Velia Amparo Rivas

San Diego, CA and Tijuana, Baja California, México teens involved in documentary project

At Media Arts Center San Diego, student Carlos Vargas, 14, gets assistance editing his border video project from instructor Jodi Cilley, at far right. At left, working on their border project videos are students Roxana Rodriguez, 16, far left, and her sister Aisa Serrano, 22.

Tijuana video students participate Saturday in a live chat with students at the Media Arts Center San Diego as part of the Teen Producers Project. The students from both countries are working border video projects. The Tijuana students shown on the live chat are from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.

SAN DIEGO - Aisa Serrano of San Diego crosses the international border into Mexico five days a week, but not for the typical reasons of visiting family or shopping.

The 22-year-old travels by trolley, foot and cab to a university in Tijuana because she wants to learn to write - and eventually teach - authentic Spanish.

The daily journey has left her with mixed feelings about the border region where she lives. They include concern for her personal safety and hope that Tijuana's well-known problems with drugs and violence are overblown.

"I am getting the hang of it, so I am not really scared any more," Serrano said.

Serrano's story is one of several captured on video by young people at the Media Arts Center San Diego who are trying to depict a nuanced sense of place in and around the world's busiest land border crossing. On Saturday, they gathered at the center's storefront on El Cajon Boulevard to polish their profiles for a Jan. 13 showing of the Teen Producers Project at San Diego City College.

The students are working on a piece about a photographer who has documented construction of the border fence, another about a 27-year-old man who was brought to the United States illegally as a child, and another about an art curator who promotes Mexican artists in Southern California.

"We are at a time right now where the border - and Tijuana in particular - is kind of a place that people are afraid of," said instructor Jodi Cilley. "What we're really trying do is educate people about the positive things going on. ... When they actually see it, it's generally not what they expect."

The class is an experiment in cross-border communication. Students in San Diego chat by video feed with students taking a similar course in Tijuana. Project-related chatter - mostly in Spanish - is interrupted by bursts of laughter and talk that isn't directly about their assignments.

The digital friendships are designed to deal with the physical separation of the two countries and give students an unvarnished look at lives just a few miles away. "Hearing from kids their own age is a little more valid than me saying it," Cilley said.

At first, Roxana Rodriguez, 16, balked at taking a class on top of her regular courses at University City High School in San Diego. "The first day it was like, it's Saturday and I want to sleep in," said Rodriquez. "But now I feel good because I am doing something for the community."

Besides learning the technical skills of video editing, she's gained a new appreciation for the region and curiosity about the fence that separates the two countries. "I didn't really pay attention to it" before the class, Rodriguez said. "But now that the videos came up, I got really interested in how we are so close to the border, how we have that privilege."

Trevor Seines, 17, a student at the High Tech High North County charter school in San Marcos, didn't think much about the border either when he entered Cilley's class. But that changed when he met Oscar, the 27-year-old illegal immigrant who speaks very little Spanish.

"I knew these kinds of people existed," Seines said. "But I didn't know any names or any faces."

mike.lee@uniontrib.com; (619) 293-2034

Saludos,

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Velia Amparo

Rosarito Beach, Baja, México

Published Saturday, December 04, 2010 11:27 PM by Velia Amparo Rivas