I was born in Tijuana and spent much of my boyhood in a neighborhood — “colonia,” in TJ-speak — called Independencia. The borderlands are the most interesting book in the world, being rewritten every day. A city so defamed, a city so generous.” I dare say most people don’t think of any border city, on either side of the wall, as generous. My favorite border pop song is by Nortec Collective (more on them below), and it’s called “Tijuana Makes Me Happy.” Yeah — the border makes me happy. But I do not believe that immigration stories are a subset of the literature of the borderlands: Though there is some cross-pollination, I believe immigration literature is a genre of its own, deserving of its own spotlight.

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Persons: Gabriel García Márquez, narco, Jaime Cháidez Bonilla, ”, it’s Organizations: ersatz, Twitter, Nortec Locations: Tijuana, ”, TJ, Independencia, Mexican