Email & Share
Working Gringa wanted to do something to commemorate the historical event that was the inauguration of Barack Obama. Traveling to Washington, D.C. was out of the question. First, there was work. Second, there was that small matter of 28 degrees Fahrenheit, feels like 17 degrees. After seven years in the Yucatan, 55 degrees Fahrenheit feels like 17 degrees, so that kind of cold was prohibitive. Better just to watch the whole event on CNN Live, and then get back to work.
Leading up to the election, of course Working Gringa bought the Obama t-shirt. She made the phone calls. She talked and read and debated and read some more and of course, she voted. She ordered her absentee ballot from her hometown of San Luis Obispo, CA and even called when it hadn’t shown up by the first of October. The ballot arrived soon thereafter, she voted and sent it back via human carrier (a friend) to the United States, to be sure it would get to its destination before November 7.
But as the day of the inauguration loomed ever larger, she wanted to do something else. And then, it struck her! For years, she had admired the bullfight/dance/lucha libre/concert carteles (posters) that are slapped up overnight on walls and telephone poles all over Mexico. Why not make a poster?
On a rare day out of the office, she ventured into a little hole-in-the-wall print shop. The proprietor, Lucio Rivero Manrique of Impresora El Sol greeted her with a big smile. (Yes, she’d like to show you a photo of the big smile, but alas, the photos of that day seem to have been deleted from her camera). The print shop advertises 40 años al servicio al publico (40 years of service to the public), which struck Working Gringa as just perfect. It was 40 years ago that Robert Kennedy was asked when he thought a black man would be elected president. His answer? In 40 years.
Lucio took Working Gringa’s order with much joy, after understanding what the poster would be advertising. He pointed to his forearm, and said "Barack Obama!! El tiene piel moreno, como yo!" (Barack Obama! He has dark skin, like me!).
WGa handed him the printed words, asked him to include stars wherever possible and print the poster in red and blue. The rest was left up to Lucio’s creative eye.
The day before Inauguration Day, the posters were ready… 100 carefully folded posters in a pink plastic bag. The posters were up in our office and on our front door when Barack Obama took his oath, many miles away. We were watching from our living room in Merida, Yucatan, surrounded by friends and dogs when he took his oath.
When the day was over, we still had about 90 posters left. So, we decided to give them to our readers and to use them as a fundraiser for our next Change is Coming project.
So here you go… now you too can have a page out of the history books. This page is on newsprint, printed in red and blue, with a lot of stars. It commemorates that there were Americans in the Yucatan who were thrilled that Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States. Nothing fancy… muy tradicional, as a matter of fact. Whether you are Democrat or Republican, you have got to admit, this was a day that will go down in history. Countless thousands of people will have a front page of the New York Times or the Chicago Tribune. But how many will be able to include in their collection a hand-printed commemorative poster from the Yucatan? Less than a hundred, to be exact.
So step right up and get your Yucatan Commemorative Inauguration Poster now!! Available only while supplies last!!
And all we ask is a donation. Send us a donation through Paypal of at least $3.00 (to cover postage and handling) and we will send you one of these commemorative posters while supplies last (be sure to include your address!). If you want to donate more, every penny over and above the stamp and the envelope will go to our next project, which you can learn about here in the pages of Yucatan Living, and which will probably again be related to children and reading here in Merida Centro. Here’s a link to the story about the first project we did, providing chairs, tables and books to a local grammar school.
Thank you in advance for your support, and stay tuned because there is certainly more to come!
(Please rate this article)
Loading ...
I ordered one of these right away. With a little extra money (ok, several times the requested amount) because I attached special conditions. ho ho ho…. Working with the public is such a challenge… he he he…
Great idea and thank you for the chance to get something like this. I think it is a real treat! (Plus, I’m going to ask you for the address of Impresora El Sol one of these days too. Not now, I’d just lose it.)
My donation has been sent thru paypal and I look forward to receiving the great poster in Uruguay. Well done!!!! As ever!!!!!!!! mp
This is an excellent poster. I think I’ll have to get one as well.
Hi WGa!
before heading off to Playa del Carmen. Assuming any are still available, any way we can get a copy reserved til we arrive & meet you guys personally? 
This is such a neat idea and as always, it’s great to see others loving & contributing to our home country. As you & I have corresponded, you may remember we were to come down last November, but were unable to for various resons, one being the election. We are actually arriving March 13th & will be spending a week there (woo-hoo!!
Saludos desde Chicago,
Irene
Sure, we still have a few left. I’ll put your name on one… give us a call when you get into town.
S-W-EEEEET!!! BTW, we are taking advantage of your “Best of” list & booked our stay at Hotel Marionetas! We are SO looking forward to this! See you in 5 weeks!
Hello,
I currently live in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and do not have a mailing address here. I really would love one of those posters! We will be in Merida in April-is there anyway to hold one of these for us so we could pick it from you-or have it sent to our hotel while we are there?
Thank you so much!
Rachel Haught
Hi Rachel,
We still have some posters left… so drop us an email at info@yucatanliving.com when you get to town and we’ll tell you where to come to pick it up!
Dearest Working Gringos,
I will be moving to Merida soon and can’t tell you how thrilled, grateful, enthused and encouraged I am by your poster and Merida’s other Obama related activities. I bought my house in Merida last year when I couldn’t wait to escape the Bush reign and all that the previous administration meant for my home city of Washington and the world. I worked hard on the Obama campaign and while I hoped and prayed for victory, I couldn’t have imagined the atmosphere of joy, optimism, civility, generosity of spirit, and patriotism which has so re-energized my City.
Now it is time for me to leave Washington and to finalize my tasks in order to move to Merida. While I look forward to the wam weather, the slower lifestyle, the contagious joy and sincere kindness of the people of Merida, and to all that life among such fantastic people as the Working Gringos and the other ex-pats will offer, leaving DC now is much harder than I had imagined. Your timely and heartwarming poster story has eased my separation anxiety and convinced me that I have made the right decision. I can’t thank you enough for it! I’ll be coming down for Carnival next week and hope that you will be able to save one of these priceless posters for me. It will forever symbolize a message of “Welcome to Merida” to me and and remind me that I am not alone. I will be contacting you in a few days.
Thank you more than I can say.
Patricia Mathisen, Washington, D.C.
Patricia,
We think we can understand your reluctance to leave, but we assure you that you will not be alone here. There is work to be done all over the planet, to make it a better place, and the community organizing that Obama is inspiring all over the United States can also be carried out here. You’ll want to come to the next meeting of our Change Is Coming group (we don’t have an official name…that’s just a placeholder for now) and get involved. And the internet makes it easy to stay involved in the United States activities as well.
We will keep a poster with your name on it… get in touch when you get to town.
Dear Merida insider, could you please email me your address in Merida so that I can come & pick up a few of your excellent posters, what a great idea by the way!. Paul Chuburna pto
Best of luck with the project. It is a great poster.
The poster looks great! Are any still available?
Do you have any of th inauguration poster left?
Yes, we do. You can email Beatriz at beatriz@eclectech.com to arrange delivery and payment.
Yes, we still have a few left. In order to order one, go to Paypal and send $3 to “efields@eclectech.com”. Be sure to put your address in the Comments section. We’ll send out a poster to you!
Very nice posters! You still have any left?
Yes we do! Just follow the Paypal link and pay for one or more and be sure to put your name and address in the Notes section…
Wow! Its such a nice poster. Keep up the good work.
Perfect …
Can I have a poster? =)
Mike,
There are still some posters left. Send your snail mail address to us at info@yucatanliving.com. And send some money (at least $3 USD) to the Paypal address mentioned above.
I’m going to tell my friend Patt about this, she lived in The Yucatan for a while and I’m sure she’d appreciate this.
Great poster. Just love it
Gotta tell my mates about this, they lived in Yucatan for a while, and think they’d appreciate this a lot!
I know I’m a bit late on this one but I I just wanted to say that it’s great to see some support for Barack from way way down south. I like your poster alot and it makes me proud to have supported him during the election.