We will also examine the literary work of Journalist Jose Antonio Vargas. In Jose’s essay, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” he shares his experience as an undocumented immigrant. He accounts his personal journey from the Philippines to the United States, as he establishes what it means to be an American from his perspective and his experiences. Jose reflects on his hardships that he had to overcome, such as correct paperwork, hard decision-making, and struggling to find support systems. Our group will discuss the ways family, identity, and support intersect with education. 

Links-

For David’s Interview: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h4dUhYsR3pGO2PJUOj8OdVpVD9Vxh97F/view?usp=sharing 

Vargas, Jose Antonio. “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 June 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/magazine/my-life-as-an-undocumented-immigrant.html. 

“Temporary Protected Status.” USCIS, 19 Apr. 2022, https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/temporary-protected-status.

Harrisonburg 360: Home was produced by: India Williams, Chloe Fallon, Gracelyn Hamlett, Jessie Beddow, and Sarah Bruno 

In this episode of Harrisonburg 360, MIXED, Izabella Pezza recounts her experience having immigrant parents, growing up and living as a mixed-race person, and her understanding of how her family’s dynamics have shaped who she is. Izabella, a sophomore English major at JMU, has aspirations to be a Creative Writing professor. In combination with references to Izabella’s Oral History interview, conducted by Emily Graff, our group made connections to We Came All The Way From Cuba So You Could Dress Like This? by Achy Obejas in our literary discussion.  This episode’s host was Zoe Lublin, the research and content producer was Grace Keeler, and the audio producer was Oliver Cigich. This episode was unique because Izabella was not only the narrator but a member of the class, and acted as team manager for this episode’s group.

Link to short story discussed in episode: https://latinosexualitygender.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/obejas-we-came-all-the-way-from-cuba.pdf

Bibliography of Additional Relevant Information

Chigas, George, and Dmitri Mosyakov. “Literacy and Education under the Khmer Rouge.” Genocide Studies Program , Yale University, https://gsp.yale.edu/literacy-and-education-under-khmer-rouge. 

Humans Win. “Affections.” Storyblocks, https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/affection-bxz2g2oz8k69tat9h.html

Obejas, Achy. We Came All The Way From Cuba So You Could Dress Like This? Cleis, 1994. 

Sean Fischer. “We Are Millennials.” Storyblocks, https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/we-are-millenials-hb4f1xgf_0hk4brm9cq.html

So, Anthony Veasna. Afterparties. Grove Press UK, 2022. 

This episode, Lost in Translation, was produced by Emily Killmon, Hannah Knick, Charlotte Lawrence-Hovey, and Alayna Saunders. Our narrator was Jaime Cañas. Lost in Translation covers Jaime’s experience as a generation 1.5 immigrant from El Salvador. Jaime immigrated in 2001 following an earthquake in El Salvador that allowed him and his family to stay using Temporary Protected Status. Jaime describes growing up managing the extra responsibility of being the family translator, being more independent scholastically, and finding people to help him through it all. We explore the themes of responsibility, support, and logistic obstacles as Jaime explains how he navigates life as an immigrant. 

The information used in our literary discussion can be found here:

Contreras, Ingrid Rojas. “The Paris Review  –  Translation as an Arithmetic of Loss – The Paris Review.” The Paris Review, https://www.facebook.com/parisreview/, 18 June 2019, https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/06/18/translation-as-an-arithmetic-of-loss/.

Nayeri, Dina. “The Ungrateful Refugee: We Have No Debt to Repay.” The Guardian, 4 Apr. 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/04/dina-nayeri-ungrateful-refugee

“Temporary Protected Status: An Overview | American Immigration Council.” American Immigration Council, 24 Aug. 2017, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/temporary-protected-status-overview#:~:text=Temporary%20Protected%20Status%20(TPS)%20is,be%20deported%20to%20those%20countries.

“ Community Support for Migrants Navigating the US Immigration System.” American Immigrant Council, 26 Feb. 2021, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/community-support-migrants-navigating-us-immigration-system

In this episode of Harrisonburg 360, the Female Gaze, we aim to give insight into the diversity of the female immigrant experience by highlighting two resilient women who immigrated to the United States- Lynn Buchanan from the Phillipines and Hiba Ali from Syria. Hiba is an immigrant from Syria who describes her experience coming to the U.S as a woman who had just gotten out of a domestic violence situation with her husband. Hiba also describes her strong connection with Syrian culture, with an intense urge to stay in touch with her roots even in a new country. While Lynn also had to find ways to become more independent after the death of her husband, she differs from Hiba in that in many ways, she chose to assimilate more to American culture. By sharing the stories of these women, we hope that we highlight not only the strength and connections of the female perspective and experience, but also the diversity and uniqueness among them.

Links for this episode:

For Lynn’s full interview: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/slalitv/16/

For more information about Syrian Culture: https://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Syria.html#ixzz6rI0arsra

For more information about domestic violence: https://www.thehotline.org/stakeholders/domestic-violence-statistics/

For more information about assimilation: https://www.britannica.com/topic/assimilation-society

Harrisonburg 360: The Female Gaze was produced by: Elainah Elkins, Electra Ellis, Gabriela Powell, and Jordan Zapp

In this week’s episode, “Just Assimilate,” we will compare and contrast the story of two immigrants living in Harrisonburg at different times. We also make connections to work by Nicole Chung and an interview with Thu Huynh. This podcast episode features discussions of topics such as food availability, diversity, racial tension and discrimination. 

Interviewee Biographies: 

Mikey Riesenburg

•  Mikey Riesenburg is an adopted immigrant from South Korea who has lived in Harrisonburg, Virginia for his entire life. He graduated from James Madison University in 2009 where he studied History. Currently, he runs a Korean inspired restaurant in downtown Harrisonburg.

Thu Huynh

• Thu Huynh is a Vietnamese Immigrant who came to America in 1988 to flee from the harsh economic conditions and oppressive government in Vietnam. She followed her brother, who was already living in the US, to Harrisonburg, VA.

References: 

• Chung, N. “Just Assimilate Her into Your Family and Everything Will Be Fine…”. 1 Oct. 2018, https://longreads.com/2018/10/02/just-assimilate-her-into-your-family-and-everything-will-be-fine/
• Keppel, P. “Inside the Kitchen with Chef Mikey Reisenberg of Mashita”. 15 December, 2020,  https://blog.virginia.org/2020/12/inside-the-kitchen-mashita/
• Cheng, K & Perez, K. “Mashita, the Korean Food Truck, Opens Downtown Storefront.” The Breeze, 24 Oct. 2019, https://www.breezejmu.org/culture/mashita-the-korean-food-truck-opens-downtown-storefront/article_66e8076e-f5aa-11e9-9b1d-0760a6327d38.html 
• Mitchell, K. “Mashita.” i Love My Burg., 10 Feb. 2020, https://ilovemyburg.com/tag/mashita/ 
• Thu Huynh (Am Thu Kieru Huynh), interviewed by Theresa Staropoli, March 17, 1993, 8-8. Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University.

Music:

• “Affection.” Royalty Free Stock Audio, Special Effects and More, www.audioblocks.com/stock-audio/affection-bxz2g2oz8k69tat9h.html.  
• “We Are Millenials.” Royalty Free Stock Audio, Special Effects and More, www.audioblocks.com/stock-audio/we-are-millenials-hb4f1xgf_0hk4brm9cq.html.  

Producers: 

• Sarah Hann: Audio Editor
• Hannah Meeks: Host 
• Amber Reid: Content Editor 
• Patrick Mullaney: Interviewer