Buh Bye Kristi Noem, and who the heck is Markwayne Mullin? Trump's new pick for DHS secretary. Plus, an epic novel about the U.S. and Mexico's joint erasure of Apachería, and historian and author Lydia Otero on Tucson's racial and urban history, and more.
Historian and writer Lydia Otero on growing up in the borderlands, Tucson's racial and urban history, and their most recent book, Storied Property: María Cordova's Casa.
On March 12, Todd and Melissa were thrilled to moderate a panel with the distinguished authors: Luis Alberto Urrea and Gary Nabhan. Urrea has written several novels, including The Hummingbird’s Daughter and Queen of America (about his great-aunt Teresita Urrea, known as the Saint of Cabora), as well as the Pulitzer Prize–nominated nonfiction book The Devil’s Highway. Nabhan, an ethnobotanist, agricultural ecologist, and Ecumenical Franciscan Brother, is one of the premier writers about the desert borderlands. He spoke about his latest book, Against the American Grain: A Borderlands History of Resistance.
Both Urrea and Nabhan offered fascinating insights into their writing and research, and the long history of cultural resistance in the borderlands. Their talk was followed by a Q&A with the audience.
The event was part of the “Peek Behind the Curtain” borderlands speaking series created by Voices from the Border and Sierra Club Borderlands which The Border Chronicle has moderated since 2022. At the beginning of this podcast, you’ll hear Maggie Urgo with Voices from the Border making a case to the audience for supporting The Border Chronicle and local border journalism. This event was also a fundraiser for the Patagonia-based nonprofits Voices from the Border and the Patagonia Creative Arts Center.
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Logan Phillips was born in Tombstone, Arizona—a town best known for Old West-themed gunfight tourism. In his new book, Reckon, Phillips explores his relationship to the unusual setting of his childhood through themes of masculinity, history, and land.
For years, Flores has served as an immigration policy advisor to Democrats at the national level, including President Biden. She talks about what went wrong, and what Democrats should be doing now.