BorderWest

Desperate Housewife Supports Obama

We gathered with fellow Las Crucens and students to see, hear, and ogle Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives fame and Adam Rodriguez of CSI: Miami as they expressed their support for Barack Obama outside New Mexico State University's Corbett Center. Braving a rare New Mexico rain, we listened to Obamified music as we waited for the rally begin. Strains of Bob Marley and Queen became vehicles for Obama chants. The husband danced the boy because, well, how else do you entertain a two-year-old at a political rally?

BorderWest

The Things They Don’t Teach You in Grad School

My grandmother is in a hospital bed in a pretty town built by oil barons hundreds of miles from my crowded desk. I wrote a paper today on Aristotle's theory of rhetoric, read two of Plato's dialogues, and called my family every few hours for a report. They could not tell me what I wanted to hear -- that it was okay, that the leukemia had disappeared, that the doctors predicted nothing but good health and smiles. They spoke in tired voices after a night pacing the halls of a hospital. They talked with disbelief of all she has been through. They talked with surprise of her strength.

BorderWest

Angst and Questions at the Border Patrol Checkpoint

We pull up to the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint east of Las Cruces. Ahead of us, a group of Hispanic men file out of the station and open the doors to their Ford Explorer. The agent asks, "Are you American citizens?"
"Yes."
"All of you?"
I want to quip, all but the dog, but I do not think anyone will laugh.
"Where are you headed?"

BorderWest

Moderate: Old American Word for Commence the Flogging

"The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters." Dwight D. Eisenhower

I am as prone to identity politics as the rest of the nation. A boy I dated in high school reminds me of Obama, surely coloring my view. McCain reminds me of my grandfather. Like most of America, I will vote from a complex stance of logic, background, and bias. American politics is as much about gut feeling as a stance on the issues. I may be alone in this, but I do not consider the last statement a negative. However, I do think our propensity towards identity politics places a huge responsibility on the individual. We must examine our biases, our gut feelings, and strive towards logic. Examination may prove our gut feelings right, or it may uncover fallacies. I am still undergoing my own examination.

BorderWest

Sarah Palin: It’s Called Sassy

At the end of Sarah Palin's speech, the commentator on MSNBC searched for a word to describe it. He said that it wasn't all sarcasm and it wasn't bitter, it was. . . and his voice dropped off, searching for the word. I think we call it sassy.

Sarah Palin had to justify McCain's choice and rouse the crowd. Did she do it?

Discuss away.

BorderWest

Scenes from the Hatch Chile Festival

Hatch, New Mexico claims the title of Chile Capital of the World. As we drove through the town, every other business boasted chile or included a mention of chile in its name. Chile is more than a crop or a condiment in Hatch. It is the economic mainstay of their economy. A town of little over 1600, Hatch has been celebrating the chile harvest for over thirty-six years.

BorderWest

Sarah Palin: We Know Her

The more I read about John McCain's vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin, the more I feel like I know her that I have lived beside her, sat a few pews behind her in church, and maybe bumped into her at the local grocery store. Sarah Palin reminds me of dozens of Northern women I met in Montana. Physically imposing and fiercely competent, they make running their homes and communities look effortless. Men call them "good gals," and children need them. They hunt, bake, fish and camp for weeks on end with the same smile and perfect hair.

BorderWest

John Edwards, You Comfort Me

I remember classmates spreading the details of the Ken Starr report, peeking over the shoulder of a co-worker as she pulled it up on the screen. Engrossing, and eventually tiring, but for a few moments in time, the President of the United States' sex life took up a significant corner of my brain. I am older now; no one's sex life is very interesting, and the mysteries and compromises of marriage are my daily reality. Still, you would think I would have some reaction to the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter affair, that my moral sensibilities would squirm, that I could muster some outrage. I don't and I can't. Instead, I am awash in nostalgia for a simpler time, a time when I did not fret about the global economy, the slipping dollar, the muscle flexing of Russia, or lives lost in the sands of Iraq. There was time to worry about sex, power and semen on a blue dress. There was time to debate the ethics of friendship and marriage, to relish the thought of Hillary breaking china over Bill's head. There was time and space for prurient interests, for lascivious gossip.

BorderWest

McCain Visits Las Cruces and Thoughts on Protest

On the day the war in Iraq began, a colleague of mine wore a black armband in mute protest. She taught tenth graders the difference between illusion and allusion while silently declaring her disapproval. In her late forties, I attributed the display to her age, to the specter of the 60s and 70s. Five years later, I wonder if it is only a generation gap that leads some to watch and some to act.