ivins is credited with it now crewed axiom if we build a 12-foot fence, they will make a 13-foot ladder. the trouble is that this ugly tool is laying waste to the calexico's of the borderlands. the cost benefit ratio is absurd. and i'm realizing now just as i'm reading this passage of the book that we are here at a border also and you all know the problems that have existed for border crossings since september 11, 2001. in calexico, it's not that the allegiances are different, the realities are different than they are in washington and mexico city. the people there know the community that they have, that crosses the border the same way you undoubtedly know here that you have a community that crosses a border but you don't have the harsh border they have there. nonetheless there is something that might ring true to you here also because of the border. i saw when i was driving up from eugene that there is a highway sign that lets you know how long the border is in this one said five or 10 minutes as i recall, whereas in calexico now the wait can be an hour and a half to two hours of that