Ministry Students’ Help Goes Beyond Borders

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EL PASO — The massive earthquake that devastated Haiti causing the world to respond with help resonated in a small way in the Catholic Campus Ministry located just off-campus from the University Of Texas at El Paso. As people watched the rescue workers remove thousands of bodies from the rubble, some college students in El Paso, Texas, decided to help by adding some money to their prayers in their Sunday worship services. The organization along with help from the diocese of El Paso collected money during each Sunday service in January. In addition, an online campaign via social networking sites and word of mouth resources provided funds for the people of Haiti. “We see Haiti’s need in many dimensions, the physical, emotional, and spiritual.

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.

Cleaning ASARCO’s Pollution Legacy Raises Concerns Among Environmental Advocates

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EL PASO— Students and citizens of this border city met Thursday at the University of Texas at El Paso to find ways to clean up and reclaim the land severely polluted by the century-old ASARCO copper-smelter. “There’s over 75 ft. of lead laden slag right on this site and about 230 million cubic ft. of water in a plume, and so we’ve got to clean that stuff up and I think that’s the major concern most people have here,” said Senator Eliot Shapleigh. The main speakers at the UTEP Student Government Association event included Senator Shapleigh and Custodial Trustee Robert Puga.

Teacher Reassignment Raises Concerns Among Parents and Teachers

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EL PASO — Teachers in the Ysleta Independent School District who have traditionally specialized in a particular subject may be forced to teach classes on topics they have never taught and, according to some teachers and parents, the change may be detrimental to both teaching and learning. These changes went into effect at the start of the 2009-2010 school year. Several teachers, particularly in Riverside High School, were switched from their original teaching position into different subjects designated by the school. Mike Martinez who has been the principal at Riverside High School for three and a half years says reassigning teachers is a positive note and not a mistake. “Reassigning teachers in a school is based on the scores of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test that is given each year to students.

Film Depicts College Life on the Border

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EL PASO — Having to wake up every morning to get ready for school and get to class is something most American college students do not think twice about. But for Mexican students who live across the U.S./Mexico border, this simple task can become a challenging chore, which transports them into a more complex Americanized version of their own culture. Award winning director Maru Buendía-Senties wrote and directed a 29-minute short film based on how students tend to compare their situations and cultures to one another when they come from opposites sides of the border and attend the same university. “Entre Líneas” was filmed on the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) campus and on the El Paso/Ciudad Juárez border. Buendía-Senties is also a UTEP alumnus.

From the ‘Other Australia’: An Austrian in El Paso

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After a month or so of experiencing severe cultural shock and asking myself whether I had really been sent to a place within the United States, I started to regard this city as the single most fascinating place I had ever been to —both from a personal perspective as well as from a professional perspective (I am a graduate student of geography).

Mexicanos, Viva Mexico

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El PASO — The aroma of churros filled the air at San Jacinto Plaza along with the mariachis blasting away at their tunes and then el grito, “Mexicanos, viva Mexico!” rang out. Hundreds of El Paso citizens gathered at the downtown plaza, September 15, for “Viva Mexico!” the 199th Anniversary to celebrate the anniversary of independence of Mexico from Spain in 1810. “Just being here reminds me of how far we’ve come since that day and the struggle they must’ve gone through for us, it makes me extremely humble yet full of pride,” said Alejandra Acosta, an El Paso resident who attended the celebration. Mexican Independence Day celebrates the events leading up to the day in which after centuries of oppression, Mexico or New Spain as it was then called, won its freedom from Spain.

A New Life, an Uneasy Choice Pt. 2

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EL PASO — With a raging drug war that has left many in fear and confusion, the choice to move to the United States isn’t as black and white as some would hope. But for the individuals and families with money, moving to the United States isn’t just a choice, but a luxury they can afford.

La narcoguerra desmiente la “Guerra Contra las Drogas”

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Tras 40 años de que el presidente Nixon proclamara que Estados Unidos se encontraba en una guerra contra las drogas, actualmente la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México vive en un grito desesperado por el descontrol del uso de drogas y la ineficacia de la política actual.

War on Drugs Conference at UTEP

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With violence at an all time high, a two-day conference that starts at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) will reevaluate this “war” the nation has been fighting.

A new life, an uneasy choice

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For those living in a country where drug war violence is an everyday occurrence, looking at the bigger picture isn’t always easy. Signs of the drug war can be seen everywhere in border communities like El Paso and Juárez. As the violence escalates, its political, social and economic effects continue to weigh heavily on the sister cities and their residents.

Spiralmind Comic Delivers in English and Spanish

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EL PASO — On a recent Friday afternoon, three engineers in baseball caps and sneakers sit in a downtown cafe plotting a narrative that involves werewolves, fallen angels and a rabbi who performs exorcisms.

Ben Perez (39) and Matt Rothblatt (37), test engineers at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, grew up watching horror films. As kids, they created make-believe radio shows and stuffed animal theatre for their sisters. Now adults, the two cousins maintain an active imagination. They’re self-publishing a comic book series called Spiralmind; and they’re releasing it in both English and Spanish. The idea for the main character has been living in Perez’s mind since childhood. Related: Few realize Syfy comic book character’s links to El Paso

“When I was a little boy my mom would take us to go see the movies,” he said.

A Wall Between Worlds

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Opponents of the Border Wall insist the infrastructure will do little to alleviate border problems. In fact, challengers contend that the Wall’s measures are counteractive, serving as a racist symbol and gauging tax payers while destroying precious El Paso land.

Downtown’s Older and Wiser Crowd

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Looking at the faces of these “regulars” almost sums up the feeling one might get when visiting the dowtown area. One knows that their visits are frequent and prolonged and that on any given day they can find them there, passing the time and living their lives unannounced and undetered. By most standards, one would say that their life is comfortable and often monotonous, but to them, their life is golden.