Adrienne White
Border Report
Without actually visiting
the border between Arizona and Mexico, anyone living in
Phoenix can visit faux borders right in town. These faux
borders are scattered throughout various areas in
Phoenix and it’s suburbs. Upon delivering pizza to both
the upper middle class neighborhoods and the faux border
areas, I have learned many things about two separate
cultures. There are many ways to tell where the “divide”
begins. I have experienced this myself as a pizza
delivery driver.
The first way that I know
that I have ventured into the border area is by simply
observing my surroundings. The non- border area that I
deliver to is what Americans would call upper middle
class. This area looks very clean and upkept. In this
area you can tell that people have money. Compared to
this, the border area is dirty, lawns are dry, old
broken down cars litter the streets, and it just seems
dead. I can tell that when I am in this area, people
don’t have the money to keep their houses or apartments
in good condition. The second thing that can single out
a border area is culture. The faux border that I deliver
to is mostly a Spanish-speaking neighborhood. It is in
this neighborhood that I must practice my Spanish
skills, because hardly anyone speaks English, and if
they do, very little. As I drive my car through the
neighborhood, I can hear families speaking their own
language, as if they never left home. I also pass
several stores with signs only in Spanish. It feels as
if I am already in Mexico. The last way for me to know
that I am in the faux border area is by social
differences. When I drive in the upper-middle class
neighborhood I can see children playing with things that
I will probably never see the kids from the faux border
area playing with because they simply can’t afford it.
These kids are happy with what they have, even if it is
only a matchbox car. Another major social difference is
in the numbers. The numbers in the faux border area are
easily double that of a family living in the upper
middle class area. People in the faux border area simply
can’t afford to have their family spread between two
households. This is why when I deliver to a home in the
faux border area, I often see twice, if not three times
the living capacity of a home being occupied. There are
some other small details in social differences that
really make a faux border stand out. These include, from
what I have seen, musical taste, ethnic food, large
gatherings of people outside and in the streets, and
even single people selling hand-made goods.
I have been to many areas
in Phoenix that are representative of this faux border
flavor. I know that when I venture into these areas I
can expect a variety of different things from what I
notice in my own neighborhood. I even change my behavior
so not to be disrespectful, but hospitable. It is
interesting that an entire different culture, or
diaspora can exist in your own hometown. After
delivering to two distinctly different areas, I can
appreciate the culture differences, and I know always
how to spot a faux border.