As always, the plane journey between Houston and El Paso is short. Right at the end, a few minutes before landing, the airplane skids through a thick layer of clouds, making us hold on to our seats. And then, we land. As I wait outside the airport for Caro to pick me up, I gaze at the blue and notice how much more sky there is all of a sudden.

After she picks me up, the sense of scale and flatness is enhanced, as we drive through the city in search of a Sephora, where we can pick up a few things that I forgot in Houston. Once at the store, located in the middle of a JC Penny, Caro and I get rapid makeovers by our new friends Joe and Lily, who promise to do their best to attend the reading that Michelle and I will do tomorrow in celebration of International Women’s Day. I promise them that I’ll post this photo, so here it is.

Thank you Joe and Lily for reminding us that there can be laughter in the middle of artistic creation and activism. It feels good to be on this border again, and there are many new stories to share. Caro reminds me of the violence erupting just on the other side, where today things are escalating so rapidly that many residents of Juarez are just fleeing.

“We don’t go to the other side very often these days,” Caro tells me. “Even my mother who used to go all the time has to pick select times of the day to cross. It’s sad.”