Fronteras: Pursuit Of My Father & Connecting The Lower Rio Grande Valley

By Norma Martinez

Published September 7, 2018 at 3:03 PM CDT

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Trail at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, one of the many locations to be incorporated into the Lower Rio Grande Valley Active Plan

Norma Martinez / Texas Public Radio

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Jean Guerrero, KPBS immigration reporter, author of "Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir."

Stacy Keck

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Graham Sevier-Schultz, owner of 7th and Park in Brownsville.

Courtesy of Graham Sevier-Schultz

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Eva Garcia, Brownsville city planner, and Rose Gowen, Brownsville physician and city commissioner, at McKelvey Park in Harlingen.

Norma Martinez / Texas Public Radio

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Trail at McKelvey Park in Harlingen.

Norma Martinez / Texas Public Radio

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Part of the Battlefield Trail outside the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park.

Norma Martinez / Texas Public Radio

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One of the many water/paddling trails to be included in the Lower Rio Grande Valley Active Plan, Rancho Viejo.

Norma Martinez / Texas Public Radio

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Overview of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Active Plan

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy

We begin with a story about a daughter trying to learn more about her father, who traveled the world, trying to escape what he believed were CIA mind-control experiments (0:17). Then, 11 communities in Cameron County are working to improve the health of its residents while spurring economic and transportation growth through a series of interconnected hiking, biking and paddling trails (14:54).

‘In Pursuit Of My Father; I See Him As Sort Of The Ultimate Migrant’

When Jean Guerrero was a child, she was enchanted by her eclectic father, Marco Antonio. His fantastical descriptions of the world around her drew Jean in and actually made it difficult for her to distinguish between fantasy and reality.

Yet, as she grew older, she noticed his behavior change. He became more withdrawn and was often severely critical of his daughter.

Marco Antonio was in and out of Jean’s life, traveling all over the world experimenting with drugs and engaging in self-destructive behavior. Jean’s mother said her father was schizophrenic. Jean, who is a journalist, sought to learn more about her father and traced his steps to determine whether or not he really was suffering from a debilitating mental illness or was a mystic, like his ancestors.

Jean Guerrero, an immigration reporter with KPBS in San Diego, shares her experiences in the book ‘Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir.’

Bike share station at McKelvey Park in Harlingen, TX.

Lower Rio Grande Valley Active Plan: 428 Miles Of Trails To Connect Cameron County Communities

On the southern tip of Texas, Cameron County is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico to the east and Mexico to the west. It ranks in the bottom 10 percent of the state in terms of overall health factors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

FRONTERAS EXTRA | Connecting 11 Cameron County Communities

To counter these health risks, and to spur activity and tourism, a coalition of 11 communities in Cameron County is developing atransportation and tourism active plan that will link the communities with 428 miles of on-and-off street hike-and-bike and water trails.

Norma Martinez can be reached by email at norma@tpr.org and on Twitter @NormDog1