\u201cAmerican Dreams: Immigration Stories\u201d was the theme of our program on May 22. A group of about 30 women and men gathered to perform\u00a0and be witness to\u00a0a series of monologues\u00a0written\u00a0by Linda Britt\u00a0in 2018\u00a0depicting a wide variety of\u00a0immigrant and refugee\u00a0experiences.\u00a0Immigration has been a focus of WTB programs and projects\u00a0during our 2021-22 program\u00a0year as Syracuse has\u00a0been welcoming\u00a0refugees from Afghanistan and other nations.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chairs were set in a semicircle before a table and microphone;\u00a0unfortunately, we were\u00a0not able to Zoom\u00a0or record\u00a0the entire meeting.\u00a0Refreshment chairperson Cindy\u00a0Rahrle\u00a0offered\u00a0individually wrapped snacks, home-baked sweets, and varieties of water. Everyone was masked unless speaking or eating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Barbara Bova\u00a0warmly\u00a0thanked everyone for coming,\u00a0especially those taking on roles. She then introduced Sue Savion,\u00a0director and MC for \u201cAmerican Dreams.\u201d\u00a0Author Linda Britt has given wide latitude in how\u00a0her play is\u00a0performed and which monologues are included. Sue announced that several cast members were\u00a0substituting\u00a0monologues they had written telling their own personal immigration stories; several\u00a0would\u00a0present\u00a0more than one monologue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sue began\u00a0by\u00a0sharing\u00a0her Swiss heritage\u2014illustrating\u00a0many traditions from her family\u2019s ancestral village in the Alps\u00a0that continued\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a0Swiss-settled small town in Illinois where she grew up.\u00a0Betsy Nash powerfully enacted the story of Selma, 48, from Bosnia,\u00a0whose story highlighted how the Croatians\u00a0had\u00a0destroyed an iconic bridge in Mostar\u00a0even though\u00a0it had no strategic value.\u00a0She\u00a0showed a picture of that bridge. Julie\u00a0Sydorowych\u00a0shared\u00a0her poignant and beautifully written\u00a0monologue about her\u00a0own\u00a0family\u2019s horrific escape from Ukraine during the last war\u2014she ended\u00a0her\u00a0powerful remembrance with,\u00a0\u201cAnd now it is happening in Ukraine again.\u201d\u00a0Garang\u00a0Ajak, one of the \u201cLost Boys\u201d of Sudan who settled in Syracuse,\u00a0had us all laughing with his reading of \u201cShaking Hands\u201d;\u00a0in this reading,\u00a0Wilson, 33, from Sudan muses about the\u00a0ubiquitous American custom of shaking hands,\u00a0revealing that his\u00a0own\u00a0hand had been mutilated in Sudan. Cindy\u00a0Rahrle\u00a0read the emotional story of Ariana, 33, child of undocumented workers from Guatemala who enlisted\u00a0and served\u00a0in the US\u00a0military because it was a way\u00a0for her\u00a0to get US\u00a0citizenship and to give back to her adopted country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Judy Antoine\u00a0portrayed\u00a0Manuela, 42, who told of\u00a0her dangerous journey from Cuba\u00a0to Miami in\u00a0a rickety boat during\u00a0the Mariel boatlift of 1980.\u00a0Garang\u2019s\u00a0friend\u00a0Kuir\u00a0Ajang\u00a0JiBol\u00a0(himself from Sudan) read\u00a0Victor\u2019s story\u00a0of\u00a0an 18-year-old undocumented migrant\u00a0worker; if\u00a0caught and deported, he\u00a0would have \u201cNowhere to Go\u201d\u00a0having lived\u00a0in the US since age one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kate Farrar shared her personal story of coming to the US from England many years ago, describing\u00a0some humorous\u00a0mix-ups around\u00a0American-English and British-English\u00a0language\u00a0differences. Lina\u00a0Alfasadi\u00a0spoke of her long journey from Jordan\u00a0to Syracuse, always hoping to end up\u00a0someplace warm and sunny!\u00a0Joy\u00a0Pople\u00a0portrayed Marta, 29, an Argentinian woman\u00a0being deported for purportedly lying on her\u00a0naturalization application; her monologue makes it clear that\u00a0an\u00a0applicant\u00a0must report having\u00a0ever<\/em>\u00a0done\u00a0anything<\/em>\u00a0questionable, a difficult standard to meet. David\u00a0Rahrle\u00a0read \u201cLucky\u201d\u2014complete with Irish\u00a0accent!\u2014the story of man who fled Derry during\u00a0Ireland\u2019s time of \u201cThe Troubles\u201d in order to escape the violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Betsy Nash vividly portrayed Isabel, 12, from Honduras who was separated from her mother\u00a0by\u00a0US authorities\u00a0after\u00a0they\u00a0had crossed\u00a0the US border;\u00a0this\u00a0confused and terrified\u00a0child is not told\u00a0where her mom is\u00a0or if she\u00a0will ever see her mom again. Jennifer Crittenden read\u00a0the powerful story of\u00a0Isaad, 44, an interpreter for the US Army in Afghanistan waiting\u00a0years for paperwork for his\u00a0Special Immigrant Visa (SIV)\u00a0to be approved; he\u2019s in daily\u00a0danger of being killed by the Taliban as an enemy collaborator.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carol Lipson (who\u00a0herself\u00a0immigrated here\u00a0from Canada and shared some of her\u00a0own immigration\u00a0experiences) read\u00a0the story of\u00a0Carol, 25, a Canadian living and working in the US on an expired\u00a0visa\u00a0who doesn\u2019t worry overmuch about deportation since she does not look \u201cforeign.\u201d\u00a0Judy Antoine (who lived in Chile\u00a0until age 13) convincingly read \u201cAmerican Dreams\u201d;\u00a0in this story,\u00a0Alicia, 31, a legal immigrant from Nicaragua,\u00a0challenges those in the US with\u00a0El\u00a0Norte\u2019s <\/em>exploitation of indigenous peoples and asks,\u00a0\u201cHow did\u00a0you<\/em>\u00a0get here? What did\u00a0you<\/em>\u00a0do to earn what\u00a0you\u00a0<\/em>were born with?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ann Port read\u00a0the story of\u00a0Amanda, 29, whose family was split when she and her mom fled Cuba on the boatlift\u00a0while her dad stayed in Cuba; her\u00a0life is finally on the upswing\u00a0with her owning\u00a0her own Cuban food truck. Diane Lansing\u00a0briefly shared that her family members\u00a0were\u00a0holocaust survivors. Diane\u00a0read \u201cMiami Mama\u201d\u2014the story of\u00a0pregnant Natasha\u00a0who\u00a0pays $50,000 for \u201cbirth tourism\u201d; her baby born in the US will\u00a0return\u00a0with her\u00a0to Russia\u00a0as\u00a0an\u00a0American citizen.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Garang\u00a0portrayed Javier, a\u00a0young man\u00a0from Puerto\u00a0Rico who is taunted\u00a0to \u201cgo back home\u201d because of his accent\u2014Americans don\u2019t seem to realize that\u00a0Puerto Ricans are US citizens\u00a0by birth. Kate Farrar read two monologues of \u201cgood immigrants\u201d\u2014from England and France\u2014asking why they are more accepted here than\u00a0are people\u00a0from other nations.\u00a0Karen Stearns, who is currently tutoring children from El Salvador,\u00a0portrayed Isabel, a\u00a0DACA\u00a0(Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)\u00a0child whose parents came here illegally\u00a0years ago fleeing violence in El\u00a0Salvador; her\u00a0story involved the unfairness of being considered legal for a few years, then illegal, then legal,\u00a0and how\u00a0that uncertainty\u00a0destroys lives. Ann Port updated \u201cI Will Tell You This\u201d\u2014the warning of\u00a0Josephina,\u00a0a\u00a079-year-old\u00a0German Jewish woman whose parents fled Germany in 1938;\u00a0Josephina compares what Hitler did then to what is happening\u00a0In the US\u00a0now and warns\u00a0that\u00a0\u201cwe will be as complicit as they were\u201d if\u00a0we do nothing to stop\u00a0it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Barb Bova ended the program with a story similar to that of her own niece\u2014a\u00a0young woman\u00a0adopted\u00a0from China as a young baby\u00a0by American parents.\u00a0She displayed the photograph of her cute, smiling Chinese niece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rafsun\u00a0Alam, a student from Iran, eagerly wanted to participate in our play. Unfortunately, however, he received\u00a0a call from St. Joseph\u2019s Hospital to go in\u00a0as\u00a0a requirement for\u00a0his\u00a0nursing school.\u00a0He\u00a0had been looking forward to playing the role of an immigrant from Iran and the role of Rafiq from Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last monologue ended at 5:00 pm, leaving no time for discussion.\u00a0However, after the\u00a0meeting was adjourned,\u00a0some people stayed to discuss\u00a0issues raised by these\u00a0stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cAmerican Dreams: Immigration Storie\u201d was the theme for our May 22 program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[46],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10127"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10127"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10191,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10127\/revisions\/10191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}