Alternatives?

Do you remember the film Traffic? It won 4 academy awards in 2000 and focused on the issue of drugs, Mexico and the United States. The scene from the movie that always sticks in my mind is one where there is a whole plane-load of law enforcement and political people, clearly frustrated because their efforts have failed to make an impact in the situation. "Can you think of something we can do differently?" the protagonist asks. There is complete silence.

The proposals regarding drugs and the US/Mexico border seem to be more of the same. And if anything, the situation since 2000 seems even more difficult. Back in my May 10 blog I lamented that the only way we can seem to think of to respond to drug issues and the border is with more militarization, which up to now has not seemed to work well.

The link below is from a group of Mexican Non Governmental Organizations that proposes not doing more of the same. It is not dashing, but it is worthy of consideration.

http://lawg.nonprofitsoapbox.com/storage/lawg/documents/congress_ngoletter_militaryaid_mexico_inglesfinal.pdf

Friendship Manor

Yesterday a group from the church had lunch at Friendship Manor. Friendship Manor is a not for profit retirement community just up the street from the Church of Peace. (For more information http://www.friendshipmanor.org/) There are quite a number of church members residing there at this time and one way to keep in touch is to have a lunch in the private dining room there. While a number of our church members who live there were busy with other things we were able to enjoy a meal with fourteen of our church members and friends. The instigator for these lunches has been our Parish Nurse, Mary Oelschlaeger. Yesterday not only were Mary and I present from the church, but also the church secretary, Nora Steele, and our music director, Mary Kae Waytenick brought a couple of her flute playing friends and put on a little concert up in the chapel. The food was good, the music was delightful; it was all very nice.

Our relationship with Friendship Manor has been growing in the last few years as we have more members living there. For the last two Good Fridays we have had the midday service in the chapel at Friendship Manor. We simply invite those members of the church who do not live at Friendship Manor to come there rather than church for the service. It works out well and many residents of Friendship Manor who are not members of the Church of Peace also enjoy the Good Friday service.

I also take my regular turn in the rotation of preachers at the Sunday Afternoon vespers service there. My next turn is on Sunday, June 7.

It is good to keep in touch. The photo at the top is me sitting with Lou Bauck, a long time church member who is a resident.

Nice Lunch with Delle

Faye and John Buttrick and I had lunch with Delle McCormick today at El Minuto Resturant in downtown Tucson. It was a wonderful chance to catch up. It is also a reminder of how small a world it is when we have lunch in Tucson with a person whom we first met as a UCC missionary in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.


Delle is an ordained UCC minister who is now working as the Executive Director of BorderLinks, a group which works in the area of popular education to inform folks about the reality of the border and the dynamics of the world economy. BorderLinks is the group with which we were to have been travelling this last week as part of an international delegation. We had scheduled this delegation months ago. But it had to be cancelled at the last minute because of the H1N1 virus. And therein lies the rub.

Had our delegation taken place we would have spent about $7,500 for the week with BorderLinks. Instead they received the $500 deposit. And we are not the only ones cancelling this spring. First there was the fear of the drug related border violence. Then this flu. All together BorderLinks has lost about $100,000 in anticipated income this spring. They have had to lay off staff and Delle told us that she has a board meeting tonight where significant decisions will need to be reached.

• Please pray for BorderLinks as they work through difficult times.


• Pray for all those who make a living along the border as these times, along with a militarized border makes it hard for everyone.


• Consider making a donation to BorderLinks.


• For those who are UCC, think with us about how we could affirm our partnership with BorderLinks so that all would know that this is part of "us." In the Methodist nomenclature they could be designated an "advance special" which would make them eligible for donations from churches and provide a stamp of approval to any who would want to know. What is the UCC equivalent?

If you want more information go to: http://www.borderlinks.org/

Back In Tucson

Tuscon it hot! Back here after a drive through the Gila National Forest area. It was cooler up in the mountains. One very cool highlight was the Very Large Array Radio Telescope that is near Succoro, New Mexico. Even though it is hard for me to understand how it does what it does it is impressive to see what looks like an array of radar dishes on railroad tracks pointing up at the sky. This is just before I enter the visitor's center, where there is a video about the kind of work that is done here. The array itself is composed of 27 antennas - the things that look like radar dishes. It covers an area of some 17 miles. The antennas are moved occasionally, depending on the specifics of the particular piece of research and the specific area in space on which they are focused.
Each antenna dish is 25 meters in diameter. Each dish is mounted on wheels on railroad tracks so they can be moved. The total weight of each is 230 tons; 100 tons of which is the reflector.

Santa Fe

I spent a good amount of time poking around Santa Fe yesterday. The first mission church in the area was San Miguel, so that is a good sign. Visited the statue of Bishop Lamy at the St Francis Church. He is the missionary pastor featured in Death Comes to the Archbishop a laudatory account of his work that I read as a young person. Lamy also built the church and was first archbishop of the area. It is an irony that the park next to the St Francis church has a big sign than says "no dogs allowed." I don't think Francis would approve. I peeked in studios and a high point literally and figuratively was a beer at the bar on the roof of the hotel La Fonda. I was a little surprised how much I was thinking about when I visited here with my parents when they were living in New Mexico.

The photo at the top is Mission San Miguel. The lower photo is Bishop Lamy statue in front of the St Francis Cathedral.

It Takes Two

I was somewhat relieved when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, when travelling in Mexico, and particularly when speaking at TecMilenio University in Monterrey, Mexico, on March 26, 2009 used the term "Shared Responsibility." This was in talking about the border, and the flow of drugs. While I was disappointed that the only way she seemed to be able to think about addressing the shared problem was with yet more law enforcement and militarization of the border area, in a situation where law enforcement on both sides seems to be failing to accomplish the purpose of slowing the flow of drugs. Nevertheless, the sense of "shared responsibility" is a welcome sea change when before all difficulty seemed to be laid at the feet of Mexico alone.

Here is part of what Secretary Clinton said:

And I know that one challenge that we will work with you to address is drug trafficking that has terrorized some Mexican communities, especially those along the border. And I join my voice to all those who know that this situation is intolerable for honest, law-abiding citizens of Mexico, my country, or anywhere people of conscience live. This affects not only the government, the law enforcement, the military, the judicial system of Mexico and the people of Mexico, but of the more than 60 million Americans who live in U.S. border states. That is why I have been very clear in my time here. The United States recognizes that drug trafficking is not only Mexico’s problem. It is also an American problem. And we, in the United States, have a responsibility to help you address it.


Traffickers use guns purchased in the United States to fight each other and to challenge the Mexican military and police. Their enterprise is financed in part by our country’s demand for drugs, which sends up to $25 billion a year in illicit drug profits back into the hands of the drug kingpins. Drug profits are propping up cartels financially allowing them to continue their campaign of violence and lawlessness. Earlier this week, the Obama Administration announced a comprehensive plan to increase security along our border, including more officers to stop the illegal flow of guns into Mexico.



For the secretary's complete remarks go to the link below.

www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/03/120955.htm

Sine Nomine

Yesterday I drove to old downtown Albuquerque to look around and to see a movie that may not make it to Davenport; Sin Nombre.

The movie was great. It is two stories, one of a young woman from Honduras who travels to the United States, and the other of a gang member from Tapachula, Chiapas. It is 96 minutes long. It is in Spanish with English subtitles. It is violent, but so is the situation. The focus of the film is the difficulty of the journey through Mexico as migrants prepare to try to cross the Northern border of Mexico into the United States.

In my head the name, Sin Nombre gets mixed around with the Latin words Sine Nomine, which is the hymn tune of For All the Saints. No one on this journey travels alone, they are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses and a community of people; the saints. While these saints ain't no saints, some help others along in the journey. And always our situation is contextualized by those who have gone before, and all the experiences and people who have brought us to this time and place. One can imagine that many people now in the United States who have travelled here from Central America and Mexico have similar journeys in their experience and their own community of saints who have accompanied them on their way. I wonder how our border closing efforts fit into the narrative they construct when, having arrived, they rest from their journey?