el norte...

i`ve been thinking a lot about immigration recently. after reading crossing over by ruben martinez (a great book, by the way. i recommed it to all of you!) and talking with some of the kids here in the casa, the immigration bug seems to have penetrated into all parts of mexico. martinez writes about cherán, a small town in michoacán, and i am living in a small town far, far from the border. yet seemingly everyone has family or at least knows someone who has tried to cross the border or who`s living in the u.s. or who´s planning to cross soon. angelica´s mom is there - in nevada - apparently to never be back again. javier´s sister is planning her crossing near matamoros (she´s from acatzingo, a small town close to serdan). cesar and luis angel´s cousin crossed the unforgiving arizona desert - and luckily survived. rogelio´s mom was caught once by la migra, fingerprinted, released, and then crossed again successfully. ¨if they catch you a second time, they send you to jail,¨ rogelio tells me. before this year, i hadn`t given much thought to how illegal immigration and the ideal of the american ¨dream¨ were touching the lives of even the children here... i wonder how many of these kids will try to cross illegally. i am fairly certain that at least some will. maybe cesar. or juan. or javier. or raquel. or isabel. or even naama. who will try? will it be worth it? is that the future that some of the kids are working towards? hard questions. but what is both exciting and terrifying is that i have the opportunity to play a role in the future that awaits these children. by (hopefully!) providing them with other options that include a good education and training for a career, maybe they will be content enough with their lives here to not put themselves in danger just to work on a farm or in a meat factory or at walmart for horrific pay and even worse treatment by their bosses. that´s the hope at least...