For my final oral history project, I chose to interview and document multiple youth that cross the United States-Mexico border frequently to go to school and work. My participants were six young adults residing in San Ysidro which I interviewed over a period of 2 weeks. Living in Tijuana, and going to school and working in San Diego is an everyday occurrence in South San Diego. The commonality shared by all the participants in my project was their desire to attain a better life, by sacrificing their health, general well-being and innumerable hours of sleep. From standing in border crossing lines of over 3 hours at the dawn of the day to crossing back to Tijuana in the late of night, the individuals that chose to participate in these testimonies share their conviction to attain a better life, while retaining their cross border cultural identity. Another theme that was shared by all participants was their belief in the importance that the San Ysidro – Tijuana border community plays in the cultural enrichment of those who reside here.
For this project, I compiled a multitude of audio files and transferred them to the Race and Oral History Project Hard Drive. However, I will enclose a few excerpts from the youth in this post.
For my art piece I decided to represent the journey that the students and myself took to explore these cross border anecdotes. On the left side of my piece, snapshots of the US-Mexico Border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry show the daily morning commute of those interviewed. On the left side of the piece, pictures of the activities conducted by Casa Familiar are displayed as well as images form the cultural expedition embarked during the course to Chicano Park.
