Borderlands: Borderlands 33 Service. From the Editors and Acknowledgements 33(2015)

Click on article title in Issue list to read article.

 

Cover design by Naomi Iniguez and Beatriz Garcia.  

 

Photographs, left to right.  

top row: Carrie Tingley, Vernus Carey, Leon Blevins

second row:  Jesus Duran, Victor Espinoza

third row: Mother Praxedes Carty, Clyde Tingley

fourth row: Major General Heidi V. Brown.

Acknowledgements

 

 

 

From the Editor

Image caption: Ruth E. Vise, Faculty Advisor & Editor

The theme for this issue of Borderlands is Service and three articles that appeared in our “Web only” issue two years ago are included. A friend and advisor of our project was adamant about printing all articles for posterity, and so we have. The subjects of these articles are individuals who are/were political, religious and educational leaders and two who valiantly served the country during wartime.

Students in my English 1302 classes at EPCC learn how to conduct research and write academic papers by learning about local history. Students themselves discovered several of these topics, while others, such as the children’s hospital in T or C and the Tingleys of New Mexico, were topics which I believed students would enjoy.

The research was not easy, and in this time of social media and the Internet, it is often difficult to motivate students to leave their computers and phones and dig for sources that are found in only one place (and not on the Web!) or to interview a relative of someone most people do not know or have forgotten. But students discover the treasures of El Paso such as the public libraries, the Historical Society, Fort Bliss and many others, and they realize that they live in a very special place.

As we began working on this issue, I discovered that the sister and mother of our student editor, Naomi Iniguez, had both excelled in my class, and they gave Naomi no choice but to enroll in my section of English 1302. What a joy to discover that the third member of this family to take my class was so talented!

Image caption:  Big Tex and a Texas Bluebonnet in 1999, a.k.a. Leon Blevins and Ruth Vise (Photo courtesy of Leon Blevins)

Last year in a casual conversation I learned that one of the best known professors at EPCC was considering retirement. I knew then that we had to feature Leon Blevins in Borderlands. He has taught thousands of students and performed for many more in the community for almost 50 years — all for the love of teaching others about subjects dear to his heart. So while the young are enjoying watching their favorite superhero on screen, EPCC can celebrate its own “Superman,” who still loves to don a costume, dance a jig and teach us about Uncle Sam or Santa or Shakespeare.

We hope you enjoy reading these articles as the summer winds down, students commence another year of school and other special people of the Borderland continue serving others. Thank them now — don’t wait until they are gone!

Ruth Vise, Faculty Advisor & Editor

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From the Student Editor

I did not imagine that my experience in Ms. Vise’s ENGL 1302 class would lead to this amazing opportunity. I would like to thank both my mother and older sister for encouraging me to enroll in Ms. Vise’s class because they both had both taken it. They warned it was going to involve hard work, and from the first day of class I knew they were not joking. I want to thank Ms. Vise for teaching me what writing really entails. Through my experiences in ENGL 1302, I have improved my writing and, of course, my research skills.

Image caption: Naomi Iniguez, Student  Editor

My mother tells me I will take all the skills I learned in Ms. Vise’s class and apply them to future assignments. No research paper I am assigned will feel like a mountain peak I cannot reach. Thank you, Ms. Vise, for making me a fearless writer.

Spending this summer working on Borderlands has also shaped me as a writer. The stories on Major General Heidi V. Brown and Medal of Honor recipients Jesus S. Duran and Victor H. Espinoza taught me so much about the military, a subject with which I was not too familiar. I spent a great deal of time finding details for General Brown’s story that I did not have for the research paper I had written in the spring. I was amazed at the work that she has done in the Army. I learned more about the military with every new source I found. I would like to thank Wendy Brown of the Fort Bliss Bugle and Barbara Montoya and Pat White from the League of Women Voters of El Paso for so kindly helping with my research. 

Image caption: Editor Iniguez' family

The cover of this year’s Borderlands is considerably different from the previous year. The idea of using the anatomy of a molecule to symbolize our theme of Service came from brainstorming adjectives that reflected some of the different traits that the subjects of our stories possessed. Using this scientific symbol helps to see the personal qualities that led to the different kinds of service these extraordinary people provided not just to El Paso but to the rest of the United States as well. I hope you enjoy these stories and marvel at some of the hidden gems of El Paso.

Naomi Iniguez, Student Editor

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Acknowledgements: 

Special Thanks to: 
Dr. William Serrata, President, El Paso Community College 
Steven E. Smith, Vice President of Instruction and Workforce Education 
Dr. Lydia Tena, Campus Dean & Dean of Instructional Programs, Northwest Campus 
Monica Wong, Head Librarian, Northwest Campus 

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Thanks to: 
Rachel Murphree, Librarian, Northwest Campus
Helen Bell, Librarian, Northwest Campus Library
Staff, Northwest Library
Joe Old, English & History, Valle Verde Campus 
Elvia Guzman-Jarnagin and Staff, Dean’s Office, Northwest Campus
Frank Samaniego & Staff, Northwest Campus ASC
Laura Gaither, Nancy Coe, Marye Booth and Emma Uresti, Northwest Campus ISC
Leon Blevins, Political Science, Valle Verde Campus
Sherry Fletcher, Truth or Consequences
Pat White and Barbara Montoya, League of Women Voters of El Paso
Wendy Brown, Fort Bliss Bugle
Joseph Ciolli, El Paso YMCA
Border Heritage Center, El Paso Public Library, Main Branch
El Paso County Historical Society
Claudia Rivers and Staff, Special Collections, UTEP Library
April Vise, Margaret and George Lang, Debbie Luna, Conchita 
Alvarez and Lorraine Alvarez Portilla

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Borderlands is published annually by El Paso Community College, P. O. Box 20500, El Paso, TX 79998. It is written by students and staff of the college. All rights reserved. 

Printing is by PDX Printing, 100 Porfirio Diaz, El Paso TX 79902, a private firm in no way connected with the El 
Paso Community College. Funds for the publication of this supplement are provided by El Paso Community College District; however, the views and opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the El Paso Community College staff, faculty, administration and board. Submissions become property of El Paso Community College. Furthermore, El Paso Community College does not accept responsibility for possible errors in the accuracy of student research that is represented in these articles, although every effort has been made to ensure accuracy.