sharing the life stories of immigrants, expatriates, and refugees to the United States
Feel Like You Belong TV is your source for real stories about the real people we call migrants. They may be the seasonal workers who traverse the country picking our daily produce.* They may be the expatriates who come on temporary assignment for their multinational companies. Or they may be the intrepid** souls who have committed to calling these United States their new homeland.
People have been migrating since time immemorial.*** They have moved for safety from earthquakes and drought. From war and disease. From persecution and economic hardship. They have the same characteristics as our immigrant forebears who gave up the familiarity and comfort of home in order to take risks and build a better life.
Join us here every week with these heroic storytellers and learn about what it is that still makes America a destination for entrepreneurs and risk-takers. The people who moved themselves and their families across deserts and oceans. People who add to each new generation’s vibrancy**** and can-do spirit. Welcome to Feel Like You Belong.
Our conversation with Richard Blanco continues. Blanco is the first Latino, first immigrant, and first openly gay poet to read an original work in front of hundreds of thousands at a presidential inauguration. He shares with Alan his thoughts about ethnicity, place, and belonging. He humbly includes what he is grateful for.
Richard Blanco is only the fifth poet in U.S. history to be selected Inaugural Poet to the President. He shares with Alan his thoughts on the event and reads a poem he'd written for the Inaugural Committee which was not selected for the occasion. With the pithy understanding of someone anchored in two cultures, he observes that immigrants may be more patriotic than natives.
Feel Like You Belong is a sometimes serious, sometimes funny, always “touch-your-heart” real conversation about fitting into the American culture. It introduces guests who have made the immigrant journey to the United States. The stories–of both struggle and success–will help newcomers feel more confident in sharing their opinions and expertise, more likely to want to stay in the U.S., be more productive in their jobs, and fully invest in their communities.
