My Heritage

            For an English assignment, I must divulge into the story of my own heritage. The following is said story:

 Because of the birthplaces of my ancestors and how certain events in history have affected how they are classified, there are a few variations on how you could interpret my heritage. First I will tell you how I, personally, view my heritage. I am a quarter Swiss, a quarter Polish, and half Taiwanese. However, if I am to be more specific and take into account certain factors of that heritage, that description changes.

            For example, Switzerland is a country divided by ethnic regions. To the northeast is the German region of Switzerland, to the east is the French region, to the south the Italian region, and a small part of the center-east of Switzerland whose peoples are known as the Romansh. The majority of Swiss people are either Swiss-German or Swiss-French. My Swiss ancestry can be traced back to the city of St. Gallen, in the Swiss-German part of Switzerland near the Austrian border. Thus I can be considered Swiss-German. My ancestors from Poland actually come from Warsaw and there is little to derive or interpret from that. My Taiwanese heritage, however, has room for interpretation. My mother was born and raised in the city of Taipei in Taiwan. Taiwan is a country whose populace is largely occupied by Chinese Nationalists that fled the Communist Revolution in China. My grandparents were one of these themselves. When the Communist Revolution was happening, my grandparents were large landowners and were considered “enemies of the state” and fled to Taiwan. Until that time, however, my ancestors lived in China. So some people, including many Taiwanese and Chinese, would consider me Chinese and not Taiwanese.  

            That is the story of my heritage. To me, it s a source of pride and identification. 

Crime and Immigration: Why Immigration Causes Crime Across the Border

"The enormous amount of delinquency, juvenile and adult [in urban communities]... is due in part, though not entirely, to the fact that migrants are not able to accommodate themselves at once to a new and relatively strange environment (Park, 1925a: 108). " (Lee 21)

This blog post's aim is to divulge into the reasons why illegal immigration into the United States has caused a significant increase in crime. This increase is responsible for crime, not only across the border, but in the rest of the country as well.

Assignment:

• Create a "video journal" of an illegal immigrant who becomes involved in criminal activity. Be sure to show how the situation of being an illegal immigrant determines the sequence of events that eventually lead to your criminalization. Take care to depict real life struggles and tribulations faced by the wide spread majority of illegal immigrants that become involved in crime. (To post the video online create a youtube account at www.youtube.com and upload the video there.)
  


• Also include with your video a blog post describing the reasons behind your actions in the video.

Quotes from Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle:

• "'This society isn't what it was - and it won't be until we get control the borders.'
  
  'That's racist, Jack, and you know it.'
  
  'Not in the least - it's a question of national sovereignty. Did you know that the U.S. accepted more immigrants last year than all the other countries of the world combined - and that half of them settled in California? And that's legal immigrants, people with skills, money, education. The ones coming through the Tortilla Curtain down here, those are the ones that are killing us.'"


• “ One coyote, who makes his living on the fringes of my community… has learned to simply chew his way through the plastic irrigation pipes whenever he wants a drink.”
  


• “Now [Candido] had to worry about this stinking crack-toothed pendejo nosing around down in the canyon, as if he didn’t have enough problems already.”
  


• "They ain't human. A human being wouldn't live like they do. A human being couldn't stand it to be so dirty and miserable." -this quote is actually from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. However, it is how Tortilla Curtain opens up and speaks volumes about the inhumane lifestyle of many Illegal Immigrants.

iTunes Podcast:

• Log on to iTunes


• Go to the iTunes Store


• Search “Obama immigration”


• Under Podcasts




• Click on “I’m the Divider Channel”


• Watch episode “videpisodeone”.


• Pay attention to the conflicts created by illegal immigration and how they can influence the proportional and positively correlated rise in crime.

The Cozy Cabin

-The Cozy Cabin is a blog made by a fellow peer that contains an interesting opinion on illegal immigration. The author of the blog attempts to draw parallels between the pilgrims that founded the original Plymouth Colony and the illegal immigrants of Mexico.

Immigration Chronicles

-Immigration Chronicles is a blog made by an author outside of my English class. This blog regularly posts articles about or discussing issues about immigration.

Delicious

• This is my delicious page. On here are a number of helpful links that will aid you in understanding the thesis of your assignment.