"This is a journey. Don't even hesitate in doing it. You've already taken the first step in considering it."
My friends,
This email is half catch-up and half open petition. I am currently working at the Sierra Trading Post in Cheyenne, Wyoming and living with one of my best and most gracious friends, Adam Keizer. Some of you might remember that I had a plan to build a something-or-other in Mexico after I graduated and another to volunteer in Guatemala. For a number of reasons, the former is still up in the air, while the latter is on hold. I've got another plan, and I need your help to make it happen.
I intend to ride a bicycle along the entire U.S./Mexico border for three months, volunteering along the way and writing a book of short stories about the people with whom I come into contact. My aim is to better understand the effects of U.S. and Mexican immigration policy, while actively helping out nonprofit and bi-national communities. In compiling stories, I plan to ask people what they have to say about the border—where they came from, what they've experienced and where they're going. My dream is to eventually educate people about border life and challenge them to consider their role as global, rather than strictly national or local, citizens.
THE INEVITABLE LIFE AFTER COLLEGE
There's something about post-graduate life that leaves me laughing. You spend four, five years planning on doing something or being somewhere after graduating—in short, having some path laid out. That didn't quite happen for me. I ended up spending a month wallowing in front of a T.V. in Arizona, another at youth leadership camps and visiting family, and another still in Cheyenne, riding mechanical bulls, drinking more Budweiser than I ever did in college and selling shoes at an outdoor retail store. Who the hell graduates college as an honors student with two degrees and winds up working retail? Wasn't I supposed to besomebody?
I guess the honest answer is no. And yes. Working and volunteering at those camps, I rediscovered a direction that I had lost sight of in my last year of school. There is something about "youth" and "leader" that is interminably inspiring. In Colorado, I grew closer to a family that I hadn't seen in ten years. I now have irrefutable evidence that you all can blame my dad and his side for my sense of humor. By just not going home when I said I would—by ditching two great friends and staying in town with another after Cheyenne Frontier Days ended—I've been able to tuck away some money, enjoy the company of some overwhelmingly supportive friends, and engage in many unexpected conversations that turned out to be life changing. The wandering path I've led the past few months has taught me that I'm no "somebody"—just another guy looking for new experiences, to be closer to family and to make a difference in the world. Somewhere along the line I realized how easy it was to do all three, and this, I realize, might separate me from many. Such a realization makes me a humble "someone".
NOW TO DO "SOMETHING" AND BE "SOMEWHERE"…
I heard a guy speak just recently, and he said "if you pray, then move your feet." For long enough now, I've been volunteering and working with different organizations that serve homeless and Spanish-speaking communities. From that involvement, I've seen how much work still needs to be done—how much we, as aware and socially-responsible individuals, can care for and enable the neediest in our communities, from "top" to "bottom".
Now, the U.S./Mexico border is becoming an increasingly crazy place. Civilian militia groups are popping up, targeting migrant groups who are trying to cross the border in search of better job opportunities and lives for their families back home. In Arizona, thousands of would-be migrants have died in the desert, while honest individuals are prosecuted in federal courts for taking severely dehydrated survivors to hospitals. In Texas, young women are dying by the hundreds as victims of violent acts right under the noses of two governments. On both sides, issues of xenophobia and community health are of increasing concern, as the U.S. and Mexican governments recognize but do little to attend to shared epidemics of racism and poverty. These are just some examples.
For a while now, I've prayed for solutions to these problems but have done very little to affect any real change. Eventually I see myself working along the border more formally as a social worker, educator and activist, but for now I've set my sights on "moving my feet." I plan on pedaling, meeting people and helping out along the way. I know that something needs to be done, and I know that the border offers so much life and culture. I've just got to see it all for myself, mile by mile.
THE JOURNEY AND THE PETITION
This is where I need your help. I have some ideas of and connections to places where I want to travel/document/help. Intuition tells me that I'll also discover a lot along the way. To make this trip work, though, I figure the best place to start is with the many people who, in some way or another, have contributed to this venture—you all. I ask you simply, do you know of any places where I can volunteer, stay and learn for a week at a time? Do you know of any people that I should talk to? Can you think of anybody on the border with a worthwhile story to tell?
My basic plan goes something like this: travel (by car) from Cheyenne to Austin, TX on the 21st of September for a music festival. From there, I intend to meet with faculty at UT Austin and the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group that is highly involved in human rights issues on the border. After that, I'll start the bike trip though Corpus Cristi to Brownsville/Matamoros on the Gulf, eventually making my way over to El Paso/Juarez on the other side of the state to talk with people about the feminicides and community health issues. The middle of the state is open territory.
I have no plans for New Mexico, i.e. I'd greatly appreciate suggestions. In Arizona, I've got some early leads in the Douglas/Agua Prieta area working with a company that exports fair trade coffee beans. I also am looking to help out with No More Deaths (Ni Una Mas) and Humane Borders, two groups in the Tucson/Nogales/Naco region that have done a lot of work with migrants crossing though the southern deserts. I'm still searching for opportunities and interviews in the Yuma/San Luis/Somerton as well as Mexicalli and Tecate. There are a couple of places in which I could serve in Tijuana and San Diego, although I don't really have anything solid to go on just yet (other than, again, the AFSC). After three months, I will re-evaluate my goals and make a decision to continue the journey, stay in one place or consider another project.
RIDING WITH MY HEAD ON STRAIGHT
Some of you will say that I'm insane for doing this: the border is 1,580 miles long, I'm out of shape, I'll be traveling alone, the trip is too dangerous, I don't know shit about bikes and bicycling, I don't know shit about writing, I don't know enough Spanish, it's going to be fall/winter, I'm going to be cold, etc. Some of these criticisms I can't get around: this isn't the safest of trips, I know, but others I'm willing to simply ignore as acceptable risks that I will struggle, work and learn through. The thing about being on the road is that you're never quite alone: someone is almost always around to help. I'm counting on that "almost always". Faith in community is what is going to make this project succeed. Or fail.
Again, this is where you all come in. Although money isn't really an issue right now, I'm sure that it will be later. I have saved up and am willing to finance this entire trip on my own. However, I am actively looking for sponsors . If you or any individual/organization you know of is willing to support this project, I would greatly appreciate your help. I currently work at an outlet outdoor store, and I have a fantastic discount on gear. Sponsorship would entail staking a financial claim to the equipment necessary for the trip: socks, bicycle shorts, a helmet, etc. I imagine that gear costs (including bicycle) would total around a conservative $600, so any tax-deductible donations that a corporate body, nonprofit or individual would like to make would help immensely. I will have a list of needed items in an email soon to come.
I'm also looking to write along the way via webblog and paper publications that take even an inkling of interest in the journey e.g. Arizona Highways, La Voz, the Arizona Republic, Latino Perspectives, etc. If you have any other press-related connections or suggestions, please let me know. I also plan to take pictures and put together a visual presentation that recounts the places and faces that will compose and illustrate the project. Finding a publisher, to note, is something that I'm going to have to work out on the way.
A GUY'S GOT TO HAVE A DREAM, RIGHT?
This is my plan and this is my dream. I want to know what individuals along the border have to say about their own communities in their own words, not from a textbook or news blurb. I hope to be able to help them as they see fit and eventually educate and encourage others to do the same. I dream that I can engender free thought and social activism to the benefit of individuals and cultures along the border and beyond.
Taking this trip and writing this book is one way to accomplish this dream. It is my way. I have no ambitions of being a Che Guevarra, a Lance Armstrong or a Kurt Vonnegut. I have ambitions to live a life of service as the person that I am and hope to become, alternately ambitious, respectful and considerate.
Somebody once said that your success is directly proportionate to the amount of help you are willing to ask of those around you. You all have had a profound impact upon my life thus far, so I am entirely willing to ask you of your help and guidance still. For this project to be successful, it must be about more than me and my project and my journey. It must be about you; it must be about us; it must be about diminishing thethem. I invite any suggestions and criticisms that you have.
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