Text & photos by Karl-Erik Stromsta

Helen Brady and Bielcka Ramirez live just a few miles apart – practically neighbors by L.A. standards. Yet the two teenagers have never met, and they likely never will. Helen lives on the Arizona border, in Naco; Bielcka lives on the other side, in Mexico.

For most Americans, “the border” is an abstraction. For Helen and Bielcka it is painfully real: The horizon-riding corrugated steel barrier – rusted in spots, barbed in others – separating their two nations.

Helen is training with the Border Patrol. Bielcka lives in fear of the corrupt Mexican police. Being a teenager is difficult enough. Being a teenager on the edge of a nation is downright bewildering.

Click to read the full story, as it appeared in L.A. Weekly.