Borderline

Day 5 - El Paso


We began our day in this border town with showers at UTEP and a visit to El Paso Museum of Art, which had on display a diverse collection of exhibits. There was an interesting exhibit by artist Tom Lea who I felt really did capture with many of his pieces the true spirit of the Southwest and its traditional history as we think of it. One piece apart from that exhibit just out in the second floor lobby really caught my attention. It was a really powerful mixed media tiered sculpture called “Border Control”, where one side of the sculpture was a representation of Texas and the other side was a representation of Mexico. (This artist, Susanne Klotz, was an American artist, by the way). The Mexico side was filled with color, beautiful fabric and animal charms. The Texas side, however, was the part that caught my attention. The bottom tier had a graveyard with a bunch of crosses. The next tier showed a shape of the United States covered in flag fabric with some orange construction netting strung across it. Across the rest of the sculpture, there were horns, shapes of the state of Texas and small figures with skulls instead of heads dressed in miniature border control uniforms. There was one human figure labeled as a coyote who was throwing a small van and there were crosses scattered around it. I was so caught up in the details of the sculpture that I didn’t notice until Rashina pointed out that if you step away from the whole piece, that it forms a large cross shape- the cross-section is a carved wooden rifle and the whole piece is topped by a giant set of bull horns. I felt like this was a very powerful message from the artist about how some people in the area likely feel about the border control system, the consequences of it and the role of Texas as the gatekeeper.
Next we were taken on a tour of Fort Bliss, the second largest military base in the country and home of the US Air Force artillery-training center that teaches soldiers from all over the world, by Heather Snodgrasses’s aunt, Lunelle Southard and her friend Harold. We ate a great meal in their mess hall and then got to tour the original site of old Fort Bliss and the Air Defense Museum. Our afternoon tour was narrated by Lunelle and Harold, and many of the things we learned from them emphasized just what an important part our military plays in our national history and today’s society. At lunch, Harold gave us a whole list of products whose companies have redesigned their products to be military-friendly, like M&Ms that don’t melt in the Middle Eastern desert and Timex watches that don’t stop in extreme temperatures. He emphasized that the military affects all sorts of things we civilians might never expect. At lunch, we heard from one of the chefs in the mess hall how being in the military environment that limits so many of your choices makes you appreciate your freedom of choice once you are out, and how many civilians go through every day of their lives never recognizing what privileges they have when it comes to freedom of choice.
We had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called Gonzales with Lunelle and other members of Heather Snodgrass’s extended family. My part of the table got to talk at length with her cousin Louie, who is a political science major and criminal justice minor about both what it means to be an American and what it means to be a Texan, and how those identities differ, if at all. We learned a lot of interesting things from him, including that a few years ago, public school students began saying a pledge of allegiance to Texas along with their pledge of allegiance to America in the mornings. He echoed what several other Texans have said in trying to explain Texan pride in saying that because Texas was an independent country before it was a state, therefore its people feel a certain pride and allegiance to this state in a way that residents of other states have trouble identifying with. Texas is the only state where their state flag is flown at the same level as the American flag. Students in public schools in TX receive four years of Texas history even before they receive their one year of American history. I’m pretty sure I studied Tennessee history for one semester, maybe just one quarter, of a year in elementary school. Louie claimed that, if need be, Texas could independently support itself through its agriculture and oil fields. Then again, we talked in San Antonio to several people said that the whole “don’t mess with Texas’ idea was nothing more than an anti-littering campaign and that the Texan identity was nothing more or less than the American identity. It’s interesting to examine how city, state or national pride is crafted, even from a young age and to see how the identities one embraces as a member of a certain community (as we saw in St. Bernard’s Parrish in New Orleans), a resident of a certain state (like Texas) and a citizen of a country (like America) all interact with one another.
We ended the day with what was probably my favorite activity we have done so far on this trip. First we drove along the highway that runs next to the border and got a chance to see the dichotomy between the Mexican village on one side and the city and houses of El Paso on the other. You look out to the left through the fence and you see houses almost on top of another, many created from what appeared to be building scraps; you look out the right window and see beautiful ranch houses reminiscent of what I think of when I picture Californian suburbs. We continued our drive up a scenic road to this absolutely beautiful overlook that gave us a breathtaking view of the city at sunset. It was outrageously windy, the sky was beyond beautiful and it produced for me one of those moments where you realize with surprise how happy you are in that very moment, how very good it is to be alive and where you are right then.
All in all, I viewed our time in Texas as valuable, because I got to learn about things I already had some preconceived notions about and was reminded that things are not always what you expect, that some things deserve a second look. Texas was a surprise but I think aside from the yet unexplored city of Austin (which other Texans officially peaked my interest in) I probably won’t be upset if the largest state in the continental U.S. is not included in further travel adventures. Even though I thought parts of the land were beautiful and I fully appreciate the beautiful multicultural diversity of the areas we saw, I like my salsa milder, my trees taller, my sun a little further away and my rabbits to be without horns.

(i've tried to post pictures,but i'm not having much luck. will update with photos ASAP)