''Welcome to the Border!''
<img src="http://kickmybrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/beautifying-the-border-domo-architecture-and-design-news-infrastructure_dezeen_2364_col_1-kickmybrain.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="USA-Mexico Border">
The purpose of this "game" is to mimic (albeit in a simplified manner) the complex and diffult situations that a person's attempt to cross the USA-Mexico Border can cause.
As beautiful as the area surrounding this border looks, its conditions can be just as dangerous. The borderlands are a true desert, ripe with extreme temperatures and rough terrain while lacking in water. Most who attempt to cross get lost, dehydrated, or disoriented, and many die.
"According to one case from the Missing Migrant Crisis Line in August 2015, a mother received a text from her son whose group scattered to avoid authorities. He was lost in Arizona’s Ajo region and his fate remains unknown" (//Transborder Immigrant Tool//).
//''Do you still want to try?''//
Now think about if you felt like you didn't have any choice but to risk the crossing the border.
<img src="http://america.aljazeera.com/content/ajam/articles/2014/5/25/us-mexico-borderwreakshavocwithlivesofanindigenousdesertpeople/jcr:content/mainpar/textimage_0/image.adapt.990.high.tohono_3.1401498010136.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="California-Mexico Border">
[[Lets Begin!->Who are You (the Border-crosser)?]]
''A Dead End...''
<image src="https://media.giphy.com/media/l2Sq7u1pCBZNyvYGs/giphy.gif" width="640" height="480" alt="Two foxes"</image>
You hit a cliff/ravine that you didn't expect. Now you have to figure something else out.
[[Let's try again!-> It's Time for a Map - Take Two]]''Another Dead End...''
These dead ends are frustrating, aren't they?
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The TBT says the next closest water location is many kilometers away. You're thirsty, tired, and starting to become disoriented.
[[Where do you go from here?->Do You Think You'll Make it?]]Professor Ortega, this part is to come with my final project. I just wanted you to know that I am thinking about it, but it requires further research outside of our class texts.
[[Guess you have to go back...->How will you cross?]]''Who are You (the Border-crosser)?''
The current political climate not only says you're Mexican, but it also paints you as a thief, a moocher, a drug dealer, and even a rapist. And, aparently, people "like you" are coming across the border in droves. In fact, the people crossing are farmers, labors, and the like, hoping to improve them and their families' situations.
While many of the people who have crossed the USA-Mexico Border orginiated in Mexico, the number of non-Mexican immigrants attempting to cross the border has been increasing, with 257,000 non-Mexican immigrants being apprehended at the Border in 2014, compared to 229,000 Mexican immigrants (//The Atlantic//).
But, most importantly, ''you're a person.'' You're a mother, a brother, a sister, a father, oftentimes desperately seeking a way to make your family's life "better," which could mean easier, safer, wealthier, freer, etc.
<img src="http://scd.france24.com/en/files/imagecache/france24_ct_api_bigger_169/article/image/migrants.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="The true border crossers">
Now, let's think about this: [[How will you cross?]]''How will you cross?''
Choosing your method for getting into the United States is essential. Are you going to do it legally and petition for a visa? Are you going to employ a guide to take you "safely" across? Are you going in a large group? Just you and your family? Alone? Let's answer the most essential question: which method will you choose?
[[Do you use a Coyote?->What About the Coyotes?]]
[[Do you go about it "legally?"->Legal Petition]]
<image src="https://media.giphy.com/media/mPytjcsG3XS4o/giphy.gif" width="640" height="480"></image>
And if all these options don't work for you? You go it alone. But there is something you can [[bring along->The Transborder Immigrant Tool]].''The Transborder Immigrant Tool'' (or, TBT)
There is a relatively cheap (not to mention handy) tool that you can take on your journey through the deserts of the borderlands:
"//The Transborder Immigrant Tool// project consists of an app––designed to be used on inexpensive Motorola i455 cell phones––that contains both a navigational system and poetry sound files. This app is designed to aid anyone on the US side of the border who is disoriented or dehydrated––two symptoms caused by the grueling conditions of these desert crossings... Because it can be difficult to locate water in this corridor, the TBT app serves to guide border crossers and hikers alike toward water, offering a list of nearby water caches when the user turns on the phone. A user can then select the nearest location and, based on GPS data provided by the aforementioned humanitarian aid organizations, the phone displays a compass icon that guides the user... Unlike contemporary smartphones, these relatively inexpensive Motorola phones do not rely on cellular services to communicate GPS data. Thus, they cannot be tracked by border patrol" (//The Transborder Immigrant Tool//).
<img src="http://gpsmuseum.eu/locative_activism/150/files/img150.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="TBT">
Not only has the TBT app mapped water locations, but it also contains "poetry" that not only serves as art, but also contains important tips for survival. (Curious? Guess you'll just have to make the journey and see.)
Now that we have our handy TBT, [[let's go!->And We're Off to the Races]]
Professor Ortega, this part is to come with my final project. I just wanted you to know that I am thinking about it, but it requires further research outside of our class texts.
[[Guess you have to go back...->How will you cross?]]''And We're Off to the Races!''
<img src="http://america.aljazeera.com/content/ajam/articles/2015/3/25/for-migrants-in-arizona-who-call-911-its-border-patrol-on-the-line/jcr:content/mainpar/textimage_0/image.adapt.990.high.no_more_deaths_desert.1427302726586.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="Two foxes">
You've got your handy TBT and pack filled with the provisions and belongings you can carry, all that's left to do is begin.
Having mapped out your entry point into the desert of the borderlands fairly thoroughly, you don't have much of a problem heading out, but, as you continue your trek, things become more complicated. Mapping a trail out on paper is one thing, but figuring out that trail in the three-dimensional world is another. Before you know it, you're feeling lost.
[[What do you do now?->It's Time for a Map]]''A Poem or Two to Keep You Company''
Now that you've figured out the map and are on the right track, you can take the time to enjoy some of the TBT's poems. The makers of TBT say that "while the GPS data determines the general shape of movement paths //toward// water and //across// landscapes, the poems add dynamic and complex choreographic information. Rather than movements of //under//, //over//, or //across// the border, a TBT user climbs, walks, rests, and feels the environment" (//The Transborder Immigrant Tool//).
A poem in the TBT app might go something like this:
"Climb or walk in the morning. Rest midday beneath creosote bush or mesquite, insulating yourself from the superheated ground. Remember—even the sidewinder hovercrafts, the bulk of its body above the scalding sand as it leaves its trademark J-shaped tracks across the desert dunes" (//The Transborder Immigrant Tool//).
Here's a video of how the app might sound:
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/6109723" width="640" height="432" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/6109723">Transborder Immigrant Tool - Transition</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/banglab">banglab</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
So, you've been hiking across the borderlands for a while now, and, as you adjust your pack, you notice that you're on your last canteen of water. [[What do you do?->Where's the Water?]]''Where's the Water?''
The Transborder Immigrant Tool says there's water roughly 2km away to the west.
<img src="http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/water-left-in-the-sonora-desert-by-humane-borders-a-migrant-advocacy-picture-id524441372" width="500" height="300" alt="Two foxes">
Should we take its advice? [[Let's try it.->Another Dead End...]]''It's Time for a Map''
<img src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41650000/gif/_41650176_mexico_boarders_3_map416.gif" width="500" height="300" alt="Two foxes">
You take out the map you drew your path on and try to reorient yourself. Based on the position of the sun and using the compass built into your TBT, you come to the conclusion that you strayed slightly northeast of where you wanted to be based on your path.
Not wanting to back track, you evaluate the map and find a possible shortcut to get you back to your path. Do you want to risk traversing through uncharted territory?
[[Let's try it...->A Dead End...]]
<image src="http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view1/4846324/desert-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-o.gif" width="500" height="300">
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So, [[do you think you'll make it?->To Be Continued...]]''To Be Continued...''
Professor Ortega, I'll either expand the game or I will add in some comments for reflections by users of the game.''It's Time for a Map - Take Two''
Looking back on the map, you realize your mistake: you miscalculated the distance north that you had traveled. With renewed determination, you reroute yourself around the canyon and continue on your way.
[[Phew! We're finally back on track.->A Poem or Two to Keep You Company]]
<img src="http://i2.cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/170119185002-12-us-mexico-border-views-super-169.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="California-Mexico Border">