CSUSM Fall Library Exhibit and Panel Discussion Explores Mexico-U.S. Border
The Kellogg Library at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) announces a new art exhibit titled, More than a Fence: (de)Constructing Mexico/U.S. Borders beginning Wednesday, Sept. 18 and running through Wednesday, Dec. 18.
The exhibit area is on the third floor and is free and open to the public during all library hours. An opening reception and meet and greet with the artists will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 18 from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Kellogg Library Reading Room. The exhibit is a multi-media installation of photography, sculpture and texts that explore the symbolic and experienced impact of the Mexico-U.S. border. Created through a collaboration of CSUSM professors, students and community artists, the works of art have been created to engage the audience by questioning the meanings of the borderlands and immigration.
A panel discussion will take place on Thursday, Oct. 17 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Arts Building, room 240. Moderated by CSUSM Professor Aníbal Yáñez-Chávez, this panel discussion will feature a broad range of perspectives, experiences and research related to the Mexico-U.S. border including the border fence, immigration and legislation, the role of media and political activism and more.
To RSVP for the open reception or panel discussion, request parking information, contact Outreach Librarian Melanie Chu at: context@csusm.edu or 760.750.4378. For more information, visit: https://biblio.csusm.edu/site/fall-2013-exhibit
“This year, 12,500 families will hear the words, ‘Your child has cancer.’”
Cancer is the leading cause of childhood death in Mexico second only to accidents, between the ages of 5 to 15 years old. Children living in highly developed countries such as the United States have access to necessary cancer treatment, but most children living in the cross-border region of Mexico near San Diego have little or no opportunity to benefit from cancer care. The average survival time for children living with cancer in Baja California is only 5 years. The need for these children is extreme and the resources for their diagnosis and care is very limited.
When a child is diagnosed with cancer in Tijuana, diagnosis is often too late and standard cancer treatment we take for granted in the United States, is not a consideration for a majority of Mexican families. Barriers to cancer care include low family socioeconomic status and lack of access to pediatric cancer centers for diagnosis and treatment. In some regions of Baja California, only 20% of children diagnosed with cancer have access to care. Parents cross the border into the United States, in a desperate attempt to receive a diagnosis and medical treatment for their child at a nearby US emergency room. Once a child is stabilized, the family returns to Mexico, because they cannot stay in the US legally nor can they afford the life-saving care here in Mexico. Without organizations such as the International Children´s Cancer Foundation, these children will continue to die unnecessarily.
The International Children’s Cancer Foundation was created in 2008 to help the poorest of the world families cope with the tragedy of childhood cancer. The mission of the International Children’s Cancer Foundation is dedicated to reducing illness, pain, and preventable death in children suffering from cancer in developing nations. ICCF is committed to this goal and plans to achieve it by raising capital for treatments, awareness of sick children’s plight and raise the human spirit in total by realizing the power of uniting together to help any and all who are in need of help fighting childhood cancer. ICCF will focus its efforts on individual treatment centers that help only low income families who deal with this deadly disease with the same courage but less financial means.
Childhood cancer does not discriminate, sparing no ethnic group, socio-economic class or geographic region. That is why, to recognize September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, the International Children´s Cancer Foundation is hosting a Happy Hour on September 20th in a gorgeous club house in East Lake, CA. In addition, it created a special line of buttons and bracelets to help raise funding to help cover the cancer treatments for kids fighting cancer that can be find in www.give.to-live.org.