Bringing Mexico into Arizona

As I took my drive to discoverer where the US and another country have blended together, I discovered that Phoenix has many options. I encountered with two borders that grabbed my attention, a mural and a restaurant.

The mural, grabbed my attention because of its message. The mural not only depicts people that resemble Mexicans but as well blacks and natives. Also, it shows a man picking up a sign that says, “El Pueblo Unido” (the town united). Next, in that mural was a picture of a girl reading a book that says, “Conoce tu Cultura” (know your culture).

However, my main focus was on a restaurant with the name Sushinola Roll Mexican style. Sushinola sounds like Sinaloa, a state in Mexico. Once I went inside, on the wall are pictures of Mexico and places of the restaurant’s origin. Once I sat down I ordered sushi, but with a twist of Mexico. I also got to have a conversation with the server, who only knew Spanish. I asked her about immigrants in her workplace, bashfully she responded, “well most of us here are.”

These places show a border in the metro Phoenix area. This is because as Koptiuch argues in “Crusando Fronteras, Crossing Phoenix” Phoenix has been transnationalized (Koptiuch, 2012). The mural depicts a piece of landscape that has been transnationalized, in just a random neighborhood in the Phoenix area. As for Sushinola, the server only speaks Spanish and also clarified that most of her coworkers are migrants. Note that Koptiuch mocks fears that migrants “endanger America”, by taking low-paid jobs at places such as restaurants. These two borders illustrate what Koptiuch means by Cruzando Fronteras.

Koptiuch, K. (2016, July 30). Cruzando Fronteras, Crossing Phoenix. Retrieved February 08, 2017, from http://urbanvignettes.org/contributions/cruzando-fronteras-crossing-phoenix/