Sometimes I wish I had grown up I’m Italy! I did spend my junior year in college in Rome and have been back many times. I’ll be coming again this fall to Friuli to visit family. Thanks for being in touch.
Thank you for that very insightful post. I came to Charleston SC in 1975. I know exactly what you are talking about. It is a very different place now, I’m sad to say…. Just as the rest of the country. Wish I could be with you in Italy. I admire your decision.
Celia, I’m a bit sorry we didn’t meet. We really came to Charleston as similar time. I am not remembering…did you grow up in Italy???? I am eternally grateful for this chance to live here.
bravo, I agree with everything you said. I am so sad what America has become, how has this happened, (I know how, I just don't understand this). Thank you for sharing, I want to move to Italy and be your neighbor.
I agree with everything you said here, Alecia. I did my best to ignore yesterday. I feel so ashamed of my country right now and so sorry for all of the poor immigrants who are being rounded up and taken away. What have Americans become?
This certainly resonates with me. My partner and I have been traveling outside the US for ten months, and are beginning to make plans to shift our life to a different country. Still, we feel daily distress and are in disbelief and horrified shock about the step-by-step dismantling of the America we thought we knew, and the approval and complicity of so much of the public (not all by a long shot, we realize). One thing I find most malignant is the mindset that disapproves of all intellectual achievement and the ability to consider and co-exist with alternative ideas. So much fear and anger--what's with all the anger? Best wishes in your adopted home country!
I love it! Wish I had known more diversity in my childhood. When I lived in NYC for a few years, I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was to be on a subway with so many different people. 🤩
You unpacked it all, Alicia. It’s perverse and ironic that Latinos are projected as these manic killers and ne'er do wells. Knowing Mexico as I do where I am the minority, which is a place everyone should stand at some time in their life—as a reference point—I have seen the hardest working people ever.Literally from daybreak to sundown. No complaints. Happy to have a job that provides. Cheerful as all get out. Polite. Changing topic here: so often the world is a weird and horrible place. But to castigate Mexicans/Latinos? Beyond unfair. Of course the world and gringos in specific can shelve the idea of fairness for another 3-1/2 years.
Jeanine, i LOVE that you write about this here. That you have experienced being the immigrant and a minority…wow. What authority that gives you. I had a fantasy today (to reveal my darker side ) that, as I basically believe in reincarnation because Im pretty sure God would recycle ♻️ - can you even imagine what these monsters will come back as in their next lives? That helps me. 😂thanks for your spot on comment! I think you’ve got a post there. 🕊️
Hi Alicia, such a learning curve. But what an outsize lesson in life migrating is. I have felt small and helpless at times, in tears at times. Angry. Bereft. Then overjoyed when I heard that bam bam! of the red stamp on my paperwork. I’ve come to realize, for me at least, living in a foreign country is rather a love-hate relationship. Either head over heels in love or the opposite. We had to complicate things further by opening a business in Mexico. Mama Mia! Talk about naive. But we made it work (a Spanish- English bookstore) but not without addl hair pulling. I wrote a memoir a few years back and actually serialized it on my Stack. Where the Sky is Born. It included the halcyon early days of bliss. The land buy and loss of said land by eminent domain. The second and, thank the gods, third (!) that was the success. Oh. And through our brain bereft accountant not filing proper immigration work papers- deportation. Seriously. But, as Elizabeth Warren would say —We persevered! Got a good attorney and rectified the situation. And to you dear fellow traveler and migrant— all the best and happy for you your paperwork is completed. And quick recovery ❤️🩹
Hi Alecia, I really appreciated how you described your relationships with different people - such good people.
I grew up in central CA and there were a lot of Hispanic people with businesses in farming and gardening, but also immigrants from Armenia and South East Asia,as well as the Basque area. My schools were fairly diversified.
We learned in class in the 70s that government was the 'art of compromise', but that got thrown under the truck somewhere along the line I guess. I don't understand at all what's happening back in our country and how people can have such blinders on that they can't see where the truth is. Or that, as I read it during the other term of his in high office, if someone with a different point of view from theirs tries to tell them something else, they think they're having smoke blown in their eyes. And now elected officials with the know-how to read charts and extrapolations of consequences 5 years down the line have just voted for, not against, this horrible bill. It blows my mind.
I volunteered at Catholic Charities in Florida for 15 years, dealing largely with Hispanic people, illegals, inland farm workers. The social workers were also Hispanics. A large part of their services involved human trafficking.
These people were the salt of the earth - warm, hardworking, family oriented. As a Canadian volunteer, they embraced me into their fold.
The present treatment of these human beings is immoral; it transcends humanity.
Hi Catherine Ann, What an amazing experience to be so fully involved in this. Thank you for your work. I'm sure you touched countless hearts. And, I guess it sounds like they touched yours. That armored heart I was talking about.....Not on yours....
Hi Terry, Thank you for reading and for your meaningful note here! A little scary to even publish it! But...you are welcome. As I said to another friend here....stay strong. Tides turn.
Hi Terry, Thank you for reading and for your meaningful note here! A little scary to even publish it! But...you are welcome. As I said to another friend here....stay strong. Tides turn.
I wish I shared your optimism, but I think race will always be America's original sin; sad, but true, and this current welling up is simply a manifestation of a deeply-seated, dark vein that run's through America's soul. Our greatest ally in the fight against racism, our government, has been hijacked by the foot soldiers of this hate. Like you, we are making plans to leave.
This is such an important conversation, one we have never really had as a nation. I have to be honest to say there is racism here in Italy too. But it is somewhat more latent, not this collective eruption taking place in the US. I was thinking today that maybe this is just a dark seed in the human psyche - this othering. Has there ever been a time or place without racism or classism or sexism? Perhaps in completely primitive agricultural goddess cultures? Where are you off to? I wish you well . It's been an amazing experience. Growing by leaps and bounds.
You're right, "othering" (nicely put), is always there, no matter where you are, or who you're with. I think you're right, it must simply be a part of the human psyche. We're off to the south of France, Nice, by the end of the year.
Well said, Alecia. It’s horrifying living through this, and I think what makes me even more sad is all of those cheering on this cruelty and pure evil.
Hi Denise, Thank you for being here, reading and your note of "sisterly love." It's like a movie that can't be real. When will it be over? Cruelty is the dealbreaker. Thanks again. Stay strong. xo
So well said, it brought tears to my eyes. Watching from Australia, I’m at the point where I can no longer read or watch the daily news. It is just too distressing. Sadly I will never return to the US, a country I once loved to visit.
Hi Lee. First, thank you for reading and for your comment. I so appreciate it. It's kind of like having someone visit when you are in the hospital! So many of us fee quite broken. Thanks for caring from afar.
Well said, Alecia. You make an important point about the monumental challenge of making a life in a new country. And now America is dropping planeloads of people in places like South Sudan.
Hi Rona. Thanks for your comment. Yes, it really does cause me to dissociate. Like when the second plane flew into the World Trade Center I was on the phone with Lee who was traveling for work. He had called me to tell me to turn on the TV. I just watched in shock and then, "But, honey, what happened to all the people on the plane?" Like, I thought, surely, they let the people off before crashing into the building. It didn't even compute that they were on the plane. that is how I am now...just in a kind of dissociative shock. Stay strong. With love.
David, Thank you for your note here. And your perspective! Wow. I can't imagine. As I just noted to another reader, it is a little scary. I'm a little worried about traveling back to the US for work and to see my family - will they look at my phone??? Anyway - thank you - and for your service to America.
Sometimes I wish I had grown up I’m Italy! I did spend my junior year in college in Rome and have been back many times. I’ll be coming again this fall to Friuli to visit family. Thanks for being in touch.
A year in Rome might ruin anyone! 🙂
Thank you for that very insightful post. I came to Charleston SC in 1975. I know exactly what you are talking about. It is a very different place now, I’m sad to say…. Just as the rest of the country. Wish I could be with you in Italy. I admire your decision.
Celia, I’m a bit sorry we didn’t meet. We really came to Charleston as similar time. I am not remembering…did you grow up in Italy???? I am eternally grateful for this chance to live here.
bravo, I agree with everything you said. I am so sad what America has become, how has this happened, (I know how, I just don't understand this). Thank you for sharing, I want to move to Italy and be your neighbor.
You would be welcome. 😊🇮🇹 But it is racist here, too. Just not like an active volcano. Thanks for reading and your sweet note!
I agree with everything you said here, Alecia. I did my best to ignore yesterday. I feel so ashamed of my country right now and so sorry for all of the poor immigrants who are being rounded up and taken away. What have Americans become?
Thank you, Clarice. What have half of us become? To be dramatic, this is like civil War stuff. 😘 I pray yhe tides turn soon.
So do I.
This certainly resonates with me. My partner and I have been traveling outside the US for ten months, and are beginning to make plans to shift our life to a different country. Still, we feel daily distress and are in disbelief and horrified shock about the step-by-step dismantling of the America we thought we knew, and the approval and complicity of so much of the public (not all by a long shot, we realize). One thing I find most malignant is the mindset that disapproves of all intellectual achievement and the ability to consider and co-exist with alternative ideas. So much fear and anger--what's with all the anger? Best wishes in your adopted home country!
I grew up in Iowa and my dad is treasurer of the local Jewish cemetery. 🤷🏻♀️
And thank you for reading snd for your note!
I love it! Wish I had known more diversity in my childhood. When I lived in NYC for a few years, I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was to be on a subway with so many different people. 🤩
You unpacked it all, Alicia. It’s perverse and ironic that Latinos are projected as these manic killers and ne'er do wells. Knowing Mexico as I do where I am the minority, which is a place everyone should stand at some time in their life—as a reference point—I have seen the hardest working people ever.Literally from daybreak to sundown. No complaints. Happy to have a job that provides. Cheerful as all get out. Polite. Changing topic here: so often the world is a weird and horrible place. But to castigate Mexicans/Latinos? Beyond unfair. Of course the world and gringos in specific can shelve the idea of fairness for another 3-1/2 years.
Jeanine, i LOVE that you write about this here. That you have experienced being the immigrant and a minority…wow. What authority that gives you. I had a fantasy today (to reveal my darker side ) that, as I basically believe in reincarnation because Im pretty sure God would recycle ♻️ - can you even imagine what these monsters will come back as in their next lives? That helps me. 😂thanks for your spot on comment! I think you’ve got a post there. 🕊️
Hi Alicia, such a learning curve. But what an outsize lesson in life migrating is. I have felt small and helpless at times, in tears at times. Angry. Bereft. Then overjoyed when I heard that bam bam! of the red stamp on my paperwork. I’ve come to realize, for me at least, living in a foreign country is rather a love-hate relationship. Either head over heels in love or the opposite. We had to complicate things further by opening a business in Mexico. Mama Mia! Talk about naive. But we made it work (a Spanish- English bookstore) but not without addl hair pulling. I wrote a memoir a few years back and actually serialized it on my Stack. Where the Sky is Born. It included the halcyon early days of bliss. The land buy and loss of said land by eminent domain. The second and, thank the gods, third (!) that was the success. Oh. And through our brain bereft accountant not filing proper immigration work papers- deportation. Seriously. But, as Elizabeth Warren would say —We persevered! Got a good attorney and rectified the situation. And to you dear fellow traveler and migrant— all the best and happy for you your paperwork is completed. And quick recovery ❤️🩹
Seems I have something to read while I’m healing! Thank you for letting me know .
Hi Alecia, I really appreciated how you described your relationships with different people - such good people.
I grew up in central CA and there were a lot of Hispanic people with businesses in farming and gardening, but also immigrants from Armenia and South East Asia,as well as the Basque area. My schools were fairly diversified.
We learned in class in the 70s that government was the 'art of compromise', but that got thrown under the truck somewhere along the line I guess. I don't understand at all what's happening back in our country and how people can have such blinders on that they can't see where the truth is. Or that, as I read it during the other term of his in high office, if someone with a different point of view from theirs tries to tell them something else, they think they're having smoke blown in their eyes. And now elected officials with the know-how to read charts and extrapolations of consequences 5 years down the line have just voted for, not against, this horrible bill. It blows my mind.
I volunteered at Catholic Charities in Florida for 15 years, dealing largely with Hispanic people, illegals, inland farm workers. The social workers were also Hispanics. A large part of their services involved human trafficking.
These people were the salt of the earth - warm, hardworking, family oriented. As a Canadian volunteer, they embraced me into their fold.
The present treatment of these human beings is immoral; it transcends humanity.
Hi Catherine Ann, What an amazing experience to be so fully involved in this. Thank you for your work. I'm sure you touched countless hearts. And, I guess it sounds like they touched yours. That armored heart I was talking about.....Not on yours....
It was an incredible experience, Alicia, one that brings both humility and gratitude.😌
I love when experiences are good for everyone. 🕊️
Hi Terry, Thank you for reading and for your meaningful note here! A little scary to even publish it! But...you are welcome. As I said to another friend here....stay strong. Tides turn.
Powerful, powerful article, and so true. Thank you.
Hi Terry, Thank you for reading and for your meaningful note here! A little scary to even publish it! But...you are welcome. As I said to another friend here....stay strong. Tides turn.
I wish I shared your optimism, but I think race will always be America's original sin; sad, but true, and this current welling up is simply a manifestation of a deeply-seated, dark vein that run's through America's soul. Our greatest ally in the fight against racism, our government, has been hijacked by the foot soldiers of this hate. Like you, we are making plans to leave.
This is such an important conversation, one we have never really had as a nation. I have to be honest to say there is racism here in Italy too. But it is somewhat more latent, not this collective eruption taking place in the US. I was thinking today that maybe this is just a dark seed in the human psyche - this othering. Has there ever been a time or place without racism or classism or sexism? Perhaps in completely primitive agricultural goddess cultures? Where are you off to? I wish you well . It's been an amazing experience. Growing by leaps and bounds.
You're right, "othering" (nicely put), is always there, no matter where you are, or who you're with. I think you're right, it must simply be a part of the human psyche. We're off to the south of France, Nice, by the end of the year.
Sounds amazing. Even Heather Cox Richardson says to never give up on the things that bring us joy. Essential to resistance. Happy travels!
Well said, Alecia. It’s horrifying living through this, and I think what makes me even more sad is all of those cheering on this cruelty and pure evil.
Hi Denise, Thank you for being here, reading and your note of "sisterly love." It's like a movie that can't be real. When will it be over? Cruelty is the dealbreaker. Thanks again. Stay strong. xo
Amen Alecia!
Hi John. Thank you. It's hard, isn't it? I can't even imagine to be in the thick of it. Stay strong because tides turn. Much love.
So well said, it brought tears to my eyes. Watching from Australia, I’m at the point where I can no longer read or watch the daily news. It is just too distressing. Sadly I will never return to the US, a country I once loved to visit.
Hi Lee. First, thank you for reading and for your comment. I so appreciate it. It's kind of like having someone visit when you are in the hospital! So many of us fee quite broken. Thanks for caring from afar.
Well said, Alecia. You make an important point about the monumental challenge of making a life in a new country. And now America is dropping planeloads of people in places like South Sudan.
Hi Rona. Thanks for your comment. Yes, it really does cause me to dissociate. Like when the second plane flew into the World Trade Center I was on the phone with Lee who was traveling for work. He had called me to tell me to turn on the TV. I just watched in shock and then, "But, honey, what happened to all the people on the plane?" Like, I thought, surely, they let the people off before crashing into the building. It didn't even compute that they were on the plane. that is how I am now...just in a kind of dissociative shock. Stay strong. With love.
A dreadful time. Writing helps, and walking the dog.
Precisely. It’s horrible. As a municipal judge even I am scared of these fascists if I make a wrong decision.
David, Thank you for your note here. And your perspective! Wow. I can't imagine. As I just noted to another reader, it is a little scary. I'm a little worried about traveling back to the US for work and to see my family - will they look at my phone??? Anyway - thank you - and for your service to America.