Vivan Los Mojados!!

Okay, so this is my first blog entry and I’m truthfully still trying to figure out how to utilize this technology effectively.

How better to introduce “El Grito” though than with some musica from Los Tigres del Norte ?!? Ajua!!

Over the past few months here in Califas there have been a rash of heat-related deaths, underscoring the continuing struggle of farmworkers that is largely, and criminally, beneath the radar for most people in this country. While many complain about the rising cost of produce in their local supermarket, they remain unaware (perhaps willingly?) of another, deeper, human cost.

And I suppose, by way of introduction, that would really speak to what I see as the spirit of “El Grito”: that is, just as their is another way to think about that produce sitting in your fridge … that there’s more there than mere commodities or that we are somehow just consumers … there are a whole series of relationships and stories and injustices and struggles just beneath the surface, “El Grito” is gonna seek to share these realities and strive to look and think about them in new and radical ways.

Pero don’t be expectin’ any objectivity! I mean, I ain’t telling no lies or claimin’ easy victories (a la Brother Cabral), but I am unabashedly on the side of the gente!! So like folk used to say back in the day: All Power to the People!!

Check out this website below… and stay thirsty, my friend:

Stories on the Border

h/t Immigration Prof

A group of filmmakers recently took a trip along the U.S/Mexico border collecting stories to create a series of short films documenting life on both sides of the border.

The videos are available borderstories.org

The stories are geographically organized (from Brownsville to Tijuana). We crisscrossed the border the entire way. We went into people’s backyards and asked them how the border is affecting them. We wanted to humanize the issue. Our notion is that by traversing the entire border and sharing voices and then presenting them in one place, people can begin to see how dynamic and complex the region is. The mainstream media is driven by pundit analysis. This is an opportunity to see where there’s some common ground or empathy for the other side.They all have resonance, and each story is different. I do think what we did in Arizona was incredibly fascinating. In Arizona, we did five stories: two on the Mexico side, and three on the U.S. side. We talked to the founder of (Humane Borders). The organization was able to solicit funding from (Pima County) based on a cost-benefit analysis; they found that it was cheaper to provide water (for immigrants) than to remove their dead bodies. We juxtaposed that with a story about the Border Patrol. They were both American viewpoints about the same subject, and yet they’re totally different. The Arizona stories capture how politicized the border is. [Tucson Weekly]