I have no patience when folding fitted sheets...

Hey y'all -


* I wanted to post this here on my first entry, but I forgot. This is a song I listened to on the plane ride here, and I wanted to share it. It's perfect traveling music, I think.

Right now I'm resting at Casa Teresa while the laundry is going. Because all of us volunteers have weekly rotations, I was assigned to do the house's laundry this week, which just consists of washing rags and sheets every day. Since Casa Teresa has a swamp cooler (not as gross as it sounds - just the south's version of air conditioning), I like to do the laundry at the hottest part of the day, which is really between 12:00 and 7:00 at night. I'm determined to set up a clothesline at home, because I've realized how worthless dryers really are. It's especially nice when hanging up wet sheets when they're cool to the touch. I like walking through the sheets when they blow in the breeze...

Every weekday morning the volunteers have reflection, where one of us prepares a 45-minute discussion. This past week, I talked about an idea that I've been wrestling with for a while now - sustainability. Really, ever since we talked about sustainable development in my Economic Anthropology class, I've been thinking about how useful the word actually is. I realize that sustainable development has a specific meaning, depending on economic growth, environmental responsibility, social consciousness, cultural diversity, whatever... but generally, I like the broader meaning of living today in a way that doesn't compromise the standard of living of future generations. So, for reflection, I made a list of how I thought the concept of sustainability could be applied to non-profits and charities - things that are really important to me when thinking about the reasons why I would want to be involved with an organization. They were:

1. promoting environmentally sustainable practices
2. promoting social justice, including
a. gender equality
b. cultural diversity
c. human rights (including education as a human right)
3. promoting the idea of community as a self-sufficient unit
4. providing aid that depends on an intended population, NOT on the agenda of the organization itself

Those were the main ones anyway. When reading these out loud, I asked the other volunteers whether or not they thought Annunciation House was sustainable, in regards to these points or others. They agreed (and I agree too) that A-House does all these things, which makes sense as to why I'm investing my time and energy into this place. Someone also mentioned the idea of self-sustainability, which I've talked about in a previous post. She said that while the house promotes the sustainability of a community, it also really emphasizes the need for everyone on an individual level to take care of their own needs.

So yeah, sustainability is something I think about in relation to what I want to be involved with for a possible career or whatever...

So anyway, onto other things...

For those of you who are El Paso Times fans (and who isn't?), they've had an absolutely ridiculous feature for however long on the violence in Juarez called "Bordering on Fear." (Here's a sample.) Bad pun aside, it has been on my nerves because of other journalistic faux pas like bad sourcing and one-sidedness. Even though I have little experience writing newspaper articles (look here and here for embarrassing contributions), it seems logical that a reporter should be thorough and unbiased.

Anyway, here's the situation from my (definitely biased, but this is ok) perspective. Everyone's heard that if you get pulled over in Mexico, you can pay the officer off. A good reason why this happens is because Mexican police officers don't actually get paid enough for the work they do (and get mediocre benefits). So, instead of going through a long process of paperwork and such that only benefits them slightly, officers often take the direct compensation of bribes. This is (in a way, but not totally) understandable, right?

Well, let's say we're talking about a drug cartel and not an average citizen. Someone says, "Hey, just look the other way when we pass over the border with drugs, and we'll pay you." More often than not, the local police will take the money rather than arrest the drug dealer. With that, it's not just a question of low salary, it's also an issue of corruption. So, what's been happening in Juarez is that the police force doesn't just look the other way when cartels cross the border with drugs, they actually participate in selling it within Mexico.

This has become a huge issue not only because it's corrupt and wrong (the federal army has had to intervene recently), but also because warring drug cartels who have been battling for top-dog are like, "Why did you help them and not us?" So, the animosity that was just between drug cartels now includes the police, who has involved itself in one side or the other. This has completely exploded within the past few weeks, so this "drug war" has meant that a lot of police officers who have been involved have been killed, as well as gang members who are part of the different cartels.

So, the "violence in Juarez" isn't like New York City, where it's inevitable that you'll get mugged if you walk around at night. Really, there's no threat to visitors or tourists, unless you're part of the police, a cartel, or you're buying drugs.

But the media (even NPR - listen to this story) has played up fear majorly. Why? Because fear sells newspapers.

Not that I'm saying that you should walk around Juarez with money busting out of your pockets, but... Here's my point:

What the media (especially the El Paso Times) has been doing is that they've been using the already-heightened fear of the border and manipulating it in order to focus it on undocumented workers. The El Paso Times came out with a story yesterday that perfectly illustrates this, but it's unfortunately not on their website yet. They use this issue of gang warfare and say, "See? We don't want people to come over to our country! They'll bring drugs and crime!"

But that's not it at all. El Paso and the federal government have spent billions of taxpayers' dollars to put up fences, security cameras, motion sensors, skyboxes, and other high-tech equipment along the border in order to keep people out. That hasn't stopped immigration. No, what this has meant for undocumented Mexicans is that they have had to travel to the outskirts of town to cross the border - all desert and mountains. Hundreds of people have died this way from dehydration and exhaustion, and bodies are always being found out there.

My point is, while billions of dollars are spent to push undocumented workers to the outskirts of the city to cross illegally, drugs are simply crossing at the checkpoint because of corrupt police officers and the lack of equipment. More drugs cross at the checkpoint than at any other point along the border, because officers just don't have the time to check every car or backpack. Shouldn't we invest our efforts in figuring out how to stop drugs from coming over, rather than people who are simply searching for a better life?


I realize my train of thought is not that comprehensible. Post questions in the comments section and I'll try to address them more lucidly...