Quanyi Dong

Professor Adrienne Oliver

ENGL-1A

December 10, 2018

Blog Post

1.      Migration Story Excerpt

After my father decided to migrate to America and to start a new business there, he soon immigrated to America. Being a foreign businessman to Americans, it was not easy for my father to move his business to America. Firstly, his products were detained by the FDA, claiming that these products concern of enormous amount of money. Secondly, when he migrates to America for the first few years, he was discriminated by the local businessman and faced a lot of business competition. Apart from the obstacles in his business, being a foreigner in America, my father has also met a few problems in his daily life, such as differences in language, culture and eating habits. He had much difficulty in learning English. Additionally, Chinese people were different from Americans in many ways. For example, we were used to using chopsticks rather than knives and forks. For a migrant like my father, he had to learn a lot of native American manners, especially the table manner for business could always be done in one meal.

Luckily, my father overcame all the problems through his efforts. Firstly, after the FDA detained his products, he hired a layer instantly and handed the required documents to the local state government to win his products back. Secondly, my father hired a foreign teacher to teach him every night when he was off work, and he tried to go outside on every weekend to shop or take part in activities so that he got the chance to practice his oral English. Thirdly, he wanted to get himself familiar with the American culture to fit in the country. Now, my father is already accustomed to American life and has no problem in speaking English or handling cultural differences. His immigration experience also taught me a lot.

2.      Essay II Excerpt

When living in one place for so many years with limited opportunities, people tend to start

looking for a change in their lives. Some people will choose to immigrate to another country to seek more chances of a better life. However, migrants will also face many challenges that they had never imagined before. For instance, native people are likely to look down upon them and treat them with unfairness. Some migrants will take all the sufferings, and they will continue to keep silent, yet more people would prefer to have their stories heard, not only by families but also strangers. Migrants' stories are significant for those who have the intention to immigrate to another country and can show those people what hard life migrants commonly live. My father, who migrated from China to America, once told me that he would like to tell others about what he went through. In that case, people may have the intention to help migrants like me. If migrants' stories were not told and are silently kept forever, there would be more bias toward them. Therefore, it is of great significance for migrants' stories to be heard so that migrants can avoid further unfairness treatment. Moreover, cultural conflicts can be reduced, and migrants will no longer fall for a twisted world value easily.

          When I interviewed my father about his migration story, he told me a lot of incidents before and after he successfully immigrated to America. My father said: "If people fail to be aware of what migrants have gone through, they would never get to think migrants deserve better environment, and they should be treated equally as migrants have not contributed less than native people." Thus, immigrants need to be taken seriously, too. Migrants are supposed to have a self-awareness that their migration stories are better to share with others rather than be kept to

themselves. Native people, at the same time, are supposed to be tolerant of migrants and try to forgive their little mistakes. Furthermore, some local organizations can raise funds to shot some documentaries of migrants' stories and record them in the local museum. Native people and migrants are expected to interact with full comprehension towards each other. Most importantly, migrants themselves should keep their eyes open, communicate more with local people, read more local books and watch the local news to broaden their horizon. Hence they will not be cheated by false opinions and world values.

3.      Community Call to Action

Based on research from all three essays, within the context of the idea of the American Dream, the next steps for honoring migrant stories is to actively listen to the voice of immigrants, respect their culture, and give immigrants some care and help. Immigration has always faced many challenges. There is no doubt that one will encounter many difficulties in moving from the place he is familiar with to another strange country. They will suffer from racial discrimination, and they will also have differences due to different cultural values. However, they are brave enough to move on because they believe in the existence of the American dream. They want to succeed by their efforts. 

Therefore, it is essential to listen to their stories and voices. This helps to reduce prejudice against immigrants and increase understanding of them. Immigrants are trying hard to adapt to different cultures, learning other countries' dietary etiquette, language, history, and culture. For immigrants, they may need someone else’s care. Thus, local people should be tolerant of immigrants and take the initiative to understand and tolerate different cultures. Their care and help will make immigrants feel warm and willing to take the action to communicate with others. Through respect and love for immigrants, immigrants can better move towards their dreams. At the same time, it is conducive to the development and stability of the community.