Our Lost Border : Essays on Life Amid the Narco-violence / edited by Sarah Cortez and Sergio Troncoso ; cover design by Mora Design.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Cortez, Sarah, editor.

Troncoso, Sergio, 1961- editor.

Design, Mora, cover designer.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Drug traffic--Mexican-American Border Region.

Drug traffic.

Violent crimes--Mexican-American Border Region.

Violent crimes.

Mexican-American Border Region--Civilization.

Mexican-American Border Region.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (304 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Houston, Texas : Arte Público Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In his essay lamenting the loss of the Tijuana of his youth, Richard Mora remembers festive nights on Avenida Revolución, where tourists mingled with locals at bars. Now, the tourists are gone, as are the indigenous street vendors who sold handmade crafts along the wide boulevard. Instead, the streets are filled with army checkpoints and soldiers armed with assault rifles. "Multiple truths abound and so I am left to craft my own truth from the media accounts--the hooded soldiers, like the little green plastic soldiers I once kept in a cardboard shoe box, are heroes or villains, victims or victimizers, depending on the hour of the day," he writes.With a foreword by renowned novelist Rolando Hinojosa and comprised of personal essays about the impact of drug violence on life and culture along the U.S.-Mexico border, the anthology combines writings by residents of both countries. Mexican authors Liliana Blum, Lolita Bosch, Diego Osorno and María Socorro Tabuenca write riveting, first-hand accounts about the clashes between the drug cartels and citizens' attempts to resist the criminals. American authors focus on how the corruption and bloodshed have affected the bi-national and bi-cultural existence of families and individuals. Celestino Fernández and Jessie K. Finch write about the violence's effect on musicians, and María Cristina Cigarroa shares her poignant memories of life in her grandparents' home--now abandoned--in Nuevo Laredo.In their introduction, editors Sarah Cortez and Sergio Troncoso write that this anthology was "born of a vision to bear witness to how this violence has shattered life on the border, to remember the past, but also to point to the possibilities of a better future." The personal essays in this collection humanize the news stories and are a must-read for anyone interested in how this fragile way of life--between two cultures, languages and countries--has been undermined by the drug trade and the crime that accompanies it, with ramifications far beyond the border region.

Contents:

Table of Contents; Foreword; Introduction; THE TORTURED LANDSCAPE; La frontera más ancha; The Widest of Borders; La guerra, nosotros, la paz; The War, Us, the Peace; La Batalla de Ciudad Mier; The Battle for Ciudad Mier; Espejos, fantasmas y violencia en Ciudad Juárez; Mirrors, Ghosts and Violence in Ciudad Juárez; THE PERSONAL STORIES; Selling Tita's House; Across the River; There's Always Music; My Tijuana Lost; The Bridge to an Alien Nation; Sucking the Sweet; The Sicario in the Salon; A World Between Two Worlds; Glossary of Spanish Words; Contributors; About the Editors

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-61192-521-5