People With No Names - The Undocumented #51

This oil on cardboard is 9"x18". The paintings shows three deportees who are cheerfully washing the dishes after one of the twice a day meals that are served at the "Comedor". The man in the front is scrubbing out a big pot. It reminded me that America is often referred to as a big 'melting pot'...and I just wondered how we decide that our pot is full...and we don't want anyone else in our pot.

People With No Names - The Undocumented #17

This is Caesar, hand clipping each of the 30 Italian Cypress bushes around the perimeter of a property so that the skinny shrubs will fatten up. (Everything fattens up in America, right?) Again he is up on the ladder. In our life journey we all want to climb up, BUT ESPECIALLY we want our kids to climb up. Who doesn't want to boost his/her kids up on his shoulders to give him a bigger view of the world. It is a mini glimpse of the future. Ladders, shoulders, and feet are the only means at hand. Immigrants are certainly not flying up here on airplanes...although we DO deport many of them on airplanes (see the photo on page 8A of the Sept 10, 2010 USA TODAY), which always strikes me as funny, because even though they are shackled, they REALLY get an up close glimpse of what an incredibly muy rico country this is! And then they are probably doubly motivated to try again, just for an opportunity to climb the ladder, to boost their kids up on their shoulders.