"Stories & Articles of Interest"
Mexican balladeer sings to save vanishing village
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
BOQUILLAS CANYON, Mexico – Another great article about Victor Valdez the Boquillas Canyon Balladeer.
www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/mexico/stories/111507dnintcanyonsinger.2ab2e5d.html
A Thin Line Between Towns Saturday May 5, 2007
by Michael May
Michael May travels to Boquillas, Mexico just on the other side of the Rio Grande River from Big Bend National Park, to see the village artisans and quilters at work and then takes the legal way back, 600 miles and two days later.
weekendamerica.publicradio.org/programs/2007/05/05/index.html
Security disrupts life along border Sunday, May 6, 2007
By DAVID McLEMORE and ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News A description of several villages along the Rio Grande and how the border closures of May 2002 have effected them. This article includes Boquillas, San Antonio del Bravo and places in-between. (sorry the link is dead here but somehow its still live in Google)
www.dallasnews.com/shared/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/050607dntexterlingua.3bb4d19.html
Rio Grande Town Fights for Survival National Public Radio, All Things Considered, Friday, November 23, 2007
by John Burnett
The author came out to visit and listen to Victor Valdez, famed Mexican balladier who sings into Boquillas Canyon daily. This man supports the aged and infirm from his village in Mexico by singing traditional Mexican songs for tips....and he does it legally.
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php
The Great Divider - Is the border the wedge issue of our time…or just a line in the sand? PLUS: How you can make a difference
Gentleman's Quarterly Magazine - January Issue
By George Saunders
Once upon a time, there was a wealthy country. Just to the south was a poor country. Between them ran a border. People from the poor country were always sneaking over, trying to partake of the wealth of the wealthy country. The people in the wealthy country resented this. Or some did. Some seemed fine with it, and even helped them once they got here. Some said it was a crisis and a big wall was needed. Others said: What crisis, it's been going on for years, plus they work so cheap, you want to pay nine bucks for a freaking quart of strawberries? The national media seized on the story and, as always, screwed it up: reduced it to pithy sound bites, politicized it, and injected it with faux urgency, until, lo, the nation was confused.
Mexiphobia - The Movie
San Antonio Express News
John MacCormack
Express-News
MARFA - When the U.S. government closed a half-dozen informal West Texas border crossings eight months after 9-11, the ostensible aim was increased national security.
Little thought was apparently given to the hundreds of Mexican villagers in Boquillas del Carmen, Santa Elena and Paso Lajitas, who suddenly found themselves economically and socially cut off from American tourists and neighbors.
Fundraiser benefits Boquillas residents
Friends of Big Bend Newsletter
Friends of Big Bend National Park recently raised more than $1,100 to benefit residents of Boquillas, Mexico. At the organization's June 3 membership event in San Antonio, rock planters featuring baby agave plants and twisted copper scorpions, peacocks and painted-rock ladybugs that were made by Boquillas artisans were sold to generate funds for the residents. The event also included a silent auction where three antique quilts were sold. Marguerite Chanslor of Quilts by Marguerite in Terlingua helped make the quilts from material provided by the Boquillas residents.
Quilts across the Rio Grande help bring electricity to Boquillas, Mexico
The Big Bend Gazette
Publish Date: December 18, 2006
By Dallas Baxter, Contributing Writer
There is still time to be part of the great success story of how women of Boquillas, Coahuila, Mexico with help from women of Terlingua and Alpine, Texas raised $15,000 by selling quilts.
Stitch by Stitch Neighbors Work to Mend a Broken Border
Texas Observer
December 01, 2006 - Features
by KAREN BERNSTEIN
It is chilly now in the Big Bend of Texas, and dry as a bone. Most all the leaves blew off the pecan trees in the last windstorm, carpeting Marfa in a potpourri of yellows, browns, and deep orange hues.
Mexican border town of Boquillas gets breath of new life
San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted: 10/16/2006 11:51 PM CDT
John MacCormack, Express-News Staff
BOQUILLAS DEL CARMEN, Mexico - Manufactured in 1907, when Teddy Roosevelt was in the White House and Porfirio Diaz ruled Mexico, the foot-powered Singer sewing machine had been in the Chavez family for generations. However, no one could remember when it last worked.
Flotilla for Cynta
Published in The Big Bend Sentinel, January 2006
The Boquillas Flotilla:
South Brewster County Remembers Our Mexican Neighbors During Christmas
December 20th, 2005
Our vehicles loaded with people, canoes and supplies arrived at the Rio Grande Village boat ramp in Big Bend National Park amid a torrent of activity, noise and excitement. Full Story
The Boquillas Story
Crossing the Rio Grande to help Boquillas residents
Publish Date: May 26, 2005 by: Andrew Stuart
Abe and Josie Connally of Terlingua Ranch walked across the Rio Grande last Thursday (May 19) and trudged up the hill into Boquillas, Mexico, across from Big Bend National Park, bringing with them small motors from exercise treadmills and windmill blades cut from PVC pipe.
In the sweltering heat of the late afternoon, Full Story
Danielle's Lament
Published in Scenes From South Brewster County, April 05 by: Danielle Gallo
Every now and then the time comes when a person looks up from whatever drama she’s currently embroiled in and it dawns on her to wonder just how in the hell she got there
in the first place. I had a moment like that the other day. Full Story
Real Life Adventure
Published in the Big bend Gazette, October 04
This is Real Life Adventure Travel… By Sharon Collyer
October 15, 2004
“A person commits a federal felony when he knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions…”—Federal Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 8, USC 1324 (a) (1) (A) (iv) (b) (iii) “We treat some human beings as weeds. Just as we may decide that a particular plant is in our way, Full Story
Walking Sticks for Cynta
Published in The Big Bend Gazette, July 04
“Living on the Edge With Walking Stick In Hand” “All men are brothers, we like to say, half-wishing sometimes it were not true.” Edward Abbey
I stand thigh-deep in the middle channel of the swirling mocha-thick waters of the Rio Grande, equidistant from either shore, facing Mexico. Full Story
