Category Archives: All Things Writing

Review: The “Grow a Book” Residency

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Normally, I write reviews of books, but because I recently completed my first residency ever, Melissa Scholes Young’s “Grow a Book,” I’m taking a break from book reviews to share that experience with you instead.

All work and no play is the worst idea ever.

I’d been thinking about doing a residency for a while, but I couldn’t find one that seemed like a good fit. I craved dedicated solitude, but I also worried that too much solitude might result in a personal re-enactment of The Shining—or worse, a total lack of productivity. I wanted access to the expertise and feedback of a talented instructor, but worried about a residency scheduled to the nines.

I adore nature, but many of the more “rustic” residencies seemed a little too primitive: no hunter-gatherer is this writer; I like my modern conveniences. I wanted to get away from the round-the-clock mental and emotional labor of being a wife and mother and do nothing but be a writer for a few days, but I also didn’t want to have to deal with someone who didn’t understand how difficult a task that would be for me.

I knew I needed at least a few days, but taking a week or two, or even a month, was completely out of the question for me, as was the possibility of traveling to foreign locales. (Someday…)

Enter the Grow a Book residency. The brainchild of author (Flood) and American University’s Associate Professor of College Writing and Creative Writing Melissa Scholes Young, this compact (3 days, 2 nights) highly-customizable residency was exactly the experience I’d been seeking.

My initial phone consultation with Melissa was warm, inspiring, and thoughtful—it really helped me lay out my goals for the residency. Her manuscript evaluation, which was completed between the phone consultation and the residency itself, was incredibly thorough, detailed, and insightful; her edits, questions, and comments were concise and clear and set a concrete path forward.

And fuel for writers everywhere.

Melissa’s studio itself is situated in a prime location in downtown Rockville, Maryland, features an expansive, beautiful view and all-modern conveniences, and sits within a two-minute walk of every possible convenience one could crave: Starbucks, Panera, a cute little wine shop, restaurants, and more.

But even with its proximity to downtown, it’s as quiet and still as a library inside, and very conducive to a state of unbroken concentration. The studio does not have WiFi, which I thought would grate on me, but that removed online temptations, and when I did need WiFi, the gorgeous club at the top of the building offered another quiet space.

I would work in total silence and solitude for a few hours, then take a break to grab a bite to eat, or head up to the club to log in to my email, etc. I usually ordered my meals To-Go and brought them back to the studio, which provided just enough human contact to keep me sane. The studio was, for me, the perfect blend of solitary retreat and friendly, semi-urban pad.

Once Melissa left for the weekend, she left, unless I specifically contacted her. When I did send her questions, requests for feedback, uncertainties regarding a particular passage in my manuscript, etc., her replies were uniformly quick, thoughtful, thorough, respectful, and encouraging.

Saint Virginia

One of the other things I really loved about this residency was Melissa’s painstaking attention to detail. She has stocked her studio with every imaginable bit of writer-centric comfort, care, and, dare I say it, pampering: a little bag of welcome goodies; a Virginia Woolf prayer candle; current issues of The Writer’s Chronicle and Poets & Writers waiting on a perfect little writing desk; a phone-charger and a bathroom drawer full of toiletries, in case I forgot mine; take-out menus from local restaurants and a fully-stocked coffee corner in the kitchen; a ridiculously comfy chair and ottoman with a cozy throw and a space heater in the closet, just in case (I happened to be there one cold, rainy day, and that sure helped). Every time I found myself briefly distracted by “Gee, I wish I had remembered to bring ___,” I’d peek around the studio and find the needed object already waiting.

These may seem like insignificant details to some, but for me, the net effect of all this care and attention was that I felt, as a writer, for the first time in my life, completely understood, seen, and cherished in my work, and that feeling created some of the most productive days of my writing life. I didn’t have to worry about a thing but my work—and I didn’t.

Over my three days and two nights, I worked through all 281 pages of my second manuscript revision, crafted a working synopsis, drafted an elevator pitch, and left on my final day with a detailed plan for the next steps in my revision process. At every step of the way, Melissa gave me specific, clear insights and feedback on my work, whenever I asked for it; when I didn’t ask, she discreetly vanished, giving me the physical space and emotional support to do the difficult and important creative work I was there to do.

If, like me, you’re looking for a shorter, highly individualized, and incredibly supportive residency that focuses entirely on what works for you, then get thee to http://www.melissascholesyoung.com/grow-a-book.html lickety-split, because I know I’ll be booking another session again soon.  

Midterm Madness: Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

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smartboy10/Getty Images

 

My dear beleaguered friends—the wait is almost over. The day we’ve been counting down to — and counting on — for the past two years is almost here. Woohoo! Midterm Elections! Our long(ish) national nightmare is about to end!

As I write this, I’m sure many of you blue-minded folks are already chilling the bubbly and planning your impeachment parties, or at least celebrating the imminent release of those long-awaited Trump Tax Returns, now that we will have at last the congressional leadership and authority to force those long-overdue events. You can almost taste the Blue in the air it’s so thick!

But…here’s the thing: What if we’re wrong — again?

Don’t say it can’t happen. It did, in 2016, when we, in our confidence (or perhaps naïvete), were blindsided by an election result many of us thought utterly impossible (many of us still do, two years later).

Do you remember that sick feeling all over your body, the morning after? Maybe you wept. Maybe you vomited. Maybe you took to your bed. Maybe you drank. Maybe you did all of the above. Or maybe you were one of the stronger ones, and you kept your head and took out your angst and fear and disgust right away those first few days, or even hours, kicking your activism and resistance into high gear, doing everything you could to protect those who, it was obvious, would soon be active targets of their new president. Maybe you did all of that.

[A side note to those of you reading this who thought two years ago that the rest of us were being a bit hysterical, overwrought, maybe overly dramatic, but who have since come to see the dangers inherent in this man’s administration: I’d just like to say welcome to the fight. We wish you’d listened sooner to our fears, but we’re glad to have you by our side now. Welcome, and thank you for joining us. We look forward to working with you.]

I’ve been deeply moved and inspired these last two awful years by the resurgence of activism and civic engagement we are seeing in America. At every stage of this vile game the GOP has been playing, we’ve seen individuals, small business owners, federal judges, large corporations, valiant members of the press, and leaders from around the world stand up to policies this administration has tried to impose and say, “No. We will not let this stand.” Some of our finest moments as human beings, we know, come from some of our darkest hours, and we have definitely seen that playing out.

Sadly, at the same time, we’ve also seen a corresponding resurgence of hatred, intolerance, and bigotry — not to mention horrific violence — rising up out of this rot like a crop of foul, poisonous fungi. But at every turn, courageous, compassionate people of deep integrity have continued to step up to try to stop its nasty growth. For that, and to all of you who have done so, I am profoundly grateful. This is the America I envision whenever someone says, “We are better than this.” That’s the America I see, full of good people standing shoulder to shoulder, united in doing the right thing for our country.

It’s been so encouraging to me these last few months, watching how we’ve engaged voters into action this midterm election. I’m optimistic: I felt the mood at my local polling place when I went in for early voting. Folks seemed energized, happy, and lighthearted, in a way I thought we’d forgotten to feel about elections. I’ve seen posts from friends all over the country, sharing their joy at early and absentee voting and photos and descriptions of the long lines of motivated people ready to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Yes, I’m hopeful.

But you’ve heard that old adage, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” We were fooled once, weren’t we? Fooled into thinking that America is “better than this.” It’s not. It never has been, in all our long history. We thought it was for a while there, but it wasn’t. Racism, deep political corruption, misogyny, bigotry, and intolerance were alive and well this whole time. They’d only gone silent, slunk back under the slimy rocks and rot where they belong, while we spent years complacently believing that Good had finally triumphed over Evil.

Many of Trump’s true enablers, his most complicit supporters, were silent when they voted in 2016 for the leader who would give them a bullhorn, a platform, and clear marching orders, and they surprised many of us on Election Day. Some of those same enablers are silent still, and they are the ones I fear, not the loudmouth bullies at the rallies (although to be honest, they scare the crap out of me, too, but on a different level). I fear those who are still silently casting their votes, perhaps at this very moment, choosing to continue their support of this increasingly terrifying administration. Yes, they were silent in 2016; they could still be silent, and in that silence, they could easily be fooling us again.

Another concern: the meddling in our election systems by a foreign government also fooled us. Hacks, social media influencing campaigns, these have been called out by every one of our intelligence and national security agencies, and yet, nothing has been done to protect our election integrity. Nothing.

And there’s more: voter suppression is still happening in multiple states around the country. Georgia and North Dakota are two of the most egregious of these examples, but you can find appalling initiatives in many, many places. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens around the country stand to be denied their right to vote, and our only option for redress (outside of the ACLU and a courageous contingent of federal and state judges who continue to fight for voters’ rights) is our current government, which at best, turns a blind eye to these issues, and at worst, enables them to proceed apace, because it benefits THEM.

I know, I’m Debbie Downer today. Maybe it’s the weather — super rainy here, which it’s also supposed to be tomorrow, Election Day, for much of the East Coast (that affects voter turnout, too). Maybe it’s just that it’s the last mile of this two-year marathon, and I’m feeling tired, as though I will never see that finish line. It happens.

But my friends — the thing I want to convey here is not that I’m tired or that things look bleak (though I am, and, in spite of my optimism, they do). It’s that we need to prepare ourselves for Wednesday, November 7, no matter what the outcome, and that means preparing ourselves for the possibility that the vaunted blue wave doesn’t happen this time around.

Don’t mistake this for hopelessness; I actually feel quite hopeful: Early voting turnout is up. Enthusiasm is up. First-time registrations are up. Young voters are mobilizing. We must believe, with every bit of our hope and determination, that these are signs of a coming victory, that we will soon be able to put a stop to this insanity. We have to have hope, friends, or we perish, and then our democracy dies with us. So yes, by all means, hope, chill the bubbly, and plan your parties.

But — because I remember the shock, the sickness, the depression, and the fear of the Day After in 2016, and I imagine you do, too, I want you to prepare just as thoroughly for a different outcome.

We are facing formidable odds. A deeply entrenched, hostile, corrupt, and self-serving faction has taken hold of this country’s leadership. They have gamed our electoral systems with diabolical skill. Foreign governments are intruding in those systems with little to no opposition (if not open encouragement) from said leadership, and voter suppression tactics are on full display around the country to disenfranchise the very voters who not only would be most harmed by the continued authority of our current leadership, but who also would, as a voting bloc, be most likely to vote them out of office.

Knowing that, it is entirely conceivable that, even with a blue tsunami, those factors I’ve just listed may combine to produce results that will shock, sicken, and terrify those people of faith and good will who thought all they needed to do to stop this was vote.

So prepare for that possibility, too, my friends, just as hard as you’re hoping and preparing for victory. Schedule time with a like-minded friend for lunch or coffee. Indulge in a little fantasy reading about the end of the Trump presidency from the New York Times Book Review. Make an appointment with your therapist. Plan to go for a walk. Visit your place of worship. Get a massage. Arrange to volunteer at a homeless shelter, your child’s school, or a food pantry. Pet your dog or your cat — put some self-care plans in place ahead of time, in case you need them.

But I would also like to propose another method of self-care, should this election not go the way we want it to. Imagine if the GOP wins Tuesday. That victory will send a message to them that they can now do pretty much anything they want to (not that they didn’t already feel that way, but a victory would only embolden them even further, because it would give them the impression of a national mandate, which we all know they could only achieve by cheating and is precisely why they’re working so hard to do just that in so many places).

So GOP midterm victory (sorry to keep repeating it; think of it as shock-innoculation) — the only chance we will have at that point until 2020 to save our country is how hard we are willing to fight on behalf of all those whom that victory will actively harm. Just imagine then, if the Day After this time around saw massive increases in donations to organizations like CASA or CAIR or AJC or The Trevor Project or Black Lives Matter or the ACLU or GLAAD or the Wounded Warrior Project or the NAACP or Planned Parenthood or NOW or the NEA (both education and the arts) or the Sierra Club or the World Wildlife Fund or Everytown for Gun Safety or, or, or — add your own!

Such a mass movement would serve three purposes: 1.) It would provide an instant boost of support for those organizations on the frontlines who protect and advocate for all of the things a continued GOP administration would target; 2.) It would send a crystal-clear message of support to all of those affected folks that they are not alone and that this fight is JUST GODDAMNED BEGINNING; and 3.) It would put the GOP on notice that we’re coming for them in 2020, we’ll be fighting even harder then, and that we will not rest in defending those whom they would harm with their hate-filled, intolerant, short-sighted, and bigoted policies. They provide the poison; we provide the antidote. Just imagine. Ahhhh, doesn’t that feel good?

Now, I want you to imagine something else.

I want you to imagine that we do, in fact, have a blue tsunami Tuesday that fulfills our wildest hopes and dreams. Do it! Picture it! Imagine waking up that glorious morning and knowing that decent, compassionate, country-over-party men and women of integrity and honor are now in control, and we can finally get back to the America we know we are…

Um…that’s still a problem. Because the America we now know we are? It’s in pretty bad shape, booming economy not withstanding (nor being the only indicator of whether a country is “great” or not, FYI). Winning the election on Tuesday? That’s only the beginning of the work ahead of us. If these last two years have taught us anything, it’s that many of us, particularly those of privilege, have been pretty ignorant, complacent, and incredibly naïve in our perceptions of American greatness. It’s been a myth too many people have believed for too long.

So even if we win every single race Tuesday, and we have the bluest of blue governments, ready to take everything back to the way it was, we should resist that temptation, because the way it was, was only an illusion held by a bunch of dreamers and idealists. We can still dream, we can still hold ideals, and we must, but starting right now, we all need to actually start doing our part to make those ideals and dreams a reality for all Americans, not just the few, the powerful, and the wealthy.

We can’t accomplish this goal by taking a potential victory on Tuesday and making it all about vengeance, either, making it all about punishing those who brought us to this crisis point (although, if there’s a God in heaven, at some point, there will be some of that). We need to make our victory about doing the right thing now for all Americans. And yes, while that includes allowing our justice system to investigate fully and seek the appropriate penalties for wrongdoing by our current leadership (including the president himself, if the investigation goes there, which I believe it will) vengeance and retribution (as we’ve witnessed the last two years) do not provide a sound foundation for effective governance. We cannot make those our sole focus.

So even if we win, and even if we get our fondest wish, and see justice served on those the law finds guilty, I’d still urge you to look up and get involved with those organizations on the front lines, protecting and advocating on behalf of our most vulnerable populations: people of color; women; immigrants; children; the elderly; the poor; our veterans; the LGBTQ community; those without access to quality education; those lacking adequate healthcare. There are too many Americans our government and our society are failing every day. Victory Tuesday will not change the challenges we face; they were there before 2016, and they will be there on November 7. What are we going to do about it?

It’s great that you voted (I mean, I hope you did; but if you didn’t this time around, maybe consider registering now for 2020, so you’re ready; I’ll try to forgive you by then). But your vote, while vital, is not the only way you can help save our country. Win or lose this Tuesday, our country will still be in need of saving. She could never have fallen so low if she hadn’t already been vulnerable, weakened by years of complacency, intolerance, and vitriolic partisanship. It’s time for us all to step up and act like the Americans we know we can be, not the Americans we’ve been. That’s going to require hands-on involvement, from your vote to your time to your money. Step it up.

I hope with all my heart, my friends, that we’re popping bubbly for blue on Tuesday, but even more so, I hope that no matter the outcome, we’re preparing ourselves for the rest of the fight to come, and more importantly, thinking of ways we can take care of each other, too. Tuesday is only the beginning. Go vote.

 

 

AMA–Oh, yes, I did!

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For what it’s worth, I was invited to do an AMA (Ask Me Anything) back in July; here’s the link, in case you’re interested. A handful of questions came in after the designated time frame ended, but I’m hoping to get to them in the near future.

The Better Part of Valour

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The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life. -William Shakespeare

I did it, just now—I shared it.

Honestly, I felt at the time I couldn’t help myself. The meme you just posted (or the article or video clip you posted before that) — it’s so unreasonable! You’re just flat-out wrong. How can you possibly think that joke was funny, or that the statistics it featured were accurate, or that the thing the meme talked about—the incident, the accident, the crime, the news story—really happened the way the meme said it did? I know you, and I can’t believe you believe what you’re posting. Your post, in short, demanded my response.

So I found an opposing meme (or article or video clip) that refuted yours—it’s so pithy! I am, of course, 100% right, my statistics are accurate, and the report I share is a complete refutation of everything your last post said.

My post, in turn, demanded another response from you.

So then you found another meme (or article or video clip)—oh, it was a good one, even better than your original! Celebrity quote, photo, and everything. Impressive—how on earth could anyone expect you to resist sharing that gem?

Well, guess what, my online friend? They don’t expect you to resist—ever.

They know full well that we Americans have completely lost our minds online these days, and they are working overtime to make sure they keep us that way—divided, fractious, and no longer able to find even the thinnest of common ground.

Who is this mysterious “they,” you ask? Well, let’s look at some recent discoveries that shed some light on how we might have arrived at this precarious spot in our nation’s history.

  • This little tidbit came out during last year’s Senate Judiciary committee hearings regarding Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election: “Facebook believes 120 fake Russian-backed pages created 80,000 posts that were received by 29 million Americans directly, but reached a much bigger audience by users sharing, liking and following the posts.” Furthermore: “Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s vice-president of policy and communications, said on 2 October that the advertisements appeared to focus on ‘divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum, touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights.'” https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/30/facebook-russia-fake-accounts-126-million

Wow, LGBT matters? Race issues? Immigration? Gun rights? Raise your hand if you liked, shared, posted, commented upon, retweeted, or favorited during the last two years anything, even once, on one of those issues.*

 

 

 

Yeah, that’s what I thought, and I’m just as guilty as you are.

Not impressed by the whole “Russian meddling in the 2016 election” argument? How about a more recent discovery:

  • Just last week, reports surfaced that Russian trolls were seeking to “sow discord” among Americans by posting inflammatory content about vaccines, people.  (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45294192) How many of you have replied to an anti-vaxxer post or meme with a strongly-worded dissent, chock-a-block full of science, meant to put those dangerous notions to rest once and for all? Or perhaps, you’re a frightened parent who saw a terrifying post about “my kid got one shot and wound up with autism the next day” and shared that, because, well, shouldn’t all your parent friends be aware of how dangerous these things are, too? I mean, my god.

Yeah, you don’t need to raise your hands this time—I know you did it. I did, too.

Still not convinced how stealthy and effective this tactic can be?

Just last week, NBC correspondent Peter Alexander’s Twitter account was compromised. I’m a regular follower of his, so when “he” started tweeting about “No country likes Americans” and his verified –blue check mark and all—profile suddenly appeared in Turkish, it was completely obvious to me that his account had been compromised, a fact verified by NBC News shortly after. I knew, as a regular follower of his, what to expect from his normal tweets; as a regular user of Twitter, I understood the significance of the blue check mark, and knew that he must have been hacked. But what about less savvy users? What about less famous individuals, without a big media giant behind them to swiftly move when accounts are compromised, and reach their many followers to tell them THIS IS NOT REAL. How can you be sure the person you’re sharing and retweeting and following is really who they claim to be?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look, I’ve been just as guilty as anyone else of posting about these hot-button issues, and I probably will continue to post about them, because they matter. They’re hugely important topics—LGBTQ issues, reproductive rights, immigration, gun control, VACCINES—about which people, myself included, have terribly strong opinions, and as we’ve seen in some cases, public outrage about injustices and bad policies can be effective. So yeah, don’t expect me to go silent on them. But it’s becoming clearer and clearer to me that I need to analyze what I post a lot more closely—we all do, and not just for veracity, but for necessity, for benefit.

I caught myself again this morning almost being roped in as I was researching this piece: I had heard (somewhere vague) that trolls were using a recent tragic murder to try to deflect attention away from unwanted legal complications for a certain political figure, and I thought, wow, that’d be a great supporting stat for this. I figured it’d be easy to find a legitimate source verifying it—I mean, it’s definitely something that that person’s supporters would do, right? Wrong. Oh, don’t get me wrong; I found plenty of hits to support that narrative. But NONE of them fit the parameters for what I would consider to be an unbiased source. NONE OF THEM. But if I hadn’t stopped, asked some questions, taken the time to unravel the narrative, I might have plunked that unverifiable, slanted morsel right in, thereby perpetuating what appears to be a false narrative. We all need to start asking ourselves a lot more questions than we currently do:

What’s the source? Who posted it originally? Can I verify it with an independent news source? But more importantly, WHAT PURPOSE AM I SERVING BY SHARING THIS? What purpose was the original poster trying to serve? Is this likely to continue, unnecessarily, to fan the flames?

Once upon a time, we used to be able to have reasonable discourse about the issues on which we disagree. We could talk to each other like reasonable human beings about our disagreements, we could work in sane ways to try to find common ground—which does, by the way, exist, for all of us, no matter how far apart we think we are.

But that perception of just how far apart we are is now, we know, being artfully and skillfully manipulated by bad actors (Russians, yes but who knows who else might be piling on) whose only goal is to drive a wedge so deep between us and “the other side” that we can no longer find the will to unite. It’s a diabolical mission. While we’ve been busy bickering over flags and anthems and vaccines and gun rights (none of which are insignificant issues—they are all vitally important; that’s what makes it so easy to divide us), they’ve been busy attaining Jedi-level expertise at using all of those thorny issues to make us hate each other, to make us scream our differences in each other’s faces, to weaponize our differences to such an extent that we can’t figure out how to turn back anymore. It has to stop, folks.

We’re only starting to scratch the surface of what these outside bad actors are attempting to perpetrate against the American people. We’re hotheaded and independent and emotional; we’re impulsive; many of us are too impatient even to seek basic information about the complex issues about which we’re tweeting and posting, and guess what? Those bad actors know it. They know how easy it’s become to manipulate us, with a few simple inflammatory memes, which we, like angry sheep, retweet and share and repost and on and on and on. They know how gullible we are, how easily we fall for the loudest voice, instead of the one speaking the most reason. We’ve simply got to do better with this.

Look at what you’re posting today. Is it true? Did you verify the source with an additional search to find an unbiased confirmation somewhere else? Even if it is true, is it inflammatory? Is it a meme with a joke, a doctored image, or unverifiable statistic designed solely to outrage someone, those pathetic “libtards” or monstrous “deplorables?”

SAVE THIS IMAGE SOMEWHERE AND CHECK YOUR SOURCES REGULARLY

If you can spot that outrage easily, if you look at it and think, “haha, this’ll really get their undies in a bunch,” if all you feel a sense of glee or self-righteous gratification at how upset the other side’s going to be when they see it, the chances are really, really good that that original post was not created by someone you want to have speaking for you. We are just starting to understand that those creating these posts, under the guise of being your fellow Americans, are something far, far worse than just another American with a differing opinion and a big mouth (although we have our share of those, too, but that’s not the point of this particular post).

We need to remember who we are as a country, to find our common ground again, to unite against those outside forces who are working to divide us, to pit us against each other in ways we still don’t fully comprehend. We do otherwise at our peril.

I include myself as part of the problem to this point, but I’m going to try to do better. You can still be outraged, you can still be passionate, but you can also stop trying to fan the flames dividing us. Instead, direct all that wonderful energy to where it will truly change the world—educate yourself, and not by reading a bunch of stupid, outrageous memes or secondhand posts. Read, from original sources whenever possible, not rehashed summaries. Listen to each other. Engage with organizations and individuals working to effect change. VOTE.

And remember, always: united we stand, divided we fall.

*Fun facts: Facebook has 2.3 billion monthly active users (https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/). Every second, on average, around 6,000 tweets are tweeted on Twitter (visualize them here), which corresponds to over 350,000 tweets sent per minute, 500 million tweets per day and around 200 billion tweets per year. (www.internetlivestats.com/twitter-statistics/)

 

 

 

 

In Defense of Dreamers

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Maybe it’s because I used to be a high-school foreign language teacher, and so have a fondness for attempting to open closed minds, especially on the subject of those who speak a native tongue other than English; maybe it’s because I have an over-developed sense of fairness; maybe I’m just tired of arguing with people who continue to confuse the DACA program (“Dreamers”) with their fears of a horde of illegal immigrants taking advantage of our government systems so they can bring an endless wave of rape, destruction, pillaging, and anarchy to our poor, hapless country–whatever the reason, when I can’t stop thinking about it, the only thing I can do is write about it.

So here we go: my thoughts on DACA and Dreamers and why it was worth shutting down the government to protect them. [editorial comments liberally sprinkled throughout, helpfully denoted by brackets]:

[From the official website of the Department of Homeland Security]

To be eligible to apply for DACA:

  1. Younger than 31 as of June 15, 2012
  2. Came to the U.S. before 16th birthday
  3. Continuously resided in U.S. from June 15, 2007 to present
  4. Physically present in the U.S. on June 15, 2007 and on the date of request
  5. Had no lawful status on June 15, 2015
  6. Are currently in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general education development (GED) certificate, or are an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States [Huh…so students and vets? Interesting]
  7. Have not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, or three or more other misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety. [So no felons…guess that means you can’t be a rapist or a drug dealer.]
  8. Must be 15 or older to request DACA.

If eligible per above, in order to apply, must:

  1. Provide supporting documentation—
Proof of identity
  • Passport or national identity document from your country of origin
  • Birth certificate with photo identification
  • School or military ID with photo
  • Any U.S. government immigration or other document bearing your name and photo
Proof you came to U.S. before your 16th birthday
  • Passport with admission stamp
  • Form I-94/I-95/I-94W
  • School records from the U.S. schools you have attended
  • Any Immigration and Naturalization Service or DHS document stating your date of entry (Form I-862, Notice to Appear)
  • Travel records
  • Hospital or medical records
  • Employment records (pay stubs, W-2 Forms, etc.)
  • Official records from a religious entity confirming participation in a religious ceremony
  • Copies of money order receipts for money sent in or out of the country
  • Birth certificates of children born in the U.S.
  • Dated bank transactions
  • Automobile license receipts or registration
  • Deeds, mortgages, rental agreement contracts
  • Tax receipts, insurance policies
Proof of immigration status
  • Form I-94/I-95/I-94W with authorized stay expiration date
  • Final order of exclusion, deportation, or removal issued as of June 15, 2012
  • A charging document placing you into removal proceedings
Proof of presence in U.S. on June 15, 2012
  • Rent receipts or utility bills
  • Employment records (pay stubs, W-2 Forms, etc)
  • School records (letters, report cards, etc)
  • Military records (Form DD-214 or NGB Form 22)
  • Official records from a religious entity confirming participation in a religious ceremony
  • Copies of money order receipts for money sent in or out of the country
  • Passport entries
  • Birth certificates of children born in the U.S.
  • Dated bank transactions
  • Automobile license receipts or registration
  • Deeds, mortgages, rental agreement contracts
  • Tax receipts, insurance policies
Proof you continuously resided in U.S. since June 15, 2007
Proof of your student status at the time of requesting DACA
  • Official records (transcripts, report cards, etc) from the school that you are currently attending in the United States.
  • U.S. high school diploma or certificate of completion
  • U.S. GED certificate
Proof you are an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the U.S.
  • Form DD-214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty
  • NGB Form 22, National Guard Report of Separation and Record of Service
  • Military personnel records
  • Military health records

 

[Are you tired yet? I know I am, and that’s only step one, documentation.]

  1. Complete and submit multiple hefty and complicated forms, too lengthy to list here, but if you want to see them, here are the links: https://www.uscis.gov/i-821d; https://www.uscis.gov/i-765; https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-765ws.pdf).
  2. Pay a $495 application fee. [Ouch.]
  3. May only travel outside of the U.S. under heavy restrictions: “Certain travel outside the United States may affect the continuous residence guideline. Traveling outside the U.S. before Aug. 15, 2012, will not interrupt your continuous residence if the travel was brief, casual, and innocent. If you travel outside the United States after Aug. 15, 2012, and before we decide your request for DACA, you will not be considered for DACA.” [Bold above is mine: Who determines when travel is considered “brief, casual and innocent?” Seems sort of subjective, if you ask me. But maybe they mean Canada???]

5. Must complete a U.S.-certified “biometrics” exam: “The technical definition of ‘biometrics’ means that a person’s unique physical and other traits are detected and recorded as a means of confirming identity. In simple terms, USCIS will obtain your photograph, fingerprints and have you sign your name. This process confirms your identity so that USCIS provides benefits to the correct person and facilitates the necessary criminal background check. In rare circumstance, USCIS may request DNA testing for immigration cases where applicants are either from developing countries and do not have birth certificates, or when there are suspicious discrepancies within the case.” [https://citizenpath.com/uscis-biometrics-appointment/]

  1. Must pass a background check.
  2. Repeat the above steps every two years, including paying the $495 fee, which is the same to renew as to apply for the first time [forever].

[After completing this complex, onerous, and lengthy process, which can take up to 150 days or more to provide a confirmation or rejection, after all this, you might still be rejected (some 70,000 folks have been to date).]

For those lucky Dreamers who were accepted, however, here are some Fun Facts:

  • About half of Dreamers are under the age of 21; the oldest would be in their late thirties.
  • DACA recipients have paid about $2 billion in state and local taxes, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates, since 2012.
  • But even though they’re paying taxes, just like a “real citizen,” there are still things you can’t get under DACA: “Generally, non-citizens with Deferred Action are not [‘qualified’ immigrants] and so are not eligible for full-scope Medicaid and CHIP. [They also can’t receive food stamps, but who’s counting.] Additionally, those granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals are also not eligible for affordable health insurance options that are available to other non-citizens who have Deferred Action. Under the policy, DACA grantees are not eligible to purchase health insurance in a Marketplace, even at full cost, and they are not eligible for federal tax credits to make private health insurance in the Marketplace affordable.  They are not eligible for the CHIPRA sec. 214 state option to cover lawfully residing children and/or pregnant women.” [But hey, at least they’re exempt from the health insurance requirement mandate, so bonus!] (https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2014/04/11/for-daca-youth-health-insurance-is-only-a-dream/) [Wait, so they’re not getting free health care, not even for pregnant moms? That sucks.]
  • DACA college students are not eligible for federal financial aid. [No financial aid for school, either?]
  • And yet, in spite of all that, according to the National Immigration Law Center, 75% of DACA recipients are currently employed [i.e., paying taxes], and not just in manual jobs, either—
  • According to the Migration Policy Institute, DACA beneficiaries also tend to be employed in higher-skilled jobs than workers who are in the country illegally. “While the latter [“illegal aliens”] were heavily represented in jobs that involve manual work — such as construction and extraction, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance — DACA-eligible workers were most commonly found in white-collar occupations that are usually done indoors in formal business settings.” [Migration Policy Institute; https://www.npr.org/2017/09/06/548882071/fact-check-are-daca-recipients-stealing-jobs-away-from-other-americans].
  • Business leaders support Dreamers: https://www.businessleadersdreamletter.com/; the U.S. economy stands to lose billions of dollars if DACA is terminated, and they know it.
  • Faith groups support Dreamers: https://thinkprogress.org/faith-groups-overwhelmingly-condemn-trumps-decision-to-phase-out-daca-4d3db0f3dd50/.
  • 1 in 4 Dreamers are parents themselves; those children would lose one, or potentially both parents, if DACA is terminated.

So to recap: Dreamers were brought here as children, through no fault of their own, and lived as illegal aliens, albeit minors, in this country until whatever age they were on June 25, 2012, it is true. But when the U.S. government formally acknowledged that punishing the child for the sins of the parent (like charging a 7-year-old child for being in the back seat of the getaway car when his dad robbed the local bank) was overly harsh and offered these children a way to LEGALLY remain in the United States to work and to study, Dreamers took a chance. They jumped through hoop after onerous hoop, completing background checks and biometrics, paying exorbitant application fees, and wading through massive amounts of complicated paperwork.

These Dreamers did everything our government asked them to do to make good on the sins of their parents. Because of their courage in coming out of the shadows, the vast majority of them have gone on to become contributing members of our society. They are doctors, students, members of our military, priests, parents, taxpayers. These are not the ones who are “bringing drugs…bringing rapists…or bringing crime.” [Trump, 2016]. In fact, they are about as far from that as a person can possibly be.

You say you only have a problem with the “bad” kind of immigrants, the kind that bring crime and drugs and rape, the kind that doesn’t pay taxes; the kind that cheats the system, that mooches off the welfare handouts paid for by the good “legal” citizens of this fine country of ours.

Well, if you don’t have a problem with the “good” kind of immigrants (whatever the hell you think that means), then DACA recipients should not give you any qualms whatsoever. They are, in fact, shining examples of the faith, optimism, integrity, courage, hard work, and dedication that have made our country what it is today. People like this built our country. These young folks have proven, simply by undergoing the rigorous DACA application process, which is insanely complex, that they are hard-working, industrious people of honor and decency, willing to do whatever it takes to stay here and be part of the American dream in the only legal capacity available to them. They’ve completed every single task we asked of them, so that they could, in direct opposition to the illegal paths their parents, for whatever reason, chose to take, do the right thing for us and for our country; in return, we must do the right thing for them.

Because the really scary part of this whole debate, the part that makes people like me willing to fight so hard on their behalf, even going so far as to shut down the government to protect them, if necessary, is this: Precisely because Dreamers cooperated so fully and enthusiastically, providing every scrap of information and proof we asked of them, not only does ICE know their names, addresses, phone numbers, and places of business, they also have their fingerprints, and maybe even their DNA—making it laughably easy to track them down if DACA is overturned and they are slated for deportation, many back to countries (thanks to the helpful travel restrictions imposed in the eligibility requirements noted above) they may never even have visited. The stakes for these young people and their families could not possibly be any higher. [Diabolically prescient of our government, I must say. Or maybe just diabolical.]

You want to fight illegal immigrants, the “drug dealers, rapists, and criminals” who are coming here to steal and rape and pillage, I’m right there with you. NO ONE SUPPORTS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.

But these, the DACA kids, the Dreamers, are not the immigrants you’re looking for. We owe it to them to protect them.