Pomona COLLEGE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2012 THE NEXT AMETRhe IImCmigAratioNn IssS ue INSIDE: FOUR PATHS FORWARD ON IMMIGRATION REFORM THE CREATOR OF PROMETHEUS AT THE U.S. BORDER THE CHINESE PEASANT WHO WON OVER THE WEST SUMMER 2012 i /home ·page / E LAW; THAT I WILL PERFORM WORK OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE UNDER CIVILIAN DIRECTION WHEN REQUIRED BY THE LAW; AND THAT I TAKE THIS OBLIGATION FREELY WITHOUT ANY MENTAL RESERVATION OR PURPOSE OF EVASION; SO HELP ME GOD. O H T —THE UNITED STATES N OATH OF ALLEGIANCE Y I HEREBY DECLARE O B BY SALLY ANN FLECKER A D The swearing-in event seen T E H R here, held in May in Pittsburgh, I , was one of a series of natural - T U ization ceremonies Citizenship H Q A E Counts helped host around the T R country, from San Diego to I A N Dallas to Washington, D.C. B E PHOTO BY MARTHA RIAL S H O L W U T S E E L T Y A A T N S D D E E T N I T N I R U E L E Y H R T E HOTO BY RWIN HOMPSON P I T N F O O PHOTO BY MARTHA RIAL U S N E C C R E David Adeyemi at his naturalization A O F N ceremony in Dallas in March. D D PHOTO BY IRWIN THOMPSON E A B M J R U A R E E A H L T L Most A N I American stories L L E E G C I start in other places. I A V Which, in a way, makes a naturalization ceremony the N R E quintessential American experience. On this day, the high- C S E school auditorium in Pittsburgh, Pa., abounds with red, T A N N white and blue—balloons, strings of lights, tinselly deco - A D T rations—and chamber singers stretch for the high notes of F A I D B “The Star-Spangled Banner.” But what America means E M can be found in the stories of 37 people from 26 coun - L I T O tries who have just taken the oath of allegiance and are Y C T O N now being called to the stage to receive their naturaliza - O tion certificates. A N N Some are very dignified, others giddy. Polish-born Y M Marta Lewicka, a math professor at the University of F R O R O Pittsburgh, turns to beam at the audience before she E F I R shakes the hand of a dignitary. Nader Abdelmassieh, a G E N P physician, poses at the end of the stage for a picture. He is L L Some 37 people from 26 countries P I a tall man with a quiet smile, but his face is shining as he R were part of the naturalization cere - I N W waves a small flag like a child at a Fourth of July parade. mony at Taylor Allderdice High School I C in PIttsburgh on May 16, 2012. America accommodates foreigners better than any other E T , A PHOTO BY MARTHA RIAL country in the world, he says later, adding, “Many people P H O T don’t realize this country is a gift and an opportunity.” u T ; E N W T A A L E H T Y B D E R I U Q E R N E H W S E T A T S D E T I N U E H T F O F L A H E B N O S M R A R A E B L L I W I T A H T ; E M A S E H T O T E C N A I G E L L A D N A H T I A F E U R T R A E B L L I W I T A H T ; C I T S E M O D D N A N G I E R O F , S E I M E N E L L A T S N I A G A A C I R E M A F O S E T A T S D E T I N U E H T F O S W A L D N A N O I T U T I T S N O C E H T D N E F E D D N A T R O P P U S L L I W I T A H T ; N E Z I T I C R O T C E J B U S A N E E B E R O F O T E R E H E V A H I H C I H W R O M O H W F O Y T N G I E R E V O S R O , E T A T S T E , Pomon a /THE NEXT AMERICAN S/ FEATURES BEYOND THE WALL With the immigration debate stuck in stalemate, Pomona alumni offer possible ways forward: 1.OPEN THE GATES... AGAIN / BY JOEL NEWMAN ’89 15 2. EXPAND THE DREAM / BY WILL PEREZ ’97 3. SECURE THE BORDER FIRST / BY JOERG KNIPPRATH ’73 4. AVOID THE GUEST WORKER TRAP / BY CONOR FRIEDERSDORF ’02 OROZCO AT THE BORDER 22 DEPARTMENTS The Mexican muralist who painted Prometheus suffered more than his share of indignities at the border. / BY AGUSTIN GURZA Stray Thoughts 4 Letter Box 6 IMMIGRANT STORIES 28 POMONA TODAY 8 For five young Sagehens, immigrant pasts Pomoniana 10 have launched present-day career paths. Sports 13 AMY MOTLAGH ’98: REVOLUTION & REDEMPTION ALDO RAMIREZ ’00: MIGRANT TO MENTOR LIVES OF THE MIND 41 PETER WERMUTH ’00: AMBASSADOR OF BASEBALL JOE NGUYEN ’05: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED... Bookshelf 41 ANBINH PHAN ’01: CREATIVE EMPATHY Class Acts 44 Daring Minds 46 TO SHINE IN THE WEST Fong Sec, Pomona’s first Chinese immigrant student, 36 ALUMNI VOICES 48 faced abuse in the U.S. but overcame it all. / BY VANESSA HUA Alumni News 50 Class Notes 52 Births/Adoptions 59 Obituaries 59 Mind Games 64 Pomona Blue 64 ON THE COVER Elvira Rodriguez becomes a citizen at a ceremony in Dallas attended by John ’64 and Diane Eckstein. www.pomona.edu/magazine Story on page 1. Photo by Irwin Thompson /home ·page / That lesson is front and center for John Eckstein ’64 and his wife Diane. For the past four months, they’ve been traveling cross-country attending naturalization cer - emonies—this one is their eighth—to pro - mote Citizenship Counts, a nonpartisan nonprofit founded in 2008 by Holocaust survivor and 2010 Presidential Medal of Honor recipient Gerda Weissmann Klein. Citizenship Counts has two missions— teaching a middle- and high-school cur - riculum on the rights and responsibilities of being a good American citizen and empha - sizing our history as a nation of immi - grants. “What better way to combine those two missions but to host a naturalization ceremony in the schools,” Eckstein says. Two of the speakers today fled Somalia with their families and spent eight years in a Kenyan refugee camp. One is a student at this high school, the other a recent gradu - ate and newly minted citizen. “Students see that people from all over the world want to come to this country,” he says. Emma and Herman Eckstein in Bucharest, Romania, in 1921 “It’s a very meaningful ceremony.” The Ecksteins’ journey “from sea to shining sea” began at the a small RV with their dog Kipp. “We wanted Gerda to see this end of January in San Diego and will end in New York City in journey,” says Eckstein, “which we view as a journey of freedom June. By that time, Eckstein, a semi-retired physician from and hope.” Phoenix, Ariz., will have racked up 3,500 miles by bike and on The stop in Pittsburgh is a larger celebration for the Ecksteins foot while Diane, a Citizenship Counts board member, follows in as well. John’s grandfather Herman came to Pittsburgh in 1923 from Hungary, making a living selling furnaces, and able, after three years, to send for his wife and seven children. For today’s ceremony, John’s brother Paul ’62, a Pomona trustee and lawyer from Phoenix, and his wife Flo, have joined them, along with first cousins from Pittsburgh, New York and Florida. Their generation, says Paul, includes two doctors, one lawyer and two librarians. Their parents—Herman Eckstein’s children—all went to high school in this very building. In fact, the family home is just up the street and around the corner. A few years ago, in town for a family reunion, John, Paul and the cousins all trooped over to the old homestead. It was smaller than they re - membered. They knocked on the door and asked if they could come in. “Cer - Sugey Blanquicett from Panama shows off tainly,” said the Vietnamese family who her certificate after her naturalization lives there now, opening the door wide ceremony in Dallas with Citizenship Counts. and welcoming them in. PHOTO BY IRWIN THOMPSON John ’64 and Diane Eckstein take a picture with Adriana Antoietti at a naturalization ceremony in March in Dallas. PHOTO BY IRWIN THOMPSON 2 POMONA COLLEGE MAGAZINE SUMMER 2012 3 /stray ·thought s/ ABOUT THIS ISSUE: Where We Are Coming From... Silhouettes of 17 people painted on Walker Wall. Under the forgettable headline, The complaint Vice Chair of the Sidley Austin Sidley Austin reports 84 Pomona faculty, staff and 17 Employees who are unable to correct defi - The subcommittee of the Board releases MORE INFORMATION ON: is received Audit Committee begins review no wrong-doing on part-time employees are notified ciencies in their files lose their jobs.