• A brief summary of your selected Ted Talk (that was not the one used in this post)
• One quote and citation from one of the Ted Talks (that was not used in this post)
• A summary of your book
• One quote and citation from your book
• A clear answer to the question with a connection to your information

*You can complete these in any order that creates a well-written response*

In Phuc Tran’s book, Sigh, Gone, he discusses the difficulty of figuring out his identity as an immigrant in a mostly American neighborhood. From questioning his name to determining where he fits in the social structure of his high school, Tran has to navigate learning who he is with an additional barrier to the average teenager, having a whole other culture as a large part of his life. As he ages, he realizes that he wants nothing to do with his Vietnamese heritage and works hard to present himself as anything but an Asain nerd stereotype. By the time he reaches middle school, his parents have been able to move into a house in a new part of town. Phuc takes this opportunity to reinvent himself into a full punk skater. No matter how hard he tries, however, people often slip back into only focusing on he’s clearly not white. Finally, as he’s getting close to graduation, he feels like he’s made a version of himself that he likes, but even when he should be having a moment of joy, it’s overshadowed. People still single him out, “With the leaden weight of gook slung around my neck, I was dragged back in my place at the familiar bottom. Back to ‘Nam. It didn’t matter that I was going to speak at graduation or going to Bard or that I was on the prom court or any of that crap…I was still, shocking even to myself, a gook no matter how hard I tried not to be.” (Tran 283)

Similarly, in “Don’t feel sorry for refugees—believe in them” by Luma Mufleh, tells us, “We have seen advances in every aspect of our lives—except our humanity.” (Mufleh). As a refugee, the grandchild of a refugees, and someone who runs community programs for refugees, Mufleh is disgusted with the treatment the United States, and the world, have toward how they treat people who have been forced out of their homes. In one circumstance, a boy is jumped while playing outside of his apartment, waiting for her, and is badly injured, strictly because he was an immigrant. His family had been lucky enough to be in the .1% who get to resettle in the United States after escaping the Taliban in Pakistan. What she notes is, despite all of the targeting and ignorance she sees with refugees, she also sees the good, “Their journeys are haunting. But what I get to see every day is hope, resilience, determination, a love of life and appreciation for being able to rebuild their lives.” (Mufleh). 

To be continued to be treated this way, despite all of the accomplishment and innocence of a young adult trying to do their best, it really speaks to the culture that Americans have toward immigrants, especially refugees. 

Based on what you’ve seen in your own book, and the other Ted Talks, what is missing from the American mindset and culture to create a better environment for people coming into our country? What needs to change for these people to experience more success and acceptance?

My book that I am reading is called “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz is a book that follows Oscar de Leon’s life. Oscar is an overweight, nerdy, Dominican young man who immigrated to New Jersey. Oscar befriends somebody named Yunior. Yunior ends up being his lover,then former lover, and is also the narrator of this book. Oscar has a sister named Lola, however their relationship is more complex than others. In the beginning Lola is decently hostile towards Oscar. But as the story progresses her attitude towards eventually lightens up. Oscars relationship with his mom is also complex, and is filled with tension.”Oscar was the kind of guy whomever had a chance. Not with the girls, not with the family, not with the world.”(Diaz 18).

Does the character in your book get held to high standards just to be able to fit in?

_________________________________________________________

For participants: 

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-Respond to the question based on your book, not your personal opinion

-If the question doesn’t directly apply to something that appears in your book, be clear about what you’re seeing instead

-Make sure to include a summary of your book so far

-Include a quote with the proper citation to give context to your answer

-Reply to one other participant in this group

-Acknowledge your lead’s reply to your response with a comment that clarifies information, offer a question to them about their book, or simply give a thumbs up

To exceed: Reply to three other people in this group, or two in this group and one in a group you weren’t assigned

In the book “How Dare The Sun Rise” by Sandra Uwirngiyimana, Sandra had watched as her mother and six year old sister were gunned down in a refugee camp, far from their home in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The rebels were killing people who weren't from their tribe. Somehow Sandra escaped and this started her new life for her and her surviving family members. Sandra and her family soon relocated to America.

Soon enough her family felt it was time to go back to the Congo and Sandra decided to stay in America for college. Her decision caused some conflict between her and her family. She says, “ While it was a very difficult experience for me to be at odds with my family for all those months, I'm glad I went off on my own to figure things out for myself” (Uwiringiyimana 273). This quote shows that she just needed time to herself to figure out what she wanted to do. And that helped her.

What steps did your character take to improve their circumstances? How did that work out in the end?

For participants: 

-Never use a peer’s real name, only use their username

-Respond to the question based on your book, not your personal opinion

-If the question doesn’t directly apply to something that appears in your book, be clear about what you’re seeing instead

-Make sure to include a summary of your book so far

-Include a quote with the proper citation to give context to your answer

-Reply to one other participant in this group

-Acknowledge your lead’s reply to your response with a comment that clarifies information, offer a question to them about their book, or simply give a thumbs up

To exceed: Reply to three other people in this group, or two in this group and one in a group you weren’t assigned

In my book Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue. The main characters, Jende Jonga and his wife Neni, move to America from Cameroon. To have a better life for themselves and their six-year-old son. Jende lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers, a big corporation. Through this job, we learn more about the Edwards family and their struggles with Mrs. Edwards' drug use, their son Vince wanting to leave for India instead of finishing his studies at a law school, and Mr. Clark being unfaithful. Then the economy crashes, putting even more strain on the family with Mr. Clark going to see the Mistress more often, which causes Mrs. Edwards to get suspicious, and she has Jende write down where Mr.Clark is going. Instead, Jende does what Mr. Clark says and doesn't include him driving Mr. Clark to see the escort. Until an article is released by the escort detailing Mr. Clark's cheating scandal and Jende is fired for lying to Mrs. Edwards. Jende has to work two jobs washing dishes to support his pregnant wife and son. This stress starts to weigh on the family until Neni thinking she doesn't have any options left blackmails Mrs. Edwards with her drug problem for money so they can stay in America. “You think you can blackmail me? Who do you think you are”(Mbue 266) But they still return to Cameroon because of the stress of America and Jende having to work two jobs causing him back problems. 

When has your character gone outside the rules or broken the law to help them succeed? What drove them to do this? What was the result or outcome?

For participants: 

-Never use a peer’s real name, only use their username

-Respond to the question based on your book, not your personal opinion

-If the question doesn’t directly apply to something that appears in your book, be clear about what you’re seeing instead

-Make sure to include a summary of your book so far

-Include a quote with the proper citation to give context to your answer

-Reply to one other participant in this group

-Acknowledge your lead’s reply to your response with a comment that clarifies information, offer a question to them about their book, or simply give a thumbs up

To exceed: Reply to three other people in this group, or two in this group and one in a group you weren’t assigned

Is a story about how Sahu went from living in India to Belize to America in order to pursue her education. It was here that she started an organization about helping immigrants like herself. She wanted to encourage immigrants to vote and get involved in their communities, despite their fear of things in a society where they are casted out. “New Yorkers who were in city government holding positions had no idea how scared immigrants were of law enforcement.”(Bhojwani 3).

In my book “ Out of Nowhere” by Maria Padian, Tom is a senior in high school and captain of the soccer team. His season is changed when Somali immigrants join the team and they are very skilled and better than pretty much everyone else on the team. One of these players is named Saeed, who Tom quickly befriends and even helps him fill out the permission slip so that he's allowed to play. With the help of the new teammates the soccer team starts winning games however Tom makes a big mistake, he and his troublemaker friend Donnie decide to paint their rival highschools special rock. They get caught in the act and everyone is mad at Tom, his parents, his coach, his principal, everyone. Tom gets sentenced to 100 hours of community service and has to repaint the rock back to how it was. At school the immigrants have a hard time finding classes and navigating the school because they barely know English. The confusion leads to other kids making fun of and picking on them which creates a hostile environment in the school. What doesn't help is the rule that the school puts in that students are only allowed to speak English in classrooms which makes it very difficult for the immigrants to communicate. Tom has to start doing his community service at a learning center for immigrant children. Here he meets Myla, a college student who Tom likes, however Tom has a girlfriend which makes things complicated. Tom goes there everyday after school to get his hours in and to see Myla. The soccer team continues to go well with the help of Saeed and the other immigrants. However in the most important game of the year against their rivals Maquoit, Ramadan is happening, so none of the immigrant players can eat or drink anything all day or during the game. Against the odds they beat them and everyone is hyped. Tom eventually breaks up with his girlfriend and starts seeing Myla, and everything in his life starts going great. However things start to go downhill, Maquoit questions the eligibility of Saeed so he isn't able to play. The whole team is angry about this and Saeed especially, when a huge storm comes in and the whole town loses power Saeed goes missing and everyone is worried. That same night, Tom gets a call from Donnie's mother saying that he was in an accident and is seriously hurt. Tom goes to the hospital and through the night most of their classmates show up to check up on Donnie. Tom sees Saeed’s sister Samira who never really liked Tom but Tom gives her a hug to comfort her because she's stressed about her brother missing. However Tom's ex-girlfriend sees this and takes a picture and posts it on facebook, this is very bad because Somali girls are not supposed to touch men. The whole Somali community is mad at Samira and Tom doesn't understand why. Saeed still doesn't show up and the team loses their playoff soccer game. Finally Saeed's family contacts the police and reports him missing.While Tom was being interviewed about Saeed by the police investigators Saeed walks into the house. As it turns out he was in Portland at a soccer game the night of the storm and just couldn't find a ride home. Tom tells Saeed about what happened between him and his sister but Saeed seems upset by it. Tom just doesn't understand why it's such a bad thing but that's just how it is in the Somali community. Soon after, Saeed's family was gone. Nobody knew where they went and they just vanished. Tom was upset about the whole situation and one day while studying with Myla, Myla showed him an email from Samira saying that they were okay and how they moved to Minneapolis. They were living there with their uncle and other relatives. And although Tom was sad they were gone he was still happy that he knew them.

A quote that shows where characters were experiencing fear is when Myla explains to Tom how the Somali community feels about police. “But I do know this: the police are a last resort to these people. They don't want any trouble, and their experience is that guys who carry guns are not necessarily out to help you.” (Padian 265)

Where are your characters experiencing fear? And what is the outcome?

For participants: 

-Never use a peer’s real name, only use their username

-Respond to the question based on your book, not your personal opinion

-If the question doesn’t directly apply to something that appears in your book, be clear about what you’re seeing instead

-Make sure to include a summary of your book so far

-Include a quote with the proper citation to give context to your answer

-Reply to one other participant in this group

-Acknowledge your lead’s reply to your response with a comment that clarifies information, offer a question to them about their book, or simply give a thumbs up

To exceed: Reply to three other people in this group, or two in this group and one in a group you weren’t assigned

I am reading Girl In Translation by Jean Kwok. Its about a girl named Kimberly Chang who immigrates to Brooklyn, at 11 years old with her widowed mother from Hong Kong. Without knowing much English they adjust to their new lives in a rundown apartment, receiving no help from Aunt Paula, who brought them over and gave Ma a job at a factory getting payed under 3 cents per piece of clothing and they still have to repay debt to them. Kim is very smart but struggles with learning English and adjusting to to school in US. To survive Kim needs to work with Ma at the factory and becomes friends there with a Chinese boy, Matt. She makes a school friend, Annette who helps her become a better student, they both get into a private school, Harrison. She remains indifferent to the norms of teens (makeup, clothes, partying) and focuses on her studies. She wants to fit in and be liked in school but is bullied. Around 16, she becomes close with a boy from Harrison and gains popularity and her attitude towards boys and partying changes, she begins making bad decisions. She realizes she likes Matt, a Chinese boy from the factory, and they begin a romantic relationship. Kim gets into Yale after being at the top of her class, and her hopes of her and Ma leaving the sweatshop are becoming possible. Kim is preparing for her naturalization exam for US citizenship and Annette shows up at their apartment, discovering the way they have been living, she and her mother help them move to Queens, finally an opportunity to free them from Paula. Kim is pregnant with Matts child but she doesn’t tell him, instead she breaks things off because she doesn’t want to keep it and wants to be a surgeon, but he wants to be the one taking care of a family. 12 years later, Kim is working as a pediatric cardiatric surgeon in a hospital close to Chinatown and is reconnected with Matt and gets closure, but she doesn’t tell him that she kept their son, Jason. In the future when talking to Matt about why she couldn’t give up her dream she said, “ I had an obligation to my Ma and to myself. I couldn't have changed” (Kwok 294). Kim felt responsible like other immigrant children for the success of her family, she wouldn’t give up her goal for anything.

What barriers does your character face inhibiting their ability to pursue a long term goal or hope they have? Does your character overcome this? If so, how? If not, what would help them overcome this?

For participants: 

-Never use a peer’s real name, only use their username

-Respond to the question based on your book, not your personal opinion

-If the question doesn’t directly apply to something that appears in your book, be clear about what you’re seeing instead

-Make sure to include a summary of your book so far

-Include a quote with the proper citation to give context to your answer

-Reply to one other participant in this group

-Acknowledge your lead’s reply to your response with a comment that clarifies information, offer a question to them about their book, or simply give a thumbs up

To exceed: Reply to three other people in this group, or two in this group and one in a group you weren’t assigned

This issue seems to fade into his thoughts often, and even when he’s accepted into a new group of friends, all cursing punk skaters, he can’t let go of the fear that he’ll continue to be stereotyped, “I hadn’t consciously chosen to be a nerd but had somehow drawn those numbers in the social lottery of sixth and seventh grade. This never mattered to me until I cared, and the weight fo this sudden awareness suffocated me…I know knew that I wanted to be a skater, but wanting that was not good enough. The group could still deem me a poser…someone who tried too hard to belong.” (Tran 135)

Based on this and what you’ve read in your own book, how difficult is it for an immigrant to become their own person? Are there times where they aren’t defined by their culture or other stereotypes?

For participants: 

-Never use a peer’s real name, only use their username

-Respond to the question based on your book, not your personal opinion

-If the question doesn’t directly apply to something that appears in your book, be clear about what you’re seeing instead

-Make sure to include a summary of your book so far

-Include a quote with the proper citation to give context to your answer

-Reply to one other participant in this group

-Acknowledge your lead’s reply to your response with a comment that clarifies information, offer a question to them about their book, or simply give a thumbs up

To exceed: Reply to three other people in this group, or two in this group and one in a group you weren’t assigned

In the "Immigrants make democracy strong" Ted talk by Sahu Bhojwani.

She talks about how your dream could slam in your face if you're not the right color, or if you support the wrong religion, how you don't know if you're going to get deported one day, or never see your children again. How things aren't fair and they shouldn't have to live in fear to support their dream. “I know that there are millions of immigrants just like me, in front of me, behind me and all around me. It’s our country, too.” (Bhojwani 4)

In my book Americanized, by Sara SaedI. She talks about being naive when her family moved, not knowing they could easily be kicked out, as time went on the government knew they were there, and Sara started getting made fun of during her time in high school because of how she looked. As time passed her mom got pregnant and they got a brother, her parents got a divorce so Sara and her sister could get a green card more easily by her grandmother. Sara felt very guilty for having her parents divorce for them, they didn't have to worry about their son much because he was born there. She had to take care of him most of the time, she felt overwhelmed with not being there legally and her parents being gone. They later had to move somewhere else because they were having financial problems, once that got solved their green cards were gonna work out, so her parents get remarried. Years pass, but in her twenties she works on filling out her immigration paperwork, and after some difficulty, succeeds in becoming an American. She then is able to marry her boyfriend.

When the parents are really struggling, “They’d been advised by a legal consult to get a divorce so that my mom, sister, and I could apply to get a green card” (Saeed 179).

For participants: 

-Never use a peer’s real name, only use their username

-Respond to the question based on your book, not your personal opinion

-If the question doesn’t directly apply to something that appears in your book, be clear about what you’re seeing instead

-Make sure to include a summary of your book so far

-Include a quote with the proper citation to give context to your answer

-Reply to one other participant in this group

-Acknowledge your lead’s reply to your response with a comment that clarifies information, offer a question to them about their book, or simply give a thumbs up

To exceed: Reply to three other people in this group, or two in this group and one in a group you weren’t assigned

This issue seems to fade into his thoughts often, and even when he’s accepted into a new group of friends, all cursing punk skaters, he can’t let go of the fear that he’ll continue to be stereotyped, “I hadn’t consciously chosen to be a nerd but had somehow drawn those numbers in the social lottery of sixth and seventh grade. This never mattered to me until I cared, and the weight of this sudden awareness suffocated me…I know knew that I wanted to be a skater, but wanting that was not good enough. The group could still deem me a poser…someone who tried too hard to belong.” (Tran 135)

Based on this and what you’ve read in your own book, how difficult is it for an immigrant to become their own person? Are there times where they aren’t defined by their culture or other stereotypes?

For participants: 

-Never use a peer’s real name, only use their username

-Respond to the question based on your book, not your personal opinion

-If the question doesn’t directly apply to something that appears in your book, be clear about what you’re seeing instead

-Make sure to include a summary of your book so far

-Include a quote with the proper citation to give context to your answer

-Reply to one other participant in this group

-Acknowledge your lead’s reply to your response with a comment that clarifies information, offer a question to them about their book, or simply give a thumbs up

To exceed: Reply to three other people in this group, or two in this group and one in a group you weren’t assigned

In the Ted Talk "The Need for Family Reunification - To Make Families Whole Again," Elizabeth Zion talks about how hard it is for families when they're separated, especially for those who have migrated. She says bringing families back together is important for their happiness and well-being.  She believes that family reunification should be more important in immigration policies. She wants more compassionate ways to keep families together, saying that having families united is very important for their emotional well-being. “We need governments to accelerate reunification applications, and we need them to address the bureaucratic and political barriers to reunification for families all over the world” - Elizabeth Zion. 

In your book does your character reconnect with their family?

_________________________________________________________

For participants: 

-Never use a peer’s real name, only use their username

-Respond to the question based on your book, not your personal opinion

-If the question doesn’t directly apply to something that appears in your book, be clear about what you’re seeing instead

-Make sure to include a summary of your book so far

-Include a quote with the proper citation to give context to your answer

-Reply to one other participant in this group

-Acknowledge your lead’s reply to your response with a comment that clarifies information, offer a question to them about their book, or simply give a thumbs up

To exceed: Reply to three other people in this group, or two in this group and one in a group you weren’t assigned