Imaginary Lines

Co-Writer Ana Maria Corona

Of all the places where cultures meet across imaginary lines, the California/Baja California border is arguably the richest–in cultural cross-pollenization, in shock, in uproar, in sheer numbers going both ways. San Diego, for example, is the only region where the numbers of undocumented crossers has not dropped, but risen. Tijuana is the most visited tourist city on earth, far outdrawing Disneyworld.
This is not an immigration book, nor would I call it a border book. But it is a well-guided journey into an interzone where gigolos and chefs, wanderers and mothers, bad guys and dreamers swirl. Many of its insights make you feel like you’ve enjoyed a good meal–perhaps a fish taco and a cerveza next to the Mexican sea.

Luis Urrea
Pulitzer nominee
Member: Latino Literary Hall of Fame

Two writers, an American and a Mexicana, spin tales in which the border becomes a window that is a mirror that is a mirage.
Most of these pieces were published in the San Diego Reader, Harpers, and other publications in both countries. This isn’t like so much “border literature” that sees the border merely as a barrier: it’s a deeper realization.