Flight update: UA 5856 now scheduled in at 1:04 pm

 Dear All,

Last night, the group found some food and the hotel rooms were fine …. 

The flight is delayed again. UA 5856 is now scheduled to arrive at SFO at 1:04 pm. Please stay close for any further updates. You can also get them directly from the flight staus report. But barring any further changes, we’ll see you at SFO, terminal 3 arrivals, today at 1:04 pm!

PB

SAZ return delayed until 12:30 pm on Wednesday

 Dear Parents,

This is a copy of the email just sent out...

Ugh! The flight has been delayed again, this time until an estimated departure time tomorrow at 10:15 am  (see enclosure). Dayna and Dietrich are in line at the counter, securing hotel vouchers for everyone for the remainder of the night.

Please plan to pick your weary child up at SFO / UA arrivals (terminal 3) tomorrow at 12:30 pm. Alternatively, if being at SFO at mid-day is not possible for you — I know this is an abrupt change of plan — please contact me asap. Given the circumstances, we’ll consider tomorrow’s on-campus school day cancelled for SAZ. 

I’m sorry for this unfortunate travel development, but I look forward to all the students being safely home tomorrow.

Best,

Peter Brown
Global Programs Director
History Instructor
Menlo School
650-330-2001 x2238

SAZ: Pickup at SFO tomorrow

Dear Parents,

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at SFO to pick up your children returning from Borderlands SAZ.  It's currently scheduled for an on time arrival at SFO, United Airlines arrivals, at 9:57 pm. See the flight itinerary below.

Since trip leaders cannot leave until all students are picked up from the airport, we appreciate your promptness.

Thanks,

PB

Tuesday, May 30

United Airlines # 5856 Tucson, AZ (TUS) 7:28PM San Francisco, CA (SFO) 9:57PM

PS: We'll begin on Wednesday, May 31, at 10:00 am in the SAZ classroom. This is an hour later than the usual 9:00 am start allowing for some extra sleep and recovery time.

Day 6

Meeting new people brings about so much knowledge and insight into how others live, think, and observe. Today we met some residents of Ajo who opened our eyes to different perspectives pertaining to sustainability and immigration. 

We started off the morning by meeting Tom Kiefer, a local artist who collects objects he finds from people who cross the border and photographs them. Through his photography, he captures the experience of immigrants being stripped of their personal belongings when crossing the border. It was exciting to hear about someone's passion for immigration merged with his talent for mixed media. 

Next, we met with a co-op that practices sustainable living by sharing its resources through communal living. The four people live in one house and are cognizant about their resources, living space, finances, and time together in order to build a more intentional living environment. 

Lastly, we met with Scott Warren who is a geographer and extremely knowledgeable about Ajo, immigration, and border laws. We were able to ask him lots of questions and left our group pondering what would a successful border between America and Mexico look like. 

Thanks for reading. 

Ava and Damian 

P.s. we also ate some really good fry bread. 

"Hi, mom and dad!"

Day 5: First Day in Ajo

 Today was our first day in Ajo. Shortly after eating breakfast, we went to a nearby plaza and read an article in groups. The article was an excerpt from a reading that depicted the perspective of a desert and the tribe that lived in it. In groups, we discussed the relationship the tribe held with the desert and the ways in which the tribe took care of the earth and in return, how the earth kept the tribe safe. After, we wrote in our journals about what home meant to us, reflecting on how nature affects our lives and the importance of disconnecting from our personal bubbles. Later, we explored the Three Nations market down the street, which had small vendors that were selling clothes and other goods. When we came back, we did a tour of the place we are living in and learned how it has progressed from a school to a hotel and historic building. Then, we took a short break and convened again to make chumuth tortillas from scratch, discovering the ways in which the people from Ajo repurposed their resources to create the barbeque grill that cooked the tortillas. Finally, we all ate dinner together, played, and went to bed. 

Day 4: Nogales and driving to Ajo.

This morning we packed up our bags and said goodbye to Patagonia. We drove to Nogales and met Alex who runs Borderlandia. Alex showed us the border wall and explained the unique history as a border town.

We saw a bunch of murals around the town that depicted the resistance to the militarization of the boarder wall. 

“From there we ate some “bussin’” tacos for lunch.”- Ben Levin.

We had the opportunity to meet Yolanda from Borderlands Produce Rescue and how her nonprofit uses its resources to keep products out of landfills.

We got a tour of the warehouse and were very fascinated with her organization and resources.

 We got a lot of great interviews from both Alex and Yolanda that we are excited to use for our video product.

Written by a group of students who were in the van for 4 hours together on our drive to Ajo.

(Sienna, Valentina, Amelie, Ben, Josh) 

Day 3 PermaCulture Farm

 

   The third day of our Southern Arizona borderlands trip consisted of an exploration at the Deep Dirt PermaCulture farm where we met leaders Caleb and Grace. We began the day with work in the garden by creating a fence around the periphery. The goal was to help protect the garden from outside rabbits and rodents by shoveling dirt and installing a brand-new, sustainable wall. After, Caleb took us on a tour of the farm and living spaces. He showed us one of many little houses made of resourced materials such as satellites, urbanite concrete, and adobe. Throughout the tour, Caleb highlighted numerous different strategies he's used for the past few years to stay sustainable and use most of his resources while teaching us about the corporate food industry and ways to keep sustainable despite not having many options on a wide scale. Finally, we all gathered for awesome veggie lasagna dinner made by Anita who was sweet, welcoming, and made a bomb dish!

Michael Preys and Ben Levin