"Meeting in the Forest"


Abstract en een beetje vreemd.

Ik wandelde langs een stalen verweerde container en keek naar de schimmels en mossen die erop groeiden. Ik maakte een foto en thuis draaide ik het plaatje om. De natuur liet mij zien, wat mijn fantasie wilde zien.

Abstract and a bit strange.

I walked past a weathered steel container and looked at the fungi and moss growing on it. I took a photo, and at home I turned the picture around. Nature showed me what my imagination wanted to see.


#abstract #mos #schimmel #containerwall #experiment #macro #green #fungi #weather #moss #natural #naturalpainting #steel

@heretical_i

Back last winter when I was photographing the #ContainerWall in southern Arizona, most conversations about the future or the San Rafael Valley section of the border seemed pretty unanimous that Biden would try to build more wall there at some point. Or, if not Biden, whoever the next president is, R or D. They all want it.

I was visiting relatives (nice liberal Democrats) recently who watch CNN. I wanted to scream at the TV when reporters talked about the "crisis" at the U.S-Mexico border. Watching mainstream media, it is entirely understandable why no one understands the situation.

I now spend most of my year in the desert 30 miles from Mexico, doing desert aid (e.g. water drops on migrant trails) and, this winter, covering protests against the #ContainerWall. Every time I think I...kinda?...understand the border dynamics, I learn something new that torques my previous assumptions. So, I don't blame people who are not immersed in this for not understanding it.

But the way issues are framed by MSM are almost designed to lead to a sense of panic or a sense that this is too complex to understand. It's the result of a mix of ideological preconceptions, lazy reporting and the demands of fast-paced, ad-supported, corporate-profit-driven media.

My story on the #ContainerWall will probably never feel done, but it's done for now until I feel like going back to edit more and add more side stories as blog posts. This image is from the "Coda" I wrote after the wall had been removed. I felt the need to articulate a larger context for activists.

There is no way to sustain a system of such gross inequity where (if you believe the Border Patrol's numbers; I don't), a shipping container full of goods and materials comes into the U.S. through or from Mexico for every 4 people who come here through or from Mexico without documentation. It's probably closer to 2 people per shipping container full of goods and raw materials.

Those numbers tell a much bigger story of injustice that needs to be addressed.

https://www.mikaljakubal.com/container-wall-protest/

Just got back from this event. If I can make time tomorrow, I'll write up a short piece with photos. About two dozen people showed up. It was lovely, and also lovely to be there when it was warm for a change. It was cold in mid-December when we were all camped there.

The #ContainerWall is gone, but "they", whichever administration, will eventually try to build a more permanent wall across the San Rafael Valley and anywhere else they didn't get one up the first round.

This time, there is a big commitment to stopping them. They will need a bigger jail.

For more background on the #ContainerWall and the protests that stopped it, I wrote an extensive story with lots of pictures! https://mikaljakubal.com/container-wall-protest
Container Wall

Container Wall Construction and Protest on the U.S. Mexico Border Mikal JakubalFebruary 20, 2023 In what was arguably the weirdest episode in the already convoluted history of barriers and politics along the U.S.-Mexico border, then-Governor of Arizona Doug Ducey (GOP) defied federal officials and created a makeshift border barrier in late 2022 out of double-stacked shipping containers.   Approximately 3.5 miles of the “container wall” was constructed before being halted by protesters. Several weeks later, the same out of state …

Mikal Jakubal
If you're in #Arizona, there's a celebration/rally this Sunday at the former #ContainerWall #protest campsite. It's a good excuse to come see this beautiful area and learn about this successful protest campaign.
Please share widely.

I'm learning more than I ever expected about the San Pedro River and have been spending tons of time in the area. Part of its headwaters is the SW side of the Huachuca Mountains, where the #ContainerWall blocked some of its seasonal tributaries.

It flows northward from Mexico, east of the Huachuca, Whetstone, Rincon and Santa Catalina mountains and then into the Gila River. From there, it flows in to Phoenix where it is never heard from again.

I've allocated this gorgeous day to staying inside to do 1 (one) of The Big Things on my list. I've narrowed it down to two:

Completely rework/finish my #ContainerWall story on my photo website (it's now a hodge podge of material tossed there as the story progressed);

Or fix/redesign the front page and site-wide nav on my business site (both front page and nav are a mess right now).

*flips coin*
"No, not that one."
*flips coin*
No, not that one either.

Maybe a bike ride instead?

I'm briefly quoted in this story about people organizing, fighting back and stopping the #ContainerWall along the southern Arizona border.

I'm still working on my longer photo journal story about it, but I do have lots of photos and some words on my website already.

https://azluminaria.org/2023/02/17/how-southern-arizona-environmentalists-and-advocates-blocked-a-border-wall-of-shipping-containers/

#Arizona #border #Protest

How Southern Arizona environmentalists and advocates blocked a border wall of shipping containers

It was past 11 p.m., below freezing, and the government-contracted excavators coughed into life. The protesters had been sitting down, standing in the way, blocking border wall construction in Coronado National Forest for weeks starting in November. But that was during the day, when the Southern Arizona sun kept them warm, when they could see […]

AZ Luminaria