Floating Fences

So subtopia has become one of my favorite blogs, just after ours. The idea of a fence that changes with the dunes. . . pretty damn awesome. Link below.

://subtopia.blogspot.com/2009/03/floating-fences-1-imperial-county.html

NAFTA

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/super-nafta-land.html

check out this project

Oral Stories and Data on Mexican Immigration

The Mexican Immigration Project by Princeton

This source has a collection of data and stories surrounding Mexican Immigration.

http://mmp.opr.princeton.edu/expressions/stories-en.aspx

simulate the Struggles of mexican immigrants

Tourists can simulate the Mexican immigration

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/16/usa-immigration-mexico-tourists-simulation

We are in the Texas A&M Newspaper

Apparently we made enough of an impression to be put in their newspaper.

Maider Lopez - from CCA

This is the personal website of the guy who did the painted soccer field on the public plaza.
http://www.maiderlopez.com/

There are a couple really interesting projects--all that deal with how you can take an existing space and add to them without altering the architecture, usually by painting or installing, and double the use of that space to make you reconsider it.

"A Field Guide to Military Urbanism"

Check out this blog.  Its called SUBTOPIA, and is written by Bryan Finoki. Very cool.

The most recent post is about The Border Tunnel Capitol of America.

Achitecture Intervention on theborder wall

http://borderwallasarchitecture.blogspot.com/

if you can't fight 'em...

the latest in narco-tourism...

More violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Following up on frogger post...

In Ciudad Juarez this past weekend, drug traffickers decided that Roberto Orduna Cruz (the now former police chief) had to go.  The drug gangs have become so powerful there that they forced Orduna to resign and flee the city.  To get what they wanted, they vowed to kill a police officer every 48 hours, and did until Orduna resigned. The Juarez police up until this incident have been no match for the drug gangs, facing execution-style shootings, grenades, fires, and beheadings in recent weeks.  45 police officers have been killed since January 2007.

The federal government ordered 5,000 soldiers to take over the Juarez Police Department, and the defense secretary will pick the next chief of police.  2,000 soldiers have already entered the city, and will fight to take back control of the city.

Texas is responding to this violence by preparing for a potential collapse of the Mexican government...

Thoughts on Laredo

On my plane last night from Phoenix to Chicago, I found myself sitting next to a man in his mid-thirties. We got to talking about travel, and I mentioned that I had traveled recently to Texas, along the border ending in El Paso. He said he had been similar places due to work. It turns out that his company (I'm not sure what kind of company it is...I know he owns a farm with cows on the side) has a testing facility in Laredo, TX. We got to talking about our opinion of the city. He told me that he too had found Laredo strange. He had the option of moving there a few years back temporarily, but decided against it because he didn't want to raise children in that area. I found that to be a very interesting comment.
Additionally, he had crossed the border about five years ago, and had a much different experience than we did. He was shocked that we had stayed across the border, because when he had been there, he had felt very unsafe. He had seen a great number of vehicles and bars with bullet holes in their sides, and felt very much like he was in a place he shouldn't be.
Just interesting to hear a non-architecture student's opinion on the area.