Back in Chicago, reflecting on the border.

The tail end of my Border Studies Program experience was exhausting and memorable. It was sad to realize that I would soon be leaving the place I had become so accustomed to and began to fully prepare myself to go back to my life armed with this new knowledge. Completing final work was not nearly as strenuous as past semesters because information on the subject matter just flowed out of me. After being so totally immersed in our work, having something to show for it wasn’t too difficult.

Now that I’m back my border experience continues to be relevant in my everyday interactions. Whether its beginning to distrust NPR because of their funding from Monsanto and quoting of Assistant Secretary of Plan Mexico David T. Johnson as a reliable source about swine flu, or hearing the stories from a former farm worker in California’s Imperial Valley. It was surprising and incredibly interesting this past Mother’s Day to compare my experiences traveling through Yuma and southern California to those of a fellow celebration goer. This person worked the same fields in the early 1970s I had past by just a month ago. Things have changed a lot since his experiences there, when Bonzai runs were the way he got to work daily. The issues that I have studied these past few months continue to surround me here at home in the Southside of Chicago. I am so thankful that I pay so much more attention to these realities now!

Also, I’m cold.

Paz,

Viviana