“Cultures Connected Through Music”
by Oscar Romero, given by the Highland Park Sister Cities
Foundation to Puerto Vallarta city officials in 2010..Chicago did not get the predicted heavy snowfall, but it was grey. In fact, everything was grey; everything but my mood.
Many years ago I learned that, “there is no such thing as bad weather, just a bad attitude and bad gear.” So, with the proper snow boots and a warm coat, we went out for a walk when most would have stayed in.
Art gallery owners were surprised to see us walk through their doors on what everyone, but Arthur and I, thought to be a bad day to be out and about. For us, one gallery’s display of brightly colored paintings served to quickly transport us to warm and sunny Mexico.
With all of the beautiful art, history and culture, not to mention the culinary delights of Mexico, it is not hard to understand why five Illinois cities have a Sister City in Mexico. Chicago is connected to Mexico City, which was founded by the Aztecs 688 years ago on March 13, 1325, and known as Tenochtitlan. Chicago Heights’ sister is Cedral. Hanover Park’s sister is in Valparaiso; Highland Park is one to Puerto Vallarta; and Naperville’s is in Patzcuaro.
More than 20 years ago, I was in Puerto Vallarta on an all-inclusive vacation that had me wearing an armband to identify the type of services I was to receive. Tourism has come a long way since then, especially because of the Sister City relations that the U.S. has in Mexico.
As Arthur and I continued to thaw out in this Chicago art gallery, which also featured traditional Spanish guitar music, we chatted about how Mexico was once called New Spain. It was ruled in the 16th century from Mexico City after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.
New Spain included all of present-day Mexico and U.S. territories west of the Mississippi, plus Florida. Five hundred years ago this past week, on March 3, 1513, conquistador Juan Ponce de León began his expedition that would lead to what he called the “flowery land” or the popular winter getaway state of Florida.
We also noted that in many ways Americans are very much influenced by Spanish or Mexican cuisine, especially when we realize that the mandatory turkey at the all-American Thanksgiving dinner was originally from Mexico. In the early 1500s, wild turkeys were brought from Mexico to Europe. After domesticating them in Europe, the English colonists then brought turkeys back with them to the New World, but they arrived farther east on the Atlantic seaboard in Massachusetts, about 2,500 miles from Mexico, where the turkey had begun its travels.
In 1784, Benjamin Franklin wrote of his preference for the wild turkey as the nation’s national bird, not the bald eagle. Ironically, according to American laws, bald eagle feathers cannot be exported, so the stereotypical Indian headdresses made for foreign consumers often contained turkey feathers.
Painters in the 19th century of Western scenes often mistakenly placed feather headdresses on Indians no matter what tribe. East coast tribes did not wear this type of head gear, but rather those of the plains. In addition, many painters confused their historical periods and placed a conquistador of the 16th century with pilgrims of the 17th century at the traditional first Thanksgiving feast.
There are no cultural mistakes in the art which has been exchanged between Highland Park and Puerto Vallarta. In 2010, a wonderful mural was painted by Chicago artist Oscar Romero and given by the Highland Park Sister Cities Foundation to Puerto Vallarta city officials.
It is titled “Cultures Connected Through Music” and is on permanent display at the Ordaz International Airport. The world-renown pianist Jorge Federico Osorio, who was born in Mexico and is now a resident of Highland Park, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra stand on one side of the mural.
The Mexican Mariachis are on the other side. The theme is the United States and Mexico are connected by the universal language of music.
As Arthur and I ventured out once more into the grey Chicago day, leaving this delightful art gallery, we felt as if we had gone to Puerto Vallarta. I could hear the music playing in my head as we sloshed our way home to the beat of Mexico, and I felt warm inside. Art, music and sisters have a way of making you feel that way no matter what the weather is outside.
Laura C. Johnson is a freelance art historian who lives and works in Chicago and Florence, Italy. She is writing about the 40 Illinois Sister Cities in 33 countries around the world, one Postcard at a time. She can be reached at
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Postcard from Laura: March important in Mexico's history
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