AMD 412 - CSUSM - FALL 2024
Tijuana River Estuary and Community Gardens
Visit Date: September 10, 2024, Tuesday
It was hot, humid, dusty and a long a drive from Vista. This was the farthest I've driven close to the Mexican border. I did not know about the place and community gardens before. Prof Zambrano shared a bit of history of the Tijuana River.
As we stood by the shady area and signage at 2310 Hollister Street, San Diego, CA, the border wall was visible and within a few miles of driving/walking distance. I was internalizing many questions. Across the mountains and wall, there's a different group of people with different life-styles, culture, needs, and expectations.
In AMD 323, Chicana/o Art History, we are learning the identify challenges of "Mexican-Americans" here in the United States. As far as the land use, I found it intriguing there are a lot of plants and vegetables were familiar to me from my childhood/upbringing in the Philippines. I am a gardener and orchid collector. I appreciated the care and tenacity of the gardeners growing healthy vegetables and colorful flowers. It was well worth the drive to see and learn something new and different.
