Penguins chilling in the desert? El Paso zoo creating $3 million home for threatened species

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The El Paso Zoo will soon become home to a colony of Magellanic penguins – a species listed as threatened by an international organization – in a new multi-million dollar exhibit as part of the city’s 2012 Quality of Life bond issue. Magellanic penguins, which reside along the coasts of South America and reach as far north as Brazil, are small – about two feet tall – with black and white feathers and banding on their necks. They are commonly found in Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands. “The more people learn and read about them, the greater their passion will before wanting to help,” said Rick LoBello, education curation for the El Paso Zoo. “We want people to be emotionally invested and passionate about the animals here.”

A dozen penguins will be part of a South American exhibit, set to open in 2020, officials said.

After finding out he is a U.S. citizen, immigrant student doubles up on workload to reunite with his family from Mexico

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As a child growing up in Ciudad Juarez, Alexis Mesta loved racing his bike with his neighborhood friends and watching Saturday morning cartoons on TV, especially Courage the Cowardly Dog. He loved eating his grandma’s homemade food and spending time with her. He says he was a carefree, well-adjusted boy, blessed with loving parents who wanted the best for him.  

That life ended when, as a teenager, he moved alone to El Paso to create a new life for himself and help his family. Today, Mesta, 22, works two jobs, studies for his master’s in business administration at UTEP and has sponsored his mom, dad, sister and brother to live in the U.S.

“I wanted to sponsor my family because I wanted my brother and sister to have the same advantages that I did,” said Mesta, who was born in El Paso and is a U.S. citizen.

Durrow, Heidi W. The girl who fell from the sky. Algonquin books of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 2011.

2. The girl who fell from the sky, Heidi W. Durrow

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50 LIBROS/ 50 BOOKS: Mujeres y sus historias. 
to Cheryl Howard,
who shares tea, stories, books, yarn, life
Before my friend Cheryl moved to Mimbres I used to visit her every Friday, we had sweet tea and long conversations. It was probably on one of those afternoons when I told her about the book I wanted to write. “See, it will be about a girl that this and that… and I want to create this and that” (sorry, I am saving the secrets of my work in progress!). Anyway, days or weeks later Cheryl gave my son this book and said: tell your mom to read it.

This necklace from his family means everything to Martin. (Kel Harris/El Nuevo Tennessean)

Families divided by borders

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Daniel A., 32, moved from Honduras to East Tennessee almost four years ago. His family in Honduras accepts the money order he mails every other week instead of seeing their son. His parents were sad to watch their son leave their country, but Daniel knew he could provide a better life for his family if he moved to the United States. Now, as a server in a restaurant in Savannah, Daniel works for tips and shares a small living space with his cousin. Coming to America was an emotional strain for him.

Eulogies for the living

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EL PASO – We usually wait until people die to celebrate their lives, children’s birthdays excepted. How short-sighted of us. Bobby Byrd, poet and co-owner of Cinco Puntos Press (CCP), just turned 70. His wife, Lee Merrill Byrd, also a writer and CCP co-owner, planned a surprise (?) party for him just as she has done for at least the past three decades. Upon graciously approaching the microphone to speak to his audience of well-wishers, Bobby noted, “I see that all my lives are present here this evening,” or something very close to that.  He went on to mention the various groups of people represented:  the guys he played basketball with at the “Y,” his neighbors, fellow soccer coaches, fellow writers and coworkers, muckety-mucks, etc.

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.

The golden poppies were a no-show, but the mountain party blossomed anyway

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El PASO — The northeast section of this high-desert city doesn’t have much to brag about, but it does have poppies — the yellow flowers that bloom in the spring overwhelming the northeast slopes of the Franklin Mountains in gold glinting with the wind. But this year, even the yellow poppies abandoned the northeast. It’s a rite of spring for El Pasoans to bask in the beauty of the golden mountains, but 2011 is the year the Mexican Gold Poppies were not willing to bloom. Some blame the unusual unrelenting freezing weather and snow hit El Paso in January and the little rain that has fallen since. But Marilyn Guida Curator of Education at the El Paso Archaeology Museum said, “The poppies not blooming this year really can’t be tied to just one single cause.”

The Fifth Annual Poppies Preservation Celebration was held as usual anyway.