#jonathanlevinson

Full vid: https://youtu.be/59q-ftk1hhs Shorts: https://youtu.be/jO6ukJlgwjA

BY JONATHAN LEVINSON (FGJ ‘17) - The land border crossing between Tijuana, Mexico and San Ysidro, Calif. is one of the busiest in the world. Every day 25,000 people cross the border on foot. Among the crowd are students whose families live in Tijuana. Each morning their families commute many hours to bring the children to school in the U.S. READ MORE

PHOTOS BY JONATHAN LEVINSON (FGJ ‘17) - Raul Valdez spends his afternoons in the small shoe stall he owns in the Granaditas market, which he claims is the biggest shoe market in the world, on the border of Mexico City's historic district and the infamous Tepito neighborhood. Every day he works there with his wife, selling only women's shoes because, he says, "Women always spend more on shoes." READ MORE

BY JONATHAN LEVINSON (FGJ ‘17) - On a Saturday afternoon in January, Julia Carabias, one of Mexico’s most respected biologists, was making herself useful – putting a fresh coat of blue paint on the walls of a still-unnamed new restaurant she hopes will open on time and on budget. She and the community of Adolfo López Mateos, in Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas, are counting on it drawing patrons from miles beyond. The chefs are plucked from the local community, and the location is a winner, tucked into the side of a mountain, with sweeping views of the Lacandon jungle below and, if you time it right, a striking sunset of reds and oranges. READ MORE

BY JONATHAN LEVINSON (FGJ ‘17) - When Donald Trump makes good on his promise to rework or scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — as his frequent tweets on the subject suggest he will — Mexico is expected to use the security cooperation between the two countries as a major bargaining chip. Trade between the U.S. and Mexico was worth $531 billion in 2015. And Mexico is Texas' number one export market, worth $92 million and making up 37 percent of the state's total exports. READ MORE

BY JONATHAN LEVINSON (FGJ ‘17) - Forty-six-year-old Humberto Mugnai is worried about the US elections - not necessarily for himself, though inflation, he says, will certainly affect his purchasing power. But Humberto teaches social sciences at a high school in Mexico City, and he's worried that if Donald Trump is elected, it will become much harder for his pupils to study in the United States. READ MORE

BY JONATHAN LEVINSON (FGJ ‘17) - Five years ago, Jessica Velazquez joined a pickup American football game with her little brothers and fell in love with the sport. Finding a league was surprisingly easy. Peewee flag football is surging in popularity in Mexico. So popular, in fact, that Jessica, now 18, thinks it might just unseat soccer as Mexico's favorite sport. READ MORE