digo contigo.

On Friday night I went alone to a book signing in Salt Lake. The solitude of the evening felt more like liberation than loneliness. I played my music loudly and reveled in all of the songs that I would've been embarrassed to listen to if I'd brought a friend along.
I heard about the book signing for Exodus on Radiowest's Thursday program. This image on the front cover is what compelled me to drive up and attend:
"It's acres and acres of desert, covered with thrown away panties, braziers, trousers, blouses, day packs, shoes, cosmetics, and empty food cans. And what you see is what you call a dump site; a drop point. (This) picture is taken 40 mi. north of the border. Mexicans have walked several days to get there. They're met by vans that have clothing bought at a Walmart. When they strip naked and get in this new clothing, they get in the van. Then they're taken to a stash house ... then they're shipped around the United States. What you're looking at there, is a Statue of Liberty. What you're looking at is Ellis Island. What you're looking at is where millions of Americans enter the United States."
- Charles Bowden (photo by Julian Cardona)

Afterward I drove to my brother Carl's apartment so he could help me with Spanish. He taught me how to say "I am _____-ing" and " I am going to ______."
I love studying Spanish with Carl. We get all tired and giggly. We laughed ourselves to tears once when I mistakenly used the word for "pig" (cochina) in place of the word for "kitchen" (cocina.) It always feels a little bit like it did when we were best friends as kids.