Our Lost Border: Essays on Life amid the Narco-Violence

by Sarah Cortez (Editor), Sergio Troncoso (Editor)

Our Lost Border "was born of a vision to bear witness to how this violence has shattered life on the border, to remember the past, but also to point to the possibilities of a better future."
--Sarah Cortez and Sergio Troncoso, editors

In his essay lamenting the loss of the Tijuana of his youth, Richard Mora remembers festive nights on Avenida Revolución, where tourists mingled with locals at bars. Now, the tourists are gone, as are the indigenous street vendors who sold handmade crafts along the wide boulevard. Instead, the streets are filled with army checkpoints and soldiers armed with assault rifles. "Multiple truths abound and so I am left to craft my own truth from the media accounts--the hooded soldiers, like the little green plastic soldiers I once kept in a cardboard shoe box, are heroes or villains, victims or victimizers, depending on the hour of the day," he writes.

With a foreword by renowned novelist Rolando Hinojosa and comprised of personal essays about the impact of drug violence on life and culture along the U.S.-Mexico border, the anthology combines writings by residents of both countries. Mexican authors Liliana Blum, Lolita Bosch and Diego Osorno write riveting, first-hand accounts about the clashes between the drug cartels and citizens' attempts to live despite the criminals. American authors, including José Antonio Rodríguez and José Skinner, focus on how the corruption and bloodshed have affected the bi-national and bi-cultural existence of families and individuals.

This collection reveals how this fragile way of life--between two cultures, languages and countries--has been undermined by the drug trade and the crime that accompanies it, with ramifications far beyond the border region.

Kindle Edition

First published March 31, 2013

About the author

SARAH CORTEZ, resident of Houston and member of the Texas Institute of Letters, is the author of two poetry collections and winner of the PEN Texas literary award in poetry. Her mixed-genre memoir, Walking Home: Growing up Hispanic in Houston, was published by Texas Review Press in 2012. She has edited six anthologies, ranging from crime fiction to memoir to poetry.

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