Sunday night, 2/16/14, there was a benefit concert at the Starlight Theatre to generate funds to send a girl from Boquillas off to school.

The Terlingua community raised $1,075 for the scholarship fund. Since Cynta only needs $250 right now, TerlinguaCares has set up a fund for Cynta’s projects with the remainder of the money.

In the process of raising the money, we had an amazing party. It’s the Terlingua way. Music was provided by Laird Considine, Charlotte Teer, Jeff Haislip, Moses Martinez, Tom Delaney, Webster, Al Berry, Ted Arbogast, Mike Davidson, Chase Peeler, Collie Ryan, and many other local pickers. Trevor Hickle was there and ready…

The plan was for the “band of angels” to play an acoustic set early in the evening and rock out later on… and, once again, I discovered that making plans is for amateurs. We had so many musicians who wanted to contribute that it turned into a concert.

Buckner ran sound and herded cats. The Starlight Theatre provided a comfy and friendly location for the benefit as well as paying the band – and the band donated that paycheck to the fund-raiser.

We were hoping to raise $500, which will cover the tuition for a year. Terlingua reached deep and more than doubled that. I’m proud of my community – we funding compassion in action and having a party while we’re at it. It’s the Terlingua way.

buckygoat — Buckner kept it sounding good all night.

Continue reading “Benefit for Boquillas scholarship – Starlight – Feb 16, 2014”

The immigration conversation gets a lot more interesting when both sides have a say. It would be even more interesting if the U.S. government would listen to the people actually involved in that conversation.

What they would hear is, “yes, there are border problems elsewhere. We don’t have those problems here. We’d like our border crossing opened, preferably with a nice bridge, please.”

The people in this particular conversation are the residents of South Brewster County and our neighbors to the South.

You may call them illegal aliens or wetbacks. Down here, we call them neighbors and friends.

The people of Lajitas – neighbors from both sides of the Rio Grande – came together to show their love, support, and willingness to work together to get the border crossing re-opened.

The unintended consequences of closing the borders have been devastating. Families divided, friends separated, economies adversely affected.

Simple things, like getting groceries, gasoline, or visiting grandma have turned in to multi-hour ordeals involving driving to the nearest “legal” border crossing and then driving back on the other side.

It’s time. It’s time to admit that we made a mistake and fix it.

Continue reading “Lajitas – Voices From Both Sides”