Next week will be my 21st anniversary of arriving in Tucson. As a young traveler, I was blown away by the Sonoran Desert landscape and my first days in Tucson were like being in a completely new world. The cultures, climate, critters and community were immediately special to me, and still are today. My own assimiliation here hasn’t diminished my passion, and though this week my jobs involve seemingly mundane tasks (printing shirts, making buttons etc.) I am thrilled to be a part of the causes this work will benefit, and want to mention a couple.

This week we will produce a new t-shirt created to raise awareness and funds to mitigate the threats to wildlife from the border wall. Designed by local artist Dennis Caldwell, the Keep Our Borders Wild! shirt is sponsored by the Tucson Herpetological Society in conjunction with the Sierra Club Borderlands Project (and will be available soon through SierraClub.org/borderlands.) You may recognize some of your favorite desert megafauna in the picture of the silkscreen; better though to get your own shirt and appreciate the fabulous detail and all that it says about life here in Arizona.

I referenced my more carefree, wandering days earlier, but these days I have a much different perspective on the privilege of mobility. Whether it is the Northern Jaguar isolated by the border wall, or the thousands of migrants that face harrassment, detention and death in crossing the desert to find work here, there is no doubt that the US border policy is having tragic consequences. No More Deaths is an effective coalition that has been dramatically calling attention to border issues. This week we cranked out another bunch of buttons for their outreach campaign. The buttons feature a water jug in the desert and were designed here at the Gloo Factory. They are particularly relevant to the current political trials of No More Deaths volunteer (and Peace Supplies web designer!) Walt Staton, who is facing jail time stemming from a citation for leaving water in the desert as humanitarian aid for migrants. See more at www.NoMoreDeaths.org.

I have a strong sense that these issues, and the communities that care about them, are what gives us here at The Gloo Factory the meaning and motivation to do our part every day. Thanks to all of you for the inspiration.