Summer days at the Naco Migrant Center have been pretty lonely. While in the spring the center was crowded and full of commotion..the recent days are filled with reflection and most of all, silence.
I always bring a book, but tend to spend most of my days talking with the other volunteers about the center and or exchanging our own theories about whether or not people are still crossing. We've concluded that they are, but that due to the repatriation efforts and new funding/programs, people are either not crossing through Naco or they are crossing but simply being repatriated through Nogales or flown back to Mexico City after being processed in Tucson. According to the volunteers who've been there longer, this summer silence is normal...
The heat is so unbearable that I'd like to convince myself that people stopped crossing but then one or two people come in and you realize this is not the case...people continue to cross...
Unfortunately, their stories are also harsher...one guy today expressed that he had been robbed and no longer had any money to return home or keep trying...he looked defeated...as if he had tried to conquer this huge beast and in his case, he had lost...
He asked me how long this repatriation was going to happen, whether enforcement was this hard all the time or just in the summer...he told me he just wanted to go home..but maybe in the fall, he would return and try again...
It's quite amazing to me..their strength...
I know I may sound like I'm objectifying or romanticizing but I'm not..I really see something truly special about people who migrate...they are not like everyone else...
most all the people i've met, their hearts are filled with hope and strength, lots of strength and perseverance...
amidst the many obstacles they face...they continue to try again...and again.
like a passionate love that doesn't die...their courage motivates me to love too...to love humanity...and our ability to fight so hard for a dream, to maintain hope when it's so hard to keep on
most everyone does it for their family or for the dream of "making it" or whatever that should mean...
And yet like love, hate also co-exists...in the background beautiful mountains and desert landscapes observe with indifference
millions of dollars, nativist hate groups, politicians, media, and innocent folk who buy into the rethoric...work together to ensure that the border, the coveted border will keep out the brown folks who are trying to come in...
Just this last weeked the so called Tea Party held a rally in Hereford, AZ, about 15 minutes away from Bisbee and Sierra Vista. We organized a counter protest in opposition of their rally. It was awesome...Just to make the statement that they weren't welcomed.
Supporters, in their red white and blue gear drove in with their out of town license plates...to claim ownership of a land they hardly know or recognize...to urge enforcement of the "illegals" who are "invading" their country...
It's quite funny, actually.
Land.
People feel so entitled to claim it...and yet..they hardly take the time to really get to know it..to explore it..to imprint their existance upon it...Land. yup. Land.
Migrants spend hours getting familiar with the desert, they walk and walk for days on their journey up north...they risk their lives in that land...their spirit resonates in the air...in the gravel, and the many paths that thousands have walked upon...
and like nothing...strangers to this particular land..arrive in their trucks, and suv's with their clever bumper stickers and american flags...to gather..to talk about how they can make the lives' of migrants so difficult, so unbearable, that they'll want to leave...
little do they realize that if the desert didn't defeat them..their ridiculous laws won't either..
sb1070 has brought so much attention to the immigration issue...and yet the border and militirization continues to be a non-issue for advocates...no instead it's all about racial profiling and getting out the vote...we encourage and lie to ourselves that the next candidate won't be a shmuck, but who are we kidding? i hate politicians..i really do...morons without a conscience...all they care about is winning...and then there's the dream act people...message being..let's give the students a chance...and screw everyone else...truly selfish and individualistic messaging...but oh well...i guess i too would be happy to get something rather than nothing...and i do like the dream act..just dont like the whole "stand alone" bill deal...
in any case im glad sb 1070 happened..its truly about time that these injustices came to the forefront, even if through something as awful as sb1070, perhaps that's my privilege talking, but even friends who are undocumented are truly sick of marching without results...at least this blatant attack can stir some action....i just hope its for the benefit of our people...
And then there's the border patrol...can you believe they are now checking people before going into Mexico? Yes...they are..the US is checking people for papers before they leave the states to go into mexico! is it not our right to effen leave when we freaking want to? damn it...just another sign or illustration of their power...and how much its effen growing...(i have a lot more to say..but i'll come back to this) clearly i'm angry...but how can we avoid it..when people are dying over a childish game of this is mine and that is yours...couldn't we all get the point back in kinder garden? it's okay to s h a r e!
pero bueno...enough of my ranting...my only point is that it's been quite an experience volunteering at the migrant center, even when there's no people to help...there's always so much to reflect upon...the irony of it all...con o sin gente
Showing posts with label Bisbee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bisbee. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Going Home
The month of july was crazy hectic and yet so amazingly beautiful...so much has happened that this post will probably be all over the place, but that's ok...
rambling is good from time to time..(so i tell myself)
Bisbee weather was absolutely amazing for most of July, flowers started blooming once again, and then of course the smell of rain against the dirt is so absolutely unforgetable...my favorite part, however, is the deep greys and blues that dress the sunsets and skyscapes in the afternoons...i wish i could cherish each and every one of those moments and or put them in some sort of scrapbook to take with me no matter where I go...I suppose there's always the camara...but though I'm fond of photos I don't believe that even a photo can capture the gracious beauty of experiencing it all...for one i think our senses simply don't function as well in isolation...i.e. you can view a beautiful image..but to couple that vision with sound and smell..and even taste..it's something different...perhaps only the mind can store it away in a place where maybe memory alone can find it...but with time memories fade...and then they're gone
oh i don't know..i've been feeling kind of melancholic and lethargic...so i guess the weather is a good place to begin...and then of course there was mexico
with that alone i should be super happy...but everytime something good happens, there's always it's counter opposite, and then there's you...in the middle of it all...
i had the most amazing trip...i took a one week vacation to my hometown (Salvatierra, Guanajuato, Mex) with my family. It was super fun...but most of all it felt like a relief...a sort of going home feeling for me...
though i now live in the states...i'm not sure I will ever feel like this is my home...my home is salvatierra...
no doubt about it...
yet i don't know why..i mean..i've lived in arizona for most of my life...i only lived in guanajuato till I was eight...i'm now 30...so you do the math...
anyhow...we drove for about 24 hours until we arrived at our destination...this is a picture of the road there...
strangely enough..i believe this is the one and only picture I took...i kept relying on others in my family to take picutres...i so regret this...but anyway...the minute we got there I instantly felt like crying...i was so emotional..i just love the streets of salvatierra...life seems so simple there...
anywho..i tried to make the best of the time i had there...we arrived on a friday..and spent the afternoon with my aunt alta and my cousins, then of course, we made our way to the portal to eat some largas....hmmm...largas!
Largas are these large and particularly thick handmade tortillas (kind of like a huarache...if you are familiar with the term)...you fill them with a variety of foods..from beans de la olla to zuchini to cactus to pico de gallo and/or rajas (strips from a chile poblano with sour cream and onion) and for meat eaters..there's of course lots of choices such as steak and other items...at the portal near the town park or jardin. The jardin's are very popular in central and southern mexico..it's like a plaza or piazza in italy, they usually sit at the center of the town and typically near a church, there people tend to gather and eat ice cream from one of the many vendors, they also sell cake and other yummies...well in Salvatierra..right across the jardin, is a portal where food vendors gather..and there's anything you can imagine..from largas to enchiladas to tamales to pozole to atole and bunuelos (a sweet desert that will kick your socks off) to hamburgers and also jello with eggnog...yup jello..lol..
So as you can imagine the smells that radiate from the portal captivate and lure you in..pretty much every night...:) and we of course..took full advantage....strangely enough, however, though we ate soooooo much..we actually lost weight...mainly because the food in mexico is just so much fresher and beyond that I think its because you walk everywhere down there...
So as I was saying...we got there on a friday and then spent all of saturday preparing for my cousins wedding. The ceremony was beautiful with the exception of a bit of drama in the middle of it all..but oh well..the important thing is that the drama did not involve the groom and the bride...so i think that's all that matters...on the contrary their love held on strong throughout the night...it was beautiful...and fun...
We also were lucky enought to make it to the beach...we went to Ixtapa for a couple days and it was so perfect. My favorite thing to do at a beach is to eat french fries with lots of ketchup while under the influence of a rum and coke...it was a todo incluido deal..i.e. all inclusive hotel..so you could eat and drink as much as you wanted. In the evenings..they had some amazing shows...with wonderful dancers and singers..and lots of laughing..my dad actually got on stage our last night there and entered some crazy contest where he pretty much made fool of himself...we cheered him on as much as we could!
And then, as our week vacation came to an end...my husband got sick...it totally sucked because we spent the next day or two indoors..but in a way..it was good to sneak in some rest...after a hectic and exciting few days. I think it was the cheese in a chile relleno. Unfortunately, some of the cheeses that are unpasteurized can make you sick because they carry bacteria we arent used to unless we lived there...it's the well known travelers diar..ewww! i will not type that word..but you know what i mean...;)
Our last day was pretty magical...Ray surprized me by booking an amazing amazing hotel in the middle of mexico city, with the most amazing panaromic views you can imagine...it was literally a condo...with two rooms, two bathrooms, modern furniture, 42 in LG TV, the works! They even had a brownie waiting for us...in the room...it was so amazing..did i mention the word amazing?
and then just like that...our vacation ended. So yeah. That was my vacation.
We flew back in lieu of driving because my family stayed back an extra week and we needed to get back to Bisbee. We flew into Hermosillo, the plane ride was a breeze but it was once we arrived at Hermosillo that the problems began. A crazy cabdriver completely drove us to the wrong bus station..so we missed our bus back to Naco. Fonally at around 4pm, after putting up with hunger and the unbearable heat...we took a seven hour bus ride back to Agua Prieta, and then Ray's mom generously picked us up and took us back to Bisbee...whew! we were t i r e d! and so relieved to be back....but amidst it all..in the silence...i began to miss salvatierra, my home sweet home.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Coffee & Laundry
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| The Coffee Shop & Laundromat 1326 West Highway 92, Bisbee, AZ 85603 |
It's not the books on every nook & corner,
It's not the wide array of magazines,
No, not even the pretty yellow flowers in the entry
Nor the deli & home baked pastries
It's definitely not the worn out linoleum floors
Nor the fresh scent of lavender and clean linens
No, it's not that.
......It's the colors.
Yes, I think so.
It's the bright orange tables...
And the vibrant turquoise on the walls!
It's precisely that...
Just another reminder that this is no ordinary
coffee shop...its a laundromat & coffee shop, and more importantly, it's so Bisbee...
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