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Growing up in El Paso, Texas, country singer-songwriter Valerie Ponzio watched her hometown change. As a child in the ’90s she frequently crossed the border with her family to Ciudad Juarez for shopping trips. By the early 2000s, violence increasingly overtook the Mexican city and debates intensified about border security. Most recently, El Paso has been marked by gun violence following the mass shooting that targeted Mexican residents in 2019.
It’s a turn of events that’s been emotional for Ponzio. “I just want to see people honor my hometown,” says the singer, a former contestant on “The Voice” who has written several songs highlighting El Paso. “It’s not what people think of it as.”
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