A good article about Cometbus and Aaron Elliot - probably only relevant if you know who and what that is.

BOOK REVIEW:

Border Crosser: One Gringo's Illicit Passage From Mexico into America by Johnny Rico

In my efforts to learn more about border politics and take in personal accounts of people who have crossed over the lines by means other than the offical entry points, I picked this one up recently. I wasn't sure what to expect but figured it could be interesting to hear a story of crossing as a white person who isn't crossing for survival or in search of a better life but is doing so to understand the trip and the difficulty and struggle.

The book didn't quite deliver what I was seeking. Johnny never did a true border crossing so the part of the story I was seeking never materialized. He did offer a generally funny narrative of his interactions with Minutemen and La Migra as well as locals in Nogales to note a few and the multiple times he wussed out on a plan to cross here or there was funny if not ironic - thousands of men, women and children do it each year but this one man couldn't muster up enough courage to complete a true "border jump"? Heck, I have a friend who came over from Guatemala with her mother as a 5 year old! She is now a citizen, for those who care, but it took her mother and her nearly 8 years to complete the process, and this was AFTER her mother married a U.S. citizen, I can see why some people just say fuck it and never bother.

I probably wouldn't pick it up again but I'll add it to my bookshelf for future reference if the need ever arises.