Suggestions? 9/30/05

Sr. Urrea,

 

My name is Ryan Riedel.  I write to you because you have been a particular point of inspiration for an upcoming endeavor, and I'm hoping that you might have some advice and constructive criticism about the project I'm going to undertake.

 

To make a long story short, I'm planning on riding a mountain bike along the entire 1951 miles of the U.S./Mexico border, volunteering with various social service and human rights organizations and collecting narratives for a book.  My aims are two-fold: to not only better educate myself about border life and culture but also develop a work so that others may also share in the conversations that will come about.  The project should take at least three months, although I imagine that it will last much longer.

 

This idea came from three sources.  The first was a conversation that I had with a 21-year-old who was cycling from San Francisco to Boston.  The second was my own personal interest in the border (my mom's side of the family is from Nogales, Arizona), and the third was a seed of a thought that came about after reading _Behind the Wire_.  I really admire your work, and I'm thinking of doing something similar.

 

I plan on recording narratives with handheld recording device--stories of individuals' particular experiences, their thoughts on particular problems along the border, the kind of change they want to see in their communities, etc.  Aftering collecting those narratives, I hope to compile them into a book.  I'm still thinking about whether or not I want to make this a book of short stories. I don't want to distort anybody's voice, however I do think that it would be appropriate to include information about the circumstances in which a particular individual and myself came to meet.  The idea is that I don't want to make this a "cold" book--just a bunch of dialogues packaged together--or a book that focuses on me and my learning experience and my journey.  I want to make this book relatively warm and accessible to a diverse audience.

 

I should start this trip sometime early next week.  My idea is that this trip will tell me what kind of work is appropriate, meaning so say that I think that the book will develop a bit more organically once I'm actually on the road.  I'm just looking for some feedback from someone who "knows".

 

If you have the time and inclination, please drop me a line at this email address.  I also have a blog set up.  I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

 

Thank you very much for your time.  Again, I really think a lot of you and work.  Best of luck in future writings.

 

Ryan