Enjoying almost full support by his party as their presidential candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador stepped down from his post as Mayor of Mexico City, aka D.F. (Distrito Federal) to campaign for the presidency of Mexico in the 2006 elections against Felipe Calderón.

Útilies. It relates to school supplies, including notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons, paper, scissors… anything children need to get through the school year. Not a big deal for the middle class, but it can be a serious challenge to those of lesser means. López Obrador made it a campaign promise that útilies would be provided free to all children throughout Mexico, just as he did for the children of Mexico City while he was mayor.

Ángela Aguilar, daughter of legendary Mexican singer Pepe Aguilar, performs her acclaimed interpretation of the enchanting traditional tune "La Llorona" in the official video. Enjoy!

Antonio Vargas is a versatile Mexican artist living in Los Cabos. He has done cartoons, commercial drawings, paintings and a lot of sculptures. In this episode Antonio is going to show us some of his cartoons containing the adventures of Surfo.

Our surf-loving friend Antonio Vargas is a talented illustrator with a varied career. Here we see some of his more commercial work and some of what he does for fun—like an illustrated magazine and notebook doodles.

You may know the baraja española, the Spanish deck of cards, with its classic renderings of kings and knights in four suits. Our illustrator friend Antonio Vargas created a uniquely Mexican baraja with native imagery drawing from the pre-Columbian Aztec, Olmec, Toltec and Mayan cultures.

Antonio Vargas is a talented painter and sculptor. In this video, he’s going to show us his works, explain what they mean and how he made them. A self-portrait as a fish? His father in clay? It’s all here.

Karen gives us some preliminary tips on how to tell time in Spanish.

Karen's explanation of the names in Spanish of some common utensils used to consume food could come in particularly handy when ordering at a restaurant.

Karen teaches us some useful Spanish terms for school supplies.

Karen continues her look at some of the basic (and not so basic) materials found in the classroom.

Arriving in December of ‘71, a young Arturo Vega decides that it is New York where he is going to clavar, or stay put. His journey began in Mexico, where he began his artistic life as an actor and participant in experimental theater or “happenings”—an art form which was not well received by the powers that be in that country.

A little research tells us that the musical comedy Arturo did with Héctor Suárez at the Teatro de los Insurgentes was Sigue tu onda (Follow Your Wave), a Spanish language adaptation of a Broadway show known to American theater-goers as Your Own Thing. Soon Arturo himself would be heading to New York on a tip from Paul McCartney’s agent that he could land a spot in Hair...

As it turns out the young Arturo Vega, Mexican emigré actor and artist in New York, lived below a girl who was seeing a young man named Douglas Glenn Colvin (who would come to be known as “Dee Dee Ramone”). The two visionaries got to talking…

Arturo Vega is a big part of The Ramones’ history. We even have proof! Actually he was the one who designed the well known Ramones’ logo, which is one part presidential seal, one part outlaw biker. In this interview he tells us why they chose to be represented by an aguila.