Americanized: List 5

According to the Solar Hijri, the starting day of the year aligns with the vernal equinox, which is why Eid (Persian New Year) is always at the start of spring.

I don't know whether he was just trying to be facetious or if he actually worried that I walked around campus acting like a raving lunatic.

I was grateful she was willing to cut class so that Evan wouldn't learn that he'd turned me into a blubbering wreck.

It turned out that Evan Parker, and his strict mom, and his nonexistent finances culminated in some of my most pivotal memories from high school.

Slash was also categorically eccentric, and a bit of a nerd.

Slash was also categorically eccentric, and a bit of a nerd.

Slash and I had a knack for flirtatious banter, but part of the reason I never considered him boyfriend material was that he always had a girlfriend.

A convertible full of handsome young men slowed down next to them, and a flirtation ensued.

My mom's upbringing in Iran seemed to permeate other areas of her life in America.

Even though she couldn't actually fathom the idea...

I should have been cursing the system, but my mom and dad were much more tangible scapegoats.

After two years of debauchery at UC Santa Cruz, my immigrant child guilt complex kicked in, and I decided I couldn't let my parents pay for a college education that included no grades...

Even after the relief of getting a green card or becoming an American citizen, it’s easy to channel my days as an “illegal alien” and feel the anxiety all over again. So I’m not being disingenuous when I say that I feel your pain.

This was the state of immigration reform under a leader who had progressive and humane intentions on the issue, and was stonewalled and thwarted at every turn.

Sadly, on September 5, 2017 (and as of this writing), President Trump rescinded DACA, giving Congress six months to pass legislation on immigration reform—all while putting the lives of 800,000 young people in limbo.

And that, ultimately, our morals would prevent us from electing someone who promoted racism and misogyny and xenophobia.

And that, ultimately, our morals would prevent us from electing someone who promoted racism and misogyny and xenophobia.

It’s impossible for me to know how the country’s policy on immigration will change, but after the fallout from an executive order to turn away refugees and ban citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the United States, the future seems even more uncertain.

In June 2017, the Supreme Court upheld parts of the executive order allowing a ban on foreign nationals from those countries who have no “bona fide relationship with any person or entity in the United States.”

There are millions of activists who have mobilized after the election on your behalf, but you can do your part, too.

All of that said, if it turns out that I’ve been shipped to a Muslim internment camp, please send help—and copious amounts of cheese and crackers.

All of that said, if it turns out that I’ve been shipped to a Muslim internment camp, please send help—and copious amounts of cheese and crackers.

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

I received a barrage of congratulations from my work colleagues and from my American boyfriend's family.

"You're one of us now!" I could hear people saying underneath their cheerful rhetoric.

We were supposed to repeat the words of the naturalization oath as he said them, but his voice echoed off the walls incoherently.

We were supposed to repeat the words of the naturalization oath as he said them, but his voice echoed off the walls incoherently.

Like the weekend in 2008 when my cousins and I piled into a twelve-passenger van in Los Angeles and drove the four hours to Las Vegas to canvass for the candidate who would become our first black president.

I have a feeling your journal entries were more introspective and philosophical.

Do you walk the streets of Tehran and marvel at the architecture and haggle your way through crowded bazaars?

The movement was also dubbed the Twitter Revolution, because protesters used the social networking site to mobilize and communicate with each other.

Ultimately, Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term, but the Green Movement exposed corruption—and dissension—within the regime.

I’ll tell you where I was on the day of the fateful election. I drove to a hotel in West Los Angeles to vote for your president.

For about a week, I was glued to the news and wore a green wristband in solidarity.

The Green Movement eventually dissipated, and I stopped thinking about you and went on with my relatively easy existence.

As I write this, applicants from 2003 are finally getting green cards through the sibling route. It’s even worse for citizens from the Philippines and Mexico, where applicants from 1994 and 1997, respectively, are up for consideration.

Or is there a moral responsibility to keep families together that takes precedence over quotas that focus on career endeavors (especially since separating young children from their parents could open a costly can of worms)?