Forget the Stereotypes ...

Coming up quick, on the first weekend of October, Tijuana will celebrate the arts, culture and music of it's artists at an event called Entijuanarte at the Centro Cultural. One of the goals of the event is to demonstrate another face of the city of Tijuana and to be a meeting point for the cultural and artistic diversity of the Baja California and the Southern California region.

By the way, I love the tagline they are using in their advertising;

Discover a new world of art and culture at your doorstep, but be warned; You will never think of this city in the same way.

"Arte es Poder" translates to "Art is Power". I think art has to power to give sight to the blind. What I mean by this, is I took a tour of the videos on youtube and more than 90% paint a picture that TJ is all about beer, hookers, drugs, violence and quite an ugly place. I don't agree with that picture. Sure it's dirty, yes it's a poor country, yes there's some violence, but name a place in the U.S. that doesn't have violence too. I think we need to be looking to see the beauty that is just beneath the surface. It's starting to boil up to the top now and I'm so happy to see events like Entijuanarte, that expose us to the emerging cultural revolution happening in Tijuana, Mexico. I'm hoping that Jon and I can make it down with the girls that weekend, I'll let you know how it goes.

And for the topping this little piece o' mexican pie, I have a wonderful little interview with Tanya Aguiniga. She's a Los Angeles based furniture designer/maker raised in Tijuana, Mexico. Tanya’s work is informed by border experiences: the interconnectedness of societies, the beauty in struggle and the celebration of culture.



I say "You Go Chica!"

** If you can't see the video from within Facebook, you can watch it on my blog at www.sophiacarolina.blogspot.com or you can just click here **

if you need a link to get more info;
Si hables español, click here
OR if you need an English synopsis click here to check it out **

Brown is the new black ...

In case you didn't know, Latinos are now facing the same kind of discrimination that historically African Americans have been faced with. Apparently membership in the KKK has risen due to a lot of anti-immigration fear & anxiety with the immigrants coming from Mexico rather than other countries.

I also read an article this past week in the New York Times about 7 teenagers in Long Island, NY who went out looking for a "Mexican"to beat up. They found Marcelo Lucero, an legal immigrant from Ecuador who had lived in the US for 16 years. They beat him, stabbed and killed him. It's a horrible reminder of how racism is alive and well in the U.S.

According to government statistics, racism against Mexicans in the US is escalating steeply. The FBI reports that hate crimes against Latinos rose almost 40 percent between 2003 and 2006. And it's getting worse.

All this reminds me about an incident that happened to me about 2 years ago. I was shopping at my local grocery store in Orange County (before our move here to San Diego), and I was wearing an Aztec calendar medalion around my neck. While I'm standing at the checkout stand the latino guy bagging my groceries says to me in spanish, "Are you sure you want to be advertising that you're a Mexican, it's not a good idea". I guess he had the inside scoop about what was to come.

Growing up, my mother put a lot of effort into making me fit in. I suppose she was trying to protect me from the racism she received for being a latino. Her theory was that if I dressed the part and looked the part, maybe people wouldn't find out that I was a Mexican. When I was 12 she took me to get my hair dyed auburn red, I continued doing that until I was 18. The plan was to present myself as a "white" person. So whenever I went to a new school (lots of schools, 2 jr highs and 6 high schools), my mom told me when asked about my ethnicity I should say Greek, Italian or even Jewish, but never say "I'm Mexican". The other thing that she would always say is "make sure you say your name is Padilla like Vanilla". It should have been pronounced "pu-dee-ya", but if I did that then they might figure out I was a Mexican. I'm actually thinking of publishing all the creative tips used to assimilate me, or maybe I'll just call it "100 Ways to Pretend Your Not A Mexican" =)

The good news was that once I became an adult I realized I had the freedom to be myself and I stared to embrace my heritage, no matter what the reaction or consequence might be.

So, back to they story of Marcelo. Like many Latino immigrants, he came here to work hard, even for meager wages, and just wanted to make a living. It's a tradgedy that most American's don't understand what life is like on the other side of the border and that's why there's so little compassion about the issue.

During last weekend's Project Mexico trip, we took several groups of the home-building volunteers over to meet Marisol, my friend that lives in Colonia San Bernardo. I've observed that by spending some time with her and seeing her family and hearing a bit of her story opinions on this whole immigration issue can really be shaped, in a positive way.

So my hope for you, is that you get to know a hispanic, and you get extra points if they are undocumented. I know for a fact that it's an awesome experience to love someone that doesn't fit into your comfort zone.

On the roof ...

We just got back from another great weekend of home building in Colonia de San Bernardo. Our Terra Nova Church team finished the home just in the nick of time before the rain hit. I'll soon have more to tell you about this past weekend in Tijuana, but just wanted to share this picture of Jon & the girls on the roof of the home ... we all had such a fun and rewarding experience. Hope you can join us on the next trip in Spring 2009!

The Fence ...

Today I went to Friendship Park right at the border of Mexico and the U.S. Quite literally, I was able to touch the fence. This will soon end with the new impenetrable fence coming in. Right now families are able to visit with each other to a certain degree. But soon, even this will be gone. The picture above is one that I took while standing at the fence this morning.

The event was called God's Kingdom and Migration, and was with a group called U40, you can find them on Facebook. Other sponsors were The Ecclesia Collective and Subversive Magazine. It was a great day!

And while I'm on the subject, this video clip is pretty enlightening, take a couple of minutes and have a glipse of what is happening at the border fence here in California.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/oct/15/uselections2008-usimmigration-mikedavis

What You Do With What You've Got ...

OK, since the pressure was on to post something, because it's almost been 30 days since my last post (and the blog police fired their warning shot today) I wanted to share this inspiring and beautiful song by Eddi Reader with Thomas Dolby on the piano.

Our family spent last weekend with about 125 volunteers just south of the border in Tijuana building homes for some very impoverished families, the trip was amazing and I can't wait to go again. If you want to know more about Project Mexico, check out some of Jon's latest postings on his blog about our last trip with some links to some great photos from the weekend.

So in honor of all the amazing Project Mexico volunteers who really "used what they've got" ... I hope you enjoy this song!

Lila & Frida ...

I came across this little snipppet recently. Lila Downs is a great Mexican singer that has that husky vintage tejana sound that I love. This song is Alcoba Azul. It's paired with some original Frida Kahlo art & photos of her and Diego Rivera, both two of my favorite Mexican artists. Some of the other photos are from the movie "Frida" starring Salma Hayek.

Hope you enjoy this little MezoAmerican moment!

Project Mexico ....

In a few weeks our family is headed across the US border into Mexico with close to 200 volunteers to build homes for impoverished Mexican families living just outside of Tijuana. My husband Jon started Project Mexico in 1999, to date participants have built over 80 homes. The impact goes way beyond shelter for these families, it gives hope.

Our family gets so much out of doing this every fall and spring. A few trips back we built a home for Marisol and her daughter, Karla. Since I speak Spanish we all made friends very quickly. When I told Marisol how each participant pays their own room & board ($65 for the weekend) and each team of 20 raises the $6,200 for materials ($300/person) via fundraising she was completely amazed and grateful. Marisol has had a very rough life; she had an abusive mother, she's a single mom, and the list goes on. She told me that the miracle of getting a home from complete strangers with no strings attached was already overwhelming, but the fact that we all come back and visit and really do care about her and her daughter is something that she has never experienced until now. She's on a journey as we all are, I'm so grateful to be able to be a part of the story that God is telling in this little corner of the planet.

I've realized that these weekends in Mexico are so much more than just building a home, it's about using our hands & feet to show God's love for the people of Colonia de San Bernardo. If you want to know more about Project Mexico check out the site by clicking here.

Here's a video that Jon made from our last trip; hope you enjoy it!