Borders and Loyalties

In Chapter 4 of On the Border by Char Miller, he discusses the importance of San Antonio's park system and how it can to be with the help of elected city officials. He conveys that in the 1990s- Mario Salas was elected as the councilman of District 2, which serves the east side of San Antonio. His goals were to increase the number of parks in the east side in order to expand that side of town. The East Side of San Antonio has always been a historically black neighborhood. In the 20th century, San Antonio had a commissioner style government in order to create a city of parks.

The North was not willing to give up the border states for many reasons. For example, in paragraph six, “If the South could gain control of these states, its armies could be ready to attack Northern states from Iowa to New Jersey” (“The Value of the Border States”). This shows that the North was not willing to give up the border states because the South would have attacked their states and that wouldn’t be good for the North. According to the article, “...the North was equally determined not to let them go. Northern strategy early in the war aimed at making sure that the border states stayed within the Union” (“The Value of the Border States”).

The Big House, the largest prehistoric native American structure in North America, is a four-story building constructed by ancient Sonoran Desert people, the Hohokam. The Hohokam were native American tribes that vanished in the 1400’s leaving behind archaeological evidence of a sophisticated culture revealing advanced canal systems, and the “Casa Grande,” a big house in the Sonoran Desert valley. Missionary, explorer and mapmaker Eusibio Francisco Kino, was the first European to discover the site in 1694 and named it “Casa Grande”. After the railroad came through in 1879, travelers would scratch their names into the walls, some took artifacts, even pieces of the wall were taken as souvenirs. In 1889, Congress voted to take action to protect the site from vandalism and looting. It has been protected since 1892 by the General Land Office and then it was transferred to the National Park Service in 1918. This

Shelby Steele’s article, The New Sovereignty, deals with Steele looking back at a talk that he gave at Midwestern University. He discusses his knowledge of his parent’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, his views on the movement and the way America functions, education, and how some of these things have influenced his life.

This voluntary (yet forced) alienation makes for psychological conflict, a kind of dual identity--we don’t identify with the Anglo-American cultural values and we don’t totally identify with the Mexican cultural values. We are a synergy of two cultures with various degree of Mexicanness or Angloness. So I have internalized the borderland conflict that sometimes I feel like one cancels out the other and we are zero, nothing, no one (1590).

The article written by Natalie Hess in the TESOL webpage named “Understanding and Outreach in a Border Community is by far my favorite. It is written about the city of Yuma where I spent nine good years of my life. The facts of the article struck home with me and have been a part of my life since living there. She addresses the issues of border living with tact and truth. It is applicable to our living and teaching here in Tucson today.

Six and a half billion dollars. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the approximate cost of a border that would stretch from San Diego to Texas. A chain-linked, steel, and barbed-wire border that would block hard work, dreams, and an inevitable fate. Through the brutal deserts, dehydration, and pain, only about a fourth of the immigrants trying to get to America make it. That means so much because of how many people try to accomplish this feat, considering still around nine-hundred thousand immigrants still make it. In all reality, borders are truly just an imaginary line some important people with wigs created. We, as a whole, decide how important things are. Money's just paper, an MLB star is just a normal human. However, something that always gets us, something that is made such a big fuss about, is a two-thousand mile long border, also known as The Mexican-American Border. Think about this. If we have such a powerful military and border patrol, why would we need such an intimidating wall? Or even why do we disown and hate these immigrants? Better yet, why would we spend all this money when we are trillions

For many Americans, the issue along the southern border brings up emotional responses. Personal preferences take over and instead of debating the issue, name calling and over generalization perseus. Liberals say that the right is racist and anti-immigration in all instances while Conservatives say the left wishes for masses of undocumented immigrants to flood into America and use up all of the tax payer’s money. Neither of these accusations hold any truth. Many Conservatives wish for a way for people to enter legally and a better screening process for the type of people they want in the country. On the other hand, many liberals hold this same stance. The only difference in these plans is how to enact them. Should the United States round up

Turning your back on your father to join a group of strangers to me is an example of un loyalty and betrayal. The character that grabbed my attention since the beginning was Nwoye, Okonkwo’s first son. Nwoye’s reaction to this cultural collision when the Christian's had arrived and taken over the village took me by surprise. Nwoye had gained an interest into the new religion that was part of the whites culture and was willing to abandon his own in order to convert himself into Christianity. Nwoye’s actions and decisions say a lot about his character based on his reaction to the new culture the village comes across to and tests their loyalty which becomes a challenge for Nwoye and an effect on the text.

In “Borders” by Thomas King, the story portrays identity as something very valuable. The title of this short story, “Borders” indicates two borders; one of them is a physical border and the other is a metaphorical border. The physical border is the obvious physical border amid Canada and the United States, while the other is a metaphorical border between someone's identity and citizenship, The mother immensely proud of her blackfoot heritage, furthermore she displays makeship nationalistic views. It is rare and improbable for a young woman to leave the reserve, which suggests that blackfoot people do not hate or despise living their. Accordingly they have no aspirations to move out. The mother feels strongly against America and would not betray her own identity by identifying as an American or a Canadian. In Thomas King’s “Borders”, the story shows proudness of citizenship and it portrays where you are from is a key piece of who you are and your identity.

Another one of Pratt's Arts of the Contact Zone is also a key in maintaining your national identity is Transculturation. Transculturation is the combining of two cultures or traits from two different cultures. This can help in maintaining national identity by having the cultures meet half way, instead of conforming and letting your identity slip away from you. Here, pull an example of transculturation from Said's text. For instance, the use of the Mercedes. Even though Said describes it in negative terms, the use of the Mercedes has come in handy for Palestinians. This is just a suggestion, you may find another example.

The Unlawful border crossing in the U.S. Southern border has been of political interest for the past decades. It has been the primary source of the illegal trades into U.S. from Mexico. Despite the government efforts to end the act, there have not been long-term solutions to the Menace. The vital approach is to understand the structural nature of the border and the socio-cultural nature of the inhabitants that facilitates the illegal act across the border. The lawful bill in place seems not to offer a practical solution to combating the problem. The existing border and immigration policies should be revised to provide a possible settlement to the illegal trade across the borders. Also, the border barriers should be adequately constructed and guarded with border security officials. Another crucial area for consideration is the cooperation between the two countries in combating the illegal trade across the border. A cross-border initiative like Merida by President Bush would have been the significant initiative in promoting the U.S. Mexico cross-border collaboration in combating the Illegal Border Crossings. Due to the well-coordinated nature of these criminal networks, full federal cooperation like Boarder Enforcement Security Taskforce (BEST) should act in combating the organized gangs.

The dictionary defines the word loyalty as a strong feeling of support or allegiance. Schools across the nation stand every morning, put their hands on their hearts and pledge their loyalty to their country. The novel Ship Breaker is about a young boy named Nailer who works to break ships apart in a futuristic society. His mom died and his father, Richard, became an addict leaving them very poor and reliant on Nailer’s income. One day, Nailer is walking the beach with his friend Pima recovering supplies after a hurricane, there they find a massive clipper ship with one survivor inside. The girl inside, Nita, was fleeing capture from her family’s enemies and shipwrecked. Soon after, Richard Lopez and his crew found Nailer, Nita, and Pima and captured them, planning to sell Nita to her enemies. With a stroke of luck, the three manage to escape from Richard. Nailer and Nita fled to New Orleans with an unfaithful member of Lopez’s crew. While in Orleans, the trio finds work, allies, and an escape from Nita’s enemies. Then, Nita is captured by the enemy who has allied with Richard Lopez. In response, Nailer set out on the clipper ship of his dreams to find her, and unknowingly, to find himself. True loyalty doesn't come with any ties, it is unconditional and without hesitation. In Paolo Baciagalupi’s Science Fiction book Ship Breaker, use of symbolism and conflict tell the story of Nailer Lopez and his journey to find that loyalty doesn't just lie in family, it's who has your

Globals, Locals, and Mobals: In the book “The Power of Place,” Harm de Blij introduces a new viewpoint of geography. Geography is much more than the terrain and physical makeup of the world. It is the culture, education, conditions, foods, politics, language, and opportunities. These things make people and places unique, and capture the true meaning of Human Geography.

“Borders”, by Thomas King, takes place at the Canadian - American border. The main character is a mother who is Blackfoot. The mother refuses to identify herself as either Canadian or American; instead, the mother insists that she is Blackfoot, and because of this she and her twelve-year-old son have to stay in amidst the border offices of Canada and the United States. The title of this short story, “Borders” indicates two borders; one is the physical border amid Canada and the United States and the other is a metaphorical border between someone’s identity and citizenship. In Thomas King’s “Borders” The story shows proudness of citizenship and it portrays where you are from is a huge part of who you are. The three arguments that I will argue to prove this thesis is that the mother is proud that she is a Blackfoot, It is rare and improbable for a young women to leave the reserve, and that the mother dislikes the Americans because she was proud of her own people.