Here's another edition of Meet Your Neighbors for all you cool kids living out in Los Angeles.
It is my great privilege to introduce you to a find young man named Junior. That's his nickname, so I'm pretty comfortable sharing it with you all.
I have been privileged to encounter some pretty exceptional people working down here, but Junior might get my vote for the most incredible person that I have met in the last six months. Why? Oh let me count the ways. For a start, Junior is from Honduras. If you've read the article from my last post, you'll have some idea why I am so impressed with migrants from anywhere south of Mexico. Junior is also traveling alone, quite a feat for anyone, but more so for someone not from Mexico. Not only is he traveling alone, unlike most migrants he has no one waiting for him in Los Angeles (family, friends, etc.), just the desire to look for work and send money back to his mother and siblings. This means that he has no support system at all. No one to send him money if/when he runs out or gets robbed (when I met him he had $19 and change. I gave him everything in my wallet, which was sadly only ten more). Junior also managed to first avoid, and later fool, both Mexican and U.S. immigration officials into thinking that he was not in fact from Honduras. Not an easy task. Finally, Junior rode the train all the way from Guatemala to Phoenix (where he was caught and deported). Again, an incredibly difficult, scary, and dangerous thing to do, especially alone.
All that, and he's really just an incredibly nice kid.
To be fair, in the immigration "game"* that takes place here on the border, there is no doubt that Central Americans are the underdogs. Everyone is gunning for them. Mexican migration wants to deport them. American migration wants to find them and ship them home as well. They take special pride in weeding them out and being able to differentiate them from Mexicans. Central Americans are also more likely to be assaulted, left for dead in the desert, cheated out of their money, and beaten up. The migration machine is mostly run by Mexicans, who I am sad to say often abuse one another. This is multiplied exponentially for someone coming from outside of Mexico.
It was tough watching Junior walk out the door. I like the kid, I wish he was sticking around. I also know that he was/is getting back on a train to cross into the U.S. I really don't want to read about him in the paper after he loses a leg, or possibly his life. And I know the meat grinder that is Los Angeles, and the exploitation that awaits him there.
*I say game not becuase I think that immigration as it now exists if fun, but because so many of the people that I know down here think of it that way. If a migrant gets caught by Border Patrol, they get returned to their country of origin, and get to try again. It makes the whole thing feel like a massive game of capture the flag. The problem is, if you lose you can die. And people lose a lot.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
A Must Read on the Border
From the New York Times comes an essential read for anyone who wants to understand the border, and just how far it now extends.
Tapachula, where this report was researched, is the city just down the mountain from Salvador Urbina. It's where I spent my day at the market and bought my firewords. El Buen Pastor (Jesus the Good Pastor) is the house where Luis, the Guatemalan man that went with us to Chiapas, stayed at after he lost his legs under the train.
Follow up post coming from me with some thoughts on the article and the issues it raises.
TAPACHULA, Mexico
Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times
Donar Antonio Ramírez Espinas lost both his legs during his attempt to cross into the United States. “You make the decision to look for a better life,” he said, “without knowing that you could end up like this.”
They had been in Mexico for only a few hours and already federal police officers had forced them to strip and had taken almost all their cash, they said. They had some 1,500 miles to go to reach the United States border, with no food or water and $9 each.
They intended to walk along the Chiapas coast for the first 250 miles through a dozen towns where migrants are regularly robbed or raped. Then they planned to clamber aboard a freight train with hundreds of other immigrants for the trip north, a dangerous journey that has left hundreds before them maimed after they fell under the wheels.
“It’s dangerous, yes, one risks one’s life,” said one of the men, Noé Hernández. “One risks it if you have a family member in the States to help you. It’s not just for fun we go through Mexico.”
A month ago, Mexico’s new president, Felipe Calderón, announced measures to slow the flow of illegal immigrants across Mexico’s southern border and reduce crime in this lush but impoverished region. He stepped up the presence of soldiers and federal police here, told of plans for a guest worker program and promised joint state and federal operations to catch illegal immigrants.
But much remains to be done to stop or deter the migrants, and for now the measures have had little effect. Social workers and volunteers who aid the migrants say they keep coming.
Every three days, 300 to 500 Central Americans swarm the freight train in Arriaga, strapping themselves with ropes or belts to the tops of cars or riding between the wagons, they say.
The migrants still wade across the Suchiate River between Guatemala and Mexico with little hindrance. Corruption is rampant. Soldiers and police officers on the Mexican side extort money from the migrants but seldom turn them around, aid workers and migrants said.
“It’s an open border,” said Francisco Aceves Verdugo, a supervisor in the government agency, Grupos Beta, that gives food, water and medicine to illegal migrants. “We are confronting a monster so big in the form of corruption that we aren’t doing anything.”
The federal authorities do catch and deport illegal immigrants from Central America on their trek north — about 170,000 last year, according to Leticia Rodríguez, a spokeswoman for the National Migration Institute.
On the evening of Jan. 19, as part of Mr. Calderón’s new get-tough policy, about 400 federal police officers stopped the freight train just after it left Arriaga and arrested more than 100 immigrants who had climbed aboard.
Still, aid workers say a majority gets through. The biggest deterrent, migrants say, is not federal authorities but armed thugs who waylay them along the railroad tracks or on paths through the countryside used to avoid the immigration posts along the main highway.
This month, Misael Mejía, 27, from Comayagua, Honduras, was awaiting the train in Arriaga with nine other young men from his town. They had walked for 11 days after wading across the Suchiate to get to the railhead in Arriaga.
None of them had a dime after being ambushed a week before by three men in ski masks in daylight near Huehuetán. Two of the men carried machetes, the third a machine gun.
“They told us to lay down and take off our clothes,” Mr. Mejía said. “I lost my watch, about 500 Honduran lempiras, and 40 Mexican pesos,” about $31.
Mr. Mejía said he would press on. He has a brother in Arizona who has promised to pick him up if he can run the gantlet through the United States border patrol. He left a $200-a-month job as a driver behind, along with his wife. His brother makes $700 a week as a carpenter.
“I felt hopeless in Honduras,” he said. “Because I could never afford a house, not even a car. There is nothing I could have.”
Down the street from the tracks, at the Hearth of Mercy shelter, where illegal immigrants can get a free hot meal and medicine, Juan Antonio Cruz, 16, hunched over a bowl of rice and told how he had left El Salvador after members of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang had threatened to kill him. “They wanted me to join them,” he said.
It was his second attempt to reach Arizona, he said. The first time he had endured eight freezing nights and sweltering days aboard the train by strapping his belt to bar atop a tanker car. The border patrol caught him as he crossed into Nogales, Ariz., and sent him back home to Usulután, where the gang members threatened him again.
“When I think about the train, I feel fear and panic, for the thieves who attack you, and also for falling off,” he said softly.
For some, that is how the dream ends, with a fall under the train’s heavy, whirring wheels.
At the Shelter of Jesus the Good Pastor in Tapachula, Donar Antonio Ramírez Espinas rubbed the bandaged stumps of his legs, sheared off above the knee, as he recalled the night of March 26, 2004, when he dozed off while riding between cars, lost his grip and fell onto the tracks.
“I fell face down, and at first I didn’t think anything had happened,” he said. “When I turned over, I saw, I realized, that my feet didn’t really exist.”
Back in Honduras, he had been working menial jobs in a parking lot and at a medical warehouse, making about $120 a month. Then he and a few buddies decided to try their luck in the States.
“You make the decision to look for a better life, not to continue with the life your father led, and for this you risk your life, without knowing that you could end up like this,” he said. “An amputee.”
After the accident, he spent two years at the shelter in Tapachula, wrestling with depression and thoughts of suicide. When those black days finally passed, he returned home for five months, only to find his parents, his former wife and even his three children had trouble accepting his disability. “My 9-year-old said, ‘Papa, why did you come back like this?’ ” he remembered. “I didn’t dare answer him.”
Mr. Ramírez has returned to the shelter here, where he hopes to learn a trade — fashioning prosthetic legs and arms for other victims of the train. Others at the shelter told similar stories. Some doubted they would be able to make a living in their home countries, where even getting a wheelchair is hard.
But some of those with lesser injuries insisted their accident was just a temporary setback. Minor Estuardo Cortez, 33, from Guatemala, lost his left foot under a train wheel while climbing aboard in Oaxaca State. At the shelter, he has healed and learned to walk with a prosthetic foot. He intends to continue his journey. If he reaches Houston, he says, he has relatives who can get him a construction job.
“If something happens to me, I don’t scare easy,” he said. “I’ll do it again to see who wins, the train or me. Only thing is I can’t run, so I’ll have to wait until it’s stopped to get on.”
Tapachula, where this report was researched, is the city just down the mountain from Salvador Urbina. It's where I spent my day at the market and bought my firewords. El Buen Pastor (Jesus the Good Pastor) is the house where Luis, the Guatemalan man that went with us to Chiapas, stayed at after he lost his legs under the train.
Follow up post coming from me with some thoughts on the article and the issues it raises.
TAPACHULA, Mexico
Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times
Donar Antonio Ramírez Espinas lost both his legs during his attempt to cross into the United States. “You make the decision to look for a better life,” he said, “without knowing that you could end up like this.”
They had been in Mexico for only a few hours and already federal police officers had forced them to strip and had taken almost all their cash, they said. They had some 1,500 miles to go to reach the United States border, with no food or water and $9 each.
They intended to walk along the Chiapas coast for the first 250 miles through a dozen towns where migrants are regularly robbed or raped. Then they planned to clamber aboard a freight train with hundreds of other immigrants for the trip north, a dangerous journey that has left hundreds before them maimed after they fell under the wheels.
“It’s dangerous, yes, one risks one’s life,” said one of the men, Noé Hernández. “One risks it if you have a family member in the States to help you. It’s not just for fun we go through Mexico.”
A month ago, Mexico’s new president, Felipe Calderón, announced measures to slow the flow of illegal immigrants across Mexico’s southern border and reduce crime in this lush but impoverished region. He stepped up the presence of soldiers and federal police here, told of plans for a guest worker program and promised joint state and federal operations to catch illegal immigrants.
But much remains to be done to stop or deter the migrants, and for now the measures have had little effect. Social workers and volunteers who aid the migrants say they keep coming.
Every three days, 300 to 500 Central Americans swarm the freight train in Arriaga, strapping themselves with ropes or belts to the tops of cars or riding between the wagons, they say.
The migrants still wade across the Suchiate River between Guatemala and Mexico with little hindrance. Corruption is rampant. Soldiers and police officers on the Mexican side extort money from the migrants but seldom turn them around, aid workers and migrants said.
“It’s an open border,” said Francisco Aceves Verdugo, a supervisor in the government agency, Grupos Beta, that gives food, water and medicine to illegal migrants. “We are confronting a monster so big in the form of corruption that we aren’t doing anything.”
The federal authorities do catch and deport illegal immigrants from Central America on their trek north — about 170,000 last year, according to Leticia Rodríguez, a spokeswoman for the National Migration Institute.
On the evening of Jan. 19, as part of Mr. Calderón’s new get-tough policy, about 400 federal police officers stopped the freight train just after it left Arriaga and arrested more than 100 immigrants who had climbed aboard.
Still, aid workers say a majority gets through. The biggest deterrent, migrants say, is not federal authorities but armed thugs who waylay them along the railroad tracks or on paths through the countryside used to avoid the immigration posts along the main highway.
This month, Misael Mejía, 27, from Comayagua, Honduras, was awaiting the train in Arriaga with nine other young men from his town. They had walked for 11 days after wading across the Suchiate to get to the railhead in Arriaga.
None of them had a dime after being ambushed a week before by three men in ski masks in daylight near Huehuetán. Two of the men carried machetes, the third a machine gun.
“They told us to lay down and take off our clothes,” Mr. Mejía said. “I lost my watch, about 500 Honduran lempiras, and 40 Mexican pesos,” about $31.
Mr. Mejía said he would press on. He has a brother in Arizona who has promised to pick him up if he can run the gantlet through the United States border patrol. He left a $200-a-month job as a driver behind, along with his wife. His brother makes $700 a week as a carpenter.
“I felt hopeless in Honduras,” he said. “Because I could never afford a house, not even a car. There is nothing I could have.”
Down the street from the tracks, at the Hearth of Mercy shelter, where illegal immigrants can get a free hot meal and medicine, Juan Antonio Cruz, 16, hunched over a bowl of rice and told how he had left El Salvador after members of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang had threatened to kill him. “They wanted me to join them,” he said.
It was his second attempt to reach Arizona, he said. The first time he had endured eight freezing nights and sweltering days aboard the train by strapping his belt to bar atop a tanker car. The border patrol caught him as he crossed into Nogales, Ariz., and sent him back home to Usulután, where the gang members threatened him again.
“When I think about the train, I feel fear and panic, for the thieves who attack you, and also for falling off,” he said softly.
For some, that is how the dream ends, with a fall under the train’s heavy, whirring wheels.
At the Shelter of Jesus the Good Pastor in Tapachula, Donar Antonio Ramírez Espinas rubbed the bandaged stumps of his legs, sheared off above the knee, as he recalled the night of March 26, 2004, when he dozed off while riding between cars, lost his grip and fell onto the tracks.
“I fell face down, and at first I didn’t think anything had happened,” he said. “When I turned over, I saw, I realized, that my feet didn’t really exist.”
Back in Honduras, he had been working menial jobs in a parking lot and at a medical warehouse, making about $120 a month. Then he and a few buddies decided to try their luck in the States.
“You make the decision to look for a better life, not to continue with the life your father led, and for this you risk your life, without knowing that you could end up like this,” he said. “An amputee.”
After the accident, he spent two years at the shelter in Tapachula, wrestling with depression and thoughts of suicide. When those black days finally passed, he returned home for five months, only to find his parents, his former wife and even his three children had trouble accepting his disability. “My 9-year-old said, ‘Papa, why did you come back like this?’ ” he remembered. “I didn’t dare answer him.”
Mr. Ramírez has returned to the shelter here, where he hopes to learn a trade — fashioning prosthetic legs and arms for other victims of the train. Others at the shelter told similar stories. Some doubted they would be able to make a living in their home countries, where even getting a wheelchair is hard.
But some of those with lesser injuries insisted their accident was just a temporary setback. Minor Estuardo Cortez, 33, from Guatemala, lost his left foot under a train wheel while climbing aboard in Oaxaca State. At the shelter, he has healed and learned to walk with a prosthetic foot. He intends to continue his journey. If he reaches Houston, he says, he has relatives who can get him a construction job.
“If something happens to me, I don’t scare easy,” he said. “I’ll do it again to see who wins, the train or me. Only thing is I can’t run, so I’ll have to wait until it’s stopped to get on.”
Thursday, January 25, 2007
My Boxer Briefs Are Sweatfree
Last week I was really out of underwear.
I got to the point where I had worn through a few old pairs, left a good set in Chiapas, and needed to make the investment that every man I know tries desperately to put off, new underwear.
I had made it my goal to, if at all possible, meet this need without resorting to buying something that could have been made in a sweatshop. I'm equally unimpressed with companies that manufacture goods at rock-bottom wages, but not in what is technically a sweatshop, and then jack up the price on us. In this instance, however, I was simply looking to avoid anything possibly made in a sweatshop.
In a town like Douglas, AZ (as in most places in America), looking for a product not potentially made in a sweatshop was pretty much impossible, which sent me straight to the internet. Unsure of where to begin, I started my search for fair-trade underwear with a little trip to google.
My query of "sweatshop free boxer briefs" yielded "about" 19,900 results, the very first of which was the promising looking Justice Clothing.
Following that link brought me to http://www.justiceclothing.com/thereis/justice/lw20300.html (sorry, links aren't working for me again), which, sure enough, was a site where I could order a union made (in Pottstown, PA no less!) three pack of white, grey, or black boxer briefs, in my choice of size, and have them shipped right to my door.
That was pretty dang easy. And, sadly enough, quite costly. My three brand new boxer briefs cost me $21.00 plus $5.05 more for shipping and handling. "Ouch," I thought.
But then I checked it out.
Lowest of the low cost (so we are told) walmart.com had a four pack of boxer briefs for $15.34 plus $3.94 for shipping and handling.
Target was even worse, charging 9.99 for EACH boxer brief (less for Euro-trunks, but that's not something I'm prepared to wear), and offering me free shipping if I bought three. Thanks for the free shipping on my $30.00 of cotton!
Ok, let's do the math here.
Target's boxer briefs were obviously $9.99 each (provided you buy three, which is what I wanted).
Wal-Mart, including shipping and handling, came out to $4.82 per boxer brief for a pack of four.
My three boxer briefs from Justice Clothing/Lifewear (complete with a seriously so much better horizontal fly) cost me $8.68 cents each. If I had ordered more packs the price would have dropped even further.
So here's what we've got:
Target: $10.00, nice store aesthetics and clever advertisements, clear supporter of sweatshop labor, and marginal to bad employee pay.
Wal-Mart: $4.82, terrible shopping experience, proven price gouging, terrible employee pay and benefits, clear supporter of sweatshop labor.
Justice Clothing: $8.68, easy to use site, good pay and benefits for their employees, committed to fighting sweatshop labor.
To me the choice is very clear.
Even better than avoiding sweatshop labor was finding a company that I feel good about supporting. Justice Clothing, if you take a look, has a whole range of products at pretty affordable prices, especially when you consider that they are actually compensating their employees for their labor. How novel of them.
This whole exercise makes me that much more committed to using my money as a force for positive change, instead of just using it, as I say, "to do no harm." What I mean is that rather than trying to avoid making purchasing and lifestyle choices at places where I think that other people are paying a high cost for the price I receive, I intend to seek out purchases that help people to empower themselves. My experience with boxer briefs shows just how easy, simple, and cost-competitive that can be.
Next time you need something (anything), try looking for it on google first. Put in your ideal product (an environmentally friendly stove cleaner, for example) and see what happens. I think you'll be surprised. Even if it costs you a little bit more money, I think it's worth it. Try it, and let me know what you find.
*As another aside, most retail companies provide pictures of their products, on real people, when you shop online (see link to Justice Clothing). Needless to say, it proved to be somewhat awkward trying to buy boxer briefs at the office.*
I got to the point where I had worn through a few old pairs, left a good set in Chiapas, and needed to make the investment that every man I know tries desperately to put off, new underwear.
I had made it my goal to, if at all possible, meet this need without resorting to buying something that could have been made in a sweatshop. I'm equally unimpressed with companies that manufacture goods at rock-bottom wages, but not in what is technically a sweatshop, and then jack up the price on us. In this instance, however, I was simply looking to avoid anything possibly made in a sweatshop.
In a town like Douglas, AZ (as in most places in America), looking for a product not potentially made in a sweatshop was pretty much impossible, which sent me straight to the internet. Unsure of where to begin, I started my search for fair-trade underwear with a little trip to google.
My query of "sweatshop free boxer briefs" yielded "about" 19,900 results, the very first of which was the promising looking Justice Clothing.
Following that link brought me to http://www.justiceclothing.com/thereis/justice/lw20300.html (sorry, links aren't working for me again), which, sure enough, was a site where I could order a union made (in Pottstown, PA no less!) three pack of white, grey, or black boxer briefs, in my choice of size, and have them shipped right to my door.
That was pretty dang easy. And, sadly enough, quite costly. My three brand new boxer briefs cost me $21.00 plus $5.05 more for shipping and handling. "Ouch," I thought.
But then I checked it out.
Lowest of the low cost (so we are told) walmart.com had a four pack of boxer briefs for $15.34 plus $3.94 for shipping and handling.
Target was even worse, charging 9.99 for EACH boxer brief (less for Euro-trunks, but that's not something I'm prepared to wear), and offering me free shipping if I bought three. Thanks for the free shipping on my $30.00 of cotton!
Ok, let's do the math here.
Target's boxer briefs were obviously $9.99 each (provided you buy three, which is what I wanted).
Wal-Mart, including shipping and handling, came out to $4.82 per boxer brief for a pack of four.
My three boxer briefs from Justice Clothing/Lifewear (complete with a seriously so much better horizontal fly) cost me $8.68 cents each. If I had ordered more packs the price would have dropped even further.
So here's what we've got:
Target: $10.00, nice store aesthetics and clever advertisements, clear supporter of sweatshop labor, and marginal to bad employee pay.
Wal-Mart: $4.82, terrible shopping experience, proven price gouging, terrible employee pay and benefits, clear supporter of sweatshop labor.
Justice Clothing: $8.68, easy to use site, good pay and benefits for their employees, committed to fighting sweatshop labor.
To me the choice is very clear.
Even better than avoiding sweatshop labor was finding a company that I feel good about supporting. Justice Clothing, if you take a look, has a whole range of products at pretty affordable prices, especially when you consider that they are actually compensating their employees for their labor. How novel of them.
This whole exercise makes me that much more committed to using my money as a force for positive change, instead of just using it, as I say, "to do no harm." What I mean is that rather than trying to avoid making purchasing and lifestyle choices at places where I think that other people are paying a high cost for the price I receive, I intend to seek out purchases that help people to empower themselves. My experience with boxer briefs shows just how easy, simple, and cost-competitive that can be.
Next time you need something (anything), try looking for it on google first. Put in your ideal product (an environmentally friendly stove cleaner, for example) and see what happens. I think you'll be surprised. Even if it costs you a little bit more money, I think it's worth it. Try it, and let me know what you find.
*As another aside, most retail companies provide pictures of their products, on real people, when you shop online (see link to Justice Clothing). Needless to say, it proved to be somewhat awkward trying to buy boxer briefs at the office.*
Oh No He Didn't
I used to like conspiracy theories and government secrets and all sorts of stuff like that, but I left it all behind in the eighth grade when I decided it didn't matter all that much who killed John F. Kennedy.
I've even managed to dislike the Bush administration profoundly (and from the primaries of the 2000 election) without paying any attention to all the talk of secret government plots against the American people, etc.
I think I was too hasty...( sometimes the image of the video takes a minute to load)
This, I believe, would be the straw that breaks my back.
He's not even saying this in private. This is in the Senate. On TV.
This is the man watching out for your legal rights.
Wow.
I've even managed to dislike the Bush administration profoundly (and from the primaries of the 2000 election) without paying any attention to all the talk of secret government plots against the American people, etc.
I think I was too hasty...( sometimes the image of the video takes a minute to load)
This, I believe, would be the straw that breaks my back.
He's not even saying this in private. This is in the Senate. On TV.
This is the man watching out for your legal rights.
Wow.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
So I guess they won't be joining us for the vigil...
"Volunteer Aaron Boeke, 22, of Colorado places crosses Tuesday in Douglas for immigrants who died crossing the border in or near Cochise County."
It turns out that I was in the newspaper recently, the distinguished Tucson Citizen.
As far as I can tell there was never any story, just a picture and a caption. The really priceless part for me were the seven comments made after the picture, included for your enjoyment:
1. TODAY IN THE NEWS:
Some White-guilt feel-good places two crosses by the port of entry to scare away Mexican shoppers.
2. Hey, great idea. Let's glorify ILLEGAL border crossers and let's make them martyrs. Message to ILLEGALS; it's now honorable to ILLEGALLY cross into the US. Morons.
3. Is there a story to go with the pictures? If so, I cannot bringit up, but I can pretty much guess what it would say anyway!
4. So no story and only pics… hum… I was waiting for the story but, hey, I thought this was a NEWSPAPER, I could be wrong… Star, take it down if your writers can’t think of a story to go with it.
I do want anyone thinking of crossing illegally into the US to know that I know how those illegals could have lived, and how to guarantee their not dieing in the desert… are you ready?? ... They could have chosen to stay in their own country and not try to invade ours... or they could have gotten a Visa or applied for citizenship, they could have come legally. I am sorry to sound heartless but I have no sympathy for someone stupid enough to try and take this deadly and illegal shortcut after years and years of deaths in the desert.
5. Knowing, the biased star, the story would go something like this:
MEMORIAL TO MIGRANT WORKERS
Today, activists planted white crosses as a reminder of how the heartless border enforcement policy of the United States and the Border Patrol are driving totally honest migrant workers to their unwitting death. The Border Patrol could not be reached for comment.
However, Gloria Allred Lopez-Miranda with "Mi Casa es Su Casa Humanos" told the Star: "This is another example of the United States government punishing honest hard-working criminals who only want a better way of life. It's such a racist and underhanded policy."
When asked for her reaction to the recent I.C.E. raids at meat packing plants across the country, Lopez-Miranda stated "I think the government is framing migrant workers. I can't believe that someone coming across the border for work would steal someone's identity to obtain employment. I want to file a lawsuit against the government on behalf of those migrant workers. They have a right to sneak into this country for employement and not pay taxes!"
The Dept of Homeland Security and Border Patrol could not be reached for comment.
6. These people ought to be directing their protests at Mexico, not the US. It’s the corruption, lack of opportunity, and social problems in Mexico that drive these people to cross the border.
7. Mr Boeke needs to go back to Colorado maybe someone up there will explain to him that these people died committing a crime, they are not to be glorified for it.
If they had not committed the crime of illegal crossing an international border across a desert they might still be alive.
They were stupid and suffered their fate, their demise because of it.
I guess that I should find these comments sad, but at this point I find them sort of funny. What we were actually doing was dedicating a bench commemorating eight migrants who died after they were swept away and trapped by a storm drain just a few feet north of the border. The crosses that I am laying down carry the names of migrants who have died here in Cochise County. We use them in a vigil that we hold every Tuesday evening. I plan on talking about that at some point, but I am still undecided about what I want to say.
The things is, these comments make the whole thing seem like it wasn't a real problem, like it wasn't complex and ugly and funny and tragic, and all those things that can make life so difficult to deal with. I used to find that sad, but I guess now I just like to laugh about it.
Also, that picture makes me look like I have to poop.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
I'm On Permanent Mexiroam
Here it is, the Chiapas post that at least two of you have been clamoring for. The rest of you don't have to read it if you don't want to.
I still haven't figured out a way to talk (succinctly or not) about a trip that lasted almost three weeks and encompassed two-thirds of the great country of Mexico, so my apologies if this is a little disjointed or confusing. This is going to be a massive post because of the pictures.
Here are some basics for the trip:
Who- Myself, Meghan (my housemate, co-intern, and partner all things Mexico), Tommy (my boss at the Just Trade Center, a weird sort of blend between hippie, Catholic, corporate manager, and romantic), Barbara (Tommy's girlfriend and an unbelievable coffee saleswoman), Arthur (Tommy's twentysomething son and a great guy), Daniel (co-founder of Just Coffee and one of the nicest guys I've ever met), Vicki (Daniel's wife and the woman in charge of packaging for Just Coffee), Danielito (Daniel and Vicki's son, easily one of the coolest two year-olds I have ever met), Luis (A Guatemalan immigrant who lost both of his legs in a train accident trying to get to the U.S. border), and Surullo (Vicki's dog and constant companion).
What- A three(ish) week trip down the west coast of Mexico to visit the town of Salvador Urbina in the state of Chiapas (the location of the Just Coffee cooperative), and then back up through the center of Mexico with a stop in Veracruz to visit one of the two new cooperatives. We borrowed a 1980's Ford 15 passanger van with 225,00 miles on it from our friends at the Catholic Church and loaded another 4,000 miles onto it between the time we left the border and the time we got back.
When- We left on December 27th I think, and got back last week at some point.
Where- I suppose I sort of covered that point already. Here's a map to help out.
The red lines follow the rough route of our trip.
Why- Part of my motivation for going was just to visit so much of Mexico that I had never seen before. Part of it was just to take a break and relax. Most of it, however, was my desire to meet the Just Coffee growers and see the states where migrants were coming from. I also didn't really want to come home for Christmas because this year is a bit of a test run for how I would like living abroad for an extended period of time.
Now for the pictures (click to enlarge):
The beach just north of Mazatlan where we stopped for a swim after our first night of driving. Gorgeous.
A blurry, but adequate, picture of the ditch that I accidentally backed the van into, and the rescuers that helped us get it out. To be fair, it was pitch black and we were in a residential neighborhood. Ditches weren't really on the radar. And no, I didn't take the picture. I'm behind the van pushing just like everybody else. I haven't really had great luck with vans in Mexico.
Sadly I did not break the pinata. I will say that pinatas, fireworks, and hugs for ALL of the fifty people at the party is a great tradition for celebrating the new year. Feliz ano nuevo indeed.
My home away from home. This is Daniel's mom's house (Mama Yoly). There were already six people living in the house (from three different generations) when the eight of us moved in. I'm quite happy to say that Mama Yoly and company spoiled us rotten. Great food. Great conversation. Great people. Tons of fun. The stuff on the cement outside is coffee being dried in the sun.
The women of Mama Yoly's house. And it was DEFINITELY a house of women (only one man lived there permanently, and he was moving out). Mama Yoly is in the back right of the picture, her daughter-in-law Rosy is next to her, her daughter Elda next to that, Elda's daughter Tahlia on the back left, Barbara and Meghan are clearly the gringas, and Daniella is between them. I actually don't know who that baby is, there were many of them around. All of these women except for Daniella were living in the house.
Tahlia (back left, 19) and Daniella (front, 22) were my homegirls in Salvador Urbina. Tahlia's mom Elda owned this little store in the town square, and it was awesome to just hang out with them, drink delicious Fanta, and talk about life.
Danielito is my boy all the time. Seriously, can YOU think of a toddler you would want to spend 120 hours in a van with?
Elda. What can I say about Elda? Well, for one thing, this is a picture of her punching me. I guess that tells you something about our relationship. Tommy and Arturo call her "La Mala," which literally means "The Bad One." We skirmished. We teased. We laughed. She misses me, I know it.
Rosy and her boys (her own description of this picture) That tall drink of water on the left is Arthur. The other one, you may or may not be able to tell, is me.
This is the view of Salvador Urbina from the front of Mama Yoly's patio. The pueblo is on two sides of a valley and centers around the road that runs up the mountain through the center of town. The Cifuentes family is pretty legendary in Salvador Urbina. For one thing, Daniel's grandfather helped fight for the land that the town now sits on. For another, there are at least 150 people in the family, and most of them live in Salvador Urbina. Daniel has 12 brothers and sisters, and Mama Yoly has more than 50 grandchildren. Finally, Daniel and his brothers Eri and Isaac were pretty much the driving force behind Just Coffee.
This is the "laundry machine" at Mama Yoly's house. It is also the large basin of water that you draw from in order to bathe yourself or flush the toilet. Compared to showers I almost prefer baths out of buckets now, but that's just me. I'd say the highlight of doing anything down there was the view, but the fish that lived in the water tank was pretty cool too.
The market in Tapachula. Fireworks? Check. Hammocks? Check. Used clothing? Check. Fresh pineapple? Check. I love street markets.
Sunrise on our way up the volcano Tacana. We left at 8 p.m. the night before, hiked until about 1 or 2, and crashed until dawn. It was freezing cold and I stayed up most of the night keeping a fire going in a little shack that they had built for people climbing the volcano. The brutal thing about Tacana was that there were hardly any switchbacks at all, just a straight path up the mountain.
Tacana's summit. The marker that I am standing by is the international border between Guatemala and Mexico that divides the mountain in half. The volcano behind me is in Guatemala. Needless to say, customs doesn't have a checkpoint up there.
Ruins from the city of Tahin in Veracruz. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been.
The gringo crew enjoying coffee, pan dulce, and good company in Veracruz. Throughout our trip the people of Mexico were undecided whether Tommy looked more like Santa Clause or more like Fidel Castro. Votes?
This is the armadillo that we started eating almost immediately after the last picture was taken. Pretty tasty actually. Especially with hand made corn tortillas, possibly one of the best tasting things on earth.
The "Socios" (members of the coffee cooperative) in Veracruz. Really great folks.
The coffee "fields" in Veracruz. Organic. Shade grown. Just. It's a beautiful thing. Kind of reminded me of my grandfather's avocado grove from when I was a kid.
Cleaning the coffee by hand so that it would be pure enough to decaffeinate. We really need to figure out a better way to do this. It's all about the quality though. Who loves you? That's right, Just Coffee loves you.
A coffee farmer on his way to sell the harvest. He still had another 45 minutes to go and those bags weigh 100 lbs. Think about that the next time you're at Starbucks.
One of the ten or so Cathedrals that we visited in the colonial city of San Luis Potosi. Thanks for the European training Mom and Dad. I can visit Cathedrals like a champ. On a side note, I think that when Protestants get bored they found new denominations, and when Catholics get bored they build more churches. It's a working theory.
That's it for me I think. I might post more thoughts later. I might post more pictures. We'll see.
I will say that it was easily one of the best trips I've ever taken, and that I'm also incredibly glad to be back "home" on the border, particularly as I've taken up puppy ranching. But that's for another post.
I still haven't figured out a way to talk (succinctly or not) about a trip that lasted almost three weeks and encompassed two-thirds of the great country of Mexico, so my apologies if this is a little disjointed or confusing. This is going to be a massive post because of the pictures.
Here are some basics for the trip:
Who- Myself, Meghan (my housemate, co-intern, and partner all things Mexico), Tommy (my boss at the Just Trade Center, a weird sort of blend between hippie, Catholic, corporate manager, and romantic), Barbara (Tommy's girlfriend and an unbelievable coffee saleswoman), Arthur (Tommy's twentysomething son and a great guy), Daniel (co-founder of Just Coffee and one of the nicest guys I've ever met), Vicki (Daniel's wife and the woman in charge of packaging for Just Coffee), Danielito (Daniel and Vicki's son, easily one of the coolest two year-olds I have ever met), Luis (A Guatemalan immigrant who lost both of his legs in a train accident trying to get to the U.S. border), and Surullo (Vicki's dog and constant companion).
What- A three(ish) week trip down the west coast of Mexico to visit the town of Salvador Urbina in the state of Chiapas (the location of the Just Coffee cooperative), and then back up through the center of Mexico with a stop in Veracruz to visit one of the two new cooperatives. We borrowed a 1980's Ford 15 passanger van with 225,00 miles on it from our friends at the Catholic Church and loaded another 4,000 miles onto it between the time we left the border and the time we got back.
When- We left on December 27th I think, and got back last week at some point.
Where- I suppose I sort of covered that point already. Here's a map to help out.
The red lines follow the rough route of our trip.
Why- Part of my motivation for going was just to visit so much of Mexico that I had never seen before. Part of it was just to take a break and relax. Most of it, however, was my desire to meet the Just Coffee growers and see the states where migrants were coming from. I also didn't really want to come home for Christmas because this year is a bit of a test run for how I would like living abroad for an extended period of time.
Now for the pictures (click to enlarge):
The beach just north of Mazatlan where we stopped for a swim after our first night of driving. Gorgeous.
A blurry, but adequate, picture of the ditch that I accidentally backed the van into, and the rescuers that helped us get it out. To be fair, it was pitch black and we were in a residential neighborhood. Ditches weren't really on the radar. And no, I didn't take the picture. I'm behind the van pushing just like everybody else. I haven't really had great luck with vans in Mexico.
Sadly I did not break the pinata. I will say that pinatas, fireworks, and hugs for ALL of the fifty people at the party is a great tradition for celebrating the new year. Feliz ano nuevo indeed.
My home away from home. This is Daniel's mom's house (Mama Yoly). There were already six people living in the house (from three different generations) when the eight of us moved in. I'm quite happy to say that Mama Yoly and company spoiled us rotten. Great food. Great conversation. Great people. Tons of fun. The stuff on the cement outside is coffee being dried in the sun.
The women of Mama Yoly's house. And it was DEFINITELY a house of women (only one man lived there permanently, and he was moving out). Mama Yoly is in the back right of the picture, her daughter-in-law Rosy is next to her, her daughter Elda next to that, Elda's daughter Tahlia on the back left, Barbara and Meghan are clearly the gringas, and Daniella is between them. I actually don't know who that baby is, there were many of them around. All of these women except for Daniella were living in the house.
Tahlia (back left, 19) and Daniella (front, 22) were my homegirls in Salvador Urbina. Tahlia's mom Elda owned this little store in the town square, and it was awesome to just hang out with them, drink delicious Fanta, and talk about life.
Danielito is my boy all the time. Seriously, can YOU think of a toddler you would want to spend 120 hours in a van with?
Elda. What can I say about Elda? Well, for one thing, this is a picture of her punching me. I guess that tells you something about our relationship. Tommy and Arturo call her "La Mala," which literally means "The Bad One." We skirmished. We teased. We laughed. She misses me, I know it.
Rosy and her boys (her own description of this picture) That tall drink of water on the left is Arthur. The other one, you may or may not be able to tell, is me.
This is the view of Salvador Urbina from the front of Mama Yoly's patio. The pueblo is on two sides of a valley and centers around the road that runs up the mountain through the center of town. The Cifuentes family is pretty legendary in Salvador Urbina. For one thing, Daniel's grandfather helped fight for the land that the town now sits on. For another, there are at least 150 people in the family, and most of them live in Salvador Urbina. Daniel has 12 brothers and sisters, and Mama Yoly has more than 50 grandchildren. Finally, Daniel and his brothers Eri and Isaac were pretty much the driving force behind Just Coffee.
This is the "laundry machine" at Mama Yoly's house. It is also the large basin of water that you draw from in order to bathe yourself or flush the toilet. Compared to showers I almost prefer baths out of buckets now, but that's just me. I'd say the highlight of doing anything down there was the view, but the fish that lived in the water tank was pretty cool too.
The market in Tapachula. Fireworks? Check. Hammocks? Check. Used clothing? Check. Fresh pineapple? Check. I love street markets.
Sunrise on our way up the volcano Tacana. We left at 8 p.m. the night before, hiked until about 1 or 2, and crashed until dawn. It was freezing cold and I stayed up most of the night keeping a fire going in a little shack that they had built for people climbing the volcano. The brutal thing about Tacana was that there were hardly any switchbacks at all, just a straight path up the mountain.
Tacana's summit. The marker that I am standing by is the international border between Guatemala and Mexico that divides the mountain in half. The volcano behind me is in Guatemala. Needless to say, customs doesn't have a checkpoint up there.
Ruins from the city of Tahin in Veracruz. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been.
The gringo crew enjoying coffee, pan dulce, and good company in Veracruz. Throughout our trip the people of Mexico were undecided whether Tommy looked more like Santa Clause or more like Fidel Castro. Votes?
This is the armadillo that we started eating almost immediately after the last picture was taken. Pretty tasty actually. Especially with hand made corn tortillas, possibly one of the best tasting things on earth.
The "Socios" (members of the coffee cooperative) in Veracruz. Really great folks.
The coffee "fields" in Veracruz. Organic. Shade grown. Just. It's a beautiful thing. Kind of reminded me of my grandfather's avocado grove from when I was a kid.
Cleaning the coffee by hand so that it would be pure enough to decaffeinate. We really need to figure out a better way to do this. It's all about the quality though. Who loves you? That's right, Just Coffee loves you.
A coffee farmer on his way to sell the harvest. He still had another 45 minutes to go and those bags weigh 100 lbs. Think about that the next time you're at Starbucks.
One of the ten or so Cathedrals that we visited in the colonial city of San Luis Potosi. Thanks for the European training Mom and Dad. I can visit Cathedrals like a champ. On a side note, I think that when Protestants get bored they found new denominations, and when Catholics get bored they build more churches. It's a working theory.
That's it for me I think. I might post more thoughts later. I might post more pictures. We'll see.
I will say that it was easily one of the best trips I've ever taken, and that I'm also incredibly glad to be back "home" on the border, particularly as I've taken up puppy ranching. But that's for another post.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Free Coffee= Sweet Perk of the Job
Still working on a largish post about Chiapas (I got the pictures onto the computer...just not this computer, but we're getting there).
I'm also wanting to get back into the business of posting about my job and about the border more, so I'm going to sort of combine both of those goals with this post.
This is an e-mail that I just sent out to friends and family in SoCal asking for some help with Just Coffee and explaining a little bit about what makes this project so special. I suspect that most of you would be interested in knowing this stuff as well, and I hope to get some questions out of it, and then maybe write more in some follow-up posts. We'll see. (Sorry Molly, you already read this so it won't be able to keep you occupied at work. Guess you'll have to do your actual job instead).
Hello West Coast friends and family!
For some of you this is going to come as a follow-up e-mail, so I apologize if any of this is repeat. For everyone else, well, this is a call for some help. Read on, all (well, lots) will be explained.
Let's start with a little bit of background:
Part of my job down here in Agua Prieta has been working with a coffee company called Just Coffee. Just Coffee was started by Frontera de Cristo, the Presbyterian border ministry that I work for, a little more than four years ago.
Just Coffee was started primarily as a response to immigration. My church in Agua Prieta, El Lirio de Los Valles Presbyterian Church, is a largely transient congregation, made up mostly of immigrants from southern Mexico. The church routinely gains and loses members as some families arrive at the border from the south, and others cross the border into the U.S. looking for work. The vision for Just Coffee came from a conversation between Mark, a staffer at Frontera, and Daniel, a member of the church. Mark was trying to understand why so many migrants came from the state of Chiapas, and Daniel was trying to explain the drop in coffee prices that growers had experienced there. The rest, as they say, is history.
Four years later, the Just Coffee Model (or Fair Trade Plus as it is also called) continues to address immigration and pursue economic justice in three fundamental ways:
1. Just Coffee allows coffee farmers to receive a just price for their crop. In Spanish, Just Coffee (Cafe Justo) literally means Justice Coffee. The almost forty members of the growing cooperative receive more than $1.30 per pound for their coffee (more than three times the amount they were receiving when Just Coffee started). They also receive health and retirement benefits for themselves and their families.
2. Just Coffee is owned by the growers. Although Frontera helped to found Just Coffee and has worked with it closely ever since, Just Coffee is 100% owned by the growers. This is in stark contrast to regular coffee, but also to most Fair Trade coffees as well. We call Just Coffee "Fair Trade Plus" because the traditional Fair Trade model does not include health care or retirement benefits, pays the farmers as much as $.40 per pound less, and exports a great deal of the profits out into the U.S. Not only are the farmers receiving a just price for their coffee, they are gaining business skills.
3. Just Coffee helps the local economy in Chiapas and on the border. The increased price that farmers have received from Just Coffee has gone out into the community around them. On the border, Just Coffee has created seven jobs for Mexican workers.
That's great...but how's the coffee?
1. Just Coffee is 100% shade grown organic coffee.
2. Just Coffee is shipped to you less than a week after it has been roasted.
3. 1 pound of Just Coffee costs $8.00 ($6.75) wholesale, about the price of 1 lb. of non-fair trade non-organic coffee at Safeway. 1 lb. of fair trade and organic Starbucks coffee runs about $12-16.
4. Just Coffee tastes amazing. Yeah, I love it.
5. It comes in all kinds- Arabica, Robusta, ground, bean, dark, light, regular, decaf. You name it. We also do custom roasts. Special, huh?
So...what does this have to do with all of you?
Just Coffee is also growing.
In 2007 the plan is to open two new coffee cooperatives in southern Mexico, and begin preparations for a cooperative in Haiti. The first new cooperative that we are launching is called El Aguila.
El Aguila is a small Mexican town in the state of Chiapas (near the border with Guatemala) made up of small scale coffee farmers. It is also just up the road from the Just Coffee cooperative in Salvador Urbina.
Just Coffee has been marketed and sold locally, with about 80% of sales happening right here in southern Arizona. That model is going to be replicated with El Aguila, but with a target on the Southern California area. That's where you all come in.
The plan for El Aguila is to put a roasting facility in Tijuana, and to focus marketing on San Diego, Los Angeles, and the Central Valley. For those of you in Washington and Oregon, don't worry, we would really like you to be involved too.
At this point, Just Coffee is also sold primarily through churches. Although we have a large number of individual customers, and even stores and coffee shops, a majority of our sales come through churches.
The way it works is that a church orders the coffee from us at the wholsale price of $6.75, and then sells it at their church for between $8-10 (their choice really). The difference in price is theirs to do with as they choose. Obviously this is not the only way to sell the coffee, but like I said, it's where most sales come from.
Initially I said this e-mail was about asking for some help, and I'm finally getting around to that part.
I would really like all of your help.
How?
1. If you like coffee, buy the coffee. It's good. I'll send it to you for free to try it out. Ask me.
2. Talk to your churches/people at your churches/friends at other churches about using the coffee at their fellowship hours and selling it at the church.
3. Send me names and contact info. for other people in your area who would be interested in participating and hearing more about it.
Mostly, I would just like to work with those of you who can make the time (I know all of you are busy) and have the interest in helping me (and a bunch of coffee farmers) out with this. The goal is to have the roasting facility in place by June, but orders are ready to be processed starting pretty much right now.
One of the really exciting things about this model for me is that it is about forming relationships and supporting people that I know. You have the oppurtunity to visit the roasting facility in Tijuana, to meet the staff, to learn about the people growing the coffee, and meet them as well.
So, if you're interested, here's what we can do:
1. Check out the website: www.justcoffee.org
2. Think about what other people would be interested and let me know (e-mail is best)
3. Think about the best way to get your own church involved. (Who would/has the authority make the decision to use Just Coffee? To sell it? What information would you need to present to them? Who would be a good person to handle ordering the coffee and making sure payments get sent?)
4. Ask me questions and talk to me. What do you want to know? What do you need? Let me know what you are thinking. Let me know if you don't have the time. I'd probably like to talk to you anyway. E-mail me. Call me (720-560-0460) Set up a time for us to talk further about ways that we can help one another. Anything. I'm all ears.
5. Pray. (Or as Stephen Colbert calls it, p-mail).
What we're not asking for: Donations (although those are nice). We are looking at building a customer base. Great coffee at a great price for a great cause. That simple.
That's about all from my end. As an aside, I'd love to hear from all of you, whether about coffee or not. If you've made it this far, just shoot me a quick e-mail back letting me know what you're thinking and where we can go from here. If we're already talking, expect to hear from me soon. I just got back from Chiapas and have a day or so of catching up to do.
Thanks so much for all your time and support.
Aaron
I'm also wanting to get back into the business of posting about my job and about the border more, so I'm going to sort of combine both of those goals with this post.
This is an e-mail that I just sent out to friends and family in SoCal asking for some help with Just Coffee and explaining a little bit about what makes this project so special. I suspect that most of you would be interested in knowing this stuff as well, and I hope to get some questions out of it, and then maybe write more in some follow-up posts. We'll see. (Sorry Molly, you already read this so it won't be able to keep you occupied at work. Guess you'll have to do your actual job instead).
Hello West Coast friends and family!
For some of you this is going to come as a follow-up e-mail, so I apologize if any of this is repeat. For everyone else, well, this is a call for some help. Read on, all (well, lots) will be explained.
Let's start with a little bit of background:
Part of my job down here in Agua Prieta has been working with a coffee company called Just Coffee. Just Coffee was started by Frontera de Cristo, the Presbyterian border ministry that I work for, a little more than four years ago.
Just Coffee was started primarily as a response to immigration. My church in Agua Prieta, El Lirio de Los Valles Presbyterian Church, is a largely transient congregation, made up mostly of immigrants from southern Mexico. The church routinely gains and loses members as some families arrive at the border from the south, and others cross the border into the U.S. looking for work. The vision for Just Coffee came from a conversation between Mark, a staffer at Frontera, and Daniel, a member of the church. Mark was trying to understand why so many migrants came from the state of Chiapas, and Daniel was trying to explain the drop in coffee prices that growers had experienced there. The rest, as they say, is history.
Four years later, the Just Coffee Model (or Fair Trade Plus as it is also called) continues to address immigration and pursue economic justice in three fundamental ways:
1. Just Coffee allows coffee farmers to receive a just price for their crop. In Spanish, Just Coffee (Cafe Justo) literally means Justice Coffee. The almost forty members of the growing cooperative receive more than $1.30 per pound for their coffee (more than three times the amount they were receiving when Just Coffee started). They also receive health and retirement benefits for themselves and their families.
2. Just Coffee is owned by the growers. Although Frontera helped to found Just Coffee and has worked with it closely ever since, Just Coffee is 100% owned by the growers. This is in stark contrast to regular coffee, but also to most Fair Trade coffees as well. We call Just Coffee "Fair Trade Plus" because the traditional Fair Trade model does not include health care or retirement benefits, pays the farmers as much as $.40 per pound less, and exports a great deal of the profits out into the U.S. Not only are the farmers receiving a just price for their coffee, they are gaining business skills.
3. Just Coffee helps the local economy in Chiapas and on the border. The increased price that farmers have received from Just Coffee has gone out into the community around them. On the border, Just Coffee has created seven jobs for Mexican workers.
That's great...but how's the coffee?
1. Just Coffee is 100% shade grown organic coffee.
2. Just Coffee is shipped to you less than a week after it has been roasted.
3. 1 pound of Just Coffee costs $8.00 ($6.75) wholesale, about the price of 1 lb. of non-fair trade non-organic coffee at Safeway. 1 lb. of fair trade and organic Starbucks coffee runs about $12-16.
4. Just Coffee tastes amazing. Yeah, I love it.
5. It comes in all kinds- Arabica, Robusta, ground, bean, dark, light, regular, decaf. You name it. We also do custom roasts. Special, huh?
So...what does this have to do with all of you?
Just Coffee is also growing.
In 2007 the plan is to open two new coffee cooperatives in southern Mexico, and begin preparations for a cooperative in Haiti. The first new cooperative that we are launching is called El Aguila.
El Aguila is a small Mexican town in the state of Chiapas (near the border with Guatemala) made up of small scale coffee farmers. It is also just up the road from the Just Coffee cooperative in Salvador Urbina.
Just Coffee has been marketed and sold locally, with about 80% of sales happening right here in southern Arizona. That model is going to be replicated with El Aguila, but with a target on the Southern California area. That's where you all come in.
The plan for El Aguila is to put a roasting facility in Tijuana, and to focus marketing on San Diego, Los Angeles, and the Central Valley. For those of you in Washington and Oregon, don't worry, we would really like you to be involved too.
At this point, Just Coffee is also sold primarily through churches. Although we have a large number of individual customers, and even stores and coffee shops, a majority of our sales come through churches.
The way it works is that a church orders the coffee from us at the wholsale price of $6.75, and then sells it at their church for between $8-10 (their choice really). The difference in price is theirs to do with as they choose. Obviously this is not the only way to sell the coffee, but like I said, it's where most sales come from.
Initially I said this e-mail was about asking for some help, and I'm finally getting around to that part.
I would really like all of your help.
How?
1. If you like coffee, buy the coffee. It's good. I'll send it to you for free to try it out. Ask me.
2. Talk to your churches/people at your churches/friends at other churches about using the coffee at their fellowship hours and selling it at the church.
3. Send me names and contact info. for other people in your area who would be interested in participating and hearing more about it.
Mostly, I would just like to work with those of you who can make the time (I know all of you are busy) and have the interest in helping me (and a bunch of coffee farmers) out with this. The goal is to have the roasting facility in place by June, but orders are ready to be processed starting pretty much right now.
One of the really exciting things about this model for me is that it is about forming relationships and supporting people that I know. You have the oppurtunity to visit the roasting facility in Tijuana, to meet the staff, to learn about the people growing the coffee, and meet them as well.
So, if you're interested, here's what we can do:
1. Check out the website: www.justcoffee.org
2. Think about what other people would be interested and let me know (e-mail is best)
3. Think about the best way to get your own church involved. (Who would/has the authority make the decision to use Just Coffee? To sell it? What information would you need to present to them? Who would be a good person to handle ordering the coffee and making sure payments get sent?)
4. Ask me questions and talk to me. What do you want to know? What do you need? Let me know what you are thinking. Let me know if you don't have the time. I'd probably like to talk to you anyway. E-mail me. Call me (720-560-0460) Set up a time for us to talk further about ways that we can help one another. Anything. I'm all ears.
5. Pray. (Or as Stephen Colbert calls it, p-mail).
What we're not asking for: Donations (although those are nice). We are looking at building a customer base. Great coffee at a great price for a great cause. That simple.
That's about all from my end. As an aside, I'd love to hear from all of you, whether about coffee or not. If you've made it this far, just shoot me a quick e-mail back letting me know what you're thinking and where we can go from here. If we're already talking, expect to hear from me soon. I just got back from Chiapas and have a day or so of catching up to do.
Thanks so much for all your time and support.
Aaron
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Back in the Saddle: The Best of 2006
Well, I'm back from Chiapas. I didn't die, the van didn't break down (although I backed it into a ditch), and we didn't pay off any Mexican police or military. A very succesful trip. Been back about a week, but I spent most of that time running around with my friends Erik and Kyle and eating burritos. Time well spent for sure. Now I'm back in the saddle with my post for the best music of 2006. I know you all want to hear about Chiapas, but that's such an overwhelming blog task that I thought I'd start with something a little easier. Pictures soon though, I promise.
Best New Music of 2006:
To hear any of these, just google, myspace, or purevolume them. I'm too lazy for links.
10. mewithoutYou- Brother, Sister
mewithoutYou really has it all. They're musically innovative, pushing at the boundaries of indie rock, spoken word, and post-hardcore to create something that I've never once heard before. They're socially concious, dumpster diving for food and converting their tour bus to run on grease. Their live show is insane. I've never seen a band put that much energy into what they do. Never. After all of that, I will say that this album was a little bit disappointing. Great songs? Check. Aaron Weiss' clever lyrics? Check. That extra spark that made Catch for Us the Foxes? It's just not quite there. Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet.
key lyrics: "Open wide my door, my lord, my lord, open wide my door (to whatever makes me love you more)"
key tracks: C-Minor
9. Underoath- Define the Great Line
I was pretty over screaming. Really over it, actually. I was done with hardcore in general as a matter of fact. Oh sure, I still throw on the occasional Beloved and Norma Jean album, but that's about it. Well, that was about it. This album kills. Put it on and your pulse quickens, you want to dance- well, dance or get in a fight. They could have signed to a major, made it poppy, and played on TRL, but instead they screamed more, sang less, and turned the guitars up to 11.
key tracks: A Moment Suspended in Time, There Could Be Nothing After This
8. Band of Horses- Everything All the Time
After Pitchfork compared them to My Morning Jacket and the shins you had to expect this album to go big. Well, it did. And it doesn't disappoint either. This album is almost instantly warm and familiar, like a flannel shirt bought at a thrift store and left out on your back seat in the sun. No key lyrics or key tracks here for me. Put it on and before you know it the album is done, leaving behind an atmosphere of comfortable tranquility. Plus, I'm pretty sure that the album title is a reference to Radiohead's Kid A, and everyone loves that.
7. Brand New- the devil and god are raging inside me
Darker. Harder. Louder. Brand New is definitely back. There are some annoyances here: "I love you so much that it hurts my head," for a start, but overall, this is the album they were meant to make. It's more mature and more confident, and ironically it's all about insecurity and the demons in your head. I just wish they had kept more of the demos around.
key lyrics: "Jesus Christ I'm alone again, so what did you do those three days you were dead? 'cause this problem's gonna last more than the weekend."
key tracks: jesus, limousine, sowing season
6. Annie Peters- Suitcases EP
Well I didn't expect this. 2006 was DEFINITELY the year of female vocalists for me. I fell in love. I swooned. And Annie Peters might be my favorite of them all. And she's just so...down to earth. An about the artist taken from her myspace page (www.myspace.com/anniepeters) "I love making music so stinkin much." And I love you making music so stinkin much. She's just a girl with a guitar, but the lyrics really stick. Thanks to Trent for meeting her at a wedding and dragging my ass out to see her show. Listen to her stuff, and if you like it I will send you a copy of the ep. For real.
key lyrics: "Sometimes I feel like the four walls of my life are closing in on me."
key tracks: I bought a burned cd from her and it didn't come with names. Sad.
5. TV On the Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain
"Are those beats? Like, hip-hop beats? His voice sounds like James Brown trying to cover Isaac Brock. Is that David Bowie on this track!?" Yep, that's TV On the Radio. How could you expect any less than excellence from a band that named an ep Ok Calculator. Brilliant. These boys from Brooklyn released (from what I've heard) the best album of 2006. Brash, hopeful, musical, innovative, this album is what indie rock would sound like if it wasn't so safe, and what soul might sound like if it hadn't become r&boring. It's not my favorite of the year, but given time I wouldn't be surprised if it finds it's way to number one.
key lyrics: "Stand, stare fast, erect, and see that love is the province of the brave."
key tracks: I Was A Lover, Province
4. The Format- Dog Problems
I really used to think of The Format as a one song band. The First Single was all I really cared about. I was very, very wrong. Interventions and Lullabies was great, but Dog Problems takes their music to an entirely new level. The lyrics are smart and self-deprecating, the music is theatrical and thick. And the whole thing is just, well, fun. The live show is pretty awesome too.
key lyrics: "...and blame postmodern things I can't relate, like summer camp and coastal states. Like alcohol and coffee beans. Dance floors and magazines. I think its safe to say I've only got myself to blame, but boys in swooping haircuts are bringing me down, taking pictures of themselves."
key tracks: dog problems, oceans
3. Thursday- A City By the Light Divided
Bombs falling out of the sky. Train wrecks. Car crashes. Streetlights and deserted cities. These are the things that we have come to know and love from Geoff and company. And they're all here. After almost breaking up, Thursday dug deep, made their keyboardist a permanent member of the band, and rewrote "We Shall Overcome" as a post-hardcore song. Yeah, I love this band. It's probably more personal than anything they've ever written before, and even though I don't love the production, it grows on me with every listen.
key lyrics: "another life, swinging in the breeze, from southern trees, the strangest fruit" It's Geoff, it's all great.
key tracks: Sugar In the Sacrament, At This Velocity, We Will Overcome
2. The Hold Steady- Boys and Girls in America
I don't do a lot of hard bar drinking. Actually, come to think of it I don't do any hard bar drinking. I also don't use drugs. I've never really used drugs. I'm not a teenager, I don't live in Minnesota, and I'm not all that crazy about beer bands. So why does an album that incorporates all those things rock so hard, and why can't I stop listening to it? It might be those guitars. They just won't quit. Every time I have listened to this album (and we're talking about a couple dozen times by now)I just can't believe the hooks and the solos. Is it 80's? Retro? Who cares. It's rock & roll like only an American band could make.
key lyrics: "It started ice cream social nice and ended up all white and ecumenical." also "and then last night she said words alone never could save us. and then last night she cried and she told us about jesus."
key tracks: stuck between stations, first night, chips ahoy!
1. Anathallo- Floating World
Pitchfork hated this album. I think they gave it a 2.7 and called it pretentious. They said it was ripping off Sufjan. I can't even begin to tell you all the things that are wrong with that. Shows what they know. Half the lyrics are in Japanese. They don't have a record label. They use velcro, balloons, and a marching band drum as instruments. All that, and at its heart I'm pretty sure it's pop music. Give it a listen, get lost, and you'll always find yourself wanting to come back again.
key lyrics: "I'm off in a distant place, where I can be the signifier,
not that which is signified."
key tracks: dokkoise house, hanasakajijii (four: a great wind, more ash)
1. Karl F. Kling- The Best Of...
See what I did there? Yeah, two number ones. That's right, it's a tie. My list, my rules. Which is a good thing, because this doesn't really qualify as an album. In the first place, it's two different bands and then Karl solo. In the second place, not all of the songs are even from 2006. But it's just way too good to be denied. His voice is captivating, his lyrics are moving, and the songs are composed so tightly you'd think he'd been doing this for years. Actually, he has. From "The Best of Luck, Love, and Peace" to "Outer Space" to "Sanctity," the songs evolve with the bands, the music changes and so does the mood. But the quality never drops. Not once. And I know the bloke. I've even spooned with him.
key lyrics: "Eat out of hand, live like a bird, cut off your wings, squiggle and squirm" and "I'll tell you now, the journey will be long."
key tracks: The Best of Luck, Love, and Peace, and Sanctity
Honorable mentions: Derek Webb- Mockingbird (he's giving away the album on the internet for free fer goshsakes), Saves the Day (this album scares me...in a good way), and Brand New- Demos (the devil and god... would be even stronger with a few more of these tracks).
Still need to hear: Joanna Newsom, Cat Power
Best Old Stuff I Got Into This Year: This has been a big year for me. Big. The Beatles, Radiohead, and Sixpence None the Richer are all bands that I really "got" for the first time this year. Yeah, I know. Big. I didn't buy The Arcade Fire until this year either. Ella Fitzgerald as well. I'm sure there's other stuff I'm leaving out.
Oh yeah. Vheissu. Thrice is one of my top ten bands of all time, but I didn't get their new album until this year. It's stunning. I just can't stop.
Looking Forward Towards 2007 The Shins, Wolf Parade, Thrice, Jimmy Eat World, Say Anything, Iron & Wine
Best New Music of 2006:
To hear any of these, just google, myspace, or purevolume them. I'm too lazy for links.
10. mewithoutYou- Brother, Sister
mewithoutYou really has it all. They're musically innovative, pushing at the boundaries of indie rock, spoken word, and post-hardcore to create something that I've never once heard before. They're socially concious, dumpster diving for food and converting their tour bus to run on grease. Their live show is insane. I've never seen a band put that much energy into what they do. Never. After all of that, I will say that this album was a little bit disappointing. Great songs? Check. Aaron Weiss' clever lyrics? Check. That extra spark that made Catch for Us the Foxes? It's just not quite there. Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet.
key lyrics: "Open wide my door, my lord, my lord, open wide my door (to whatever makes me love you more)"
key tracks: C-Minor
9. Underoath- Define the Great Line
I was pretty over screaming. Really over it, actually. I was done with hardcore in general as a matter of fact. Oh sure, I still throw on the occasional Beloved and Norma Jean album, but that's about it. Well, that was about it. This album kills. Put it on and your pulse quickens, you want to dance- well, dance or get in a fight. They could have signed to a major, made it poppy, and played on TRL, but instead they screamed more, sang less, and turned the guitars up to 11.
key tracks: A Moment Suspended in Time, There Could Be Nothing After This
8. Band of Horses- Everything All the Time
After Pitchfork compared them to My Morning Jacket and the shins you had to expect this album to go big. Well, it did. And it doesn't disappoint either. This album is almost instantly warm and familiar, like a flannel shirt bought at a thrift store and left out on your back seat in the sun. No key lyrics or key tracks here for me. Put it on and before you know it the album is done, leaving behind an atmosphere of comfortable tranquility. Plus, I'm pretty sure that the album title is a reference to Radiohead's Kid A, and everyone loves that.
7. Brand New- the devil and god are raging inside me
Darker. Harder. Louder. Brand New is definitely back. There are some annoyances here: "I love you so much that it hurts my head," for a start, but overall, this is the album they were meant to make. It's more mature and more confident, and ironically it's all about insecurity and the demons in your head. I just wish they had kept more of the demos around.
key lyrics: "Jesus Christ I'm alone again, so what did you do those three days you were dead? 'cause this problem's gonna last more than the weekend."
key tracks: jesus, limousine, sowing season
6. Annie Peters- Suitcases EP
Well I didn't expect this. 2006 was DEFINITELY the year of female vocalists for me. I fell in love. I swooned. And Annie Peters might be my favorite of them all. And she's just so...down to earth. An about the artist taken from her myspace page (www.myspace.com/anniepeters) "I love making music so stinkin much." And I love you making music so stinkin much. She's just a girl with a guitar, but the lyrics really stick. Thanks to Trent for meeting her at a wedding and dragging my ass out to see her show. Listen to her stuff, and if you like it I will send you a copy of the ep. For real.
key lyrics: "Sometimes I feel like the four walls of my life are closing in on me."
key tracks: I bought a burned cd from her and it didn't come with names. Sad.
5. TV On the Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain
"Are those beats? Like, hip-hop beats? His voice sounds like James Brown trying to cover Isaac Brock. Is that David Bowie on this track!?" Yep, that's TV On the Radio. How could you expect any less than excellence from a band that named an ep Ok Calculator. Brilliant. These boys from Brooklyn released (from what I've heard) the best album of 2006. Brash, hopeful, musical, innovative, this album is what indie rock would sound like if it wasn't so safe, and what soul might sound like if it hadn't become r&boring. It's not my favorite of the year, but given time I wouldn't be surprised if it finds it's way to number one.
key lyrics: "Stand, stare fast, erect, and see that love is the province of the brave."
key tracks: I Was A Lover, Province
4. The Format- Dog Problems
I really used to think of The Format as a one song band. The First Single was all I really cared about. I was very, very wrong. Interventions and Lullabies was great, but Dog Problems takes their music to an entirely new level. The lyrics are smart and self-deprecating, the music is theatrical and thick. And the whole thing is just, well, fun. The live show is pretty awesome too.
key lyrics: "...and blame postmodern things I can't relate, like summer camp and coastal states. Like alcohol and coffee beans. Dance floors and magazines. I think its safe to say I've only got myself to blame, but boys in swooping haircuts are bringing me down, taking pictures of themselves."
key tracks: dog problems, oceans
3. Thursday- A City By the Light Divided
Bombs falling out of the sky. Train wrecks. Car crashes. Streetlights and deserted cities. These are the things that we have come to know and love from Geoff and company. And they're all here. After almost breaking up, Thursday dug deep, made their keyboardist a permanent member of the band, and rewrote "We Shall Overcome" as a post-hardcore song. Yeah, I love this band. It's probably more personal than anything they've ever written before, and even though I don't love the production, it grows on me with every listen.
key lyrics: "another life, swinging in the breeze, from southern trees, the strangest fruit" It's Geoff, it's all great.
key tracks: Sugar In the Sacrament, At This Velocity, We Will Overcome
2. The Hold Steady- Boys and Girls in America
I don't do a lot of hard bar drinking. Actually, come to think of it I don't do any hard bar drinking. I also don't use drugs. I've never really used drugs. I'm not a teenager, I don't live in Minnesota, and I'm not all that crazy about beer bands. So why does an album that incorporates all those things rock so hard, and why can't I stop listening to it? It might be those guitars. They just won't quit. Every time I have listened to this album (and we're talking about a couple dozen times by now)I just can't believe the hooks and the solos. Is it 80's? Retro? Who cares. It's rock & roll like only an American band could make.
key lyrics: "It started ice cream social nice and ended up all white and ecumenical." also "and then last night she said words alone never could save us. and then last night she cried and she told us about jesus."
key tracks: stuck between stations, first night, chips ahoy!
1. Anathallo- Floating World
Pitchfork hated this album. I think they gave it a 2.7 and called it pretentious. They said it was ripping off Sufjan. I can't even begin to tell you all the things that are wrong with that. Shows what they know. Half the lyrics are in Japanese. They don't have a record label. They use velcro, balloons, and a marching band drum as instruments. All that, and at its heart I'm pretty sure it's pop music. Give it a listen, get lost, and you'll always find yourself wanting to come back again.
key lyrics: "I'm off in a distant place, where I can be the signifier,
not that which is signified."
key tracks: dokkoise house, hanasakajijii (four: a great wind, more ash)
1. Karl F. Kling- The Best Of...
See what I did there? Yeah, two number ones. That's right, it's a tie. My list, my rules. Which is a good thing, because this doesn't really qualify as an album. In the first place, it's two different bands and then Karl solo. In the second place, not all of the songs are even from 2006. But it's just way too good to be denied. His voice is captivating, his lyrics are moving, and the songs are composed so tightly you'd think he'd been doing this for years. Actually, he has. From "The Best of Luck, Love, and Peace" to "Outer Space" to "Sanctity," the songs evolve with the bands, the music changes and so does the mood. But the quality never drops. Not once. And I know the bloke. I've even spooned with him.
key lyrics: "Eat out of hand, live like a bird, cut off your wings, squiggle and squirm" and "I'll tell you now, the journey will be long."
key tracks: The Best of Luck, Love, and Peace, and Sanctity
Honorable mentions: Derek Webb- Mockingbird (he's giving away the album on the internet for free fer goshsakes), Saves the Day (this album scares me...in a good way), and Brand New- Demos (the devil and god... would be even stronger with a few more of these tracks).
Still need to hear: Joanna Newsom, Cat Power
Best Old Stuff I Got Into This Year: This has been a big year for me. Big. The Beatles, Radiohead, and Sixpence None the Richer are all bands that I really "got" for the first time this year. Yeah, I know. Big. I didn't buy The Arcade Fire until this year either. Ella Fitzgerald as well. I'm sure there's other stuff I'm leaving out.
Oh yeah. Vheissu. Thrice is one of my top ten bands of all time, but I didn't get their new album until this year. It's stunning. I just can't stop.
Looking Forward Towards 2007 The Shins, Wolf Parade, Thrice, Jimmy Eat World, Say Anything, Iron & Wine
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