Made Outside America
The Generation Gap
I sat across from my high school principal as she turned down my plan to give my graduation speech in English and Spanish. I couldn’t really fight back in the moment, thinking the time limit was very strict. I had a backup plan but was still unhappy that I couldn’t give my speech the way I had wanted to.
Guests in Our Country
“Uno siempre anhela tener una sala bonita con un comedor bonito y, pues, no. Tampoco se arriesga uno a comprar una sala bonita porque de pronto hoy estamos aquí y mañana no.”
'White Enough'
My white then-boyfriend joked as I sat next to him in the car. I had been telling him about a meeting I had gone to earlier that day. A group of black students had been joking about the lack of seasoning in white food and had turned to me to say, “No offense.”
438: The Countdown to Falling Out of Status
The thing that bothers me about this number is that it doesn’t seem that bad at first. I have over a year left. A lot can happen in that time. But that’s exactly it: A lot can change. Each day that passes, 122 DACA recipients lose their status. My deadline is just a bit farther away. Right now, my DACA is set to expire as I take my finals next year. It will last me through my first three years at Harvard. But it is set to expire before I graduate. A lot can happen in that time. Graduation is not guaranteed. Permission to work after college is not guaranteed.
