the long drive by dan cortez traffic... bad weather... it can take me 20 minutes to get to school!
TRANSCRIPT
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The Long Drive
by
Dan Cortez
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Traffic . . .
Bad weather . . .
It can take me 20 minutes to get to school!
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That’s only
minutes more than usual,
but I still complain.
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But my cousin Maria drives from Mexico . . .
all the way to Texas so she can attend school there.
How does she do that?
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Every Monday morning, she gets up at 5:00 a.m. to get on the road.
Sometimes it takes her three hours to get to school.
She often waits over an hour to cross the border.
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Maria’s dad lives and works in El Paso.
They are both American citizens.
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Although Maria’s family lives in Mexico, her father stays in El Paso where he has a good job. He works hard to support his family.
It is a big sacrifice to see them only once in a while.
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Although Maria travels hours to school, she never complains. Like her dad, she wants to get ahead. She knows she is lucky to go to high school as a United States citizen.
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Maria lives withher mom andsiblings inMexico onweekends.
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Other students who illegally cross the border risk their lives to go to school here.
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Luckily, the guards are more worried about drug smugglers, so the students get off easy.
Some are caught by the Border Patrol.
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Each year about 400 people die trying to cross the border between Mexico and the United States.
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When I think of Maria and those other kids, I feel
grateful just to be able to go to this high school!