Notes From BorderLinks, Tucson

Greetings from near the BorderLands. At this point in our trek, we have been pummeled with so much information on all sides of this border issue. Each presenter has been opening our eyes to more and more of the elements that contribute to the problem of migration and our borders. There is a point in assimilating such devastating information that one starts to numb out. (I rarely drink coffee in the afternoon, but am taking a hit as I write). The problem though that is forming in my head right now is how will I ever become articulate enough to string together some kind of coherent thought pattern to open the eyes of others?

As I look into each issue, my particular lens is trying to see through to the complicity of our various corporate entities. In what ways do the sourcing patterns, the employment practices, the consumption and distribution of all of our products and goods and services impact this problem. Take for example the inclusion of corn syrup in most of our foods in the US. Hybrid and genetically altered corn not only produces corn syrup but floods the corn market driving down the prices in Mexico so that the farmer cannot sell his own. So our addiction to sugars, our inclusion of corn syrup in cereal, catsup, baked goods, mustard, you name it, combined with NAFTA has resulted in a greater poverty, driving someone potentially off the land to seek employment and food for his family elsewhere. But that is such a little example of one complicit event adding more fuel to the conflagration.

As of yet I do not know how I will be changed by this experience. But I do know that I must stay alert to take in each next moment and message. God help us all.