The Year of the

Part 4

Silver Lining

Cerritos College

Spring 2009

LA LLAGA
The Wound: A monument to the dead worth a thousand words.

I went on a trip down to the Mexico-US border to find a story. I wanted to see what difference a long strip of fence could do to one piece of land. It was a crystal-blue kind of day, the kind with perfect California weather. But the more I photographed, the more gloomy the day became. I could feel the divide between nations, between people. At first, this issue was about immigration, but as the day went on this issue became a photo story of the sorrow and demise of the unwelcome travelers immigrating to see the other side. I traveled with three companions who served as my body guards. With the drug wars in full throttle, driving through Tijuana was not only the most dangerous assignment I could have taken on, it was also the most exciting. The story here may not be anything new, but I hope that it serves as a reminder that there are hundreds of people willing to risk their lives in hopes of the American dream. As citizens, we sometimes cannot say we would do the same. Weve built three fences to keep people out, its this mentality that almost makes us untouchable. We should start thinking about ways to start letting people in, to create a unity and put an end to segregation.
-Tanya Bermudez

Arriba El Sur Hail to the South.

deliver
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Check out more of this issue at www.cerritoswingsmagazine.blogspot.com

Published by the Cerritos College Journalism Program

562-860-2451 ext. 2617

29 2009

PR IL

Seeing the Other Side

This is La Llaga. It means wound in Spanish, and it is a memorial to the people who have died attempting to cross the Mexico-US border. The Llaga is a collection of art work along the border that consists of three walls, 14 miles long and kept under air and ground surveillance 24 hours a day. This fence is also known as the Wall of Shame, as it continues to divide 500 feet long into the Pacific Ocean. Parts of the fence are enveloped by art celebrating Mexican culture. Other parts show political outrage; and scattered from the Tijuana airport to El Paso, crosses are hung with the names of those who have lost their lives striving for a better life free of injustice and poverty. The crosses serve as a memorial to the dead but also to raise awareness to the world of the unnecessary deaths caused by the US border policy. Since 1996, when the US increased its war on immigration and began building the triple fence the number of deaths has more than doubled while the number of people attempting to cross has stayed the same. On average 500 people die a year. Five thousand have died during the past decade. The main cause of death is dehydration as people are forced to go around the fence and into the Mojave Desert. These photos were taken from alongside the Tijuana General Abelardo L. Rodriguez International Airport. This is what the people who live in Mexico see everyday on what was once a beautiful landscape. The various art displayed on the fence are torn and worn but remain as a cultural icon. Anonymous artists contributed to the Wall of Shame and La Llaga. A photo slideshow of this trip can be viewed at www.cerritoswingsmagazine.blogspot

Photos and Words by Tanya Bermudez

DONT TRASH THE PAPER

Reuse it instead. Heres how:
1. Line a bird cage 2. Paper mache crafts 3. Moving day 4. Fly swatter 5. Cleaning windows 6. Wrapping fresh fish 7. Hats for shade 8. Toilet paper in a pinch 9. Spontaneous umbrella 10. Inform yourself