Documenting the border fence between Mexico and the U.S.
(Pictures and links to videos at link.)

Msnbc.com continues its collaboration with Once magazine on the iPad. The following is excerpted from the November issue.

Melissa del Bosque, Once Magazine, writes: The steel fence zigs and zags from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, a rust-colored scar on the American landscape. It passes through deserts and fertile farmland, backyards and wildlife refuges.

Eric White for Once Magazine

California, U.S.

For some politicians the fence is a talking point, embodying a promise to keep America safe. For many Americans who live near it, the fence, which covers 649 miles of the nearly 2,000-mile-long international border, speaks only of the failure of politics.

Since 2001, the Department of Homeland Security has turned the neighborhoods around the fence into militarized zones, replete with surveillance towers, the National Guard, sensors, and predator drones.

Eric White for Once Magazine

Arizona, U.S.

Their communities divided, those who live on either side of the fence simply call it “the wall.â€