Green Card Stories

As the immigration debate roils America, Green Card Stories cuts through the rhetoric, presenting 50 recent U.S. immigrants in dramatic essays by nationally recognized journalist Saundra Amrhein & compelling portraits by award-winning photographer Ariana Lindquist, in collaboration with immigration lawyers and scholars Laura Danielson & Stephen Yale-Loehr.  Several of the portraits were made in the Tampa Bay area.  Read the Times story about the book and interview with the author.  Visit the Green Card Stories website for more information or to buy a copy of the book.  Upcoming local events are described below.

Book Signing and Panel Discusstion at University of South Florida

When: Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012 - 6:00 - 7:30 PM

Where: Patel Center for Global Solutions, Room 131, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL

Details: Panelists include Green Card Stories author Saundra Amrhein and  Hillsborough Counselor Association High School Principal of the Year and individual featured in Green Card Stories, Cleto "Sundy" Chazares.

Radio Interview on WMNF 88.5 FM Latino 54

When: Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012 - 3 - 4 PM

Details: Saundra Amrhein will appear on Tampa’s WMNF 88.5 FM Latino 54 radio show. She will discuss Green Card Stories with host Franco Silva.

Book Signing at Inkwood Books

When: Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012 - 7:00 - 8:30 PM

Where: Inkwood Books, 216 S Armenia Ave., Tampa, FL 

Radio Interview WMNF 88.5 Radioactivity

When: Thursday, Feb 23, 2012 - 10 - 11 AM

Details: Saundra Amrhein will appear on Tampa’s WMNF 88.5 FM Radioactivity show. She will discuss GreenCard Stories and its role in the current immigration debate.

Cleto "Sundy" Chazares, photographed in Plant City, FL.  

Country of origin: Mexico

Entered United States: At age 7

Occupation: Principal of Simmons Career Center, Plant City; recently named Hillsborough Counselor Association High School Principal of the Year

(In grade school a) guidance counselor named Dorothy Bell noticed Sundy. Ms. Bell, as he called her, was a tall woman with a Southern drawl. She brought him to a classroom with a Spanish-speaking aide. As their friendship grew and his English improved, Sundy told Ms. Bell about his time in the fields. She encouraged him to stay in school when his father took him in May to work apples and tobacco in the Midwest and the Carolinas. He called Ms. Bell from the road, depressed, falling behind in school. His family returned every November. Sundy labored at homework until midnight, struggling to catch up.

But when junior high ended with another round of D's, Sundy dropped out. Angry, he grew his hair long, joined a gang.

Ms. Bell parked her car in his driveway until he came out. Go back to school, she told him. You are special. After two years, he gave in. But something had to change, Ms. Bell said. He could no longer migrate with his family. She invited him to live at her house with her husband and teenage son — as long as he quit the gang. He said okay.

Jeff and Nelly Boyette, photographed in Tampa, FL.

Country of origin: Peru

Entered United States: At age 22 

Occupation: Operates Nelly's General Merchandise at a Tampa flea market with her husband, Jeff Boyette 

Nelly Quinto busily unpacked fruit in her flea market stall in Tampa when she noticed a fellow merchant walking by for the third time.

He wore a cap, tank top, and jeans. Nelly had seen him before at the outdoor market, amid the maze of tables that offered everything from clothes to fresh Florida produce. He had a stereo bearing a bumper sticker that admonished foreigners to "Speak English."

But he had taken an interest in the spunky woman from Peru who cracked jokes in broken English with vendors and customers. That day he worked up the courage to approach Nelly. She watched, amused, as he timidly asked to buy a banana and then if he could have her phone number.

They were about to enter a relationship that they would spend years defending to the federal government.

Soumaya Khalifa, photographed in Atlanta, GA. 

Country of origin: Egypt

Entered United States: At age 12

Occupation: Founder of Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta, consultant to businesses and governments on working with Muslim and Arab countries and on the role of women in business and interfaith work

In 1969, when Soumaya was twelve, her mother accepted a research position at the University of Texas in Dallas. Soumaya and her parents and twin siblings moved (from Alexandria, Egypt) to a two-bedroom apartment with a green shag carpet. . . . In her first terrifying days of eighth grade, Soumaya was shocked by the lack of discipline. Her peers were a year behind her in math. Students, instead of teachers, changed classrooms. She followed them through the hallways, afraid to ask for help, her Arabic and French of no use. Students questioned whether she was black or Hispanic.  Within a year Soumaya was elected to student council and belonged to the French club, Spanish club, and Honors Society. But she could not attend sleepovers and her mother made sure her shoulders were covered, skirts long. Soumaya felt she had an American side, an Egyptian side, and a Muslim side. But rarely did she feel comfortable with all three at once.