“A Poem to be Read at the Border about Animals” by Mary Ann Hudson, read by Heathen/Heather Derr-Smith at the U.S.-Mexico Border on the Mexican side. Approaching the border you see a lot of razor wire and the concrete wall below the Paso Del Norte pedestrian bridge. Sections of the wall are rust-colored metal slats, some sections are slabs of concrete that look like the Berlin Wall. It’s easy to cross from the U.S. side into Mexico, and you will see people passing by as I read. Coming back into the U.S. is much more difficult. I had to walk through Juarez down to another bridge and there it was very crowded and took about an hour and a half maybe? I spoke with many people waiting to cross the border from Juarez. One was a young man with a beautiful heart and soul. He lives in Juarez and works at McDonalds in El Paso and goes to community college there. He has to factor in a two hour border crossing every day. He dreams of working for NASA. He says he is afraid to go into space himself but he wants to build space stations and other spacecraft. He says maybe if he builds his own rocket ship he would go into space that way. He said he loves his chemistry teacher, a woman at the community college who turned his dislike of chemistry into a passionate love. He was also passionate about Green energy and climate change. He said he wanted to work for NASA but he also wanted to work in Civil Engineering on Green energy. He’s making his own solar panels right now and other projects for his parents home in Juarez where he lives. He asked me about Bosnia and Syria and I told him. He said he doesn’t like to listen to the news because it makes him too sad. I told him about Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden coming to play a concert in Sarajevo during the siege. He was amazed. I said what I’d learned from Bosnians was to live everyday in resistance to the bullshit, to hold the sadness with a fierce and joyful embrace of living. He was very happy about that idea. He asked me, “So how do you like Mexicans after talking to me?” I was surprised at the idea that I might not like Mexicans–but I’m a white woman–so I don’t get off with easy assumptions. I deserve the question. I said “I love Mexicans–I love all people! White supremacy is rising all over the world and each one of us has a responsibility to speak out” and he said, “I wish more people felt that way–I guess some people foregt how to be human” Which made me gasp. Then we passed onto the U.S. side of the border and I saw the refugees/migrants being held in a crowded cage in the heat and I said, “I have to stop and film this”. and we said goodbye. I gave him my email in case he ever needs any help from Cuvaj se/Take Care or me personally. I will never forget him and I will dream about him in a spaceship flying over the earth.