Atlantica - 01.01.2006, Side 14

12 AT L A N T I CA
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RUN FOR IT
Border tensions between the United States and Mexico
have heated up in recent years, as private American
citizens in the southwest have taken up patrolling the
border themselves. Statistically, the migration from
south to north gets more dangerous every year. This
fall, New York based artist Judith Werthein designed a
pair of sneakers specially made for the dangerous and
disorienting crossing. The sneakers, called “Brinco” – or
“jump” in Spanish – come with a flashlight, compass, a
map of the border on the insole, and a pouch on the
tongue for money or for odds and ends. The artist has
put a price tag of about $200 on the border jumping
footwear – not exactly in the price range of a lot of the
folks making the journey. But she’s given out several
dozen pairs at migrant shelters on the border, as Brincos
are not so much an earnest commercial item as the
artist’s call for attention to the increasingly difficult trek
that thousands of Mexican migrants attempt every year.
i CHARGE
A techie with a lot of time in the Netherlands has figured out
how to recharge his i Pod via a bicycle pedal-powered, do-it-
yourself recharging system. Not for the faint of heart in the face of
gadgetry, Mark Hoekstra, the aforementioned Dutchman, breaks
down how to put your own bike recharger together on his website,
Geek Technique. Follow the dots at www.geektechnique.org.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TROPICAL ISLANDS
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUDITH WERTHEIN
PHOTO MARK HOEKSTRA
Airmail+OTF ATL106.indd 12 16.12.2005 12:12:46