Border Desert Deaths / TV Program Alert

[Guest guest]

RE: Border Desert Deaths / TV Program Alert.

Thanks to Tina for sharing the New York Times front-page article on

problems at the border. Death in the desert has become big in images of

border issues. Latino writers in Phoenix, for example, include references

to these border risks in theatrical productions. Other trends in a culture

of border risk include: abduction and mistreatment of border-crossers;

escalation of violence; decreasing age of border crossers, as minors cross

on their own and/or in coyote-led groups without kin; re-location of safe

houses to high-income neighborhoods; overcrowded safe houses, as new

arrivals await payment to " holders " (ransoms paid by family occur apart

from a payment to coyotes, as abductors/holders become new players, after

crossing).

Thanks to Bobbi for alerting us to the NOW series on PBS and their lead

story on a straight-A student in Edinburg, aspiring to college, who, with

her brother, works with their family in migrant/seasonal farm labor, and

the " grandmother " who decided to return to school, after her main source of

income was " off-shored. "

A colleague of mine, who watched NOW, pointed out that new themes on new

venues (New York Times lead story; NOW lead story) draw new audiences and

broaden public awareness. Let's hope these two stories have that impact.

V Bletzer