“I was always a reporter,” Mercedes Fernandez said simply. From Lima, Peru to Chicago, Illinois, this statement rings true. A reporter for Hoy, the Chicago’s Tribune Spanish-language newspaper, Peruvian...
opinion by ShanikaGunaratna | 2 years ago | updated 2 years ago 266 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments
For immigrant Miguel Fernandez, going to the Spanish restaurant Café Iberico is like taking a short-distance journey back to his home country of Spain. The Chicago café serves all his favorites – from paella...
opinion by ShanikaGunaratna | 2 years ago | updated 2 years ago 188 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments
The DREAM Act would give undocumented immigrant youth the chance at conditional citizenship – meaning, legal residency and a green card – by joining the U.S. military or attending a university for two years....
created by ShanikaGunaratna | 3 years ago | updated 3 years ago 449 views | 29 recommendations | 2 comments
Take a glimpse at the desk of Rosanna Castellanos, a bilingual special education teacher at Goudy Elementary School in Chicago, and you may be surprised by what you see. In addition to pencils, pens, textbooks and...
opinion by ShanikaGunaratna | 3 years ago | updated 3 years ago 381 views | 12 recommendations | 0 comments
" While poor immigrant families have found economic success in the past, many analysts say today’s generation faces steeper hurdles, especially because good jobs now require more education. The children of those...
created by ShanikaGunaratna | 3 years ago | updated 3 years ago 113 views | 2 recommendations | 0 comments
" AMERICA receives more immigrants than any other country. But its system for dealing with them is a model of dysfunctionality, with 11.9m illegally present in 2008, up 42% since 2000. Past efforts at reform have...
created by ShanikaGunaratna | 3 years ago | updated 3 years ago 234 views | 2 recommendations | 1 comment
Maria and I were roommates last year, our freshman year in college. With a presidential election unfolding around us, our conversation always touched on the political. Although we were aligned in views, we stood apart because of our respective citizenship papers. Unlike me,...
opinion by ShanikaGunaratna | 3 years ago | updated 3 years ago 199 views | 10 recommendations | 0 comments