All posts by maiersj

All My Ex’s Live in Texas

Reflections, Snapshots

Texas is the place I’d really love to be.  We will soon be returning to south Texas to continue our human rights work.  I am incredibly excited to get back, yet this year will be different from the past.  We won’t be doing excavations, instead our efforts will focus on analyzing remains that we exhumed in previous years that are now located at Texas State University and training local authorities in Brooks County.  Adding to the change, three of our past team members will not be with us.  This year’s UIndy team will consist of Dr. Latham, Ryan, Amanda (the rookie), and me.  This leaves us a few cards short of a full deck.  I would like to pay a small tribute to the incredible ladies that helped to form the foundation of a strong team.

Erica looking down at her clipboard with pencil in hand
Erica in her natural habitat, mapping.

Erica

I’ve known Erica since before either of us came to UIndy.  We are both Michigan State Alumni (Go Green!).  We met on a study abroad in London, and then became fast friends while working in the Nubian Research Lab at MSU.  Erica and I have worked so closely for so long that people often mistake us for a couple in a relationship, which she hates.  Erica was an essential part of our team because of her incredible mapping skills.  Strange fact- Erica loves forms and paperwork, which makes her a mapping savant.  Erica was an amazing teammate and a great friend, and her presence will be greatly missed.

Jessica looking into the scene with sunglasses and a pensive look.
Jessica surveying the scene.

Jessica

Jess is tough as nails.  If you think that you can shovel I have sad news for you, you can’t and that Wisconsin girl can.  I’d like to think of myself as a hard worker and tough, the problem is having someone like Jess to which you are comparing yourself.  Try as you might, there is no one that time and time again gives so much of herself.  I feel honored to have someone so strong and dedicated having my back.

Justin and Ryan carrying Cheneta in a dramatic fashion
Cheneta doing her best Labron James impersonation.

Cheneta

Cheneta was our “rookie” last year, so I was hesitant to accept her at first… I was a fool.  Cheneta turned out to be one of the most hard-working and dedicated members of our team.  She made sure that all members of our team (and the entire field crew) watched out for one another.  She is the reason that to this day, I cannot hear the word “teamwork”, without finishing the phrase with, “makes the dream work”.

These three ladies have made immense contributions to our human rights work in Texas and we couldn’t have done it without them.    I’d like to take a quick moment to thank them all for everything they have done.  Thank you.

Justin

Home, Sweet Home

Community, Human Rights, Migrant Death, Reflections

At last, this season of fieldwork in Falfurrias has come to a close.  The time slipped by so quickly that it all seems like a haze.  When I recall our time in the field I see a patchwork of new and old faces, I picture a sea of sand with an endless supply of buckets that need to be moved (think Sisyphus), and a blur of hands ready to pass a trowel or give a lift out of the hole.  The heat tried to burn us down one by one, almost ending our work early by attrition.  The heat didn’t stand a chance.  What I remember the most was the dogged perseverance that compelled everyone in the field to finish.  Instead of breaking us, the heat and pressure forged us into something great.  Our work has changed us, and that is something I will never forget.

Bell, a cute brown dog curled up on a couch
Bell, lonely without Ryan

Our team is back in Indy now.  We have slept in our own beds, cuddled our loved ones (look how sad Bell was without Ryan), and experienced some of the finer points of home.  Home is good- it is safe, calming, and filled with the things and people we love.  To use an old and tired cliché, home is where the heart is.  While we consider ourselves home now, I believe that every one of us left a piece of our hearts in Falfurrias.  Some part of us will always be at home in Fal.

I have mentioned to some people that I often feel like a tourist in this humanitarian crisis.  I live nowhere near the border, and I travel down for two weeks in the summer to help.   Once my time has passed, I have the luxury of returning to back to Indy.  In Indy I don’t face the daily realities of people dying on my doorstep.  I don’t see tragic news stories so often to become numb to them.  I have the ability to literally distance myself from the situation, and yet I cannot.  I now find myself over a thousand miles away with much of my heart left in Falfurrias.

A group picture in a field of greenery and purple flowers

Fluttering Fields of “Heart’s Delight’

I know now that I am not a tourist.  I have made new friends and family, and became part of their community.  I have lived in many places, but I have never felt as loved and welcomed as I did in south Texas.  Every person in Falfurrias welcomed us with open arms (seriously, I have never gotten so many hugs in my life).  It is an honor to be considered part of their community.

Though we are back in Indianapolis, our work continues.  Hopefully our efforts will continue to shape policies surrounding the treatment of both the living and the dead.  Ideally we would have never been in Texas- no one would have died under the scorching Texas sun and we would live comfortably as armchair anthropologists.  In a perfect world people would die happy having lived a full life, not in the pursuit of happiness or in search of a better life.   For now, I rest knowing that I am doing what I can to help.  I will do everything in my power to ensure that each and every individual is identified and returned to their loved ones.  Families will be reunited, and souls can rest in a place they consider home.

A bent metal burial marker with the words ""Male, Unknown, 417654" falling off

Lost, But Not Forgotten

Bittersweet

Environment, Snapshots

If there is one word that I would use to sum up our final day of digging it would be “bittersweet”.  The last two days here in Falfurrias have been arduous.  All of us have given every ounce of energy we have into ensuring the completion of excavations at the site.  I am overjoyed to say that every quadrant of the grid has been completely cleared.  Nothing has been left behind or untouched, but our success did not come without a price.  Yesterday, Ryan worked himself to the point of exhaustion which left him incapacitated for today’s effort (in fact, I am certain that he would have tried to help today if we had not denied him access to the worksite).  Today, Dr. Latham nearly collapsed due to heat and exhaustion.  Even while slightly delirious and overheating, all she could say was “We have to finish. We’re so close.”

We finished, but we certainly did not do it alone.  For the first nine days we were separated into six different groups.  That didn’t happen today.  Today there was one team- one family.  Every single person echoed the same sentiment, “We have to finish.  We are so close”.  I already knew the work ethic that our team brings to the table, but I was amazed at the passion and drive of the Baylor students.  They were thoughtful, compassionate, and genuinely cared about the well-being of every single individual at that site.  I cannot stress enough how wonderful they have all been.  We could not have done it without them.

Overview pictures of multiple burials being worked on by many individuals with mounds of dirt surroundingWhile we are finished with our field season, the work is only truly just beginning.  The excavations of these unidentified individuals are only the start of a very long process.  The remains must still be cleaned, analyzed, and sampled for isotopes and DNA.  Again, we do not stand alone.  UIndy, Texas State and Baylor will participate in the cleaning and processing.  The schools will also then compile a biological profile for each individual, establishing general characteristics like age, sex, and ancestry.  Samples will be collected and analyzed by California State University (CSU Chico) and the University of North Texas.  With a lot of work, and even more luck we can help these people return to their families.

Even then, this endeavor is far from finished.  While the field season may be over, the problem still remains.  As long as individuals continue to perish in the unforgiving Texas sun and are left without a name, we will persevere.  Until every individual is returned to their family and every loved one has a place to grieve, our job is not finished.  I am astounded by everything we have accomplished in such a short period of time but there is still so much work to do, and for that this ending is bittersweet.

Justin