Blog # 7 Rodriguez’s Aria and the idea that something had to die! (Hyperlink)


 Life, Deferred (Vida Diferida) [Video file]

Avila-Hanna, B. (Director). (2017).. New Day Films. Retrieved June 1, 2020, from Kanopy.

    This reading holds so much truth about the reality and the struggles of an immigrant in this or any country. Struggles of

language, identity, culture, social status, legal barriers and many other issues that are shadowed and disregarded by the

questioning of “Why did they come here in the first place”. 

This issues are so evident in my life because I am surrounded by people and students that in their efforts to look for a better

life “Something had to be lost, something had to die!”


In this reading we can taste a little bit of the struggle of language loss and how it affects culture and identity, it reminded me

about a documentary that I want to share with you. “Life, Deferred (Vida Diferida)”(Avila-Hanna, 2017) which shows not only

the struggles mentioned above, but in addition, the struggles of facing society and legal policies.


Based on this documentary, political policy its extremely important for immigrant learners in United States. It determines their

rights or lack of rights, the education that they can or cannot have, limits or expands their higher educational opportunities as

well as determining their work possibilities. In essence, it determines the type of life that immigrants can have in this country

regardless or in spite of their efforts or abilities and adding a barrier that makes their life even harder just because they were

not born in this country. There is a huge distance of opportunities between an immigrant and a citizen when it come to higher

education as shown in this video. This video was very touching as I have friends and people that I know that had their wings

cut due to the lack of possibilities and the struggle of coming to this country, starting from zero, being able to sustain themselves

with a small range of work opportunities due to their legal status, learning the language, losing their culture, not being able to

pursue their dreams again because of their legal status and in spite of that; working hard, finding ways to grow, studying and

feeling thankful to be in this Land of Opportunities. This juxtaposition shows that loosing is part of an immigrant’s journey, but

it is worth it when you think about the doors that will be open for their following generations.

Comments

  1. katie527girlOctober 27, 2023 at 6:23 AM

    Alejandra, I love this post. The video is so touching. My father was an Irish immigrant. He came over when he was 28 years old. His journey was not as difficult, however, because he spoke English, he came here to work a job he loved, and he met and fell in love with my mother shortly after moving here.
    I feel like in life we all have to lose something in order to gain something else. People are constantly changing and I believe it's so important to grow. I really admire the way people adapt and overcome in order to succeed. Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Malcom MonizNovember 1, 2023 at 5:16 PM

    Thank you for sharing all of this Alejandra! I am not somebody who has a strong cultural (Irish/Portuguese) identity. My parents never really celebrated my culture or taught me much about it. That being said, I have a tremendous amount of respect for people who hold their culture close, and the idea of being stripped of that part of your identity just to fit a mold that might make you more successful in America feels very wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Charles HienNovember 30, 2023 at 7:58 AM

    Hi Alejandra. Both of my grandmothers moved to the United States when they were little girls from Italy. Both had very different stories. One would talk about the struggles she and her mom had with acclimating here. Where the other came over with money and the transition was much easier. As you mentioned both would speak of opening doors for generations to come. That is why their families moved them here.

    ReplyDelete

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