Immigration Narrative
My Grandmother was born in Puerto Rico. I’m guessing somewhere on the outskirts of San Juan, but I don’t really know, and she can barely remember her own name let alone where she was born. Her name back then was Felipa Diaz. She had three sisters, all of who are now dead. Her mother and father were very poor, and she was sent to work at a very young age. Continue reading Grandma’s Story
My family is very large in total, but the vast majority of it is on my mother’s side. And the vast majority of that consists of women. The oldest relative I have ever known is my great-grandmother from my mother’s side, the matriarch of our family. In a small campo outside of the capital of the Dominican Republic, she had ten children, eight daughters and two sons, all of which are living in the US today. Most of these children, my grandmother, and most of my great-aunts and great-uncles, got married and had children. Some of them back in DR, some of them here. Continue reading Dominican-Raised, Brooklyn-Born Woman
It’s hard for me to imagine having to choose between love and family. If I could marry the person I love, but my family would disown me, would I do it? It’s possible that it wouldn’t work out, and then what? Luckily, this question is one that few of us have to face today, thanks to the general open-mindedness of many Americans in the twenty-first century. Unfortunately, though, this was and still is a somewhat common occurrence in other places, where interethnic conflict prevails over love and happiness. Continue reading Il Passato
My family moved around a lot during the first decade of my life, which is to be expected I suppose for my parents themselves, have made several migratory journeys themselves during their own lifetime. Continue reading Taiwan
Both of my parents came to America from the Philippines, but that fact has never been a topic of conversation in my family. Whenever we talk about the Philippines in our household, usually it’s only about family that currently live there or about the various things my father did as a child. I like to imagine my parents coming here, to America, when they were young. Continue reading Filipino Parties
