Author: lwittler

Storyboard Pitch

After analyzing our provocation post assignment, we felt the most inspired to do a project that reflected Ifemelu’s experiences in college as a Nigerian student. We believe that it is not fair that people from other countries feel like they have to conform to American preferences. A scene in the book when Ifemelu was registering for classes, the registrar talked down to Ifemelu because she had a Nigerian accent. It said that Ifemelu “shrinks” (Adichie 164) from feeling ashamed of her Nigerian accent. Because of this incident Ifemelu stops talking in her Nigerian accent and starts practicing an American accent (Adichie 164). We wanted to explore and express Ifemelu’s experience in Chapter 14 facing assimilation struggles due to her Nigerian race in the American classroom.

Our inspiration is supported by Making Americans: Schooling, Diversity, and Assimilation in the Twenty-First Centurywhere Cristina Lash sums up her study as looking at how the “role of race [is] a barrier in the assimilation process, particularly as it unfolds in schools” (1). This is one of our primary sources since it is a recent peer-reviewed journal entry as well as discussing issues that Ifemelu faced when she came to the American university scene. This article studied the ways middle schools teach American identity, specifically looking at Castro Middle School, a “diverse school in a city profoundly shaped by immigration.” (Lash 3). This revealed how immigrants are “made” at Castro through “direct classroom instruction, school events and programming, and daily interactions between peers, teachers, and staff” (Lash 4). We wanted to reference this when considering how Ifemelu faced assimilation into America, specifically the university.

The platform we chose to construct our project on is StoryboardTHAT. This medium is a website that gives us the tools and resources to create a storyboard about an immigrant student in a college scene and the challenges they face. The website we will be using claims it has an extensive image library, flexible layouts, and is intuitive and simple which is beneficial to our group. A storyboard allows us to use visual, creative aspects such as what characters look like and what our scene will look with many details. It also allows us to use words in speech and thought bubbles straight from the characters to understand how they feel and why. A third aspect of this medium is where we can put text about what is happening in the picture underneath of it. All of these elements will help us effectively tell the story of what an immigrant student goes through.

“Chapter 14.” Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Anchor Books, A Division of Random House LLC, New York, 2013, pp. 164-165.

Cristina L. Lash. “Making Americans: Schooling, Diversity, and Assimilation in the Twenty-First Century.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, vol. 4, no. 5, 2018, p. 99. EBSCOhost, doi:10.7758/rsf.2018.4.5.05.

Galli, Fausto, and Giuseppe Russo. “Immigration Restrictions and Second-Generation Cultural Assimilation: Theory and Quasi-Experimental Evidence.” Journal of Population Economics, vol. 32, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 23–51. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s00148-018-0694-z.

Using nostalgia to reduce prejudice toward immigrants

This peer-reviewed article title “Using nostalgia to reduce prejudice towards immigrants” written by Maria Gravani, Anastasia Soureti, and Sofia Stathi discusses a way to reduce immigrant prejudices and how immigrants are treated in Greece. The paper mentions have immigrants are typically viewed as vulnerable. The relates how nostalgia can reduce tensions and harsh feelings towards immigrants that occur in immigration crisis. This is seen through how nostalgia has been linked with increasing social bonds and positive self-esteem, as well as optimism. This article is less bias as many news articles because of the research nature. The authors base their conclusions based off their own study and other statistics about how immigrants are treated and why. There is however bias because of the push for better treatment towards immigrants. This research was conducted to find a way for immigrants and citizens to create better relationships and reduce prejudice. Results showed that there was a correlation between nostalgia and better relationships with immigrants in the study.

Gravani, Maria, et al. “Using Nostalgia to Reduce Prejudice toward Immigrants.”
European Journal of Social Psychology, Mar. 2018, eds.a.ebscohost.com/
eds/pdfviewer/
pdfviewer?vid=24&sid=04ef15f6-8170-4bf5-9679-0cd199547a5f%40sdc-v-sessmgr04.

Trump: the US will not turn into a “migrant camp” or “refugee holding facility”

A published story on Vox.com by Tara Golshan called “Trump: the US will not turn into a ‘migrant camp’ or ‘refugee holding facility’” in which the discussion of the governments involvement in accepting refugees is the topic. The article discusses President Trumps resistance to accept immigrants and refugees “unlike some of the its European allies.” There is a large comparison between the U.S. and the Germany. Germanies accepting of refugees is creating political backlash towards their Chancellor. The article attempts to go in depth on certain policies Trump has placed against refugees and gives facts about other refugee statistics in the United Nations. The article is highly political creating a lot of bias. While it mostly focuses on Trump Administration it also discusses which political party is blaming the other for issues of immigration and family separation. This article is filled with bias. While there are true statements and facts, the article is also very one sided, only focusing on sources against Trump. The limited sources and variety of sources shows the purpose of this article is to show people a negative spotlight on immigration and refugee policy and treatment. This article shows the side of immigration where the United States is hurting and ignoring refugees and immigrants instead of helping them. While immigrants can experience a new and better life in America, they will face many challenges and some of these will be against the government and policies itself.

Golshan, Tara. “Trump: The US Will Not Turn into a ‘Migrant Camp’ or ‘Refugee Holding Facility.'” Vox, 18 June 2018, www.vox.com/2018/6/18/17475512/trump-migrant-camp-refugee-germany.

Helping Immigrants Find Their Path to Citizenship

The New York Times posted an article on January 7, 2019 called Helping Immigrants Find Their Path to Citizenshipdiscusses the stories of immigrants who received the assistance they needed in the U.S. in order to create a successful future as U.S. citizens. The first person featured in the article is Juan Cifuentes who shares his journey from Colombia to the U.S. He and his family came to join his grandmother in New York. Cifuentes says, “Being an immigrant, you encounter things you never expect and feel things you don’t know about. It’s all part of the process.” Although they faced those challenges, he also says that they focused on the future and opportunities. The article then discusses the process the family went through to gain citizenship. The family used available resources such as a nonprofit agency the Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement. This agency helped the family prepare by providing English classes, after school programs and senior services. They are supported by the F.P.W.A. They also provided free legal counsel. This free legal system also helped another person in the article. Alberto Perez Smith failed his first time applying for citizenship but received it later with help from the legal counsel. This article highlights the helpful and accepting agencies and neighborhoods within New York City that allow immigrants to become successful. The immigrants in this article remain hopeful and loyal to the United States because of the help they received from agencies instead of suffering from the government process. There is bias present throughout this article and can be recognized from the three sources used. Two immigrants and a lawyer who works to help immigrants. It also only focuses on the positives of successful immigration and citizenship processes.

Tumin, Remy. “Helping Immigrants Find Their Path to Citizenship.” The New York Times [New York], 7 Jan. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/01/07/neediest-cases/helping-immigrants-find-their-path-to-citizenship.html.

Grant Pitch

I would pitch an event with the asylum and immigration services such as LIRS to come to stevenson and give short speeches about what they do at their organizations. We would also have them invite people they work with to come and share their stories. This event would resemeble the ideas a ted talk platform. Along with these talks people from the community would be asked to bring donations with them to offer families such as clothing, food, and books. This drive would encourage members of the Stevenson and Owings Mills community to become invloved with these organizations as volunteers as well as learning about the organizations and services they provide.

Finding The Why and Passion

Attending the entrepreneurship panel event was a great experience to learn about others experiences and reflect on my own opportunities. The panel consisted of seven panalist with a variety of businesses from Maryland Brand Management to Eat Pizza to Enterpise Rent-A-Car. One of my favorite panalist was Chris Daley who started his own public relations business called Whirlaway LLC. As a Business Communication major I found a deep interest in how he decided to create his own brand. Many of the entrepreneurs there said similar things such as they all held the mind set that they see something and can do it better so they decide to go out and do that. They also gave great advice such as to start networking and setting short and long term goals for yourself.

This event helped me see further into my career goals as for what my passion is. I know I want to use my business communication skills I just wasn’t sure where. One of the speakers, Elizabeth Trimm said that it is important to know your why and find the passion to push yourself. I have always had a passion in helping others. For the past few years I have been deeply interested in helping refugees and immigrants. This class has helped me see this also as the issue comes up in my everyday life. I find myself drawn towards this social justice issue and after listening to entrepreneurs share their experiences I know it is important for me to use my degree skills towards something I am passionate about.

Packet handed out at the event with information and space for notes.

The Purpose of a Nonprofit Website

The Lutheran Immigration and Refugees Services is a non-profit working to improve immigration policies and help immigrants and refugees. This organization has been around for almost 80 years. They are “a champion for refugees and migrants from around the globe”(LIRS.org). This essay will be a rhetorical analysis of their online website www.LIRS.org. The design and intentions of the author of this website serves a specific purpose to make the audience take action in their goals.

The genre of this text effects how the site is organized and how that will reach the audience. A broader genre would be that it’s a website, but a more specific description would be that is non-profit.  The structure of the text looks like the template most non-profits use with the links at the top and images taking up the whole length of the screen.

The website aims for a specific audience that the organization wants to attract. The intended audience for this website is people willing to donate to LIRS or for people looking to become more involved with refugee relief. The secondary audience may be people who are looking to raise their awareness on immigration issues. The values that these audiences hold would be acceptance and community. Their opinions would reflect wanting refugees and immigrants to have a better life in America with the help to the organization. This audience would be more open minded to accepting immigrants in the U.S. The author appeals to these values and opinions because of the information and access on the website such as the donate button and the take action section of the site.

The donate and take action links also lead to the intentions of this text. The overall intention for the text is to take donations and volunteers in for the organization. At the top of the website there is a donate button that is orange while the rest of the site is blue and white. The attention to this button serves an important part of their purpose. A second purpose is to spread awareness about immigration issues and what LIRS does. This is seen through the parts of the website such as the about us tab and the link to their blog. Providing these links will draw the audience towards the sites purpose.

Allowing for a medium to support the sites purpose is important. The medium of this text is the Web. I think the author chose this particular medium because it can hold a lot of information and be very easy to navigate. I also think the author took into account how important the internet is in today’s society and the access many people have to the Web. You can find this text through searching for non-profit immigration and refugee organizations and that will send you to the website. This website is filled with visual, spatial, and linguistical aspects that make the website successful. LIRS “was founded in 1939 by Lutheran churches in the united states to serve uprooted people during world war 2.2” (LIRS.org). This organization has been supporting people in need for generations and they have adapted to the type of people who need help in today’s political climate and adapt to new ways to spread their mission such as with this website. Old forms of spreading their mission existed through public speeches at national council meetings. The social and cultural connotations in this text relate to the current immigration problems including improving immigration policies. This is a big controversy within our culture. The colors used on the site are different shades of blues and orange. The word welcome is used throughout the website. On the home page there is a picture of the statue of liberty hand and torch.

There are also images of refugee children and families.

Readers will react with this text through the links and opportunities to donate and volunteer. Readers would access this text while on their phone or laptop however it is a site they would use while sitting down in order to focus on the content. It is a text that could be used in private or public settings.

The author has to consider many aspects while using this medium. They establish credibility through a tab on the website that leads to a board of directors, executive committee, staff leadership and at-large members with their names and positions. The site also states the board of director consists of 17 members who “have knowledge of and commitment to refugees and immigrants” (LIRS.org). Looking at the staff leadership someone can make a guess that a more specific author could be the director for marketing and communications, director for outreach, director for development, or director for advocacy because all these positions play a role in this website.

I trust this source because it is run directly by the organization. It is important to trust the source because if someone donates money, they need to know it is legitimate. The author comes across as a group of individuals working together for a social justice issue, they believe is important. They also have links to their church, service, and foundation partners. These relationships show the authors involvement with partners who work for people. The organization itself does not have a great reputation with leadership according to reviews on glassdoor.com however this would be done through research past the site text. The text does not support this reputation.

This website uses calming colors and easy to read fonts so that the audience can quickly and easily understand the purpose of the website. The architecture of the site is easy to navigate like most nonprofit websites so users can effectively use the site. All of this enhances the users experience and allows LIRS to carry out their mission with the public to a full extent.

References

Arola, Kristin L., Ball, Cheryl E., Sheppard, Jennifer. Writer/Designer: A Guide to Making Multimodal Projects. Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2014.

“Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Reviews.” Glassdoor, www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Lutheran-Immigration-and-Refugee-Service-Reviews-E915690.htm.

“Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.” LIRS, 6 Feb. 2019, www.lirs.org/.