"I really love this place out here, and I love the way it looks. I like the way it smells. I like to go outside at night and just look at the sky and feel the wind, and I think it's a really precious place, and I think it's a precious place because of what has come before and because of what's here now."
-- Dallas Baxter
Now available: the full transcript of Marfa Mondays Podcast #12 "This Precious Place: An Interview with Dallas Baxter, Founding Editor of Cenizo Journal"
> Listen to the podcast
> Read the transcript
> All Marfa Mondays podcasts (16 of a projected 24)
Other transcripts now available include:
>Tremendous Forms: Paul V. Chaplo on Funding Composition in the Landscape
>Gifts of the Ancient Ones: Greg Williams on the Rock Art of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands
>Looking at Mexico in New Ways: An Interview with Historian John Tutino
More transcripts to be posted soon.
Podcasts in-progress include interviews with Enrique Madrid and Lonn Taylor.
>Your COMMENTS are always welcome.
John Tutino: "We need Mexico as an other. We can't deal with it as an us."
Slowly but surely the transcripts from my Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project are going on-line. Now available:
#13 “Looking at Mexico in New Ways: An Interview with John Tutino."
John Tutino: "We need Mexico as an other. We can't deal with it as an us." But his whole point is that, in fact, US and Mexico are inseparable. It's a knock-your-huaraches-off interview.
> Listen in to the podcast.
TRANSCRIPT
[MUSIC]
C.M. Mayo: Welcome to Marfa Mondays. I’m your host, C.M. Mayo and this is Podcast 13 of a projected 24 podcasts exploring Marfa and the wider Big Bend region, apropos of my book-in-progress about Far West Texas. So far in the series I’ve interviewed people in and around Marfa and also reported on my visits to some very remote and intriguing places in the Big Bend, most recently, interviews with Dallas Baxter, founder of Cenizo Journal; and with luthier and cowboy poet singing some cowboy songs, Michael Stevens; and a visit to Swan House, Simone Swan’s adobe teaching house, inspired by the legacy of Egypt’s greatest architect, Hassan Fathy. I invite you to listen to these podcasts and all the others anytime at my website, cmmayo.com, and through the website, send in your comments. I’m always delighted to hear from listeners.
[MUSIC]
Now in this podcast I take a big step back to get some perspective— big perspective. Bigger than Texas perspective. Those of you who know Far West Texas know how close Mexico is in every sense. Look at a map and you’ll see, from Marfa it’s only a little more than an hour’s drive to Presidio, which sits on the Rio Grande; cross over and there you are: Mexico. That’s what we’re going to hear about in this interview with John Tutino.
John Tutino teaches the history of Mexico and the Americas in the History Department and School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He’s the author of Making a New World: Founding Capitalism in the Bajío and Spanish North America, which was published by Duke University Press in 2011. Tutino is also the editor of a collection of essays by various historians with the title Mexico and Mexicans in the Making of the United States, and that is available from University of Texas Press. This interview was recorded in his office at Georgetown University.
[MUSIC]
C.M. Mayo: We have Making a New World and the related anthology Mexico and the Mexicans in the Making of the United States. These are closely related, and they are both nuclear bombs!
John Tutino: Thank you!
C.M. Mayo: They’re huge paradigm-busting... across from the beginning when we had the expansion of New Spain in the 1500s to modern day immigration. My head is reeling with all this stuff that’s in these two books!
John Tutino: And I will say, you're right, they evolved together. They were a long time coming, decades in the rumination and a decade plus in the focused production. And yeah, I got to the point where I said, “The whole basic big picture of where we thought Mexico fit in the world is somewhere between wrong and mythical. And you can’t change that by chipping away at the edges and saying, look at this little piece.”
And so I ended up writing Making a New World to just try to say, “New Spain, which is the root of Mexico, was absolutely an pivotal place to the origins of the modern world, modern capitalism, and equally absolutely pivotal to the origins of the United States.” And I was working on one when I figured out the other.
C.M. Mayo: My sense is that in Anglo-American culture, we’ve always had this idea that, here is American history over here, and here is Mexican history over here, and yes, there was war and there was this and there was that, but you could like put a little bell jar on top of each subject, and what you're saying, and I know is true, is that, no, you have to look at them together.
John Tutino: Yeah. I will tell you a story. I, years ago, put together a NEH [National Endowment for the Humanties] Summer Seminar for school teachers on the interrelated histories of Mexico and the United States. NEH, the grant proposal group, approved it. They wanted to fund it, but the staff at NEH refused my title, which was “Inseparable Histories: Mexico and the United States.” They said I could teach the seminar— this was in the early ‘90s— not having the primary title “Inseparable Histories,” and I tactically said, “Well, I want to do the seminar. I’ll negotiate the title.” But that’s the extent that this goes there.
But I will also add that particularly the argument that New Spain was fundamental to the origins of modern capitalism and that it was, particularly in its north, one of the earliest, most dynamic capitalist places on Earth, is equally challenging a lot of Mexican scholars.
C.M. Mayo: Oh, yes.
John Tutino: They have sort of bought into a notion, they have been trained in a notion, that Mexico had its base in great Pre-hispanic societies that were destroyed by Spanish colonialism for three centuries, and then there has been a struggle to reconstitute something positive. And boy, there were destructions in early 16th century, though I argue they’re more disease driven than anything any human could impose. And yes, there have been struggles, but people have... I don’t fully understand, why not glory in the... You know, it’s a typical history, it’s a history of enormous economic dynamism and thus enormous conflict, change, human greatness, human exploitation, human difficulty, but it sort of puts New Spain and Mexico, I believe, at the absolute mainstream of modern history.
C.M. Mayo: So, in other words is as you call “this enduring presumption” was that capitalism started with England.
John Tutino: With England.
C.M. Mayo: And North America, and this is what we’ve been told in school and Adam Smith, and...
John Tutino: It has been the Anglo American gift to the world.
C.M. Mayo: Would you say gift or plague?
John Tutino: Well, either way. If you ask Anglo Americans, it’s their gift to the world. If you ask people who’ve experienced it without prosperity... And this is part of what I try to do. I think too often we argue that capitalism is easily the most positive thing the world has ever seen or it’s the most dastardly thing the world has ever seen, and I just see capitalism as a dominant historical reality with enormous creativities, positives, productive gains and, linked to it, changing rounds of difficulties, conflicts, human difficulties, exploitations, and we’ve got to quit arguing one against the other. We’ve got to figure out how to maximize one, minimize the other, but as a historian I just want to understand it.
In terms of that I should emphasize, in terms of taking Anglocentrism away from the study of global capitalism, I have jumped on a bandwagon there. It really came out of Asianists. One part, Andre Gunder Frank who started writing on Latin America years ago, then went to China and wrote a book called ReOrient, and Kenneth Pomeranz, who wrote a book called The Great Divergence, and I will say Gunder Frank was more the cage-rattling ideologue and Pomeranz was more the careful historian. He’s currently, it took 10 years after the book, but he’s now president of the American Historical Association. But the two of them together right around the year 2000 said, in 1600 China was the dominant economy in the world, Western Europe was a minor player and they contended for three centuries, and before 1800 nothing made it certain that Europe was going to rise to dominance and Asia was going to fade. It was a historical give and take, and then some particular things happened around 1800 that shift this. They were debating this and they were all recognizing that silver was pivotal to this world economy.
C.M. Mayo: Right. So China was demanding it—
John Tutino: Was the place demanding...the silver that went to Europe ended up in China.
C.M. Mayo: So this is the silver from Peru and from Mexico.
John Tutino: Mexico. Scholars show for most of three centuries two-thirds of it passed east to Europe, but ended up passing through the Middle East, South Asia, and ends up in China. A third of it goes directly to Manila and ends up in China.
C.M. Mayo: Through Acapulco on the Nao de China... [Manila Galleon]
John Tutino: Acapulco to Manila. And people always ask, “Why is Manila part of the Spanish empire?” It was a city of Chinese merchants under Spanish sovereignty who traded goods not just from China but from India, Indonesia, and sent them back. Have you ever been to what is now the Museo del Virreinato in Tepotzotlan on the road?
C.M. Mayo: Yes, just north of Mexico City.
John Tutino: North of Mexico City. There are two rooms there of Chinese-Christian-Asian art that were all brought back by the Jesuits because that was their colonial... It is the best way to see the wealth of China that was brought to New Spain by that silver, is to just go through those rooms in Tepotzotlan.
C.M. Mayo: And this doesn’t fit with the image of Mexico in Anglo-American cultural history or our modern media at all.
John Tutino: As a backward, exploited, crushed environment that Spanish colonialism just ground to nothing! And one of the ironies is... and we have a hard time thinking about it. So New Spain, I argue, was probably one of the three core regions of early modern capitalism, while Spain, its mother country, was in decline. And we’ve just got to learn to get over the presumption that Spain could be in decline as a European power but New Spain could be just flourishing.
C.M. Mayo: What I loved about the opening of your book, Making a New World, was you start talking about...to illustrate your points, the individual biographies of several people in the very important city of Querétaro. And as a bit of digression I want to say, I’m an American and I’ve been living in Mexico all these years, and I come back and forth frequently, and it is very rare that anybody in the U.S. has even heard of Querétaro, and yet Querétaro plays a central role in the development of the Mexican economy from almost the very beginning.
John Tutino: I will note it’s also coming back. It may be the single most dynamic place under the current NAFTA-driven economic revival. And Querétaro really became probably my favorite place in Mexico in the process of writing this book.
I had been introduced to Mexico as a 17-year-old kid going to San Miguel de Allende and I’d lived for a full year in Mexico City, lots of time in other central Mexico places, most of all in Mexico City, but when I started doing this and started spending between two weeks to a month every year in Querétaro, and the mix of its colonial heritage and its modern dynamism just made it. It isn’t a museum like San Miguel. My apologies to the San Miguel tourist bureau. [Laughs] It’s a real dynamic city but with a wonderful historic arc.
The argument is that this dynamism is there and that it is charging north.
C.M. Mayo: Well, can we come back just for a minute to those individual biographies in and around Querétaro, part of the Bajío, which includes San Miguel de Allende.
John Tutino: Guanajuato.
C.M. Mayo: León, Celaya.
John Tutino: Yes.
C.M. Mayo: It’s a group of cities north of Mexico City, kind of in the very heart of Mexico.
John Tutino: It is absolutely the richest agricultural land in Mexico. Historically the richest mines in Mexico were in Guanajuato, and with the mix of those two, Querétaro was the richest trade and industrial city in Querétaro.
C.M. Mayo: Oh, and Zacatecas.
John Tutino: Zacatecas isn’t quite Bajío in Mexican parlance because it’s north, it’s dry, but the Bajío fed it because, precisely, Zacatecas is mining wealth in dry uplands. Where did Zacatecas get its food? So the Bajío is also in a sense sustaining places like Zacatecas.
C.M. Mayo: So when we look at the beginnings of Querétaro and this economic engine that’s going to feed the northward expansion of New Spain, one of the biographies that you talked about was José Sánchez Espinosa. There was another little one in there about an Italian count...
John Tutino: Yes, Colombini. And later in the book there’s huge excerpts from a poem he wrote in honor of Our Lady of Pueblito, the local Otomí virgin who historically and still in many ways centers popular devotions in Querétaro, the way Guadalupe has historically around Mexico City.
Let me quickly go through my favorite vignette. The first one is Connín. Connín is an Otomí trader, frontiersman. He had traded across the frontier into the land of the Chichimecas. When Spaniards came he claimed to have been a lord; we don’t know if he really was but he was able to mobilize followers with a little bit of army, a little bit of settlement, and he, an Otomí trader or lord with somewhere between dozens and a few hundred Otomí friends, relatives, villagers recruited only a couple of Spanish Franciscan friars, and while literally Spaniards are still trying to conquer Mexico City, they go north and found Querétaro. And so Querétaro is actually an Otomí foundation with Catholic Franciscan sanction under Spanish rule. And for the first 30 years Querétaro is an Otomí city. Other than a priest or two there’s nobody else there. They build the irrigation. They build grist mills. They built the town. They distribute the land. And Connín and his pals take large landed estates for themselves, but they make sure their followers all have these incredibly rich irrigated gardens at the core of the city, and of course, he very quickly... he can’t remain Connín, he’s baptized and he becomes Don Fernando de Tapia.
C.M. Mayo: And what amazed me about Don Fernando de Tapia is, you give the little biography and one reads along, da-da, da-da, da-da, he did this, he did that, his daughter...
John Tutino: And you think he’s got to be a Spanish conquerer.
C.M. Mayo: He’s got to be a Spanish conquerer and it turns out, no! He’s an Otomí trader who used to be called Connín!
John Tutino: And it is the perfect example of how indigenous people weren’t always broken. They saw opportunity.
C.M. Mayo: It’s a more complex story than what we’re told at a public level. [CONTINUE READING THIS TRANSCRIPT]
> Listen in to this podcast
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> My newsletter goes out shortly. I invite you to sign up for it here.
#13 “Looking at Mexico in New Ways: An Interview with John Tutino."
John Tutino: "We need Mexico as an other. We can't deal with it as an us." But his whole point is that, in fact, US and Mexico are inseparable. It's a knock-your-huaraches-off interview.
> Listen in to the podcast.
TRANSCRIPT
[MUSIC]
C.M. Mayo: Oh, yes.
C.M. Mayo: It’s a more complex story than what we’re told at a public level. [CONTINUE READING THIS TRANSCRIPT]
> Listen in to this podcast
> Your COMMENTS are always welcome.
> My newsletter goes out shortly. I invite you to sign up for it here.
New Transcript Just Posted: Marfa Mondays Podcast #15 Gifts of the Ancient Ones: Greg Williams on the Rock Art of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands
Slowly but surely, my many podcasts, including the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project interviews, are getting transcribed. The latest transcription posted is one of my very favorite Marfa Mondays interviews, with Rock Art Foundation Executive Director Greg Williams, recorded last August 2014 at Meyers Spring ranch near Dryden, Texas-- just a scoonch west of the Pecos.
> Listen in to this interview as a free podcast on podomatic
> Or listen (also free) on iTunes
> Visit the Marfa Mondays webpage for many more podcasts
> Your COMMENTS are always welcome. My newsletter goes out soon; I welcome you to sign up here.
[MUSIC]
C.M. Mayo: Welcome to Marfa Mondays Podcast number 15 of a projected 24 podcasts exploring Marfa, Texas and the greater Big Bend region of Far West Texas, apropos of my book-in-progress. I'm your host, C.M. Mayo, and on my webpage, cmmayo.com, you can listen in to all the podcasts anytime for free, and also there you can find out about my several other books.
The most recent book is the reason these podcasts have been coming along a little more slowly this year. That book, which is done and now available in paperback and e-book formats, is Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual. For those rusty on their Mexican history, Francisco Maderowas the leader of Mexico's 1910 Revolution and he was president of Mexico from 1911 to 1913, so his so-called secret book, which I translated into English, is in many ways quite illuminating.
This podcast is of my interview with Greg Williams, executive director of the Rock Art Foundation. It was recorded on August 30, 2014 at Meyers Spring Ranch on the conclusion of a four hour tour of the rock art there and of the restored house of the military commander at Camp Meyers.
Meyers Spring is one of a multitude of rock art sites in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands, a region around the confluence of the Pecos River and the Rio Grande and extending south into Mexican state of Coahuila— by the way, the native state of none other than Francisco Madero. In this region, to quote Harry J. Shafer in the introduction to his anthology, Painters in Prehistory: Archaeology and Art of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands, "Magnificent polychrome, pictographic images, panels, and murals exist that rival any in the world."
Meyers Spring, which I toured with the Rock Art Foundation, is on private property a few miles drive from the tiny border town of Dryden, Texas. To quote from the Rock Art Foundation's website, rockart.org, "Meyers Spring is an isolated water hole in the arid lands west of the Pecos. Brilliant red paintings overlook a permanent pool of water sheltered only by a shallow overhang. Although faded remnants of much older pictographs can still be detected, the majority are attributable to Plains Indians who were latecomers to the region."
You can view pictures of Meyer Spring and other rock art sites on the website rockart.org, and for more about the rock art I can also recommend the books Painters in Prehistory, edited by Harry J. Shafer, and Rock Art of the Lower Pecos by Carolyn E. Boyd.
Before we go to the interview with Greg Williams, executive director of the Rock Art Foundation, an apology for the sound. There's a bit of a roar which would be the very necessary air conditioner. This was recorded in the kitchen of the ranch house so people were coming in and out and there was some target shooting going on from the porch. I managed to edit out most of the shooting, but you'll still hear a few pops.
I would like to dedicate this podcast to my friend and neighbor in Tepoztlán, Mexico, Patty Hogan, because Patty, I am so grateful to you for putting me in touch with the Rock Art Foundation.
[MUSIC]
C.M. Mayo: Most people that I've talked to have never heard of rock art in this area, and yet there's a lot of it, and it's really important. Why is that?
Greg Williams: Probably the best way I could explain it is explain to you what happened to me. In 1991 in my business I was trying to have some photography done, and so I looked in the phonebook and I saw a man named Jim Zintgraff who is a well-known San Antonio photographer. I hired Jim, and we went out to a photo shoot, and the conversation kind of waned, and my son and I had been camping in West Texas for years, and so the only thing I really knew about that I thought Jim might be interested in is I brought up West Texas, and it went from there. Jim was the director of the Rock Art Foundation then. Jim passed away eight years ago and I became director following him. But what happened is this gentleman brought me and my wife to West Texas to see things that I had never even known about, and they were the remnants of a past culture, a culture that had existed in the Lower Pecos region of West Texas, which is the confluence of the Pecos and the Rio Grande, for twelve thousand years.
I had no idea that people lived out here for that long, And so we wandered around and we looked at the remnants of that culture. We looked at their lifeways, through the floors of these dry rock shelters, and we looked at their language, the stories that they wrote for us on the walls of these shelters, and we didn't know what they meant. You'd have to be in the mind of the artist to find that out, but you could sit and wonder about these folks who lived so long ago here and how hard the life must have been for them, in our context. For them it probably was not quite so difficult at all. They had plenty of food, plenty of water.
But what they left behind was remarkable and it's called rock art. It's a book, it's a story. Some of the images out here in West Texas, you can call them the oldest known books in North America. They are thousands of years old and as we look at cultures of people that exist today, the Huichol in northern central Mexico, the Native American populations around the country, and we look at their art, and we look at this four thousand-year-old ancient art that we have here, we begin to see similarities. We see Lower Pecos images in Mayan art, we see it in Aztec art, and by making all those comparisons you can kind of start to believe that you understand what these people have written, and what's in their book that they've left us.... CONTINUE READING THIS TRANSCRIPT
> Listen in to this interview as a free podcast on podomatic
> Or listen (also free) on iTunes
> Visit the Marfa Mondays webpage for many more podcasts
> Your COMMENTS are always welcome. My newsletter goes out soon; I welcome you to sign up here.
Ignacio Solares' Short Story "Victoriano's Deliriums" Translated by Yours Truly in the Lampeter Review
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| This issue #11 of The Lampeter Review includes a masterful short story by one of Mexico's greatest writers, Ignacio Solares. |
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| Ignacio Solares |
> Read the complete issue on-line here.
> And for the free PDF download, click here.
Ignacio Solares' masterful short story "Victoriano's Deliriums," enters into the points of view (and what may or may not be some hallucinations) of the dying general and ex-President of Mexico, Victoriano Huerta.
A little background: In 1913 General Victoriano Huerta led the coup d'etat that overthrew Mexican President Francisco I. Madero. A wealthy Coahuilan businessman and ardent Spiritist, Madero had led the 1910 Revolution, then campaigned for and won the presidential election in 1911. As President, Madero had trusted General Huerta, a fatal mistake. Huerta's own rule was troubled and brief. In 1914 he fled for Europe and then on arriving in El Paso, Texas he was arrested. Huerta died there in early 1916 from cirrhosis of the liver, while under house arrest.
IGNACIO SOLARES is one of Mexico's best-known literary writers. Among his many works are the novels Un sueño de Bernardo Reyes; Madero, el otro; El Jefe Máximo; and El sitio, which won the prestigious Xavier Villaurrutia Prize. Born in Ciudad Juárez, he now lives in Mexico City where he is editor-in-chief of La Revista de la Universidad, the magazine of the Mexico's National University.
> Your COMMENTS are always welcome. I will be sending out my newsletter shortly; I welcome you to sign up for it here.
Transcript of the Marfa Mondays Podcast #16: "Tremendous Forms: Paul V. Chaplo on Finding Composition in the Landscape"
Marfa Mondays 16: "Tremendous Forms: Paul V. Chaplo on Finding Composition in the Landscape" was posted as podcast (listen in anytime on podomatic or iTunes) back in January, but the transcript has just been posted here.
I'm aiming to post transcripts of all my podcast interviews, both the Marfa Mondays and Conversations with Other Writers (for the latter, so far, transcripts are available for Rose Mary Salum and Sergio Troncoso). Stay tuned for Marfa Mondays 17, an interview recorded in Fort Davis with Texas historian Lonn Taylor.
> Your COMMENTS are always welcome. My newsletter goes out soon; I welcome you to sign up here.
P.S. If you want to just follow the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project and related posts, check out my other blog, Marfa Mondays.
A Shoutout for the Authors Guild
I'm always encouraging fellow writers to join the Authors Guild for the legal services and the invaluable Model Trade Book Contract and Commentary (we're talking super crunchy boilerplate, much more than is available on the webpage, and whether you work with an agent or not, yes, you can keep your wits about you when they start talking about subrights clauses that sound like Masonic incantation). But it does cost more than the price of a hamburger dinner for seven to join, and I was just thinking, gosh, they really should offer a member directory with a little more oomph, when lo, that very invitation to fill out my new page arrived in the inbox!
It was easy to do and it is elegantly designed. If you join, your page would like this this:
My one criticism of the Author's Guild is that it's oriented toward those with traditional publishers, yet these days, increasing numbers of even the most impressively published writers are becoming "hybrid," that is, going to ye olde publishers for some works, and self-publishing others as Kindles, PODs, and more. No doubt, I am one of many authors, whether current or prospective members of the Authors Guild, who would warmly welcome more information and support for the latter.
That said-- so I hear from other members-- the Authors Guild author webpage services (check out Neal Gillen's and Sara Mansfield Taber's) and Backinprint.com program (see Sophy Burnham's The Art Crowd, for example) are very good.
> Your COMMENTS are always welcome.
It was easy to do and it is elegantly designed. If you join, your page would like this this:
 |
| Author's Guild Member Page for Yours Truly |
My one criticism of the Author's Guild is that it's oriented toward those with traditional publishers, yet these days, increasing numbers of even the most impressively published writers are becoming "hybrid," that is, going to ye olde publishers for some works, and self-publishing others as Kindles, PODs, and more. No doubt, I am one of many authors, whether current or prospective members of the Authors Guild, who would warmly welcome more information and support for the latter.
That said-- so I hear from other members-- the Authors Guild author webpage services (check out Neal Gillen's and Sara Mansfield Taber's) and Backinprint.com program (see Sophy Burnham's The Art Crowd, for example) are very good.
> Your COMMENTS are always welcome.
Cyberflanerie: Solitario Dome Edition
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| Inside The Solitario Photo: C.M. Mayo March 2015 |
Meanwhile, a few links about the latter:
Chase Snodgrass's flight over the Solitario:
by Jean Evans Hardy, Iron Mountain Press, 2009
(Whoa, call the chiropracter, I brought this one home in my carry-on.)
Geology of the Solitario
by Charles E. Corry, et al. Geological Society of America Special Paper 250, 1990.
"Igneous Evolution of a Complex Laccolith-Caldera, the Solitario, Trans-Pecos, Texas:
Implications for Calderas and Subjacent Plutons"
by Christopher D. Henry, et al. Geological Society of America Bulletin, August 1997
(Super-crunchy PDF)
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| Google Maps screenshot |
Megan Hicks, The Big Bend Paisano, Winter 2004/2005
(PDF)
"Geology at the Crossroads"
By Blaine R. Hall, Big Bend Ranch State Park
(PDF)
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| Entering the labyrinth of the Solitario via Los Portales (That's my guide, Charlie Angell, he's the best, check him out on Tripadvisor.com) Photo: C.M. Mayo, March 2015 |
>Your COMMENTS are always welcome.
>Listen in to all the Marfa Mondays Podcasts anytime. The most recent is "Tremendous Forms: Finding Composition in the Landscape," an interview with Paul V. Chaplo, author of the magnificent Marfa Flights.
Sergio Troncoso on El Paso, Flannery O'Connor, Borges at Harvard, Zyklon-B, and Our Lost Border
There is also a transcript of my podcast interview with Rose Mary Salum.
More podcasts and transcripts of same are in-progress-- coming soon, more Marfa Mondays.
> Your COMMENTS are always welcome.
Cyberflanerie: Amusingly Strange Edition
OK Go Pilobolus dance video (hat tip to Swiss Miss)
More dancing, with pixels.
So what is Texas? One more mediation thereupon.
Field Lab blogger in Terlingua recites his poem, with pet longhorns.
Frank Chimero on what screens want.
>Your COMMENTS are always welcome.
Tax Forms Filing Tricks and Tips
It's that time of the year again, when business houses, individual workers and families are gearing up to pay their dues to the Government, and be the law abiding citizen of the United States. As the date of April 15th, is inching closer upon, you might need to get the perfect assessment of all the taxes due and how much can you save this time around.
For all specific tax guidance and other financial advice that pertains to your organization, one can get in touch with your financial accountant for the perfect guidance. It is important for you to know the exact details of filling out tax forms.
Read below to know more about the tax filing process:
Organize all your records
It is very important to gather all the necessary documents before you fill the tax form or the estimate forms. This will include everything from important receipts for cancelled checks. Essentially, one needs to collect all the documentation that supports claims on your returns, such as income or deductions. If your company is like most organizations, the number of necessary records will be massive, and located in several different places, so start compiling these papers well before tax time approaches.
Decide how you will you go about to file the records
Remember that while you are filing your taxes, there is no one particular way to file, but keep in mind that it is an absolute requirement. Figure out what is more helpful for your organization, you can get yourself equipped with tax filing software for better assistance. Avoid errors and omissions as they can hamper your filing process and is also mentioned in the guidelines depicted by the IRS.
Never forget to Analyze
There is an old saying that goes like, 'Hurry and a Spicy Curry Makes a Man Worry. Do not rush on to filing the tax returns as you might miss on some important points while doing so. Mistakes are easy to make on your returns if you aren't paying attention to detail. Always double-check all the Social Security numbers, calculations, and other final details before you submit your return. Pick the accurate tax form or estimated forms. Some may require the W-Form or the popular 1099 form. Keep in mind that, if you make a mistake, your return will be delayed in processing. But not to worry, get in touch with the IRS as soon as you pinpoint an error.
Alex is a seasoned writer covering various topics on Banking, Finance and Accounting. For more information on tax forms please visit http://www.lyonchecks.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alex_Steven
http://EzineArticles.com/?Tax-Forms-Filing-Tricks-and-Tips&id=8921297
Taxes and Wealth
By Evelyn Ivy
If there is one thing I can guarantee in life, it will be that you are going to pay taxes. The way taxes are treated for individuals are different from the way it is treated as a business. As a wage earner you have the least control of when and how you get taxed. Running your business through a legal entity gives you more flexibility. This is one area you will want to consult an expert as to what entity lets you keep more of your hard earned cash.
Taxes play a big role in any wealth building strategy and the amount you pay depends on how you earn income. In this article I talk about earning income as a wage earner, sole proprietor, general partnership, C corporation and S corporation.
Wage earner
A wage earner is someone who works for a business and in return receives wages or salaries. As a wage earner, your employer is obligated to withhold some of your earnings for taxes. Your employer is also required to pay half of your social security and medicare taxes. Social security and medicare taxes are savings accounts enforced by the U.S. government in which you reap the benefits when you are 65. In addition, your employer has to pay federal and state unemployment taxes on your behalf. The unemployment tax acts as a buffer to keep you from becoming destitute if you lose your job.
A wage earners deduction for business expenses are limited to 2% of wages, which is something you don't run into if you have a business. Moreover, if you do not have enough expenses to itemize you lose the deduction. As an employee you are dependent on your employer for structuring your salary in a way that saves you the most money. Benefits like health insurance or expenses, reimbursable expenses, retirement benefits and fringe benefits* all have different tax consequences depending how it is structured.
*A fringe benefit is a form of payment for services rendered. For example, lodging on your business premises, using a business car for personal use, employee discounts, etc.
Sole proprietor
By default when you start your business you are a sole proprietor. As a sole proprietor 100% of your income is subject to self-employment tax. Self-employment tax can be compared to payroll taxes for the wage earner and consists of medicare and social security taxes. Unlike the wage earner where the employer pays half of the payroll taxes, you are responsible for paying 100% of your self-employment taxes.
On the other hand, you do not pay taxes on every penny you make because you are allowed deductions for expenses. Even though you have a little more flexibility than the wage earner when it comes to structuring transactions, the sole proprietor is still subject to the highest overall tax rate when compared to other legal entities.
General Partnership
A general partnership works like a sole proprietorship with more than one owner. The IRS does not consider partnerships as separate from its owners. Partnerships are considered pass through entity. This means that all profits pass through the business directly to the partner's tax returns.
Partners get taxed on their income whether they receive it or not. Like a sole proprietor, if you are actively involved in running the partnership, you pay self-employment taxes on your income.
C Corporation
Unlike a partnership, a corporation is not a pass through entity and pays its own taxes. Corporations are the best form when it comes to getting the most tax advantage for fringe and employee benefits.
Corporations are also great if you will like to go public or keep the earnings in your business. The first $50,000 of profits are taxed at a 15% tax rate which is probably less than the tax rate of the shareholders/owners.
The big problem with the C corporations is that if the shareholders choose to distribute profits rather than retain it in the business, they get taxed again on their personal tax return. This is called double taxation - shareholders get taxed on the corporate level and then on their personal tax returns.
S Corporation
Due to the fact that corporations are double taxed on earnings, most small businesses choose to form the S corporation. An S corporation is not a legal entity but an election made with the IRS. The S corporation combats the problem of double taxation.
When the election is made, the S corporation agrees to pass the corporate income, losses, and deductions to the individual shareholders. The shareholders are then taxed at their individual tax rate.
Unlike a general partnership or sole proprietor the S corporation only pays self-employment taxes on wages paid to shareholders and not on all income made. In addition to self-employment taxes, the S corporation also has to pay unemployment taxes on wages. The net left over flows through to the shareholders and is taxed at their personal tax rate thereby alleviating the problem of double taxation. The S corporation has the potential to save shareholders the most taxes when compared to other structures.
There are other variations of entities but I have discussed only the sole proprietorship, general partnership, C corporation and S Corporation here. Forming a legal entity has the potential to save on taxes. No wealth planning strategy is complete without planning for taxes. If you do not plan taxes in advance you can pay up to 50% of your income in taxes. So much for working hard!
As always contact your Certified Public Accountant for more specific advice.
Teaching freelancers and consultants how to gain financial freedom with their business. For more visit http://lifestylecpa.com/
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Tax Treatment of Funding in a Corporation
The C Corporation is a legal entity most small business owners overlook. Depending on your personal circumstance it might be the most tax beneficial entity for you. In this article I look at how to treat shareholders contribution in a corporation.
Capital contributions
A corporation could receive money from shareholders either in exchange of stock or as an additional price paid for existing stock. When money or property is received in exchange of stock neither gain or loss is recognized by the corporation. Moreover, the gross income of the corporation does not include shareholders contributions.
In the same way, additional money received as pro rate transfers do not increase the income of the corporation. When shareholders elect to receive additional funds with no exchange in stock, the contributions represent an additional price paid for the existing shares. The contribution increases the operating capital of the corporation.
Basis of capital contributions
The basis of property received from shareholder as capital contribution is the same as the basis of the property when it was owned by the shareholder. Adjustments are made if the property donated is a loss property.
Debt funding in a corporation
Sometimes, shareholders might choose not to contribute their money as equity but rather fund the business with debt. If debt is chosen as an instrument of funding, care has to be taken to document the agreement formerly. Like equity funding, debt funding is not considered income to the corporation.
The advantage of debt over stock is interest on debt is deductible by the corporation, while dividend payments are not.
On the shareholder side, the loan repayments are not taxable to the shareholders unless the payment exceed basis. Furthermore, dividends are taxed at a lower rate when compared to interest payments.
Reclassification of debt as equity
If a corporation is thinly capitalized, the IRS can re-categorize debt as equity. U.S. Code � 385 - Treatment of certain interests in corporations as stock or indebtedness lists several factors that may be used to determine if a debtor creditor relationship exists. Some factors to consider are:
- Is the debt instrument in proper form? If you have a revolving debt account with no formal documentation, your contributions are more likely to be treated as capital contributions rather than debt.
- Is there a reasonable rate of interest?
- Is the debt paid on a timely basis?
- Are debt payments dependent on earnings?
- Is the debt treated equally with other debt in the corporation?
In summary, debt and equity are two ways to fund a corporation. An equity investor carries greater risks in that there is no guarantee of ever getting your investment back. As an equity investor, you are the last to get paid if the business fails. Even though debt funding carries its own risk, it is less than the risks borne by equity investors.
Lastly, due to the tax benefits of loans, there are sometimes more desirable but care should be taken to follow a formal process.
As allows consult your Certified Public Accountant for more specific advice.
Teaching freelancers and consultants how to gain financial freedom with their business. For more information visit http://lifestylecpa.com
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Requirements From a Business Tax Accountant
A business tax accountant is required for several tasks. The most important task among them is to fill the tax returns. As your business enters a new year, you would require the service of him. He knows all the legal ways that would reduce your taxes. So, go for a tax accountant to see more benefits in your business. But before that, you have to make a deep research that would enable you with the knowledge to choose the right one. The article describes the ways to choose a tax accountant.
As there are lots of legal boundaries connected to the task, a tax accountant should have enough knowledge about the legal rules. If he does not posses that, your business will not have proper tax returns. Above all, various kinds of legal issues can arise out of it. They are all specialized in specific fields and to earn benefits in your business, you have to go with someone who has some previous experience. It is always a wise decision to choose organizations because besides the rules of government, they have to follow the rules created by them.
Most of the business tax accountants are very busy. This is why they transfer their work to other accountants who may not be efficient at this work. So, before giving the responsibility, you should know who is going to do the work. His responsibility does not end with filing the taxes. He has to guide you with the investments that you are going to make in your business. It is his task to prevent you from investing in unnecessary things. He has to investigate the data and documents of your business and should understand the requirement of your company.
To run a business, you have to fulfill several requirements. Apart from the capital and manpower, marketing can also be enlisted in the list of business requirements. No matter, how big your business is, it needs a marketing strategy. Without it, your business can not get the expected success. Every big business has its own marketing plan. This is why, it has become essential to have proper planning for small businesses. It will help you with marketing equipment like logos, statements, slogans, business offers, business calls, etc. Even, you can have them placed in exact platforms. You can avail various types of software and resource books to make proper marketing planning. There are several companies that can make beneficial small business planning and can provide you with experienced business tax accountants. To select one, you have to keep the above mentioned points in your mind.
Are you searching for Tax Accountant in Melbourne then contact us http://www.kpgtaxation.com.au It is your ultimate solution of any kind of taxation services
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10 Ways to Find Cheaper Home Insurance
Looking for cheap home insurance? Well, if the price sounds too good to believe, here are a few red flags when making a buying decision.
1. If you are offered The Texas Fair Plan, be warned. This is a state funded bare bones policy, that usually doesn't include coverage for falling objects and sudden discharge of water, to name some. To qualify for the policy, you must have been denied coverage by three other companies first. Sure, the price might be good, but you are sacrificing coverage. And if this type of home policy isn't being explained to you by the Agent, beware!
2. The Dwelling Reconstruction coverage is not only to rebuild or repair your home at the current cost of labor and materials, not including discounts a builder might get, but also the cost to remove debris, including the slab and driveway. Review the reconstruction calculation with your agent.
3. Often times the lender will request that you purchase a home policy with dwelling coverage that is equal to or more than the loan. However, the policy only covers the cost to rebuild or repair and it's very possible that cost will not be enough to cover the loan. The bank would never be paid directly from the insurance company to pay off the loan. Plus, the land will always be there and is often the most expensive part of the home purchase. So, discuss this issue with your lender.
4. Try to bundle your policies for a discount. However, this is not always cheaper. Compare.
5. A roof less than 5 years old can often get you a discount.
6. An burglar and fire alarm monitored by an outside source may get you a discount. Often, proof required is a bill from the service that you use. Just because you have the alarm doesn't get the discount, but having it working service is what gives you the discount.
7. If you have a woodframe home, upgrading to hardi plank, brick or stucco could get you a discount.
8. If you home is 35 years or older, replacing 100% of the wiring and plumbing could get you a discount, or at least more companies to get quotes from to compare. Often times, proof is required. Either a copy of the invoice and payment made will work, or a letter from the licensed contractor would be considered proof.
9. Professional discounts are sometimes available, according to your type of profession. Proof would be a copy of your degree, license or certification.
10. Always ask for ways to lower your premium or other discounts available.
For more information, visit http://www.lormsinsuranceservices.com
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10 Things to Know Before Purchasing House Insurance
Getting a life, medical, or car insurance seems like a no-brainer. But turn the scene over to house insurance and there aren't many takers.
It's commendable that you've decided to purchase home insurance. The right scheme will keep both your home and its contents insured, and help ease your worries in case of any unfavorable and unforeseen circumstances.
Here, we discuss 10 important points to keep in mind before purchasing home insurance.
1. Don't Settle for Just Any Insurance Company
The market has many insurance companies vying for your attention, providing you with a wide variety of options. Then why pick the first home insurer that pitches to you?
Typically, you should shortlist three to four home insurers and then wisely choose the one with the strongest financial credibility.
2. Take the Right Call on the Coverage
You need to make sure you're covered for the right amount. Your insurance provider will typically determine how much coverage you'll need. But ultimately, you should take the call, as it will determine the sum you'll have to pay in case of a calamity.
The better the coverage, the lesser you'll have to pay.
3. Choose the Tenure of Your Coverage Wisely
You have two choices typically, annual and multi-year coverage. Opt for the annual coverage if you'd like to revisit your insured sum every year, to know if it meets your needs. A multi-year coverage, on the other hand, helps you avail great discounts.
4. Protection for Both Home and Contents
It's important for you to know that both your home and your belongings can be protected by your home insurance scheme. Ask your home insurer to provide you with the best possible scheme.
5. Home Insurance Covers a Wide Range of Incidents
The insurance can cover a wide range of incidents, including burglary, fire, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, landslides, lightning, explosion of hazardous materials, and so on. Knowing these cases will help you understand when you can file for claims.
6. The Few That Aren't Covered
If your property is illegal, you can't file for claims. The insurance scheme becomes void if you or your domestic staff have been directly or indirectly involved in an incident causing loss or damage.
7. Your Home's Reconstruction Value Matters
The insured sum is based on the reconstruction value of your home and not the market value. Reconstruction value takes into account the cost incurred after damage. The value of your home's contents is based on the future depreciation value.
8. Quality of Insurer's Service Matters
You don't want to be chasing your insurer at a time of loss or damage to your house and belongings. The least you should expect is an understanding and friendly insurer helping you at such a time.
9. Your Home Insurance Needs a Relook Every Year
Check with your insurer every year if the sum insured is adequate. You may have remodeled your house, added a room, or opted for new insulation. These costs will finally add up and your insured sum may fall short.
10. Understand What's In Your Home Insurance Policy
You should know what's written in your home insurance policy, since it is an acknowledgment of your rights and responsibilities as an insurer. Make sure to keep it safe and easily available for whenever you'll need it in the future.
Hi I am Abishek Kumar, blog writer by profession with commonfloor.com. CommonFloor is India's leading online real estate platform that combines property search, apartment management and vendor management, thereby catering to consumers' complete residential needs. I provide tips and suggestions on property investment, real estate basics, and community living. For more property related queries, you can visit http://www.commonfloor.com
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What Is the Replacement Cost of Your Home?
The market values of homes are on the increase again. Thank goodness! Considerations such as the economy, interest rates and supply & demand have a huge impact on how much a buyer is willing to pay for a home. So what does that have to do with determining how much you should be insuring the replacement cost of your home for? Really- very little! Once you realize that "market value" and "replacement value" are like apples and oranges, understanding what goes into calculating the replacement cost of your home will make a little more sense. So what affects "replacement value?"
- Cost of Material and Labor. Building materials and cost of labor fluctuate according to many factors. Did you know that the cost of building materials was deeply affected by storms such as Katrina and Hurricane Andrew? In the recent economy, labor prices have been a bit lower but the cost of materials continues to rise.
- Age of Home and Building Quality. Ever heard the phrase- they don't make things like they used to? Older homes had different building materials and techniques utilized such as lathe and plaster walls instead of drywall, 2"X6" lumber instead of 2"X4", and many other differences that can significantly impact how much it costs to "replace" it. Please note- insurance contracts vary- if you think in the case of a large loss, your home will be re-built to the same standards you currently have; be sure to ask your agent as most insurance contracts will rebuild using currently accepted methods of construction.
- Change in Building Codes. You don't have to have a very old house to be affected by the constantly changing building codes implemented by local government. They may require for example that if a fire damages a certain percentage of your home; you must add a sprinkler system that you did not have before. You need to have enough "Law or Ordinance" coverage to comply with these requirements.
- Location, Location, Location. Whereas "market value" is affected by the size of the lot and view; replacement cost does not include land so the main location consideration is accessibility and slope of the land. This affects the ease to rebuild and therefore the cost. So for example, if you live on the side of a hill, the cost to rebuild will be much higher than if you are located on flat ground.
All of this can be very confusing for anyone trying to properly insure his or her home. When market values are high such as what we experienced in the early 2000's; replacement cost seemed for most people to be low. (My home is worth more than that!) But- when market values are low which we recently experienced after late 2007, the cost to rebuild can be much higher than the market value of your home including land! (My house isn't worth that!)
Insurance companies use specialized vendors to determine the replacement cost of a home. These vendors track building materials costs and labor costs by zip code and update them multiple times per year to more accurately assess the replacement value of a home. Your agent uses these tools to determine the replacement cost. The more detailed information they have on the type of countertops, floor coverings, number of fireplaces, etc.; the more accurate the calculation will be. If you haven't had your agent run that calculation in several years, now is a good time to make sure you have proper coverage.
Sharon L. Graeter, CPCU is Co-Founder and Director of Development for West Connect Insurance Solutions. She has been in the Insurance Industry for 35 years and is a contract expert. If you would like to receive her e newsletter, please sign up at http://www.sharongraeter.com
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