THE ART OF BROWNSVILLE - COMMENTS

You all should check out this site:
Brownsville and Matamoros History
I don't think I have ever mentioned Matamoros in this blog and it really pains me, because Matamoros, our next door Mexican neighbor is such a huge part of Brownsville's past, present and future development. After speaking with Dr. Hanna I have realized that any cultural plans for Brownsville needs to consider and involve the Matamoros community as well. These twin cities' relationship really make Brownsville a special entity in the Rio Grande Valley. Geographically, Brownsville and Matamoros are not more than a stone throw's away from easch other, whereas border proximities between Harlingen and Progresso, or Reynosa and McAllen are atleast a 10-20 minutes drive (depending on who is driving). People in Austin are always in disbelief when I tell them you can literally walk into Mexico from Brownsville. Now I am not bashing Harlingen's or McAllen's relationships with their border neighbors, but for the most part I hardly hear anything about collaborations between these cities. Who knows I may be misinformed so I welcome any information to come my way. But I also fear that the Brownsville governing system is coming to a point of becoming an autonomous entity and ignoring facets of cultural and social exchange between Matamoros and Brownsville. Ignorance is the most crippling factor that can occur to the better development of Brownsville's culture and economy, and if we cannot recognize that we need to collaborate with Matamoros and to help one another in improving the development of this region, then we are set for failure.