Immigrant Stories

We belong neither here nor there. Don’t ask us where home is because home could mean space, our mother, between their arms, inside ourselves or nowhere. At the ages of six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve we were friends until life separated us in different directions. I don’t…

Immigration is so common it might seem banal, but it profoundly changes you as a person. It changes your identity, how you relate to your new home, and your old one. After witnessing the 2016 and 2020 election cycles, the pandemic, the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes, and the national…

PC: Anushka Bhartiya As the deafening silences turn louder She reaches out to the world But all that the world sees Are reminiscences of her past life And they truly believe her smiles Smiles that she has practiced hard Smiles that save her from too many questions Smiles that are more of a disguise And when she’s too tired to smile She reaches for the tears Tears of solitude That never leave her side

Here’s my checklist of how to be a good immigrant. — I’m an expert on being an immigrant. Overall, I’ve moved house more than 30 times over three continents and half a century. I started my life as an immigrant when I was less than I year old. My first birthday was in Madrid, where my parents had moved from Galicia…

Where do we begin It was time when strangers were welcome here Music would play they tell me the days were sweet and clear It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room That people could come from everywhere — The Immigrant by Neil Sedaka Sedaka’s love-poem about a better time when…

The last time I saw Mom through the grainy screen of Skype, I couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t look like herself. Her face had lost all its plumpness, and it seemed like the vitality had been drained from her features. “I miss you, Mom,” I confessed, longing to…

A daughter takes inventory of her father’s luggage — unpacking what the objects he brought (in an aluminum suitcase made in Taiwan) say about the man he was at 25 and today. My dad and I have always been close since I was a child, but like many Chinese immigrants…

I was compelled to read Prisoner #1056 because of my unrelenting interest in learning about the civil war in Sri Lanka. My learning started in 2009 as “many stayed overnight on the streets of downtown Toronto and Ottawa, holding vigils while the city slept between protests” (Amarasingam et al., 2023…

By Monica Ibarra The past is not blurry in this story of being bullied. With the clarify of time and knowledge, bystanders can play distinct roles in bullying situations. Let me get the setting in place for the story I am to where here with you. The setting is a…