Spain searched for “Cibola”, the Seven Cities of Gold and never found them. But from late 16th century they kept traveling up the Rio Grande River, through El Paso del Norte, the pass through the foothills of the Rockies, all in the name of Roman Catholicism, and gold. So the two cities, Juarez and El Paso, like sisters, grew at that pass.
But, today, it struck me as if the sisters were always orphans. Juarez is too far from Mexico City, even Ciudad Chihuahua; and El Paso is too far from the center of Texas, like Dallas and Austin. Their “parents ” don’t really know them. And like orphans who have grow up divided by “the tracks,” actually that shallow and narrow river, one in a middle class working family and the other in distressed barrio of crime and poverty, they are far apart, but still sisters.
Having been born and raised in El Paso, it is a sad feeling to see my home, El Paso, called the 2nd safest city in America and its sister city Juarez, called the most dangerous city in the world today. There are articles asking if Mexico can survive. If Americans were not buying the drugs and supplying much of the guns, there would not be the problem. Something to think about. What is our responsibility?
Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos” here.
Tags: american guns, Cibola, conquistadors, drug gangs, El Paso, Juarez, Rio Grande River, Seven Cities of Cibola
About Fred, Dos Gringos, history, Intercultural relations, Literature, Music, The writing process, Uncategorized | fred | 
December 15, 2010 7:00 am | 
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Like most revolutions, the Mexican Revolution is a story – but unlike most stories, it is one that never ends. As we sit across the border from Juarez, named for the great hero of Mexican independence, the conflict continues. Many factors contribute to the criminality of today. While celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Revolution, we cannot ignore the conflicts today. We have a lot to consider and to learn.
It’s important for us, sitting in the safety of El Paso, Texas, deemed the Second Safest City in America and across the Rio Grande is Juarez, considered the most dangerous city in the world, with 5,500 killings since January 2008, that we reflect, learn from these tragic events, and take action as we can to change it. Revolutions are about change and like many events in life history; the end result is often not what many thought it would be. It is our responsibility to keep our hearts, and minds, and actions, directed toward change that is beneficial to all, to peace, to happiness for all. What can we Americans do to help bring safety and order to our neighbors in Mexico? What is the American role in this criminality? It is drugs and guns. And we must take steps as responsible citizens and human beings to invest our elected officials to take effective action.
In my recent trip to El Paso to promote my book, “Dos Gringos,” I found a silence about the violence across the river. I realize there is not much an individual can do about this costly issue, but I was surprised there was not more concern expressed. Change is difficult to manage and usually resisted. But lives are at stake here and we have to make the change quick and lasting.
Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos” here.
Tags: american guns, dos gringos, drugs, El Paso, Juarez, Mexican Revolution, Rio Grande River
About Fred, Dos Gringos, history, Intercultural relations, The writing process, Uncategorized | fred | November 23, 2010 7:00 am | Comments (3)
Popular Dry Goods
Someone ought to write a book about the Jews of El Paso. When I grew up in that Texas border town, I was very aware of the Jews. My mother bought our shoes at Given’s Shoe Store. Some of the leading Jews were 32nd Degree Masons, as was my dad. The top department store was Popular Dry Goods founded in 1902 by the pioneer Adolph Schwartz. From a small village in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he landed in New York in 1883 with fifteen cents in his pocket and somehow made it to El Paso and opened the Popular. As a high school student I worked on Saturdays in the Popular, manning the Boy Scout Department, and working for Willy Wildstein and Ed Smallberg. But there were Jews before Schwartz.
Adolph Krakauer migrated from Bavaria to New York in 1865 and 1869 moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he went to work for Louis Zork, a leading merchant. He moved to El Paso in 1875, at a time when the town’s population was listed as seventy-five Mexicans and twenty-five Anglos. There he clerked in the firm of Sam Schutz and Son and became manager when the business was sold; later he became a partner. In 1885 he sold his interest in the firm and organized the firm of Krakauer, Zork, and Moye with his brother-in-law, Gustave Zork. That firm was the main hardware store in El Paso my entire life there. It also was a main source for arms to both sides in the Mexican Revolution as you may read about in my family story of that time, “Dos Gringos.” My grandfather, Friedrich Müller (not Jewish)was the salesman and I used to have pictures of him in Mexico with the Villistas with their sombreros and guns. Krakauer was voted Mayor of El Paso, but could not take office as he had neglected to become an American citizen.
There were many others. The Jews made their mark and were important contributors to the success of that town on the Rio Grande. When I visit El Paso today, I stand across from where the Popular was, in the square with the fountain where the alligators used to be, and I miss the Jews, who made that border town so livable. In fact there have been several accounts of the El Paso Jews: See The History of Jewish El Paso
Tags: dos gringos, Jews, Krakauer, Popular Dry Goods, Rio Grande River, Schwartz, Texas Jews, Texas Masons, Zork
About Fred, Business Practice, Dos Gringos, history, Intercultural relations, Uncategorized | fred | August 3, 2010 8:00 am | Comments (0)
Writing “Dos Gringos” was a satisfying experience. Although most of story came from my father’s tale of his escapades in The Mexican Revolution, being there in that border city, El Paso, my home town, after fifty-two years of world travel, was a rebirth in a way for me. In many ways, nothing had changed in that town, except now it seems English is a second language.. It is still a city far away from others. It occupies the pass which the Rio Grande River carves its way south from its mountain source in northern New Mexico, then south separating Texas and Mexico all the way to The Gulf of Mexico. Growing up there, I sort of thought myself as a mixture, by parents Norwegian and German and half my friends Mexicans.
I am rediscovering its history: from the Indians, the Spanish beginning in 1598, the 
following conquistadors, then Texas in 1836 and the wild life of the frontier, its roll in the Mexican Revolution. I grew up on the desert during World War Two and the occupation with the huge military presence and the rockets at White Sands Proving Grounds on the horizon north of my house. Today the drug related crime in Juarez worries the Americans.
Is there anything for me after “Dos Gringos?” I don’t know, but the place is filled with stories.
“Dos Gringos” coming soon!
Tags: conquistadors, dos gringos, El Paso, Rio Grande River, The Mexican Revolution, White Sands Proving Gounds
Books by Fred Andresen, Dos Gringos, Intercultural relations, Literature, The Arts, The writing process, Uncategorized | fred | April 2, 2010 11:04 pm | Comments (0)
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