I'm in the middle of bumfuck Texas, somewhere between Abilene and El Paso - the western part of the state that is boring, filled with questionable white folks, and lots and lots of space, reddish sand dirt, cows, and shrubs.
It is Sunday so there is no library open, no organic food stores in the close vicinity, and the internet is not working at the rest stops! Not to mention the weather - it is fuckin' freezing!
As I get closer to El Paso, it is getting a couple degrees warmer or maybe I'm getting used to it.
I spot a Starbucks - free internet - so I decide to stop. I want to catch up on my blogging, as many exciting things have been happening. But as soon as I get online, and figure out how to navigate, a young man asks me if this is my truck, pointing out the window to where my truck is parked.
We have been talking for at least 30 minutes now. He is traveling with 4 other young male friends who are waiting somewhat patiently for him.
Suddenly, he grabs his cell phone out of his pocket, opens it and removes the battery, giving me a knowing look.
He is beautiful, soft spoken, wide black eyes, creamy caramel skin. He wants to know about Monsanto. He wants to know about Occupy. He wants to know what I think he needs to know.
He doesn't understand the 99% and the 1% - but he knows of the slogan.
He intends to join the navy so he can become a surgeon and open his own small hospital. He knows of another El Paso fellow who was in the military, became a surgeon, and now goes around the world helping people.
If only.
He has to work at Walmart, he says, grimacing. He has no life, except to work all night and then sleep all day. He wants to go to school, he's saving money.
He hates his work, knows about Walmart, knows about slave labor, knows about how rich they are. But he has to have a job.
I urge him to make the connections. I tell him he can finance his college other ways, then being trained to kill people at best, actually killing people at worse.
His eyes film over dreamily as he tells me he is coming from a 10 hour concert in Dallas; and heading to another concert before rushing back to El Paso to work - at Walmart.
I give him democracynow.org connection - he is worried about the mark of the beast. He wants me to google but I don't. He says it's in the vaccinations, the cell phones, they're injecting it into our bodies many ways.
He does not call himself a christian but he believes in the bible - Revelations.
I urge him to seek out his elders, the first peoples, and to try to find out what his people believed before genocide, before colonization, before the great white occupation, prior to christianity being shoved down their throats.
It is getting dark. I've been able to sit here without buying anything, but now this once crowded little starbucks is emptying out. I don't know what time they close but most likely soon.
I have to continue trying to find veggie oil - grrrrr - having to dedicate soooooo much time and energy to finding fuel. what a challenge!
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