THE BORDER STUDIES PROGRAM

Back in Chicago, reflecting on the border.

2009-05-21T11:23:00.001-07:00

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

Wrapping up Spring '09: reflections by Lily

2009-05-11T11:31:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone, my name is Lily Huang and I’m the Program Associate for the Border Studies program. This semester I worked with Riley, the Resident Director, Dereka Rushbrook, the professor of the Research Methods class, and Heather Craigie, the professor of the Field Study and the Borderlands: Theory and Practice class. I’m from Boston, MA and while I was studying at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, I did the Border Studies Program in 2006. I lived with a wonderful host family, the Garcias, in Ciudad Juarez, had classes in El Paso and Cd. Juarez and did my internship at Biblioteca Infantil, an afterschool community center, in Colonia Anapra in Cd. Juarez. When I returned to Vassar in the spring, I did a BorderLinks delegation to the Tucson and Nogales border with my class: Nation, God and Human Rights on the US-Mexico Border. Later in the summer, I received a fellowship to return to Juarez and continue teaching and organizing at Biblioteca Infantil.

Now everything has come full circle and I live in Tucson. As Ruben Martinez, the author of Crossing Over, wrote, “The border is all around us.” Like in Juarez and El Paso, here at the Tucson and Nogales border I see these border issues that I have always been interested in: immigration and migration, nationalism/racism/class-ism, and cultural fluidity and change. Studying on and now working here with the Border Studies Program has helped me conceptualize the border and all these issues in Boston, in Poughkeepsie, in Mexico City, in Oaxaca and, of course, in Tucson, especially in South Tucson where the majority of people of color and working class/working poor people live their lives. Because I have had such a history with the Border Studies Program, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions at lily.yimche.huang@gmail.com.

After following all my students and sitting them down to write their blog entries ;) from here to Chiapas, it’s now my turn to write about the retreat! The pilot program of the “Roots and Routes of Migration”spring semester was wonderful. All the seis reinas, Callie, Miriam, Vivian, Alice, Sonia and Jessye, were so funny, smart and ready to go. Before we left to go on the retreat, I attended their final project presentations for Riley’s class. Jessye prepared a touching service called “A Service to Honor Migrants” that included a beautiful sermon and prayer along with hymns. Vivian created a beautiful stencil of a Mexican campesino holding the Virgin of Guadalupe that is/looks like an ear of corn to honor food sovereignty/native seeds/campesinos. Alice wrote thought-provoking letters to President Obama on exploitative employee sanctions, to Secretary Napolitano on the Department of Homeland Security’s ineffective, or perhaps disastrously and fatally effective, philosophy and practice of “prevention through deterrence” and to the House of Representatives on the REAL ID Act and the repeal of it with the Border Security & Responsibility Act. Sonia and Callie created a jam-packed PowerPoint presentation on the myths surrounding immigrants and immigration. And, finally, Miriam was able to put everything together in an amazing Zine. Wow, I was so impressed.

Anyways, the next day, I picked up most of the girls early in the morning and we met up with Riley and Jessye at the Historic Y, where our office is located. We drove southwest towards Puerto Penasco aka Rocky Point to CEDO, the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans (http://www.cedointercultural.org/) located conveniently next to a beach. We arrived in Puerto Penasco, had lunch and went to CEDO. CEDO is a beautiful building that includes a museum, a library, rooms for their interns and other rooms for their visiting groups and other guests. We sat down with Alexis, the Field Education Intern, who gave us a great PowerPoint presentation about Tourism and Development in Rocky Point. She told us that the fishing industry will collapse in 50 years if fishing rates stay the same. Also that an average person spends 13,000 gallons of water per day while one gulf course uses 310,000 gallons per day or in the desert 1 million gallons per day. Afterwards the students spent their first free afternoon in a long time at the beach while Riley and I prepared a Thai-curry feast for all of us. It was a special night, sitting around the kitchen island, reminiscing about Orientation and first impressions, the month-long travel seminar through Chiapas and Oaxaca and everyone getting sick but still pulling through, the last days of finals and everything else.

The next morning and afternoon we were down to business. We met (on the beach) and had a verbal evaluation of the spring program because these students were the first students ever on the first spring program ever. They gave feedback on their field study sites and homestays, the structure of the program and its courses, and the schedules and lives. It was really helpful because it was obvious that they have been thinking about these things since the beginning of the semester and have really thought out their ideas and suggestions for future programs. Then while they filled out evaluations, Riley and I cooked again with the help of some of the students. In the late afternoon, we went on a kayaking tour with Alexis of the estuary and marine life. That was really fun and relaxing! We saw the extreme tide changes (the second biggest tidal difference in the world) and fiddler crabs and we beached many times in the middle of the estuary.

We ate bean burritos and drank Mexican soda on a little island, watched the sun set and then raced back to shore. At night, we had a bonfire and a closing ceremony. We all talked about our memories of people and events from the semester and how we can bring those memories back home with us. It was really nice to have closure or the closest thing that we can all get to closure. The next morning we juggled, played Frisbee, laid on the beach and swam. Alice and Jessye made a delicious veggie Pad Thai with almond sauce. We had a nice meal with a nice Tres Leches cake in honor of Sonia’s graduation from Lewis and Clark. We had our last moments in the beach, were rushed away by the rising tide and packed up to go back to Tucson. And that was the end of the Spring 09 semester.

Comparative trip to Yuma - San Diego by Alice

2009-05-06T12:13:00.000-07:00

We were presented with two choices for our "comparative border trip": East or West. It was designed to be a chance to see another part of the border besides Arizona, because, as we've learned, each sector had its own unique geography, political situation and human impact. We chose West, and set off for a weekend in Yuma, Arizona and San Diego, California.

First we stopped in Yuma to talk to an organization called Campesinos sin Fronteras, or Farmworkers without Borders. Two strong, inspiring women talked to us about their group's work organizing amongst migrant field workers, teaching about sexual health and nutrition and helping people find safe housing. They would intercept workers crossing the border at 3 a.m., go out to the fields with them, give talks on the buses, etc. The woman who now runs the organization was a strawberry picker herself for 13 years, and told us about being in the fields while planes flew overhead spraying clouds of pesticides on the plants and the workers. This is the sort of thing she now fights.

After an interesting lunch at a Chinese/Mexican restaurant, we piled back in the van and headed for California. Just over the state line, we visited a cemetery that housed the graves of many unidentified migrants who had died crossing the border. It was such a sad and stark contrast, seeing the grassy, shady patch at the front with well-tended marble graves, then at the back, a barren dirt plot with little bricks with only a number and "John Doe." Someone had left crosses on some of the graves reading "not forgotten" and "I love you."

We got back in the van and resumed our standard van activities—eating Pub Mix, sleeping and listening to music--until we got to our destination, the Quaker house in La Jolla, CA. We got to sleep on the floor of their cozy library, surrounded by books on non-violence. The next day we had a lecture about the California border, about how only the wealthy can get legal visas, about cross-border pollution and about the rampant drug trafficking. We then set off with local activist Dan Wateman to see the border for ourselves. The paranoia, militarization, excess spending and environmental destruction were shocking to see, but the worst by far was the destruction of Friendship Park. Since the early 70s it's been an important cultural meeting spot, a park on both sides of the border where family members could talk and hug through the fence, where people could chat and as the name suggests, make friends, and where groups held binational salsa and yoga classes. It was a place that resisted the doctrine of fear of the other. Now the Border Patrol is building a double wall, destroying Friendship Park. Dan stood in front of the bulldozers and blocked the construction for hours before they hauled him away. Why weren't there hundreds of people with him? Thousands?

We also had the unique experience of walking on the beach right up to where the border wall marches into the Pacific. Through the bars we could see families playing on the beach, buying snacks from a vendor, laughing and splashing. On the U.S. side, it was desolate, empty except for Border Patrol, construction vehicles and us.

That night we went to a community presentation about Friendship Park, and the next morning we climbed into the van at the crack of dawn and headed back to Tucson.

Callie here with an update!

2009-04-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

Callie here with an update! Since we returned from our month in Mexico and our week of spring break, we've been working with our various organizations. I'm working at Derechos Humanos (The Coalition for Human Rights) where I help spread the word about upcoming events such as our Citizenship Fair, May Day events, and Know Your Rights presentations. All of these are available to the immigrant population in Tucson to educate and empower. On a day to day basis, I've been answering phones, going to community meetings, and working at the abuse clinic which occurs twice a week. In particular, the abuse clinic has opened my eyes to how real discrimination and wage abuses can be for people working and living in Tucson. I've been able to take on a few cases of my own (mostly working with people who weren't paid for their work) and I'm happy to say that we've been pretty successful. I'm also working to design a bulletin for public distribution about Operation Streamline which Miriam described earlier in this blog.

Needless to say, we've been very busy. Although we did make time to drive to Nogales, Arizona to meet with the Border Patrol. There, we met Danny Rodriguez who has been working for the BP since 2000. He got his start in Yuma and was one of the agents who dealt with the Yuma 14, a border tragedy which we had read about in the book "The Devil's Highway". He showed us a Powerpoint presentation full of information and pictures of the history of BP, the weapons they use, drugs they've found, and latest technology for detecting people. We bombarded him with questions and he kindly answered them all for nearly 2 hours before taking us on a tour of the office. He showed us where agents check out their equipment, the room full of TV monitors broadcasting the various areas of the border, and the detention center where undocumented migrants check in and await their fate. After meeting with so many organizations who are against border militarization, it was important for us to hear from the other side in order to fully understand how border enforcement works.

Sonia wraps up the travel seminar

2009-03-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

The last week that we were in Mexico was filled with a variety of short trips. First we went to Nochixlan were we met with Jesus from the organization CEDICAM (Center for the Integral Development of the Mixteca). Jesus just won the Goldman award, which is like the Nobel Prize for environmental work. Jesus was a great speaker and helped us to better understand how NAFTA policies were affecting the Mexican countryside. We learned more about how and when chemical fertilizers were introduced and how that has affected the land. When we arrived, the group was working on building an adobe agricultural museum.

The following day we met with a women’s weaving coop in Teotitlan called Vida Nueva. The group formed as a way for single women to earn an income. The group is made up of primarily single women and has expanded to incorporate community projects focusing on the environment. The weavings they designed and made were beautiful. I was amazed how much detail they could do on those big weaving looms. They also showed us how they dyed the wool with different types of natural dyes. The most fascinating was how they used a ground up beetle to get the color red. If they mixed the beetle dye with lemon, the result was an orange-red color, and if they mixed the beetle dye with ash, it turned purple.

Thursday we visited a coop of thirteen organic coffee growers. We learned about what it means to be a fair-trade grower and why the world market price is actually higher per pound than the fair-trade price. I was surprised to learn that the grower makes up to 2 dollars a pound and the roasters, which are in the U.S., make 13 dollars a pound. This made me more conscious of my own coffee habits and which type of coffee I buy. In fact, this entire experience has made me even more aware of my consuming habits.

We followed the meeting at the coffee cooperative with a picnic by a lake. It was a beautiful spot in the same town where Benito Juarez was born. Benito Juarez was the only president to come from Oaxaca and you can see his bust everywhere. After lunch we went to UNOSJO (Union of Organizations of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca), where we learned a lot about the affects of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on crops in Mexico. In Oaxaca, there have been several cases of GMO contamination in native crops. Companies, and even the Mexican government, pushed GMOs during the green revolution because they were supposedly more productive. The organization spoke about the role women have in saving seeds and how new generations are not learning how to save seeds.

The travel seminar ended with a full day of processing and discussing actions we as a group can take to share what we have learned. I am excited about going back to Tucson to do hands on work at the Southside Day Laborers Center. After two months of receiving information, it will feel good to do something active. One focus of our processing sessions has been to connect what we have learned so far, so that we share it more articulately. We also focused on exploring, and making arguments for, all positions on migration and neo-liberal economic ideas, which has shown me how much I really have learned in the past month.

Alice's update: the group in San Lorenzo Victoria, Oaxaca

2009-03-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

Long drives put me straight to sleep, so mere minutes after leaving Oaxaca City for San Lorenzo Victoria in the Mixteca Baja region, I was snoozing away. When I woke up, I thought we had stumbled upon a vortex and warped back to the Arizona desert, as dusty hills and cacti surrounded us. After seven hours, a good amount of which was on curvy, dirt roads, we pulled into San Lorenzo--a small Mixteca village that had never had a delegation like ours before. Not knowing where our hosts lived, we leaned out the window and asked a random man sitting on the curb where to find Elba Galindo, and he waved us in the right direction. The household we all stayed in consisted of Elba, her son Josue and her granddaughter Quetzalli, which means ¨pretty girl¨ in Nahua. Throughout our stay, Elba taught us so much about the roles of guests and hosts, the effects of migration on families and the culture of a small, indigenous town. She served us a huge meal right when we arrived, and when Lily said “No, gracias” to seconds, Elba chastised, “When I’m at your house, I won’t say no to your food.” We all guiltily stuffed ourselves with amazing food for the rest of the stay.

By some stroke of divine luck, we arrived in San Lorenzo during it’s yearly fiesta for its patron saint. Thus, we were treated to all the festivities, including jaripeo (bull riding), a religious procession and a crazy dance party where men and women danced with pyrotechnic paper mache bulls on top of their heads that showered sparks on the crowd. We were especially captivated by the rodeo, as was the rest of the town. The corral was surrounded by little abuelitas in their traditional rebozos (shawls), young men showing off with giant glistening belt buckles and ten-gallon hats, and babies with ice cream smeared over their faces. Most of the riders were thrown off in a few seconds, but some managed to cling on, and strutted off proudly while everyone cheered.

Apart from the fiesta, we spent a lot of time with the family. Josue drove us in the back of his truck to see the family’s land, where they had corn, cows and chickens. As we walked along the dry river bed, he told us about how he had worked in the U.S. for five years, only to find that his wife had left him and their daughter upon his return. His father had also been working in the U.S., but came back when his finger was severed in a carpentry shop. He had returned to the U.S. not long before our arrival, to try to have surgery on his finger and collect some workman’s comp. As we’ve studied, employers of migrants in the U.S. often put production and speed over the health and safety of their workers, who have few rights or ways to speak out. Elba, though strong, talkative and funny, also clearly showed the pain migration has caused her family. With tears in her eyes, she told us that the American Dream helps families, but it also destroys them. Josue says if he gets the visa he’s applying for, he’ll return to the
U.S. as well.

But the weekend wasn’t about seeing people as victims. We also got to see some amazing forms of resistance. We met with a group called FIOB, that organizes and support indigenous people both in Mexico and the U.S., and got to see some of the projects they’ve started in the local communities. Elba was a member of a chocolate cooperative started by FIOB, and we got to see (and taste!) their labor. It’s great to see such empowering projects, which are possible alternatives to migration, but also hard to hear that although they were producing the chocolate, they had yet to find a market for it. Anyone want to buy delicious, traditional Oaxacan chocolate that supports a good cause? We also saw a project that had just started, growing mushrooms inside people’s houses in plastic garbage bags.

But I think what we all will treasure most about our stay was Quetzalli. Despite losing her mom and possibly her dad in the future, she was the happiest little two-year old we’d ever seen. She played with all of us, especially Riley, who she fell in love with. I guess it’s our responsibility to help make a world for her where families can stay together, everyone has enough to eat and the masses are clamoring for her grandmother’s chocolate.

Vivian's update from Oaxaca

2009-03-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hello again, it’s Vivian. Following a long bus ride from San Cristobal, we’re now in Oaxaca de Juarez, Oaxaca. Another place, of the few, where I’ve spent a significant amount of time. Once again I find myself reexamining my experience in spaces I’ve been in oh so many times within the past 8 years. My family frequently returns to Oaxaca because of an apartment that we own here. Next to Mexico City, it is the place I visit most. But because my family only owns an apartment here, and we have no family or roots here, my experience has been a very surface one. I’m pretty much a tourist who just happens to know the streets a bit better. For example, in 2006 during the uprising and formation of the Popular Assembly of Oaxacan Pueblos, or APPO, my family decided not to come back for a visit out of fear. Now being back here studying the situation directly,my experiences here make so much more sense, but also make the streets feel alive.

Since we’ve been here, we’ve met with several organizations that have helped me to understand what I saw leading up to the uprising and immediately after it occurred. On Wednesday we met with EDUCA, short for Alternative Education. This organization was formed following the signing and implementation of NAFTA in 1994. Their focuses include civilian participation in politics, know your rights campaigns, promoting community development and alternative economics. Within Oaxaca there are 570 municipios, similar to counties, most of which follow the community politics of Usos y Costumbres. Within each municipio, each pueblo follows four main `rules` in community politics and function, these include cooperative work, local assembly power, a system of cargos, or specific jobs, and fiesta. EDUCA helped to make our group recognize how these traditional political and social structures of pueblos within Mexico have been changed drastically by migration to the US. Miguel Angel Vasquez de la Rosa of EDUCA brought several interesting points to our attention involving migration. He described to us the Vicente Fox plan of La Enchilada Completa for Mexican workers within the US. This included a plan to regularize the status of workers in the US, create more jobs within Mexico, and decriminalize the Mexican presence within the US. Unfortunately this plan was never realized due to the climate of fear that followed 9-11.

Jumping themes completely, Miguel made an interesting point about mental decolonization within Mexico. Mexico continues to be a very racist and classist society long after the reign of New Spain. This was one theme that carried onto our next meeting with Comite 25 de Noviembre. There our speaker spoke about indigenous struggle to be recognized as valid communities functioning much differently within the nation-state of Mexico. I had not realized before how Eurocentric even Mexican politics as often they’ve completely disregarded indigenous ways of life. While it is impossible to generalize this to all situations, it helped me to understand the incongruity of indigenous movements within the preexisting political and economic structures imposed by the Mexican government.

In other news, I’m very excited to go home in a few days. I have been to both Mexico City and Oaxaca twice without going home to Chicago once. I know that going back home to be with my family after being in spaces we normally share will help to further put this whole trip experience into perspective... at least I hope so. ‘Til next time!

Update on the campo by Callie

2009-03-06T12:02:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to our blog! I forgot to introduce myself the last time I wrote about our time in Tapachula. I’m Callie Thompson, a Peace and Global Studies major at Earlham College. I’m from Louisville, Kentucky and unlike the rest of the group, this travel seminar marks my first experience in Mexico! Tomorrow we are off to another campo experience, this time to San Lorenzo Victoria, Oaxaca, which we have been told will be very different from our previous campo experience in San Caralampio. Last week, Riley wrote an entry about San Caralampio and the struggles it has faced as a community in light of NAFTA and after years of losing more and more of its sons and daughters to migration. Before we leave for our next campo experience, I’d like to reflect some more on our time in San Caralampio and introduce you to some of the amazing families we met.

When we arrived to San Caralampio, we were greeted by several of our host family members. The houses we stayed in for those two days were made of different materials depending on whether the family had children in the US sending home remittances or not. Don Flavio, for example, receives no remittances. In his home, sheets instead of solid walls section off rooms. Doña Julia and Don Candido, however, have two sons in the states and, therefore, have been able to afford two brick additions to their home among other purchases, such as a tractor.

One afternoon, Don Candido sat with us on the porch and pointed at all of the things that his sons’ remittances bought. Then he described the day his first son left for the States. He said it was too painful to watch him leave so instead, he grabbed his hat and went to his cornfields to escape. He hasn’t seen that son for ten years, his other for seven, and now his youngest is thinking of migrating for the second time. As the border becomes harder to cross, migrants end up staying in the US for good, fearing that leaving to visit home will mean they may never be able to successfully cross again.

Despite the holes left by those who have had to leave to support their aging parents and young children, the community remains strong in its resistance to selling its ejidos (communally owned land). Although the majority of crop profits are swept up by big businesses, the campesinos continue harvesting, though unsure of whether their corn will sell that year or not. They have continued raising cattle and selling even when the market prices are down. They are even trying to create their own organic fertilizer to replace the expensive ones that they were manipulated into using back in the 80s, which made their land chemical-dependent. These forms of resistance were inspiring to us. Overall, we were blown away by the strength and work ethic of the community members.

Miriam's reflections on the group's emotional visit to Acteal

2009-03-04T12:28:00.000-08:00

On our second day in San Cristóbal, we visited the massacre site, Acteal. Acteal is a small Tsotsil indigenous village that is a few hours outside of San Cristóbal. On December 22, 1997, 45 indigenous men, women, and children were brutally killed by paramilitary groups in their small village. The massacre became an internationally known tragedy. Acteal is the base for the social movement of the Abejas (The Bees). The Abejas are an indigenous group who lobbies for basic human rights for the indigenous people of Chiapas. Much like the Zapatistas, they believe that the land that they live on belongs to them and not the government or private companies and that healthcare, education, and food are not luxuries but basic human rights of which are not being fulfilled. As a political group, The Abejas are aligned with the causes and the work of The Zapatistas but remain a separate entity because they do not believe in taking up arms. They declare themselves to be a pacifist, peaceful, and faith based organization. Their name itself comes from the idea that bees are animals that organize but still have a queen. They say that their queen is god.

As you drive down the twisty roads through the Chiapas mountains, Acteal is marked by a sculpture named the pillar of shame, which was created by a Danish artist. As a memorial to those killed in the massacre, casts of faces and bodies of different ages tower on top of each other, making a clear mark on the landscape. Next to it, a large banner reads, ¨Montes Azules: No se vende nuestra tierra, agua, biodiversidad, el petroleo, son nuestros! (Don’t sell our land, water, biodiversity, petroleum, they’re ours!). Immediately you feel that you are standing in a place that has been through incredible struggle.

We had the incredible privilege to meet with some of the leaders of the Abejas. We sat in their headquarters, which is a small wooden room that is covered with posters about peace and in memorial of the men and women and children who were brutally killed just twelve years ago. They recounted the story of the massacre for us despite it clearly being a painful experience for them. Paramilitary soldiers attacked the small town of about 200 people one morning in December while many were gathered in the church praying. When the gunshots were heard, many tried to escape into the mountains and hide behind banana trees. Until sunset that evening, soldiers continued the attack with what they described to us as a rainfall of bullets. Because the surrounding area is scattered with Zapatista autonomous villages, there are many Mexican military bases close by. Despite this, no help came to Acteal for hours.

It was very clear that this massacre, this slaughter of 45 men, women, four of whom were pregnant, and children, was not an accident. Most believe that the government targeted Acteal in an effort to crush the Zapatista movement, with the understanding that Acteal was the headquarters of the Abejas movement. This was regardless of the fact that the Abejas has always been, and declared themselves as, a peaceful group. The government has taken no responsibility for the massacre and very few who took part in the planning and execution of the attack have been brought to justice.

It is incredibly important to note the United State’s role in this event. The massacre implemented low intensity warfare tactics learned at the School of the Americas, and in addition, the US has poured countless tax dollars into training and equipping the Mexican military. Some of the Abejas leaders brought us to the old church where their people were praying when the attack begin, the bullet holes in the wooden walls remain there. The community has since built a new, cement church. A large mural of the face of Jesus sits on the facade. The crosses, photographs, and plaques that are placed throughout Acteal and serve as a memorial to the lost loved ones cannot be ignored. Because Acteal is so small and so insular, during our meeting with the Abejas and our walk through Acteal you could feel the scar and pain from the massacre even though it’s been twelve years since the atrocity. In our meeting, The Abejas told us that despite their pain and struggle, they continue to work for peace and the rights of their people. It was incredible to see this sadness and oppression be transformed into such a forceful energy and strength to do good and to continue to work for peace.

The group arrives in San Cristóbal de las Casas

2009-03-03T12:03:00.000-08:00

We arrived from the Campo to San Cristóbal this past Tuesday, and since then we have had an exhausting but fascinating week meeting with different organizations, exploring the city, and getting sick. Our first day we got up early to meet with an organization called the Center for Economic and Political Research and Community Action (CIEPAC). We sat spellbound for three hours as Miguel Pickard explained the role of his organization in carrying out research on how economic policies and projects in Chiapas impact local communities. He had an incredible way of tying together much of what we’ve been learning about migration, the drug wars, US economic policy and militarization, and we all left having had numerous ‘light bulb’ moments as pieces fell into place in our minds.
That afternoon, in preparation for the next day’s trip to Acteal, we met with a group (The Human Rights Center Fray Bartolome de las Casas), which carries out research and provides legal support on many human rights abuse cases committed against citizens by the Mexican police, military and paramilitary groups. Through the discussion we learned about the tragedy that occurred in Acteal in 1997 where paramilitaries massacred 45 people (mostly women and children), and, to this day, the community still awaits justice to come to the perpetrators of the massacre. Within the tragedy we must acknowledge the role the United States played, as many of the tactics the paramilitaries were using were acquired at military schools in the US such as School of the Americas. Given the amount of US military aid pouring into Mexico at the time, it would not be surprising if the arms used in the massacre were paid for with US taxpayer money. Military aid is still on its way to Mexico in the Security and Prosperity Plan of North America, proposed by President Bush, allowing for the likelihood of more atrocities, like Acteal, to be carried out in the future.
Although we spent the afternoon learning about Acteal, it did nothing to prepare us for the emotions we would feel upon arriving to the site. The Pillar of Shame, a totem of human misery to commiserate December of 1997, greeted us as we unloaded from the van. Walking through a massacre site that had taken place within our lifetime was so strange and overwhelming. I kept thinking back to this penny activity we’d done on the first day of Heather’s class in which we’d been handed a penny and had to say what had happened to us in the year the penny was made. What had that coppery 1997 meant to me? To the community I was walking through?
It was so empowering to meet with the Abejas to see how, in the face of such a tragedy, the community had fought back (non-violently) and had continued its resistance by declaring itself an autonomous community and by not receiving government aid.

From Tapachula to San Caralampio -- update from Riley

2009-03-03T11:40:00.001-08:00

Tapachula was a powerful experience for everyone, and they said that it made the border in the north seem so much clearer and the walls so much higher. I gained a new appreciation for what Central Americans endure to arrive in the US and felt nothing but awe for the people making that journey.
After Tapachula we went on to spend 3 days in San Caralampio, an ejido that was established in the 1930s and whose small farmers have grown corn there for decades. Not only were the people wonderful to be with, they also told us many stories about how their livelihoods have been affected by NAFTA and corn imports, while their families and communities are severely impacted the high number of people migrating north. During a meeting with 25-30 youth from the community, mainly teenagers, all of them knew somebody in the US, several had already worked in the US, and a majority planned to migrate there in the future. We were certainly able to see how difficult it was for community leaders to organize in light of the emigration of young men and women, and how family, culture, and tradition were being uprooted by current economic models.

Next stop: Tapachula --Casa Belen and Padre Flor

2009-03-02T10:54:00.000-08:00

We took a flight to Chiapas from Mexico City on Friday and were greeted by Julio, our driver and our new favorite person. He drove us to Tapachula, a city near the border between Guatemala and Mexico. Upon entering the city, we were approached by a young man missing both forearms. He approached our group with a donation bag, which held with his elbows. Julio said that he had most definitely lost his arms to the trains that many migrants catch to make their way through Mexico. (Each time we visited the city, we saw many people with missing limbs, asking for money.) That first day, we went shopping for food to bring to the migrant shelter called Casa Belen where we would stay for two nights. Riley went to find water jugs and met us back at the van, arriving in style in the passenger seat of a huge semi truck full of water jugs. It was a big day for Riley.

When we arrived to Casa Belen, we were greeted by Padre Flor, the founder of Casa Belen and a Scalabrini priest who has received international recognition for his human rights work. Padre Flor is a small, barefoot, Italian man with a huge personality. His wears a long white robe and has a long white beard. He wears a large cross tucked into his belt (which someone once said is like a weapon in its holster). During our stay we had two long talks with Padre Flor in which he described his history, the history of immigration, and what sustains him in this difficult line of work. He told us many stories of the people he sees come through the shelter and says that people are forced to make up reasons to have faith and to persevere. During mass, he reminded everyone that their dignity as human beings is not determined by documents. Several migrants took communion, and as Miriam put it, it was very moving to see people take communion as if
to carry with them not only Jesus but also beauty and comfort on their long journey.

We ate meals with the migrants and if I could, I would retell the names and stories of everyone we met. Instead I’ll introduce Antonio, a young guy from El Salvador who had started his journey the day before we sat down with him at dinner. Throughout dinner he would look away, and I noticed his eyes welling up with tears. When the rest of the men left the table, he told us how much he hated to eat because he could not help but think of his 2 kids who wake up not knowing if they will eat that day. He has a 10 year old and a 9 year old who has
Downs Syndrome. He told us how nice it was to eat with us and thanked us for being kind. For Jessye, it was painful to know that he believed in the kindness of others and that such a sacred faith in humanity would probably not survive his journey to the States.

At night, we slept in rooms designated for human trafficking victims in bunk beds donated by USAID. It was strange to sleep in the beds where other women our age had fallen asleep with vastly different thoughts, realities, and nightmares that we could never understand. While moving into the shelter for 2 days and living with migrants has given us new insight that books and articles never could, we all know there is still much to learn and much to see before we can begin to understand the struggle to live that men and women face as transborder migrants.

First stop: Mexico City. Contextualizing the roots of migration.

2009-03-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

Hello, my name is Vivian Gentry. I go to Oberlin College in Ohio and am originally from Chicago. Despite my Chicago roots, I’ve spent a good chunk of my life in Mexico City. My mother moved from Mexico City to Chicago around 1980, so our family has frequently gone back to visit. I’ve had a chance to see Mexico City through my family’s eyes –what their daily life is like. On this trip, however, I’ve had the chance to see it in a very different light. First, by where our group stayed. An international hostel right off the Zocalo, or main square, is definitely not what I’m used to. In addition to the location still foreign to me after all these years, through the Border Studies Program I was able to see the city in a completely different way –one that I know I’ll explore further in the future.
In our time there, we went to the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico to talk with professors and students on the campus mall about Mexico’s economy and external debt. We also visited museums that taught us not only about Diego Rivera’s murals and their historical context, but also about student movements within Mexico. Frida, our wonderful guide, was able to give us a very full history of the student movements of the late 1960s as well as those between 1999 and 2000 through both her personal experiences as well as those of her family and friends. Their stories were very important to understand how the government’s view of students is applied today.
We also went to a press conference for the release of a book, which documents how Walmart has abused Mexico’s people economically, physically, and mentally. After the conference we had the privilege to meet with the director of PRODESC, the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Project, who participated in the investigation and writing of this book. The organization does amazing work throughout the country, and we were all completely impressed and humbled by the work they’ve already done.
Looking back, our time in Mexico City was very useful in navigating the rest of the country’s economic structure, and understanding how policies have been implemented, especially here in Chiapas, where I’m writing this entry. I’m glad to have had the chance to see Mexico City in a new way. Going back now is going to be so much more exciting than just a family trip. Frida, our guide, and all the people we spoke with truly have enriched my understanding of the massive city that is Mexico City, D.F.

Operation Streamline by Jessye Weinstein

2009-02-20T05:57:00.000-08:00

Operation Streamline, a taxpayer-funded Department of Homeland Security program, began in December 2006 as a measure to deter undocumented immigration. The way it works in theory is that undocumented migrants who are found in specific “enforcement zones” face immediate prosecution for up to six months in jail, and upon completion of their sentence, are formally deported with a newly developed criminal record. It is assumed that with this official finger wagging they will get the idea and never again attempt at “illegal entry.” The way it works in practice is slightly different. Every single day of the week, a room on the second floor of the Tucson Courthouse fills with people. The day I observed the proceedings there were 76 migrants with ten public defenders to represent their cases. Some of the public defenders had difficulty pronouncing their clients’ names, and one hadn’t even shown up that day, forcing his eight clients to be assigned on the spot to a new lawyer they had never before spoken to.
The men and women wore shackles around their wrists and ankles, and when called forward were forced to make their way as best they could to the front of the court. I say ‘as best they could’ because a combination of leg chains and shoes without shoelaces (standard safety precaution) makes walking quite difficult. Many migrants get detained in the desert, are processed and sent straight to court. It became clear from the way that many limped that there were still blisters and sprains that had not been attended to properly. One man on crutches had to ask for a wheelchair to bring him forward because his various shackles did not permit him use of his crutch.
The judge tore through the line of men and women. Are you guilty of illegally entering into the United States? One by one guilt was admitted. At the end of each round the judge would pause to ask if anyone had anything they would like to say. One woman stepped forward, allowing her voice to break only once as she spoke. There was a moment of silence as the translator turned to address the judge, “Please forgive me for having entered into your country. I only came because my two children are here and they need me.”

“Securing our nation’s borders from a potential terrorist threat and from the illegal entry of people, weapons and drugs is absolutely paramount.” –David Aguilar, Chief of Border Patrol.

At the end of the two-hour court hearing, all 76 had been sentenced, and in a single-file line they exited through a side door of the courtroom. The same proceedings happened yesterday, and the same will happen tomorrow and the day after.

Operation Streamline

big white shoes with tongues lolling, reaching forward as if
still thirsty from the desert

do you understand?

stand up if you understand.

a pause, as comprehension dawns through a black translation headset
then a clinking of leg chains as lines of big, white shoes shuffle to allow their brown owners to rise

andrés sanchez, jorge martinez
the names crunch like steel from mouths whose voices are strangled by neckties

does the cool of the court feel good after days in the screaming sun?
culpable, your honor

does the efficiency of our justice system astound you?
culpable, your honor

look at this courtroom. look at your benches. look at their benches. did you really think that by crossing a line you would suddenly not find yourself on the other side of the divide? did you really think that you would break free of your shackles?

culpable, your honor

It’s a warm 72 degrees here in Tucson. Please make sure to exit with all of your belongings. We hope you will remember us during your future travels, and may I be the first to welcome you to America.

do you understand?

Update from Miriam: Operation Streamline and Altar

2009-02-17T07:20:00.000-08:00

Hello, I’m Miriam Dolnick. I’m in Tucson by way of Earlham College, by way of Chicago, IL my home. This has certainly been a week of emotional tumults. We began last Monday by going to court to watch the process of Operation Streamline. Streamline is a program that started in 2005 and has been in Tucson for only the past year. It began with the intention of arresting and convicting in federal court a goal of 100 migrants a day who were caught crossing the border. The idea from border patrol’s standpoint is that convicting migrants and creating a criminal record for them will lower future border crossing due to the risk of greater consequences. Each day at the Tucson courthouse dozens of migrants are tried (last Monday there were 76 people) and given prison sentences from 3 to 180 days. When they are released, they are often intentionally separated from those that they have been traveling with, even driven hundreds of miles away from the location they were picked up in, in order to make their journey more challenging.
It is an extremely difficult process to witness. As soon as you enter the courtroom, the first thing that you notice is the sounds of chains. All 76 of the migrants that were on trial were handcuffed and in leg shackles. Being in the presence of 76 people wearing leg shackles is alarming in such an emotionally physical way. While sitting and watching this process I felt completely powerless. The fact that as witnesses we were forced to sit behind the United States prosecutors was also hard to stomach. The 76 migrants being tried were represented by no more than six lawyers who read the names of the men and women they were representing from a list at the beginning of the session. When the men and women who were on trial were asked questions (such as if they understood aspects of what was happening in the courtroom, what it meant to be pleading guilty, etc., all of which was difficult for anyone who had never seen the process before to understand) they had to respond in unison (sí or no), if someone had a question they were asked to stand. No one ever stood up.
Though we’ve been learning about the inequality and the oppression that takes place along the border for the past month, I feel that this was the first time we were forced to witness people being treating so poorly. The court case was simply a series of motions. No one was being tried fairly, and everyone seemed to be frustrated, the migrants, lawyers, the judge, us. Some of the major criticism for Streamline is that it’s an ineffective use of resources. That time and money is being spent not prosecuting the “real crimes.” Because of this process, the prisons are overflowing with people and many cases involving drugs and sex crimes are being pushed to the wayside, all just to prove a point. I think we all left the courthouse feeling physically drained and angry, unsure of what, if any, power we had to change things. I think one important thing that I took away was the understanding that the American public has very little knowledge about this happening, and even less knowledge about what the process itself looks like. The most frustrating thing is that we, as taxpayers, are funding this atrocity. This experience was both moving and infuriating.
Later in the week, we went to Altar, Sonora. Altar is a small city about an hour south of the US Mexican border that is a big meeting spot for migrants and coyotes before crossing the border. It was immediately clear when we got there that Altar is a city whose major economic income is based on the migration of people. Every store around the plaza sells backpacks, shoes, hats, talcum powder, Band-Aids, electrolyte drinks. Every other house is also a casa de huespedes, a guest house for people who are passing through. We stayed in a migrant shelter that is run by the church. It makes a point of being a clean, safe, and free space for migrants to stay and have a meal while they are in Altar. It was a beautiful place to stay (nicer than many hostels), especially in comparison to casa de huespedes that we visited, one room filled with bunk beds with only wooden planks to sleep on. Many people end up staying at places like those rather than the shelter because their coyotes want to keep track of them and scare them from leaving them and being out of their control.
It was challenging to be in Altar for many reasons. Our group of very privileged students of course did not go unnoticed. We were crossing paths with so many people who had most probably been through quite a bit to get to Altar while we had simply carried our passports and hopped into our van to get there. Others were about to embark on a likely terrifying journey north. Many people weren’t in the mood to talk about it, though others were eager to share where they were coming from and where they were going.
I ended the week by going on a Samaritans run early Sunday morning. Samaritans is a volunteer organization that goes out into the desert to do water drops and bring food and other sorts of aid to migrants who are in need. One other volunteer and I left Tucson at seven a.m. to drive through the desert after a particularly cold and wet night. Driving along dirt roads that only ranchers use and watching the sun rise was incredibly beautiful. It was such a good reminder to feel what the desert is like after a month of such intense reading about it. We came across one person, in the custody of border patrol, who had spent the night in the cold and was clearly hypothermic. The officer was not only doing little to help him but also warned us that he was a “criminal alien” when we asked if there was something we could do. We were able to give him some warm clothes and some coffee. He asked us to pray for his children.
It was quite the intense week emotionally, physically, and academically. We are leaving for Mexico very soon though and are about to embark on a completely different phase of the semester.

Week 2: Update from Sonia

2009-02-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

My Name is Sonia Lauer. I am from Eugene, OR and go to school at Lewis and Clark in Portland, OR. This is the first time that Lewis and Clark has joined Earlham on a study abroad program. I think that we all agreed this was a wonderful opportunity.
In Tucson, I am living with the Dominguez family. We are seven total, five girls, Isa the mom and Sergio the dad. As a family they are extremely gracious and a really fun family. I have really enjoyed them so far. This is my first time in Tucson, and it is a lot warmer and sunnier than I am used to for January. This is the second week of classes so for the most part we have been reading a lot of theory. In our class called the Roots and Routes of Migration we are currently studying the “roots” portion. We are studying a lot of economic history in Latin America, discussing the topic of development and rethinking the paradigms through which we look at the world.
On Monday morning, I met with the woman in charge at my field study site. I will be working at the Southside Day Labor Center. The Southside Presbyterian Church started the Day Labor Center, which was also an active part of the sanctuary movement during the 1980s. The Day Labor Center takes the same idea that the Church can be used as a sanctuary and a safe predetermined area for workers and employers to meet. It will be very interesting to better know the organization.
Wednesday some of the girls on the trip and I went to a meeting put on by community members about the e-varify law that has been affecting many in Arizona. The law requires employers to check the papers of all employees hired after January 2008. A year later the confusion, misunderstandings and fear of the law have left a lot of different people hurt. There have been many abuses of the law and frequent racial profiling. There is a lot to learn about Arizonan politics. Today we already started talking about our Altar trip. This semester is going to go by so fast.

Tucson isn't Oberlin, and other orientation lessons: Week 1

2009-01-26T08:51:00.000-08:00

Hello, Alice Ollstein speaking. I'm in Tucson, Arizona, on the Border Studies program run through Earlham College. Now you might be thinking that Arizona isn't exactly abroad and Tucson isn't exactly on the border (it's an hour north), so let me explain. I was accepted to this program months ago, when it was supposed to be in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. When the drug war escalated there and shootings in broad daylight became commonplace, the program was moved to the smaller, calmer town of Nogales, Mexico. Then, recently, the drug war made its sinister way to even the smallest and calmest of border towns, shaking up Nogales with random acts of violence, and the program was moved to Tucson. Now initially I was upset. The program had become something I had not signed up for. I wanted to be immersed in Spanish and Mexican culture and be challenged on a day to day basis. I didn't want some safe, easy program in the U.S. where I could study immigration from a distance and not really experience it.

But ever since arriving to this unique program, my fears have been washed away. Starting in a few days, I will be living with a Spanish-speaking host family in the south side of Tucson (which I've heard described as "more Mexican than Mexico"), working with an organization called Border Action Network that does community organizing and resistance among migrants in Tucson, and taking a month-long journey throughout Mexico with my program, visiting communities that are important to the immigration story.

Today, after meeting my fellow students at the airport (by the way, there are only six of us, and we're all women) we ate incredible Mexican food, held an orientation explaining the days and weeks ahead of us, hiked up a saguaro-studded hill to watch the sunset, ate more incredible Mexican food, got to know each other and talked about how we had all chosen this program, then crashed (that's where I am now, typing as my eyes droop).

The next day, we found out that you don't need your passport to cross the border, only to return. We drove from Tucson down to the ugly metal wall that divides Nogales, Arizona from Nogales, Sonora, told the officer we were going for the day, then cruised on through. There were no lines, a sign of how the increased drug war violence has led to a sharp dive in tourism. We then went to a station of Grupo Beta, a Mexican government organization that helps deported migrants by giving them food, clothes, a phone call and a couple of nights of shelter. We sat on metal benches outside and talked with a group of men who had recently been detained in the U.S. and shipped across the border. I talked to one man who had tried to cross four times, but now wants to go home, saying the attempts were a waste of time, money and his health. By far the saddest was Felipe, a man that had lived in Phoenix for 22 years, and one day the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) knocks on his door and drags him and his wife away, leaving a 13-year-old and an 11-year-old alone in the U.S. Then he was separated from his wife in the detention process and has yet to find her. One girl on my program lent him her cell phone to call to check on the kids, which he did, but we all left feeling helpless.

We then visited a center for deported minors, mostly 15- or 16-year-old boys, called the DIF. It was a brand new building, much nicer (apparently) than the ones in most border towns, but the kids were just sitting around, bored, waiting for a family member to come claim them. There was a paved outdoor area with a basketball court and room to run around, but the door was chained shut. Maddie explained that they were afraid the kids would try to escape. She said the only time the kids were allowed outside was while the DIF was filming a promotional video about what great work they do and how happy the kids are. There were also framed pictures all around the center of the governor's wife posing with kids (obviously models and not actual deported children) and pictures of kids frolicking on grass. There was no grass.

Lastly, we walked back and forth across the border to compare prices in grocery stores and discuss what those numbers mean. I'm an English and Latin American studies major, so I had a hard time wrapping my head around it, but basically, even though prices are "the same" on either side of the border, because of differences in wages there is a great inequality. An American has to work only half an hour to buy a gallon of milk, but a Mexican has to work five. This means thousands of people cross the border every day just to buy groceries in the U.S., then return home to Mexico. So American factories move across the border because of cheap labor and non-existent environmental regulations, and most of those wages go back to the U.S. to buy groceries. So much for the myth that the maquiladoras are boosting Mexico's economy. I look forward to learning more about this in my classes.

We rounded off the intense day with a delicious dinner cooked by our program assistant and a late-night ice cream run. Nothing takes your mind off dysfunctional U.S. policies like Ben and Jerry's.

The next day we toured the University of Arizona for the first time, because one of their expert faculty members will be teaching our Research Methodologies class. With 50,000 students, the U of A is a bit overwhelming. Everyone on my program is from a small, liberal arts school, so we looked like hicks in the big city as we wandered wide-eyed through U of A's brick buildings. I think I'll miss Oberlin's weirdness while I'm here.

Our last activity of the day was Spanish conversation with Jorge, a Cuban artist at a local café. We talked about everything from our travel experiences to Cuban politics to issues of gender. He was sweet and hilarious and I can't wait to meet with him again.

I'm so happy I chose this particular program. With four incredible staff members for the six of us, I've never had so much personal attention in my life. Oberlin's small size has meant a lot of personal attention (from my professors, advisers, TAs, etc.) but nothing compared to this, where I'm driven from place to place and asked if I need a cup of coffee or a snack. Just so you don't think I'm a spoiled brat, know that this cushy treatment will end tomorrow. From then on out, I'll be getting up at my host family's house in South Tucson and busing to class and work. As our director Riley said, “Camp is over, girls.”

Eileen reflects on time spent in Tucson, Nogales, El Paso, and Ciudad Juarez.

2008-11-25T06:43:00.000-08:00

My name is Eileen Sanderson, and I am from Virginia, specifically a little peninsula on a slightly larger peninsula. I am a junior at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, studying Mathematics for Elementary Education and squeezing in Spanish classes where I can!

This semester is turning out to be one of the most challenging- emotionally, physically, and academically! BUT I am having great experiences, meeting some amazing people, and learning a lot.

In Tucson, my host family is a retired couple, Stan and Sally, who are incredibly loving and warm, doing everything in their power to make me feel at home (and they are succeeding!). We have great conversations all the time, and I tag along to their church, Southside Presbyterian, whenever I am here!

My field study is at Cesar Chavez Learning Community, a charter
school that caters to mostly Latino and Native American middle and high school students. I've been helping out in two middle school math classes, an English Language Learners class where I work individually with one student, and a handful of afternoon project-based learning sessions. This school has offered me some great (and tough) experiences that I know will help me when I start teaching on my own!

In Nogales, I lived with an amazing family, too! My mom, Noemí is a nurse; my dad, Reyes, works at the Instituto Tecnologia; my sister Leslie is studying psychology at university; my brother is a senior at the preparatorio/high school and plans to go to the Instituto Tecnologia next year; and my sister Mitzue is in secundaria/middle school. I also met a lot of relatives, but I don't think I have room to talk about all of them!

My field study in Nogales was at a primaria/elementary school. I only got to teach a couple of times before I left, but I got to sub in the English classes, and I started to teach computer classes. I had so much fun with these students, even when I struggled to understand what they were saying or to be understood! I definitely think elementary school teaching fits me better than middle school teaching, but who knows what I'll end up doing!?
With all the papers and projects that are due in the next few weeks, it is hard to think about everything we've already done! So, I'll just talk about right now. We have come to El Paso, Texas, which is especially exciting for me because my mom's family is from El Paso, and my grandma and aunt's family still live here. I got to visit them once!

Friday, we had a tour of the border, met with two professors from UTEP- Ben Saenz, creative writing, and Tony Payan, political science. Ben Saenz talked about the community and how it had changed and grown over the years, and Tony Payan explained a bit about the drug violence and its history.

Saturday, we got to go to Ciudad Juarez (honestly, a surprise for all the students…even though it was in the schedule). We spoke to Maricela Ortiz about the organization Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa and the femicides in Juarez. It was very interesting but difficult and sad to hear (of course). We also got to feed carrots to a giraffe named Modesto! We walked back to
the US in a 30 minute line, but Amy and Lily had a four hour wait to drive across! We had lunch at a church gym that also housed a thrift store, and few students made it out without buying anything. I bought *It's a Wonderful Life* Christmas cards and earrings! Then we spoke with a local artist who works with youth in El Paso. He also gave us a mini-walking tour of some murals in El Paso. There was a fantastic mural in (and out) of the public library. Then we went to Cinco Puntos Press Publishing House, where we learned a bit about the publishing process, and again, everyone left with bank accounts a bit emptier. After dinner on Saturday, some of us went to the movies! Most of us saw the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, while others watched W.

Sunday, we took a tour of Annunciation House, a shelter almost exclusively for undocumented migrants. I got to talk to a resident who gushed about her grandchildren, especially her nine-year-old granddaughter. We also played paper football with a young boy who was there. Then we headed off to Maternidad La Luz, a midwifery clinic that caters to mostly Mexicans. It was so interesting to hear about natural birth and everything that they do at the clinic and the school. We wandered around downtown El Paso, taking the opportunity to compare downtown El Paso to downtown Nogales, Arizona… (Well I did). We relaxed or tried to get work done.

Monday after we packed up the van, we went to UTEP for another meeting. This one was with a former maquila manager. We ate more danishes than is recommended, and as we were leaving, we got at least two free books (more if we found some we liked)! Then we loaded up again and headed back to Tucson…I will definitely miss El Paso!

Saludos from Sophie!

2008-10-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

Saludos a todos! We've now been living in Nogales, Sonora for a little more than two weeks and yet so much has happened. In Tucson, time seemed to fly by, and that seems to be happening yet again. Here are some updates and thoughts on my time here in the borderlands so far:

First, a little about me...I´m one of the massive Oberlin crew here on the program. I´m a senior and will be graduating in May with a major in Comparative American Studies with minors in History and Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. I´ll likely be returning to my homebase
in the San Francisco Bay Area after graduation, but my time here in Arizona and Sonora is definitely putting thoughts in my head about moving down here.

Living and working in Ambos Nogales feels more like a study away experience than Tucson did, for a range of reasons with the most obvious being that we´re living in what is officially another country. Here in Nogales I´m also one of the two of us having the experience of crossing the border every single day for my field study--waiting in line, answering an ever-changing set of questions at the border checkpoint, and seeing on a daily basis the multiple and overlapping realms of life and culture on the border.

While Ambos Nogales is handsdown considered a border town, sometimes even called "one city in two countries," during our time in Tucson many of us found that opinions really vary on whether that city 60 miles away from the border is truly a border city. But especially for
those of us living on the Latino-predominant Southside of the city and commuting daily to the University and Dowtown business districts, the borders that exist within the city and the city´s proximity to the border were very apparent and felt on a daily basis. Class and race segregation
isn´t of course an exception in U.S. and other cities, but, for example, when you see on one side of town border patrol trucks patroling every few minutes along with every other stripe of law enforcement possible and they´re almost completely absent from the rest of the city, the reality of the border is not an abstract thought.

In Tucson I lived with an amazing family on the far southside of town in a full house of four daughters ages 5, 12, 17, and 21, their mom and dad, and Gucci, their white toy poodle. There were also often houseguests on weekends, mostly family visiting from Hermosillo, Sonora to go shopping and hang out. Getting to know all of the girls was really fun and I think they welcomed having an "older sister." My host parents were also super welcoming and understanding of our busy schedule, especially my host mom. She´s a socialworker who works at a local women´s shelter, and it was really interesting learning about her work and
the general scene of doing social work in the Tucson area. I also spent a lot of time with my "real famliy" at my grandmother´s house in Tucson and with some of my other many family members who live in the area. Although I´ve been going to Tucson my whole life to see family, I finally got the chance to really get to know the city and get a much wider view of the
region related to border issues.

For my field studies in both Tucson and Nogales, I´ve been working with ESL programs doing assistant teaching and helping with various projects. In Tucson, I worked at Literacy Volunteers of Tucson, a non-profit volunteer-based literacy program with both ESL and Basic Literacy classes for adults. With LVT I worked all over the city in several different
classes of various levels--often within one class there´s everyone from beginners to advanced--and helped the fulltime tutors with acitivities. My other main task at LVT was helping with preliminary assesment of students´English skills to place them in classes and for the tutors to get a sense of what should be covered in their material. These assesments and some of the classroom time provided a lot of one-on-one time with students, which I really enjoyed. The vast majority of students were Spanish speakers, but there were also a few Somali, Russian, and Chinese students in some of the classes as well. The morning classes were mostly stay at home moms who often said their main reason for wanting to learn more English is to help their kids with homework. Many of the students also cited work reasons and
wanting to communicate with younger family members who don´t speak Spanish
as their reasons for taking the classes.

In Nogales I´m working with Santa Cruz County Continuing Education, which is an adult education and workforce development program run by the county. Classes just started last week, so I don´t have a lot of experience there yet, but I´ve been getting to know the group of staff and teachers, all of whom have also been very welcoming and curious about the BSP program. Because the program is state-funded instead of by foundation and donations
like at LVT in Tucson, they have to conform their curriculum to very rigid state standards, which I'm learning all about. Also, because they receive federal and state money, as a result of Prop. 200 here in Arizona, students must prove their legal status to enroll in their programs. Here, instead of jumping around to a bunch of classes, I´m working with one class and one teacher here, in the beginning level class. In Nogales, Arizona, almost everyone speaks Spanish, and the city is bilingual everywhere you go. I´m looking forward to the rest of the next few weeks as I get to know the students better!

Like in Tucson,my host family here in Nogales is also really great and a good match for me. I'm living with a young couple who are both busy professionals in the city. My host mom Mercedes is a doctor of public health and works at the General Hospital here. She is also the housing
coordinator here in Nogales for the program and really awesome in general. My host dad, Ricardo, is a sociologist and professor at one of the universities here. A tried and true sociologist, he´s very inquisitive and loves discussing social issues here and elsewhere and asking me about U.S. politics and life. We also spend a lot of time talking about the music and
culture of his self'proclaimed ¨heyday¨in the 80´s, including groups such as ACDC, Metallica, Guns and Roses, NWA, TLC, Madonna, Converse Allstar sneakers, and hairstyles such as shaggy long hair pulled back into ponytails on men and flattops.

Now it´s just about getting more settled in Nogales, yet, as we´ve talked about in the group a lot, when you´re on the border and constantly moving back and forth and in-between languages, political perspectives, countries, cities, getting settled isn´t necesarily the name of the game. With the election coming up and the economic meltdown, it´s such a wild
time to be out of the country. Both the election and the economy are big topics here....and with the Mexican national economy and the local border economies so intimately tied to their respective ¨other side¨, the effects of the economic woes are super apparent, most obviously with the sudden devaulation of the peso to around 12 or 13 to the U.S. dollar now.

What else? I´m really excited about the upcoming Dia de los Muertos altar-making and celebrations. I´ve been to celebrations in San Francisco and have always loved this day, and I¨m really exicted to see how big it is both here in Nogales and in Tucson. The trip to Mexico City was really fascinating and fun--a definite valuable addition to our understanding of the "bigger picture" of the economic, political, and social of Mexico and globalization. The talk by Frida Gaytan about the student movement of 99-00 was especially interesting and inspiring.

That's all for now!
Sophie

Week 8: Eric's update

2008-10-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

So the week of the 6th through the 12th was our first week with our host families in Nogales, Sonora. On Tuesday evening we had a party dinner downtown and met our families. Eva Gonzalez is my mom, and she's really nice and very involved in border issues in Nogales. Today it came out that she makes strife in the house by bringing female migrants home to bathe every so often. Eva's husband Victor is an electrician and a secret master analyst of the US presidential election, so it's really entertaining to hang out with them. Their son Victor is 10 years old and a really sweet kid who loves his pet chihuahua named Puppy.

Wednesday we visited the border artists Alberto Morackis & Guadelupe Serrano in their shop and split up into groups in order to complete some tasks overthe next week gathering materials for our Day of the Dead altar. The artists are very cool and open with us, which is really nice. Alberto did get very sidetracked talking about typical mexican meals though, I think it may have been dinner time for him.

Thursday we had Amy's and Paty Barron's classes at the Pedagogical University of Nogales. Amy's class is now starting into the Human Rights section, and Paty's class is about interculturality and historical formation of Ambos Nogales. Friday was Heather Craigie's Identities, Myths & Realities in the Borderlands class, which is a really great space for reflection and development every week.

Things are pretty good here in Nogales, we'll see how our families pan out in the next couple weeks.

Best to all,
Eric Holman

Week 7: Saludos from Itzel

2008-10-14T06:58:00.000-07:00

Saludos a todos! My name is Itzel Garcia-Mejia. I am a junior at Oberlin College where I am pursuing a double major in History and Latin American Studies with a minor in Politics. We have just completed our first week living in Nogales, Sonora. The week before that we were in Mexico City. We drove down in Hermosillo after a sad goodbye to our wonderful host families in Tucson and caught a plane to Mexico City. After a few changes to our itinerary as a result of the manifestations taking place in the Zocalo, we spent three full days sightseeing and conversing with various people about Mexico´s political and migratory history. Our guide was Frida Gaytan who participated in the 1999 student protests at the UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) –in addition to showing us around the city she spoke to us about her experiences during the 1999 student movement as we sat on the grass at the UNAM.
We went to the Frida Kahlo museum in Coyoacan and to the top of La Torre Latinoamericana and looked out over the city. We spoke to anthropologist Percy Betanzos who gave a lecture on migration patterns within Mexico and how it has changed as a result of NAFTA (el Tratado de Libre Commercio). We also spoke to lawyers from PRODESC (Proyecto de Derechos Economicos, Sociales, y Culturales) who discussed the role of multinationals in workers’ rights violations.
The excursion to Mexico City fed straight into our four day Fall Break in which most of the students stayed in the city. Then we flew back to Hermosillo, drove back to Nogales, and arrived at La Casa de la Misericordia, which we visited during our Tucson Orientation Week, for our Nogales Orientation. This two day orientation included a very brief contrast tour where the coordinators pointed out the various maquilas and neighborhoods, a safety talk by the coordinator of our Nogales housing, and a tour of the new UA facilities in Nogales, AZ where we´ll be having class every Friday. The orientation wrapped up with a reception at a salon de fiestas in Nogales where we met our host families. The following day we had our first meeting with Alberto Morackis and Guadalupe Serrano about the altar that we will help design and build for el Dia de los Muertos.
The program has exposed us all to a number of influential groups and individuals related to the effects of NAFTA on Mexico—hopefully at the end of the semester, our Policy Proposal papers (which we just found out will be presented to students at UPN and to an ESL class in Cochise County) will spark substantive discourse about what can be done in the areas of international trade and immigration. As the elections and the term of a new president approach, dialoguing about these very issues becomes even more important. I can´t think of a better timing for this material.

Week 5: Reflections from Penina

2008-09-22T06:14:00.000-07:00

My name is Penina Eilberg-Schwartz, and I'm a senior at Oberlin College. I study history and have been interested in border regions for a long time, but this is my first real experience at the Mexico-U.S. border itself.

I have been working with the Pima County Interfaith Council, a child of Saul Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation. With them I've been doing a lot of voter registration stuff and organizing in churches with large Spanish-speaking and immigrant populations.

When we get to Nogales, I will start working with En Común, a microfinance organization there. I cannot wait.

Today I was wandering around in Tucson's downtown with some friends, doing interviews for a mapping project we were assigned in our Globalization, Migration, and Human Rights course. We were asking whether people thought of Tucson as a border town, and we got a pretty wide variety of answers, but I knew what I thought by the end of the first week here.

This is what I wrote then:
"Tucson is most definitely a border city. I have evidence!
There is El Tiradito, a little shrine on a small corner to those who have died in the desert. There is a vigil that meets there every week.
There is, of course, all the Spanish you hear walking around, and the bright colors and the Sonoran hotdog stands.
There is the story that my friend told me about when she first went to find her field study site. She walked into the office and there was a man there, tired-looking with a huge gash on his leg. It was from a cactus. He had been abandoned by his coyote in the desert.
There is the story of Reverend John Fife and the Sanctuary movement that was located here and hid Central American refugees from the Dirty Wars who the U.S. was deporting (in violation of its own refugee law.)
And there is the drive down to Nogales and the way the wall appears, cutting through a hill. And the art you see on the wall when you get to the Nogales side.
Finally, there is the conclusion that many people, of diverse voices, have presented to us: the U.S. fence-building policy has funneled migrant traffic into the Sonoran desert, a dangerous place that is known to kill. In fact, in the document starting this policy, deterrence was acknowledged as part of the "hold the line" strategy. They will die, and then they will stop coming. The thing is, they have not stopped coming."

Last night Michael (my host father who is a photographer and involved member of several local humanitarian aid organizations) took me to a dinner with a filmmaker who is working on a documentary about deaths in the desert. When we asked him how he got started with this, his answer was long, but eventually he said, "America is asleep." Parts of Tucson are asleep too, but people are dying very near here, at least in part because of U.S. policy. And people are living here too, and it is hard. The militarization of the border and the U.S. owned companies in Mexico create seriously contaminated air and water, making the border area the highest incidence of cancer in the country, of floods that have broken through parts of the wall that are built like dams in the desert. But of course, there is also vibrancy here and someone who we talked to today on the first day of classes who studies border culture and folklife reminded us that there is beauty here too. There are Santos and Milagros and prayers.

It is strange to see beauty here, though. When we were in Nogales, everyone who lived there talked about how ugly it was. We thought it was kind of beautiful. I think maybe because we find it honest—this is the place (one of the places) that makes the lives we lead possible. This is a true place, a behind-the-scenes place.

So coming to the end of my time in Tucson, I'm looking forward to a place where the border will make itself even more clearly seen, and I will continue to struggle to find my place in all of it.

Week 4: Update from Lou

2008-09-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

¡Bienvenidos a Tucson! Me llamo Luís y soy un estudiante de La Programa de Estudios Fronterizos, 2008. I am a junior at Albion College and a History and Spanish double major. I grew up in Ann Arbor and work at the University of Michigan Hospital during summer breaks.

Choosing to study abroad with the Border Studies Program was a difficult decision for me. I often imagined my off campus experience taking place in Spain, not within the US. Although, when it came time to decide, I chose what I felt would be the most challenging experience. The Border Studies Program focuses on immigration issues, border policy, and the effects of that policy. That means when we go out and experience the border reality, we are not backpacking, sightseeing, or partying. On the contrary, we “rough” it for the benefit of a new perspective. That principle of challenging students rings especially true for my experience so far.

My initial host family placement has been amazing! I’ve found that almost everyone I talk to really enjoys who they are staying with. A great example of this is food. For at least half of the participants, what type of food they eat matters. My host family is well-suited to my needs: my host dad is a great chef, and what he cannot cook, he takes me out to a restaurant to try new things. The best example I can think of is our weekly trips for Sonora style hot dogs. Not only do we all enjoy delicious hot dogs wrapped in bacon, but my host family takes 90 minutes out of their day to ask me about school, life, and what is stressing me out. They even offer great advice: skip school more and they’ll take me on random trips to Phoenix to unwind. I didn’t take their advice (lol!), but I always feel too full, and that makes for a happy kid.

If I’m not in class or at home, I’m probably working on my field internship with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). This internship is worth 5 credit hours and requires 15 hours per week. At my internship, I work closely with conducting surveys on the new E-verify law. I’ve conducted at least 25 interviews and have heard a wide range of opinions on the issue of immigration. This internship has given me the opportunity to get real, hands on experience with the immigration issue on the border. What more could I ask for?

This last week was very challenging. The Altar trip pushed everyone, and we needed a weekend for some R&R. I was able to catch up on my homework and celebrate Mexican Independence Day on Saturday. I even participated in specific events to celebrate on Sunday by dancing and eating traditional foods. You are what you eat! And I am happy!

With all the events I was able to participate in this weekend, I almost forgot I was abroad! I am excited for the Mexico City trip in a couple of weeks, and I hope that this weekend was taken advantage of by everyone here. I can’t wait to get up early tomorrow and start working out again. Life is good.

Lou

Weekend in Altar

2008-09-10T06:04:00.000-07:00

Madeleine Fierstein
9/5-9/8
Hola desde Tucson. Soy Madeleine Fierstein (Maddie). I am in my third-year at Oberlin College and am a politics major with a concentration in international relations. Enough about me, and on with this past weekend. I had a slightly different weekend then the rest of the group because I started out Friday night with a Quinceañera in Caborca, México. I am living with a truly fabulous family of 4 women in Tucson who are originally from Caborca. I have become a quick member of this family and therefore was invited to attend the Quinceañera of a cousin. I had never been to a Quince, but an accurate description involves hundreds of people (many family members), 100° temperatures, lots of dancing and music and staying up until well past 2 a.m.
The next day I made a quick change of modes and met the rest of the BSP group in Altar, México. Altar is the resting spot/beginning spot of migrants who want to cross into the U.S. This is the place where migrants rest up before crossing the desert, find coyotes, buy water, backpacks and all other goods they believe necessary for their journey. When we arrived Saturday afternoon we went to CCAMYN (Centro Comunitario de Atención al Migrante y Necesitado), which is an organization that feeds and houses migrants in Altar. The plaza in Altar is where many migrants and coyotes hang out, and this is where we spent our Sunday morning. Sunday morning we broke up into small groups and interviewed/chatted with migrants on the street. We did this for about 2 hours, and I can’t speak for everyone, but this was one of the most heart-wrenching and best learning experiences I have ever had. To hear the stories of migrants first hand and the reasons why they cross (out of desperation and for family) makes one really question the reason certain policies exist.
Saturday afternoon we drove to the No More Deaths camp, which is a camp in the desert near Arivaca. On our way we stopped and spoke with a Mexican governmental organization Grupo Beta, which explains to migrants the risks of crossing the desert into the U.S. We also spent some time with the Mexican army who stopped us twice (sorry to any parents who are reading this) and checked our vans. “No More Deaths is an organization whose mission is to end death and suffering on the U.S./Mexico border through civil initiative: the conviction that people of conscience must work openly in community to uphold fundamental human rights.” The purpose of this camp is to offer medical aid, food and water to migrants as well as send out patrols to look for migrants in need of food, water and medical attention. We spent the night at the camp with some people sleeping outside and most in tents.
Monday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn and got ready to go out on a patrol in the desert. We piled into the back of pickup trucks with gallons and gallons of water and headed off into the desert. After about a 45-minute drive we stopped and hiked for a couple of hours to drop off water on migrant trails. Along the way we visited the memorial to a 14-year-old girl from El Salvador who passed away when crossing the desert this February. Although a tough experience, I think that this was really powerful for the group to see the actual conditions that people cross the desert through. Along the migrant trails we found many signs of the use of these trails including clothing, water bottles, backpacks and more. The temperatures in the desert are really unbelievable.
After our morning hike we headed home. Needless to say I had many different learning experiences this weekend. This weekend made me learn and question a lot, and I look forward to the many challenges ahead of us. ¡Les vaya bien!

Week 2: Adjusting to life on the border

2008-09-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

Saludos desde la frontera. My name is Laura Guzman. I am a third-year political science and Hispanic studies major from St. Olaf College. I am originally from Eagan, MN. I was inspired to come on this trip because of my interest in immigrant rights and immigration policy reform. I also look forward to using my Spanish once we are in Nogales, Sonora and exploring the distinct and rich culture of the borderlands.
So far, Tucson has been a great experience. My home stay family is welcoming and makes an effort to include me in meal times and other family rituals, such as sharing highs and lows each day. They live in a community house with two other independent households in the same house and several others on shared property. It is inspiring to see how families make choices to use resources and land in a more functional and sustainable manner while simultaneously strengthening the fabric of communities.
While learning to appreciate and learn from a new family with different customs and norms, I have learned to navigate a new city. Tucson is a beautiful desert city encircled by four distinct mountain ranges that can help orient lost travelers. Thankfully, I have not needed to rely on this tool to get around. My home is centrally located which is really convenient for getting to school, work, and downtown. My only constant struggles are to learn the bus routes and to be patient with others and myself as we all adjust to our new circumstances and surroundings.
I recently began my field study internship at Border Action Network (BAN), an organization seeking to ensure the rights of immigrants and border communities are respected using grassroots organizing, policy advocacy, and litigation. I will be serving as a research intern on their state legislative policy campaign. They are preparing possible legislation that meets their 12-point political principles in order to make recommendations to the state legislature in the next session.
Life on the border provides opportunities for constant growth and learning. While the formal coursework is challenging and engaging, the experiences outside the classroom provide fertile ground to learn more about border issues, community building, and our own limitations and gifts. It is sure to be a memorable semester for each of us!

Week 1 (August 16 -23): Orientation

2008-08-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

The Border Studies Program commenced on Saturday, August 16 with the arrival of all the students into Tucson. Some arrived wide-eyed, others were simply exhausted from the flight. They all, however, arrived excited and eager to begin the first week of the program, which is dedicated to program orientation. During the week, the students embarked on a number of adventures – the week felt like summer camp at times and like an intense delegation at others. The students got to know each other very well throughout the week as they lived together at the Border Links dorms in Tucson, Arizona and at La Casa de Misericordia in Nogales, Sonora. The week allowed the students to spend an amount of time together that they will not have again for the rest of the semester. It also enabled them to build their support networks.

The week of orientation was divided between time in Tucson, AZ and time in ambos ("both") Nogales. Orientation began with a number of the students going on a desert hike. The “official” events kicked off with a very special, detailed tour of the city by Bruce Bedeman and Carlos Lozano of the Tucson Historical Society. Other activities included a tour of the University of Arizona, meetings at the school of Public Health and the Center for Latin American Studies at U of A, a Tucson bus scavenger hunt, team building activities with a BSP alum, a pitch-in dinner hosted by our new friends in Tucson, and a number of great breakfasts, lunches, and dinners shared over great conversation.

Mid-week we packed our bags and headed to ambos Nogales. As we drove into Nogales, AZ we were met by a wall that divides two cities of the same name and two nations. Most of us were introduced to the wall for the first time that day, and that introduction sparked conversations about, among many other things, new awakenings and new realizations, freedom of movement, and the relationship between the United States and Mexico.

Activities in Nogales included a number of important meetings. We first met with Teresa Leal, a border activist from the Pimería Alta Historical Society and then headed across the border to meet with Alberto Morakis and Guadalupe Serrano, internationally known artists and sculptors. Morakis and Serrano talked to the students about how living in the borderlands affects their art and how they use their art to explain the borderlands, the politics of the borderlands, and borderlands culture. Other activities included heading to the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional and meeting the professors and students who the BSPers will be working with during the second-block of the program, touring a colonia and being introduced to a number of environmental sustainability projects, and yes, eating more delicious meals. Time in Nogales culminated with a comparative shopping experience, in which the students compared the prices of consumer goods in a variety of tiendas and supermarkets in both ambos Nogales and Tucson. They made their way back to Tucson on their own and returned well-oriented and ready to embark on what will be, for most, a very influential life experience and one of the most challenging semesters of college.

The grand finale of the week was meeting the host families. We finished the week with a beautiful pitch-in dinner hosted by one of the mothers. The students got to know their new families, eat some great food, and we also celebrated Rachel’s (Earlham) 20th birthday as her host mother brought her a birthday cake. The night ended with each student going their separate ways with their host families.

Orientation went off without a hitch, and the first week ended with a great group of well-prepared students, happy families, and excited staff!