El Mirage

Paul Atkinson over at KJZZ (Phoenix NPR affiliate) aired a story on us this morning on Weekend Edition. We talked with him after an only an hour of being in Arizona. Our day went something like this: wake up at 5-something a.m……jump on plane……sleep……jump on another plane……sleep for a long time while continent passes underneath…….rent car…….get interviewed by NPR.

Melissa, c'mon, look more excited....it's NPR!

He finishes the story by paraphrasing something I said, which is that we weren’t sure what kind of technology use we’d find in El Mirage. Having been here a week I am starting to develop a rough idea of how technology is used, and it’s much, much different than in Los Alamos where Melissa and I just were.

I can sense the digital divide here. “Digital divide” is term that refers to the difference between those with easy access to technology and those without easy access to technology. Digital technology is a part of life here, but it’s not something that’s prioritized like in Los Alamos and some other places. Here, technology is a way to keep in touch with people and to make sure they are safe. Most people aren’t using the latest and greatest gizmos, but you don’t need those doo-dads to call a friend to make sure s/he’s OK.

In most of the country I think the dominant approach to technology is a “keeping up with the Jones’” mentality…..a “gotta-have-the-latest-handheld-this-or-that” obsession. Here, though, the community is far from affluent on the whole, and competitive attitudes about possessions seem refreshingly absent.

I will not glorify the struggle of poverty and the tough reality of “not-having.” There is much that is a challenge here in the old section of El Mirage that was founded by migrant workers in the early 1960’s. There are crimes and drugs and gangs. But there are also face-to-face conversations in front yards and desires to give back to the neighborhood. In short, there is a sense of community that is usually lacking in places where personal ambition dominates the mental landscape.

Agustin Espinoza was a man we spoke with who uses a form of digital technology that’s especially important to the immigrant community: international text messaging.

International texting guru Agustin Espinoza

Espinoza is from Chiapas, Mexico, a state with dangerous floods. He told us he uses his phone as a way of making sure his family there is safe. We’re not sure which of his cellphones is used for sending international texts and which is used for talking with his sweetie here in Arizona, but he has one phone for each pocket…….

-Brad Horn

Yes, two phones. One to talk with his girlfriend and one for everyone else. Muy suave, Agustin!