Donde esta Derrik?

“Hand Grenades and Ninja Stars OK” by Kinsee Morlan

Tijuana sits quietly in the dark of most San Diegan’s minds. I love when people venture down, and I especially love it when people venture down, return and write about it. Check out this blog by my buddy Derrik Chinn.

Stupid f*$%ing racists

 

“Dead Baby Jokes are Not Funny…Or Are They?” by Kinsee Morlan

The racist comments of the Union-Tribune readers appear every time a story about Tijuana is written. Check out the most recent string of hate. Read the story (or just the lead paragraph), then scroll down to the comments.

Here’s a little example of some of the anit-Mexican sentiment:

By Roaming Gnome on 09/26/2007 at 8:21 a.m.
Another day in the life of a Third World corrupt country. Build the wall and keep those shootouts on the other side.

Fashion Day & Contemporaneo

Saturday’s event was a success in that it hopefully started an annual tradition in which young artists and designers from San Diego and Tijuana work together. My art-fag crew, Adapta Project, made some last minute changes in the art show, moving it inside CECUT instead of outside, but things turned out better than I expected. The fashion show was stunning — Jorge Sanchez of Tijuana was my favorite designer of the night. And big thanks to all the artists who participated: Jason Sherry, Joshua Krause, Jorge Tellaeche, Hector Juarez, Pablo Llana, Saratoga Sake, Sebastian Beltran and Kelly Vivanco.

Strike at Tijuana maquila

“Tijuana Dusk” by Kinsee Morlan

This is big and exceedingly good news. Strikes at Tijuana maquiladoras just don’t happen. The foreign-owned factories are too corrupt — they fire anyone who complains and if a large-scale strike looks eminent, they simply close shop and move to another third-world country where they can abuse workers without worry. Read the story below and send a letter!

The broken-down palace

“Staring is fun” by Kinsee Morlan

My bf and I are moving to a new place in Tijuana. It’s in Colonia del Rio, which is about five minutes away from both the San Ysidro and Otay ports of entry. You Americanos are going to get upset, but it’s a three-story house and we’ll be paying $375 a month.

“Is it nice?” my mom inquired when I told her about the place.

“Nope,” I answered happily. I live in a third-world country. People just have to come to terms with that. The place is a huge broken-down palace. The first floor is liveable, the three-car garage is nice but the upstairs area is in various states of disarray. I love it! Every square inch of it!

I’m going to use the upstairs area as a gallery. So if any of you artists out there want to have a crazy art show, get in touch with my art-fag crew, Adapta Project, and we’ll set it up. How fun!

UPDATE: We walked into the new place and looked around for a few minutes before we realized our feet and ankles were covered in fleas. And when I say covered I mean completely blackened by a mass of disgusting little blood-thirsty pulgas. We went back to the landlord and demanded our deposit back then returned to our apartment and rearranged the place. I’m in love with the tiny space once again. I’m going to end up living in the famed Estacion Federal forever.

La Casa de la 9 September schedule

“A House is a House” by Kinsee Morlan

I finally made it to Casa de la 9. It’s a younger crowd made up mostly of tight-pant wearing punks, but it’s worth a visit if you’re bored.

P.S. - If you haven’t figured it out yet, the pictures on this sight often have nothing to do with the words.  The house above is in Colonia Chilapancinco, it’s not a picture of the cafe.

New art & music venue in Tijuana

That’s right. I was there last night hanging the first-ever art show at Espression Coffee House, a just-out-of-the-gate cafe owned by two young brothers who love three very important things: music, art and coffee.

This weekend is the official grand opening. Stop by and put a new coffee spot on your mental map.

*The cafe is located across the street from Costco in Zona Rio.   It’s on Sanchez Taboada…very easy to find.

A little late, but hey

The above Trojan horse was built by my neighbor, famed conceptual artist Marcos Ramirez ERRE, or just ERRE as he’s known.

ERRE was recently awarded the San Diego Art Prize. It’s the first award in the second season of the prize that pairs an established artist (ERRE, in this instance) with an emerging artist (Allison Wiese) with a small cash award and an exhibition at L Street Fine Art Gallery downtown. I think Erre is a fine choice. I’m not familiar with the work of Wiese, but if it’s anything like Erre’s, I’m sure it’s political, thought-provoking, challenging and smart. I also think it’s fantastic that the San Diego Art Prize isn’t confining itself to the city or even the county — some of San Diego’s best artists live in Tijuana.

For more info on the art prize, click below:

Do it the right way: Lisa Sanchez and Marsha Gonzalez

Lisa Sanchez and Marsha Gonzalez by Kinsee Morlan

Eric Wolff, David Rolland and I just completed CityBeat’s next cover story. It’s called “Crossings” and the concept is simple. How/why/when did people from Mexico get here? Yes, there are stories of crossing illegally by foot, but there are a lot of other stories, some of people who crossed the legal way, which are just as complicated and trying as the famed desert tales. The issue comes out on Wednesday, but below is a story that I wrote then ended up cutting. It didn’t really fit, but it’s interesting in it’s own right: