Barrio Santa Cruz

Images at last. Though I love white space and creating an image through my thoughts and words, these past posts are like the glass that is half-full.

The walk to the TTU Center each morning takes through a confluence of small streets. These are some of the sights we see as we make our way through the neighborhood.

Sometimes, a door is open. A glimpse inside reveals the blues and yellows of the tiles, the green of the plants, and the cool breath of the air flowing from inside. A contained oasis.



Door and cabinet hardware is a study in itself. The shop in the building below specializes in this. The building stands alone on this triangular block. The apartments above the hardward store invite speculation with their acute corners.




Churches abound in every neighborhood, some plastered with posters calling devout pilgrims to the many celebrations of saints. We are told that church attendance averages only 10% or so though nearly 90% of the population is Catholic. It seems that in times of hardship, the Church did not deliver and the people do not forget.

An elementary school reveals itself through its wrought iron fence and elaborate facade of plaster.



An empty storefront becomes a community bulletin board ephemoral images, poetry, and love cures beckoning secular pilgrims. A poem laments the night.