18 minute read
Investigating How Media Affect the View of Border Patrick Yip
Q: Can media blur the line of a border too?
A: I believe media can blur the line of a border in a smaller scale. I have mentioned subculture internet. Reddit is one of the biggest social media platforms that includes social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion threads. I believe one of the reasons Reddit is
Q: In your opinion, do you prefer the day you have media or you rather go back to the day before
previously, and I feel social media can be a good tool to find your own subculture on the
media? How would that affect the border between people.
A: I personally would like to go back to the day before media. The border between people will be mainly based on geography. ●
Forgotten Language | Participant/Author to Participant/Author
Amy Kittisoros, born in Las Vegas--, raised in Las Vegas--., currently residing in San Diego, CA. She is--- 25. This conversation took place at--- on Woodbury University School Architecture.
Patrick Yip: Tell me about yourself
Amy Kittisoros: So my parents are from Thailand and they moved here in 1988 and I was born after that. Majority of my family is still in Thailand, pretty much all of my family. So in America, its only my mom and dad and me and my brother, not really connected to my family (laugh)
P: So do you know how to speak Thai?
the basic few gestures, sometimes it can be hard to understand some gestures because it could mean something completely different in different cultures. I think we also need to be aware of that when we try to communicate so we don’t offend people.
P: Do you think language is just a communication barriers or it is more than a communication barriers?
A: A little bit, but not as much as I used to when I was younger A: I think it’s only a communication barrier because language is a tool of communication. I don’t see it as another barrier of other thing, just communication.
P: Is your first language Thai?
P: How does it feel like to speak the most dominant language in the world? Does it help when you A: Yes, until I was five… so until I was four I only spoke Thai, and after that, I spoke English traveling around?
and Thai and then after that I only speak English.
33 P: Do you see yourself differently with other kids when you were young? A: I think that when you’re a kid, language is not a problem to overcome. When you are a kid you don’t need to say bunch of words. We used body language and kind of just figured it out. When you’re a kid, you don’t need to talk as much and when you go outside and play, we just run around and we don’t really have to talk to each other but we can still understand each other. It was something that was so simple. P: Do you think the way of communicating changes as you grow up? A: There are so many different types of languages, like body language, sign language, vocal language, but I think as we get older, our understanding of language changes to a point that we can’t understand each other as well as how we did when we were kids. Kids understand each other without actually talking to each other. It is something really basic but we can’t understand anymore. As adults, we tend to make things more complicated than it actually is and I think that is why language becomes a problem to overcome, even something as simple as body language can become difficult. P: What other barriers do you think you have overcome, besides language? A: Culture definitely plays a role in creating barriers within the context of language. For example, there is a time when I was in kindergarten... or maybe is preschool or pre-k. It is somewhere between preschool and kindergarten. I didn’t speak that much English and during recess I was sitting by myself next to the tree. Some of the kids came over and tried to talk to me but I couldn’t understand what they are saying, so there was a barrier between us because A: I think it helps because English is kind of everywhere. In other countries, they have to learn English in school too. For example, my cousins in Thailand, they all have to learn English in school. They can all speak English and Thai. That is something you can see everywhere. And it is not something that can help us out as Americans. It makes us lazy. I know a lot of people who are unable to speak a second language, and they have no interest in learning another language. In a way it makes things difficult for us because we are able to be as bilingual and bicultural as other countries. It puts us at a disadvantage. P: Social media has started to create a new language over the years. Do you think that is another barrier to overcome? A: I think it can create barriers between the younger generations and older generations but it also bring trendy people together. For example, teenagers will know all the acronyms (like LOL) and it might be something that the older generations don’t know it. It creates a barrier between young vs old, but then I think it can also bring people together. I remember there was a time when I was nineteen. My mom had just discovered texting and she keep asking me what LOL meant. I think it brought my mom and I together. But my dad, he doesn’t know about any acronyms, so he will just be like what the hell are you talking about? (laugh) P: Do you think different country use different online language? A: I think there are some things that are the same and that people understand worldwide like LOL. Those things are really common, but each country has their own language and their own slang terms or different ways of saying the same thing. So it is not like everything is the same. P: Do you think social media in different culture behave differently?
we didn’t understand each other. But we were able to use “sign” language, they waved at me and said to come over and play. But there is also this thing that happens with culture. When A: I think it is the same. Because I think social media has changed the way people communicate people aren’t used to some of the things you do in different cultures, they tend to think that with each other. In general, people try to show off on social media more or they can be a lot you’re weird for doing whatever you are doing. So when I was kid, I would do something that meaner than in person. I think people are just general meaner because they don’t have to say it was normal in Thai culture, like bowing to an older person, and all the kids thought I was to someone’s face and can just treat each other people like stranger. Anonymity. They are not really weird for doing so. I think that culture plays a role in separating people from one another personally attached to other people, and they don’t care, and it is just separating people. because we may not be acquainted with how things works, so we just go straight to a negative
train of thought. P: How would you see the world if we all speak one language?
P: Right now, do you think language is still a barrier between you and other people?
A: I think it depends, I don’t think of it is as difficult because now we have tools like Google Translate and we are able to use that to translate different languages. When we travel, language is not much as a barrier as it might have been. There is a device you can always have to communicate to other people but there is also a basic understanding of sign language from other people so for example, when you are trying to eat in other country and you don’t know which direction you are going, you can just do a hand motion of eating and the people will A: I guess it will be a lot easier for people to communicate from different culture. I think one of the big factors causing so many conflicts in the world is because we can not communicate
understand and point at a direction. In some way, it is a form of communication. But besides with each other with a correct way. Maybe you say one thing, and you mean it to be something, but in a different culture, they don’t understand because they don’t have a direct translation for that. For example, there can be some words you can not explain in Thai, so people will be like “Thai Thai Thai Thai Thai English Thai Thai Thai”. Speaking the same language will make people communicate more effectively. And it will help people communicate better with each other and there will be less conflict between people. World peace, y’all! ●
NOTES
visit: www.collectivemagpie.org/book for another interview conducted by Patrick Yip and to download the full collection of 82 interviews
The wall has become an extremely politicized symbol of the region, of SD/TJ. Twenty minutes away from our home in San Diego 50,000 northbound vehicles and 25,000 northbound pedestrians cross the US/MX border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry daily. You can stand at the closest beach to that port at the International Friendship Park and be a part of the surreal i image of three different layers of border divisions. La Mojonera, or Western Land Boundary Monument No. 258 is a 9-foot high obelisk which sits completely out of place at the beach like a tomb marker from a historic cemetery. It marks the start of the 1,952 mile line separating Mexico and the United States. In 1851, representatives of the Boundary Commissions from each nation placed the marker together in a collaborative effort that seems difficult to imagine today. A foot away from the territory marker is a sight impossible to fully ii understand. There is a 10 foot steel fence that divides the concrete, then the sand along the beach and continues on into the ocean for several hundred feet as if to attempt to divide that as well. This is a security border wall to prevent the passing of people from Mexico into the United States as a result of the 1994 Operation Gatekeeper. The wall is made of steel military iii landing mat and has small gaps between slats. Separated families have used those spaces to see each other, talk and hold hands between the bars for years. The latest wall is a double v iv reinforcement, first built after 9/11 when more federal legislation allowed for increased security at the border. This secondary wall built in parallel, several feet away from the first, also vi put an end to the possibility of physical contact through the fence. It created a further strange division of a policed no entry zone between the two fences that is occasionally opened for cultural events and often increases the pain of this division. If you go there today, you will see the barren US beach of Border Feld State Park under watch of a border patrol officer. On the MX side, you can see the lively festivities of the Playas beach front, food vendors, live musicians, seafood restaurants and children playing. What we see here is a landscape that separates families, creates tension between nations and instills fear of each other. The wall is a constant reminder of war, failed humanity and the incessant power play for the 1%. President Trump’s scheduled 21 billion dollar border wall will only reinforce and reassure us of all of many years of tension.
The interviews transcribed in this publication share a Mexican-American border patrol officer reflecting on illegal immigrants, a criminal sketch artist profiling the accused inside the court, first hand observations of how the legend of Tijuana, the dangerous city, continues to haunt families over 3 generations, a self described racial identity fading away from racial tension, the resolution of an internal struggle caused by external violence, a pathway from religious crisis to the questioning of freedom and much more. These stories are tragically frustrating, violently unforgivable, some cringe worthy, or confusing at times, are all warmly exchanged, immensely complex and most surprisingly, they are strikingly honest and personal. They ignite the border from the inside rather than from the outside reminding us that the border does not start at the line between US and MX but it is here, embedded in our lives, in every one of us.
These are the stories that are here and remain here as a memory and history. These are the stories of the border residents. These are the stories of our border—the border that matters.
34 w i t h r e s i d e n t s o f T i j u a n a - S a n D i e g o Into the Blue Christian Linney Border is a perimeter to the borderer or bored, a point or place where a value and or a decision has been made. b o r d e r t h r e e 3 6 c o n v e r s a t i o n s PREFACE & THANK YOU We are humbled and grateful to have had the honor and privilege to cross back and forth between San Diego and Tijuana, listening to the experiences of people living in these borderlands, over these last several years. Those who have shared their personal stories, for others to read, have inspired this rich publication. We thank you all for extending your sincerity, labor and trust in each other and to us—two complete strangers—during our Globos Workshops*. The generosity extended by each participant opened a space to consciously engage together, reflecting on the complex close(d) relationship of living within the region of the most frequently crossed border in the world—And all the mess, beauty and challenges that are a part of it. The resulting 82 conversations on the subject of border were produced via four seminars from an experimental Art & Ethnography course series: HOT AIR BALLOONS and INTERVIEWS from 2015-2017. The seminars were held in conjunction with the Culture, Art & Technology Program, University of California San Diego; the Transdisciplinary Program, Woodbury University at the School of Architecture; and the concluding seminar, Transnational Edition was held in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, in addition to multiple sites in both border cities. MCASD hosted the seminar extending access and content to the their permanent collection and enabling the seminar to exist between multiple colleges, allowing joint participants from Southwestern College, University of California San Diego and Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. This interview collection and artwork consists of a series of transcribed interviews conducted and edited by millennials working collaboratively with each other and with us. * Globos Workshops were developed to produce a fleet of 25ft unmanned hot air balloons to be launched over the US/MX border at Friendship Park, TJ/SD. Balloon construction workshops were held at both sides of the border within many different communities and cultural centers.
This publication is a four part series of conversations about the border. Preface & Introduction by Tae Hwang & MR Barnadas of Collective Magpie. Design by Adrian Orozco & Abigail Peña. Copyright. 2015-2018 All authors. . Printed at Diego & Sons, SD. Complete free download of 82 interviews can be accessed at www.collectivemagpie.org/book
READ ALL 82 CONVERSATIONS
Into the blue | Self-Interview
A border in my life is somewhat of a philosophical one, I am half American, and half British, I was born and raised in London, England, and I moved to San Diego, California in 2010 to go to university and play ¬field hockey for America. I’ve been training at the Olympic training centre in Chula Vista since I arrived in California. I have represented the USA on the international stage, as well as England when I was sixteen, before I moved to the U.S. I take pride in this very much because I’ve been playing this sport since I was a child and it’s taught me a lot about my faults. So what nationality does my pride align with? When you play for an International team you have to be devoted, dedicated, committed, and loyal to you country. Your teammates and coaches are your family and you want the best for them, this is what drives you. I’ve found a home in San Diego, California, though my roots, my memories of England and what that meant to represent my country, by the pure nature of competition, challenges the emotions I feel when I play for the USA. Control over emotion, at the international level, is paramount its the fuel that pushes you when your body no longer can. You can understand that without control over emotions how divided and to some extend indifferent you might feel. In the long run I don’t see this as a bad thing; It’s a line in the sand that simply exists.
Q: Can a border be both physical and mental?
A: There are mental barriers that we can perceive as borders, walls that we create for ourselves in our own mind. The difference between these borders and the physical borders that they find there form in different objects or maybe interactions that happen.
Q: Why is Pride a border for you?
Q: What’s the difference between a border and a perimeter?
A: Pride can be blinding, it’s not that it stops you from going anywhere you might like to go. probably makes it harder to explain and most likely even harder to understand. What grounds countries at a relatively young age was really impactful on my life. Because it was my life, I was
A: They are the same in essence though I think a perimeter is a lighter word then border is. It hasn’t got the connotations or biases that might come with the word border. Perimeter is more of a mathematical term used to describe the outside value of a shape.
Q. What can you relate to as a border in your life?
A. I’m half American and half British, I was born and raised in London, England and moved with my family to San Diego in 2010. The culture barrier was something that I was aware of at the beginning and faded after the two years of going to university. I often think that a physical border for me is the ocean that separates England and the US the shear separation is a quite large. In California you have to drive every - where and in England you drive as well though noticed over my international hockey career. It’s always been a glitch to me, a costly distraction a border can be explained by one person’s perspective as more than that.
just not as far. The living is dense and close compared to California’s open highways.
Q: Do you think a border is a static objective notion?
A: No, I think a border is a constantly fluctuating conversation between two opposing positions. I think it’s a mediator between contrasting views that holds a status of in and of itself, at times strong and resolute and at others completely transparent and boundless. A: The roles of edges, entering and exiting act as the edges of a border to me, they are clear I notice too, its this grey haze that you find yourself in when handing your passport over to a
Q: How does you pride affect your game?
A: When you’ve worked hard enough for something over a long period of time your naturally going to passionate about what you do. Taking too much pride in what you do and you might find yourself stuck in the mud somewhere along the way. It’s important to recognize that your pride needs counter measures just like anything. To be humble, content, and grateful for the things you have, to not abuse a status or role. Growing up as an international field hockey but in all honesty not for the competition... It’s not exactly known in the states very well, more so in England and Europe. I truly enjoy the game that is all I really need.
It’s taking you away from what it is you’re passionate about. Internally I feel if I can’t overcome what is misleading me then I’ve hit a wall. That’s a border, a point of limitation and to move past this is no easy or simple thing. What I am trying to get at isn’t something physical, which this for me is my experience playing for the USA and England, to have represented both devoted, and even though I not in competition playing right now, I still am dedicated to the sport. Its what I know.
Q: Do you always see you pride in this light? Or only when you’re in competition?
A: No, and it’s not necessarily always when I am in competition either. It’s something that I’ve that I’ve adjusted to over a long period of time, it’s a perspective I have, that’s all. I don’t think
Q: What constitutes the edge terms in relationships to International borders?
