Quirky thoughts from an old man.
La Frontera, which I think is the largest paper in Tijuana, ran a full page story about the opening of the Changing Boundaries map exhibit at CECUT.
It appears that people of Mexico are more interested in the Changing Border (Fronteras Cambiantas) than people in the USA.
The opening of the Changing Boundaries map exhibit has been posted on the CECUT web site. You can help me a bit by going to the link and liking it on Facebook. Do it now.
If you are in the San Diego area this Friday night come across the border for a pretty cool bi-cultural event.
http://www.cecut.gob.mx/article/2312
To see this announcement on the CECUT website is pretty exciting. I have taken a collection of maps that I made 20 years ago and over the last three years I have leveraged it into an opportunity to talk about the history of the US-Mexico relationship at the biggest cultural institution in Tijuana. This is cool. Thanks to Charles Pope at USD for being the first person to see the potential of this exhibit and to Raul Rodriguez at CETYS for the introduction to CECUT.
If you read this blog even occasionally you know that I have been exhibiting my collection of border maps around the West. We held a colloquium to celebrate the exhibit at ASU on January 19, 2012.
During the talk Dr Carlos Velez-Ibanez and I announced that after the exhibit in Tijuana at CECUT the collection is being donated to the School of Transborder Studies at ASU.
I am delighted to have found such a good home for the collection and Carlos and his group will be getting a tool that will enhance their programs in many ways.
More photos from the STS/ASU Exhibit and Colloquium
In the 1930’s the Auto Club of California issued a strip map of the route from San Diego to Ensenada.
I bought a copy of the little map on eBay and am going to use it in the Fronteras Cambientas exhibit at the CECUT Museum in Tijuana that opens on February 24, 2012. The opening reception is on March 2, 2012.
Fronteras Cambientas is Changing Boundaries in Spanish
There are lots of very interesting thing to see on the map. One of them is that, based on the size of the city names and confirmed by my research, in 1930 Ensenada was larger than Tijuana.
The Changing Boundaries Map Exhibit at Arizona State University is closing on February 10, 2012. The next show is in at the CECUT museum in Tijuana Fronteras Cambientes opens on February 24, 2012.
In the meantime the last planned event at ASU is a Colloquium on January 19, 2012 at 5:30 pm.
I love the idea of being involved in a colloquium it sounds so much more important than being on a panel or speaking to a meeting. And this one has some super panelist with lots of knowledge about the border.
Anyway come if you can and forward the announcement to your friends in the Phoenix area who might be interested.
On Monday October 31 Dr Oscar Arias visited the School of Trans Border Studies at ASU and I had the honor of giving him a tour of the Changing Boundaries Map Exhibit. Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end the fighting in Central America in the 1980’s while he was President of Costa Rica the first time. Before the tour he gave a short talk about his attempt to get the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) passed by the US Senate. During the talk he told a story about US politics that I am paraphrasing here:
” In the 1980’s Senators Ted Kennedy and George Mitchell and other Democrats supported my Central American Peace Plan but then in 2006 the same Democrats opposed CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement).
I was puzzled by this until I figured out that they weren’t trying to do the right thing. They supported my peace plan because President Reagan a Republican opposed it and years later they opposed the trade agreement because President Bush another Republican supported it. It was all about politics not about what was best for the US or for the world.”
A depressing story from someone who has seen politics from the inside.
You can read what he said about immigration here.
Dr Arias used his Nobel award money to start a peace foundation.
I just got some pictures from the opening of the Changing Boundaries map exhibit in Tecate. The opening reception was very nicely done the food and the drink were excellent and plentiful. And the exhibit looks wonderful.
Simon shows where Santa Fe is
Magda, Lupita and Simon
Zella is second from the left.
Zella Ibanez who is married to Hernan, the handsome man in the hat to her left, was the prime mover on the event. Magda and Lupita did all of the detail work to make it happen. I was able to bask in the reflected glory.
Life is Good!
The border map exhibit at the University of San Diego is closing this week. It has been one of the most successful project I’ve been involved in about immigration so I’m working hard to get a new venue in LA or Arizona.
Thanks to Charles Pope and the entire staff at the Trans-Border Institute at USD for helping make it such a success.
The announcement card for the Map exhibit at USD have been published.
Now the difficult part begins: Promotion and marketing. Hopefully we’ll do some Facebook and some press releases and some other viral stuff. If you have any ideas let me know. Mean while if you know anybody in San Diego forward this link to them. https://simonburrow.com//archives/simon-says/changing-boundaries
The opening reception could be quite interesting because it is hard to avoid the question: “Did the USA steal California from Mexico?” You and your friends can come and hear my brilliant answer. To register click here. Here are more details:
