Carrie's Open Letter

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            Migration and Culture, ASB 340, has opened my eyes to a number of different issues and enlightened me in many ways.  I was able to interview a woman who means a lot to me, and means even more now that I know what she has been through.  My respect for other cultures has grown and I am glad that I can share this experience with others.  Dr. Koptiuch has assigned us projects that go beyond learning and allow us to use our imaginations and apply readings to real life experiences. 

            Our class was given the opportunity to travel to Mexico and take an in-depth look into the culture and the lives of people living in the border town of Nogales.  I had lunch with a wonderful woman in her home where she prepared a lovely meal for us and told us small details about her existence.  During our time there, we also visited a factory for Otis elevators.  This allowed us to view the normal lives of the people that worked there and what a day in their lives would be like. 

            I have never been faced with most of the situations that I encountered in this class and during the interactive learning, and this began to worry me and disturb me a bit also.  I feel as if I am not sensitive enough to these brave people that go in search of a better life.  It was our duty in this class to find out what a better life is to people and why they believe that they will find it in the United States.

            The question that I was left with after this class was “does everyone in the United States, migrant or not, believe that they have the better life?” Why do they feel this way, and if they don’t, what did they expect that was not found on American soil.  I go through my days now wondering if there is a better place for me or for anyone, although I love my life in Arizona greatly.  I wonder if all of the migrants felt like their lives in their home countries were bad, or perhaps some just needed a change of pace, or a place to earn money, or a nice area to raise their children.  My question to all is “Where would you go and why?”  What drives people to move even across the country?

 
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