At The Ready Interview: with Director Maisie Crow

<p><em>At the Ready</em> premiered at Sundance 2021 and I was super excited about it.  It appeared on my <a href= "https://www.alternateending.com/podcast/sundance-2021-preview">most anticipated films of Sundance list</a>, in fact.  The headline reads "a group of seniors train to become border control agents at El Paso's Horizon High School, near the US/Mexico border." I surmised that the film would feature stupid kids that don't have a big-picture view on humanity. Then, over the course of <em>At the Ready</em> I was going to feel all warm and fuzzy as these kids are given an education on empathy and how we treat other humans.  Well, I was wrong.  The the small-minded view on humanity, instead fell on me.</p> <h2>A bit about <em>At the Ready</em></h2> <p><em>At the Ready</em> is a documentary that aims to show the world "in the gray".  Immigration is such a polarizing topic and the last several years have pushed us into very tightly woven perspectives.  <em>At the Ready</em> focuses on El Paso, Texas because its demographic is predominantly hispanic, so the officers who police the border are largely of Mexican descent.  <em>At the Ready</em> focuses on the lives of a handful of students that are a part of this "border control" training program so that we can better understand the perspectives of why in the world this job would be appealing.  I'll offer a bit about the gray parts (but I encourage you to see <em>At the Ready</em> for yourself). Not to mince words, these jobs are very well-paid and offer solid benefits.  Beyond that, in El Paso, border agents are seen as jobs that actually are a service to not only the US, but also to families coming to the border.  In fact, the perspective is as a border agent you are helping to guide and provide needed services.  The job is respected and valued in the community. Admittedly, with my 2000 mile away view from Madison, WI, I just always pictured a bunch of dudes with buzz cuts, that got picked on in high school and decided they wanted to exert control over people in