Thoughts of home by Keyra

Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NY, USA

kj2527 — 2020-12-02 07:45:39 UTC

This short film (3:05) was created 3 years ago while I was still in undergrad. In it, you will see my home where I live, my dear parents, and hear my father's voice as he explains his interpretation of what home is.

Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration, New York, NY, USA

kj2527 — 2020-12-02 08:10:08 UTC

This is the site that I decided to visit for part 6 of the lab. New York City has always been "the melting pot," and Ellis Island, Lady Liberty, and New York Harbor are the focal point of many stories and mythologies of immigration, citizenship, and belonging.

Dominican Republic

kj2527 — 2020-12-02 08:15:57 UTC

I am the only person in my family who does not have citizenship in our ancestral homeland. On the flip side, for the majority of my life, I was the only person in my family who had citizenship in the land where my nuclear family currently resides. And beyond that, despite the Dominican Republic and Haiti fighting tirelessly for sovereignty and independence--from the Spanish, from the French, from the U.S., and still now from each other--this land, Quisqueya, groans with silenced tongue of the original peoples--los Taínos--whose bloodshed lay the foundation for all of New World Empire.

Tempe, AZ, USA

kj2527 — 2020-12-04 10:36:28 UTC

For lab 5, I talked to Nizhoni Saenz (she/they), a friend I met while studying at Colgate University, where they are currently still a student. Nizhoni is an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache tribe, and also has family and heritage as part of the Navajo Nation. I spoke with Nizhoni for an hour, and have selected three audio clips (<10 minutes/each) that I felt touched upon the themes of citizenship, home, and school. Though she grew up away from the reservation in the city Tempe, Nizhoni was kind enough to share openly her recollections of being part of the Native community, her experiences in settler public schools, and both the pride and pain she feels being an Indigenous person.