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ColumnsPolitics

INFAMOUS BLACK BAG

For those who are left behind, there is nothing more dreaded than the black bag. The vile black bag. The temporary container that often arrives unannounced at Mexican and other consulates in the United States, carrying the last remnants, the decomposing bodies of unfortunate brave souls who dared dream of a better future and who went after it going north. Carrying what is left at the of the road: mortal flesh, but also unwritten epitaphs,…
Pedro Chavez
December 15, 2022
Border TalesColumnsMexicaliNovelsStoriesUncategorized

Unscripted Journey: Our Trek North

IMAGE: Some of us with our mother in a photo taken for a local crossing permit. Circa 1950s. There were no triple walls then, in 1962, the year we crossed the border between Mexicali and Calexico in our way to a place that promised us a better future. Triple walls are abundant now in myriad spots along the geopolitical line that defines where Mexico begins and the United States ends. And vice versa. There was…
Pedro Chavez
March 29, 2020
AnécdotasEspañol

Travesía al norte: cuarta parte

IMAGEN: Grandes y frondosas higueras, similares a las de nuestro campamento en Figarden.   ÚLTIMOS DOS PÁRRAFOS DE LA TERCERA PARTE: Recuerdo como si hubiera sido ayer esa coyuntura. Todo lo transcurrido esa mañana. Nunca se me ha olvidado y lo dudo que lo vaya olvidar. Una vez que se echó andar el auto y abandonamos esa parcela, todos nos mantuvimos callados. No sabíamos qué pensar o qué decir. Recuerdo mirar hacia atrás y ver…
Pedro Chavez
January 7, 2018
ColumnsStories

The Trek North: Part Six

PHOTO: Fig tree like the ones in Figarden in 1962. Getty Images.   Working as a helper on a fig-picking tractor did a lot for me. More than anything, I felt good about getting a check each week. Every Saturday I would ask my father to take me to the small store in Figarden so I could cash it. I usually bought a soda and an apple turnover, sometimes other things. One had to buy…
Pedro Chavez
January 16, 2016
ColumnsStories

The Trek North: Part Five

Tractor in an orchard. Getty Images.   On the same day that we started working picking figs by hand, I was offered a chance to become a helper on a contraption that swept up the figs off the ground. It was late afternoon when a man working for the grower came looking for me at the orchard where several members of our family and myself were still learning the ropes of our job. The man…
Pedro Chavez
December 16, 2015
ColumnsPolitics

Pesos for Pizza

NOTE: Wrote this column in January, 2007, right after Pizza Patrón in Dallas announced that it would accept Mexican pesos as payment for their food at their outlets. The marketing move worked. Photo from Getty Images.   A pizza chain’s marketing ploy seems to be bringing its spinners more than what they had in mind from some irate folks who sense that America is becoming too much like Mexico. On the other hand, there’s a…
Pedro Chavez
December 15, 2015
ColumnsPolitics

The Lure for Cheap Labor

PHOTO: Mexican worker in the service industry. Getty Images.   There are tons of Americans that complain about the undocumented immigrants and their presence in this country. They want them to go back to where they came from. Basically, they want to get rid of the masses of people doing the work most folks in our affluent nation won’t do, the cheap labor that fattens the bottom lines of a great chunk of corporate America.…
Pedro Chavez
December 4, 2015
ColumnsStories

The Trek North: Part Three

PHOTO: Figs on a tree branch, similar to the ones we picked in Figarden, California. Getty Images.     It took about an hour to get to Delano after leaving Bakersfield. We were all hungry, but for some reason food no longer mattered much, especially for those of us that were older. We wanted to find work. The local farm employment office gave us the name and address of a Mexican labor contractor that needed…
Pedro Chavez
December 1, 2015
ColumnsStories

The Trek North: Part Two

IMAGE: Oil pumps, similar to the ones we encountered in Oildale. Getty Images.   Once we had our permanent resident visas, our mother wanted to leave right away for the United States. Our father wanted to wait. It was in August, a time when he had plenty work. He thought it would be best to save some money before embarking on the trip north. Our mother felt differently and said that not much would be…
Pedro Chavez
November 24, 2015
Border TalesColumns

Food for Thought: The Guard at the Border

NOTE: Wrote this fictionalized story in May 2006, as part of Border Tales, a crazy idea I had then about making fun of some news items. It’s all fiction, written just for fun. (PHOTO: U.S. Mexico border area at Big Bend National Park, looking south from the Texas side. Getty Images).   The tall man was wearing a camouflaged uniform, similar to those worn by American soldiers in Iraq. He was carrying what looked like…
Pedro Chavez
November 23, 2015