Walking the Line

I have to choose a final research paper topic for my U.S., Latin America, and the Media class. The Immigration debate has been on my mind a lot lately, largely due to the stories popping up about anti-immigration groups like the Minutemen and others (the Southern Poverty Law Center has a good listing of these fringe groups). Think what you will about the border fence, but much of the rhetoric behind some of these vigilante organizations is alarmingly hateful.

Well I'm checking out a new magazine whose founder I may be interviewing next week, and one of the stories in the inaugural issue is about the Border Film Project. A three-person team comprised of a Rhodes Scholar, a filmmaker and a Wall Street analyst gave disposable cameras to people on both sides of the fence and asked them to photograph their worlds. I'm oversimplifying, but read the article or visit the project's web site to find out more.

I don't know if I'm going to try to tackle Immigration in a 2,000-word article, but this project could help narrow it down a little by giving some very unique perspectives.