Podcasts about dear america notes

Jose Antonio Vargas is the author of best-selling book "Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen" and is an undocumented citizen himself living here in America. But for Jose, his most important identifier is as "journalist." Jose is here to discuss the upcoming changes to America's immigration policy, the fear undocumented folks feel with another Trump presidency approaching, Stephen Miller's rhetoric against undocumented citizens, why no one can truly be "illegal," and why America historically wants undocumented labor but not the actual people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 159 Notes and Links to Amanda Korz's Work        On Episode 159 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Amanda Korz, and the two discuss, among other things, formative and transformative texts and classes that changed her mindset and trajectory, her work as both creative and technical writer, her mindset in writing her award-winning poetry collection, seeds for the collection, for whom the collection is intended, and salient themes from her work.        Amanda Korz is a graduate of Mills College and is working on certificates in technical writing and user experience & web design. Her poetry witnesses previous versions of herself and intimately digs into mental illness, disability, and witchcraft. When she isn't writing or studying, she enjoys hiking, camping, and is just getting into backpacking.   Buy It's Just a Little Blood   Amanda Korz's Page with Nervous Ghost Press   At about 6:25, Amanda talks about how biking and hiking have become big parts of her life    At about 10:40, Amanda details her writing and reading challenges and successes in her childhood    At about 13:30, Amanda discusses the reading analysis and discussion, especially of Frankenstein   At about 17:00, Amanda sets the record straight on misconceptions of Frankenstein from the eponymous novel    At about 19:10, Amanda lists transformative writers and works, including Ginsberg and his “Howl”   At about 21:50, Amanda responds to Pete's question about how her work as a technical writer affects her poetry, and vice versa   At about 24:00, Amanda explains why she writes in first person and details the beginnings of her poetry writing   At about 27:00, Amanda cites Mills College and its readings and classes and how it expanded her writing ability and confidence-shout outs to Matt Mejia and Arisa White   At about 29:25, Pete wonders if reading analytically affects Amanda's reading for pleasure    At about 30:50, Pete highlights blurbs from stellar creatives and Pete starts discussion of the book by citing a poem that serves as a “pivot point” in discussing ignorance of menstruation   At about 32:20, Pete asks Amanda about seeds for her collection and its connection to ignorance; she responds by discussing the collection's beginnings and a frenzy of writing as she was “struck by lightning”   At about 37:15, Pete cites lines from the collection that contrast the violence perpetrated by men and menstruation; this leads to her explaining the double-meaning of the title     At about 39:40, the two discuss a poem that illustrates the pain of IUD placement     At about 40:20, Amanda discusses ideas of “mystery” that have historically governed men's and women's roles, and menstruation specifically   At about 41:30, Pete points out “Medieval Period” as a creative and educational poem that Amanda gives background for-both personal and historical   At about 43:50, Pete references some strong imagery in Amanda's work and generational “surprise”   At about 46:10, After citing her first experiences with menstruation, Amanda talks about how the discussions around the topic are now expanding    At about 49:00, The two discuss the “totality” of menstruation and Amanda responds to pete asking about who is/are the villain in the book   At about 52:30, The two discuss a particular poem, “They Vote Red” that goes from “micro to macro” and connects to political issues of today   At about 55:00, Amanda discusses her book and for whom she wrote the book   At about 58:25, Pete wonders about the writing experience for Amanda and about any future projects    You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.  Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl     Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting my one-man show, my DIY podcast and my extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!    This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.    Please tune in for Episode 160 with Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated producer. A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, his best-selling memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published by HarperCollins in 2018. His second book, White Is Not a Country, will be published by Knopf in 2023. The episode will air on January 3.

Episode 136 Notes and Links to Rachel Yoder's Work        On Episode 136 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Rachel Yoder, and the two discuss, among other topics, her Mennonite upbringing that was rich with books and libraries, her inspirations from her background and from college professors, and the myriad relatable and profound themes that populate her smash-hit Nightbitch, as Rachel shares the excitement that comes with the movie being adapted into a film. Rachel and Pete also discuss archetypes and double-standards and pressures both external and internal that come with motherhood and parenthood.        Rachel Yoder is the author of Nightbitch (Doubleday), her debut novel released in July 2021, which has also been optioned for film by Annapurna Pictures with Amy Adams set to star. She is a graduate of the Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program and also holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Arizona. Her writing has been awarded with The Editors' Prize in Fiction by The Missouri Review and with notable distinctions in Best American Short Stories and Best American Nonrequired Reading. She is also a founding editor of draft: the journal of process. Rachel grew up in a Mennonite community in the Appalachian foothills of eastern Ohio. She now lives in Iowa City with her husband and son. Rachel Yoder's Website   Buy Rachel's Nightbitch   Review of Nightbitch-“a feral debut” in The Guardian    Information from Variety about Upcoming Movie Version of Nighbitch At about 1:50, Rachel talks about the exciting prospects for Nightbitch being made into a movie   At about 3:25, Rachel describes growing up in Ohio and her relationship with language and reading   At about 6:50, Rachel tells of the John Benton books she read as a child   At about 8:55, Rachel describes how writing was a “natural thing” and a hobby and how writing became essential during her time in Arizona   At about 11:00, Rachel cites Raymond Carver, Amy Hempel, Lorrie Moore, Hemingway, Pam Houston, and others as “formative writers” for her   At about 12:30, Rachel talks about short stories that changed the way she viewed the medium; she cites Amy Hempel's “The Harvest”   At about 15:05, Rachel talks about contemporary writers who thrill and inspire her, include Miriam Toews, Ottessa Moshfegh   At about 16:55, Rachel gives background on her immediate post-college jobs and writing background   At about 18:05, Rachel responds to Pete's question about how visual art and the idea of the muse work in with her writing process and writing material   At about 21:10, Rachel reads from the beginning of the book and discusses the genesis of the book's title    At about 25:20, Pete and Rachel ruminate on the dog from the book as a literal thing   At about 26:30, Pete shares the book blurb from Carmen Maria Machado in citing comparisons to Kafka's work; Rachel then discusses the balance between writing allegory and straightforward prose   At about 29:55, Pete contributes to a possible future blurb with another comparison of the book to another   At about 30:30, Rachel explains her thought process in not giving a name to the titular character   At about 31:45, Pete cites a famous quote in pointing out Rachel's work and subject matter work so well as fiction   At about 32:20, Pete and Rachel discuss themes of the singular focus of motherhood and “before and after motherhood”   At about 36:55, Pete and Rachel highlight ideas of ambition and regret and burdens carried by women intergenerationally with regard to moving scenes from the book   At about 40:20, Pete wonders about ideas of blame and culpability for oppression targeting women, and Rachel analyzes Nightbitch's background and how it informed her later life   At about 43:35, Mommy groups (!) are discussed, along with the lasting image from the book   At about 44:50, The two discuss the role and importance of the “mystic, the iconoclast” who was Nightbitch's grandmother   At about 45:50, Rachel discusses the stylistic choice of italicizing certain lines in her book   At about 47:20, The two talk about Wanda White and her Field Guide and their importance in the book   At about 50:00, Rachel explains background on the needs for community and their    At about 51:30, The two discuss themes of art and performance and their myriad meanings in conjunction with the book   At about 55:15, Pete compliments Rachel's writing that serves as informational and affecting without becoming didactic; Pete reads a profound paragraph from page 237 that illustrates this   At about 1:10:00, Rachel outlines some future projects   At about 1:02:50, Rachel gives her social media info and recommends places to buy the book, including Prairie Lights Bookstore, where you can a signed copy     You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.  This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.     The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 137 with Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated producer. A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, his best-selling memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published by HarperCollins in 2018. His second book, White Is Not a Country, will be published by Knopf in 2023.     The episode will air on August 12. 

Episode 135 Notes and Links to Briana Muñoz's Work        On Episode 135 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Briana Muñoz, and the two discuss, among other topics, her upbringing and relationship with bilingualism and poetry, an eminently memorable visit to hear Michele Serros read, Briana's performance experience in dance and poetry, inspiring and challenging poets who have inspired her, the issues and themes that populate her work, and exciting and important future projects she is working on.     Briana Muñoz is a writer from Southern California. Raised in San Diego, she spent a lot of her time at her mother's Mexican folklore dance classes and at ranches where her father trained horses into the sunset. She is the author of Loose Lips, a poetry collection published by Prickly Pear Publishing (2019). Her work has been published in the Bravura Literary Journal, LA BLOGA, the oldest Chicana Chicano Literature blog in history, the Poets Responding page, and in the Oakland Arts Review, among others. In the 2016 publication of the Bravura, she was awarded the second-place fiction prize. Her poem “Rebirth” was featured in the Reproductive Health edition of the St. Sucia zine. Briana's work was one of ten chosen for The Best of LA BLOGA from 2015. When she isn't typing away, she enjoys Danza Azteca, live music, cats, and thrift shopping. Briana Muñoz Instagram   Buy Loose Lips   Buy EVERYTHING IS RETURNED TO THE SOIL/ TODO VUELVE A LA TIERRA   “Briana Munoz: The TNB Self-Interview”   ‘WRITTEN WITHOUT SHAME': MEXICAN-AMERICAN POET BRIANA MUÑOZ ON POETRY, PERFORMANCE AND HER INDIGENOUS ROOTS" from Ampersand LA   Briana performs her work at Voices of California, Part II (Briana's segment starts around 41:10)   At about 2:50, Briana talks about her growing up- her experience with writing and language, her bilingualism, and her family's performance background   At about 6:15, Briana speaks about early influences and who she was reading when she was a kid/adolescent, writers like Sandra Cisneros   At about 7:30, Briana gives background on a turning point in attending a live reading by Michele Serros   At about 10:00, Briana talks about early reading and former and current favorite readings and how she has endeavored to “decolonize your bookshelf”   At about 11:20, Briana responds to Pete's question about how she reads now that she is a published and accomplished poet   At about 12:40, Briana shouts out the great work of Cesar De León    At about 14:30, Pete asks Briana about how much she and the speakers in her poems are synonymous    At about 16:10, Pete wonders about how music figures in for Briana's creative process, and she continues to explain her family's performance background   At about 18:30, Briana details her experience with and love for danza azteca, and how it influences other parts of her life, her poetry, and her mindset    At about 22:30, Briana discusses the background for the subject matter of her first collection, Loose Lips   At about 23:20, Briana details the “big motivation” that came from a poetry trip through Cuba   At about 24:10, Briana describes how writing has been a part of her life since 10 years old and how her creative writing professors were very “motivating” for her   At about 26:00, Briana cites Sonia Gutierrez as a motivating influence   At about 27:20, Briana explains her performance “stage fright,” or lack thereof    At about 28:20, Pete wonders, and Briana responds to his question, about readers “decoding poetry”    At about 29:30, Briana talks about “seeds” for her most recent collection, the title's significance, and a blur by Odilia Galvan Rodríguez that Briana feels sums up her writing styles    At about 31:30 and 33:10, Pete and Briana explore the Epigraph for the collection and a few selected poems, especially its focus on Mother Earth as a collection throughline   At about 32:20, Briana speaks on the idea of poetry as “catharsis” and “torment” and various and slippery emotions   At about 34:15, The two discuss themes of ancestral wounds and legacies    At about 38:10, Briana ponders what it is like to write about family members, and the personal feelings involved    At about 40:30, The two discuss “My Poem is not a Persuasive Essay” and its standout images, phrases, and its craft    At about 43:10, Briana explains the audience for her poem “Gente”   At about 45:00, Briana talks about the poem “Resilient Girl” and salient themes    At about 46:30, Briana discusses the conscious and subconscious meanings of hands, a strong motif in the poems   At about 48:30, Pete highlights some stellar lines in her work as the two discuss themes of authenticity and sentimentality and nostalgia and trauma   At about 51:15, The theme of sensuality is discussed with lines from Briana's work, and Pete asks her about her views on poetry as rational/emotional   At about 52:50, Pete cites the collection's last poem as lines about transition are explored   At about 53:50, Briana reveals when she knew her collection was “done,” and helpful guidance from editor/publisher Edward Vidaurre   At about 55:30, Briana gives out her contact info: social media particularly, and talks about Mutual Aid Poetry Show and other future projects   At about 58:10, Briana reads “My Poem is not a Persuasive Essay”   At about, 1:01:00, Briana reads “Soft Girl”   At about, 1:01:50, Briana reads “Why I Refuse to Celebrate the Opening of the Sixth Street Bridge”       You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch this and other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.  This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. Please check my social media in the next month, as I'll be sharing more details about my Patreon page, which will go live in September and will feature some cool swag like The Chills at Will Podcast t-shirts, refrigerator magnets, and more. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 136 with Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated producer. A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, his best-selling memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published by HarperCollins in 2018. His second book, White Is Not a Country, will be published by Knopf in 2023. The episode will air on August 2.

Episode 134 Notes and Links to Kirstin Chen's Work        On Episode 134 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Kirstin Chen, and the two discuss, among other topics, her childhood in Singapore and adolescent move to The United States, her relationship with reading and writing, especially in terms of “pleasure reading,” her research and process in writing two different but successful books before her current Counterfeit, the book's success and celebrating that success, her skill with point-of-view, and salient themes in the book and their connections to her life and society.     K I R S T I N   C H E N is the New York Times best-selling author of three novels. Her latest, Counterfeit, out now from William Morrow/HarperCollins (US) and The Borough Press (UK), is the June '22 Reese's Book Club pick. Television rights have been optioned by Sony Pictures.  Born and raised in Singapore, she lives in San Francisco. She teaches creative writing at the University of San Francisco and in Ashland University's Low-Residency MFA Program. Kirstin Chen's Website   Buy Kristin's Book Counterfeit   The New York Times Review of Counterfeit: "Real or Fake? In This Novel, It's Not Just a Question of Handbags."     At about 1:30-Pete and Kirstin shout out The University of San Francisco and the great Christian Kiefer and talk about their connections   At about 2:30, Kirstin describes the experiences that have come with her book being picked as June's Reese's Book Club Pick, as well as her perspective during this heady time   At about 5:20, Kirstin discusses her background, growing up in Singapore, her relationship with language and literature, her interest in accents   At about 7:35, Kirstin talks about Singapore's connections to the West   At about 8:55, Kirstin gives background on inspiration for some of the characteristics of Winnie from Counterfeit   At about 10:30, Pete wonders about Kirstin's reading tastes as an adolescent and she further explains the connection between the disparate emphases in her various schools   At about 14:45, Kirstin talks about ideas of “representation” and exposure to local writing when she was a kid, as well as changing modes in 2022   At about 16:10, Kirstin details those texts and writers who thrilled her as a college student, including Mary Gaitskill, Carver, and Mona Simpson's “Lawns”    At about 18:05, Kirstin describes the process of going from loving reading and writing to writing professionally and shares a cool Tobias Wolff story   At about 22:00, Kirstin talks about her love of fashion and how her early job at Banana Republic led to experiences that have made it into her writing; she also cites her own individual embrace of the MFA   At about 24:00, Kirstin discusses her early experiences with publishing Soy Sauce for Beginners   At about 26:15-28:35, Kirstin gives background on her second novel, Bury What We Cannot Take, especially homing in on the extensive research done for it At about 28:50, Kirstin details her writing/rewriting process for Counterfeit during Covid and its placement post-2016 election   At about 31:20-33:10, Kirstin details the seeds for Counterfeit and how an offhand joke grew into a book   At about 33:20, Pete and Kirstin discuss the successful ways in which she plays with POV, a conscious choice to eliminate some quotation marks for purposes of framing narration in certain ways    At about 36:30, Pete compliments the book as “off-kilter,” and discusses the book's two parts   At about 37:40, Kirstin breaks down the dynamics between Winnie and Ava and how their immigrant status as Asian-Americans informs their interactions   At about 39:20, Pete and Kirstin discuss Ava's family and a well-drawn and hilarious scene involving preschool “tryouts”   At about 42:40, Pete and Kirstin trace the ways in which the two women come together and where they are emotionally at the time   At about 44:00, The plot is discussed, with special attention to the scam that dominates the book and was based very closely on a true story   At about 47:00, Kirstin explains how Ava's predicaments in the book are related to themes of “saving face”   At about 50:00, Kirstin and Pete discuss expectations that are sometimes put upon immigrants or the children of immigrants   At about 51:15, The two discuss Hasan Minhaj's special, Homecoming King, and an unforgettable anecdote he tells from Sept 12, 2001   At about 52:10, Kirstin compares the Minhaj special and salient themes with ideas of the “model minority myth” as presented in Counterfeit    At about 54:00, The shift in empathetic figures is discussed   At about 54:45, Pete wonders about what the title means to Kirstin in the context of the book   At about 56:40, The ideas of hyperbole as expressing truths is brought up in context of the book's plotline   At about 57:45, Kirstin talks about shifting ideas of “cheating” with income inequality and ideas of  “rigged” society   At about 58:50, Ideas of ethical production are discussed, as Pete references a memorable scene involving clothing production in Gomorrah, and Kirstin discusses the subtleties of production that are often generalized    At about 1:02:10, Themes revolving around women's agency are discussed    At about 1:04:55, Kirstin connects the “model minority” myth to Covid happenings that inspired some parts of the book   At about 1:05:45, Pete trumpets the book's many strong points   At about 1:06:40, Kirstin outlines future projects, including her role with the screen adaptation of her book   At about 1:08:25, Kirstin shouts out The Booksmith as one place to buy her signed book      You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode.  This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 135 with Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and Tony-nominated producer. A leading voice for the human rights of immigrants, his best-selling memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published by HarperCollins in 2018. His second book, White Is Not a Country, will be published by Knopf in 2023.     The episode will air on July 26. 

A decade ago, journalist and "American without papers" Jose Antonio Vargas outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in a national magazine. Today he works with Hollywood and TV studios to humanise the immigrant story through pop culture. In this episode

Jose Antonio Vargas has been called "the most famous undocumented immigrant in America." The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of the book, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, talks about discovering that his green card was fake, how dangerous the mainstream media's coverage of immigration is, and why he wants to feel more comfortable with his sexuality. LGBTQ&A is hosted by Jeffrey Masters and produced by The Advocate magazine, in partnership with GLAAD. @lgbtqpod

Host Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello share their most effective coping mechanisms during stressful times; journalist and activist Jose Antonio Vargas recounts coming out as an undocumented immigrant with the publication of his memoir "Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen;" poet Danez Smith praises personal heroes in their poem “My President;” and singer-songwriter Angelica Garcia performs the one-woman version of her song "It Don't Hinder Me."

Laura and Sara interview Jose Antonio Vargas about immigration in America and his new book, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, in their last episode of the season.

  “Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Lk. 20).   “I’m not afraid of getting older. I’m afraid of looking older.” This week Ali Drucker wrote this in a trending New York Times article entitled “If Keanu Reeves’s Date Can Embrace Looking Her Age, I Can Too.” She commends the actor for dating someone who is only nine years younger than he is, because for most famous men, women seem to have a “shelf life just shy of twenty-five years.”[1] In a conversation this week one of my most striking-looking and closest friends waved a hand around her face and said, “This won’t last forever.” She went on to explain that soon she will not be beautiful and no one will want to have her and she will be alone. I wanted to interrupt and say, “you are one of the most beautiful people I know and it comes from your inner gorgeousness! The best part of you is eternal.” But words like this seem empty when the world around us seems to run according to completely different rules. The social conventions of Jesus’ time make it hard for us to understand his confrontation with the Sadducees. But how we see the world matters so much and Jesus offers us a story about our self that leads to what John calls “abundant life.” Jesus shows us how to experience God’s love and joy at the heart of everything. Today’s gospel happens at a time of excruciating tension and danger (Lk. 19). Jesus has just ridden into Jerusalem with huge crowds praising God and cheering him. When Jesus sees the city he weeps because he knows it will be destroyed. He enters the temple and drives out the people who are selling things there. Then he settles into a routine of teaching in the temple every day. The religious leaders are looking for a way to kill him but are restrained because as Luke writes, “the people were spellbound by what they heard” (Lk. 19).  The Sadducees are a religious sect with ties to the temple leadership. They differ from the Pharisees, Jesus and his disciples in two ways. First, they don’t believe in a coming age of resurrection. Second, they only accept the first five books of the Bible as authoritative and regard these as excluding the possibility of resurrection. Let me be clear they are not there to discover the truth, they are trying to entrap Jesus. They want to get him to say something that will offend the crowds. They want to trip him up, to embarrass him so that everyone will see that he isn’t as clever as they first thought.[2]  Not only does Jesus avoid being trapped but each time he speaks so profoundly that it only deepens the admiration of those who hear him. The Sadducees argue that the whole idea of resurrection is absurd and impossible. To do this they refer to an ancient practice called “levirate marriage” which takes its name from the Hebrew word levir which means “brother-in-law.” The idea is simple. If a man dies childless, his brother will marry his widow in order to have children who will then carry on his name and look after the widow when she is old. In our time we are likely to feel a sense of horror that this woman is treated merely like a man’s property. This is true. But it is also a compassionate strategy for addressing old age and death. The goal is to leave the widow with children who will one day care for her. So to prove the foolishness of resurrection the Sadducees present Jesus with a hypothetical example. Suppose a woman’s husband dies and she marries his brother, but he dies and so on through a family of seven brothers. They ask Jesus, “In the resurrection… whose wife will the woman be” (Lk. 20)? Although it seems like there is no way to win Jesus immediately answers. Jesus says that their error comes out of assuming that the cultural conventions and practices of our times will hold in the age of resurrection. He goes on, “in that age the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore because they are like angels and are children of God” (Lk. 20). Jesus knows that marriage practices are ways of addressing old age and death. Since there is no old age or death in the resurrection we don’t need these cultural practices. The religious leaders asked whose wife she will be and Jesus answers that she will not be anyone’s wife. She will be utterly herself, “a child of God,” “a child of the resurrection.” If this were not enough Jesus goes on to cite one of the Books of Moses that the Sadducees find authoritative. Jesus says that at the burning bush God says to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He does not say I was their God. Jesus says, “Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive” (Lk. 20). Hearing this the scribes can only say, “Teacher you have spoken well” because they are afraid to ask another question. Jesus does something far more brilliant than we recognize at first. The Sadducees use an ancient marriage practice to criticize the idea of resurrection. Jesus on the other hand uses life in God, or the age of resurrection, to criticize human institutions like marriage. This widow is not merely the object of an argument. Neither does she enter the next age as someone’s property or as a wife. Her marriage status will no longer define her because she will be a child of God, like an angel. When Jesus talks about the coming age. He’s not referring merely to something that happens to us after we die. God’s kingdom has come near. It is already happening. It is unfolding. We are already beginning to realize the dignity, freedom, joy and respect that should belong to every child of God. All human conventions and institutions that undermine human dignity, no matter how cruel or persistent, are passing away through the power of Christ. Our Forum guest today is the journalist Jose Antonio Vargas. He grew up not far from our old house in Mountain View and his memoir moved me deeply. We are talking about constraining institutions, conventions and practices. Nothing seems more arbitrary than his predicament as an undocumented citizen. He didn’t ask to be brought here. It’s almost all he has ever known. He has dedicated himself to studying our shared civic life and writing thoughtfully about it. He walks around with a copy of the Bill of Rights. And yet there is no path, or process for him to become a citizen. And politicians are leading other Americans to despise him because he has no papers. The same public library system had an immense influence on both of our lives. Vargas writes about coming across a videotaped interview between Bill Moyers and the novelist Toni Morrison (1931-2019). It had a profound effect on Vargas. The two celebrities are talking about the pressures on one of her characters. Morrison says she surrendered to “the master narrative” and goes on to explain what she means. “The master narrative (is) the whole notion of what is ugliness, what is worthlessness, what is contempt. She got it from her family… school… movies, she got it everywhere.” Moyers seems confused so Morrison explains further, “It’s white male life. The master narrative is whatever ideological script that is being imposed by the people in authority over everybody else. The master fiction. History.  It has a certain point of view. So, when these little girls see that the most prized gift that they can get at Christmastime is this little white doll, that’s the master narrative speaking. “This is beautiful, this is lovely, and you’re not it.”[3] Despite the power of the master narrative, and the conventions that support it, through Christ we see signs of new life breaking into this age. The theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968) writes that, “In [our] essence, [our] innermost being, [our] heart we are only what we are gladly.”[4] He points out that we have an experience of what he calls “being in encounter.” We have relationships which are not about power or seeking our own self-interest. I speak from personal experience in married life when I affirm his claim that there is a kind of mutual joy that we find in the existence of another. Barth puts these feelings into words writing, “I have waited for Thee. I sought Thee before Thou didst encounter me. I had Thee in view even before I knew thee. The encounter with Thee is not, therefore, the encounter with something strange which disturbs me, but with a counterpart which I have lacked and without which I would be empty and futile.” Barth calls this the unfathomable, unexpressible secret of humanity. What scares you? Do you worry about looking older – you are a child of the resurrection. Are you afraid of being deported – no one can take you away from God because you are like the angels and have citizenship in heaven. Are you afraid of being alone – you are a child of God. Do not let the master narrative hide what is really beautiful. You are exquisite. God will always hold you and all you love just as God still embraces Abraham and Sarah. God is God not of the dead but of the living! [1] Ali Drucker, “If Keanu Reeves’s Date Can Embrace Looking Her Age, I Can Too,” The New York Times, 6 November 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/opinion/keanu-reeves-alexandra-grant.html [2] So much of this sermon comes from Matt Boulton, “What’s Resurrection For? SALT’s Lectionary Commentary for the Twenty-Second Week After Pentecost,” 5 November 2019. https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2019/11/5/whats-resurrection-for-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-twenty-second-week-after-pentecost [3] Jose Antonio Vargas, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen (NY: HarperCollins, 2018) 76-7. [4] See Karl Barth Church Dogmatics Index pgs. 395-6. Also, Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics III.2: The Doctrine of Creation tr. H Knight, G.W. Bromiley, J.K.S. Reid, R.H. Fuller (NY: T & T Clark, 1960) 267, 270, 269.  

Books & Bites Podcast, Episode 30Each month, JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them. We're gearing up for back-to-school in this episode, with books set in school or books we should have read in school.Book NotesMelissa recommends: Dear America : Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin The Fire This Time edited by Jesmyn Ward Carrie recommends: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark Citrus County by John Brandon Old in Art School by Nell Painter Michael recommends: The Bone Weaver's Orchard by Sarah Read My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix Bite Notes Try out Panlasang Pinoy's Filipino Chicken Adobo to taste the food Jose Antonio Vargas grew up with in the Philippines. Learn more about French wine in Windows on the World Complete Wine Course by Kevin Zraly and then go find one to try as you savor the words of James Baldwin and the authors that responded to him in The Fire This Time. Since kale is a staple in Scottish kitchens, try the Warm Salad of Roasted Kale, Coconut, and Tomatoes from Anna Jones's cookbook, A Modern Way to Eat. West Sixth Brewery's Valencia Berliner Weisse is a beverage with bite to match Citrus County‘s hard-boiled feel. Enjoy a chilled Cidergeist Semi-Dry Cider as you try to piece the mystery of the old abbey with Charley and Sam. If you want to transport yourself back to the late 80's, try the Pioneer Woman's recipe for Sloppy Joes and pair it with an ice-cold Diet Coke with a slice of lemon.

What does it mean to be American? How is that story best told and understood? New York Times columnist David Brooks talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas about citizenship without certainty. Vargas was smuggled from the Philippines to his grandparents’ home in California when he was 12 years old. He discovered a few years later that he was undocumented. In Vargas's memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, he describes the psychological toll he experienced from hiding from the government. The book, his first, was released September 18, 2018.

Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and a leading voice for the human rights of immigrants. He is the founder of Define American, the nation’s leading non-profit media and culture organization that fights injustice and anti-immigrant hate through the power of storytelling. His memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, was published by HarperCollins in fall 2018.

Today on Midday, a conversation about immigration and what it means to be an American with a journalist and filmmaker who many call the most famous undocumented immigrant in the country. Jose Antonio Vargas won a Pulitzer Prize as part of a team at the Washington Post. He has also written for the San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times Magazine and Time. He is the founder of Define American, and the author of a new book called Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen. Jose Antonio Vargas is speaking about the book at 7:00 tonight at the Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore, as part of the Enoch Pratt Library’s Writers Live series.

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history was triggered by an impasse over border security. In this hour, Politics host Amy Walter asks, is comprehensive immigration reform impossible? From the summer of 2001 when a bipartisan agreement looked hopeful through today, a look at why compromise remains out of reach. Shari Robertson is a documentary filmmaker. Back in the early 2000s, she and her filmmaking partner Michael Camerini embedded themselves within this reform effort, driven by President George W. Bush. But how did we end up here, where we are now, where an immigration bill with bipartisan support seems almost unimaginable? To make sense of this Amy checked in with Chuck Hagel. He’s a former Republican senator from Nebraska and was one of the co-sponsors of the 2006 immigration bill. Cecilia Muñoz was considered President Obama’s conscience on immigration. She was deeply involved in the reform effort that took place during his administration and gives us the insider view on why that failed. In 2011, Jose Antonio Vargas officially came out of the closet as an undocumented immigrant. This was years before millions of others would join him.  And he did it in the most public way a person could - he wrote a cover story in The New York Times Magazine called, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” He is now the founder of Define American, and is the author of “Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen.” He joins the program to share his analysis of the current impasse over immigration. Amy's Final Take: We had an ambitious idea this week. Try to explain - in an hour - why Congress has failed in its last two attempts to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The goal was not to leave you with the answer - but for you to appreciate all the cross-currents and challenges that face policymakers. But, I was struck by two things over the course of putting this show together. First, it is actually not that hard to pass an immigration reform bill. The biggest impediment to success is the lack of political will and the lack of willingness to sacrifice and compromise. That includes lots of people - activists, organizations, people on the frontlines of the issue - not just the politicians. The second is that whenever we talk about immigration reform we hear a lot from the political figures involved, but not as much from real people. I want to leave with the voices from the people we heard at the top of the show. And a special thanks to our friends at The Marshall Project for sharing the testimonial tape in this episode. It was all collected as part of a project called We Are Witnesses, in partnership with Newsy. Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segment. Don't have time to listen right now? Subscribe to our podcast via iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts to take this segment with you on the go. Want to comment on this story? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page or Twitter.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his book, "Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen," and how the shift the cultural conversation about immigration. In this episode: (01:34) Vargas' background and why he became a journalist; (06:54) How he became an undocumented immigrant; (16:38) Class differences and telling the truth; (22:19) Did Vargas have any other options?; (27:09) Legality, politics and power; (32:42) Coming out as undocumented; (38:16) Storytelling and humanizing immigrants; (42:53) How social media factors in; (45:58) How Vargas defines "citizen"; (50:01) What he will do next Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, we discuss the Books and Boba October 2018 (also Filipino American History Month) book club pick, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, by Jose Antonio Vargas, a memoir of Vargas' life as an undocumented American, from his childhood discovery of his status, to becoming an award winning journalist, to his current life as a high profile advocate for immigrant rights. To help us discuss this book, we invite Elaine Dolalas, one of the hosts of This Filipino American Life. For additional thoughts and discussion on the monthly pick, visit the Books & Boba Goodreads forums. This Month's Book Club Panelists: Reera Yoo (@reeraboo) Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh) Elaine Dolalas (@TFALpodcast) Follow us: Facebook Twitter Goodreads Group The Books & Boba November 2018 pick is IQ by Joe Ide This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode, we check in to chat about the recent book news including Asian American publishing announcements, award nominations, and end-of-year lists. Don't forget to check back next week for the discussion episode of Books & Boba October 2018 pick, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas. For additional thoughts and discussion on the monthly pick, visit the Books & Boba Goodreads group. Also, our November 2018 Book Club pick is IQ by Jo Ide Follow the hosts: Reera Yoo (@reeraboo) Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh) Follow the Book Club: Website Facebook Twitter Goodreads Group This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

On this episode, Reera chats with author Renee Macalino Rutledge, author of the award winning novel, The Hour of Daydreams, a modern take on a classic folktale taking place in the Philippines. Renee shares with us about her experiences writing her first fictional novel as well as the inspirations behind her story. For additional thoughts and discussion visit the Books & Boba Goodreads forums This Episode's Hosts: Reera Yoo (@reeraboo), Host Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh), Host This Episode's Guest: Renee Macalino Rutledge, Author of The Hour of Daydreams The Books & Boba October 2018 pick is *Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen * by Jose Antonio vargas Follow us: Facebook Twitter Goodreads Group This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who has been called “the most famous undocumented immigrant in America,” tackles one of the defining issues of our time. He took Town Hall’s stage to share his explosive and deeply personal memoir Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen. Vargas was joined by Seattle-based feminist writer and activist Ijeoma Oluo. Together they discussed Vargas’ tale, focusing not on the politics of immigration but on the sense of homelessness, the unsettled and unmoored psychological state that undocumented immigrants like Vargas find themselves in. Vargas recounted his experiences passing as an American and being forced to lie about his identity and his origins. Join Vargas and Oluo for a call to action and a meditation on what it means to not have a home. Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and a leading voice for the human rights of immigrants. He is the founder and CEO of Define American, the nation’s leading non-profit media and culture organization that fights injustice and anti-immigrant hate through the power of storytelling. Ijeoma Oluo is a Seattle-based writer, speaker and activist. Her work has been published in The Guardian, The Stranger, Washington Post, ELLE Magazine, NBC News and elsewhere. She has been the Editor at Large at The Establishment since 2015. Her New York Times bestselling first book, So You Want To Talk About Race, was released January 2018 with Seal Press.   “After 25 years of living illegally in a country that does not consider me one of its own, this book is the closest thing I have to freedom.” -Jose Antonio Vargas, from Dear America   Recorded live at Seattle First Baptist Church by Town Hall Seattle on Friday, September 28, 2018. 

Jose Antonio Vargas was born in the Philippines in 1981. When he was 12, his mother sent him to America, to live with family. When he was 16, he went to the DMV to get a driver's license and found out his green card was forged; he was an undocumented immigrant. Vargas went on to be a decorated journalist, winning a Pulitzer as part of the Washington Post team covering the Virginia Tech shootings. He profiled Mark Zuckerberg for the New Yorker and led a technology vertical at the Huffington Post. But he lived in fear of his secret, of the fragile foundation upon which he'd built his life. So he did something few would have the courage to do: He told the world himself. In his new book, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, Vargas details what happened both before and after his confession. "This book is about constantly hiding from the government and, in the process, hiding from ourselves," he writes. "This book is about what it means to not have a home.” Vargas has spent the better part of the last decade doing something no one should have to do: asking people to see him as a human, not a category; asking the country he lives in to decide what it wants to do with him, or what it wants from him. It is a testament to how strange and broken our system is, how uncertain our values are, that it has refused to give him an answer. Immigration politics is at the core of Trumpism, which means it’s at the core of our politics right now. But the stories of actual immigrants aren’t. In this raw conversation, Vargas and I discuss his life, how being undocumented changes not just your path but your psyche, and what Vargas wants to say to those who see him as the problem they elected this president to fix.   Recommended books: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin There There by Tommy Orange America Is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maria and Julio talk to In The Thick All-Star Jose Antonio Vargas in this unique, live episode as part of the PEN Out Loud series in New York City. In a very intimate conversation about mental health and the immigrant community, Maria, Julio and Jose Antonio get personal. The live audience also shared their experiences, anxieties and advice. This show was possible thanks to collaboration with PEN America and The Strand bookstore. ITT Staff PicksA researcher explains the mental health toll of undocumented immigrants along the border (from the American Psychological Association's site).The New York Times book review of Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented CitizenA list of resources to support immigrants and their mental health. For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this episode, we discuss the Books and Boba September book club pick, Number One Chinese Restaurant, by Lillian Li, a family drama surrounding the proprietors and staff of a semi-famous chinese restaurant in the Maryland suburbs outside of Washington DC. Marvin believes it to be a great follow up to our August book club pick and Reera has a lot of thoughts on the many plot lines that revolve around the Beijing Duck House at the center of this story. For additional thoughts and discussion on the monthly pick, visit the Books & Boba Goodreads forums. This Month's Book Club Panelists: Reera Yoo (@reeraboo) Marvin Yueh (@marvinyueh) Follow us: Facebook Twitter Goodreads Group The Books & Boba October 2018 pick is Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas This podcast is part of Potluck: An Asian American Podcast Collective

What does it mean to be American? How is that story best told and understood? New York Times columnist David Brooks talks with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas about citizenship without certainty. Vargas was smuggled from the Philippines to his grandparents’ home in California when he was 12 years old. He discovered a few years later that he was undocumented. In Vargas's memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, he describes the psychological toll he experienced from hiding from the government. The book, his first, was released September 18, 2018. Show Notes Watch What Is It Like to be Inside the American Immigration System Today? from the Aspen Ideas Festival. Listen and subscribe to Aspen Insight. Follow the show on Twitter @aspenideas and Facebook. Email your comments to aspenideastogo@gmail.com. The views and opinions of the speakers in the podcast do not necessarily reflect those of the Aspen Institute.