Rodrigo Cruz – The Promised Land
Every year, thousands of Central Americans from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras illegally enter Mexico via the southern border with the goal of reaching the United States in search of a better life. The journey is long and full of dangers, traveling for days as they cross the country atop the “beast”, as they call the train that takes them to Mexico’s northern border.
Photographs: Rodrigo Cruz
Website: www.rodrigocruzphoto.com
Imants Good luck, i’m keen to see you distill something out of that mess of images you have ;-)
Rodrigo,
Living in Australia, we are aware of illegal immigration to a point. As there are no borders to cross people flee to us in boats, usually being caught by our somewhat overzealous border control and being detained for months in the desert in a prison.
Unfortunately a lot of Australians see this process as nessacery to “protect” the country. If only they could see your work maybe they would realise the need to flee for a better life is universal, and finally see a human face to illegal immigration.
This is a powerfull essay, and although it hs “been done before” ( but what story has not been told in one way or another already) you’re images give me a palpable feeling of desperation from your subjects moreso than a feeling of sadness. And that’s something to be commended.
Congratulations
Jim
I wonder if anyone has ever calculated the positive economic impact of illegal workers.
Herve … I believe you are just baiting me. Back to the essay.
RODRIGO – very nice essay. yes, i have seen this subject photographed many times – but who cares – you did a very nice job. for one thing – it was not all “on the train” images – you captured the life before and during as well. beautiful black & white work and well edited. Have you seen the new film from Mexico, “Sin Nombre”? – it is exactly about this subject. Also the book, “Enrique’s Journey”. if not – check them both out. Well done!!
Gordon, I can’t say nationally, but locally the impact has been negative.
Hey Joe …….. all my stuff comes from a ordered mind
Wow, beautiful essay. Almost like watching a poetic movie. Only thing missing was more!
I think stories are stories and deserve to be told, again and again. One of my favorite filmmakers is Satijayat Ray, who tells very simple, almost mundane stories of the common people, and the tragedies that befall them, and those stories take on an epic proportion. Everyone’s story, good or bad, is epic to them. We can’t quantify suffering. That’s why I like this piece, because it has a very personal feel to it. Much more so than the Uganda crisis piece IMO.
Good work Rodrigo and some stunning compositions as well, perfect yet casual.
I agree 100% with Charles above. I also find this piece really cinematic and i felt so much a connection with the people in it i would of liked to of seen more, if possible. The images you use from one scene to another that help it transit work really well in my mind.
congratulations on a worthwhile body of work.
My opinion has nothing to do with the politics of immigration as that comes down to personal stories but as Charles mentions it works well as a story in the Satijayat style.
Interested in seeing more of your work.
Rodrigo,
Classic (hey, classic is OK right?) treatment of the story. It is fair and square, no frills. No headaches. I liked it.
I am curious to see your movies…
EDITORIAL COMMENT:
A beautiful, precise, humane and empathetic essay. What I value most about this heart-felt and important work is that Rodrigo brings to us the lives and the danger and the truth of the the often horrendous journey that these men and women ordeal in order to make enrich and give their life a cross-road step out of poverty. In the finest journalistic tradition, Rodrigo sings their song without judgment and without pomposity, but allows us to connect with them in a simple, and heart-felt way.
For all the comments and politics that have reared, I wish to turn the attention of the readership to the extraordinary film ‘TThe Short Life of José Antonio Gutierrez”…the first man killed in the second Iraq War, who’d been a illegal immigrant from Guatemala and signed up for the war in exchanged for a green card…..and….well……
http://www.theshortlife-film.com/en/
if anything, this work (which, like all human stories, MUST BE SEEN AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN) reminds us that, in the end, we are not separated by borders, nor should we ever be, but by the failure of our imagination and our humanity to recognize our brotherhood with all…
powerful, authentic and important story.
Thank you so much Rodrigo for sharing it with us…
all the best
bob
Certainly an impressive essay. I have never travelled down to that region, but just leaving politics aside (as most people focused on) if anything the essay gave me a sense of the immense geography or landscape of that region. I really felt that I was there alongside the subjects. I don’t think that it matters whether this subject material has been replayed many times before, what is important is that the author provides the audience with a fresh take or perspective. Rodrigo has certainly achieved that here.
Bob, your romanticism is not a completely accurate representation of many of the people or the situation. You are reading content into the photos that is not objectively there. Perhaps the photos should just stand as good photos without the editorializing and empty of context.
Mike R
http://www.tylercountybooster.com/
best
kat-
Kathleen, while I don’t mind you publishing the URL of one of the newspapers in our group, I don’t quite see what that has to do with my posts here. DAH has noted that there is no requirement to even be a photographer to comment on the photos here. That I am a photographer and newspaper editor has no bearing on my opinions.
I can only conclude that by posting this URL, you hope to ridicule me in some way. You seem to look down on small towns and consider those who live there unsophisticated rubes. I try to address the photos here. You seem be more concerned with me, personally. Whether I edit a newspaper or dig ditches has no bearing on my opinions, or do certain jobs exclude individuals from commenting here?
It’s as if you feel by posting the URL that you’ve played some kind of trump card, it standing alone as it is.
Sorry for the coda, but Kathleen has been playing this game for awhile.
please. this thread is not about jim.
working on longer post about this essay
Jim:
you have to be kidding me. Romanticism…..i haven’t read anything into the photos. I do, however, have friends who have spent the last 5 years of their life photographing and making films about the men and women leaving Central America and traveling this same route. Perhaps, you should bring to the table more knowledge about both the story (photographically and factually) then your personal, political interpretation. I have looked at the essay (several times) and have been fortunate to know other photographers working on this story over the last few years. If you are alluding to my reference to the film “The Short Life of José Antonio Gutierrez”, i would suggest, newspaper reporter/editor that you are, do the research. Jose Antonio Gutierrez’s life is just one example. Rodrigo’s story is a simple one: people risk life and limb to cross borders to pull themselves and their families from the morass of poverty, including dealing with corrupt police, gangs, drug leaders, dogs, border guards, trains and the vicissitudes of misfortune. I am perplexed as to your reading of my comment as “romanticism.” Purple-prose, yes. Misreading the essay: no.
Sorry Jim, increasingly your comments reflect your personal agenda rather than an examination of either the work published here, your photographic curiosity/knowledge or your interest into the investigation of documentary presentation.
bob
Bob, you must be meeting all the good guys. Here we just have our jail filled with illegals picked up for robbery, assault and pubic intoxication, costing the taxpayers dearly. Clearly, we’re not going to get get anywhere following this discussion any farther.
Rodrigo
This is a powerful and moving essay and i am very impressed. I want to ask you though, you talk about Central American immigrants making their way to the US border through Mexico from Central America but list only Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. I know scores from Costa Rica who have made the trip. I married one for example when he was an illegal dishwasher and all of his brothers likewise made the trip. Also Nicaragua surely must be represented although many many thousands of citizens from that country have emigrated to Costa Rica as their ¨promised land¨. Can you explain why you have left the rest of Central America from your list?
ALL
This is indeed a complicated issue and there is as much a slant on Rodrigo´s part as there is on Jim´s. While the overwhelming majority of migrants to the US are seeking a better life, that is not always the case. Some are adventure seekers, some are running from legal troubles (not the political refugee type), others are running from domestic situations including support responsibilities, some just go because in some communities you aren´t considered a man until you make it to the USA. But one thing is true, once they get there, there are no handouts. Everyone must work and work like a motherf***er. There are enormous hurdles and discomforts and the trip itself is a horror just as Rodrigo shows here. When i lived in the US we took in scores of new arrivals and to a one they GAVE far more in taxes and labor to the USA then they TOOK. Likewise, since many start working as laborers and often end up owning their own companies, they employ US natives and other immigrants and KEEP ON PAYING THEIR TAXES.
Immigrants do not necessarily stay in the border states when they arrive. They keep going and work in every corner of the US. And as has been said countless times, it is true that immigrants in general, regardless of the country they go to do the crap jobs that natives won´t touch. It´s true here in Costa Rica also. Nicaraguans are guards, coffee pickers, cane cutters, maids and construction workers. And many Costa Ricans detest these immigrants just as the Costa Ricans are detested in the USA. According to Costa Ricans the Nicaraguans are a drain on the social system and are responsible for all the crime. haha..sound familiar? I´ll bet the Europeons at Burn could say the same thing about immigrants to their countries. These complaints are cliches. Boring, Boring. Boring.
Also, as was mentioned above…Americans get it out of your heads that America is so great that everyone wants to go be an American. People go there because they can´t stay where they are and when they can, most come back, or want to come back, talk about coming back, save their money to come back. Next time you are in a restauant, ask the bus boy if he had a choice where he´d be. I will tell you for sure, it ain´t Madison, Wisconsin or Woodville, Texas. It´s Tegucigalpa, or San Salvador or San Jose or Managua or Guatemala City.
It´s complicated, yes, so very, very. But please, if you encounter an immigrant on your travels, be kind, be so very kind. He or she is a long way from home and family and is working late hours, under difficult conditions doing a job you wouldn´t touch with a ten foot pole and then going home to some overcrowded hovel to sleep a few hours before getting up and doing it again. And he or she is paying the same taxes as the rest of us/you. And it is not Jose or Juan or Emma or Vilma´s fault that the immigration issue is complicated. Please don´t take it out on them. They´re just busy taking care of your kids, cutting your lawn, picking your tomatoes, roofing your house and washing your dishes.
I must compliment every comment in this essay as being considerate, thoughtful, engaged and making great efforts to understand the issues. Bravo, Burnians..bravo Rodrigo…what a wonderful look, see and read!!!
best to all
Kat
I THE STRUGGLE
Not all countries from which illegal immigrants hail are Spanish speaking. There are a lot more illegal immigrants in the US collectively who are not Spanish speaking who come here on tourist visas and have their visas expire on purpose. Poverty and seeming hopelessness are the driving forces that they leave their families at the expense of not being able to return to their home country for decades in order to support these families and work abroad. Some are working as nannies, housekeepers, construction workers, custodians, janitors and a lot are overqualified. In their home countries they are lawyers, physicians, school principals, dentists, etc. The sacrifice is there and this should not be romanticized but definitely documented, photographed if you will so we could all empathize with their plight.
I know personally of people and their experiences. One has swam from Cuba, not once, twice but seven times and now he is a physician here. One a financial planner, peed in his pants while being interviewed for a tourist visa in a consulate. One nun had to sing through the tiny glass opening to prove to the consul she knew her morning routine and she was really a nun. We empathize with what you call a humanizing factor for the physical struggle of going through the border. I do not discount that, not at all. But can you imagine being exposed, embarrassed, desperate, separated from loved ones for decades while working a job you obviously are overqualified to do, in order for your poor family to survive? Such a test of superhuman strength and yet they all deliver.
III THIS IS OUR COUNTRY
The citizens have every single right to protect their own country with whatever measures they deem appropriate to protect the borders. This immigration issue has been used at the expense of the people caught in between from desperation to shape public opinion unfortunately to the gains of said officials and not necessarily directly positively affecting all both sides of the fence. There would be casualties in any conflict. This is our country, it is only natural to protect our side of the fence.
II THIS IS THE US
No matter how much anyone argues, I believe illegal immigrants have no right to expect government to feed them, clothe them, educate them, talk to them in their language. It is a privilege to live in the United States and I, as a legal immigrant, would always be thankful for each day that I am living here as part of your community now. If I were illegal, I should not have any right to drive, borrow money, usurp much needed job opportunities from the city’s citizens. I make my own money and I do not break any laws. I paid over 20 thousand dollars to legalize my immigration. I for one would be the one who would shout the loudest at those who sue the police for ‘manhandling’ them for a truck stop that yields weights of illicit drugs. I think I am a contributing citizen to my community but still I think it is a privilege to be here therefore I try to speak English, I still practice my traditions but I do not ask any more favors more than what I have been given.
rodrigo,
i am looking at your compositions closely because this is what i have to learn. as well as all the comments about your technic. your pictures are hmmm, thought provoking as you can see with my response above.unfortunatly i dont feel anything towards your essay. my bland reactions to this are based on the personal struggle i know.
thank you though for showing me this.
“Bob, you must be meeting all the good guys. Here we just have our jail filled with illegals picked up for robbery, assault and pubic intoxication, costing the taxpayers dearly.”
Well Jim,
I just had the pleasure of browsing through some of the back issues in the link Kathleen so
graciously provided.
Specifically, there is a section in each issue called ‘jail bookings’ and from what I can see
from about two months worth of data it seems that there are about 40 entries of All-American
good old boys for every Spanish name listed. Doesn’t seem to, very convincingly, back up your
claim unless, of course, all the ‘illegals’ are,in fact, whites coming in from out of State.
lovely set of images..
you have to tell this story..
thru your eyes…
strong imagery,
#2 is everything…
I feel the audio
could be stronger..
I don’t know how..
but
changing the audio
and
subtitles would really change this piece for me…
love the imagery….
these stories
ALWAYS
need to be told,
again
and
again…
**
very good essay.
Rodrigo – an awesome essay – you have a very distinct style that I can describe with one word – rich. There is richness in the way you tell the story and richness in each individual image. Thank you.
Dear Jim Powers,
I have checked The Booster ( thanks Kathleen ) and it, to my surprise contains a section for Official Records / Jail Bookings. I have looked at last 5 or 6 issues and all arrests except 2 or 3 were non-Hispanic individual. My question is how come your county jail is filled with illegal intoxicated Hispanics? Do you catch them from the other side of the border and bring ‘em in?
The humor section of Jail Bookings was about fella named Cardrick – he is suffering from chronic arrestitis – 2 weeks in a row? What’s the story? ya been following? you must be …
I have noticed that I enjoy reading your newspaper and have decided to buy a full year subscription for my next birthday that is coming up on February 30th. I liked the pet of the week section tremendously. Before I pull the trigger, could you please confirm that you do ship the paper to other countries, i.e Califronia?
Thank you for being who you are – love :)
Nice photography I think that the Black and white could look a little better but that just personal taste.
I would like to see pictures of happy people doing well people in Central America or for that matter Africa, Asia. I know that bad news sells better than good news but there seems to be a very lopsided view every where you look.
American immigration policy makes me laugh the whole country is so new anyway that it still seems up to grabs to me.
just one first look. Agree with John Vink. No headaches,no frills,straight forward. I liked it. I’ll be watching it a few more times.
Haik, you don’t, unfortunately, see all the bookings into our jail. We are about to replace the 48 prisoner facility we have now with a 200 prisoner facility ($22 million dollar project) under state mandate because we exceed the legal capacity of the jail daily. Most of our prisoners go to surrounding counties (at great cost) right now. Woodville is also home to the Lewis Unit of the state prison system.
Actually, Haik, the Obit section is our most popular. And there is no real reason to subscribe from California, the full PDF of the newspaper is up on that web site, only a week old. We have nine newspapers covering eight counties and employ over 100.
Oh yeah, Haik, and since you’ve given me this opening, I’ll brag that we’ve just been notified by both the Gulf Coast Press Association and the Texas Press Association that we’ve won awards in both of the competitions this year! I’m betting on that Pet of the Week thing!
JIm:
in fact, no i have met (legal and illegal) both good guys and bad guys. I lived in Florida before i moved to toronto. Had friends who were illegal migrant workers (farms, motels, landscapers, cooks, diswashers) and photographed them…..and had encounters with the bad dudes too (my brother was punched in the face by one in an attack, when i lived in LA, my apartment was (while i was sleeping) broken into and my closet friend in LA was knifed in an attack on La Brea)….it’s not romanticism jim….it’s about seeing people for the totality for who they are….there are some pretty sorry assed folks legal and illegal (my son, for the 2nd time in 1 year, was robbed just this friday, standing on a street corner in Toronto…i guess these dudes suspect his daddy is a humanist)…..
Gracie:
it is not OUR country, it is A country…and just as you struggled, as my ancestors, as my wife and son struggled, so too all people who wish to better lives….the worst part about making the struggle is that it so often allows for the experience to suggest, i made it, they should do as i…..
nations….all those barbarians at the gates…and in the dusty jails…in 230+ years we have learned little from history…go figure….
Bob, local resources are finite. We are not like the Federal government who can simply print more money when they want to bail out another evil corporation. Those resources in Texas are being carved up into smaller and smaller pieces as a result of this issue. Older folks here who have worked their entire lives in this state and can’t afford to buy medications they need do not understand why illegals and their kids are getting better health care than they are. If we are to take all these folks from other countries in, then we need the money to support the effort. And all we get from the Federal government is unfunded mandates. The issue is far more than just a simple humanitarian one.
bb,
when i said our country, i meant our country as a personal context. just for me
but you can also apply ‘our country’ as a collective for those countries who are also faced with illegal immigration. they have every right to feel and to protect their borders.
and yes, everybody looking for a better life wishes for one though not everyone find it.
would i go back? yes i would, in a heartbeat, but not until i know my children’s future is secure.
and i do feel i can secure that here. i work hard and harder and i am rewarded. not like before, you work hard and harder and you get singled out, robbed and killed.
why would i not expect otherwise? they should make it as i did.
jim,
youre right.
my problem is the attitude. ‘hey, im here. you take care of me’
why not my own native language be taught in schools?
the US is my host. respect the hostess.
it is a privilege to drink wine at the party
and not at all an excuse to misbehave and ask for more favors
beyond the invitation.
Let me give an example of how this impacts us, here, in our small town.
At the beginning of the school year, two children of illegals who just arrived in the US were placed in a 7th grade English class. The kids speak no English. The teacher speaks no Spanish. The teacher knows nothing of the kid’s backgrounds, because the schools are not allowed to ask. If you are a US citizen, you have to provide all kinds of documentation to enroll your kids in school in Texas. If you are an illegal, the school has to, by law here in Texas, enroll your kids in school without any kind of documentation. Kind of a don’t ask, don’t tell. The teacher has no way to teach these kids, yet their results on the state mandated TAKS test, which is given in english, will be included in the score that becomes part of her evaluation. In the meantime, the taxpayers in our city are paying for their “education.”
This actually happened this year. Is it any wonder that folks are ticked off about this?
I agree with you Mike R…This is indeed the root of the problem. (see below) Solving it is another issue. I agree that grassroots projects are important, but in many areas where you have corrupt leadership such projects cannot get off the ground. Problems always need to be traced back to the source.
Someone above mentioned cancer, and I only using this as an example…I’m not a doctor or scientist, but I seriously don’t think that finding a med for cancer is the solution. It’s like putting a band aid on the problem, not solving it. Other areas like nutrition, improving family/social networks, reducing stress etc. etc. are probably just as, if not more important. Then obviously one needs to examine how to improve nutrition and reduce stress etc. These things can be solved through a combination of personal choices and good (sustainable) government leadership.
“In many parts of the world the migration of the poor in search of a better life is becoming ever more common. The more enlightened among us recognize that people don’t migrate through choice; they migrate because of desperation. If people had jobs and work in their own country they would stay in their own country. Considering the cost of attempting to seal a porous boarder it may be worth a try to build a manufacturing base in Central America with the sole aim of bringing economic stability to the area. The U.S. have done it before; after World War 2 – the Marshall Plan.”
Compelling essay and I think you went as deep and narrow as you could with the individuals your were following. I really sensed a time/place relationship and the overall essay has a cinematic feel to it. The last picuture is a real stand out for me – Thanks for sharing.
THE TYLER COUNTY BOOSTER
Thursday, April 30, 2009
“My Name is Bob Rawls. I have served as Board President of the Colmesneil Independent School District the past six years. During my tenure as Board President of CHS I have had the honor of serving with a Team of Eight that has achieved great things for our district and has helped to make Colmesneil ISD one of the most successful schools of Southeast Texas.
Financially, our district is in great shape. For the past two years the Texas Education Agency has given our district a “Superior Achievement”, financial rating. The past five years our board has approved a balanced budget and today our district currently has approximately a two million dollar fund balance.
Sounds like they are in good hands Jim, financially and from a resource perspective. Students equal teachers, teachers equal jobs. Jobs require dollars and there seems to be a surplus of it in Tyler County.
Jim, no offense, but the issue with black-rights makes this issue look like a blip on the time continuum in comparison and also a crossword puzzle in comparison to the complexity to the challenge of getting blacks to a level playing field in the States.
Your logic, if wide-spread, would put us back in a truly shameful period of time in American history, I’m certain back then there were people like you that thought only about how ‘injustice’ impacted you personally and thought it was ok to ignore a clear and present human issue.
I’m only glad, like now, your inhuman attitude was in the minority. And I’m more glad that there are people out there not chasing the next big ‘new’ story, but keep the existing issues in our face until someone can negotiate a mutually beneficial way through them.
Good Stuff Rodrigo.
Joe, you are quoting a school board candidate. What would expect a school board candidate to say? Things are terrible? Good grief.
Jim
Not defending the situation, BUT… Since you are apparently saying that the school board member is not telling the truth in this letter, I am sure your paper must have done a story presenting the real fact? Do they or do they not have a 2 million balance? Did they or did they not get a “Superior Achievement” financial rating?
Yes we expect the officials to try to paint a rosy picture, but your implying that what he said is untrue. Is it?
Pete, what does any of this have to do illegals?
The school is in a small town north of us. It’s not where they are now and why, it’s where they were the last five years, and why. But all of that is small town politics. And irrelevant to this conversation.
Just making a comment on your conversation with Joe above. Just following the conversation.
Joe quoted a candidate from another school in our county. I have no information on whether they have illegals or not. None of this is relevant.
Well, aside from the Jim Powers show….
I keep coming back to the image of the man talking on the telephone, probably my favorite one of the essay. It is an amazingly sublime way to tell a part of the story, and I’m talking about the list of countries and their telephone codes on the wall. An easy image to pass over at first and think, huh? But this is an image to be learned from. Great stuff.
Children adapt very, very quickly to a new language and academic demands. My children did not know a word of Spanish when they came to Costa Rica. Both were placed at their actual grade level and excelled. Several years later i brought them back to the USA where, though they spoke English, they could neither read nor write the language. Once again they excelled. After a mere two years, i brought them back to Costa Rica again where they went on to finish school without missing a beat. My daughter attends the 6th rated liberal arts college in the US and my son was accepted to a very compeititive free engineering college in CR. And my children are not the exception. My parents adopted a 10 year old Korean girl a long time ago. Nobody spoke Korean for miles around. She caught on just fine starting with the words coca-cola and bathroom. I am betting every one of us knows stories like this. But Jim is perhaps not aware of the exceptional ability of children to learn a new language because he doesn´t have children. In every school you have the achievers and the slower little ones. Those who speak Spanish will be the same. Some exceptional students others that take a little longer.
Jim, reading your subsequent and very justified words of pride in the Booster´s professional achievments, many of which i have no doubt are the result of the same drive for excellence that we see from you here everyday, it seems that i did you a favor by posting the URL to the Booster. I really had to laugh at the silly things you said to me in your response to my post. Since URL´s are just a google click away and since your the Booster seems to be an exceptional weekly (it certainly wasn´t back in the day that i applied for a job there) i thought you´d be proud to share the result of all your hard work with the rest of us. I was stymied why you´d completely ignore Mike´s request, not even having the decency to decline his request to know more about ¨your¨ newspaper. You impress upon us daily that you are a Pj of some repute so your background is extremely relevant to your comments here. One thing though. You keep mentioning the ¨group¨ of newspapers, are you editor of more than the Booster? I did not see evidence of that but if so, then you must be a very hard working news editor indeed. Congrats.
Gracie
I am really quite surprised at your conservative response to other immigrants to the US. But then again, it is the Cuban customs workers at Miami airport who are the most brutal to foreigners entering the US some of whom are turned away and sent back to their countries even with a visa in hand because they do not have what the customs official considers enough money to tour the US in grand style. It is unfortunately the case that those who go through the grueling process of scratching out a niche for themselves in a new land do not want to look back at where they came from or give a hand to those who are similarly struggling. I honestly thought you had more heart so there must be some terribly painful memories that caused you to put up such high emotional walls against the rough and tumble world of immigration. Now, just imagine if you had had to come overland through Mexico instead of comfortably on an airplane. Imagine for a second how THAT would have added to the hardship. Open your heart, Graciekins, look again at these pictures. Dare to remember your own departure, journey and new arrival. Just imagine and i think this essay will move you in more than just a bland fog of indifference to their plight.
Best
kat-
Herve … I believe you are just baiting me
———————————–
Well, I really bit back, and I aopologize.
Maybe I have a personal stake in wanting to have acknowledged that one way or another, the USA does end up, and will end up “welcoming” immigtants of all sorts, and that even illegals in numbers do find their place, and praise there was such a place to come to. The glass is always half-…. Full! ;-)
Best I can express it.
Haik, “My question is how come your county jail is filled with illegal intoxicated Hispanics? Do you catch them from the other side of the border and bring ‘em in?…”
You made me laugh out loud! Sure is a long way to go for a Corona.
Mike.
David Bacher, I agree, it’s no use just sending money and hoping for the best. I remember watching a T.V. programme about Fair Trade; a system where the buyers pay the producers a fair price and the consumer pays a little more for the product in the shops. It’s not a charity; it’s a business and makes a profit but the impact of being paid a fair price is enormous to the producers. Children can go to school etc. etc.
The point I want to make here is that they interviewed a South / Central American farmer who made the point that the area had received huge amounts of aid over the years. “Can you see the results?” he asks, “I cant” he continues, “I don’t know where it all went. If you offer me aid or Fair Trade I’ll take Fair Trade” he concludes.
Best,
Mike.
I think this debate shows why there is no solution so far. Most of the arguments are not about making things work but camping out on one’s position, and indict others. I think all points/diagnostics made from each are valid, and inform the situation, not just “opinions”. Yet, I would say, no good point (again, from any “side”) is being made, if it couldn’t be 1)understood by one of these poor guys, with little schooling, crossing the border., then 2) a PRACTICAL solution.
PS:Also, Bob!!!! please, no more “editorial content” gray stuff, when it’s not strictly about editing techniques. Ah, shit, never mind I am proably the only who noticed…. :-)))
HERVE!!!!! ;)))..
no more. when commenting in Gray (with that, i know, obnoxious headline ‘editorial comment’), i have tried to write about the work…what the work brought to us as content, editorially speaking or to offer a view into the work (for example the long ramble about My Daughter’s Question diptych by Marc Davidson). it’s not only for ‘editing techniques’…for editorial opinion….and i’ve tried to not use the gray stuff when it’s about pesonal ‘discussion’…but, the better decision is this:
not comment at all under gray…a decision i made last night…i’ll use it one last time when one of the future essays coming up gets published and then, as far as comments, i will try not to write anything, nothing, zero, zilch, etc…unless it’s about an aesthetic impasse…
by the way, im not using that for some ego, it’s just that i have a login and sometimes forget im in gray…
but, i shall remain silent and out of the grey zone…please gladly take the gray…until one last personal essay comes up…
all the best
b