RE: Border Desert Deaths / TV Program Alert.

Thanks to Tina for sharing the New York Times front-page article on
problems at the border. Death in the desert has become big in images of
border issues. Latino writers in Phoenix, for example, include references
to these border risks in theatrical productions. Other trends in a culture
of border risk include: abduction and mistreatment of border-crossers;
escalation of violence; decreasing age of border crossers, as minors cross
on their own and/or in coyote-led groups without kin; re-location of safe
houses to high-income neighborhoods; overcrowded safe houses, as new
arrivals await payment to "holders" (ransoms paid by family occur apart
from a payment to coyotes, as abductors/holders become new players, after
crossing).

Thanks to Bobbi for alerting us to the NOW series on PBS and their lead
story on a straight-A student in Edinburg, aspiring to college, who, with
her brother, works with their family in migrant/seasonal farm labor, and
the "grandmother" who decided to return to school, after her main source of
income was "off-shored."

A colleague of mine, who watched NOW, pointed out that new themes on new
venues (New York Times lead story; NOW lead story) draw new audiences and
broaden public awareness. Let's hope these two stories have that impact.

Keith V Bletzer