Arizona
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Here’s what I’ve been up to – to see the rest of the my team’s updates, go here.
Amid southern Arizona’s vast landscape of dry foothills, valleys and mountains it’s easy to feel very small.
The people that I’m writing about move through this land, sometimes on a daily basis — they include hikers and hunters, law enforcement and humanitarian volunteers, and the people illegally crossing Arizona’s section of the U.S.-Mexico border.
With the land playing so much of a role in the stories I'm reporting, I decided early on that I needed to see it and experience it for myself. On my first trip I was confident that I'd kept track of where we'd parked the jeep — only to be completely wrong. During the second trip I witnessed dramatic shifts in weather and vowed to be better prepared next time. Most recently, exhausted from the heat, I felt my head swimming despite all my efforts to stay fit, rested and hydrated.
There are rewards — glimpses of elusive wildlife, the fiery wildflowers, unforgettable sunsets. But people who underestimate the harshness of this area are taking a huge risk.
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Tags: Arizona, Arrivaca, ASU, Border Patrol, heat, hiking, hot weather, News21, Pima County, summer fellowship, Tumacacori
On my first overnight research trip to Tucson, friends took me to downtown to eat. It’s funky, it’s got an attitude, it’s probably not for everyone, but this place had me at two words : BLT pasta.
These photos were taken last Wednesday on one of many follow-up visits.
I’m sure they have other great dishes – in fact, I’ve heard people say they quite enjoy their food – but I think I’m set. And yes, the leftovers are awesome fresh out of the hotel microwave the morning after.
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Tags: Arizona, burgers, fruit, overnight, pasta, research trip, Tucson
Things here in Phoenix have been heating up lately, and not just because it’s May and the temperatures are steadily, inevitably climbing towards the 100’s. There’s this little thing called SB-1070 that has been in the news recently, and now this is the hotspot for politics as well as border crossing traffic. It’s the perfect summer to be in the newsroom looking at border issues – and having a bit of a travel budget is the icing on the cake.
Let’s take a quick rundown of last week, for example. On Monday, we rose early to be downtown in Phoenix by 4am to see Telemundo broadcast a live immigration special and the audience’s reaction. (they covered the issue in-depth again two days later)
Next, my teammates and I made a run to Tucson, Arizona to interview several contacts there and sit in on Operation Streamline hearings. Operation Streamline started in Del Rio, Texas, but is now operational all along the border and making news and encouraging debate again along with SB-1070.
Finally, while my team headed back to cover Saturday’s protest events, I spent one more day in Tucson to ride along on a Samaritan patrol. My classmates and I have been in talks to do a Border Patrol ride along too, as both are great ways to get out and see the landscape and understand what people are literally going through.
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Tags: Arizona, immigrants, immigration, live broadcast, march, Operation Streamline, Phoenix, protest, SB-1070, Telemundo, Tucson
On Tuesday, we drove north to Sedona. Finals ended last Friday, and I start a fellowship next Monday, so this was our opportunity to hit the road. It was large part break and small part assignment, to scope the city and the scenery for my mother who’s always been interested in going.
We saw beautiful scenery.
We met a group of interesting little birds.
On the way back, we discovered what difference light can make – the two sets photos below were taken in the same place, from slightly different angles and a little shutter speed tinkering on my part.
Overall, a great afternoon…
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Tags: Arizona, birds, flowers, lighting, photography, red rocks, rest stop, road trip, Sedona, sunset
Here’s the second half – or top three layers – of my border mapping project :
Border Relations
Consulates, humanitarian groups, and medical facilities that play a role in policy along the border.
key:
red = medical facility
green = humanitarian organizations
pink = El Salvadoran or Guatemalan consulate
lavendar = Mexican consulate
turquoise = US consulate
Border Patrol
US Border Patrol stations along the US-Mexico Border, with each station’s sector assignment in the key.
Border Lands
A breakdown of border boundaries, plus cities and facilities that play a role in Arizona or Tucson Sector policy.
key:
red = medical facility
green = humanitarian organizations
pink = El Salvadoran or Guatemalan consulate
lavendar = Mexican consulat
turquoise = US consulate
yellow = US Border Patrol Station
sources : http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border_security/border_patrol/border_patrol_sectors/, http://www.usembassy-mexico.gov/eng/edirectory.html, http://www.mexonline.com/consulate.html, http://www.consulateofguatemalaindenver.org/cons_eng.asp, http://www.elsalvador.org/embajadas/eeuu/home.nsf/0/12f9de74529dada785256b0a005ba4c8?OpenDocument
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Tags: Arizona, Baja California Norte, border cities, border crossers, Border Patrol, California, Chihuahua, Coahuilla, consulates, cross border traffic, El Salvador, enforcement, Guatamala, humanitarian organizations, illegal, immigrants, immigration, locations, maps, Medical Examiner, Mexican States, migrants, New Mexico, Nuevo Leon, Sonora, stations, Tamaulioas, Texas, US-Mexico Border
I’m working on a big project for one of my classes – one that’s been growing and growing and growing to the point where it’s spilled over into two other classes! The project involves many locations along the US-Mexico border and will have a number of media components to show different parts of the story and the data. There’s going to be a major mapping component, and I’ve started posting some of the locations with Google Maps since they can be embedded into the final website for one of the classes.
Google Maps does not have a layering feature, so I’m experimenting with simulating a layering effect through creating multiple maps. Each will have a different component of the story – cities, boundaries, etc. – and will go on the same section of the final webpage. The last map includes all layers from the previous maps. Here are the first two – let me know what you think, and if you have suggestions for what I should include, leave me a comment telling what and why!
Border Boundaries
American and Mexican states along the US-Mexico border.
Border Cities
Cities that play an important role in border policy and migrant travel routes.
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Tags: Arizona, Baja California Norte, border cities, border crossers, Border Patrol, California, Chihuahua, Coahuilla, consulates, cross border traffic, El Salvador, enforcement, Guatamala, humanitarian organizations, illegal, immigrants, immigration, locations, maps, Medical Examiner, Mexican States, migrants, New Mexico, Nuevo Leon, Sonora, Tamaulioas, Texas, US-Mexico Border
This year, winter break means two trips. The second I’ll be describing shortly, but the first (the one I’m on at the moment, actually, is about family, and friends (or fronds, as my phone would prefer me to type) and holidays. From start to finish, we’ll be in six states but I bet that our first day drive from Phoenix, AZ to Elk City, OK will be a tough record to beat.
A few short notes from the road:
On a roadtrip long, long ago, my mother mentioned that those blue shipping trucks with the yellow Werner logos remind her of her cousin. Now, whenever I see them I think of family, and they’re everywhere.
Here are the lights of Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was our first goal – we wanted to get at least this far. While it wasn’t that late when we passed through – maybe around 7pm – it had been this dark for at least an hour. Stopping was really, really tempting! But we pushed on…
When on a roadtrip one of the most important things is keeping your car in top gear. In our case we’ve been considering new tires for a little while now, so we’ve Steven’s been keeping a close eye on them. We started day 2 by topping off the air pressure in Elk City after a major breakfast lunch.
And finally, don’t forget to enjoy the stops along the way. While the goal is technically to end up where we began – a full circuit – we wouldn’t be making the trip in the first place if it wasn’t for the people we’ll be seeing along the way. At my aunt and uncle’s house, we frosted a large tray of tiny cookies before my cousins and their kids arrived for dinner. We had a really lovely stay (thank you!) and it was great to see everyone. For our route, see the Google map below, which may need to be zoomed out a bit.
Now we’re in Lawrence, where it was nearly snowing when we pulled in through a wintry haze, and after the dentist on Tuesday afternoon – the 6th state and holidays at Steven’s family. So… until the next entry, I’ll be focused on staying warm – and collecting road trip stories from you! Please hit the comments button and tell me about a road trip you’ve taken – it can be your last one, favorite one, or worst one, as long as you share!
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Tags: Amarillo, Arizona, cookies, Elk City, family, Flagstaff, frosting, Google maps, holiday travel, home for the holidays, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, road safety, road stories, road trip, snow, Wichita
Journalism doesn’t work without knowing your story, and knowing your story involves knowing your place. Since most of my class is new to Phoenix (and a lot of us are technically new to journalism) many of our first assignments were designed to get us moving through the community and building new skills – double travel. And of course, I got pictures out of experience.
Abstracts & Details
Many of my POP examples from Phoenix came out of class assignments, like the first one I mentioned in the earlier post. What was that first photo assignment for my media class? Abstracts. And how does that fit into pictures of pictures? Well, a few came out as micro POP examples.
Going Historical
One of our ongoing assignments this semester is researching historical neighborhoods. This project took me to the Historic Preservation Offfice which is located in City Hall – it’s an fantastic office with truly stellar staff. The two pictures below, the vertical ones, are from a 1915 Sanborn Map company book of insurance maps of Phoenix.
Shoot First
Another is called “shoot first” where we capture images that are interesting, then find out what’s behind them. The first set is from a downtown sculpture called “Release the Fear,” built out of weapons turned in by the community.
There’s local graffiti which turned out to be notices for a well-known visual artist and a local music movement.
And there’s this mural just east of Roosevelt Street, whose story I don’t know yet. (If you do, tell me in the comments!)
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Tags: Arizona, assignments, graffiti, hippopotamus, historical, historical preservation, homework, insurance, photography, pictures of pictures, POP, Sanborn
“Pictures of pictures” is my attempt at a catchy name for photos of artwork. In other words, any image I’m taking a picture of – a painting, a sculpture, a document, stained glass – sometimes even another photo. One reason to do this is to remember the information, though usually it’s to remember the image itself. This is probably the one I plan the least – often, I don’t realize what I’ve done till afterward. Plus, it’s not quite as clear cut a category as, say, people, or planes. At the time, I’m thinking, “Oh, wow – I want to see this again!” or “That is so cool, I want to remember it!” Some trips generate crazy amounts of “pix of pix” or POP photos; other trips, just a handful or none at all. Museums are great for this, and also graffiti, billboards, and even advertisements.
Surprisingly, I’ve already turned up a number of pictures from Phoenix, partly due to my summer photography class and partly to researching historical neighborhoods for class. There was even enough for a whole post just on Rosita’s. Many of the remaining POP photos fell into two categories – ones I’d taken for my summer photography class and ones I’d taken for class assignments in the journalism program.
Photography class
First, playing with a borrowed DSLR at night. I took an awesome online photography class from Karen Russell. I needed a DSLR to take the class, difficult on a student budget. In a deeply generous move that made taking the class possible, I was loaned a Canon Rebel. The experience was amazing. I learned so much from the class, the camera, and the combination. There’s a whole new photographic world out there I knew nothing about which now fascinates me! This is a downtown building, Trinity Cathedral, which lights up nearly every evening for at least a few hours. I wanted to try to capture the windows.
Another lesson of photography class (which also bled neatly into journalism) was to notice the details. That lesson had me taking a few pictures like these before I knew our first photo assignment for our media class.
Now, for me, photography’s a learning experience, one I’ve far from mastered! But that’s the thing about learning – it’s a journey itself, and for this case, the picture to remember it by are built right in.
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Tags: abstracts, Arizona, assignments, Canon Rebel, cathedrals, homework, journalism, Karen Russell, Phoenix, photography, photography class, pictures of pictures, POP, sewers, stained glass, Trinity Cathedral
Steven and I discovered Rosita’s by chance when we visited in May. We were going in circles after a long day, not particularly optimistic day of apartment hunting. Something about this place caught our attention, and inside we found a cozy space with bright artwork and a pond complete with fountain and fish. The staff is great, and the food – amazing (but don’t just take my word for it). We vowed not only to come back but also to bring anyone who visits us – we’ve already managed to take two of my classmates, and somehow end up there at least once a month on a date. Favorite places like this are part of what turns a city into a home, and I’m glad I have pictures already. Hopefully there will be more taken at Rosita’s (and in Phoenix overall), and not just from next summer when I plan to take my parents on their visit. (They’ll be long past due – this sort of food food is one of the few things NOT available in Taupo, NZ)
Anyway, in a near-future post, I’ll be back to my informal photo categories with my most flexible imaginary category, “pictures of pictures” or POP. At first, I was going to include one Rosita’s picture in that larger post. Then, as I browsed through the last month’s material for that one good picture of Rosita’s, I found one and then another… and another… and another… And realized Rosita’s probably deserves a post of its own in more ways than one. And now, on to the photos…
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Tags: Arizona, art, family, fishpond, jukebox, local restaurant, Mexican food, Phoenix, pictures of pictures, POP, Rosita's
