Last summer, living in Brooklyn with the pandemic closing in around her, Katie Nodjimbadem got to thinking about El Paso. She’d moved away years earlier, to a series of places around the world that were all very different from her hometown. But, as she reflects in this week’s episode, the border city where her parents chose to make their home has shaped her in ways she’s still coming to understand.

This story was first published in June 2020. Next week, on the final episode of the first season of State of Mind, show host Katy Vine tells the story of two Austinites who’ve made it their life’s work to document the practical uses for each of the thousands of wild plants in Texas. After fifty years of going through the list alphabetically, they have nearly finished the letter c.

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