Danza cultural helps build important life skills in rural California community

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Children wearing masks stomp their feet on concrete as they watch the new baile folklórico teacher nod her head and gesture the beats: right, left, right, left. The students are gathered on this Sunday evening in June at the local park in Humboldt County, California and show their excitement with this fun, social activity. 

The person leading this effort is Lucy Salazar, the president of Cumbre Humboldt — a local nonprofit celebrating its 2-year anniversary. “Music. Dancing. It’s math.

El Paso couples happy after finding their pandemic wedding styles

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Elaine Gordon Wilson and her fiance Kevin opted for a church ceremony with a virtual audience. Angel Iturbe and his fiance chose an outdoor event  with safety rules for guests. Both tell the stories of how their plans to get married survived all the challenges the pandemic threw at them. https://soundcloud.com/borderzine-reporting-across-fronteras/a-tale-of-two-pandemic-weddings

 

 

 

Indigenous diaspora: The arduous journey from Guatemala through Mexico

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By René Kladzyk and Maria Ramos Pacheco/El Paso Matters and Veronica Martinez/La Verdad

First of a three-part series 

Running children and crying babies create a cacophony at El Buen Samaritano shelter, but in a far corner, Carmela holds her 2-year-old in silence. She can’t communicate with anyone — she doesn’t know Spanish, and no one at the facility can understand the Indigenous language she speaks. Indigenous migrants like Carmela encounter extra hurdles in attempting to reach the United States: communication difficulties, cultural barriers and anti-Indigenous discrimination. In this three-part series, we’ll trace the path of a migration journey from Guatemala, investigating the challenges that Indigenous migrants face at every stage. Part one looks at migration drivers and the arduous journey across Mexico; part two discusses added barriers at the U.S. border as Indigenous migrants interact with immigration officials; and part three centers on the struggles Indigenous migrants face in shelters in Juárez and how they’re rendered invisible in U.S. immigration courts.

How one U.S.-based Mexican crafts small business is trying to adapt to supply issues amid the pandemic

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Dianna Williams-Hefley grew up with one foot on each side of the border. She spent her early years living in the United States, but due to job opportunities for her parents who were teachers, her family moved to Guadalajara, Mexico. That’s where she went to high school. Williams-Hefley recalls being mesmorized by the art culture she experienced while living in Mexico. Enchanted by the vibrant colors of folk art and the traditional methods used in each handcrafted piece, Williams-Hefley’s appreciation for Mexican artisan work stayed with her even after returning to the U.S.

“I was always trying to figure out someway to get back to Mexico,” Williams-Hefley said.

Border travel restrictions in Detroit and El Paso show the uneven impacts of COVID-19

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Nathaly Gonzalez crosses from El Paso to Ciudad Juárez a couple times a week. She brings groceries to her grandparents — they prefer the bulk foods sold on the U.S. side. She visits her brother and takes her dog to the vet.

Gonzalez and her mother are dual U.S.-Mexican citizens and live in El Paso; her brother and grandparents are Mexican citizens and live in Ciudad Juárez.

Things have changed significantly for Gonzalez and her family since the COVID-19 travel restrictions went into effect on March 21, 2020, but she still crosses with ease, regardless of whether her reasons for crossing could be defined as “essential.”

A timeline of the pandemic in the Borderland

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In the year since the pandemic’s arrival, thousands of people in both Ciudad Juárez and El Paso have died of COVID-19. Schools have shuttered. Businesses have struggled.

This timeline, produced as part of the Puente Media Collaborative, looks back at crucial moments in the past year.

Binational news collaboration launches to explore important issues for El Paso-Juárez

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A unique binational news collaboration will begin publishing stories this week about significant issues facing El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. The partnership, called Puente News Collaborative, will begin with a two-week series of stories that look at how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our region. This month is the first anniversary of the arrival of COVID-19 in our region, as well as the resulting restrictions on border crossings that disrupted life in our region. The Puente News Collaborative includes news organizations from both sides of the border: La Verdad in Ciudad Juárez; and ABC 7, El Paso Inc., El Paso Matters, El Paso Times, Univision 26, KTEP public radio and Borderzine as part of the UTEP multimedia journalism program in El Paso. The collaboration is made possible by financial support from Microsoft as part of its efforts to preserve and protect journalism and local newsrooms. In December, partners in the collaboration shared an El Paso Times story about the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program that was published in both English and Spanish.

Border pandemic travel restrictions create obstacles for patients who get dental care in Mexico

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CIUDAD JUAREZ — El Pasoans and other U.S. citizens who rely on dentists in Mexico for lower cost dental care face obstacles as COVID-19 travel restrictions remain in place nearly a year later.

The U.S. and Mexican governments in March 2020 limited cross border travel at land ports of entry to “essential reasons” including work, school or medical care. Though dental care is allowed, patients say they face long lines at the border when returning to the U.S. side.

“Before the restrictions that we’re facing now, I used to go like once a month, and they were pretty simple. I would go in come back in an hour, actually,” said Norma Perez, an El Paso patient who crosses into Ciudad Juarez.

Still clipping along, Estine Davis and her barber shop praised by El Paso’s Black community

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Estine Davis has been cutting hair in El Paso for almost 70 years, most of it at her barber shop that is the last vestige of what was once a vibrant Black business district. As she prepared to celebrate her 88th birthday in December, the woman known affectionately as Miss Estine told a reporter she has no plans to retire. “As long as I make a living from it, I’m going to cut hair,” she said. To celebrate Miss Estine, a group of friends organized a “Toot and Wave Car Parade” in her honor . The parade began at Shiloh Baptist Church, 3201 Frutas, then made its way to Estine Eastside Barber Shop at 104 N. Piedras.

Hispanic, Latino … a single word is too small to capture who we are

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In the leadup to the Nov. 3 election and in its aftermath, there’s been a lot of talk about how Latinos aren’t a monolith, and the messiness of trying to lump so many different people into one group. It’s also something Brandy Ruiz has been thinking about. She’s a journalism student at the University of Texas at El Paso. What, she wondered, does it even mean to be Latino or Hispanic?

Canceled church bazaar season disappoints gordita fans, disrupts vital parish fundraising in El Paso

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Normally around this time of year, the church kermes or bazaar season would just be wrapping up in El Paso. Every year, many Catholic churches hold huge, weekend-long fundraisers. They are a tradition in the borderland – large, carnival-like gatherings complete with live music, family games like loteria, and some of the best Mexican food you can find. Think gorditas and elotes. Churches usually do most of their fundraising for the year at these bazaars.

Culture Shift: Looking at Identity in the Borderland Bubble

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In this episode of Our Border Life we talk about those moments when people realize they’re in a culture shift – that something fundamentally has changed about their identity. Specifically, the growing awareness of the multi-layered identities among people living in the U.S-Mexico borderland region of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. https://soundcloud.com/borderzine-reporting-across-fronteras/looking-at-identity-through-the-borderland-bubble

We meet with Gustavo Reveles, who was born in El Paso and spent the first 15 years of his life living on both sides of the border. In a conversation with a friend, Martin Bartlett, Reveles talks about how he didn’t realize he lived in a culture bubble until he moved away for a job after college.  

 

“You grew up thinking you’re both Mexican and American.

Listen to an El Paso nurse’s journey through COVID-19

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Nurses have been at the center of the COVID-19 health crisis helping those who are severely ill, coping with a shortage of personal protective equipment, and in some cases getting sick themselves. Borderzine reporter Gabe Montellano began interviewing Mario Murillo, an El Paso nurse, back in March for a story about Latinos in nursing. And then the pandemic happened. Here’s Murillo’s experience of working on the frontlines before and after he himself contracted COVID-19. This conversation originally aired on our partner public radio station KTEP.

Daughter talks with mother about her activism in 1980’s Mexico democracy movement

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In the summer of 2019, undergraduate journalism students from the University of Texas at El Paso and Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juarez collaborated to record personal stories of the border. In the 1980s, the elections in Mexico were full of fraud, causing mass protests. One of the strongest movements occurred in the state of Chihuahua. Ana Sofia Rey interviewed her mother Monica about the fight for democracy in Ciudad Juarez. https://soundcloud.com/borderzine-reporting-across-fronteras/familia-rey-conversation-politics
Transcript
Ana Sofia: Tell me a little more about the protests in Ciudad Juárez.

A conversation with maquila workers when a company closes

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In the summer of 2019, UTEP and UACJ collaborated to record personal stories from both sides of the border. In this conversation we hear the experience of two workers. Ana Belen Sanchez and Claudia Rivas worked in a maquila operated by North American Communications, known as NAMS in Juarez. In March 2019, the plant closed abruptly, leaving more than 600 people unemployed. Transcript
Ana Belen: My name is Ana Belen Sanchez, I’m 29 years old.

Family, food and shopping biggest reasons for El Pasoans to visit Juarez

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Ciudad Juarez is known as a sprawling border city with a strong economy thanks to the proliferation of of over 300 hundred maquiladoras, factories that assemble parts for a variety of items from car radios to windmill blades. Less well known is that the desert city of 2 million residents draws many El Paso residents to visit each day to patronize a variety of Juarez businesses from restaurants to clothing boutiques. These preferences are most visibly shown in the medical and retail sectors, but according to the Border Perception Index, a survey conducted as part of an initiative called Building Broader Communities in the Americas, the second main reason El Pasoans cross to Cd. Juarez is to shop for 21.5 percent of those polled. The primary reason for El Pasoans to go to Juarez, according to the survey, is to visit family or friends, as indicated by 44 percent of those surveyed.

The Rarámuri experience in Ciudad Juárez

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One of the main indigenous groups in the state of Chihuahua is known as the Tarahumada. They recognize themselves as Rarámuri. Most live in the mountains, but they also have colonies within Ciudad Juarez exclusively for them. Adriana Garcia, a Mixteca Juárense, interviewed Rosalinda Guadalajara, the local governor of the Rarámuri. Transcript (English translation below)
INTRODUCCION: Este verano las universidades de UTEP y UACJ colaboraron para grabar historias personales de ambos lados de esta frontera.

Food trucks leverage border street food tradition into storefront businesses

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Borderzine reporter Nicole Madrid explores how some El Paso entrepreneurs used food trucks to test and build their brick and mortar businesses. 
Story Script
FROM FOOD TRUCK TO STOREFRONT
5:42
NICOLE MADRID

NATS 1: [Fade in sounds of food truck generator humming. Keep low under TRACK, fade out under “options.” ]

TRACK 1: (:28)

THE HUM OF A FOOD TRUCK HAS BECOME THE SOUNDTRACK TO MANY EL PASO MEALS IN RECENT YEARS, ATTRACTING DINERS WITH THEIR UNIQUE AND AFFORDABLE OPTIONS. NOW, FOOD TRUCK OWNERS LIKE PALOMA TREJO ARE MAKING THEIR NEXT STOP A BIT MORE PERMANENT. ACT 1: Paloma Trejo (:07)
“We always had the idea of doing a store front, and we used the food truck as sort of like the vehicle to get us here.”

TRACK 2:
TREJO STARTED SWEET ADDICTION, EL PASO’S FIRST DESSERT TRUCK, IN 2012.

How border journalism learned the value of Spanish and local reporters

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A conversation with father and son journalists in El Paso. Aaron Bracamontes, was digital content director for KTSM 9 News at the time of this conversation. He interviews his father, Ramon, former El Paso Times managing editor, about the not-too-distant past when Latinos and the Spanish language weren’t reflected in the makeup of the city’s largest newsroom. Transcript
Aaron Bracamontes:  Me and you have kind of talked about it in the past. The El Paso Times I started at and the El Paso Times I left wasn’t the same El Paso Times that you started at.

Cross-border romance led to marriage on international bridge

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La historia de una pareja separada por su situación migratoria. Sandra Lopez se regreso a Juárez después de descubrir que estaba viviendo indocumentada en Estados Unidos. Ella conoció a su esposo, Rodolfo, un ciudadano Americano, por internet. Ambos recuerdan cómo fue desarrollando su relación. Translation: This is the story of a couple separated by their immigration status.

Fort Bliss soldiers share their thoughts on living in El Paso

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EL PASO – Life in the military brings soldiers to duty stations across the U.S and overseas. For many, it is easy to picture being stationed in places like Hawaii or Colorado. But, when it comes to a posting at Fort Bliss in this West Texas city on the U.S., Mexico border, some soldiers didn’t know what to expect. “All I really knew of it was what I heard from old tales of the wild, wild west,” said New Jersey National Guard, Staff Sgt. Brandon Glaser, who came to El Paso from Chicago in 2012.

Kiki’s – How a little neighborhood restaurant grew to be a community tradition

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El Paso is a city packed with mom-and-pop Mexican restaurants – humble spots tucked in amid neighborhood shops that many non-locals might not even notice as they drive by. Places, like Kiki’s at 2719 N. Piedras. It is off the beaten path, but after more than 40 years, this Central El Paso eatery has grown into a local institution that attracts fans from across the city. Kiki’s Mexican Restaurant and Bar was established by Paula Yardeni in 1976. The name Kiki’s comes from Yardeni’s daughter who was just a toddler at the time.

Border wall called harmful to migrating wildlife, biodiversity

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Erecting physical barriers along the U.S. southern border endangers the wellbeing of native wildlife in the area, says Kevin Bixby, executive director of the Southwest Environmental Center (SWEC). He is concerned that a wall’s environmental impact could lead to loss of habitat and biodiversity. Listen: Barriers to healthy wildlife migration

The SWEC has lobbied against the wall in Washington, D.C. and organized protest rallies at the wall itself. The center is a participant in two active lawsuits against the wall. The first lawsuit was filed March 2018 in reaction to the Department of Homeland Security’s waiver of laws — including the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, and Clean Water Act — in clearing the way to build a border wall.

Cross-border home ownership rate reflects El Paso, Juarez binational community dynamic

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About one in every six El Pasoans say they own homes in both Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, according to a recent survey. The Border Perception Survey asked border residents about topics ranging from education and health to the security and environment. The survey, a collaboration between the El Paso Community Foundation and Fundación Comunitaria Frontera Norte as part of an initiative called Building Broader Communities in the Americas, was conducted between August and September of 2018 and included 896 El Pasoans and 1,535 Juarez residents. “The surprising thing was such a large number of people who actually are dual citizens, or are citizens of one side of the other but have homes on the other side of the border. And so that was an impressive finding,” said one of the researchers on the project, Josiah Heyman, director of the Center for Inter-American and Border Studies and professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso.