I'm Adeline Mone, and this is The Slowdown.

Most of my friends have family histories that include some level of outsider experience,

whether they were immigrants from Mexico or Central America or Vietnam or immigrants from

Ireland or Poland or Somalia or ex-patriots living outside the United States.

The stories of family and how their lives were made in a new place always fascinates

me and humbles me.

In order to enter a new country, to call a new country home, one must figure out how

to survive there.

That work of survival is not for the faint of heart.

When I think about the importance of writing, I think of how it's essential to remember

that writing is an ongoing global endeavor.

It is not simply a Twitter battle about whether or not to get a Master of Fine Arts

degree in writing.

For many, writing is a record of their lives and an effort to report and transform their

experiences.

This is true the world over.

Everyone in the South is often talking about how it's important to remember that not

all writing takes place in New York.

I think it's also important to remember that not all writing takes place in the United

States.

The fact that language can be translated and words and experiences can be shared feels

increasingly miraculous to me.

...