What I'm Reading This Month
By Nadine Holder
November 2006
Writing on the Edge, A Borderlands Reader, Tom Miller, Editor, The University of Arizona Press, Publisher (2003). I bought this book some time ago, having lived for 54 years on the "border," first in San Diego, California, and then here for the past 15 years. I live alone five miles north of the border but see little of the immigrant traffic other than for the coming and going of the coyotes who live a mile down the road, and the rush of small planes back and forth when the Border Patrol observation blimp is down. Finally sat down to read the book as I wrestled with what I understand (and mostly don't understand) from current political gabbling about securing our "border."
The most refreshing comment I got from the book was that there is no "border" but rather an amorphous third world country that exists for some twenty miles on each side of the international boundary between Mexico and the United States. A perfect explanation of what I have observed in those 54 years. For literally hundreds of years there has been no restriction of any kind on movement within that third world country (still true now from what I observe.) All the political blather about the effect of the Minute Men was quite bogus - it only temporarily moved the immigration path away from the river and the mountains and down the little dirt roads in my area! This book will do little to enhance our understanding of what to do about current border problems, but it certainly gives the background for what we are dealing with.
The book is a collection of short prose and poetry excerpts from 81 authors, both unknown and well known, such as Jack Kerouac and Maya Angelou. There is a section at the back of the book with short biographies of several of the authors, particularly Mexican scholars who may not be well known to us. It was a little mind bending to read these heart rending stories, partly in Spanish and partly in Gringo, speaking for the illegal immigrants, and then finding out that the author might have a prestigious position in a Mexican, or American, university. The down side to the book is that it contains only the older literature and nothing on the problems with Mexican gangs and OTM (other than Mexican) immigrants that are being experienced now.
Our local politicians would like us to think that our area is the most active illegal area but Mr. Miller in his introduction writes that in his years of travel on the border that the El Paso/Juarez area is both the political and literary center of this third world country. I used to hike with friends in many of the rural areas around San Diego and while we saw constant illegal traffic at all hours of the day, none of it was of a menacing nature until starting about 1985 or so; one of the reasons for my decision to leave the area.
Another interesting tidbit from the book was a brief essay on the Mexican War where Pancho Villa raided at will into the US but when pursued with 10,000 American soldiers no trace of him could be found (remind anyone of Osama Bin Laden?).
I would highly recommend this book for background on the border problem (It emphasized my impression that no one in his right mind would even think there could be a reasonable solution). But I would couple it with viewing the DVD Cries from the Border, Cochise County, USA by local resident Mercedes Maharis. The DVD is quite graphic about the death and destruction that accompanies border crossings in this area now and it is in smashing contrast to the rather peaceful coexistence of the two countries in the "borderland" since time immemorial.
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