Come to our presentations at LCS Gardens

Open Circle provides a supportive environment to gather for social interaction and to improve our understanding of ourselves, our community and our world.

Upcoming

October 27, presentation

How Rituals Can Serve to Heal Grief

We kick off a special week of commeration and celebration at LCS, highlighting Mexico’s most beloved annual ritual, Dia de Muertos. We all lose important parts of our lives from meaningful possessions to abilities, identities, dreams, hopes, and most painfully, the people and animal companions we love. The natural response to loss is a seven-step process a person goes through that can culminate in healing the wound created by a loss.

Loretta will explain grief as an active and dynamic process that continues throughout life. She will explore rituals as vehicles for creating peaceful transitions as we travel through the challenging stages of grief.

November 3, 2024
Learning Love

Greg Kemp

November 10, 2024
"Deaf Cat in the Rain" and other stories

Michael Hogan

November 17, 2024
Wings, Guns, and Coming of Age in America

Robert Case

If You Missed an In-person Presentation, You Can Still Enjoy It Online

Tales from the Tomb

Many people are not aware that more than 500 foreign residents have been laid to rest in Chapala's Municipal Cemetery since 1955. Among them are many former leaders of the expatriate community, including 14 former LCS presidents, benefactor Ed Wilkes whose Ajijic home now houses the Wilkes Education Center, a number of outstanding artists, dozens of military veterans, and the first victim of Chapala's notorious Black Widow. Dale will share some of their stories and talk about the history of the foreign sections of the cemetery and a current effort spearheaded by American Legion Post 7 to revitalize the grounds

Past Presentations

About Open Circle

For nearly 30 years, the Lake Chapala area has been honored to host Mexico’s longest-standing weekly English language lecture series. Begun in 1995 by volunteers under the title of “New Dimensions” and initially focused on various aspects of spirituality, in 2001 the program became “Open Circle” and was hosted in homes and restaurants. The Lake Chapala Society became Open Circle Ajijic’s permanent home in the early 2000’s and (since 20021) has become an official Lake Chapala Society program.

 

Mission Statement: 

“Open Circle Ajijic provides a supportive environment to gather for social interaction and to improve our understanding of ourselves, our community, and our world. Presentations span a wide range of intellectual, cultural, physical, and spiritual topics. We do not necessarily agree with the ideas and philosophies of our presenters. We encourage you to listen with an open mind and form your own opinions.”

 

How Rituals Can Serve to Heal Grief
Loretta Downs - October 27, 2024

We kick off a special week of commeration and celebration at LCS, highlighting Mexico’s most beloved annual ritual, Dia de Muertos. We all lose important parts of our lives from meaningful possessions to abilities, identities, dreams, hopes, and most painfully, the people and animal companions we love. The natural response to loss is a seven-step process a person goes through that can culminate in healing the wound created by a loss.

Loretta will explain grief as an active and dynamic process that continues throughout life. She will explore rituals as vehicles for creating peaceful transitions as we travel through the challenging stages of grief.

Loretta Downs is a death-positive advocate and educator who has been serving death for 40 years. She is an uplifting and inspiring speaker who is passionate about improving the end-of-life experience. Her perspective on the end of life is informed by years of being a companion to AIDS patients, friends, family, hospice and hospital patients, nursing home residents, death doula clients, and their loved ones.

She has published numerous articles, been quoted in articles and books, and interviewed for videos, radio shows, and podcasts. She teaches Advance Care Planning classes at LCS.

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Learning Love
Greg Kemp - November 3, 2024

Is it possible to learn to love? Certainly important to ourselves, our community, and our world.
I will outline the 5 levels of love; the Spectrum of Love and its opposites; read mystical poetry from Rumi and Hafiz; discuss falling in love, heartbreak, and grief; yearning for an unknown better; and the practical application of love in the world.

I have resided in Ajijic with my wife, Alicia, since November of 2023 and before that we lived in the central highlands of Guatemala for 13 years. We co-founded Project Somos (www.projectsomos.org) It was a project that responded to the question, “what would Love do?” to assist indigenous children and families living in dire poverty.
In my youth, I was trained in Kundalini Yoga, became a Mevlevi Dervish (whirling dervish), and later a pastor of the Essentialist Church of Christ. I have been an active student of Love for most of my life. My only religion is Love.

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"Deaf Cat in the Rain" and other stories
Michael Hogan - November 10, 2024

A sometimes humorous and sometimes poignant series of stories presented by well-known author illuminating some of the missteps and joys of living and working in Mexico from his latest book The Michael Hogan Reader.

Michael Hogan is an historian, author and poet who has lived in Mexico for 35 years. He has written thirty books including The Irish Soldiers of Mexico which was the basis for an MGM movie. His short stories and essays have appeared in numerous magazines from the Paris Review and Harvard Review to the Smithsonian. Penguin Books includes his work in the college text, 100 Great Essays.

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Wings, Guns, and Coming of Age in America
Robert Case - November 17, 2024

I hope this query finds you well. I’m JRW Case, a gun owner with big hands, a kind heart, and a remarkable talent for witnessing and describing the rich cultural threads that resonate across the North American landscape. My wife and friends call me Robert. The presentation’s theme resonates with my personal history of growing up in the Midwest, the second son of a man who spent all of WWII and Korea in military service. More than a weary veteran, he was also a caring father who quietly advised as I graduated from high school and soon became eligible for the US military draft: “I spent enough time in uniform for all of us. You shouldn’t have to go.”
I am the author of a Pushcart Prize-nominated memoir, “Cycling Through Columbine” (Bottom Dog Press, 2022). My book is an adventure travelogue about a midlife escape across America on a touring bicycle during the summers of 2017 & 18. You can find it recommended by the US Review of Books. And, the book was just selected by this year’s Tucson Festival of the Book in the adult nonfiction category. We were there on March 10th, 2024, inside the Indie Author pavilion.
I will be returning to Ajijic during November and would be most grateful for the opportunity to make a fifty-minute presentation at the Nov 17, 2024, Open Circle on the theme of Wings, Guns, and Coming of Age in America, and in a style derivative of humorist/writer Mark Twain.

Entrepreneur – Author – Adventure Cyclist My public speaking experience includes practicing law in Jefferson County, Colorado for over twenty years with a JD from the University of Denver (1988). I continue to exercise my communication skills as an active member of Toastmasters International. Formal education includes: MS (Geology) U of Utah, BS (Geology) Allegheny College, and a Certificate from the Bovine School of Improv, Denver, Colorado.

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