Welcome To Juarez
Entrance to Juarez, June 2009
Militarization works two ways.
The bridges between Juarez and El Paso used to be friendly -although tedious if in a car- gateways to good times or better times, depending on which way you were traveling. Or is that just nostalgia?
Well, if not “friendly,” than at least not hostile.
Now they are reinforced pathways to go do what you gotta do. No joking. Get back by dark. All business. No fun or pleasure. Nothing lives. One endures the crossing. Rigid. Steel. Chrome molly tubes. Crash proof.
This impregnable gate has sprung up since the Cartel War began. It is on the Mexican side, El Lado Mexicano. What’s it for? Keep gringos out? Keep Mexicanos in? Stop guns coming in? Wha-a-a?
The more serious things become on the border the more hard-edged become the aesthetics. The color goes. The made-by-hand-ness goes. The alegria becomes a murmur. Then the steel comes. The edges get stiffer. The heartbeat becomes more faint. The border becomes divider and the dream of a unite-ing slowly fades into the horizon of our current dark reality.
Welcome to Juarez.
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Comment by mmlindsey
# June 9, 2009,
Bruce,
What an important post! Yes, it is so startling to cross the border these days. It feels so strange and wrong to pass through all of the check points. We frequently pass through check points in our neighborhood and we have had about 20 soldiers rummage through our house and our belongings.
Keep posting and writing and shooting those photos.; you give us a ton of motivation and strength!
matt
p.s. I would like to “re-blog” your post on our site. Let me know if that is a problem.
Pingback by The Desert Flux « The Desert
# June 10, 2009,
[...] this quivering city with our Mexican brothers and sisters, and we are very proud of people like Bruce Berman of the Border-Blog. Bruce’s latest post and photo speak incredibly well to the loathsome [...]
Comment by MODsquad
# June 10, 2009,
Awesome post! So true and so sad… makes you wonder what’s next. Those ‘good ole days’ seem so long ago… hope there are more around the corner.
(Came over from Matt & Misty – The Dessert)
Pingback by The Desert Flux – The Desert
# June 18, 2009,
[...] this quivering city with our Mexican brothers and sisters, and we are very proud of people like Bruce Berman of the Border-Blog. Bruce’s latest post and photo speak incredibly well to the loathsome [...]