Born in El Paso’s Segundo Barrio in the early 1970s, I was raised in a Lower Valley home within shouting distance of the Mexican border. My first years were spent at Cadwallader Elementary school, then Riverside High School, where I attained a peculiar distinction among homeboys by lettering in classic Latin.

I've written on border issues for The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Gannett newspapers, and I'm a stringer for The New York Times. I've also had the privilege of writing for many regional newspapers, including The Albuquerque Journal, the El Paso Times, The original El Paso Herald Post, Diario de El Paso, El Paso Inc., the Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative and the Puente News Collaborative -- a binational partnership of media outlets in Ciudad Juárez and El Paso.

Before becoming a reporter, I was a state-ranked boxer in the U.S. Amateur Boxing Federation, winning two regional Golden Gloves Championships, and was a regular sparring partner for nationally ranked fighters in the United States and Mexico. Poised to turn pro as a young man, an injury in the ring abruptly ended my fighting career. Craving a trade requiring the same dedication as boxing, I found journalism.

I started as a cartoonist, then became a graphic designer, advertising representative, then an editor. Graduation in the Spring of 1995 from New Mexico State University was accompanied by an accolade -- humble in the grand scheme of academics -- but of great personal meaning for me: Outstanding Chicano Graduate for the university’s Journalism Department. It represented to me the essence of my journalism philosophy – writing earnestly about the border, mindful of its history and respectful of the plight of its people.

Throughout my years in journalism, I've gained a deep respect for the durable nature of those who live along our border, and those who risk their fate to come here. With an undeterred drive to improve their lives, they accept the hardships of this torrid desert where people from Mexico and the United States, and a long list of countries from everywhere else, merge in a spirited dance of culture and commerce, and a dogged pursuit of advancement amid perilous struggles.

The border can be a violent place, draped in tragic stories of death and suffering, injustice and heartbreak. But it's also a place where people come together, multiple generations from bloodlines along both sides of the river – extending to Central and South America and beyond -- to break bread, inspire and rejoice, and pursue better lives however difficult their circumstances may be.

Freelance journalism is a difficult but rewarding path. I've enjoyed maneuvering its unpredictable currents, managing, for the most part, to stay afloat amid its chaotic drops and swells. It is allowing me the opportunity to help chronicle with other journalists the evolution of this tumultuous borderland, preserving for history some of the events and voices of this time.

This is not possible without the Borderlanders, those fronterizos willing to share a part of themselves by telling their stories. To them I owe my growth as a person, a writer and journalist. To them, and to this rugged borderland region, I am indebted.

PHOTO: Tracking through the desert