The following is a liberally modified version of my correspondence with Emily Gersema, a reporter with the East Valley Tribune, and Elizabeth Massey, Managing Editor of ASU Magazine. Date this to early January, 2006.
Preface. I am riding a bicycle along the border, talking with people about the kinds of changes they want to see in their communities and what they're doing to bring about those changes. I'm recording these conversations for a future book. The book will be a literary/ethnographic hybrid, drawing upon not only the narrative I have to offer but also the perspectives, word for word, of the people who live along the border. I hope to better understand the many and complex issues within their communities, while my end-goal is to share that understanding and those border voices with a wider, cross-cultural audience.
Draw yourself a warm pot of coffee, and happy reading.
Where are you from originally and where did you grow up?
I am from and grew up in Chandler, Arizona. I went to Mesa Dobson High School and just graduated in May from Arizona State University with degrees in Spanish and Religious Studies.
How old are you?
24 in February.
How did this project come about? What are your motivations?
After graduating from ASU, I had a couple of plans for post-grad volunteer work. Both, more or less, fell through. Thus I decided to spend the summer visiting family and friends, and on one of those ventures I made my way up to Cheyenne, Wyoming to see a college buddy. I ended up living there for a little over two months. I had a place to live, a new girlfriend and a job, working in the camping section of an outlet store. At that job, I met a twenty one year old who was cycling across the county and, within days, I decided to take up a similar project.
The initial motivation behind this project was more or less adventure. A cycling journey: I could think of few things more exciting.
What is “Voluntour 1951”?
Three parts: “Volun-”, “-tour” and “1951”. Initially, I planned to spend three to four months on the road volunteering from place to place. The project has shifted into more of a talking expedition or, literally, tour by bicycle. That tour travels along the 1,951 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Why the border?
Two reasons:
I have family from both sides of the line, in Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora. The border was a place (although now I understand it to be much more) with which I was only generally familiar. I wrote a couple papers on border issues in school, and I made the yearly trips to Nogales to visit family. I wanted to understand both the border and, in a way, my family better.
Along with wars in Iraq, on terrorism and on drugs, the “border war” is one of the most politically sensitive and demanding issues right now. The kinds of concerns that you see along the border—community health, undocumented immigration, education, welfare, etc.—appear throughout the entire country in very specific although related ways. A tour of the border is a glimpse into the nation as a whole. Who wouldn’t benefit from such a perspective?
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