The lights of Ciudad Juarez can be seen from the UTEP campus. (Danya Hernandez/Borderzine.com)

El Pasoans want their sister city to remain in the family

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EL PASO – With an ongoing drug war on the other side of a 10-foot high fence, El Paso’s reputation has taken some hits recently, but locals see the Sun City’s image in a brighter light. “It’s incredibly sad what’s happening across the border,” said Sonya Stokes, senior psychology student at the University of Texas at El Paso. “I think it’s terrible that El Paso’s image has been tarnished by irresponsible comments that people in power have made and the media has made.”

Over the past year, El Paso has made national headlines for a number of reasons. In November 2010, the annual Congressional Quarterly Press City Crime Rankings announced that El Paso had the lowest crime rate of cities with a population of more than 500,000. In August 2011, an El Paso Times article said that El Paso officials were taking “the first steps toward ending its ‘sister city’ relationship with Juárez.” The story said that the city was surveying local business to get their insight on El Paso’s “safe” image with the constant violence occurring in their Mexican “sister city.”  The survey wanted to know if the violence in Mexico was “hurt(ing) El Paso economically by reducing its ability to draw businesses, conventions and conferences.” According to the article, “up to 41,000 surveys were sent to the business community.”

On Sept.

View from our car approaching the Paso del Norte Bridge on the way back to El Paso from Juarez. (David Smith-Soto/Borderzine.com)

Women of Juarez tell their stories of death and despair

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EL PASO – Cinthia was only 10 years old when they killed her. The little girl, full of life and energy, went out one evening to play in the park just one block away from her home, just like she did so many times. The neighborhood in Cd. Juárez was generally calm, but that one particular day in 1997, Cinthia simply disappeared. After twenty days of distress, her family was notified by the authorities they had found Cinthia’s body in a dumpster.

UTEP football team members visit Bobby (center) to give him a signed football while in the hospital. (Courtesy of Bobby Garcia)

A family comes together to battle against leukemia

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EL PASO – I will never forget the Thursday morning I heard my weeping mother say the four scariest words I had ever heard, “Your brother has leukemia.”

As those words left her mouth, an indescribably sickening feeling shook my body and a million thoughts rushed through my mind. Thoughts of anger and fear consumed my very being at that moment, but as I looked up at my brother I remember seeing his face. He was unremarkably calm. I expected to see him crying or worried. Those were feelings I know I would be expressing if I had received that terrible diagnosis.

(Jose Luis Trejo/Borderzine.com)

The safest city in the U.S. holds hands with the most dangerous city in the Americas

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EL PASO – After being named one of the five safest cities in America every year since 1997, El Paso attained the top spot for the first time in 2011 –número uno– as the safest city in America. According to the Congressional Quarterly Press City Crime Rankings of cities with populations of 500,000 or more, El Paso finally became the “safest city” this year. The study made by the research company was created to help law enforcement agencies identify localities with problems, to allocate grant funding, and to compare crime rates from different jurisdictions. Being just across the border from one of the most violent cities in the western hemisphere, El Paso has managed to stay at the top of the list. Immigrants tend to get the blame for whatever crime occurs here, but UTEP Lecturer Melinda Lauck disagrees.

Wiilliam Blackburn edits video at UTEP's Communication Department. (Lourdes Cueva Chacón/Borderzine.com)

The job search in civilian life can be another battle for veterans

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EL PASO — I loved Army life. I had job security, and all the benefits like medical and dental care, but when I received a medical discharge after 13 years of service my life changed in unexpected ways. I was a sergeant, but I had to start over, looking for a new career at age 34. Like many veterans today, I know what it is to be unemployed. You may think that because you are a veteran you have an advantage – that you will get the job – but for unknown reasons in reality many veterans do not get the job they apply for.

Cool, clear water….

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We meet in the early morning hours when the temperatures are cool and take off in “the Beast”, an old Ford Explorer that has seen a lot of dust and miles. The back of the Samaritan van is loaded to the ceiling with crates of water jugs. I am going on a “water drop” with 2 Samaritan veterans of the back country.  The Samaritans have one mission:  to prevent deaths in the Sonoran desert. We will carry jugs of water to 6 water stations in Southern Arizona where migrants have been known to stop. The desert is criss-crossed with trails and paths–and there are tracks everywhere.

(Cheryl Howard/Borderzine.com)

Don’t just stand there, occupy…Your life and your money

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EL PASO – As a child of the sixties and an observer of decades of apathy, I am happy to see young people protesting and demonstrating. “Occupy Wall Street” and all the other Occupiers are finally in revolt against the status quo. But protesters aren’t going to sleep in the parks forever, especially with winter coming.  Already, local governments are trying to move demonstrators out.  If they don’t succeed, Mother Nature eventually will.  The people who have been involved with the Occupy movements say that the demonstrations have built “community.”  I think that means that like-minded folks have connected with each other, exchanged food, ideas, Facebook, e-mail, and other information. So, “occupying” a particular place 24/7 is no longer necessary to stay in touch. It might be important to have weekly, or even daily, events to let people know the issues of the 99% have not been forgotten.

“Should I allow myself to live like this any more and let this injustice continue?” asks an Occupier. (Jacqueline Armijo/Borderzine.com)

Occupy El Paso demonstrators demand social justice

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EL PASO – Protesters crawled out of their tents and stretched as the morning sun greeted them at San Jacinto Plaza, all of them sharing a passion for banning corporate greed. At first I didn’t know how to feel about Occupy Wall Street, which is a movement that has gained momentum and spread to other parts of the U.S. and even the world. You have people protesting in Rhode Island, California, and Virginia and even in England. The movement is made up of people who established a peaceful protest although they come from different political backgrounds and religions. They argue that there should be an end to the corruption and self-indulgence of the wealthiest one percent of the U.S. population, which is inflicting a wrong upon the rest of the U.S. – the other 99 percent of Americans.

(Ana Varela/Borderzine.com)

New immigrants face a language barrier in the U.S.

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EL PASO – Due to the high level of violence in Cd. Juárez, many families are migrating to El Paso in search of a better life, but as their children enter school here many of them struggle to learn English. The El Paso Independent School District saw an increase of 8 percent in the number of Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students between 2007 and 2010. The number of students enrolling in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs also continues to grow, according to the Texas Education Agency. LEP students are eligible to receive ESL or bilingual instruction.  Therefore out of the 8 percent of LEP students, some receive bilingual instruction and some receive ESL instruction.  Not all of the students identified as LEP receive ESL or bilingual instruction.

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry is located at 301 W. Missouri Ave. (Christine Villegas/Borderzine.com)

Man of a thousand funerals lives for his work

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EL PASO – Most people go to only a few funerals in their lifetime, so it is hard to imagine going to hundreds, but Norman Miller says he has performed 1,000 Masonic funeral services. The 93-year-old Freemason has been conducting funeral services for the Freemasons for 48 years. “The military and Masonry have been my life,” Miller said proudly as he sat just feet away from a chapel-like room where Masonic paraphernalia is displayed in the Scottish Rite building in downtown El Paso. “I came in to the Masons in 1958… In December of 1963, I did my first Masonic funeral on an old gentleman, Mr. Pandelities.” Freemasons refer to the funeral ceremony they conduct as an orientation. The ceremony itself is very similar to non-denomination funeral services in large part because of the Freemason’s ambiguous belief in a supreme being.

El Paso Times launched somosfrontera.com in August 19 to reach the growing Spanish speaking population coming from Juárez.

El Paso Times launches Spanish language online publication

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EL PASO – In El Paso somos frontera.  That means we are the border and The El Paso Times has adopted that reality as the name of its new Spanish language web newspaper. Targeting an audience in a city that is ranked first in the U.S. in the number of people who speak Spanish at home, The Times launched SomosFrontera.com  on August 19. “We saw the need to cover detailed information about Ciudad Juárez, about what’s going on in El Paso, and about what’s going on in Las Cruces,” said Editor in Chief Lourdes Cárdenas. Spanish is the most commonly spoken language in the western hemisphere, including 16 percent of the U.S. population. Here in the borderland, Spanish is considered the most valuable second language for native English speakers.

The El Paso Occupiers mingle next to Los Lagartos sculpture. (Luis Hernández/Borderzine.com)

El Paso’s Occupy movement seeks justice, but their expectations may be too great

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EL PASO – There are small herds of them scattered between the trees, some shirtless and tanned from the sun, sitting around in cozily crammed circles that are set-up between their tents along with various handwritten signs they have made and carried for weeks. I went into the San Jacinto Park completely convinced that I would be called to join their ranks of Occupy El Paso and come out smelling like the downtown streets of El Paso. I thought that they would try to convert me and convince me to go pro-hippy, sleeping in the grass with them, and laughing over text messages out loud to each other while a siren goes streaking by, but that’s before I stumbled into the red and white-striped food tent and got a taste of humility. In the food tent, I timidly approached a man in a tan sun hat, with clear blue eyes that wrinkled when he proudly told me he had been Occupying El Paso for 10 days. When he started talking about his story, I nearly joined the Occupy movement on the spot – but didn’t.

People from different walks of life are demanding change. (Luis Hernández/Borderzine.com)

Occupy El Paso movement decries economic and social injustice in America – Video

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EL PASO – Occupy El Paso demonstrators set up tents in the usually vacant San Jacinto Plaza in downtown as part of a national protest against perceived economic inequality and corporate control of government. Students, college graduates, homeless persons, professors, the unemployed and employed are few examples of individuals displaying their frustration about unemployment, the nation’s economic despair and the federal government’s bailout of banks. Fabiola Martinez, a young, courageous, and jovial woman was one of the many individuals expressing her feelings on how the government has treated its people. “The government is not paying attention to what the people want and need. They are oblivious to what we need; our school systems and health care are failing,” said Martinez.

Fashionistas at the comedor

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Migrant journeys in the desert

NOGALES, México – Friends and neighbors have been generous in their donations to the comedor in Nogales, Sonora, with clothes, shoes, backpacks, hats–things that migrant travelers need. I smile when I sort through the high quality jackets, shirts and pants. We’re talking Land’s End, The Gap, Banana Republic, Eddie Bauer, North Face, Patagonia. Some still have the price tags on them. They have never been worn.

John Sheridan. (Yahchaaroah Lightbourne/Borderzine.com)

El Pasoan sheds light on Howard Hughes’ Las Vegas Years

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EL PASO – America’s first billionaire Howard Hughes was a very reclusive man whose life was brought into the spotlight by great wealth and controversy. John Harris Sheridan, an El Pasoan who works for Chanel 9 news as a producer, brings Hughes’ secrets to light in his book Howard Hughes. The Las Vegas Years: The Women, The Mormons, The Mafia. Sheridan, who worked for Hughes in 1968 as a film editor, writes about the experiences he had with Hughes and his encounters with other characters in the hotels Hughes owned in Las Vegas. Sheridan picks up where the movie Aviator left off going deeply into the life of the man who “decided to keep himself hidden from the news and most people”.

Marigolds - Mexican gold. (Peg Bowden)

Día de los muertos

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NOGALES, México – I love contrasts and extremes: the blazing heat of the desert, and the 40 degree drop in temperature at night this time of year. Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is that kind of festival— a study of contrasts and extremes, a party of joy and sorrow, yin and yang. The Nogales cemetery, a place of sadness and grief, is today a place of singing, feasting, and marigolds everywhere. The streets are lined with booths selling bouquets of marigolds, sugar skulls, and pan dulce (sweet bread and pastries). There is the smell of roasted pork on skewers slowly dripping into the fires, and strolling guitarists and accordions are everywhere.

Michael Romero, Cheryl Howard, Ernesto Alarcón. (Cheryl Howard/Borderzine.com)

Semper Fi

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EL PASO – In 1918, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour, fighting ceased in World War I.  This particular war was designated “the war to end all wars.”  That particular November day has eventually become what we know as Veteran’s Day; it is not the day that all war ended. We may no longer be able to remember Washington or Lincoln’s birthday, but this date is unmistakable; today is this day. My personal belief is that we have had thousands of years of “civilization,” enough to teach us ways to solve our differences in more “civilized” ways. Perhaps we have not learned so much from our past as we think we have. Nevertheless, we keep sending young men and now women to represent our government’s official positions at home and abroad.  Those official positions are clothed in patriotic rhetoric, but sometimes we can see the slip of opportunism or greed showing.

José Luis González, a photojournalist for El Norte newspaper, risks his life every to cover murder scenes at Ciudad Juárez as do most of journalists in one of the most dangerous cities of the world. (Ivan Pierre Aguirre/Borderzine.com)

Chasing Death

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CIUDAD JUÁREZ – Everyday journalists from all over the world make a pilgrimage to one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Ciudad Juárez, to try to document the city’s daily terror on its people. I have gone into Juárez before to try to document that for myself, but this time I wanted to tell the stories of the journalists. Journalists who risk their lives to cover the thousands of murders that happen every year. This was my attempt to try to get a small glimpse into what it takes to cover Juárez in a day’s shift. For one day this past summer, I rode along with two fixers, and met a news crew from Sydney, Australia, a couple of photographers from El Norte newspaper, and visited the local state bureau of investigation.

(David Smith-Soto/Borderzine.com)

Día de los muertos, Mesilla, NM – Slideshow

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MESILLA, NM – Mesilla Plaza near Las Cruces, New Mexico, observed Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Sunday, October 30, with some 50 altars, each one lovingly assembled with mementos  by relatives of the dead to honor and remember their loved ones.  

Lorena Andrade's altar in memory of her father and nephew. (Elvia Navarrete/Borderzine.com)

Día de Los Muertos honors the dead and sustains an ancient Mexican tradition

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EL PASO – Carefully placing her deceased father’s framed portrait on a round table covered with a Spanish style tablecloth, Lorena Andrade neatly arranged his favorite things such as the sugar cane, bananas, tunas and lemons, a pack of L&M cigarettes and a Coca Cola glass bottle. “With the candles and the scent of the flowers they can find you,” she said. “You put food that they like to eat that way they would want to come back and, you know, sit down and talk and eat together. It’s a way for them to come back to visit.”

Like Lorena many people gather at Mercado Mayapán to celebrate Day of the Dead, known to Latinos as Día de Los Muertos. It’s a day and a month when mourners remember their lost loved ones and place ofrendas (offerings) on altars in remembrance and to welcome the departed.

El Paso's DJs are bringing more diversity to their mixes. (Nicole Castillo/Borderzine.com)

El Paso finds itself dancing to the music

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EL PASO – A new El Paso sound pounding through the air with different rhythms coming from all corners compels listeners to move with each pulsating beat and it’s a dance. “People are looking for change in the city. I’ve been one to push the envelope for our mix show ‘the bambucha,'” said DJ Johnny Kage of local radio station Hit F.M. 104.3. “I think hip hop had its time and place. The dance community has been so undergrounded.

(Raymundo Aguirre/Borderzine.com)

El Paso tops Newsweek’s List of “Can-do Capitals,” but can it really do?

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EL PASO – It’s a tale of one city with three different stories. There are three contrasting viewpoints on the placement of El Paso at the top the list of “Can-do Capitals” published by Newsweek Magazine last month. Based on data from the federal government and Moody’s (an economic research company), the border city was named America’s Can-do capital, first on a list of 200 U.S. cities. The recent Moody’s study rated the cities in four different  categories –sustainability, transportation & infrastructure, business development and livability. Each index was graded on a scale of 0-25 points, with all four aspects totaling 100 points.

No Fish se especializa en ofrecer vinos y cervezas de todo el mundo. (Courtesy of Liliana Chavira)

NO FISH – Una agradable sorpresa en el distrito Kern

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De boca en boca

EL PASO – La verdad, la verdad, la primera que vez que me sugirieron que fuera a No Fish me pareció una broma, el lugar desde afuera parece un restaurante/bar de los que ofrecen servicio a los jóvenes que frecuentan el área de restaurantes y bares cerca de la universidad, ruidoso y sin chiste. Sin embargo, después de recibir esta misma sugerencia en otras ocasiones, decidí visitarlos y experimentar personalmente. Este lugar es sorprendente, desde la entrada la decoración es distinta de los otros restaurantes que hasta ahora he visitado para Borderzine, con una decoración a base de cristal, espejo, acrílicos y metales, con un juego muy sencillo y lineal de color, que mantiene la sensación posmodernista del lugar con su cava transparente y lámparas de focos. De sorpresa en sorpresa, No Fish se especializa en ofrecer vinos y cervezas de todo el mundo, con opciones por botella o degustaciones en una especie de percheros para copas de vino que dan la sensación de que van a caerse, pero se mantienen ahí; la segunda especialidad del restaurante la podrán imaginar: los quesos artesanales y los cortes finos de carne, seleccionados especialmente por el Chef ejecutivo. La siguiente sorpresa es algo irónica, resulta que sí sirven pescado y mariscos, quiero mencionar una propuesta deliciosa de ostiones fritos que no he visto en ningún otro lugar local, junto con la presentación, también ofrecen unas “paletitas” de alitas de pollo con salsa de jengibre, perfectas para probar las distintas opciones de vino y cerveza de la carta.

Calacas Raymundo Aguirre and John Del Rosario at L & J's restaurant near Concordia Cemetery, makeup by Josie Jimarez-Howard. (Josie Jimarez-Howard/Borderzine.com)

Live like you mean it

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EL PASO – During this week we have been presented with three opportunities to reflect on our life and the lives of those who came before us. This year, Halloween also marks the day on which the 7 billionth baby (Danica May Camacho) has joined the world (www.7billionandme.org), giving us an opportunity to contextualize our own life amidst the 6,999,999,999 other souls on the planet, and to consider the planet itself. Halloween is no longer a child’s holiday; adults are increasingly enamored of costume parties and pumpkin carving. Whether child or adult, the day is a chance for us to be someone or something we are not, not quite, or not yet. In a way, it is liberating.

Investigative reporters Rocío Idalia Gallegos Rodríguez and Sandra Rodríguez Nieto receive the 2011 Knight International Journalism Award on Tuesday for their courageous work covering the violent crimes that have overtaken the city of Juarez, Mexico. (Hope Rurik/SHFWire)

Examples of courageous journalism are not so far from home

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WASHINGTON – I strongly believe in the common phrase “everything happens for a reason,” and entering the fall internship at the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire fits the expression perfectly. Not only did I arrive here during Hispanic Heritage Month, making the transition from El Paso to Washington a little easier, but I also got the opportunity to witness two brave female reporters from El Diario de Juarez receive the Knight International Journalism Award from the International Center for Journalists. Rocío Idalia Gallegos Rodríguez and Sandra Rodríguez Nieto earned master’s degrees in journalism at the University of Texas at El Paso, my hometown university where I am majoring in multimedia journalism. We also happen to share a mentor, Zita Arocha, senior lecturer and director of the university’s online magazine, Borderzine.com. Gallegos and Nieto’s passion for journalism has led them to risk their lives every day, living and reporting in Juarez, a city ruled by corruption and impunity.

Members of the Diaz family listen UTEP officials honor the memory of Eder Diaz. (Danya Hernandez/Borderzine.com)

Los nombres de víctimas olvidadas se convierten en números en Juárez

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EL PASO —  Miles han muerto y mas siguen muriendo en Cd. Juárez  – 4703 personas en 2010 y en lo que va de 2011 – personas que se convierten en números dentro de los escritorios de funcionarios y los nombres se desvanecen en vaga memoria. El primer aniversario de las muertes de Eder Díaz y Manuel Acosta, dos estudiantes de la Universidad de Texas en El Paso asesinados en Cd. Juárez,  se cumple Noviembre 2. La mayoría de los casos de víctimas en la cuidad de Juárez, terminan como casos desaparecidos.

Beautifully renovated on the outside, San Elizario church is crumbling on the inside. (Kristopher Rivera/Borderzine.com)

Crumbling from the inside out, a Mission Trail chapel prays for support

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SAN ELIZARIO, TX – A chapel dedicated to San Elizario has stood on this spot  since the days the conquistadores wound their way north on the old imperial Spanish mission trail along the Rio Grande, but the current church built in 1877 is falling apart. Extensive repairs have maintained the exterior of the church, but the crumbling interior looks like it has been damaged by a violent exorcism. The walls have been battered by storms that weakened the adobe and created numerous pits and cracks. Lillian Trujillo, a tour guide for the church who has deep family roots in San Elizario still sees beauty in the existing structure. “Even though it’s damaged you can see that it’s a beautiful church.

The devotion to the Holy Death incorporates many elements from Ctaholic Church's iconography even though this is not recognized as legit by the Church. (Luis Hernandez/Borderzine.com)

Some worship the Saint of Death in a city plagued by violence

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Lea esta historia en español

Just a few steps from the historic cathedral devoted to the Virgin of Guadalupe in downtown Juárez, the Mercado Cuauhtémoc shopping center houses stores that specialize in the sale of paraphernalia dedicated to a different holy entity they call Santa Muerte. Like any Sunday, the main plaza and its different mercados in the historic heart of the border city of Juárez are rich with activity and flowing with movement. This is in complete contrast to other sectors of the city where businesses are run down or abandoned, lacking clientele, who fear the violence currently plaguing the city. These shops dedicated to the sale of various goods depicting Santa Muerte – the Saint of Death or just Holy Death – are mixed in with other shops that sell everything from produce and clothing, to electronic goods. In these shops you can find statues and amulets adorned with the saint’s image and you also can say a prayer to her in one of the mini-worship spots set aside in the shops to venerate  “La Huesuda” or “the skeletal saint” as it is also known.

Del Valle Marching Band director, Manuel Gamez has taken the band to the state competition three times – in 2003, 2005, and 2009. (William Blackburn/Borderzine.com)

High school marching-band students strive and strain to reach the state finals

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EL PASO — The Socorro Activities Complex in east El Paso is filled with the blasting excitement of drums, brass and cheers on a warm Saturday afternoon in October as excited spectators root for area high school marching bands competing for a chance to appear at the state level in San Antonio. The Del Valle high school band has been rehearsing for this competition since August, practicing long hours every day, learning their marching steps and the music. It’s fun and it’s challenging. Aaron Gomez a sophomore told Borderzine “I enjoy learning new music and music is my passion and after high school I want to study music and receive a degree from a four-year university.”

Alex Verdugo, a senior leader for the French horn section said, “I motivate students and assist the band directors in what needs to be done.” He became a section leader through a lot of practice and auditioning for the job, he said. Juan Palacios a junior leader for the trumpets section said, “It’s a lot of hard work, but it is worth it in the end.”

Christina Boatman a sophomore told Borderzine she thinks Del Valle is the best band and “…the feeling that you gave it your all on the field is indescribable.”

Cindy Cruz a senior said the band also helps students with academics and she will miss being in the band after she graduates.

El Dorado High School's faculty consider that dual degree classes help raise the academic level of all students because it sets the bar at a highest level. (Nicole Castillo/Borderzine.com)

High-school students load up on academic work to get college credit

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EL PASO – The sound of the alarm going off at 5 a.m. every morning is an all too familiar sound for Bryce Neria and his fellow classmates as they prepare for a 12-hour day of schoolwork. High school students aware of the importance of a college education now have a new opportunity to get a leg up on advanced studies while still in high school. A dual credit program allows current high school students to take advantage of an early college education while in high school. Neria says he doesn’t mind the rigors of the program. “Its absolutely worth it!