As I watch the brutal repression currently underway in Syria, I am reminded of Syrian-American poet Mohja Kahf’s poem about her family fleeing to America from Assad’s father in 1971.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Roc", Arab Spring, Mohja Kahf, politics, refugees, Syria | Comments closed

Whitman & Hughes Hear America Singing

By Robin Bates | Published: July 4, 2011

Today, for July 4, I offer up two ultra-American poems. Walt Whitman embraces multitudes” in “I Hear America Singing,” and Langston Hughes, in an addendum, mentions some of those Americans that, in the past, have been forgotten. May we all remember that America is astounding in its willingness to open itself to all people.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "I Hear America Singing", "I Too Sing America", July 4, Langston Hughes, Patriotism, Walt Whitman | Comments closed

An Inhumane Immigration System

By Robin Bates | Published: June 10, 2011

A Hollywood ending to “The Visitor” would shield the viewer from a tragedy that is re-enacted hundreds of times daily in detention centers around this country. Instead, we are given the stark reality.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Film, illegal immigrants, Thomas McCarthy, Visitor | Comments closed

America Encourages the Vagabond Self

By Robin Bates | Published: April 21, 2011

Looking at the United States from the vantage point of Iran, Nafisi writes that it was America’s vagrant nature that she connected to. She writes that America “somehow encourages this vagabond self.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Azar Nafisi, Great Gatsby, Huckleberry Finn, Invisible Man, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Wizard of Oz | Comments closed

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Tag Archives: Immigration

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