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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
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
ColumnsStories

Old Fighter Pilots Just Fade Away

It’s tough when you lose a friend. Especially an Air Force buddy and a fighter pilot like Ed Rasimus. We called him Ras. He died on January 30, 2013, but I was reminded of his passing about ten days ago, on September 29. He would have been seventy-three years old on that day. Several other buddies posted tributes to Ras on his Facebook page. I did too. It’s weird, he’s gone, but his social media…
Pedro Chavez
October 8, 2015