: As the son of an immigrant family, living in the United States can be a lonely & overwhelming endeavor, esp when most of your family still resides back in the Motherland. Social media has certainly narrowed the divide, but physical presence & proximity reinforces a connection & offers an extra layer of peace of mind for folks with young roots in this country. Moreover, as a young person who even then decided to carve out a career away from home, there are certain kinds of help – lodging, monetary, otherwise material – that are limited by natl borders & exchange rates. I certainly get by with some help from my friends, but this status goes to my EXTENDED FAMILY: mentors, teachers, family friends, & those abiding Good Samaritans who are de facto aunts & uncles to me, out of their own generous hearts. THANK YOU to David Shuff & Natalia Wagner for making me a loan when I needed to cover double rent to close a new lease on an apartment… then for being so patient with my repayment schedule. THANK YOU to Ralph C Sauls for your example as a gentleman & putting up with my occasional errand like you would any of your college buddies from way back when. (& yes, Mr Sauls, you are very deserving of elegant woman of character – congratulations on the engagement!) THANK YOU to Jeri Hammond for those occasional surprise gifts that take a load off my shoulder in covering my rent, esp on months when my paycheck is smaller than usual. This is to say nothing about the incredible intellectual & personal impact you had on me as an educator THANK YOU to Prof Joanne Welsh who always offered a graceful, thoughtful ear throughout my undergraduate experience, & who was willing to host me for two wks in her own home in this summer while I waited btwn leases THANK YOU to Antonio Tijerino, another exemplary gentleman who I know I can reach out as a colleague & for professional development not because it is his job through the HHF to do so, but because it is his vocation to make the deals necessary to shake down some ladders of opportunity for the rest of us. There is so much more I want to help you with too! THANK YOU to Matina Wagner who helped me very early on & egged on my potential beyond the confines of Polk County, FL. More importantly, you helped me find a voice to help others – including my younger brothers – in concrete ways just as you guided me. These are some of the folks in my extended family who have most impacted me over the past yr in particular. If you feel I have missed you, please known that my gratitude is still there & my parents are very thankful. For those above, as frustrating, exhausting, & yes, lonely, 2014 has been for me, I keep challenging myself to follow through on what you see in me that keeps you coming back in generous support. Your help reassures me that my path – while unconventional given the tides of life & circumstance – isnt merely a long shot. Happy Holidays & a toast to a New Yr of opportunity. Its 2015: time to make good on those investments.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 02:57:02 +0000
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