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

By |

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.

Saving Luis Jimenez’ gators — El Pasoans won’t let go of a beloved city centerpiece

By |

EL PASO — Downtown El Paso could soon lose one of its most beloved landmarks, created by one of the city’s most famous artists if a plan to renovate San Jacinto Plaza is approved and funded by the city council. Luis Jimenez’s fiberglass sculpture, “Los Lagartos” has stood at the center of the plaza since 1995, would be replaced by shrubbery trimmed in the shape of alligators in the renovation plans donated by Mills Plaza Properties, owned by prominent El Paso businessman Paul Foster. El Paso art historian Miguel Juarez is spearheading the movement to keep the statue in the city’s plans. “The alligators are the soul of El Paso,” Juarez said. “Historically the plaza was a meeting place.

Neon Desert Music Festival to light up the Sun City

By |

EL PASO  – Skies will illuminate here and the Franklin Mountains will reverberate during the city’s first Neon Desert Music Festival that will take place Saturday, April 30 with international, national, regional and local talent. Zachariah W. Paul, one of the event’s organizers along with Gina Martinez and Brian Chavez came up with the idea in October, 2009. “We wanted to do a music festival in El Paso and we felt this is a market that doesn’t have anything like what we are trying to do,” Paul said. “We felt there is a demand here and the people would support us to do something like this.”

Paul said their vision is to create an event that is for the city of El Paso, by the city of El Paso. He said it will feature a combination of international, national, regional and local talent.