I've been thinking a bout that lately: estrangement. I love that wiktionary defines estrangement as "the state of being alien", and I laugh at my old resident alien card. It looked identical to the above, except it had a picture of an eight-year-old on it.
The thought of a picture of an eight-year-old on a green card depresses me. How much time has been spent analyzing the politics of (e)(im)migration and its deep influence upon the migrant psyche. What about the eight-year-olds? The six-year-olds? Their experience of immigration is at least equally acidic: following people you trust, like when the police tell you 'come with us', ending in a place no one prepared you for, being stared at with concern by adults and with distrust by other children. It really does leave you feeling just a touch mad, not being able to perceive or interact with the world correctly. There is a Polish phrase: sam jak palec (alone like a finger). I never understood it because I thought 'jesus, but they aren't alone. There are surrounded by other fingers', and then I tried to push them together to no effect. Each finger was still alone.
The thought of a picture of an eight-year-old on a green card depresses me. How much time has been spent analyzing the politics of (e)(im)migration and its deep influence upon the migrant psyche. What about the eight-year-olds? The six-year-olds? Their experience of immigration is at least equally acidic: following people you trust, like when the police tell you 'come with us', ending in a place no one prepared you for, being stared at with concern by adults and with distrust by other children. It really does leave you feeling just a touch mad, not being able to perceive or interact with the world correctly. There is a Polish phrase: sam jak palec (alone like a finger). I never understood it because I thought 'jesus, but they aren't alone. There are surrounded by other fingers', and then I tried to push them together to no effect. Each finger was still alone.
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