About a year and a half ago, I went to a screening of a documentary about the DREAM Act. This documentary short is called The Dream is Now. It tells the stories of four young adults that immigrated to the U.S. to get an education and an occupation, but are stopped because they are undocumented. The film shares the hardships these individuals, along with others, went though to procure a green card or citizenship. But over-all the mission of the DREAM Act is to "fix the broken immigration system".The DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors) started in 2001 and has been shot down many times by congress. Until recently, a step was finally taken, in June, 2013 the senate voted 68-32 for an immigration reform. The House of Representatives still needs to vote in favor of the reform for things to really take off. The Dream Is Now campaign is the organization that is trying to get people involved and fight for the undocumented youth of America.
This artifact reminded me of Reyna's journey to her dream in The Distance Between Us. Once she was in the U.S., Reyna got her permanent resident card, graduated high school and started to take classes at Pasadena City College. Reyna had a huge desire to accomplish her goals, but the situation she was in was standing in her way. Reyna's mentor/old teacher, Diana introduced Reyna into the world of Latino Literature and urged her to attend to a better school and become a writer. Reyna then transferred from PCC to the University of California, Santa Cruz. When she graduated, Reyna worked as an ESL teacher in Los Angeles. She then returned to school in 2008 to get her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. Now she is the award winning author if three books. Reyna accomplished her goals and was able to carry out her dream. In Reyna's situation it wasn't legality that stood in her way, it was her broken home. But either way you put it, Reyna is still a DREAMer and an advocate for other DREAMers.
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| Alejandro, Jose, Ola, and Erika |
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Please watch The Dream Is Now here:
I really like how you used this artifact. It had a lot to do with the book and I liked how you showed the similarities. I remember seeing the documentary and I loved it.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you included something else that had stories that could completely relate. I've never seen the Dream act movie but I defiantly want to now! It's really eye opening to see just how many stories there are that are similar to what Reyna Grande went through Nice Job!
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, really made me think about our current immigrant situation and what we're doing about it. The Dream Act really gives you a good look from their perspective and make you want to help. Hope the house of representatives comes to a decision soon.
ReplyDeleteNice, I enjoyed your post. You included a story that was similar to Renya went through. You were descriptive of the problems. I agree that we need to solve this problem immediately.
ReplyDeleteIt would be challenging to get a good education in a foreign country. Especially if you didn't speak the native language. You wouldn't be able to understand what the teacher is saying, and you also couldn't ask for help. They must of really struggled to get and education and job.
ReplyDeleteYour Blog Post is very inspiring. It makes me want to like help the family out somehow. I like how you compared and contrasted Reyna's story to their story. I think that was very smart. You also had great evidence to support your claims
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