Alternative Assignment To Borderlinks Project:

Adventures at Ranch Market

  

For this assignment I visited Ranch Market. This was actually not a new experience for me, since I live pretty close to Ranch Market and I go there sometimes for tortilla chips, guacamole and Corona. But this was the first time I went there on “reconnaissance,” so my experience was somewhat more heightened than normal. I also was able to apply what I’ve learned from the Borderlinks Reading Packet to recognize some realities about the border area that might have slipped my attention otherwise.

When I got there, Ranch Market was extremely busy— as always.  One thing I noticed on the way in is that so many of the cars in the parking lot had shiny rims. No matter how old or beat up the cars was, it was accompanied by a nice set of rims. It’s not an unusual observation that fancy car rims are very important to many Mexicans because it is a status symbol among them.

The Ranch Market is an extremely nice building, and not very representative of many of the neighborhoods it serves. It reminds me of Pizza Patron, which is another new vendor that caters specifically to Mexican-American populations. They are both very nice and clean and have the same sort of colorful Mexican décor, almost like a Macayo’s restaurant.

Inside the store is so vibrant and lively. Everyone there speaks Spanish, so I can’t make out any conversations in the noisy din. But I can tell from the tone of the voices that everyone is in a good mood and being very friendly.  In the back corner of the store there is a Mexican deli where families sit at tables and enjoy lunch. This store sells more meat than anywhere I have ever seen before. The kinds and quantities of food at the Ranch Market indicate that the people shopping there may buy food to make large meals for large families and extended families. In my experiences with my Mexican friends, I have found that joining together for big meals is an important part of their lifestyles and culture. It’s a way for the family to stay close-knit and for the family to expand by including neighbors, friends, and extended family members at the dinner table.

One of the issues that the packet brought to my attention is that there tend to be more health hazards in poverty-stricken border towns. This is often due to high density housing, poor health care, and poor hygiene in these areas. According to the packet, “low-income families… experience much higher levels of disease morbidity and substance abuse than more affluent people” (Environmental/Public Health Issues in the Borderlands). The area served by Ranch Market somewhat fits this description. I know because I grew up in that area.

Despite the environment it serves, Ranch Market is remarkably nice and clean. Just a mile down the street is a Food City that is, in my opinion, not the cleanest store I have been in. I would be afraid to eat anything bought at Food City because I fear that everything seems so unhygienic there. I have a friend that has witnessed an actual bee hive in the produce section above the tomatoes with live bees flying about. But at Ranch Market, the same communities can get food in an environment that they can trust is free of dirt and disease with just a better experience. To compare Ranch Market to Pizza Patron again, I think that both companies take a very responsible attitude toward helping poorer Mexican American neighborhoods get good food at a good price in a safe, clean environment.

As I sat at a table and thought about what was going on around me, I suddenly realized how awful it is that people like the Barnett brothers in the article “Arizona Ranchers Hunt Mexicans” have “apprehended and turned over thousands of undocumented immigrants… under the pretext of ‘citizen’s arrest’” (107). I saw that these people around me, who had come here as a community to do their shopping and be neighborly to one another, were the same people who were being forced back across the border by racist vigilantes. I knew that many of the people there were probably illegal immigrants, and yet they seemed to me as much a part of Glendale as Saguaro Ranch Park or Velma Teague Library. And I understood why they belong here as much as I do because we are the community.

Before I left I bought a dozen tamales to take home for dinner. I also got some Corona because it was on sale. I will probably go to Ranch Market more often now because I appreciate it more for the services it does for the community, and I have also grown very fond of its lively border environment.