Aventuras de Tomas el Gato, from
English to Spanish.
The Medina family has double-bragging rights for the book!
The Medina family has double-bragging rights for the book!
Meanwhile, Diego
and I have begun working on the sequel, involving a few more of the
silly, four-footed characters that inhabit our little piece of paradise. We'll keep you posted!
Hasta Luego
Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, and Thomas the Cat
Murder. Mayhem. Revenge. Romance.
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2 comments:
How wonderful! Great story. Nan
I didn't realize Diego was Freddy's son! Congrats to you, Diego, and all the Medina's!
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