From the Editors
By Leigh E. Smith Jr., Editor and Debra Barron Diaz, Assistant Editor
Working on Borderlands this year has been an experience we will both remember for a long time. When we decided to take the jobs as editor and assistant editor, we had no idea about the fascinating people we would meet or the facts we would discover while reading the research papers written by our fellow students.
The Plaza Theater story was Debra's project and revealed little known facts about the once famous El Paso landmark. Leigh researched the subject of German prisoners of war in El Paso during World War II, a project which ultimately led him to research one German prisoner in particular, who was murdered and is buried here in El Paso.
The most important thing that we learned while working with Borderlands is the necessity of keeping history alive even after the people who have experienced these events are no longer with us. Information gathered from interviews with people who remember what it was like during the Great Depression or who fought during World War II or dated in the fifties needs to be recorded for future generations so they will have a better understanding about how their families lived.
We urge all of you who read and enjoy Borderlands to sit down with an older relative or friend and record what they say about what life was like when they grew up. The facts called history that fill books may only be part of what is actually known. Other parts of history may be unrecorded, living only in the experience of a friend or relative.
We would like to thank our families, Margareta and Ryan Smith, and Richard Diaz and Garrett Zalokar for their support and understanding this semester while we worked on this project. We especially would like to thank Ruth Vise for her guidance and understanding. Borderlands is about El Paso and the surrounding area. We were able to learn so much more about this city and see it in a different light. We hope you enjoy what the students of EPCC have done to help keep history, our history, alive.