Yvonne Chin rejected posts in Barcelona, Barbados and Vietnam to head up the Canadian Consulate in Guadalajara and says she has never regretted the decision for one moment.

Retired Yugoslavia-born astronomer Egon Beer, who has lived in Guadalajara for 27 years, gets up at 7 a.m. every morning and feeds the pigeons who visit his small patio before he settles into the routine that has been a fixture in his life for 41 years.

She has just three months under her belt as the head of Jalisco’s Secretaría de Cultura, the pivotal state agency that controls the state’s orchestra, choir, some museums and venues such as the Degollado Theater, but already Myriam Vachez has earned a reputation as decisive, affable and, yes, cultured.

Nesly Mombrun, originally from Haiti but now with 17 years of high-profile experience in Guadalajara, seems to produce arresting observations about culture, along with his sunny smiles, without even trying.

Remember that priceless scene in the 1967 film classic “The Graduate” when a zealous businessman collars the naïve protagonist Benjamin Braddock to offer a “just one word” of career advice? “Plastics,” declares Mr. McGuire. “Exactly how do you mean?” Benjamin asks. “There’s a great future in plastics,” McGuire replies solemnly.

Political analysts have kept themselves busy assessing the achievements (or non-achievements) of Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval, as the 42-year-old who ended 18 years of conservative rule by the National Action Party (PAN) hit the 100-day mark of his administration June 1.