Book 1 - Blog 2

My book of choice for Book 1 is American Like Me by American Ferrera. This book is a collection of stories from first generation Americans answering the question, “What does America mean to you?” I chose this book initially as I have a low attention span and thought reading a series of stories would be more entertaining than just one succinct one. My second motivation is due to my own identity as a first generation American myself. I was excited to hear the stories of other individuals and compare and contrast our upbringings, and I was not disappointed.

I touched upon this in my first blog post about American Like Me, but it never fails to surprise me how much I relate to each and every story posted in the book. While I always found similarities in my upbringing and childhood with other fellow Chinese American peers, I didn’t expect to find the same with the Haitian, Indian, or Mexican first generation folks in the book. It made me realize despite how geographically far our parents’ motherlands may be, our world here in the United States unites us. When I read about not being able to sleep over at a friend’s house due to immigrant parents’ cautious attitudes or about not truly knowing immigrant parents’ pasts, I didn’t just see the authors’ younger self. I saw myself. These stories conceptualized many of my own childhood experiences into something so much more than individual events. These are patterns of life under immigrant families.

A story that stood out to me in particular was that of actor, comedian, and writer, Randall Park. His excerpt captures his longing to understand his parents’ past and their constant refusal to share. It wasn’t until he interviewed his parents for this book that he was able to bridge the barrier in their communication and understanding of one another. Just like Park, I too have had many thoughts about my parents’ childhood and life before fleeing to the United States. While I am fortunate to have a receptive and communicative mother who has shared plenty of her stories— from her daily life in Vietnam to her time at a refugee camp in Malaysia— I never knew much about my dad. While I had a chance to do the same as Park and conduct an informational interview with my father for a class project, I did not take it. It is one of my biggest college regrets as I feel the opportunity would have been fruitful. Park’s own journey in discovering his parents’ past is one that I want to take away from the book and hopefully carry out in my own life as well.