As a kid, I grew up in North Africa as a Jewish woman. Morocco was owned by France for nearly 40 years and I was born during that timeline. Growing up, all the schools were heavily France-influenced because of their imperialization. Most of the topics we learned about were about France and we even had to learn French. I made ... Read More »
Alexi was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, just across the border from the town he was mostly raised in, Maicao, Colombia, on the Caribbean coast of South America. His place of birth in Venezuela was solely for the utilization of the hospital for his birth which was located there, an hour’s drive from the family’s home in Maicao. As Alexi relates ... Read More »
Life could have been worse for me. I was thirteen when I got my first job, selling bread and vegetables for about two years. Because of the Vietnam war, there were few jobs, meaning, this was the only way I could support my family. I was the youngest of eight siblings; four brothers, four sisters. ... Read More »
“United Airlines flight 1715 arriving from Tokyo just entered gate 23 at SFO International Terminal,” the overhead monotone voice echoed throughout the airport flooding with rushing people. I exited from gate 23 to walk upon what seemed to be a flawless reflection. It was transparent, but it had a fluent motion. Was it a waterfall? I never seen anything like ... Read More »
At first, I thought it was just a cold. He had all the signs of a cold – he coughed at night, he sneezed, had headaches, had a runny nose. I urged my husband to stay home for just a day. He worked as a waiter at the Golden Pheasant at night and ran a small pharmacy during the day. ... Read More »
“One of the reasons why I appreciate this school and why I would do anything for this school is because they changed my life. They made my American dream.” Ernesto Cruz is the girls’ soccer coach and campus supervisor at Palo Alto High School. Cruz has been at this school since 2004. Cruz was born in El Salvador. He grew ... Read More »
As communism spread like wildfire across the vast land of China, my great grandfather made a decision. As soon as his father passed away he would pack up his family and take them to America. It was hard for his first son, George, to leave Chung Sar, a small village he had been raised in outside of Hong Kong. Things ... Read More »
I remember one day coming home with soot and dust covering the shoulders of my coat from the pollution. My son once asked me, “Why did you leave China with such a good job to come to America? You work much harder here than back in China.” In China, I was considered upper class. I had a high income, lived ... Read More »
Craig was the first of his family to move from New Zealand and live in another country. He knew it was risky, but he was looking for opportunities that he couldn’t find in rural New Zealand. So he packed up all his belongings, which fit into only two suitcases, and left his friends and family behind him on a 6,500 ... Read More »
I was born in 1943 in Louisiana. I lived in a small yet prosperous neighborhood of mostly black families, one or two Mexican families. No white people. Similarly to all the scary stories that were told to the white people about us blacks, we heard many stories about the white people that made us on edge. One chant they used ... Read More »