IN

WALK ALL DAY LONG AND ISN'T THAT TRUE IN ALL THAT TIME OF YOUR TALKING WALKING ITS ONLY TODAY THIS MORNING THAT YOU REALIZE YOU'VE BEEN TALKING AND WALKING ALL BY YOURSELF AND

“Talk & walk you talk & walk all day long, isn't that true? & in all that time of your talking & walking it’s only today this morning that you realize you've been talking & walking all by yourself & often people stare.”

Hoang, Lily. "Befriending People." Fairy Tale Review 3 (2007): 51.

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NO ONE PLANTED A TOMATO SEED PERHAPS SOME SALSA FELL FROM A TACO FELL BETWEEN THE CRACKS PERHAPS A SEED MIGRATED FROM ELSEWHERE IN THE SUBSOIL AND PUSHED ITS WAY UP FEEDING

“No one planted a tomato seed; perhaps some salsa fell from a taco, fell between the cracks. Perhaps a seed migrated from elsewhere in the subsoil and pushed its way up, feeding on the nutrients and filtered water.”

Stern, Lesley. “A Garden or a Grave? The Canyonic Landscape of the Tijuana-San Diego Region.” In Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene, ed. by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Nils Bubandt, Elaine Gan, and Heather Anne Swanson. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2017. p. 26.

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TOMATO PLANT GROWS OUT OF A CRACK IN THE CONCRETE THE SECOND GROWS A SHORT DISTANCE AWAY IN A TRICKLE OF WATER BESIDE THE DUSTY UNPAVED ROAD AS WE KNEEL DOWN TO

“We have seen no other tomatoes in Laureles. The first tomato plant grows out of a crack in the concrete; the second grows a short distance away in a trickle of water beside the dusty, unpaved road. As we kneel down to scrutinize more closely the plant growing in water, a stink rises up, assaults the senses. This trickle of water is an open sewer.”

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CREEK FOR THE LENGTH OF THE CANYON HE IS GATHERING EVIDENCE FOR UNITED STATES JUDICIARY BODIES EVIDENCE THAT THE TRASH THAT ENDS UP IN THE ESTUARY ORIGINATES IN THE UNITED

“What he is doing is building a soccer stadium and community center, planting thousands of trees, negotiating with the Mexican federal government to secure an easement that would create a nature reserve running on both sides of the creek for the length of the canyon. Just as importantly, he is gathering evidence for U.S. judiciary bodies: evidence that the trash that ends up in the estuary originates from the United States.”

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EROSION AND POLLUTANTS ARE CARRIED IN THE AIR TRASH IS CHUCKED INTO THE CREEK AND DOGS AND CHILDREN PLAY THERE WHEN THE RAINS COME FLOODS HAPPEN VERY QUICKLY CHANNELS

“Where there is little vegetation, the wind blows, erosion happens, and pollutants are carried in the air. Trash is chucked into the creek and dogs and children play there. When the rains come, floods happen very quickly; great channels erupt in the dirt roads.”

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COSTLY BECAUSE IT HAS TO GO INTO EXPENSIVELY CONSTRUCTED IMPERMEABLE LANDFILL CELLS SOMETIMES THE BORDER IS CURIOUSLY PERMEABLE IN JANUARY RAINS WILL COME WASTE AND

“It is illegal to sell this timber in the United States and costly, because it has to go into expensively constructed, impermeable landfill cells. Sometimes the border is curiously permeable.
In January the rains will come. All the waste and silt will sweep down the six miles of the canyon into the estuary, and it will be far too much for the sediment basins to catch.”

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SCRAPED AWAY AND THE LAND MARKED OUT IN CHALK INTO SMALL PARCELS OF LAND FOR SALE SIGNS SPIKE THE LANDSCAPE LIKE CACTI THE SMALL RANCH HAS BEEN SOLD TO A DEVELOPER WHO

“The hillside has been shaved, stripped of vegetation, the topsoil scraped away, and the land marked out in chalk into small parcels of land. ‘For Sale’ signs spike the landscape like cacti. The small ranch has been sold to a developer who will give the new owners a formal certificate of ownership, legally worthless but prized in this canyon, where much of the settlement is informal, where most people are squatting.”

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ENCOUNTER HERE AT THE BORDER IS ANOTHER LANDSCAPE SIX LANES OF TRAFFIC IN EACH DIRECTION THIS IS THE MOST POPULATED BORDER CROSSING IN THE WORLD THE CARS COMING INTO THE

“Here, at the border, is another landscape: six lanes of traffic in each direction. This is the most populated border crossing in the world. The cars coming into the United States seem scarcely to be moving, but we breeze through into Mexico, no need for passports.”

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USAGE IS AVERAGED OUT EACH PERSON IN THE UNITED STATES USES 225 GALLONS OF WATER PER DAY IN MEXICO 25 ON THE UNITED STATES SIDE WATER IS DIVERTED INTO THE CANAL I WALK

“On the U.S. side, water is engineered and diverted into the All-American Canal. When water usage is averaged out, each person in the United States uses 225 gallons of water per day; in Mexico, 25.”

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OF WATER WIND THROUGH REEDS DRAGONFLIES DART OCCASIONAL WATERFOWL GLIDE PLOVERS AND TERNS CIRCLE AND SWOOP THE SEA FLOWS IN AND OUT OF THE TIDAL CHANNELS WHERE

“The vegetation is utterly different: fingers of water wind through reeds, dragonflies dart, occasional waterfowl glide, plovers and terns circle and swoop. The sea flows in and out of the tidal channels here.”

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FOLIAGE IS BROWN SPIKY AND BRITTLE IN SPRING THERE ARE MANY MORE BLOOMS INCLUDING A PRETTY YELLOW FLOWER GLEBIONIS CORONARIA AN AVARICIOUS INVASIVE SPECIES BEHIND

“The air is hot and dry and the foliage is brown, spiky, and brittle. In spring, there are many more blooms, including a pretty yellow flower, Glebionis coronaria, an avaricious invasive.”

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