For thirty days by the light of the sun and the camp-fire light they saw no faces except their own; and when they were silent it was all stillness, unless the wind passed among the pines, or some flowing water was near them.
Owen Wister, The Virginian, a Horseman of the plains
In the last 20 miles I didn’t see another car. That’s what the desert’s about: solitude. It’s a test. A test to see if you can stand yourself.
— The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
The U.S.-Mexican border es una herida abierta where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds. And before a scab forms it hemorrhages again, the lifeblood of two worlds merging to form a third country — a border culture. Borders are set up to define the places that are safe and unsafe, to disinguish us from them.
— Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldúa