CROSSING DREAMS: A SHORT STORY

When I saw a picture similar to this one, I was inspired. The year was 2018. Trump had been president for over a year now, and his wild demeanor was changing and dividing the country radically.

By then, as I have mentioned before, I was living in Colombia, but the political and sociological animal that I am was staying on top of all the dramatic events taking place in my second nation. To me it was disheartening to see the quick breakdown, overt misunderstanding, dismissiveness and complete mistrust between the two political ideologies that have guided the country. I grew up in America during the 1980s. In New York I studied business at Baruch College, did my MBA at Long Island University.

I was fully aware of the racial tensions and divides and differences that exists in American society. I am Hispanic (Which in America today it means Mexican 😂😂😂. Although in the 1980s it meant Puerto Rican 😂😂) I was also very much aware of the fast changing demographic numbers in the old US of A.

This change is a reality, and I actually think the Hispanic population is larger because I know of plenty of people who are of mixed race, but when they are asked if they are White or Hispanic, they choose White.

(Interesting, ah? This could be the topic of another blog.) Then, Obama appeared in the picture. That´s when all hell broke loose. My last year in America was of a society full of mistrust, hate and fear. All those negative feelings popped into the surface. I really couldn´t understand it.

It was only after I left the country, after I was able to view the societal perspective from outside that I learned and really understood what was happening. (Again, this is all my perspective.) FEAR had won. And Trump took that fear and made it his, and then he filled the hearts and souls of half the population with it.

It was at the beginning of May 2018, that former Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Trump´s Zero Tolerance policy against illegal immigration. The focus of this government was to stop it immediately, specially those people from south of the border. Yeah those, the brown ones. They had to be stopped. It was at this time that I saw the aforementioned picture, the one with the two kids standing by the huge border wall.

The story ¨CROSSING DREAMS¨ (Click the title and you can read it.) came to me, all of it, at once. Now, that first draft I knew it wasn´t the best, it had to be re-written, but the feeling. Oh man, what a feeling it had. It was all heart! All life! All love! All humanity, despair, desire! Because I clearly understood how these families that longed for a better life, for a better future for their kids, made their decision to walk all the way to the southern border to try to cross it. Look, these are simple folks, these are hard working, normal, every day human beings who do not have other options. The decay, violence and terror they face in these 3rd world countries is real. The political classes, the elite down there do not care for them. Some people say, ´vote and democratically bring the change yourselves´, but the truth is there is no democracy. These people have been abandoned within their own borders. In the end, human beings vote with their feet (Ronald Reagan coined this phrase) They vote to go where they believe is the best place for their kid´s future. As simple as that.

The first draft came in one sitting. 7 pages long. A powerful story with an unexpected ending. One of my best. By the time I got to the last scene, I was crying like a small child. I just couldn´t hold back those tears. ´Shit! I want to direct this story´, I told myself then and there. I never did. That´s my bad. But I did have a chance to do it once with a Colombian actor/director. We had the money, the actors, the equipment, but in the end it didn´t work out because of differences in the vision. That was my bad too. So what I did then was to send it to compete. Let´s see how it does out there. Let that beautiful baby do its thing. And out it went to several festivals and in two of them, FRESH VOICES screenplay competition and CINEQUEST FESTIVAL, it did very well. At Fresh Voices it got an Honorable mention and at Cinequest it was a finalist.

Can you imagine how excited I was to hear this? It is such a good feeling when we (Writers) know that we can do this. I hope that something like this (and better) happens to all of you writers one day. You deserve it! because I know how hard and how difficult it is to dedicate hours upon hours, days upon days, to achieve this, to have in your hands 10, 20, 60, 90 pages of sweat and tears basically. Trust me, I know.

One more thing, I still want to direct this short. It´s one of my dreams. I haven´t given up yet. Now, what is amazing is that Crossing Dreams is still a relevant story, 5 years after it was written. I would even say, more relevant than ever. A story that describes and highlights the human spirit, a child´s imagination, the magical realism of a Colombian writer, the hate and prejudice brought upon others by pure ignorance and the controlling power of a cult leader.

I hope you enjoy reading it. (PRESS HERE TO READ IT) Thanks for coming.