ABSTRACT
Tradition runs deep in Havens and at HHS in particular. And the tradition is that of a rural American high school. Things have always been done a certain way and change does not come easily. As the demographics have shifted over time and as the border seems closer than ever before, individual students and teachers have begun to figure out how to mediate the cultural, language, and status shifts that are an inevitable part of a sound life on the border. These are personal accomplishments that enable individuals to make sense of the location in which they find themselves and negotiate relationships beyond the confines of their own ethnicity. Although everyone in Havens lives a life that bumps up against cultural and language differences, there is not uniform interest in sorting out what it means to live a binational life; not everyone has been successful in this, nor has everyone attempted to try.
