Hendrix en la Frontera: Border Pulls and Conciousness

"Every morning we go out blinking into the glare of our freedom, into the wilderness of work and the world, making maps as we go, looking for signs that we're on the right path. And on some good days we walk right out of our oppressions, those things that press you down from the outside or (as often) from the inside; we shake off the shackles of fear, prejudice, timidity, closed-mindedness, selfishness, self-righteousness, and claim our freedom outright, terrifying as it is- our freedom to be human, and humane. Every morning, every day, we leave our houses, not knowing if it will be for the last time, and we decide what we'll take with us, what we'll carry: how much integrity, how much truth- telling, how much compassion (in case somebody along the way may need some), how much arrogance, how much anger, how much humor, how much willingness to change and to be changed, to grow and to grown. How much faith and hope, how much love and gratitude- you pack these with your lunch and medications, your date book and your papers. Every day, we gather what we think we'll need, pick up what we love and all that we so far believe, put on our history, shoulder our experience and memory, take inventory of our blessings, and we start walking toward morning"

- Walking toward morning, Victoria Safford

It is now week two in our trip and as we go further into the borderlands, we are sharing and opening up more with each other. But this also means we are also facing new challenges in how the border pushes at us and forces into thoughts that were not quite fully realized before this trip. This is something both exciting and in some cases a little shocking. Many of us did not realize how pulled we are by the border. It has latched onto to us already, in many different ways.

On May 26th we crossed the border in Mexicali and met with grad students working in the border region. They all were doing important and powerful work in the region. Those conversations, a mix of both English and Spanish, will be something we will never forget (Anna wrote a beautiful blog post about this experience).

Yesterday (May 27th) we had the honor of seeing San Diego guided by Dr. Alavrez. Dr. Alavrez grew up in San Diego and has done extensive work in the community and the larger borderland region. He is a humble anthropology rock star. We began our San Diego day in Lemon Grove, learning about the nation's first successful desegregation case and the impact it had on the community and the larger civil rights movement. From there we continued to Chicano Park.

Chicano Park is located underneath the San Diego-Coronado Bridge. The bridge cuts through a predominantly Mexican community. Over 5,000 homes and businesses were removed for the construction of the freeway and bridge in the 1960s. The city had originally pledged to build a park, in response to the forced displacement. However plans were envisioned by the city to instead build a police station beneath the newly created bridge. When the community found out, they fought hard to have a park - full of murals of their community, experiences, and heritage. The park has been/is still extremely important to the Chicano civil rights movement.

The murals and the way the park is laid out is done in such a beautiful and intentional way. They were demanding our attention. We had the honor (and luck) to run into one of the main directors of the park. Hearing his stories tied to the community and the park was incredible. You could feel from him and from the park, the fight that is still continuing on today.

As a group we later on reflected how the park was not made for us - as outsiders, or "tourists" of San Diego. This aspect, I believe is something so crucial to what we have been learning about the border and the people living there. Recognizing this is something we have been confronting over and over again on this trip. We all carry culture, stories, and experiences with us. It is part of being human. Recognizing how this may be tied and not tied to the border can be a difficult challenge - it is a borderland consciousness. I believe this consciousness is of the most important things we can do as learners of the border.

The murals and park is just one way this is expressed.

These pictures don't do the park justice

Towards the end of our day with Dr. Alvarez we ended up at the pacific ocean. We took off our well-traveled chacos and other assorted shoes, and we stuck our feet into the sea. I marveled how just in a few days, our shoes and feet were covered in dust from the desert - now they are covered in sea salt and sand.The border includes both the ocean and desert. It is an oxymoron in many ways.
It is strange to label the border as a place - with all its complexity and movement.
And this place, I am just beginning to understand it.