I was reading Celia's post on illegal immigrants passing through the Mexican border through a man-made tunnel. I found an article about a photographer from National Geographic, who crossed the Mexican border with a group of migrants. The problem with magazine articles and the media's approach to illegal immigration is the realities they construct. Media constructs reality. Is that reality based upon a perceived global perspective or a baised opinion? I want to question what I read and hear critically because I have never been to the Mexican border, so how do I know what is occuring? There are different levels at which illegal immigration is connected to.

Photographer Recounts Crossing U.S. Border With Mexican Illegal Immigrants
National Geographic Adventure magazine
January 23, 2003

The busiest gateway for illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border for the past five years—a 261-mile-long (420 kilometer) stretch of Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona—is now considered the deadliest point of entry as well. According to the Border Patrol, this remote corridor—which also contains Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, considered the country's most dangerous national park—claimed at least 134 illegal immigrants' lives last year, more than any other region along the border.

To shed light on the life-and-death struggle of migrants entering the U.S., photojournalist and author John Annerino began documenting their story twelve years ago. He shares his experiences in his book Dead in Their Tracks: Crossing America's Desert Borderlands., in the February 2003 issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine (read an excerpt from "National Park War Zone"), and in this online-exclusive interview.

In 1987, you crossed the U.S.-Mexico border with four other migrants. What was that journey like?
We started out about four or five [o'clock] in the afternoon—migrants usually leave for the border around then. Three of the men had walked the route before, which had been handed down from one generation to the next. So they weren't following a trail per se. They were keying off geographical landmarks like mountain ranges.
During the summer, the Barry M. Goldwater Range is very grim country. We walked until midnight without taking a rest. One [migrant] had a flashlight. There was enough ambient light so your eyes grew accustomed to the dark. But still you'd bump into a prickly pear or cholla cactus and have to stop and pull the thorns out of person's leg or shoe.
Then we rested—as much as you can [when you're] tossing and turning on the hot sand in your t-shirt. We were up by 4:30 a.m. ready to roll, and walked until 8 p.m. If you're trained and acclimated to the heat, you really don't notice it until you become dehydrated. Your muscles become cramped from lactic acid and from the number of hours you're standing upright. You get dizzy, feel nauseous. You can't hold down water. Mine lasted for about 40 miles [65 kilometers] and then I was out. We just made it because it was starting to cool, and the goal was in sight—in this case Interstate 8. We could actually hear it miles off. So that spurred us on, as did the camaraderie of the group.

What did you learn from the trip?
The extraordinary lengths that human beings will go to make a better life for themselves. If we had another five miles [8 kilometers] to go, we might not have all made it. And they were doing this to feed their families.

How easy is it to cross the border without being apprehended?
Very easy, if you know what you're doing. There are those who believe that if they walk these extraordinarily long distances across the desert, they'll evade the Border Patrol. And again, we're talking 30 to120 miles [50 to 190 kilometers]. You can make it if can handle the heat and distance—and if you don't get caught.
But there are other groups of people who are more knowledgeable. Some cross through a hole in the fence [along the border], from Nogales, Sonora [Mexico], to Nogales, Arizona, hire a taxi, and a mile [1.6 kilometers] south of a Border Patrol checkpoint, the riders will get out of the car, walk into the desert maybe a mile [1.6 kilometers], then north for another two miles [3.2 kilometers], and the taxi driver, having gone through the checkpoint, will be waiting alongside the highway or access road off Interstate 19 to pick up the group and take them to Phoenix. They don't run the risk of dying in the desert.

I had no thought about immigration—I was just climbing this beautiful peak, and enjoying the beautiful desert landscape. Several years later I started seeing trash and the trails [left by migrants] and I began wondering who was doing this and why—and that changed my perspective. So of course it bothers me to see a park like Organ Pipe get trashed, but on the other hand, you see the human side—our neighbors suffering and dying on American soil—and that's very painful for me.

SAVE MCS!!

Detroit city council has voted to tear down Michigan Central Station


Detroit City Council has given the owner 30 days to propose a plan for development of the building or front the bill for demolition.

Tragic

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090407/METRO/904070421/Detroit+council+votes+to+demolish+Michigan+Central+Depot++charge+owner

Windsor Related Songs

While doing some research I found tons of songs referencing Detroit, but barely any about Windsor. I was wondering if anyone knows of any?

Conestellations of Los Angeles

An interesting pyschogeography project posted in Archinect.com

















from archinect

Let us say and imagine, in Los Angeles, urban scale "planned points of interests" are indeed constellations. They are places in this vast metropolis. They are formed by the grid, by the politicians and their supporters, developers, engineers, and, as far as the buildings go, the architects.

Separated by mere 15 miles and sometimes as close as the next lane, urban core of Los Angeles is indeed 'the house of everything.' All the variables contrasted and occupied. The grid goes for hundreds of sq. miles. These special constellations let us to assume, experience, imagine and expect while driving. They are vortices of our stories in an horoscopic sense. These are the lines of our reality and the reasons of our act.

http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=87171_0_23_0_C

Russia and the Scramble for the Arctic

The National reported last night on the developments of the arctic confrontation between Canada and Russia and the oil which potentially lies below the ice. Chilingarov the Russian political figure leading the effort of Russian sovereignty belittled Canadian claims to the arctic. Chilingarov is the man responsible for the planting of the Russian flag below the ice as a message directly to Canada that Russia has both the right and ability to control the North Pole region.

Russia has until next year to prove its claim to the North Pole to the UN, Canada has until 2013. With 25% of the world's oil and gas reserves could be located here and the race is on for either Canada or Russia to claim its ownership.

Last week Russia announced that they will soon be positioning troops in this region of the arctic, creating stations under the control of the Federal Security Service. (The successor of the KGB)

Chilingarov told CBC that there is no cold war today and that it is useless for Canada to fight for control of the arctic. He argues that only Russia has the ability to establish a presence in this region, thus giving them rights to the region through a military presence which will soon be underway. Even if Canada wanted to stake claim to the North Pole, Chilingarov says that Canada does not have the equipment to do so. He also pointed out that merely saying that the arctic is Canadian territory is not enough, but a physical presence is needed. Action must be taken on the part of Canada if they even want to contend.

While Russia says that they will abide by the decision set by the UN as to who has control over the region, they feel that with lack of Canadian initiative or presence they have already proved their claim.

Border Watching: A New Hobby?

I came across this CNN news article (link at the bottom) recently about US citizens who have been monitoring live online feeds from the US/Mexico border in the hopes of reporting any suspicious activities captured on camera. The website is http://www.blueservo.net/ . I haven't gone through the hassle of signing up, but I think any one can become a member and stare at a grainy video image for as long as you want. Apparently participants do it as part of their "civic duty".

As a side link in the article, I discovered http://www.borderstories.org/ which has a collection of truly fascinating short videos about the US/Mexico border as seen through a wide variety of participants. Well worth your time to go through them.

On a different topic, as used for a source in the Contested Spaces presentation, the blog "Strange Maps" (http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/) finds and collects unique maps of all sorts.

Furthermore http://www.archive.org/details/Contested-Spaces-Video-Project is a site with a collection of 20 minute videos on contested spaces worldwide. The Cyprus video shows a good example of a "fold border variety" where a UN buffer zone established a ghetto region in the capital city.

CNN article: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/12/border.security.cameras.immigration/index.html

Border Patrol Agents Discover Crude Cross-Border Tunnel

"(Monday, March 30, 2009)
Otay Mesa, Calif. - Early yesterday morning, a crudely built cross-border tunnel was discovered by Border Patrol agents in Otay Mesa after surveillance cameras observed a large group of suspected illegal aliens attempting to enter the country.

Inside of a cross-border tunnel in Otay Mesa, Calif.
At about 12:45 a.m., Border Patrol surveillance camera operators observed several individuals in Mexico running up to the primary border fence about one mile west of the Otay Mesa port of entry.
About 30 minutes later, the camera operators spotted two people north of the border fence, while a third person was following by crawling out of a hole in the ground. Agents responded and were able to apprehend one of the individuals, as the other two re-entered the hole and returned to Mexico. ..." Exerpt for San Diego SectorCBP Public Affairs News Release. http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/03302009_8.xml