4.4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2023
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Boy meets girl, boy’s an immigrant, they go on a first date. The date does not go well. 17 years later, the boy discovers that being an immigrant played a role, on both sides. What happened?
Senior Digital Producer Kousha Navidar guest hosts a conversation about coming of age as an immigrant in the U.S. He shares the story of his failed first date, a rare second chance and what the experience revealed about what it means to be an immigrant. Then, Sabaa Tahir, author of the National Book Award-winning novel "All My Rage," joins to talk about her immigrant experience and the role it plays in her writing, and callers share how the significance of being an immigrant can change over time for themselves.
Companion listening for this episode:
YA Literature Chose Jason Reynolds (12/26/2022)
For author Jason Reynolds, the key to writing compelling young adult literature is reconnecting with the formative childhood experiences that made him. He has become a rockstar among kids and young adults for books like As Brave As You and Ghost that tell honest stories about Black childhood.
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| 0:00.0 | Do you remember a specific time where you realized your perspective on being an immigrant |
| 0:07.9 | here in the U.S. had changed? |
| 0:09.4 | Oh, that's a good question. |
| 0:10.4 | I've not thought about it. |
| 0:11.4 | That's the person I arrived. |
| 0:12.6 | I thought I was treated like a tourist, but I realized that's being African-American and |
| 0:18.0 | being African is totally different. |
| 0:20.3 | I think the difference is a strength and not something to be dismissed. |
| 0:23.4 | Like I think my main perspective would just be like growing up and realizing the American |
| 0:27.0 | dream is not real. |
| 0:29.3 | Is there something that you wish more people would understand about what it's like to |
| 0:32.6 | be an immigrant here? |
| 0:33.6 | Depending on where you live, you could have a completely different experience of living |
| 0:37.2 | in a United States. |
| 0:38.2 | I mean, I guess I wish people understood that having a different perspective of the world |
| 0:44.0 | is a good thing. |
| 0:45.0 | It's so foreign to them that they don't even know. |
| 0:47.7 | They don't even take the time to try to understand. |
| 0:59.3 | Welcome to Notes from America. |
| 1:12.5 | I'm Kushan Avidar, filling in for Chi-Rite. |
| 1:15.4 | More than 40 million people in the United States are immigrants. |
| 1:18.5 | I'm one of them. |
... |
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