So on my last artifact, I talked about the issue of Central America, and how thousands of children are trying to get into America. With gang violence becoming a horrible situation in countries such as Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, parents are desperate and sending their kids to the border in hopes that they can be safer.
In this article I found on The Salt Lake Tribune, it focuses on Honduras, and what everyone is doing about the issue of the children being stuck at the border. Currently, The Obama Administration is deciding whether or not to give the children a refugee status. Right now, The Distance Between Us is an important book because of what's going on at the U.S/Mexico border, with all of the immigration that's happening, and what's happening in the countries that are right by us.
Immigration is seeming more and more like a hope for families as they're trying to escape their homes, and as everything is going on, there are children being held up at the border because people don't want so many children in the country, but we can't turn our backs on these helpless children who just want to be safe.
All of these articles, and all the news that's going on about these children, and what's happening in countries like Honduras has really put a spin on my outlook on immigration, and now I'm scared for everyone in that situation, being held up at the border, or being turned back, or being deported, because these people just want to be safe, and have a better life.
The Distance Between Us really affected me about how I feel about immigration. I used to not even think about it, hearing it in the news, or reading about it, and never giving a second thought. But now, it's always on my mind, and I just hope that everyone gets somewhere and lives a better life than what they're leaving.
Thanks for tuning in about my five artifacts, and if you'd like to read the article about the children, you can read it here.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
The Fourth Artifact Find
Hello again, hello again. Alright, so with a little research, it pays off when you find amazing things. Today, in a magazine, I found an article that was exactly what I was looking for. It's titled "The origins of the border crisis" and is in The Week. Right now, immigration is a huge headline, with many countries in Central America having serious issues. Some of the countries are El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Honduras was discussed in my last artifact, and just in that article you can have a sneak peek at how bad things are getting in those countries.
So what's happening there? Well, gangs have started to take over many cities in those countries, making lots of the countries a horrible place to live. People are being killed, or raped, or tortured at will. "For many people, it's flee or die." A lot of families are having to pay to have protection, but not even that works always. So that's where immigration is coming in. Over 57,000 kids are showing up at the Mexico/U.S border, sent by their parents to live a better, danger free life.
The gangs and the violence came from America, from people who were deported. The reason people were being deported was because an immigration law set in the 1990s stated that any non citizens, even people who had green cards and have been in the United States for a long time, will be deported if they ever committed a crime.
So what is happening to the children now? Not a lot. The Obama Administration has asked Congress for 3.7 billion dollars to help and house the children temporarily, and to hire more immigration officers to process the requests to stay.
With all the violence happening in Central America, immigration levels are rising with parents and families terrified for their children's safety.
So what's happening there? Well, gangs have started to take over many cities in those countries, making lots of the countries a horrible place to live. People are being killed, or raped, or tortured at will. "For many people, it's flee or die." A lot of families are having to pay to have protection, but not even that works always. So that's where immigration is coming in. Over 57,000 kids are showing up at the Mexico/U.S border, sent by their parents to live a better, danger free life.
The gangs and the violence came from America, from people who were deported. The reason people were being deported was because an immigration law set in the 1990s stated that any non citizens, even people who had green cards and have been in the United States for a long time, will be deported if they ever committed a crime.
So what is happening to the children now? Not a lot. The Obama Administration has asked Congress for 3.7 billion dollars to help and house the children temporarily, and to hire more immigration officers to process the requests to stay.
With all the violence happening in Central America, immigration levels are rising with parents and families terrified for their children's safety.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
The Third Artifact Find
For my next artifact, I will be talking about an article I found on the Salt Lake Tribune. It's a bit scary, talking about a woman and her experience with going back to her old town in Honduras, a country where she grew up. She lived in San Pedro Sula until she was eleven, and her mother came for her and brought her to America.
In her words, "Moving to the States was not a necessity in my adolescent mind. Yes, I dreamt of things I didn’t have in Honduras — a bicycle, my own bed, ice cream, apples, enough food to make my belly ache. But I did not fear for my life."
She talks about how everything is different, more dangerous, more scary than when she lived there. How drug trafficking and gangs are taking over her old city she used to love. Immigration can be connected to Honduras in many ways today, but in this article, it’s mostly focusing on how things changed.
In The Distance Between Us, Reyna and her sister visit the little city she grew up in, and to her, everything changed. Everything became less happy, and the harsh reality slapped her in the face that she changed, and that she was a stranger to her old home. Everyone of her old friends were almost scared of her judging them, and their lives. Reyna's sister didn't even want to be in the town anymore, claiming it was too filthy for her. Immigration changes people, but it also changes the places that people flee from.
Today Honduras is a country that has thousands of children fleeing from it because of how dangerous it's become to live there. Parents fear for their children's lives and force them to try and illegally get into America.
In my next artifact I will talk more about how children are being forced to run from Honduras because it’s getting too dangerous to live there. The origins of why this is happening. In my last article, I will talk about what the U.S is doing about the children trying to get into America. Immigration is terrifying and doesn’t always work out, but in this article I just read, it really shows that anything is better than what they're running from.
If you want to read the article, you can find it here.
In her words, "Moving to the States was not a necessity in my adolescent mind. Yes, I dreamt of things I didn’t have in Honduras — a bicycle, my own bed, ice cream, apples, enough food to make my belly ache. But I did not fear for my life."
She talks about how everything is different, more dangerous, more scary than when she lived there. How drug trafficking and gangs are taking over her old city she used to love. Immigration can be connected to Honduras in many ways today, but in this article, it’s mostly focusing on how things changed.
In The Distance Between Us, Reyna and her sister visit the little city she grew up in, and to her, everything changed. Everything became less happy, and the harsh reality slapped her in the face that she changed, and that she was a stranger to her old home. Everyone of her old friends were almost scared of her judging them, and their lives. Reyna's sister didn't even want to be in the town anymore, claiming it was too filthy for her. Immigration changes people, but it also changes the places that people flee from.
Today Honduras is a country that has thousands of children fleeing from it because of how dangerous it's become to live there. Parents fear for their children's lives and force them to try and illegally get into America.
In my next artifact I will talk more about how children are being forced to run from Honduras because it’s getting too dangerous to live there. The origins of why this is happening. In my last article, I will talk about what the U.S is doing about the children trying to get into America. Immigration is terrifying and doesn’t always work out, but in this article I just read, it really shows that anything is better than what they're running from.
If you want to read the article, you can find it here.
Monday, August 18, 2014
The Second Artifact Find
So, this one is a little different than what the directions told us what to do. Articles, podcasts, news, that's the simplest way to just find and read, but what about other things? After reading the book, a lot of things started standing out to me. One of the things that stood out to me most were quinceañera dresses. The beautiful type of dresses used for the fifteenth birthday of a hispanic girl, making her a woman, was brought up a lot in the book, mostly of how badly Reyna wanted one, to feel special, pretty.
Now, how does a dress connect to immigration? Well, throughout the book, Reyna was poor, at points only having beans and stale bread for meals. She knew she was never going to be able to get her dream party, a dance with her father, the beautiful dress that she sees other girls wear.
When she made it to America, however, things change, and it feels lie they aren't as poor anymore. She grows older, and when she turns fifteen, she realizes that even in America, she can't have a quinceañera. Her father tells her they're too poor, barely able to keep the apartment. That she was crazy to ever think that she could have a quinceañera. Which brings the point that immigration doesn't solve all problems. When children and families leave their countries to go to America, they hope for better lives. Not always does that work. People still end up homeless, poor. There aren't always jobs for people who come into the country desperate. Immigration takes a toll on immigrants. The book showed that perfectly; They all had to pay a price in the end before they could ever try and get back on their feet again.
Here's a picture of a quinceñera dress. The store I saw the quinceañera dresses is in Orem (Sophia's Special Occasions), and has so many different kinds of dresses, but all are colorful.
Tune in for the next article!
Now, how does a dress connect to immigration? Well, throughout the book, Reyna was poor, at points only having beans and stale bread for meals. She knew she was never going to be able to get her dream party, a dance with her father, the beautiful dress that she sees other girls wear.
When she made it to America, however, things change, and it feels lie they aren't as poor anymore. She grows older, and when she turns fifteen, she realizes that even in America, she can't have a quinceañera. Her father tells her they're too poor, barely able to keep the apartment. That she was crazy to ever think that she could have a quinceañera. Which brings the point that immigration doesn't solve all problems. When children and families leave their countries to go to America, they hope for better lives. Not always does that work. People still end up homeless, poor. There aren't always jobs for people who come into the country desperate. Immigration takes a toll on immigrants. The book showed that perfectly; They all had to pay a price in the end before they could ever try and get back on their feet again.
Here's a picture of a quinceñera dress. The store I saw the quinceañera dresses is in Orem (Sophia's Special Occasions), and has so many different kinds of dresses, but all are colorful.
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| Courtesy of Sophia's Special Occasions |
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
The First Artifact Find
So, as school comes closer and closer, I'm starting to panic! But, nevertheless, I shall post. Today, I found an article that made me extremely interested in the topic of immigration. It was about the places where children ended up when coming from other places, which states were most likely to home those children. It wasn't just immigrant children though, it was about unaccompanied children crossing the border. What struck me was that a lot of kids ended up in the East, and very few in the North-West. They had an interactive map that showed which states had under 100 kids, 100 to 999, and over 1,000 kids living in that state.
The top three states that homed immigrant children were Texas (4,280), New York (3,347), and Florida (3,181). California, the state that Reyna and her family lived in when they came to America, was just below Florida with 3,150 children.
This article on unaccompanied children who are crossing the border to have a better life makes me think about how they don't always know if they are going to have someone take care of them, like Reyna had her mom and dad. It's also amazing how many children are coming into America, how desperate they are to get here. It really changed my views on how I think about immigration. I never really paid attention to it at first, but after reading The Distance Between Us, and getting to collect artifacts, it's really cool to learn more about immigration.
This article also made me think of the scene of when Reyna and her siblings and father tried to cross the border, and failed twice. On one attempt they even saw a man, who even when Reyna's father said he was just resting, it was obvious that he was probably dead. It's scary to think about how dangerous it can be to try and cross the border, especially when it's just a small child.
This was a great article, and if you'd like to read it, you can find it here. Otherwise, until next time!
The top three states that homed immigrant children were Texas (4,280), New York (3,347), and Florida (3,181). California, the state that Reyna and her family lived in when they came to America, was just below Florida with 3,150 children.
This article on unaccompanied children who are crossing the border to have a better life makes me think about how they don't always know if they are going to have someone take care of them, like Reyna had her mom and dad. It's also amazing how many children are coming into America, how desperate they are to get here. It really changed my views on how I think about immigration. I never really paid attention to it at first, but after reading The Distance Between Us, and getting to collect artifacts, it's really cool to learn more about immigration.
This article also made me think of the scene of when Reyna and her siblings and father tried to cross the border, and failed twice. On one attempt they even saw a man, who even when Reyna's father said he was just resting, it was obvious that he was probably dead. It's scary to think about how dangerous it can be to try and cross the border, especially when it's just a small child.
This was a great article, and if you'd like to read it, you can find it here. Otherwise, until next time!
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
An Introduction, If I May
Hello, people of the internet. Though, I doubt many of you came to this blog on purpose. And I seriously doubt any of you will stay. But, if you are even slightly curious of what this blog is, I'm here to tell you.
I'm Bailey. No, I'm not going to give my last name. Although, you can probably find me either way, so whatever. I'm a new tenth grader, and this summer I was tasked with reading The Distance Between Us, by Reyna Grande. It's a memoir about her life from when she was four, and so on. I wasn't really interested in it at first, because I tend to not drift towards non-fiction, or history, or auto-biographical-type books. But when I started to read it, I was almost completely snatched into the story. Many other people would say this book is depressing, and horrible, which frankly I can't disagree with. But, that's what made me like it.
This book is about a small girl in a small town in Mexico. Her father is in El Otro Lado, or The Other Side (also known as America). She lives with her brother and sister and mother, and everything is sorta okay. She dreams of meeting her father, but doesn't know when he'll come for her and her family. One day, her mother is informed that she must go out to America with him to help him, leaving her children abandoned with a terrible grandparent.
The entire story almost revolves around abandonment. I can't count how many times the children are abandoned, or how many times their parents fail to be good to them. But it's not just about being abandoned. It's also, as I've come to realize, to show that everyone has different sides to them. In different parts of the story, I would start to favor characters, but in the next chapter, they turn horrible. Everyone in the story has their good moments, and their absolute terrible moments. The only character that stayed almost okay throughout the story was Reyna, but even she had bad moments.
This book showed me that change is a huge part of the book, and about life, and can turn a family on it's head, making loving mothers cruel and distant fathers not very distant. I loved reading this book, and I recommend it to all, if you don't have any problems with extreme sadness. (Don't worry, it has a somewhat happy ending.)
But this blog wasn't made for a book review. Along with having to read The Distance Between Us, we had to make a blog, and find five artifacts that make us think of the book. Anything really could be an artifact. A newspaper article, a podcast, clothes, a map, anything that makes you think about immigration and the book. Once we find one, we post about it on here, with a reflection. I'll be talking about how it reminds me of immigration/the book, and how it affects my opinions on that matter, and how that artifact helped me understand the book a little more.
So, if you'd like, you can stick around to read about what I find. If not, have fun on the internet!
I'm Bailey. No, I'm not going to give my last name. Although, you can probably find me either way, so whatever. I'm a new tenth grader, and this summer I was tasked with reading The Distance Between Us, by Reyna Grande. It's a memoir about her life from when she was four, and so on. I wasn't really interested in it at first, because I tend to not drift towards non-fiction, or history, or auto-biographical-type books. But when I started to read it, I was almost completely snatched into the story. Many other people would say this book is depressing, and horrible, which frankly I can't disagree with. But, that's what made me like it.
This book is about a small girl in a small town in Mexico. Her father is in El Otro Lado, or The Other Side (also known as America). She lives with her brother and sister and mother, and everything is sorta okay. She dreams of meeting her father, but doesn't know when he'll come for her and her family. One day, her mother is informed that she must go out to America with him to help him, leaving her children abandoned with a terrible grandparent.
The entire story almost revolves around abandonment. I can't count how many times the children are abandoned, or how many times their parents fail to be good to them. But it's not just about being abandoned. It's also, as I've come to realize, to show that everyone has different sides to them. In different parts of the story, I would start to favor characters, but in the next chapter, they turn horrible. Everyone in the story has their good moments, and their absolute terrible moments. The only character that stayed almost okay throughout the story was Reyna, but even she had bad moments.
This book showed me that change is a huge part of the book, and about life, and can turn a family on it's head, making loving mothers cruel and distant fathers not very distant. I loved reading this book, and I recommend it to all, if you don't have any problems with extreme sadness. (Don't worry, it has a somewhat happy ending.)
But this blog wasn't made for a book review. Along with having to read The Distance Between Us, we had to make a blog, and find five artifacts that make us think of the book. Anything really could be an artifact. A newspaper article, a podcast, clothes, a map, anything that makes you think about immigration and the book. Once we find one, we post about it on here, with a reflection. I'll be talking about how it reminds me of immigration/the book, and how it affects my opinions on that matter, and how that artifact helped me understand the book a little more.
So, if you'd like, you can stick around to read about what I find. If not, have fun on the internet!
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