Out of your comfort zone: What led me to an internship… I don’t like comfort zones

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There was once a time in my life that I felt I would never break into the degree professions.  I knew I would never be a high level executive, unless I started from the bottom and worked exceptionally hard. I also knew that many of my dreams would be inaccessible without a degree.  Teaching English abroad, working in government, becoming a broadcaster; all these things are out of reach for someone without a degree, or at least trying to gain one. One day, that changed when I made the decision to get back into school after a three-year break after graduating high school.

Living in constant fear, Mexicans long for the good life they lost

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EL PASO, Texas —Little is known about the truth behind the Cartel Wars, but one thing is certain, they must end. They are a constant plague on our way of life, the borderway.  For more than four decades, the citizens of the borderland have been subject to a war that brewed and heated until it erupted only four years ago. Frankly, the people here do not care who is in charge, to them the only person they call “boss” is Bruce Springstein, and maybe Pedro Infante. Regardless, we the people say screw these bastards who are endangering our Juarense brothers and sisters. We demand to be protected and we will not accept the current standard.

The Floppers — A bad call awakens the US to the thrill of world soccer

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EL PASO, Texas — Many have often wondered why soccer (football in the rest of the world) popularity in the United States has never been the same as that of the world. I lend a theory to this. Low scores, no real off-season, too many events already happen here that do not happen elsewhere and flopping. Americans like entertainment, they like high scores and dramatic finishes. The bottom line comes down to the fact that soccer’s simplicity may be the contributing factor to its lack of popularity and exposure in the United States.

Hey Bartender, Don’t Keep Me Waiting!

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El Paso, Texas — Every time I go out I experience the same thing —horrible service. It is a crime that one has to wait more than 20 minutes to get a bevvie, especially if you specialize in the service. I mean, they aren’t doctors or lawyers —they’re bars and nightclubs. It is an inescapable curse of going out with a small group of friends or not knowing the bartenders from regularity or some other means, the fact that a beer is twenty minutes away at the peak of the night. Do these bars not have managers capable of seeing the suffering that one goes through when they go out?

Wild West Miami Heat Family Festival

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MIAMI, F.L. — Children laughing and playing games, people taking pictures with their favorite Miami Heat basketball players and coaches, a silent auction involving autographed jerseys, shoes, and pictures, and the best food in Miami can sum up this past weekend’s event.  All proceeds benefit Jackson Memorial Foundation’s Guardian Angels, SafeSpace domestic violence shelter, the Miami Coalition for a Safe & Drug Free Community and Project Mediashare. Every year the teams gives a day to the organizations they raise money for and attracts some of the best restaurants and chefs in Miami as well as have great games for the kids. They had ponies, cowboys on horses in Miami, a mechanical bull, a small basketball court, massages and it is all free.  It is more than pleasing to see such busy athletes giving back to the community in the way of inspiration.  Children got to shoot hoops with Dwayne Wade for an hour and then he emceed a mechanical bull riding competition between the kiddies. After an amazing weekend in Miami this was certainly a great way to top it all off.  Fortunately, I enjoyed two NBA games (Heat vs. Lakers and Heat vs.

D.C. Scholars to Propose Solutions for U.S.-Mexico Cooperation on Organized Crime

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EL PASO — A team of experts sent by the Mexico Institute in Washington, D.C. spent three days interviewing persons in Juarez to see if a lack of cross-border cooperation between U.S. and Mexican government agencies hinders efforts to quell the out-of-control consumption of illegal narcotics by Americans and the drug-cartel wars in Mexico. Andrew Selee, director of the Institute and an adjunct professor of government at John Hopkins University said the drug violence goes beyond the normal definitions of terrorism. “Seeing how some of these murders have played out in recent years has made us pay close attention to the growing violence along the borderland.”

The group of 16 scholars spent three days in February interviewing various Juarez officials including the Aduana, military commanders, the different levels of law enforcement, and others to get a real sense of how to combat the organized crime that plagues the borderland. “We recognize that the problem [bilateral cooperation] is not just in one part of the borderland, but all across it,” Selee said. The group has traveled to various drug violence hot spots such as Tijuana/San Diego, San Luis Potosi, and to El Paso/Juarez.