Personal Narrative Essay - Application for US Naturalization
Form N-400 is otherwise known as the application for US Naturalization. I have started and stopped filling out form N-400 half a dozen times in the past few years. Most recently, I used the excuse that I couldn’t read all of the dates in my passport. Thus I could not give the relevant dates for when I had left and reentered the country over the necessary time period. The other day I downloaded the form again but now I can’t find my passport.
I have lived in the United States for 25 of my 36 years and I am still not naturalized. I have voted but not for a politician. In high school, I voted in school elections and was elected as Student Council President for my senior year. My main duty was to read daily announcements (soccer scores, late buses, children with lice who needed to report to the nurse immediately) and recite, over the loud speaker, the Pledge of Allegiance.
As a foreigner, I understood the irony of reciting this oath to a bunch of Americans, but I had to do it. I was elected into office, and this was my duty. And getting on the loudspeaker every day was the reason why I wanted to do it in the first place.
I was the president. I would lead the student body in their daily fix of nationalistic pride.
I could just as easily have recited the Lord’s Prayer, which I also knew by heart, though my church attendance was sporadic. Or I could have led them through “Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night,” but it never seemed to fit the day’s events. So every day, I pledged allegiance to the flag. Their flag. Amen.
When I call myself a foreigner, I do so with tongue firmly planted in cheek. I am Canadian. Laugh as you will and say that that is the sa...
... middle of paper ...
...ance, people spend weeks living in cargo bins on large ships. Just for the chance, young men and women from foreign countries put on the uniform of the United States armed forces and fight a war.
Each day Form N-400 sits unfinished, I think of all of these people, living and dying to become Americans. And I know that, even though my passport says I am Canadian, in my heart I am American and all the beauty and the ugliness that name engenders.
Soon I will fill out my Form N-400 and I will submit it to the Department of Naturalization. If I am lucky enough to have my application accepted, I will stand up on the day of my indoctrination and I will lead my fellow new Americans in their prayer for redemption. I will lead them in the Pledge of Allegiance and for those few moments forward we will be one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
Asuncion-Landé, N. C., & Pascasio, E. M. (1981). Building bridges across cultures: Perspectives on intercultural communication--theory and practice. Manila, Philippines: Solidaridad Pub. House.
The United States is a country known for its variation of nationalities and ethnic races. After extensive research, and questioning I discovered that my ancestors originated from Norway and Switzerland. My family migrated to the United States in the late 1800’s from Norway due to social, economic, and religion reforms as well as, a surplus in the population. Learning of my ancestor’s migration to America has very much influenced my views on the existing immigration problems that the U.S. currently faces.
Irene Bloemraad. The North American Naturalization Gap: AN Institutional Approach to Citizenship Acquisition in the United States and Canada. Retrieved from https://courses.ryerson.ca/@@/CF12EBC688315C67DED46723CFC1F310/courses/1/pog100_w14_01/content/_2488288_1/Bloemraad2002.pdf
Next, you need a signature from an immigrant. Their brothers and sisters may still languish in their native land, often under tyranny, poverty and misery. Or maybe they died on the way here, never to touch our shores.
Ting-Toomey, Stella., & Chung, Leeva C. (2012). Understanding Intercultural Communication. Oxford University Press. 43, 159-160.
Affirmative action has been a controversial topic ever since it was established in the 1960s to right past wrongs against minority groups, such as African Americans, Hispanics, and women. The goal of affirmative action is to integrate minorities into public institutions, like universities, who have historically been discriminated against in such environments. Proponents claim that it is necessary in order to give minorities representation in these institutions, while opponents say that it is reverse discrimination. Newsweek has a story on this same debate which has hit the nation spotlight once more with a case being brought against the University of Michigan by some white students who claimed that the University’s admissions policies accepted minority students over them, even though they had better grades than the minority students. William Symonds of Business Week, however, thinks that it does not really matter. He claims that minority status is more or less irrelevant in college admissions and that class is the determining factor.
Immigrants must overcome many barriers to succeed in America. First, migrants frequently must learn a new language. Inability to communicate is a critical barrier for accessing the health care system (Urrutia-Rojas, Marshall, Trevino, Lurie, & Minguia-Bayona, 2006). Second, the processes of work and schooling for themselves and their families can be daunting. Lastly, immigrants use the established social network of longer duration residents for reference and knowledge (Nandi, Galea, Lopez, Nandi, Strongarone, & Ompad, 2008). For purposes of this report, there are three different types of immigrant: legal, undocumented, and refugees or persons seeking asylum. All three types of residents want to succeed and achieve their personal dream.
that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Shea, Therese. Immigration to America. 1st. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc, 2006. 38. Print.
When my family and I got in the plane that would take us to the U.S., I was very excited. It was as if I had butterflies in my stomach. I was also nervous because I had heard of people that were turned away when they got to America because the government was not letting as many immigrants into the U.S as they had in the past. Therefore, my whole family was a little anxious. Two things could happen when we arrived at the Washington, D.C., airport. We could either come to the United States to chase after “the American dream”, or we could be turned away which meant that we would have to return to our country of origin.
On March 6th, 1961, an executive order was passed by president John F. Kennedy that required government employers not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employee based on their race, creed, color, or national origin. This executive order was called Affirmative Action. It was designed to make sure employers recognized different races when picking out candidates for jobs of applicants to universities. Even after establishing equal rights, not everyone treated each other equally, so this was a good solution at the time. Affirmative Action gave a boost to minority students based on grades, so it was easier for them to get into harder schools. But over time, this solution turned into a problem, as everyone had already established equal rights. Some whites and asians applied for universities, but were denied because their grades were not up to standards for their racial group. They were, however, enough to meet standards of minority students, so minority students ended up going to the same schools, even though they had lower grades than non-minority students, who were denied. Because non-minority students were denied admission even though they were more qualified to attend the school than minorities, they filed lawsuits, and all of the Affirmative Action cases have got the Supreme Court turned upside down on what decision they should make. Affirmative Action should be abolished because it solves a problem that no longer exists, it perpetuates social division, and causes reverse discrimination.
Martin, Judith N., and Thomas K. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in Contexts. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.
Unsuccessful intercultural encounters can sometimes result in tremendous consequences like losing business deals, breaking relationships or even destroying blood ties. In fact, for those who have watched the documentary “Daughter from Danang”, the idea of the last consequence would emerge vividly and hauntingly. The documentary, directed by Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco, tells the reunion between a daughter and her long-lost birth mother. The reunion, which is expected to be an exhilarating experience, unfortunately becomes a painful one with heartbreaking moments. The failure of this reunion can be attributed to a number of reasons, but the most visible one is perhaps the issue of cultural differences. through the lens of intercultural communication,
The process of wound assessment requires accurate and appropriate interventions while dealing with the patients. There are some major components which the operator must consider to effectively access an infection, and they require a range of skills and knowledge. These factors are the knowledge of relevant anatomy and physiology, the understanding of the various factors that accelerate wound growth, and the ability to listen and understand the patient’s needs. In wound accessing, the doctor should have an idea concerning the number and location of wounds, the required treatments depending on the type of infection, the type of wound in accordance to various grading given, and the procedures to follow to achieve the treatment objectives (Collier, 2011). An aseptic technique in wound management aims at hindering the introduction of microorganisms into the wounds during treatment period. These techniques are practices before, during, and after the wound surgery procedures. Two forms of aseptic techniques are used which are: general asepsis, concerned with the patient care outside the operating theatre, and surgical asepsis concerned with preventing infections during surgery time (Rowley & Beer, 2010).
To test the financial feasibility and plan acceptability, there must be information on the magnitude, and share of estimated project cost that are reimbursable. This information can be derived from cost allocation. Also where cost sharing is required in the multipurpose planning process cost allocation can be applied. Cost allocation also provides information necessary for allocating the real expenditures ensuring that the cost account are maintained in line with plan formulation and allocation principles during the subsequent c...