I feel this deeply, as a Deaf person in a world made by choice to be deeply inhospitable to me. There are islands of rightness and inclusions, but islands only. And honestly? I am an immigrant to these islands also. Thank you so so so much for this.
You are an immigrant as long as you ask yourself the question, but when you stop caring and drawing the line, the dichotomy gets dissolved. How many people are truly at home in their home countries / towns? Being at home or an immigrant is, from a point onwards, just a construct in our minds.
I have not read the book, but for me, for my wife and our many friends, immigrants like us, it is an often quoted truism, mostly in the context of a possible return to our roots.
In our case, coming from the former communist world, the original move had a certain finality to it.
This was a different article from the one I assumed it would be, but it reinforced for me the truth that even if one is descended from recent immigrants, one is treated by some with a certain degree of suspicion and antagonism. This was a really great read, incisive, interesting and poignant
Funny how much this spoke to me considering I only moved seventy odd miles! It’s funny how different life is in a big city to a small village. I guess the smaller your world, the easier it is to impact it with an alteration. And no, I don’t go a day without someone either pointing out “you’re not from around here” or being introduced as “Donna, from Yorkshire”.
What an inspiring line, Paul! I think in the same way, whether you call yourself an immigrant or not. Our experiences make our journey unique, apart from the more immobile people. And that can never be changed, cancelled or removed from our DNA.
I'm just writing about a similar topic, about being asked 'where are you from', another way to signal (maybe unintentionally) an immigrant.
Immigrants Are Immigrants All Their Lives
I feel this deeply, as a Deaf person in a world made by choice to be deeply inhospitable to me. There are islands of rightness and inclusions, but islands only. And honestly? I am an immigrant to these islands also. Thank you so so so much for this.
You are an immigrant as long as you ask yourself the question, but when you stop caring and drawing the line, the dichotomy gets dissolved. How many people are truly at home in their home countries / towns? Being at home or an immigrant is, from a point onwards, just a construct in our minds.
Funny that...
I have not read the book, but for me, for my wife and our many friends, immigrants like us, it is an often quoted truism, mostly in the context of a possible return to our roots.
In our case, coming from the former communist world, the original move had a certain finality to it.
This was a different article from the one I assumed it would be, but it reinforced for me the truth that even if one is descended from recent immigrants, one is treated by some with a certain degree of suspicion and antagonism. This was a really great read, incisive, interesting and poignant
Funny how much this spoke to me considering I only moved seventy odd miles! It’s funny how different life is in a big city to a small village. I guess the smaller your world, the easier it is to impact it with an alteration. And no, I don’t go a day without someone either pointing out “you’re not from around here” or being introduced as “Donna, from Yorkshire”.
What an inspiring line, Paul! I think in the same way, whether you call yourself an immigrant or not. Our experiences make our journey unique, apart from the more immobile people. And that can never be changed, cancelled or removed from our DNA.
I'm just writing about a similar topic, about being asked 'where are you from', another way to signal (maybe unintentionally) an immigrant.
Oof, this hits home as I’ve been an expat for some time and my partner and I are thinking about moving to Norway at some point