“No.”

“Huh. Hey, the ACLU camp is set up just over there if ya wanna go and talk to them.”

“Thanks” I don’t know what else to add. Take care? No, not exactly. Have a good day? He seems like the kind of person that has good days at the expense of others.

We walk back down the highway, over a arroyo being diligently watched by a California flag. The ACLU camp is a white car with about 4 people sitting on the trunk or in chairs near the trunk. More interesting is the interview being conducted just a few feet away by a group of three men and a tape recorder. They’re interviewing a man sitting in a camouflage military-style jeep, he’s replete with aviator glasses and full gear. As I walk up he is saying “I’m a first generation, tu sabe…” The elusive chicano Minuteman… I wish I had heard more.

The journalist conducting the interview is Enrique Morones Careaga, of the San Diego-based organization Ángeles de la Frontera, which he describes as “the exact opposite of the Minutemen, we put water in the desert to keep migrants from dying.” With him are two men from Tijuana, who I begin to speak to as the jeep roars off and Enrique moves to talk to the ACLU volunteers.

Turns out this is noneother than Ray Ybarra, whose appeal for volunteers I quoted in my first Minuteman post. It’s great to meet him, and he is more articulate in speaking of the project than I am. He mentions that the real danger is Minuteman volunteers trying to “out-chingon each other.” Well said. I really hope he will be writing about his experiences after his time on the border.

Turns out that Enrique is headed to the volleyball game as well, he asks for directions and I offer to have him follow us.

Cumbia down the highway, déjà vu pulling onto dirt roads. “VOLLEYBALL->” the sign says, in the rearview I notice it’s scrawled on the back of an old “VOTE NO PROP 200″ sign. Right on.

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I’m out of the car, smiling, there are so many more people here than the poetry reading, especially Mexicans. Familiar smiling faces: Rocío, Isabel, Paul, Emilie, Kat, Chris, etc. etc. The game is going full-tilt and they start setting up a second net to deal with the crowd.

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Thanks to Liz for the photos and coming along in the first place. 11 hours in the car…

The volleyball game has received much more attention than the previous events, and I’m told that there were over 300 people at last weekend’s “Lifting up the Border,” the binational / bilingual mass.

• The April 26 cover story of the local paper, the Sierra Vista Herald.
• April 25 story by the Arizona Republic.

The last “April Unity Event” is this Saturday, April 30. It is a unity march and party in Naco at 2:30pm. If you would like to come with me, please let me know. I will be leaving Friday afternoon and returning to Flagstaff by Noon on Sunday. You’ll have a place to stay, all I ask is help with the gas money.