Scott Casey

“Brownsville by Bus” reflections…

The variety present along the border and on both sides of it. Some cities along the border are immediately different and culturally distant from their sister city across the border, while others, Douglas and Agua Prieta in particular, are very close culturally if not economically. Some cities are tourist traps, Nuevo progreso and Tijuana, while others are simply small towns, piedras negras and sasabe, that happen to reside along the border, and still others are industrial monoliths, Mexicali and Ciudad Juarez, that thrive on the free trade between Mexico and America. Generalizing the border as one type of area is impossible because like any similarly sized area in America or Mexico, there are different economic environments that induce or hinder different forms of cities and towns.What different things did you learn along the trip?

Before the trip I considered the border a marginal zone of both countries that was not representative of the overall qualities of either. And while this is true, it is not true in the manner I thought. I had thought of the border as an area of neglect and vice on both sides of the border when I actuality it is no worse than any city or area in the states and is actually better than quite a few and it is definitely better than many places in Mexico. This, I think, is because of its proximity to the American cities on the border.

Before the trip, I was interested simply in learning about the border and its economic problems, benefits, and reasons for being because I live in Las Vegas, a city that essentially depends on the existence of laborers who are willing to do the jobs that no one else is; the maid work in the hotels that make Vegas what it is today for example. The border is something that dramatically affects life in my hometown even though we are a whole state away.

Before this, my view of the border was what I think of as a stereotypical view of small and large border towns with not much in between them. This is definitely not a correct view of the border, yes these border towns are an essential part of the border, but the border is also the hundreds of miles of productive farm country and empty desert. This second part of the border, the part that is often forgotten is what makes this area such a problem because it is the worst type of terrain for defense of any kind, but especially border defense because you are not just looking for anything that moves, you are looking for specific people and even if you think you’ve found one, you still of to search them and/or their vehicle which simply gives others the chance to go around you and keep on heading for the lights of a city.

This type of class experience gives me just that, experience. While a normal class teaches you about something or how to do something, a class like this clearly illustrates the points that a professor in a standard class would spend days on. As an added bonus, the fact that you are seeing the example first hand means that even if your professor gives his view on it, you can make your own judgement, which is something that is very important on an issue such as this because it is too important to the country to simply be told what is right and wrong about it.

An experience such as this is something that everyone should experience. During the trip, several us discussed the fact that there are some things that everyone should experience because of their impact on modern society and because they open a window into facets of life that, depending on your economic class, may be completely foreign to you. A class such as this should be added to that list as well because it opens a window into a facet of life that cannot be experienced just from some time at a job. This facet is a cultural facet that is created by a complex interaction of situations and experiences.