In celebration of a talented local artist

Mayor Cesar Poot praising 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.

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 8^th. The event was organized by Rubén Pérez and staff under the sponsorship of the Direccion Municipal de Cultura.

McFaddens, Flynns, and Merandis - donated books

The agenda for the evening was to include donating a number of 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!”

Some of the local students that 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.

Freddy and his sister Mauri Medina

In the end the book distribution portion of the event was postponed to the evening of Sunday July 13^th. 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.

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!

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