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David Dodd

David Dodd is a Reader contributor. See staff page for published articles.

Florida Man Shot Outside Rosarito Beach Bakery

There are expats that come down here to Baja and retire. Their entire existence up to that point was from the U.S.; and although perhaps they might have spent a lot of time in Baja vacationing, their entire geographical and cultural starting point for the ideologies that have shaped them have been based on that premise. Their particular idea of what freedom and liberty tastes like, say, red, white, and blue. They move into clusters amongst other similar expats for comfort and some semblance of community. I wouldn't think this to be unnatural at all under the circumstances. There are other expats that came here to live, not just retire. They work here (or work from here and cross the border daily along with many of their Mexican neighbors), breed and raise children here, and so on. They don't live in clusters, they live wherever is convenient. When you meet these types in Baja, you will note a marked difference between these types and the aforementioned. After a decade, and even more so beyond, their particular flavor of freedom and liberty changes a little bit. The perspective is quite different, and with that change in perspective comes the realization that Mexico is not the U.S. and the means to an end in the U.S. is not the means to an end in Mexico. When I would frequent some of the bars in Centro de Tijuana, I was a magnet for the retired expat. A gringo would poke his head into the bar, see me, and come in and sit close by. I am not unfriendly, and eventually they would strike up a conversation. After the second beer, I would find them ranting about this thing or that thing about Baja, he was waiting to unload on a gringo that would certainly understand. The problem was always the same, he was comparing all of his unpleasant experiences to where he came from, somewhere in the U.S. Another version of the retired expat is one that fills their time consumed by the injustices of Mexican life. Drug wars, rapes, child prostitution, and so on. Journalists killed because they got a little bit too specific in a story. While the cause may be seen as noble (and whatever you do, don't try and talk them out of it, it's a waste of damned time), the problem is that they are approaching everything from the same perspective they approached everything when they lived (and worked and bred and so on) in the U.S. It's like watching an Eskimo tackle housing issues in an equatorial jungle.
— November 13, 2010 10:47 p.m.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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