US Apartheid (version: Mexico)

Last week I had to take a day trip to the US/Mexico border (well, let's face it... the US Border) to get some shots for a couple of paintings. From my home, I can leave at 10:30am, drive for 30 minutes, cross the border by foot, take photos, and return home by 2:30.

I don't have a lot of time to dive into the subtly huge differences between our perception of "normal" and what is "natural". I will say that having spent my whole life next to the border, i thought it quite normal. In fact, it took 28 years and a trip to South Africa to realize that we (the US) have a long road ahead of us. Anyway, here are some quick shots from the wee pentax (sorry for the blow outs on some, still playing with different options... and i was going as fast as i could on this trip).


It has come to my attention as of late that many in the US have no idea about the border. How it works, or what it looks like. In fact, many think it is just like the border into Canada. Not the case... keep in mind, that while some very small things have changed since 9-11, the border has looked like this for a very long time.

Getting closer to the border on the freeway in San Diego, a fence appears in the middle to deter people from crossing the highway. All fences get higher and a bit more sophisticated in the two mile zone on both sides of the wall.


It is a revolving door when going it by foot into Mexico.


Just don't go all the way around or you will be grated queso. Here is what the gate into Mexico sounds like as it spins. (volume check first)


once even 10 ft across, the entire landscape changes. Smells, sounds, people, buildings... it never ceases to blow my mind how abruptly the reality shifts. (i didn't include a lot of the "reality" shots here... that's another post when i have more time.)

i had to include this wall because it is stunning... obviously.


So, as i was saying... remember when Bush managed to distract the entire nation with his "Let's build a wall!" idea (the same one we are now testing in Iraq)? Well, all of us in San Diego were raising our hands and saying, "um... we already have a wall... and for your purposes, it doesn't work." Ya, it's always been there. Ya, before 9-11 even. See it?


In fact, not just one wall, but layers of walls. Outer walls, the beautifully painted ones...



from which people live just across the street...


to the inner walls, that are guarded more closely (this is one neighbor from whom you won't be getting your ball back)


and this is the border by wheels. When you come back, you wait. For a long long time.




i get to open a door into this wall that blocks half the horizon and walk freely in and out,


i walk past these people who wait. The difference now (post 9-11) is that even by foot for an American there is a wait. The ID check actually exists now. It used to be when i was 18 and we would go down there, you could stumble by without stopping (if you were white) and blurt out "UShhh" in a drunken stupor. And next year will be the first time a US Passport is required (2008... seven years after 9-11... see, if it was me, i would have said Passports theeeeen go bomb crap out of unrelated countries. Just sayin...)


It is a long, long wall.


And yes, it goes all the way into the ocean.

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Pope tosses out babies

Just heading out to start my day when my mother gave me the news that Hell has been closed for further remodelling. Perhaps not all of Hell, but


at least the area just after the gates. Limbo, or "the fringe" of Hell, once reserved for unbaptized babies to spend eternity floating, is being abolished by the new Pope B. in an effort to gain votes with the pro choice crowd, as the collection of old baby souls and fetuses will be used for stem cell research.

Rumor has it the new space will be used for a new Indian Casino with a hip nightclub to be filled with souls that never recieved the sacrament of marriage. Said souls will find themselves at the bar everynight feeling the pressures of wasting their pathetic life as hotter souls, with whom they have absolutely no chance of talking, pass by. Some lamer souls will be forced to wait in line outside for eternity as much cooler demons walk straight in. The souls of the no self esteemed chubby people will also be there to spend eternity waking up hungover with strangers and doing the walk of shame past the houses of everyone they have ever known.

Some speculate that with the new wave of CEOs, politicians, and military contractors sure to come, unbaptized fetuses are a trivial thing of the past. Others feel that the pope must be taking into consideration all the Baby Boomers that will be showing up soon.

Questions abound:

Will there only be 8 levels of hell now? Is a level being added anywhere else to fill the space?

Will Purgatory expand to make room for the babies leaving Limbo? If not, what will happen to all the babies? Where will unbaptized babies go now?

Is the pope claiming that it is okay if we aren't baptized now?

Is this the dawn of kinder, gentler Hell?

Is the pope allowed to just rearrange the afterlife at will? Does this effect the credibility of the Christian afterlife if it is just being made up as we go along?

Is this just a slippery slope to letting the lustful or the gluttonous into heaven?

What about those of us who worked our asses of to be good this whole time? Do we get extra Paradise?

Wait... you can't abort a cluster of cells, but you can send an unbaptized baby to hell for eternity? wtf?

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The last 5 days: a photo essay

I went on a bit of a walkabout for the past 5 days... perusing Oakland's flea markets, attending an art school prom, flying over the ocean, driving through Joshua Tree and the Mojave Desert to Vegas on Route 66 with a golf legend, and home again.

In the meantime, i fell in love with my tiny point and shoot Pentax Optio A20. So here's a little photo essay to pass some time...

















(shot from the air to the sea below...)









































Mojave











the veins that feed Las Vegas...

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