Sunset over Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, from UTEP parking lot, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.
July 2017.
One of the things I love about El Paso is its abundance of scenic views. Of mountains, plains, the two cities, the moon, stacking afternoon clouds ....
Sunset over Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, from UTEP parking lot, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.
A UTEP parking lots serves up a delicious sunset over Juárez.
Sunset over Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, from UTEP parking lot, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.
Look at that fingernail moon hanging there so daintily.
Sunset over Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, from UTEP parking lot, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.
I like to think about driving up that wide road in Juárez.
Sunset over Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, from UTEP parking lot, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.
Sunset over Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, from UTEP parking lot, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.
What's on the other side of that pass?
Sunset over Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, from UTEP parking lot, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.
Sunset over Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, from UTEP parking lot, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.
And, look, you can even see Cristo Rey:
Sunset over Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, from UTEP parking lot, El Paso, Texas. July 2017.
Museum of the Revolution on the Border, Chihuahua, Mexico. February 2017.
The museum devotes a room to photographers, both professional and amateur. When I use the word "amateur," I don't mean trifling; I mean a person who is serious about their photography, but does not derive their livelihood from it.
Museum of the Revolution on the Border, Chihuahua, Mexico. February 2017.
I like that the museum curators included a photojournalist who was a woman.
Museum of the Revolution on the Border, Chihuahua, Mexico. February 2017.
Museum of the Revolution on the Border, Chihuahua, Mexico. February 2017.
A very young photographer also received recognition:
Museum of the Revolution on the Border, Chihuahua, Mexico. February 2017.
When you look at the bent heads of the photographers, their focus intent on a screen below them, does it remind you of any behavior in our current times?
At the Fountain Theater, Mesilla, New Mexico. November 2016.
Actually, the movie happened in The Fountain Theater in Mesilla, New Mexico. But because I came up to see the movie from El Paso and my movie seat neighbors also lived in El Paso, I'm claiming this post for El Paso.
The movie, The Lamb, took me back to Ethiopia. I can't look at the trailer without sighing. In nostalgia at my time there; in sadness for the movie's protagonist, the beauty of the country, the tenderness of the boy toward his lamb, the little shepherdess; the pathos of the young woman.
I didn't think about it til just now re-watching the trailer and considering the blast of sexism that blew my way in the theater, that the movie's themes include sexism contra women and men. Not to mention the interconnectedness of Ethiopia's Orthodox Christian, Muslim, and Jewish populations.
So about the movie: I recommend it.
Fountain Theater, Mesilla, New Mexico. November 2016.
The theater is an historic one, lovingly tended to by volunteers, screening films that the mainstream movie theaters might not offer.
Fountain Theater, Mesilla, New Mexico. November 2016.
My seat neighbors were a husband and wife who live in El Paso. Congenial, engaging to chat with. The husband is an attorney. Not relevant under normal circumstances, but ....
I shared with them my recent visit to the Kentucky Club in Juárez, how back in the day, only men (per my understanding) were allowed in.
Mr. Husband allowed as how Mexican law now requires that women be admitted to bars, even to private clubs that used to be the sacrosanct dens for those with affluence and influence of the male persuasion.
The Mrs and I chuckled mildly about the bad old days when women were shut out of back-room and golf-course business deals, and then Mr. Husband said something like: "Oh, but we made sure that women who came to our club wouldn't stay long. We would say things and do things that would intimidate them into leaving. We showed them what was what." Hohohohoho.
The Mrs. allowed as how men needed their space and how there was never anything interesting going on in those men's clubs anyway.
I'd like to say that I whipped out my
bumper sticker ... but I didn't. I took the easy way out and just smiled weakly.
