Where is Home for Immigrants?

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to talk with Pulitzer Prize winning author Junot Diaz. We talked about his book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao which deals with a story of an immigrant family from Dominican Republic and our immigrant experiences. We both agreed that designating a place, or wanting to identify with a group to feel a sense of home were futile. Home for immigrants is like holding sand in your hand. The moment you loosen your grip, it falls through the cracks between your fingers. But to my surprise, he did have a way to consolidate that nebulous experience of home. He said it is only through loving and being loved that you finally find a home. His book portrays an immigrant family searching for love for the express purpose of finding a home. I haven't read the book yet but is in my list of books to read. Maybe I will find some closure to my identity quest as a Korean-American.

Here are some quotes from his interview on our show.

"As far as being an immigrant, I have a lot of students, friends who are Korean, Korean-descents who immigrated to the States. I have friends who did the reverse-immigration from United States back to Korea... Being an immigrant is probably the hardest thing a young person can ever do. Nobody is happy to see an immigrant, no matter what they say. No matter what the success of the immigrant... you could be the most powerful actor, be the most amazing sports figure but being an immigrant is a difficult thing. Countries don't want to have to admit that they are so poor or weak that they have to send people abroad. And other countries don't want to admit that they are receiving people. They want to hide that they need to get people. We don't meet anyone's myth or make anyone's sense of themselves easy. And I would argue that for me, being an immigrant was a great experience. It was difficult; it was wonderful. It was exciting; it was alarming. But if [you know a young] immigrant, I promise you [he/she] has worked very hard just to be normal."

"Feeling like a guest in two countries makes you appreciate the concept of home. [It]makes it obvious, makes it clear in your head the way nothing else has. I really believe in home now the way I never did."