Two-Countries (Paperback)

Tina Schumann

ISBN 10: 1597096067 / ISBN 13: 9781597096065

Editore: Red Hen Press, Pasadena, 2017

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Paperback. The newest addition to Red Hen's Anthology Series, Two-Countries: U.S. Daughters and Sons of Immigrant Parents is an anthology of flash memoir, personal essays and poetry edited by the adult child of an immigrant born and raised in the US. The collection contains contributions from sixty-five writers who were either born and/or raised in the US by one or more immigrant parent. Their work describes the many contradictions, discoveries and life lessons one experiences when one is neither seen as fully American nor fully foreign. Contributors include Richard Blanco, Tina Chang, Joseph Lagaspi, Li-Young Lee, Timothy Liu, Naomi Shihab Nye, Oliver de la Paz, Ira Sukrungruang, Ocean Vuong and many other talented writers from throughout the US. An anthology of flash memoir, personal essays and poetry from sixty-five contributors whose writing illuminates the modern immigrant experience. With work by Richard Blanco, Tina Chang, Joseph Lagaspi, Li-Young Lee, Timothy Liu, Naomi Shihab Nye, Oliver de la Paz, Ira Sukrungruang, Ocean Vuong, and more. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Codice articolo 9781597096065

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Two-Countries (Paperback)
• Editore: Red Hen Press, Pasadena
• Data di pubblicazione: 2017
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 1597096067
• ISBN 13: 9781597096065
• Rilegatura: Paperback
• Condizione: new

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Riassunto

The newest addition to Red Hen's Anthology Series, Two-Countries: U.S. Daughters and Sons of Immigrant Parents is an anthology of flash memoir, personal essays and poetry edited by the adult child of an immigrant born and raised in the US. The collection contains contributions from sixty-five writers who were either born and/or raised in the US by one or more immigrant parent. Their work describes the many contradictions, discoveries and life lessons one experiences when one is neither seen as fully American nor fully foreign. Contributors include Richard Blanco, Tina Chang, Joseph Lagaspi, Li-Young Lee, Timothy Liu, Naomi Shihab Nye, Oliver de la Paz, Ira Sukrungruang, Ocean Vuong and many other talented writers from throughout the US.

Estratto. © Ristampato con autorizzazione. Tutti i diritti riservati.

From the introduction of Two-Countries: US Daughters and Sons of Immigrant Parents

Looking back at my particular life circumstance and especially in light of my parent’s passing, I came to a realization that I wanted to give voice to those “American” kids like me and immigrants like my mother. I assumed there must be many who shared similar stories. In several of the pieces contained here I heard very familiar narratives that reminded me of my mother’s perspective and the situations that she and I faced because she was an immigrant. In Denise Valenti’s flash memoir “Spanish,” I recognized my own rejection of my mother’s language. There came a point as a child when I simply did not hear it. Spanish was her language, not mine. My mother never attempted to formerly teach me Spanish as Denise’s mother did, but would translate songs and specific words if I asked. She would sometimes speak short sentences to me in Spanish and I always answered her in English. Now, of course I wish I were fully bilingual.

In Gabriella Burman’s essay “Estela,” I saw my own mother’s propensities toward proper behavior, social rules, and standards that appeared stogie and old-fashioned to my siblings and me. My mother demanded that I wear a dress to elementary school every day except Wednesday when I was allowed to wear jeans like the other girls. How my mother looked when she left the house was of primary importance and a standard she tried to pass onto her growing daughter, but which often resulted in great conflict between us. If the world was going to judge her negatively by her accent, they certainly were not going to judge her for her lack of style. I remember my brother and I often giggled at my mother’s mispronunciation of certain words (“Shits” when she meant “Sheets”) as did Gabriella and her sister. I wish we hadn’t.

There are pieces in this collection which I could not have anticipated when I began this project, but which I am so glad came my way; David Licata’s “The Wolf is in the Kitchen,” Chris Wiewiora’s “M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I,” Sahar Mustafah’s “The Arabians,” and Mohja Kahf’s poem “My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears” for example. All of which made me laugh out loud and left me feeling a deep endearment for the children they were and the families they came from. Tina Chang’s poem “The Shifting Kingdom” broke my heart in a million pieces and reminded me of the vast differences in the immigration experience my mother lived through and those being faced by families with far less resources and which often results in the lives of innocents along the way. Children trapped between the desperation of adult lives, politics, economics, conceptual borders, and the realization that a bright future may not be available to them on either side of that border.

—Tina Schumann/Editor