93 millefeuille of poblano chilies and LETTER. FR.OM CITY cream. "It was huge!" he went on, ARBAGE has become an ob­ one of the world's most chaotic cities gesturing descriptively. The rat, one session for'the inhabitants of many of us who read the story assumed gathered, must have been about the size G , spawning any at the time that it was true. The fact is of a large cat. "It weighed almost eight number of fantastic stories, all of them that once started on the subject most pounds. But we had a problem. We true. There is, for example, the story city residents can come up with giant­ began to realize that the rat was dying of the open-air garbage dumps that rat stories of their own, and few are on us. It wasn't used to the nice, spontaneously ignited one day in July, more thoroughly documented than healthy pet food, or whatever it was, spreading fire and toxic fumes over the one told by Ivan Restrepo, a that we were feeding it. So we went out acres of refuse stacked twenty yards genial scholar of garbage who directs and collected fresh garbage for it every high. There is the story of the cacique a government-financed institute for evening. Kept it happy. And that was who controlled more than half the ecological research called the Centro important, because thousands and city's seventeen thousand-odd pepe­ de Ecodesarrollo. Five years ago, in thousands of people came to see the nadores, or garbage pickers, demanded Chapultepec, the city's most popular garbage exhibit, and the rat was the sexual favors fr.om the garbage pickers' public park, Restrepo and his center absolute star of the show." daughters, and also took all his workers mounted an exhibit on the subject of If capitalinos-the residents of off to Acapulco on vacation once a year. garbage. A tent, designed by an artist, Mexico City-flock to an exhibit on There is the story of a sixty-square­ had a long, dark entrance, filled with garbage featuring a giant rat, it is mile garbage dump that the city gov­ giant illustrations of microbes and gar­ because the subject is never very far ernment decided to turn into a park, bage-related pests, from which the pub­ from their minds. The problem of complete with picnic tables-tables lic emerged into "the world of gar­ waste disposal may be only one of the that have since been sinking gently into bage." One of the exhibits, Restrepo critical aspects of the city's ongoing the settling layers of trash and loam. said, was "the most gigantic rat we public-services emergency, but it is cer­ Then, there are the rats. One of the could find." tainly among the most visible. One of most memorable stories dates from the Dr. Restrepo was telling his story in the world's three largest urban con­ beginning of the decade, when an eve­ one of Mexico City's best restaurants, glomerates, the city never had a proper ning paper announced above the fold and he interrupted himself briefly to service infrastructure to begin with-and that a "giant mutant rat" had been order roast kid, guacamole, and a has been growing too much too fast for discovered floating too many years. Fig­ dead in a sewage canal. ures from the 1990 na­ The article said that tional census show that the rat was the size of a although the Federal Volkswagen, . and in District, or capital the accompanying proper, has a relatively photo one could verify stable population of 8.2 the caption's claim that million, the surround­ the beast had "the face ing sprawl in the of a bear, the hands of neighboring state (also a man, and the tail of a called Mexico) brings rat." Two days later, a the total urban popula­ morning paper ex­ tion to sixteen million. plained that the corpse This is triple the 1965 belonged to a lion estimated total, and the owned by a three-flea rate is not slowing. By travelling circus. The the year 2000, if cur­ old thing had finally rent trends persist, the died, but before throw­ urban area will be ing the corpse into the home to twenty million sewage canal the own­ souls, all clamoring for ers had decided to skin services that are al­ it, in case the pelt ready strained to the proved salable. Purists breaking point in some among those who col­ areas and nonexistent lect accounts of Mexi­ in others. can trash dismiss this Not only are services story on the ground dang~rously insuffi­ that it turned out to be cient but there is al­ false, but the point is most no way to expand not that the mutant rat them. Water is now was a figment but that piped in from as far as fifty-five miles away. in the general state of Ringed by mountains, decay and disrepair of 94 SEPTEMBER 17, 1990 the urban area is also gasping for fresh above all, the tangle of human misery, air, At least fourteen tons of waste, and political intrigue represented bya ' including lead, carbon monoxide, and peculiar sector of Mexico's body politiE what is known euphemistically as the -t.he thousands of pepenadores, anq products of "open-air fecalization," theIr leaders, who stand in the wayo! now floats in what the city breathes neat solutions. every day. Visibility has improved markedly since late last year, when the ONTEMPLATING the lovely city of government passed a law restricting C Tenochtitlan, rising from the circulation of a fifth of the city's 2.5 now vanished waters of Lake Texcocoi million vehicles each weekday, but, be­ the conquistadores marvelled not only: cause public transport is also in an at the personal cleanliness of the inhab*. FRESH GIIT IDEAS awful state, car owners are now buying itants but at the immaculate streets that FREE COLOR CATALOG spare vehicles to use on the day their fanned out in an orderly grid from th~ Over 200 festive gift Ideas from our regular cars aren't allowed out. The great plaza, now occupied by the Na.: famous Royal Riviera" pears and gift baskets to desserts. confections, fresh poor, who can't afford any car at all, tional Palace and the Cathedral. The meats, and gourmet delights for the can spend as much as four hours a day Aztec people could hardly conceive of health-conscious. Exclusive Fruit-of­ travelling between the outlying shan­ waste: they used cornhusks to wrap the-Month Club" too. New this year. holiday accessories and tytowns and their urban ·workplaces: food in and inedible seeds to manufac­ Ideas for entertainIng. Selections from the metro system, which has seventy ture percussion instruments. All or­ $10 to $300, each unconditionally guaranteed. 54-page color catalog miles of track and provides more than ganic waste went into the compost­ FREE. Write or call toll free four million rides a day, serves only a filled rafts with which the Aztecs 800-547-3033 small part of the Federal District, compensated for their lack of agricul­ o Yes send me your free Christmas catalog. which covers some five hundred and turalland. Each street was swept clean seventy-nine square miles, and the same every morning, and the day's cargo of NAME is true of the crowded, aging buses that excrement was deposited in a special STREET spew their fumes along the city's raft tied at the street's end. cm STATE ZIP uncharming streets. Twelve million By contrast, colonial Mexico was a more rides are provided by a network filthy place, but the long-term accumu­ '1IaMIt omI'lJauid® of colectivos--privately operated lation of waste did not really become a Dept. 0127-2. Medford. Oregon 97501 minivans and small buses-which clog problem until after the 1910 revolu­ traffic and gouge working-class sala­ tion, which yanked the Indian popula­ ries. And the deep-drainage system­ tion out of self-sufficient subsistence nine miles of cavernous tunnels and economies and into the world of buy­ thousands of miles of pipes, hailed as ing, selling, and discarding. In the WinterSilks 68 page full color an engineering marvel when it was nineteen-forties, when the economy fi­ catalog offers silk long johns, inaugurated, barely fifteen years ago­ nally stabilized after the long devasta­ turtlenecks, sweaters, and other fine silk clothing of distinction. is no"'( hopelessly overloaded, as anyone tion of civil war, consumerism made its All ful1y guaranteed! For a free know~ who saw the sewers backing up first inroads. Waste multiplied. Each one year subscription mail the coupon below or call: during each of this summer's down­ month, thousands of peasants aban­ 1-800-648-7455 pours. doned their land and came to the capital

------KeyName ______· __ ~==~ Bad as the city's public-service diffi­ looking for a better life. By the nine­

Address______culties are, most of them appear to have teen-sixties, urban prosperity had fairly straightforward solutions: build proved to be a mirage, but the situation City' ______Statc_Zipy--_____ more subways, install more phones. in the countryside was infinitely worse, Not trash. The question is not how to and the mass urban migration contin­ put more of anything in but how to ued. The newcomers settled in shacks reduce the sheer bulk of what exists. along the roads leading into the city, The poor, who constitute the vast ma­ stole their electricity from the high­ jority of Mexico's population, have way power lines, and made do without lately produced almost as much waste running water, drainage, or garbage­ as the rich; eager initiates into the collection systems. The commu­ world of junk consumerism, they find nities grew at such a rate that one of some consolation for their fate in the them, Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, is the First World's plastic-encased gew­ country's fourth-largest city. Thor­ gaws. And although the city has so far oughly integrated by now into the con­

Certain gUts Simply m{Jst be extraordinary heroically managed to keep more or less sumer economy, its million-plus inhab­ abreast of the growing tonnage of THE FAMOUS ~"" itants carry their groceries home in Stave Jigsaw Puzzles waste, cleanup-service problems merely plastic bags, use their spare change to Since 1974, the Bnest handcut personali,.ed wooden jigsaw PUZZle~sr!;'J have their beginning in the dumps. buy hair spray, splurge at United, being made today, $, 90 - $2000. Io!! Call orwnte For 3b-page catalog. Here Mexico's First and Third States-based fast-food chains on soda Stave Puzzles, Box 329A Wodds meet and fester. Rats are the pop served in plastic-foam cups, and Norwich, vr 05055 802-295·5200 least of it. There is pollution and, pour milk for their children from plas- THE NEW YOR.KER. 95 tic-coated-cardboard cartons. The in­ tractable accumulation of mixed waste FREE!!! -rotting, toxic, and non-biodegrad­ 2 Ibs. of our premium able-generated by this fraction of the summer sausage Third W orId's urban poor can be con­ when you order from templated at the Bordo de Xochiaca our gift catalog! municipal dump, on the southern edge Old World flavor in an award-winning of what was once Lake Texcoco, and a sausage ... a hearty treat for friends and few blocks away from Nezahualcoyotl's family! And it's FREE with your first city hall. Not many who pass by it order from our catalog of holiday gifts. linger; the stench causes motorists to New customers only "Fresh-from-the-smokehouse" taste! accelerate way past the speed limit, and • 100% pure beef in their haste they may fail to notice • naturally smoked what is most striking about this vast • premium quality sausage • personalized expanse of putrefaction. Scarecrowlike holiday figures can be seen moving slowly over gift service • satisfaction the dusty mounds, poking methodical­ guaranteed ly. The garbage is inhabited. The best view of Bordo de Xochiaca is from the driver's seat of a tractor that is used all day long to flatten out the Get yours today; Exl.J2 incoming loads. From this vantage 1-800-358-0761 point one can look north across the ~------clay-colored lake bed to the volcano­ o Yes! Rush me your Free Holiday Catalog and I ringed horizon. In the opposite direc­ my free 2 lb. summer sausage when I order. I I Name, ______tion, the garbage dunes recede for half I a mile to Ciudad N ezahualc6yotl. A Address ______I few people work the edges of the dump, I City State __ Zip___ I and a few others live in plastic-and­ I Wimmer's Gift Catalog : cardboard shanties there, but most of I 126 West Grant Dept. J2 I the dump's activity takes place in a L ~~t!~~1 ~~b~s~a_6~!8______..J clearing in the center-where people ~ -~ ~ ~ -'4t'-A try to sift through a newly deposited truckload of garbage before the tractor a AVIDEO ADVENTURE ~ runs over it-and in an expanse just to ~ THAT FLYS YOU OVER ~ the west of this clearing, where ~ THE EAST COAST ~ Celestino Fernandez Reyes, the dump boss, weighs and purchases the scav­ A 36 minute video flying adventure from .. ~ a Boston to featuring ~ engers' daily take of glass, rags, tin, ~ panoramic views and original music. .~ cardboard, wood, plastic containers, animal bones, and other recyclable materials. Behind the scales and Celestino's headquarters, a row of 1 shacks marks the beginning of the ~ A"iI'bI,,"lV~O~~:$24.95 plus $2.50 shipping and ~"~~,: handling. ~",I.d VT residents add 4% sales tax ($.99). ~ living quarters-scores of lopsided RESOLUTION 19 Gregory Dr., S. Burlington, VT 05403 houses, some of them quite large, that ~. B02 862 8881 are built of and on rubbish, along reek­ ~~~~~ ing alleys and paths .with names like Virgin of Guadalupe Lane. World's Fair: The quarterly journal It proved a little difficult to get into ~Sp~~k-F;~;;~~------~ Corne of international expositions and Bordo. At a sentry gate set between two events. Lots of good reading. : LikE AdipLoMAT! i to the Part fun, part social history. small hills of garbage, a stocky man in : Comprehensive, self-instructional audio-cassette : Fair! Write or phone for or j 2 .JJ' dark glasses, jeans, and cowboy boots I courses used by U.S. State Dept. Programmed , a free sample issue. yY01taS , for easy learning; 56 languages in all. Call or , Box 339, Dept A-9b, Corte Madera, Cfair waved in a procession of trucks and Il!!write for Iree catalog. 1-800-243-1234 :)' California 94925 (415) 924-6035 SIN(.'/i 19S1 quite a few mule-drawn carts-the lat­ DUDIC.t:crwm® =::n~ ~~r~ad St. ter belonging to the N ezah ualcoyotl ------municipal service and decorated with ARCTIC the red;.white-and-green logo of the RETIRE TO ESSEX Stand at the nation's ruling party, the Partido A beautiful house in a beautiful town NORTH POLE. on the beautiful Connecticut River. Birding, Aurora; Polar Bear Revolucionario Institucional, or PRI. Direct waterfront with dock. Three or Dog Sled Trips The sentry said there was no access to bedrooms, three baths. Much, much ARCTIC ODYSSEYS charm. Call (203) 767 -0722 or write 37Y, MEDINA, 455-1960 the public. As I argued with him, loaded trucks continued to file by, and Box 283, Essex, Connecticut 06426 96 SEPTEMBER. 17,1990 the drivers of trucks not belonging to asked their names or put questions shop bones, which gelatin and bouii­ Nezahualcoyotl's municipal fleet about Celestino, but the man in overalls lon-cube manufacturers would buy. stopped to press the sentry's hand, was willing to explain the various stag­ Other pickers were saving the organic which then flew to a pocket in his es of trash-picking . "You have to know waste for pigs they kept along the edges quilted vest. During the seconds re­ what to select," he said, working with of the dump, but she said she didn't quired for these transactions, children precision and delicacy as he talked. own any. While quite a few of the climbed up on the trucks' back wheels uF or example, this pair of trousers is garbage pickers looked filthy, her and then onto the loads of refuse, and good, because the buttons and zipper clothes, I noticed, were not only clean as each truck moved past the gate the can· be removed and sold. If they were but crisply ironed. "I used to wash children scrabbled frantically through made of natural fibre, like cotton, you clothes for a living," she explained. the load, throwing things overboard; could sell the cloth as rag. There are a "But now my arms can't take being in they would return to collect them as lot of tennis shoes in this pile, but the water so lang." The sun was di­ soon as the truck reached the dumping they're not good enough to sell to the rectly overhead, and hitting hard, so site, which is invisible from the gate, secondhand-clothes dealers." He was the smells around us-acetone, vegeta­ being hidden by hills of piled-up trash. picking through a revolting pile of ble rot, used disposable diapers-rip­ Eventually, the sentry agreed to let me what seemed to be the refuse of a very ened and concentrated in the heat. Sev­ in for a brief visit. large family, but by the time the things eral of the workers had stopped for a After a week of rain, the pickers he had chosen to keep reached his sack noonday snack at a lopsided tent made were working ankle-deep in a thick they looked almost clean. He waved of bits of plastic and wood, but the slush; it was tinted blue or bright red in toward a point in the rubbish heap woman told me she would not buy the patches, and these exhaled a mist of which I found indistinguishable from potato chips or lemonade available choking chemical fumes. Oblivious of its surroundings. "That's my spot," he there. "The younger people make more the smell, a cluster of children said. "When I'm through for the day, money, but I can only clear about five crouched in a blue puddle, poring over I take my sack over there and sort it. or six thousand pesos a day," she said. a small pile of plastic comic-book fig­ It's not enough just to pick the garbage. Six thousand pesos is about two dollars. ures-the Joker, Superman, and the We have to put work into it afterward "I get here at ten or so, and work as like. The children did not want to talk to make it salable." long as my arms and legs can stand it. to a stranger (indeed, they avoided even A truck unloaded a pile of refuse Then I eat when I get home." Soon, looking at me), but after I made a from what someone said was an open­ she said, she would carry her sacks, couple of tries the tallest boy answered air market-a cascade of burst toma­ one at a time, to the weighing area a question, saying that he and his toes, crushed bananas, empty egg and collect her pay from Don Celes­ friends wanted the toys not to play with crates, clear plastic bags, and wadded­ tino. Then she would try to make the but to sell. Nevertheless, as they sal­ up vegetable peelings. None of it was hour-long walk back to her squatters' vaged the few dolls that had no arms or rotting yet, but, according to a group community before the afternoon rains legs missing they deployed them in a of women and children investigating started. brief, soundless mock battle before toss­ the pile, th~re was nothing of any use Others told me they lived near the ing them into a scavenging sack. other than a score of orange halves weighing area, in shacks made of sal­ One of Celestino's overseers waved that had had most of their pulp pressed vaged cardboard, plastic, and tin. each arriving truck to a spot on the out of them, and that one wom­ Mexico's continuing economic crisis is edge of the clearing, where a family or an picked up and immediately began constantly expelling residents from a team of friends was waiting, each eating. Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, where they member equipped with only a long­ I struck up a conversation with an­ can no longer afford to pay rent, mort­ handled pitchfork, and no boots, masks, other member of the team, a woman gage, or utilities. Many are emigrating or other protective gear. The team with long gray braids who was wearing to the edge of the urban sprawl, where began sifting through the waste even a clean checked apron over a faded they must begin life over again, as they before the truck's shower of refuse dress. She told me that in general mar­ did two decades ago in Ciudad ended, expertly plucking out the sal­ ket waste was virtually worthless, N ezahualcoyotl-in bare fields, with vageable bits with their bare hands. except for an occasional pile of butcher- no lights or other services. Some of the The fork was designed to help the poorest, or frailest, of these exiles ap­ pickers separate the mounds of trash on peared to be ending up in Bordo. I the ground, but an elderly man in faded walked away from the picking fields in blue overalls said that since the tractor the general direction of the dump'S had been brought in there was hardly headquarters with a woman carrying a any time for the garbage to pile up, so a sack of glass jars which was almost as lot of salable material was left un­ tall as she was. She lived a few blocks salvaged. (The tractor was somebody's away, she said, but she couldn't afford idea of a landfill operation, but since the the payments on her plot of land now garbage wasn't covered with anything that her husband was out of a job. Soon, after being flattened out it seemed to if Don Celestino would permit it, she serve no practical purpose.) would move to the dump with her The garbage pickers proved to be a family. There was no electricity here, closemouthed lot, especially when I and the nearest public water faucet was THE NEW YOR.KER. 97 a half hour's walk away, but at least it fight with the buyers, keep prices up, was free, and she wouldn't have to pay go offering the pickers' wares from for transportation to get to work. "He's factory to factory. Plus, I'm a sick man, a very nice man," she said of the dump a diabetic, and this is not a healthy boss. "He doesn't charge anything for place. I would never have chosen to letting you live here. All you have to come here-I waS doing fine buying do is ask permission to come in, and glass from the dump-but the Party promise to sell your material exclusive­ asked me to come and establish some ly to him." order. 'Celestino, we need you here,' they said. So I came." Don Celestino is HOUGH it is estimated that rumored to be a wealthy man, but his T some seventeen thousand people office is a one-room, tin-roofed brick work in Mexico City's garbage dumps, house in the heart of the dump, fur­ no one has tallied the number that work nished with a cot, two rusting metal in Bordo de Xochiaca and the other chairs, and a makeshift desk. A small, dumps in neighboring Mexico state­ trim man with extraordinarily liquid dumps that are for all practical purpos­ dark eyes, he dresses neatly but es part of the same urban area, and so unostentatiously in a white guayabera are often used by capitalinos. Like the and sporty blue slacks, and, until he cigarette peddlers, the street-corner relaxes, he moves and talks with metic­ fire-eaters and cartwheel turners, the ulous humility. Our interview took windshield washers and parking-space place somewhat earlier than I had finders, the pot menders, the sidewalk hoped. While I was wandering violinists and portrait painters, the cur­ through the dump's residential area, tain-rod fixers, and the outright beg­ trying to estimate the total population, gars who swarm through the city, the and, to my surprise, discovering further pepenadores are a result of Mexico's paths and alleyways at every turn, a constant failure to find a social space horse pulled up just behind me with a for its very poorest. But, unlike mil­ loud snort. Riding it bareback was a lions of their fellows who have to very beautiful youth with long hair and forage for each day's bread, they are a cold eyes. He demanded my business. I geographically stable population, tied answered that I was looking for Don to the arrival of a loaded truck. Their Celestino, and he said firmly that he Travel to your Favorite Writers stability makes them easy to organize­ would escort me to him. a fact that the PRI, which has now been In his dilapidated office, Don THE in power for sixty-one years, could not Celestino gradually lost his air of sub­ LITERARY TOUR OF fail to notice. Throughout those years, servient courtesy as he explained the CALIFORNIA the PRI has demonstrated a scavenger's garbage market. He made it clear that Enngs you to tfie nomes of genius for wasting nothing and no one, the pepenadores were utterly dependent EUGENE O'NEILL, HENRY MiLLER, and a truly pre-Hispanic vocation for on him. "It's not that they can't trans­ JACK LoNDON, ALDOUS HUXLEY, JOHN STEINBECK, MARK TwAIN, building pyramidal social organiza­ port their salvage to the factories," he CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD &: MORE tions. Not long after Mexico City said. "A lot of the buyers have Ware­ See the spectacular landscapes that started producing serious amounts of houses right across the highway from Inspired these and many other great ~riters garbage, the scavengers who flocked to here. But who's going to pay any kind for a free brochure call: it became small but extremely useful of price for a dozen empty bottles?" In Cultural Excursions Ltd. P.O. Box 84159 Los Angeles, CA 90073 cogs in the PRI's political machine. his own eyes, he waS the community's (800) 548-5506 (213) 393-9379 Men like Celestino Fernandez Reyes, benefactor. "I brought a doctor in here who as a member of the PRI's Confed­ to look after the pickers full time. She eration of Popular Organizations be­ charges for the visit, but who do you GALAPAGOS came Bordo's overseer, make sure that think pays for the medicines? Me!" He You, 9 other adventurers and our licensed naturalist will sail by yacht to explore more the relationship between the Party and didn't smoke, he didn't have the face of islands than any other Galapagos expedition. the scavengers is a smooth, productive a heavy drinker, and he kept a close 50 Trip dates. Machu Picchu Option. one. watch on prices and profits. "Times are FREE BROCHURE INCR GFLORTS 415-420-1550 "Do you think I'm here for the hard!" he exclaimed. "It used to be that 1311 Y 63rd ST, EMERYVILLE, CA 94608 pleasure of itr" Don Celestino asked factory owners came after me looking me. "This is a terrible way to earn a for things to buy, but ever since Salinas living! Pickers can make good money de Gortari"-the nation's President­ Sterling silver -up to two hundred and forty thou­ "came up with his free-trade policies i\YSTIv\ decorative hardware sand pesos a week. A lot of them have we've been getting undercut by United MystiC'.! & Co., Inc. 1265 Birchrun Rd, saved enough to move out of here and States waste products. There's trains and precious Che.\ter Springs, PA 19425 and trains of them coming in! And, you set up a little business on their own. metal sculpture 215 469 0535 FAX: 215 469 0999 Me, I have the thankless part. I have to know, American products are always 98 SEPTEMBER. 17, 1990 better. The gringos are selling clean, grounds; he also built housing there for THE.. NE..W YOR.K.E..rt nicely tied-up cardboard, and they're the workers which was significantly selling it cheap. Who would want better than the garbage hovels at the AT ours? Now buyers are complaining that old dump. He paid for drinks and deco­ it's dirty, that often half the weight is rations for yearly fiestas, and it was he moisture. I bought cardboard at three who took everyone off once a year for a hundred pesos a stack the other day, beach holiday. All that, however, did TheNew and I couldn't get rid of it for a nothing to diminish his reputation as a hundred and fifty. I tell you, I don't singularly heartless exploiter of the f~:,':I!::::1:!1 garbage pickers' penury. He punished ~!'!~l11';:~:: know how I let the Party talk me into '~..... \.):, this." them if they left the dump grounds, by '----'--- School cutting back on their allotment of gar­ N the past, the PRI provided simi­ bage or by beating them, and-again, .JOIN I lar encouragement and support to according to published rumor-assas­ THE NEW YORKER Rafael Gutierrez Moreno, a former sinated those who questioned his lead­ FOR ASERIES OF SEVEN LECTURES, garbage-truck driver who, in 1965, ership. In pursuit of his declared goal READINGS, AND DISCUSSIONS took over from his father as leader of of fathering a hundred and eighty chil­ the Mexico City garbage pickers. dren, he took his pick of the com­ MONDAY EVENINGS Gutierrez Moreno turned his constitu­ munity'S teen-age girls, including his AT THE NEW SCHOOL ency into a rapid-response force at the nieces. (Forty-five offspring have been 5:50-7:36 service of his political sponsors. In the legally recognized so far.) late nineteen-seventies, he also served Hector Castillo, who wears a pony­ briefly as an alternate member of the tail and plays drums with a pretty good Chamber of Deputies, but after one rock band, is a social scientist, and he SEPTEMBER 24 has spent a considerable amount of time CRITICS: JOHN UPDIKE ON term he chose to return to the political BOOKS. ARLENE CROCE ON sidelines. Whenever a show of support trying to figure out how garbage com­ DANCE. ADAM GOPNIK ON ART, was needed for the capital's appointed munities and their caciques come into WHITNEY BALLIETT ON ..JAZZ mayor, or for the President, or for a being. He began his research on the foreign head of state, Gutierrez man he describes as "the most powerful OCTOBER 1 Moreno, known to his followers as El of all the country's urban caciques" a REPORTING: CONNIE BRUCK. Lider, saw to it that his people were decade ago, by sneaking past watchmen MARK DANNER. AND FRANCES there, waving green-white-and-red into Gutierrez Moreno's dump several FITZGERALD paper flags or, it has been rumored, times, and he has since worked and wielding billy clubs and metal pipes drunk with the pepenadores often. At OCTOBERS as part of the notorious the heart of the problem, as ''THE TALK OF THE TOWN": Halcones (Falcons), who he sees it, is Mexico's fine­ CHARLES McGRATH. SUSAN operated against strikers and ly wrought system of inter­ ORLEAN. AND MARK SINGER student demonstrators in the mediation between the rul­ early nineteen-seventies. In ing party, the government, OCTOBER 16 exchange, the authorities and the citizenry. "Mexico's FICTION: DANIEL MENAKER. looked the other way as he system is patrimonial, and DENNIS McFARLAND. AND tightened his hold on the that means that it operates NICHOLSON BAKER pickers. In 1983, city officials through concessions, from ordered Gutierrez Moreno top to bottom," Castillo says. OCTOBER 22 to close down his fiefdom, the "The garbage-collection HUMOR: GARRISON KEILLOR vast dump of Santa Cruz AND IAN FRAZIER concession is granted to the Meyehualco. A fire that had Federal District's Sanitation raged there for five days in OCTOBER 29 Department. From that CRITICS: EDITH OLIVER ON 1981 and reports that toxic point on, a number of subsid­ THEATRE. HOLLY BRUBACH ON chemicals were leaching iary choices have to be made: FASHION. AND INGRID SISCHY through the trash into the whose trucks are going to ON PHOTOGRAPHY city's water supply contributed to the collect the wealthiest garbage-the decision. Gutierrez Moreno negotiated residential-zone garbage, with its mat­ NOVEMBER 6 room for half his followers at the city's tresses and wine bottles and discarded THE ART OF THE NEW YORKER: second-largest dump, in the western clothes-and who is going to drive LEE LORENZ. GRETCHEN DOW part of the city, and moved the rest to those trucks, because, of course, these SIMPSON. AND EDWARD KOREN land he had acquired east of Santa things are scavenged by the truck crew Cruz, in the district of Santa Catarina. long before they reach the dumps. At El Llder, who was reported to dis­ FOR INFORMATION CALL: each step in the process where there is THE NEW SCHOOL tribute as much as ten million pesos a money to be made, a concession is 66 WEST 12TH STREET. NEW YORK. N.Y. 10011 day in bribes around the city bureau­ granted, and at the end of the line are (212) 741-5630 (REGISTRATION: (212) 741-56901 crac~, built himself an extravagantly the garbage caciques, who tie the whole appoInted house on the Santa Catarina system together securely, and declare THE NEW YORKER. 99 that the garbage is in its place, that the economic bonfire provoked by Jose Lo­ who travelled through the country city is clean, and that its politicians are pez Portillo, who, as President from think that the PRI may actually have even cleaner." 1976 to 1982, promised to "administer lost the election, but government offi­ This is probably a fair description of the prosperity" generated by Mexico's cials angrily dismiss the charge as a system that is now dying: for most of newfound oil wealth. With the glee of "nonsense." Still, the PRI certainly the century, the PRI has ruled Mexico a nouveau tycoon leaping into a pool lost Mexico City, and even Ciudad through the web of patronage and con­ full of naked women, Lopez Portillo Nezahualcoyotl and the area around it, cessions that Castillo describes. His ac­ plunged the whole country into a reck­ where Gutierrez Moreno had his pow­ count, though, leaves out the layer of less and corrupt spending binge, which er base. commitment to social change under­ came to a disastrous halt only with the The combined result of these crises lying the regime's all-embracing popu­ collapse of the international price of has been to open the doors for a new list rhetoric. For all its inefficiencies oil, in 1981. By the following year, elite, whose head and symbol is Presi­ and other faults, the patrimonial system Mexico's eighty-three-billion-dollar dent Carlos Salinas de Gortari. He and worked well enough to pull a largely foreign debt was draining the govern­ his youthful band of highly trained rural and illiterate population into the m~nt budget, and even the money to economists and statisticians take pride twentieth century, insuring levels of pay for things that Mexicans had come in representing everything that the education, health care, public services, to consider their right-things rang­ old-style priistas do not-they scorn and social mobility which comparable ing from adequate schools to cheap the pork-barrel theory of politics, dis­ societies (Peru, Brazil, and , public transportation-was scarce. dain bribetaking as lower class, play say) never achieved. For decades, Then came the 1985 earthquake, in squash regularly, and sound reverent Mexicans appeared to take equal plea~ whose aftermath the government ap­ only when pronouncing the word sure in mocking the state-for its cor­ peared merely corrupt and inept, while modernidad-but they remain, for bet­ ruption, its verbosity, its ruthlessness, tens of thousands of citizen volunteers ter or worse, members and leaders of its endlessly scheming system of privi­ rescued the concept of an engaged soci­ the party that brought them to power. lege-and in boasting of it to outsiders ety from the rubble. And then there The tensions between the old-time who failed to appreciate the subtleties were the 1988 elections, in which, corporatists and the new neo-liberal of its achievements. The wily old PRI largely as a result of the previous two technocrats may ultimately split the might have endured even longer in its crises, the PRI lost enormous numbers Party; for the moment, the two sides pristine corporatist form except for of votes to a new left-wing coalition. remain united, because neither can rule three devastating blows. One was the Many members of the foreign press the country without the other. The

Stay ahead of the competition. Climbing the corporate ·ladder takes energy, stamina, and strength. Its a well known fact that exercise is not only beneficial for the body, but also for the mind. Three 20 minute workouts per week on the Fitness Edge™ will give you more energy, help you stay alert and relieve stress. YOldl feel the difference almost immediately both on the job and at home. The Fitness Edge provides a great non-impact aerobic and anaerobic workout, building strength Call now for details and cardiovascular fitness through lateral r------.. ------.. -----..... ------.. ------.... ----.., motion - the principle movement in ~ 130 day home trial Call Toll-Free © 1990 ! your favorite sports, such as tennis, /( ! 1-800-225-9669 x314 I golf, basketball and skiing. \ t i h I ,I Name Pone ---- ,! Guaranteed to improve your ! Address i performance! FIT';)" ! Cily Siole -- Zip ! I Scluntlftc spurt. sptam.· i l ___~9~_~:~.!l,!l!!gcJ:O!.!_oJ_~~~~~~tCj!.Y,_~~_~19_~~.~mH§}:~§.~9 .. J 100 SEPTEMBER. 17, 1990 would replace him," Losada continued. "But then one of Gutierrez Moreno's former wives ap­ peared, out of the blue, to claim his inheritance. This wife-named Guillermina de la Torre-didn't even live in the dumps, and no one knew very much about her, but she seemed to have the support of a lot of local officials. Now the Gutier­ rez Moreno pepenadores are divided into Gui1ler­ mina's followers, at Santa Catarina, and El Dien­ ton's, at a place called Prados de la Montana, in the northwest of the city, built in the winter of 1986 to replace Santa Fe, which was overflowing by then." Officials in the new city administration who are try­ • • ing to keep Mexico's gar­ bage problem under control newcomers need to keep the country tion. The pickers are born and grow up tend to get huffy in the face of insistent running on a day-to-day basis while in the garbage fields. They have almost questions about garbage picking, for they implement a devastatingly painful no schooling, and they know that their they have plenty of critical issues to program of structural economic re­ position in society is extremely weak." worry about besides scavengers and the form. The Old Guard, for its part, After Gutierrez Moreno's death, the leaders who control them. There is the senses that its methods may be bank­ pickers proved incapable of choosing ecological problem represented by the rupt, but it must somehow start deliv­ themselves a new leader-a situation old, unplanned dumps, which may still ering results again if the Party is to that set off a battIe for his political be polluting the groundwater and air avoid any more losses like its crushing inheritance. in their vicinity. There is the logistical electoral defeat in the capital's "circle A colleague of Hector Castillo's, problem of transporting garbage across of misery." As a result of such conver­ Rosalinda Losada, has been following the enormous, chronically congested gent renovating impulses, officials were the succession struggle. She is a friend­ capital city. And there is the question desperately maneuvering to get rid of ly, energetic woman who once spent of the increasing volumes of garbage the lord of Mexico City's garbage pick­ some time picking garbage as part of generated by what Professor Restrepo ers even before his death, in 1987, at the research for her graduate thesis, defines as "this poor, underdeveloped the age of forty-eight. and she has struck up something of a society's penchant for consuming like a Rafael Gutierrez Moreno was shot friendship with El Llder's principal first-class industrial power, with ev­ to death in his own bedroom late one rival, the rather more genial Pablo erything wrapped in more and more night, and his wife was sentenced to Tellez. "When Gutierrez Moreno had layers of plastic." The director of U r­ twenty-five years in prison for the to move from his original power base ban Services, Jose Cuenca Dard6n, has crime. Gutierrez Moreno had beaten to Santa Catarina, he sent nearly half his own list of hurdles: "We are behind her brutally ever since their marriage, of the other pepenadores to a dump at in every aspect of sanitation, including ten years before, and had raped her the opposite end of Mexico City, Santa the concept of what the service should sisters and nieces. She had many mo­ Fe, then dominated exclusively by be and the legislation surrounding the tives for attacking her husband, but so Tellez," she explained. "As his stand­ problem. If you add to this the social did any number of his subjects, and in there Gutierrez Moreno delegated problem of people whose livelihood for when the murder finally took place the someone known as El Dienton." (The generations has consisted of garbage only wonder was that someone had not name translates roughly as Bigtooth.) picking, the issue becomes doubly com­ done in El Lider long before. Hector Tellez cannot have allowed El plex. And we have to try to solve it with Castillo points out, however, that a Dient6n into his site willingly, since our municipalities' extremely weak fi­ community capable of fighting back the partition effectively cut his own nancial base, historically backward in­ could hardly have let itself. become so take in half, but he was almost certainly frastructure, and very poor citizen abject in the first place. "Most of the persuaded to do so by Gutierrez awareness." Politically, Cuenca repre­ garbage pickers have never known a Moreno's allies in the local govern­ sents the PRI's transitional stage; he is different way of life," he says. "There ment. "When Gutierrez· Moreno was not upper class or foreign-educated, are people here who are third genera- killed, everyone thought El Dienton and he deals comfortably with the city's THE NEW YOR.KER. 101 c~ciques, but he is a legendary compul­ SIve worker, who can speak about gar­ Who Will Paint bage with unremitting intensity for hours at a stretch, reeling off figures Her Portrait? and achievements that include the total number of kilometres of roadways swept clean every night, the percentage of garbage processed by the city today versus the percentage a decade ago, BED & BREAKFAST AT THE INN the total number of trips saved by a Settle down in the welcoming warmth new system of transfer points. "We of a luxury room with charming views of the Ojai Valley. Summon a complete have learned," he says, eyes shining. breakfast for two and room service "Now we know how many sweepable will rush it to your side, or enjoy a surfaces every main thoroughfare pre­ bountiful buffet featuring our famous sents, and how many man-hours are egg & omelette bar, fresh pastries from the bakery, and so much more. needed to sweep two- and four-lane $159 per room, double (Sun - Thur) roads." $189 (Fri & Sat) During the day, challenge CUENCA packed me off on a tour of the legendary golf course, play tennis the city's garbage infrastructure, We re[lresent over 100 o[ today's foremost [lortrait on eight courts, and enjoy a work out beginning with a visit to the new trans­ [lainter.; and .lCU1[ltors. Visit our exhibition in the Health Club. In the evening, fer points, where small garbage trucks gallery and mmmission the artist of your dine in the relaxed and romantic setting choice or send $1 [or our color brochure. provided by Vista Dining. unload into trailers six times as large, Portraits, Inc. invites inquires on any commission 2 night minimum stay· tax & gratuity not included. Effective and including a new landfill, whose thnt 11/25/90 and are subject to change and availability. artwork: family [lOrtmi~~, posthumous [lOrtmit~, main virtue, the engineer in charge of smlpturc, miniatures, [lOrtrait, of houses, it said proudly, "is that it is garbage­ [lets, horses, yachts, etc. pickerless." But the garbage itself was being picked through, at every stage of OlAI VALLEY INN 6 COUNTRY CLUB PORTRAITS, INC. its collection and dumping, by Urban 985 Park Ave. N.Y. 10028212-879-5560 Oja!, California• 93023 Services employees sensible enough not Portrait Cenler oj Amerfccl, since 1942 (805) 646-5511 (800)-422-0JAI to let anything go to waste. Along the noisy thoroughfares, I saw orange-clad street-sweepers busy setting aside cans SHAKER FURNITURE Accotmting and Financial An exciting collection of and bottles. A garbage truck pulled into Shaker rockers, dining chairs, Management for the a transfer point with a six-seat sofa tied tables, beds and other furniture. Available in kits or custom· Non-Financial Executive neatly across its bow. The point's su­ finished. All exemplify the Afive-day intensive program: Everything pervisor beamed. "We have very good­ simplici tv and versatile beauty of Shaker design. you always wanted to know about accounting quality garbage here," he said. "It Shaker baskets, oval boxes, and finance but were afraid to ask. comes from first-class neighborhoods." pegboards, pegs, dolls, and Nov.1l-16 '90, Mar. 10-15 '91, Nov. 3-8 '91 Spontaneous recycling was taking place needlework kits. At Arden House, Columbia University's throughout the city. Then what was Large selection of mountaintop retreat, north of New York City. replacement chair tape. New 52 page color catalo,gl__ For information, (212) 854-3395, ext. 77. being left for the real pickers? "Practically nothing," said Luis and 12 tape samples COLUMBIA Rojas, Bigtooth's second-in-command, EXECUTIVE PROGRAMS 4- at my last stop on the official garbage tour. "The truck drivers are stealing us blind, no matter that it was El Llder who got them out of the dumps and onto the trucks in the first place. Now they want to forget where they're from, and we're at war." At the gate of the new Prados de la Montana dump, I and a travelling escort of Urban Services officials had been met, in what is known here as the best oficialista style, by a lineup that included plant managers, chief engineers, Rojas, and Pablo Elegant Country Chann- ~'t Sn~ Tellez, the man who had been Rafael Luxury London Hotel J:i-,C:),;.o(;!,~g~ g!J.lf..links The Golf Quarterly c:. Gutierrez Moreno's fellow-cacique O'.i:.'.' •. '~ and lifelong rival. Tellez turned out to 1e1ephone:071-723787<1. Q fj 11111;' .~ trj history, reviews, One Vear SubscripNon 39-40 Dorset Square. ~ ~ u.s. & Canada - $16 London NWI6QN. ~ . th eories, interviews... Elsewhere - $18 be a bouncy, loquacious man, who clammed up only when he was ques­ Telex: 263964 Dorset G. golf ~nk., 5486 Goorgelown Road, Frankfort, KV 40601 4138 ljOT\1V Write or lelephone for a free I.sue. (502)695,1035 tioned about the practical aspects of his tS.t~i~F~::;~800.543 102 SEPTEMBER 17, 1990 business-how much he pays, and how three things you can't mess with in he weighs the pickers' merchandise. Mexico City," a city official remarked (Some time ago, Rosalinda Losada re­ to me reflectively. Young, Harvard­ Canada vealed in an article the unsurprising educated, and as clean-cut a represen­ fact that the scales he uses are fixed.) tative of the PRI'S new whiz kids as can hast\vo He shook hands amiably and chatted be found, he nevertheless seemed to about the nice new dump facilities. have taken a crash course in prag­ Standing next to him, and looking matics. "You can't touch the metro, the Seasons. steadfastly in the opposite direction, deep-drainage system, or garbage. Be­ was Luis Rojas. He wore a torn pink­ cause, for better or worse, those things and-green polo shirt, with a heavy gold work, and the proof is that in this city, Winter chain around his neck and a few dia­ which is built on a lake, we've never mond rings on his fingers. He was suffered a major flood. But can you and uncomfortable talking in the presence imagine what would happen if the sew­ of Tellez, with whom he er-system workers went on was apparently not on speak­ strike? It's the same thing Stratford. ing terms, but he did loosen with garbage. All things While the idea of a up enough to describe the considered-that this is a Canadian winter may leave truck drivers' unfair scaven­ Third World city in the you cold, everyone warms ging advantage and Big­ middle of a financial crisis, to the thought of the tooth's betrayal by EI Ll­ that there are sixteen million Stratford Festival in the fall. der's former wife. And as we people throwing tons of trash away every day-this is a This internationally left he made a little goodbye clean city. But what would acclaimed theatre company speech, saying that he had happen the day the garbage offers an entertaining program been pleased to see us, partic­ of intriguing variety, ularly since this visit repre­ pickers shut down the dumps presented in a charming sented yet another instance on us? Or if the truck driv­ Ontario city whose country of cooperation between city officials and ers, most of whom have family ties to setting, shops, restaurants­ the pickers. "Because if that cooper­ the pickers, went on strike? And you and inns make it a destination ation ceased to exist," he went on, can't just solve the problem by remov­ in itself. "there's no way you could have got ing the leaders; you have to find a way past the entry gate." The city's top to replace them, or you'll have people Stratford ... definitely a sanitation technicians, who just mo­ killing each other just to get their own season you shouldn't miss! ments ago had been so full of talk about little garbage concession. We have to sweepable surfaces and pickerless land­ change things slowly,. with the people Artistic Director: fills, now nodded and smiled gently. A we have." David William barrel-chested thug was proclaiming Sometime in the not too distant fu­ that they were at his mercy, and they ture, if the Mexican economy im­ SIRlUFORD stood there and took it, because he was proves, if desperate communities of right. scavengers cease to rise on the fringes FESTIVAL. The true extent of the garbage of Mexico's cities, if the PRI relaxes its 38TH SEASON lobby's power, which enables it to per­ hold on power, the pepenadores and To November 11, 1990 vert official goals, was only too evident their rulers will vanish as this society's at our earlier stop, which represents most shameful blemish. In the mean­ Urban Services' most ambitious attempt time, Mexico City's garbage Uderes nOXOFFICE: at change: the vast new landfill is sup­ have played old-time PRI politics in 519-273-1&00 posed to take over in five or six years as masterly fashion, not only to ward off the city's only dump site. Although the unemployment that poses a threat scavenging there is strictly forbidden, when any significant modernization of no alternative arrangement exists for the waste-disposal system is undertaken making the site economically viable but also to obtain benefits for their through an industrialized recycling op­ constituencies which the garbage pick­ eration. "We didn't really have time to ers at Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl's Bordo put one in," a site engineer explained dump-or at dumps in Bogota or San­ apologetically. "In reality, we decided tiago de Chile, for that matter-cannot to open this site very quickly to give yet dream of. A city official who was ourselves some kind of negotiating lev­ privy to all the talks between Urban erage with Rafael Gutierrez Moreno, Services and Gutierrez Moreno and who was getting a little out of hand. TeI1ez once told me that Tellez built Once he saw this site, and understood his power base in city politics by play­ that we were planning to do without ing good guy to the intractable him, he became more manageable." Gutierrez Moreno. While El Lider's "The fact is that there are two or people protested the move from the old rHE NEW YOR.KER. 103 ,anta Fe dump nearby to the new Prados by setting fire to government • )roperty, Tellez decided to make a D 1 r e c t: ieal. Out of that negotiation came From The New Yorker what is now the pride of the Urban Services Department: a colonia, or res­ Reader Services idential neighborhood, for some five Timely Information + hundred pickers and their families, just across the street from the dump. It has a kindergarten, a grade school, a mar­ Special Promotions + ket, and houses with electricity and running water, all of which are shared Retail Locations + by Tellez's people and Bigtooth's peo­ ple. As we wandered through the im­ Use our convenient touch-tone phone maculate stands of the colonia's new line to hear special messages about the market, admiring the produce and tak­ quality products and services listed below. ing in the smell of freshly cooked torti­ Call toll-free from any touch-tone phone: llas at a stand operated by two former pickers, an Urban Services dump-site manager was obviously filled with pride. He had been involved in the 1 • ~ ij ij • 0 11 • ) ~ ) ~ move to the new housing compound from the beginning, he said, and he still couldn't get over the fact that at first the pickers had refused to move in, preferring to sleep in their old hovels and use the new houses as storage HOTEL AND CASINO, DEACH RESORT, SANJUAN rooms. "Then they moved in and start­ -.- -.- AN EXTRAORDINARY 30081 CRYSTAL 30066 ed scavenging the houses," he went on. VACATION EXPERIENCE CRUISES "They unscrewed everything that was removable and sold it. They used the toilets to wash clothes in. We decided to bring in a team of social workers, ~l, ••• and they helped the women adjust. S1!\UCIA T St. Lucia Tourist Board 3 0 0 7 0 The Resource For A Healthy 3 0 0 6 8 They taught them things like home Back Since 1958 management, personal hygiene, and how plumbing works. One day, we noticed that the families had actually THE III begun to settle in, and several of them NWEENT LOWELL had even bought real furniture to set up Specialists In Tax·lree Investments Since 1898. .'In rAe g;ult!lll fTradiMlfI -.- 30033 housekeeping with." The grade school e£..&!cp/!£U/I 9lote!& ... 30072 and kindergarten are now at least part­ .AwuJ!oM lyoccupied, though Luis Rojas is am­ bivalent about the dump's new restric­ tions on child labor. "I suppose my Can011 children will do something different," PERSONAL COPIERS Nothing but originals. -.- -.- he said, when I asked if he thought 30032 Al\'O~I~A 30036 ithere would be a fourth generation of recipes pepenadores in his family. "Because, thanks to the gentlemen you see here" -he pointed to the Urban Services THE ~,...,...... +-. .,..... -==::Ill -r- HEATHfv\AN officials-"our children under the age 1-''-'...... '!::::I~. of ten are no longer able to come in to HOTEL -.- Where Europe meets the Atlantic 3 0 0 61 Portland· Orl!'glln • USA 30014 work with us." The brand-new colonia is the Mexi­ can' system at its old-time patrimonial best and also at its most typically ineffi­ cient: the investment to build it was not • small, but when the dump reaches the scheduled end of its useful life, in two or three years, the housing complex A d V e r 1: i s e IT1 e n t will probably become obsolete. This 104 seemed a quibble, though, on a recent - A UNIQ,UE NEW SERVICE _ GOLD AND L[ATHER. sunny morning when I stood with AND VERY NEW YOR.KER. Marla de la Luz Lopez in the living room of her two-bedroom house and Limerick Lane watched her point proudly to her kitch­ POETRYWORKS® en, her bathroom, and her dining room, Poems to honor and entertain

with its matched furniture and hard, There comclI a time ""hen onl~1 rh,'me Can enrich the momcnt-sjlu.'or. dry cement floor. Her two small chil­ Originull'erse, lenglh"Qr terse, dren were watching television peace­ Sumt."thing to tre~ure and HtH'Or.. To enhance u gUt, prolrU1t> u lift, fully, and a washing machine was giv­ Or honor a speri,,' occasion I To entertain, or, without .drain I ing off a comforting hum. She was born Guin memor,able perHu.tLS;nn. in a garbage dump twenty-one years Now, ,'OU cunflnd, if that IS ~'our m;ru', Shopllfor mDlft needtl, and you know it, ago, she said, and what she remem­ But where, oh where, when the need l.H there, bered most about the nineteen years she Can )'oujiru/ th .. "hop ofd poet? You Iwve a godAend, ifa writer friend spent there was the older women's hor­ liaR the penehant and talent to rhyme, ror whenever rats climbed through the But even tha'friend rna,' prove hard to bend ""hen you want "erse InJjo little lime. rganize your life as you go, with The New Yotm's rubbish into the huts to bite the babies' To answer your need, prol'We word and deed, O distinctive pocket diary for 1991; gilt-edged and cheeks and fingers. Nov.: she hoped that There's ourworkBhop on t..imeric,:*= Lane, thumb·tabbed, in flexible leather binding, with The Selling "erst! rated hest, tailored to your requelU, FAXed you when time is a strain. New }&~s exclusive About Town telephone-and· her own children might study through '0 address listings in the front. The work thllt we do, all original, too, ninth grade, and she w~s happy to stay I" not weighty or likely to pall, ------Please send me ___ copIes of the pocket-c:dicion NtIlI home and take care of them, because "te keep our Verse light, andfce' thul is ngh' For the greatest enjoyment aiall. Yr>mrDioryfor 1991, bound in lea[her, atS1Z.OO', plus $1.50 shipping and handling. Offer only good in U.S. and Canad •• her husband earned enough at the So, call us nezt time there'll occasionfor rhpmc, dump for all of them to get by on. i'\-'e'll work aul an arrangement ond heed it, Name Give us background/ada, sit hack and rem, "This house is very solid," she said Youtll Mi'e qualify verse when you need it. Addres, Al Kracht when I asked what she thought its chief President City/State/Zip merit was. "It doesn't collapse." She 'ResidentS orCA, CO, GA, lA, IL, KY, MA, MI, NY please add applicable sales tax. waved goodbye to me from the door­

Make checks payable [0 TIte N... yonttrand mail to: way, next to riotously blooming gera­ TIte N", Yr>r*n; P.O. Box 10214 niums that an U rhan Services social Des'Moines, IA 50336 PhoneorFAXr9lI4),~3Ij·O,~52 5 Birch Lone, Chappaqua, NY 10514 Please allow 4 to 6 weeks delivery. worker had shown her how to plant, 020362 and I remembered a rather long lunch with the sociologist Hector Castillo ------when he had said that the obsessive Little Ad. question for him was whom to blame GIANT RESORT! for all the garbage pickers' misery. In NAGEN • DEWEY Majestic Low Country resort on S.c. coastline the bright light of Mrs. Lopez's home, offering 54 holes of golf, dozens of tennis an even more disturbing question arose: courts, and miles of secluded beaches. BUY • SELL • APPRAISE All spreading from the river to the sea! whom to thank for her new surround­ Free info package: 1·800·845·1897 ings? Among the ghosts rising up to OLD NAVAJO TEXTILES In SC: 1·800-922-6348 take a bow stood El Lider. -ALMA GUILLERMOPRIETO 1-800-262-8256 • ON THE PLAZA SANTA FE, NM STONE FAMILY VACATION FILLED WITH EXCITEMENT Mr. and Mrs. Bill Stone of Red Bluff were joined by her son, Jim Ellison of Weaverville, to take a one-week vacation THE in Idaho. ENTIRI~ SHIRT The group drove to visit Mrs. Stone's ame tea lacks complexity_ Our STO<:I{ STORE brother, Ralph Weaver and Margaret FALL NY, NY wild herb lea, gathered from the McCall, who finished a four bedroom home WIIITE 100% COTTONS Tdesert mountains of Nevada, is Oxford. Sea Island with a lake just above the Payette River. stimulating, refreshing, and, to the Pima Broadcloth While there, Mrs. Stone golfed and Mr. SALE Egyptian. Pinpoint sophisticated palate, intricately deli· Stone continued on to see his sister, Nancy 20~o COLLARS cious. 2 oz. canister brews 100 OFF Classic 0 Spread Henderson and family, at Riggins. Button Down cups, $9.95 postpaid. Visa/Me. Tab There, the group fished and ate at Kim­ 800·955-4832. Desert Tea, Box berly Meadows and took a patio boat ride 328N,Whitethom, CA 95489. ; II around the Payette Lake. They watched wildlife including deer, chipmunks, osprey, cranes and lots of hummingbirds. On the way home the group stopped at PRESERVATION BOOK HUNTING? Reno and watched an electrical storm at Virtually any book located-no matter how Susanville while a house burned near the PLAN ON IT old or long out-of.print. F'iction, nonfiction. Write: All authors, subjects. Name the book-we'll restaurant where they were eating.-Red find itl (Title alone is sufficient.) Inquire, National Trust please. Write: BOOK HUNTERS Since . Bluff (Calij.) Daily News. lor Historic Preservation P.O. Box 7519 1958 Or, "How the Stones Spent Their Department PA NORTH BERGEN, NEW JERSEY 07047 1785 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. Summer Vacation." Washington, D.C. 20036