Bravo, River

The Rio Grande (aka Rio Bravo in Mexico) marks the border between Texas and Mexico. The derogatory name for a Mexican immigrant used to be "wetback" as it assumed that most border crossing happened by swimming. In 1953, the U.S. utilized this obsene nomenclature for its Mexican repatriation project. This river also marks a small part of the Texas border with New Mexico; a mark that now stands on any map as an absurd and squiggly line that emphatically diverges now from the river's path. Or vice versa. This section of the Rio Grande is today a dry riverbed, having been seasonally dammed upstream. If the whole river dries up, how will these borders that depend on the river retain authority? Rivers make bad lines. Standing here in Anthony over a bed marked by tire tracks, I can't get "Old Man River" out of my head. And why should I? (November 18, 2017)