Feasibility study for Yarbrough Port of Entry

(Illustration by Keith Allyn Spencer / El Paso Times)


What does this mean?

Feasibility studies try to answer the following questions:

What exactly is the project? Is it practical? Can it be done?

El Paso MPO is currently in process of conducting a feasibiltiy study for a new Port of Entry between the Bridge of the Americas and the Zaragosa bridge. They have hired San Antonio consulting firm Structural Engineering Associates, Inc. MPO then directs the public to go to the SEA website to track progress of this study. That's all fine and good, but there are no projects listed on their page. Perhaps they are conducting the feasibility of whether they should even list projects on their website....Oh, SEA built the groundwork, sure enough...a project link that leads to nowhere.

The area of feasibility for the proposed Yarbrough POE is limited to this 9 to 10 mile stretch between 2 major bridges already in existence. Depending on which day of the week you talk to the MPO (or watch yet another of their varying powerpoint presentations) about this study, there are 5 main feasibility areas within this 10 mile stretch, or there are only 3 remaining areas still on the table for this study, or, wait...it's back up to 5 areas, and is or is not referred to as the Yarbrough Port of Entry. Who are they trying to fool? It's been called the Yarbrough Port of entry since day one, because every plan, map or idea about this proposed POE has been centered around the fact that Juarez already has an 8 lane highway to this ethereal bridge just waiting for a connection at Calle Francisco Villareal Torres, less than 2000 feet southwest of Yarbrough at Cesar Chavez as seen at the bottom left of the satellite map. Patrons of Shawver Park and Cowan Aquatic suffer enough as it is with proximity to Border Highway Traffic, let's just save them further suffering by building a bridge on top of it. Let's have another Glass Beach campaign while we're at it.

Why all this gnashing of teeth over a new bridge?

artwork by Sam Turner

Bridges are already woefully understaffed. We cannot keep the lanes available in operation as it is. We don't have the manpower to create fully functional Ports of Entry. Building more bridges will never solve this dilemma. It's a Federal offense, and City Council would better serve this community by pushing Silvestre Reyes, and Homeland Security to straighten out this mess, and fast. My Lower Valley neighbors don't want the added traffic going to and coming from that bridge. We have enough problems with traffic filtering off the Border Highway, and city council would like us to believe that alleviating traffic flow from other areas is going to decrease pollution in our area. We are already fighting EPA standards, and are not in compliance especially near our bridges. Okay, let's just add another red zone to the EPA map of non-compliance by building this bridge at Yarbrough. What's another non-compliance in the face of all the existing ones?

After weeks of research on the internet, trying to discover the scope of this plan, I found nothing but focus specifically on Yarbrough as the locale for the new bridge. Four renderings of the proposed bridge can be found in the presentation (BORDER CROSSINGS: Evaluation of ports of entry for the International border...) an MPO page that links to powerpoint downloads but nowhere can I find any other specualtive renderings for any other locale along this 10 mile corridor. This same presentation shows a map on page 7 with a mysterious green demarcation line squiggling along from Int'l airport in Juarez up Calle Fr. V. Torres and Yarbrough all along through Global Reach and on to El Paso Int'l Airport. Most MPO maps that show that bold green line are indicating major proposed road reconstruction, but MPO wishes us to believe that no major road is in the plans, and that no homes will be disturbed by building this new bridge in the lower valley.

I take umbrage to the cry of overreaction by our Mayor Cook,

and told him so at the city council meeting yesterday. If his wish is for non-action, then he's got another wish coming; that one just won't fly. When the MPO and the city decide to show the entire scope of their plans, and stop trying to mete them out to the public inch by inch of road, and penny by penny of taxation, perhaps we can all come to a better understanding of just what the hell is going on in our fair city. When city council members seem oblivious to the MPO process as I witnessed yesterday, something seriously needs to be addressed. When Steve Ortega asks where we are getting these maps, and we tell him MPO, he retorts that they are speculative theory, or wording to that effect. Mr. Ortega, all of this is supposedly speculative. Every last bit of it is speculative until your feasibility study has gone through the motions, and you are granted your bridge into the heart of our valley.

If, as Beto O'Rourke stated at yesterday's meeting, he would be glad to see this new bridge in his district, by all means, give it to him. They can build it right there downtown, and "revitilize" that area even further than planned. I'm sure his father-in-law, and Paul Foster will be overjoyed to have it there, and they can go ahead and build the "Cheesecake Factory" under it's shadow, so Chris Lopez will have a suitable place to eat. Danger, danger Will Robinson, all I see from these guys is "Crush, Kill, Destroy" all that was once magic in El Paso, Texas.



A boon to any business district, eh Beto? Well that just may be where a new bridge is needed. Not here in my valley where all we have are close-knit neighborhoods with homes, schools, and a precious few parks.

Other projects for Yarbrough already include the building of Park and Ride structures at Yarbrough and I-10 with CNG/LNG fueling station(project T405), and additional park and ride lots at Yarbrough and Montana (project T407), at Yarbrough and Montwood (project T408), at Yarbrough and North Loop (project T505), at Yarbrough and Bordey Highway (project T504). There are also plans to create an interchange at Yarbrough and North Loop (probably an overpass).


Is it feasible to add another International bridge here? Of course it's feasible. Merely cut out a small chunk of the fence, lay down a steel beam to span the cement channel, and voila, a bridge. A commuter bridge, no less! A bridge! Thank the Lord, another bridge; the answer to all of our worries.

Wait just a second. That won't work.

(photo by mekong.net)
You've got to make that bridge elevated for the ship traffic coming down the Rio Grande. "The reason is that the U.S. Coast Guard considers the Rio Grande to be a navigable river requiring bridges that ships can pass under the bridges." (David Crowder--Newspapertree, March 25, 2009) That's right. An elevated bridge to allow the hordes of KLAQ river-raft racers ample room to continue on their path to glory and the inevitable dousing of beer.
(photo stolen from haunting thunder blog)

Oops, I guess it has been many years since the Q sponsored a river raft race.

Probably just as many years as it's been since we had all the lanes opened on any of our ports of entry.

I say put it to a public vote, and not a vote from city hall.

People are a- okay

Thanks.

Thank you people for enriching me.

TexMex Americano Sandlapper

Here's another submission I wrote for that El Paso Times writer search in April:

Mutts?

Like many of you raised here in El Paso, I was born of different ethnicities. My mother, a typist in the Steno pool at Biggs, my father, an Air Force clerk who saw her and was at once smitten. He was a handsome gavacho hayseed, with no power to resist the sultry beauty of her mysterious, dark Spanish eyes. Okay, maybe it was her Latin thighs that captured his imagination, but I’ll not venture further speculation there. My point, if there is one, is that I’m a half-breed. You ‘member, Cher sang a little bit about it back in 1973. It was a song I could embrace.

I was raised on Lucha Libre and HeeHaw. My parents came from less-fortunate families who struggled to make ends meet. Poor Southerners and poor Mexicans--Mexican Hillbilly, one in the same? Pintos or black-eyed peas, cornbread or tortillas de masa, hominy grits or posole, green beans slow-cooked with a hunk of fatback and pintos refritos cooked up in lard. I’ve eaten fried green tomatoes, tripitas, collards and bunuelos all in the same day.



I love drinking a glass of buttermilk while trying to replicate Grandma Nell’s biscuits. Her gentle mixing and patting, then buttering each one immediately after baking to allow the tiny delicacies an extra succulent burst of flavor. Grandma Tommy made my favorite tortillas de masa when I would visit. Lovingly buttering each one as it came off the comal, serving me one after the other, until I could eat no more. Migas y frijoles for breakfast one day, and buttermilk biscuits with sausage pan-gravy the next. I learned that buttered grits alongside huevos con chorizo is a filling treat, seriously! Mama would drop pig knuckles into the menudo. Daddy was partial to pickled pigs feet. Yuck to both of them, but I witnessed my older brother eating them with greasy abandon.

My favorite story of theirs: she never forgave him for not getting her home from picnicking at McKelligon Canyon in time to see the Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan show. Or was it Elvis? My pet peeve: those forms asking about our ethnicity. I always claim “other”, because I cannot be forced to choose one heritage over the other. I can see the look of consternation on those government official’s faces, as they wonder if I’m Scandinavian/Inuit or Mexican/Italian. Other, no clarification, that’s me.

Old-school etymology would have nobody speaking these derogatory words: Half-Breed, Mezclado, Mestizo. This nation has been renowned for it’s very nature of the “melting pot” and a large majority of us have blurred the lines of heritage as our forebears hooked up and spawned such awesome creatures. Derogatory? I beg to differ. Irreverent? Well, yes, I have been told that I speak my mind with a little too much recklessness, but I find myself in the company of our esteemed President on this matter of race, and I aim to chocolate-milk that for all it is worth. I rejoice in it.

Mixteados unite!

Portable Pizza Grill

Who likes pizza?

From what I understand, damn near everybody! I have to admit, it just ain't my favorite thing to eat, because so much of it is just really so bad. I am not fond of pepperoni, it gives me heartburn, so, of course, my husband loves pepperoni. That probably began my fear and loathing where pizza is concerned, not to mention the weekend late-night drunken rituals of I'm hungry, what can we eat?
Chico's!



Yeah, I stole that pic from Taco Journalism


But nobody is sober enough to drive to Chico's Tacos.
Bummer.

So, by default the answer is Pizza-they deliver! Oh so convenient, and oh so awful. Don't get me wrong, good pizza I can handle. But that's a subjective comment if I ever made one. What constitutes a good pizza? You'll get varying answers to that question from around the globe, and I can't even pinpoint exactly who makes the best pizza for my taste. I aim to change that trend very soon, and be happy with pizzas I make on my own.

We used to make some pretty decent pizzas in our home oven back in the day, but they were always just sort of....ehh, okay. Fun to make on a Friday night, but the oven never really got hot enough to make a decent pizza pie.

About 8 months ago I was browsing through craigslist, (a daily ritual) and I saw a nice Kitchenaid Mixer listed for 75 bucks. I snagged that quick when I saw how new it is. I love to bake, but I really started thinking about pizza when I got this thing. Being the internet scavenger that I am, I had to find the best recipes for the right style crust. I was also trying to find a whole grain recipe, which is another story within itself. I ran across a couple of really interesting sites such as pizzamaking.com and the PMQ Think Tank. You can't get any better than this for learning about all things pizza. These folks have pizza down to a science. I've learned that it really is a science. Mind-boggling when you see the full scope of all the styles of pizza and all the styles of baking those pizzas. The lengths people will go to for good pizza, you'd be amazed. Who would have ever thought you could cook pizza using the cleaning cycle of your home oven? Well, they did, and they do. Boggles the mind, don't it?

So, I'm web surfing along, specifically seeking whole-grain pizza dough recipes, and I come across this forum post at Pizzamaking.com with a beautiful picture of a 60% whole-grain thin crust. That's Villa Roma's picture of a beautiful slice of cheesy pie!

I am truly amazed at what else I find at pizzamaking.com. Any style pizza crust you want, multitudes of recipes, resources for all things pizza, and a pleasant, helpful community. I could hardly believe I had found the thinner chewy crust I wanted, made with whole grain, and really good, concise information about how to actually recreate it. This particular poster calls himself Villa Roma (what a great name). It wasn't just the pictures of this guy's pizzas that blew me away, but how he was cooking those pies. He had taken one of these:




and turned it into an 800+ degree pizza oven. He cooks his pizzas in less than 2 minutes, and he calls the contraption a little black egg or LBE. There is a growing faction of LBE aficionados, and they have made some fascinating modifications to all manner of Weber Smokey Joe's. Of course, I've now got to have one for myself, knowing no pizza made in my kitchen oven is ever going to amount to anything I really, really want to eat. Sure, I'll eat pizza, but seldom do I wholly crave or enjoy it. Looking at my forlorn and neglected Smokey Joe Silver sitting on the back porch, knowing I had abandoned him to my BIGGER, better grill...well, I just knew I had to try and make one of these pizza cookers. I'm a project type of gal, dontchaknow?

I've been trying to get my husband on board with this experiment, but every time I'd mention it to him he'd say "That sounds dangerous." photo courtesy of skylighter.com

My first reaction is to do a double-take...A man who loves pizza is worried about a little ol' hot-ass pizza cooker? One that we can take camping? One we can take anywhere? WTF? So I do what I always do, Image credit to Farm1

and keep him out of it, while I talk it up to friends and family; this is what I do, I talk them up about all my hair-brained ideas until they begin to see the light. Finally, I wear him down, and before you know it he is purchasing the burner element required for this little contraption. WooHoo! I'm on my way! I get so excited I call my brother and another friend and tell them the game is afoot. I get out my Craftsman work station, a drill, an old hacksaw blade, protective goggles, some duct tape and needle-nose pliers, a few screwdrivers, my Dremel, Tungsten Carbide cutting bit, hearing protection, and consume a couple bottles of Bud Light. Fully prepared, I commence to making the cut-outs needed to modify the Smoky Joe.



Drilled a couple of pilot holes in the lid, and started the difficult task of cutting out this oval shaped vent with a flimsy length of broken hacksaw blade (one end ensconced in duct tape to protect my soft and delicate hand). I smoothed out those rough edges with my dremel, one little burr at a time.





I'll need to take some more pics to show you the end result. After I pried off the vent assembly from the bottom of the grill using my husband's Leatherman I began cutting out the hole for the burner assembly to fit into. I found it much easier to use a smaller drill bit, and forget the hacksaw blade completely. Many pilot holes later, I was able to Dremel cut my way through and create a semi-round hole. It was easy enough going for a few hours work, and altogether satisfying.

I love the way this burner I took from the Outdoor Gourmet Deluxe Fryer Stand fits perfectly upon that little ash tray underneath the grill. We found the burner locally at Academy Sports. They sell component parts there as well, but I needed the regulator and hose assembly, so I just bought the kit which was cheaper in the long run.





I posted a want on craigslist for a few firebrick splits, and a very nice gentleman from central El Paso responded. So I now have a buffer for the flame which is going to need to create temperatures of at least 600 to 800 degrees. That's some powerful heat. How do you know when you've reached optimum temperature? I suppose you could hold your hand over the surface, and try to gauge it that way, nope, not me! This is the tool of choice: Infrared Thermometer or something very close to it.

I will still need to order a good pizza stone or kiln shelf for a cooking surface, as all others who have gone before me can attest. A crappy stone will last through baking one pie, and then it will crack. If I can't find a round kiln shelf through my ad on craigslist, I'll have to break down and buy one. I was going to order a stone from Fibrament (possibly the best on the market) but their smallest stone at 13 5/8" is a little too big for my grill.

It's only a matter of time, but I shall soon have completed this project, and I'll be posting the end results once I get there.

The Self Sufficient Urbanite?

I just wanted to give props to one of the first blogs I've ever encountered that I found useful and extremely interesting, and wanted to see more of. The Self Sufficient Urbanite

I am copying their public profile here, because Nathaniel knows more about himself than I do:

About Me
madeinmanhattan
Nathaniel Martin is an urban gardener, woodworker, beer brewer, vinter and general DIY handyman living in New York City. This blog chronicles his projects and describes how to live in a frugal and environmentally sustainable manner by making and fixing almost everything yourself.

There you have it. DIY and very informative. I spent day after day reading every post in that blog, and found a kindred spirit. I really love what is represented there, with the reuse, renew, recycle ethic exhibited throughout. So many things we can do ourselves, so much waste in the world that doesn't have to go to a landfill. Such a wonderfully presented blog, Nathaniel! I enjoy looking at it, and the projects therein very much. Scavenging for wild fruit in Central Park is just amazing for me to think of. I try to find wild asparagus here, but all the good places we knew as children are dried up. I am dying to try collecting mesquite pods
photo by Wynn Anderson

before the critters eat them up, and make something tasty with them. One day, I'll pick the multitude of fruit from prickly pear cactus and make jelly. One day.
photo courtesy of ohric.ucdavis.edu

Last Christmas I asked my husband to buy me a dehydrator because I wanted to make jerky. Now, I know that I could use various methods to dehydrate foods, especially with the abundance of sun we have here in El Paso. That would require building a solar dryer, and that's what got me looking at blogs to begin with. Honestly, I don't want to be outside in that hot sun checking the progress of the drying, and surely, fighting off bugs. image courtesy of visual.merriam-webster

So I got my Christmas wish dehydrator and started buying produce when it was on sale. I found that banana chips are good, but apple chips are the bomb.


mmmmm....those up there are the pears. How could I forget the pears?

Where a sour green apple is too tart for my tastes, a dried green apple chip is an absolute delight. I really, really love dried grapefruit. I cannot get enough of it, and neither can my husband. He eats it all up, and I get pissed off. Who would have ever thought dried cantaloupe would be edible? Well, my sister-in-law thinks it is disgusting, but she craves the fruit roll-ups I make, as do her sons. Fruit roll-ups, any flavor, very simple to make.

I have dried tomatoes, dried mushrooms, dried blueberries, dried carrots, dried celery, dried roasted peppers.

This fresh pepper looks almost like we could call him
macaca rojo or Luchador El Diablo!


Mask Maniac Archangel Mask.

Oddly, I've made no jerky! That's hilarious. Here I am 6 months later, and no jerky. I do have 4 London Broil in the freezer, and will be making jerky this month. I really need to get my camera software onto this computer so I can show you some pictures. One of these days, I'll get it together. Yeah, right. A girl can dream, can't she?

My niece took a brewing class at NMSU last year, and I have been aching to brew up a batch of Oatmeal Stout. I wonder if I'll ever get there. I wondering if she'll see this and say, let's do it! I wonder about a lot of things. My brain just won't quit. One could even say I'm obsessive. Even I could say I'm obsessive. Okay I've said it. Don't fault me for it, it's such a charming trait(she said with exuberance)!

Anyway, kudos to Nathaniel in New York.
You have inspired me to just keep plugging away at the things that I want to do. Life can be so fun, if you just let it.

Pancho Villa

A couple of weeks ago I was helping out my friend Rich at the book table for the El Paso Women's Club Antique Appraisal Fair. I met some very interesting people there, and really enjoyed my day. One of the people I met was Elias Bonilla, and he began talking about Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution. I know so little about both these subjects, and have felt remiss in my lackadaisical approach to learning all about my city and the rich history here. I seek knowledge, yet am very poor about retaining that knowledge, or even finding a way to approach certain subjects. I may love to learn, but I'm awfully lazy about just getting off my ass and DOING something about it.

After speaking with Elias, I went home and began reading a book I had on my shelf:The Paradox of Pancho Villa by Haldeen Braddy. Though the book was interesting, it was also rather dry, and not very in-depth. Elias suggested I read The Life and Times of Pancho Villa by Friedrich Katz, so I called up my Judge Marquez Lower Valley Library to see if there was a copy available. Things sure have changed for the Lower Valley branch since I used to visit the tiny library by my grandma's house over on San Jose. I was in luck, they had the book on the shelf, and I also had them pull David Dorado Romo's Ringside Seat to a Revolution: An Underground Cultural History of El Paso and Juarez, 1893-1923 and hold them for me.

I spent some time looking at the offerings by Cormac_McCarthy, but there seems to be a dearth of his titles at the El Paso libraries. Knowing I may become overwhelmed with the historical tomes I had in hand, I chose some fiction by Aaron Latham entitled The Cowboy with the Tiffany Gun. He's got a great way with words, and I rather enjoyed his Code of the West a few years back. Latham may single-handedly be responsible for the Cowboy attire craze that swept the nation in the early 1980's, since he wrote the screenplay for Urban Cowboy. I recall our dismay at the time, since we wore boots and pearl-buttoned shirts when they were not some trendy new fashion statement. Oh dear, now I'm referencing John Travolta and clothing fads in a post about Pancho Villa. Speaking of which, just how much did Travolta contribute to the platform shoe craze? pimpinshoes.com!

Well, as you can see, that's just how my scatological brain works. You read that right; scatological. Hahaha. I'll spare you the imagery.

I guess Pancho Villa started his own fashion trend when Frito-Lay decided to mimic him with their Frito Bandito. Which begs the question: Why does society demand to take everything in our cultures and create political incorrectness out of the simplest of things? Backlash over silly trivialities. Humor has become humorless with these racial special interest groups railing at injustices foisted upon them by clever and sanctimonious marketing ploys. WHATEVER! I loved my Frito Bandito eraser, and Speedy Gonzales, Pepé Le Pew, and the little leprechaun on my box of Lucky Charms. I'm not so sure about Ralph Bakshi's take on giving Mighty Mouse a boost of energy from sniffing some magic dust, but I digress.

Word is, Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution will be feted in 2010. It should be an interesting ride, and I'm going to try and get a first-class especial ticket to the festivities after I get edumacated on the history. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

That's Not My Fault

The other day I mentioned that I caught a catch phrase from Willie Cager. He likes to say "That's not my fault". I found that rather hilarious, and now it's stuck in my head, like all the other trivia stuck in there.

Let me start this little story from the beginning...

About 4 years ago I was out book scouting and ran across this 1966 Flowsheet from the University of Texas at El Paso. There was our famous coach and


NCAA winning team, and I could not have been more excited to find such a gem. Shortly thereafter, Dan Wetzel's book came out and of course,I had to have a copy, so I purchased one at the UTEP bookstore and had Don Haskins sign my book and my Yearbook, and got a personal and in depth glimpse of just what the man thought of all the hullabaloo. I loved hearing him tell stories. I appeared on Fox news to tell my story about how I acquired this yearbook, and how that 1966 game is one of my earliest memories, since I was 4 years old when my father had us all cheering for the Miners.

Before I knew it, all of these major events were being announced about Glory Road the movie; the players, and the actors were all coming to town, a big to-do for the movie premiere, etc. The dollar signs began to flash before my eyes.


I knew I could get signatures, if I was persistent, and I could then sell my wonderful yearbook to the highest bidder; that's what I do, sell books. I then got very sick with the flu (I rarely get sick), and had no desire to go anywhere that week. I claim that I don't believe in karma, but maybe somebody was trying to send me a karmic jolt.

Later that week I learned that there would be a huge gathering of these basketball stars at the Sunland Park Barnes & Noble. I took some aspirin, blew my nose, and drove to the west side. I purchased a few more copies of Glory Road for friends, and stood in line to have Wetzel and Haskins sign them. I then began the wait for the players to begin trickling in. I was approached by a curious El Paso Times reporter who wanted to know more about how I got this Yearbook. I told him about my forays into garage sales, and thrift store hunting. I then told him I was going to attempt to get all of the players signatures in the yearbook. He points out a tall gentleman to me as Jerry Armstrong, so I ask him to pass the 66 Flowsheet to this tall man, and ask him to sign it. I'm quite embarrassed to say that the signature was not of Jerry Armstrong, but of Steve Tredennick (class of '65). My heart sank. No offense to Mr. Tredennick, who is hardly at fault for honoring my unusual request to sign a Yearbook which he did not even appear in!

I thought to myself, self-you got what you deserve. Everyone and their mother was trying to cash in on this Glory Road craze with signed books, shirts, basketballs, Wheaties boxes and the like. You name it, there was mass signing going on. Damn if that karmic jolt had not morphed right into a thunderclap!

I came to the conclusion that I had lost sight of what made this item so special in my own life. The history, the youthful memories, cheering for something I knew so little about, and the creation of a basketball fan at the tender age of 4.

There we were, at Loma Terrace elementary school (around 1970?), when Willie Cager, fresh from his degree in education, shows up as Physical Ed. teacher, and we were in awe, just in awe of him. UTEP basketball was a very big thing to me, from 1966 on. It was exciting to stomp our feet on those wood bleachers in Memorial Gym. Witnessing the masterful coaching and great players that came through UTEP who played their hearts out. I still can't believe I played pool one time with Don Haskins, at the Back Door Lounge on Mesa, where I worked back in the days when he was still coaching. He would tell me "little girl, I don't want you to embarrass me" whenever I would beg him to shoot a game with me. "Just one game!" I would say. "I know I'm no challenge, but please!" I would implore. One day he indulged me, and was nice enough to let me break. Of course he proceeded to slaughter me with sinker after sinker, within a few short minutes, if it was even that long. I played pool with Don Haskins, and got to hear his stories. He was a very funny man. That's all that really mattered.

I took my books home from the Barnes & Noble that day, and thought no further of signatures, or capitalism where Glory Road was concerned. I thought, instead, who deserves to have this yearbook?

Who, indeed? I became convinced that most of those players from the 1966 team could not afford to purchase a yearbook. I knew then that I needed to go on a mission to find out who I could give this yearbook to. Mr. Cager was my first choice. I knew of his philanthropic efforts for children's causes here in El Paso, and the fact that he continues to be active with Loma Terrace programs, and the Willie Cager Foundation. I wanted him to have his college yearbook, if he didn't already have one. After a few attempts to contact him and a dead end conversation I had with somebody I cannot even name, because I don't keep good records and I am rather addle-brained, I just forgot all about this. The 1966 Flowsheet sat on a shelf gathering dust for awhile. Every so often I'd think about it again, call the Cager household to hear a fax machine buzzing in my ear, and I'd let it slip away yet again, until I'd see Cager at a UTEP game, and there I'd go again...telling myself to do something, but forgetting all about it just as quickly as it would take to drive home from the game.

Which brings us to June 8, 2009. I had just received my new phone books, and called that same home number, and heard that same fax machine. I got online and looked for the Willie Cager Foundation again, and called the number there to a direct "Hello, hello" from the man himself. Finally, I had arrived. It was a quick trip to YISD, and I told Willie the story of my cheering at a black and white television along with my father and brothers, our childhood pride of having him as a coach at our school, my capitalistic endeavors, my dismay at things gone wrong, my realizations of what was right, and my interest in helping him preserve his legacy, with that errant signature serving as a reminder to something. Something-but I'm not exactly sure what. We talked and laughed for hours, and I truly enjoyed that time spent with him.

I am overjoyed to know that Willie has his yearbook now. Of course he could never afford it in 1966, but "that's not my fault." It has reached it's rightful owner, and I know it never really belonged to me.

Somethink2Say

Well, ya know, I wrote that "Dry Heat" piece for the EP Times public search for a new writer towards the end of April '09. I submitted 2 other little stories about El Paso that same day, but decided to remain anonymous since I know a few people on the Times' staff. As has been implied... I've got a big mouth. soooooo......

I let that anonymous caller out of the Somethink2Say bag, and that may have been an unwise decision in seeking a writing nod at the Times, but I cannot be positive, since I've heard nothing back, and seen no new references to what's going on with their writer search. I'm not what you'd call "in the loop" and I'm not so sure I want to be in the loop. I sort of travel on my own loop, and it certainly does not go around the city of El Paso. Oh hell, there I go again, wanting to talk about roads. Nope, this is about me, forget the roads for now. Let's talk about run on sentences.

Being fond of run-on talking, and brainstorming talk for the sake of talk, and arguing for the argument's sake are all traits ingrained in my psyche. My father was an early argument for me, and he once told me he enjoyed arguing for the sake of argument. Now I'm stuck with it. It is rather fun, if you try not to get too personal, unless warranted. Expect to see run-on sentences and stream of thought verbiage here. I can't get enough of words, thoughts, ideas, viewpoints, cultures...yet I am very decisive about a few things, until I'm not. Change my mind, I dare you. Maybe that brands me a "flake" just call me flaca, even though I'm not entirely Skinny, I can definitely be flakey, and I'm not just talking about my scalp in the dry El Paso winters. Hell, I can talk your ear off, and I will.

So, I finally just decided to begin writing in this blog. My head spins if I let the words rest. They must come out, vociferously, passionately, and shamefully, seldom with subtlety. I hope that I can spare some people who are near and dear to my heart, who can come here to read my diatribes, rather than be subjected to them first-hand. I'm hoping I won't just be giving them the double-whammy, personal and weblike. If they come here to read any of this, well then, that's not my fault. LOL. I just picked up that little catch-phrase "it's not my fault" from Willie Cager yesterday, and it's stuck in my head.

I want to say everything right now, but I'll save it for another day, or another hour, or ten minutes from now. Let's just see if I'll continue to have somethink2say in El Paso, Texas.

But it’s a dry heat…

How many times have you heard this? “You live in El Paso ? Isn’t it hot there?” Of course it is hot here. It is the desert, after all! We reside in the midst of the Chihuahuan Desert to be more precise. A unique ecosystem within itself, my desert home explodes with flora and fauna as seen nowhere else on this earth. I hear many other interesting comments when people learn I’m from El Chuco, but for now I want to focus on an aspect near and dear to me: The stark beauty of my surroundings.

Our desert climate poses a direct threat to those of us attempting to wear our green thumbs proudly upon our sleeves. Drought-tolerant landscaping and water rationing are old–hat to most of us by now. Still, I manage to choose a few unsuspectingly perky little plants that eventually wither and die under my passive-aggressive care. Both tender and indifferent, I’ve been known to kill cacti, many times. I save their brittle carcasses: a testament to my neglect. Someday I hope to apply what I have learned from my gardening mistakes, and spare the innocents this undue trauma.

Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus coccineus), Anthony Gap. Photograph by Gertrud Konings, 7 April 2003.

Thankfully, I am not a complete failure, and have managed to get past caliche as well as the brutal force of direct sun with some robust specimens now flourishing in my yard. I delight in the visiting assortment of hummingbirds, and Monarch butterflies attracted by the fragrant pink of desert honeysuckle, to the Desert Willow or Chilopsis linearis, with its purple flowers.
Photograph by A.H. Harris.

I am joyously witnessing the arrival of yellow sprays atop my Spanish broom for the first time since I planted them. I had feared they would never bloom. When the pecan begins to fruit in 2 more years, I will be beside myself with joy. I do hope I have treated her well, and that she will bear fruit beyond my desire. My grandmother always had an apricot tree, and this is my next choice for planting. Somehow, I am inclined to believe that she will help me have success with that choice, from beyond the grave. I know, I’m a bit weirdo.

One of my favorite things about El Paso is found at the heart of it’s people. There is such warmth here, friendliness, a je ne sais quois about that connection to the earth and an even greater connection to the familia. Not unlike the simmering of a pot on the back burner of your O’Keefe & Merritt, handed down from abuelita’s kitchen, there remains a promise of something wonderful if you’ll only take the time to let things brew. The time to stop and enjoy what you have, the people that you have in your life, the surroundings which implicate you in their dastardly plot to make you feel and to care about something wonderful. El Paso is very brown, warm and rich with the beauty of the shifting sands and light sienna skin of the masses. A dry heat indeed…