Study program in the Indonesian jungles influences attitudes and expands cultural horizons

By |

EL PASO — In the dense tropical rainforest, nature softly enveloped the group of students — the wind sifting through braches and leaves, the singing of myriad insects and birds — a potent reminder that they were not in Texas anymore, but in Kutai National Park in the island of Borneo, in the East Kalimantan region of Indonesia. “In 2009, I was finishing up my undergraduate degree in communication at UTEP and was still somewhat uncertain where my life was going. I had been admitted to the master’s program at the University of Colorado, but had no clue as to what I wanted to study,” said Carlos Tarin, 27. “Indonesia changed all of that.”

A college student’s life consists of homework assignments, computer issues and dreaded group projects. It’s unfortunate that not a lot of students are aware of the diverse opportunities for advancement offered by their universities.

Borderzine.com invites El Paso area community members to participate in a focus group for the redesign of Borderzine’s website

By |

EL PASO – Borderzine.com will conduct a series of focus groups interviews in order to generate information that will support the redesign of the organization’s website with the purpose of better serving the needs of its readers. Borderzine is inviting members of the El Paso community to participate in this focus group interview which is being scheduled to take place at The University of Texas at El Paso on Monday, November 25 in Cotton Memorial building Room 306 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Borderzine subscribers who are familiar with the organization’s current website are encouraged to participate. The objective of the focus group will be to obtain direct insights from loyal Borderzine readers; tapping into their own experiences to better serve their needs. Specific goals for the focus group are:
1. Identify design and usability strengths and weaknesses.

Rudy Camacho demonstrating how to use Grindr, a dating app for homosexual men. (Cristina Quinones/Borderzine.com)

Mobile dating works for landing significant others or just fun fishing, but caveats abound

By |

EL PASO – Everything that was creepy and horrific about online dating is now implanted into your phone, where you can get updates on people possibly stalking you based on your location. For some, that may still be the case, yet, with phone dating apps becoming more popular, especially within the university setting, mobile dating is slowly becoming a “normal” tool for casual dates and even for finding someone to marry. “I actually met my fiancé on OKCupid, although that’s really embarrassing, so I tell people he rescued me from a bear in the woods,” said Rebecca Gomez, a student at El Paso Community College. OKcupid has over 4 million users in the U.S. alone, and utilizes personality tests, personal preferences, sexual orientation, and location to create “matches.” Users can also select what they are expecting to find/like – “find someone to marry, nothing serious, someone to date, or just hook-up.”

Germad Reed

Football teaches you the discipline to hit hard and when knocked down, get up and do it again

By |

EL PASO – I look to the sideline at my position coach to get the call, a series of quick hand signals repeated three times. “Over 4 Dagger Right Echo,” I yell out to my teammates so that we all can be on the same page. Now, I look at the Tulane University lineup formation and recall what plays they run out of the 10 personal formations. The first number is for how many backs are in and the second number tells how many tight ends. In this formation the quarterback is usually aligned in shotgun with the back either to his left or right.

Brenda Perez of Nashville, Tenn. is arrested on First Street after protesters marched to the Capitol Tuesday. Perez was part of a group of three activists from Workers Dignity from Nashville who were arrested for civil disobedience. (Andrés Rodríguez/SHFWire)

Historically effective civil disobedience is now a tool in the fight for immigration reform

By |

EL PASO — Worries press through Brenda Perez’s mind as she is escorted into a Washington, D.C. jail cell. “What if it doesn’t work out? What if they act on my immigrant status? What if I don’t get out?”
She looks at the others, some without legal documentation, who are being processed with her. She realizes she is in there for them, for other young members of her family who are in the U.S. without papers, and for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country.

Mexican journalist Anabel Hernandez said that 'corruption' was the one single word that describes what is happening in Mexico. (Luis Hernández/Borderzine.com)

Mexican journalist blames the failure of the drug-war on corrupt and inept government policies on both sides of the border

By |

EL PASO – Five unique and experienced voices were heard at the University of Texas at El Paso this week discussing the seemingly eternal drug war and the government policies that fuel it that has plagued the U.S.-Mexico border region in recent years. The participants included UTEP professor and author Dr. Howard Campbell, former DEA agent Gilberto Gonzalez, UTEP Communication professor Andrew Kennis, Mexican journalist Anabel Hernandez, and U.S. Representative Beto O’Rouke (D., El Paso). The event, called  “Drug Policy on the Border and Beyond: Dangers Facing Journalists, Obstacles Facing Policy Makers” organized by Kennis, added to the growing discussion by policy makers, law enforcement, public officials and journalists on how to end the war that has claimed thousands of lives in Mexico and led to increased anti-drug enforcement along the U.S. side of the border. Hernandez, an investigative journalist in Mexico who has done some of the best coverage of the drug war and published a book, Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and their Godfathers, in English and Spanish, drew upon her extensive research to discuss the strong connections between the drug cartels and the Mexican government. She also spoke of the importance of the drug economy to the people of Mexico.

A veg-out sandwich from Einstein Brothers. (Velia Quiroz/Borderzine.com)

If I wouldn’t eat my Schnauzer, why would I eat meat? Trials of a borderland vegetarian

By |

EL PASO – Five years ago I decided to add one more attribute to my repertoire – vegetarian. I decided to make the change and see if I could stick with it, and I haven’t looked back. I gave up red meat and fish first and then, about two years ago, I was able to eliminate chicken too. I began researching vegetarianism after I read a quote somewhere that said something like, “if you wouldn’t eat your dog, why eat a pig?”

I thought about it and researched a little more, considering that I have a Schnauzer named Paris who I wouldn’t eat. I found out that pigs are smarter than dogs and even three-year-old toddlers.

Ector Joel Acosta, 21, author of The Rise of the Borderland Man. (Valori K. Corral-Nava/Borderzine.com)

Borderland Man – ebook conveys the hope that teens damaged by violence and desperation can heal

By |

EL PASO – Ector Joel Acosta studies biochemistry and physics at the University of Texas at El Paso and plans to apply to medical school to become a dermatologist, but for now he has adopted a new identity – Borderland Man. In this new role, Acosta, 21, is now a published Latino writer and his first book Rise of the Borderland Man is for sale online. Acosta began writing the fictional account of a young man living in the borderland along the divide between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico a year ago. Frustrated by the long and tedious process of finding a publisher, he published the novel as an e-book this year. “I was always keeping my mind on something – chess, writing, and art,” said Acosta who is a junior at UTEP.

Ebenezer Anom is one of about just one hundred students from Africa at UTEP. (Vianey Alderete/Borderzine.com)

Overcoming obstacles is a constant part of life for international students

By |

EL PASO – Ebenezer Anom’s passion for nursing developed when he was a child in Ghana from a visit to a hospital where he was impressed by the activity of the nurses. Despite his parents’ disapproval because nursing is seen as woman’s work in his native country, he is now finalizing his senior year in pre-nursing at the University of Texas at El Paso. He came to UTEP after acquiring a bachelor’s degree in computer science and communication at the University of Duisburg, in Germany. “After my first degree I worked for about three years and then I realized my passion in nursing was stolen from me. So this was the point where I asked myself if I wanted to continue what I was doing or go into what I am passionate about,” said Anom.

Joe conduce una van Dodge azul de 1990 y hace paradas cada cinco millas para asegurarse que los ciclistas del equipo tengan suficiente comida, agua y medicamentos. (Jacqueline Armendariz Reynolds/Borderzine.com)

Day four – Mexicanos en Exilio – pedaling for peace and justice 200 miles to Marfa

By |

Editor’s Note – Carlos Gutierrez fled Mexico in 2011 after criminals cut off his legs for refusing to pay extortion fees. His goal now in a 13-day 701-mile bicycle trip from El Paso to Austin sponsored by Mexicanos en Exilio is to raise awareness of the continuing violence and corruption in Mexico. We’re all feeling pretty stressed today. Carlos’ prosthetics have been rubbing against his skin causing painful contact burns. The press were calling non-stop, and our Internet access is spotty at best.

A group of SRI participants at the border wall in New Mexico. (Angel Cancino/Borderzine.com)

Journalists file their stories after participating in UTEP’s immigration reporting workshop

By |

 

EL PASO – Twenty journalists from all regions of the United States gathered at the University of Texas at El Paso this fall to learn strategies and tools for reporting about immigration in their home communities. The workshop, “Reporting Immigration: From the Border to the Heartland,” was sponsored by the McCormick Foundation and Borderzine. Borderzine is proud to re-publish the online, print and broadcast stories that the journalists are reporting from New York, Atlanta, Phoenix, areas of Texas and other parts of the nation. The topics they explore include the deaths of undocumented immigrants on the Texas-Mexico border, increased scrutiny of abuses by immigration agents, growing asylum requests from Mexicans who say they are victims of persecution in their country, immigration enforcement at the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez border, and coverage by U.S. women journalists of the deaths of hundreds of girls and young women in Ciudad Juarez. Their stories, published first in the journalists’ local news outlets, are part of the complex and ongoing story of immigration to the U.S. from Latin America and other parts of the globe.

Artist Diego Garcia works on a “Día de los Muertos” mask for an upcoming gallery opening.(Valeria Hernandez/Borderzine.com)

Mural painter finds an educational mission in graffiti

By |

EL PASO – As Diego Garcia, driven by inspiration and the waves crashing on the shore, was on the very last stroke of his painting on the seawall at Venice Beach, next to mural-master Sano’s famous masterpiece, the beach patrol arrived and ordered him to stop painting and leave. “I found a wall and I started to paint. I took one section that was all messed up,” says Garcia, 21, recalling one of his most memorable pieces from two summers ago when he visited Venice Beach, California. “I remembered Sano’s piece from a movie I had seen on Netflix filmed in 1992. I thought it was insane that I could be painting next to his piece.”

From drawing Ninja Turtles and Dragonball Z characters when he was a first grader to working on his art education at The University of Texas at El Paso, Garcia’s talent shines.

Gutierrez rie cuando sugerimos que pare. (Jacqueline Armendariz Reynolds/Borderzine.com

Day two – Mexicanos en Exilio – pedaling 125 miles for peace and justice from Fort Hancock to Van Horn

By |

Lea esta historia es español

Editor’s Note – Carlos Gutierrez fled Mexico in 2011 after criminals cut off his legs for refusing to pay extortion fees. His goal now in a 13-day 701-mile bicycle trip from El Paso to Austin sponsored by Mexicanos en Exilio is to raise awareness of the continuing violence and corruption in Mexico. The phone rang at 6 a.m.  forcing us out of warm beds that we weren’t quite ready to leave. It was the press calling, coffee was being brewed on an electric skillet; it was still dark, a mirage city winked at us from the horizon. The interviews took longer than expected, the sun peaked from behind the mountains, the air warmed and we were behind schedule.

Day one – Mexicanos en Exilio – pedaling 57 miles for peace and justice from El Paso to Fort Hancock

By |

Lea esta historia en español

Editor’s Note – Carlos Gutierrez fled Mexico in 2011 after criminals cut off his legs for refusing to pay extortion fees. His goal now in a 13-day 701-mile bicycle trip from El Paso to Austin sponsored by Mexicanos en Exilio is to raise awareness of the continuing violence and corruption in Mexico. Our day began early, but none of us had gotten much sleep due to the combination of last minute preparations and nerves. We arrived at Lincoln Park in El Paso shivering in the cold, dry air that blows over the Chihuahuan Desert in the fall. Univision Miami had already arrived and were setting up, checking bikes, mics, cameras, prepping make-up for the big story that was about to air.  A few weeks ago, Carlos Gutierrez had been rolling burritos at a local Mexican restaurant and now we were surrounded by media and fans.

Outdoor shrine to Virgen de Guadalupe in Falcon Heights, Texas. (Sergio Chapa/Borderzine.com)

Zapata County – A study in contrasts

By |

Lupita and I left the historic City of Roma and took the Zapata Highway heading west. The next major landmark along the border is Falcon Lake. The 83,654-acre reservoir was created in 1954 when a dam was built along the Rio Grande River just a few miles west of Roma. Falcon Lake stores water in a drought-prone area of the border for human consumption, agriculture, hydroelectricity and recreation. There are several tourist sites around the lake on both sides of the border.

The Rio Grande River at the foot of Falcon Dam. (Sergio Chapa/Borderzine.com)

El condado de Zapata, Texas y Guerrero, Tamaulipas: La presa Falcón, el tráfico de bienes ilícitos, las armas y una carretera en expansión

By |

El episodio de hoy se refiere a nuestro paso por el condado de Zapata, Texas; también hablaré del municipio mexicano que colinda con esta región: Guerrero, Tamaulipas, el cual no tuvimos oportunidad de visitar por cuestiones de seguridad. Salimos de la Ciudad de Roma, Texas y continuamos nuestro recorrido hacia el oeste por la carretera Zapata (Zapata Highway) hacia el condado que lleva el mismo nombre. Pasamos por el poblado de Falcon Heights y llegamos al parque estatal Falcón (o Falcon Lake State Park), desde donde puede verse la denominada Presa Falcón. El parque estatal atrae cada año a miles de personas que vienen a pescar (róbalo verde o lobina especialmente) o a vacacionar a orillas de la presa. En los últimos años, la afluencia de visitantes a este lugar ha disminuido un poco debido a la violencia en el lado mexicano de la presa.

Homeless veterans in El Paso are estimated to be around 200 according to Casa Vida de Salud.

Unable to adjust to civilian life, some Army veterans end up living on the street

By |

EL PASO – Nicolas Charles Damico, a veteran of both of America’s longest wars, shuffles through papers on the kitchen table of the homeless shelter where he lives until he finds the Army patch he promises to live by – “This we’ll defend.”

He does this at the Veterans Transitional Living Center, a shelter for homeless veterans who have the potential to return to normal life soon. “I am now homeless for many reasons. The one benefit I got, I messed up. I used up my G.I. Bill very quickly. I only had 36 months to complete my education.

Santa Cruz in Rio Grande City, Texas. (Sergio Chapa/Borderzine.com)

Starr County

By |

Mine and Lupita’s trip continued west into Starr County. With only 62,000 inhabitants, Starr County is nicknamed the “Hill Country of the Rio Grande Valley.” It’s easy to understand why. The four counties of the Rio Grande Valley are flat, with rich soil created from the Rio Grande River floodplain. But Starr County is more arid, hilly and rocky.

A Starr County se le denomina "El País de las Colinas del Valle del Río Grande”. (Sergio Chapa/Borderzine.com)

El condado de Starr y La Frontera “Olvidada”: Las colinas del valle de Texas, la presa El Azúcar y una guerra en (por) la Cuenca de Burgos

By |

Después de cruzar el Río Bravo hacia el municipio fronterizo mexicano de Díaz Ordaz, Tamaulipas en un ferry o “chalán” que se mueve jalado por hombres, regresamos a los Ébanos en la parte americana y salimos del condado de Hidalgo para adentrarnos a otro condado: Starr, Texas. Esta región pertenece a la denominada zona estadística “micropolitana” Rio Grande City-Roma, que cuenta con cuatro ciudades principales: Escobares, La Grulla, Rio Grande City (que es la sede o cabecera del condado) y la ciudad histórica de Roma. La mayor parte de quienes viven aquí son considerados latinos o hispanos. Starr es uno de los condados más pobres de la Unión Americana y ha ocupado siempre los primeros lugares en la lista de los más pobres en el estado de Texas. En el condado de Starr cerca de la mitad de la población vive por debajo de la línea de pobreza.

A newspaper vendor at Hermanos Escobar Ave in Ciudad Juarez. (Jaime Cervantes/Borderzine.com)

Corpses on the front page boost the circulation of Juarez tabloid

By |

JUAREZ, Mexico – A few days after her 15-year-old son Juan was shot in the head by armed men, Mayra Carrizales remembers driving along a street in Juarez and glancing at a newsstand. She flinched when she saw the mocking front page headline in PM a Juarez tabloid – “Se lo descuentan!” which means “Wasted!” – and then she realized the picture beneath it was of her son’s bloody and battered face. “Every time I remember my boy, that photo pops out in my mind against my will,” said Carrizales, in Spanish during an interview in her home in the Las Torres neighborhood of Juarez. “It’s like somehow my memories of him had been tainted.”

Juan Nuñez was murdered in 2010, presumably by rival gang members who dumped his body in an empty lot near the Juan Gabriel freeway. To date nobody has been arrested.

US Capitol ©Bobt54

A new political paradigm is at hand like a rough beast slouching toward Washington

By |

LAS CRUCES, NM – The current political extremism in Washington, D.C., reminded me of Yeats’ poem The Second Coming, especially the lines “The best lack all conviction, while the worst/ Are full of passionate intensity.”

Our founders could not have foreseen a time when a small group of right-wing diehards in the U.S. House of Representatives could shut down the government and threaten to damage the American economy because they lost the fight to wreck the hard-fought Affordable Care Act. They started this skirmish under the Capitol dome to kill the health-care law after more that 40 previous failed attempts to damage the law, which was enacted by Congress, signed by the president and upheld by the Supreme Court.  They even ran against it in the last presidential election and lost. An eleventh hour vote accepting a short-term agreement ending the government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling finally passed both houses of Congress after a 16-day impasse, but the measure is only temporary. You might as well get used to this political trench warfare, because like zombies, the extremists never stay underground for long. They will continue lunging at Obamacare forever in the same way the right wing has never stopped attacking Social Security.

Bienvenidos a Mexico en Nuevo Progreso, Tamaulipas. (Sergio Chapa/Borderzine.com)

South Texas’ Hidalgo County: Winter Texans, citrus, micheladas, corruption and a chance to buy an international border bridge

By |

Our journey across the Texas border continued in Hidalgo County. With close to 800,000 inhabitants, Hidalgo County is one of the most populous along the border and can be split up into three zones: northern, central and southern. The northern zone is sparsely populated with vast ranches dotted by oil, gas well and even a chain of salt lakes. Northern Hidalgo County is also a springboard for illegal immigrants from south of the border and through the unforgiving brush of South Texas. The central zone, which is cut in half by the newly named Interstate 2, is densely populated.

McAllen Free Trade Zone in McAllen, Texas. (Sergio Chapa/Borderzine.com)

El Condado de Hidalgo, Texas y Reynosa, Tamaulipas: Zonas de libre comercio, desarrollo industrial incompleto, corrupción, drogas, desigualdad y turismo de invierno

By |

Salimos del condado de Cameron y entramos al condado de Hidalgo. Continuamos por la Carretera Militar o Military Highway que conecta a los poblados a orillas del Río Bravo. Este segundo episodio del viaje es probablemente uno de los más difíciles de escribir; hay demasiado que contar. El condado de Hidalgo, Texas, es parte también del Valle del Río Grande y es una región diversa, dinámica económicamente, llena de contrastes, y también conflictiva y compleja. Con una población de casi 800,000 habitantes, la denominada Área Estadística Metropolitana de McAllen-Edinburg-Mission colinda con la importante ciudad fronteriza mexicana de Reynosa, Tamaulipas.

Bianey Reyes was granted asylum in the U.S. this summer after a three-year-wait. (Luis Hernández/Borderzine.com)

Teenage asylee from Juarez speaks out about the murders of her family members

By |

“They never did any harm to anyone and still they continued to kill them… For those of us left we continue to struggle and ask for justice.”

EL PASO – Bianey Reyes, 18, nervously pats down the wrinkles in her light-blue t-shirt. She searches for the courage to look up from the floor and her Converse shoes, then raises her head high and sets her brown eyes on a room filled with 20 visiting journalists. In a quiet, restrained voice, she begins to describe the kidnapping of various members of her family, and the murders of her father, uncles, aunts, and cousins by suspected members of the Mexican military in el Valle de Juarez over the last five years. “In all of these events that happened to my family, the military was always involved and they have yet to arrest anyone responsible for the murders,” said Reyes, who attends El Paso Community College and was granted asylum in the U.S. this summer after a three-year wait. Reyes testimony at a recent immigration reporting workshop at the University of Texas at El Paso marks the first time she has gone public with her ordeal.

Borderzine's city editor, Nicole Chávez, will receive the Student of the Year award from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

UTEP student journalist wins top NAHJ honor

By |

UTEP Multimedia journalism major Nicole Chavez has won the student of the year award from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. A resident of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, she joins four other national journalists this weekend at a ceremony in Chicago to announce the annual NAHJ Journalist of the Year award winners. “It’s the perfect ending of a student journalist career and a great starting point for what I am about to become: a young professional,” said Chavez who was born in El Paso and raised in Ciudad Juarez. Chavez, who plans to graduate in December, is city editor this semester for UTEP’s online news site borderzine.flywheelsites.com and has completed internships at The Washington Post, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Brownsville Herald, and El Tiempo Latino, among others. She has been a reporter and editor for The Prospector and Minero Magazine at UTEP, and was one of the student reporters who worked on the award-winning Mexodus project that detailed the exodus to the U.S. and safer parts of Mexico of middle class Mexicans fleeing drug-related violence in their country.

Border reporters, Angela Kocherga and Hugo Perez, reporting from Boquillas, México. Kocherga was part of a panel of border journalists that shared their experiences covering immigration. (Courtesy of Angela Kocherga)

Experienced border journalists share tips for covering tough immigration stories

By |

EL PASO – Radio journalist Mónica Ortiz Uribe related how she was deeply moved when she witnessed the detention of a an undocumented woman from Guatemala who had crossed the border into Brooks County in South Texas with her two small children. “I had never seen an apprehension… that really struck me immensely,” said Ortiz Uribe. “She looked at me and I was standing with my microphone and my headphones, and she’s pleading saying ‘please tell them not to send me back’ and all of a sudden all this imagery exploded in my head… what has this women had gone through?”

With a chuckle, she added that she would never make it as a border patrol agent because “I’d probably have said to the woman, ‘No, no, váyase señora, váyase. It’s O.K. I didn’t see you.’”

Ortiz Uribe, who reports for the public radio news outlet Fronteras Desk, was one of four local journalists who cover immigration on an ongoing basis and discussed their experiences during a training workshop Immigration from the Border to the Heartland last week at UTEP for 20 radio, broadcast, online and print journalists. The workshop was sponsored by the McCormick Foundation and hosted by Borderzine.com.

San Pedro, Texas. The West Brownsville Rail Project is laying the groundwork for the future. The international railroad crossing is expected to be open by the end of the year. (Sergio Chapa/Borderzine.com)

Camino al desarrollo en la zona fronteriza de Tamaulipas, México y el condado de Cameron, Texas: Infraestructura comercial, una plataforma de lanzamiento espacial y descubrimientos de petróleo en el Golfo

By |

BROWNSVILLE-MATAMORROS – El viaje comenzó en Brownsville, la ciudad más al sur de Texas, que colinda con Matamoros, Tamaulipas del lado mexicano de la frontera. Brownsville es la sede (o cabecera) y la ciudad más grande del condado de Cameron. Este condado fronterizo está formado por las ciudades de Brownsville, Harlingen, La Feria, Los Fresnos, Palm Valley, Port Isabel, Rio Hondo y San Benito. El condado de Cameron es en realidad una zona pobre, de muchos contrastes, pero que hoy en día presenta un importante dinamismo económico. Yo creo que esta región del Valle de Texas se desarrollará en los próximos años como ninguna otra en los Estados Unidos.

Father Bob Mosher, from the Columban Mission Center, Melissa López, from the El Paso Catholic Diocese Center for Immigrant and Refuge Services, Fernando García, director of the Border Network for Human Rights, Katie Anita Hudak, director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. (Aaron Montes/Borderzine.com)

U.S. journalists seek to learn from immigration advocates and get an earful: We didn’t invite you to darles una regañada… but you need to earn back the public’s trust

By |

EL PASO – The American media still has a lot of work to do. It has not fulfilled its responsibility covering the stories of the millions of immigrants that live in the United States, and has not fully challenged the narrative that has dominated the immigration debate for the last decade and a half, a panel of border activists and immigration experts agreed this last weekend. In front of the five panelists, a roomful of journalists listened to their concerns and ideas as part of the first Specialized Reporting Institute on Immigration Reform held in El Paso, TX and sponsored by the McCormick Foundation. The twenty reporters from all over the country and a dozen journalism students sat in silence inside the auditorium of Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe on Sept. 28 as they listened to the concerns of the immigration advocates.

Downtown El Paso as seen from the Paseo del Norte International Bridge. (Sergio Chapa/Borderzine.com)

Borderzine invites you to ride with us on a nine-day road trip hugging the Texas-Mexico border

By |

Editor’s note: What is this territory we call the U.S.-Mexico border?  We read frequent alarming stories and see media images about la línea, the borderline, a 2000-mile stretch along the Rio Grande and beyond, separating the U.S. from Mexico. It’s often portrayed as a no-man’s land rife with drug smugglers, vicious criminals, gunrunners, anti-immigrant militias, and undocumented or impoverished immigrants, all portrayed with some degree of accuracy and ample amounts of hype in the FX TV series “The Bridge.”

But what’s the real storyline of the border region beyond the sensational headlines? Who are its citizens, a majority of them Mexican American?  What is their piece of the American dream? Borderzine invites you to follow Texas journalist Sergio Chapa and University of Texas at Brownsville Professor Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera on their nine-day road trip along the dusty byways and highways hugging the Texas-Mexico border.