Francisco Guajardo had been one of my points of contact before my arrival. Less than five minutes after I called him, he pulled up in a big Chevy Surburban, very much like the Federal Police drive in Mexico City, jumped out and introduced himself. He's much friendlier than a federale, and was very forthcoming about a wide range of issues. Francisco was born in Mexico in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas state. His parents came to Hidalgo County when he was young, and he grew up and attended the schools in the area. His dad worked in the fields, tended sheep, and later worked as a custodian in the school district. Francisco attended college at University of Texas in Austin where he studied history and met his wife Yvonne, also from this area. Yvonne's family has roots in Elsa that date back to the 19th century. Together they taught in local high schools. Yvonne is a counselor and Francisco teaches history and is director of Llano Grande Center, a non-profit which is housed in the Elsa-Edcouch High School.

The evening of my arrival coincided with the monthly meeting of Vamos ("Let's Go" in English) a local scholarship fund whose volunteer members donate a great deal of time raising money for the fund. This year the Lilly Foundation had pledged to match almost $2 million that Vamos hopes to raise by the end of 2002. The meeting was exclusively about the various concerts and sporting events being planned to bring in the matching funds. The volunteers, many of whom were affluent and influential community members, discussed the merits of prospective artists and the need for more sponsors for a forthcoming golf tournament. Pizza was served, even though everyone there was of Mexican heritage, and it probably could have been conducted in Spanish. It seemed odd to me that Spanish is not taught to every student, though most of them speak it at home. The Spanish language collection in the Elsa Public Library is not large. There's a lot of Spanglish in everyday speech, but the Vamos meeting was just in English. The head of the group ran a tight meeting and seemed to be a tireless fundraiser. In the fall of 2000, a candidate for senator from New York came by Edinburg, and the Vamos president raised almost $300,000 for her in less than three hours.

At the end of the meeting we drove to the Guajardo's house, a gathering place for friends, family, and visitors interested in the sorts of projects that the Guajardos have started or are supporting through their own work. Laura Rodriguez, an artist in residence spends more time at the Guajardos than at her apartment in Elsa. When she announced her move to the valley, her friends in Austin could not understand why she would want to leave such a cosmopolitan place for the middle of nowhere. In fact, her students at the local high school also wondered why she would want to move to their little town. What I saw during the visit helped me understand the attraction.

I also met David Rice, a writer, playwright, and promoter of cultural events. He grew up with Francisco and now makes his home in Austin. His book of short stories Give the Pig a Chance is a collection of tales and vignettes from the Edinburg-Elsa area where he grew up, and it afforded me a window of understanding to supplement my brief visit. Marcel Rodriguez, a videographer, is helping the students in Llano Grande produce videos using digital video hardware and editing software. Rodriguez had just finished the score Spy Kids the successful new movie directed by his brother Robert Rodriguez.