Beka’s Reviews > Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen > Status Update

"Migration is the most natural thing people do; the root of how civilizations, nation states + countries were established.

The difference, however, is that when white people move -- then + now -- it's seen as Courageous + Necessary, celebrated in history books. Yet when people of color move, legally or illegally, the migration itself is subjected to question of legality: Is it a crime? Will they assimilate?"

"There are no writers in my family; none on my mother's side, none on my father's side. In the Philippines we're a family of farmers, nurses, cooks, accountants, construction workers, U.S. Navy veterans. I got into journalism because of a high school teacher.

Writing was a form of existing. Writing was a way of belonging, of contributing to society."