Orange & Blue

Coming To America: It’s Their Home, Too

The country they were brought to against their will as children housed them, but now some want to kick them out. 

In 2012, President Barack Obama introduced DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), a measure that would keep children who were brought here before the age of 16 from being deported; a policy that is renewable two years at a time. It allows those children who didn’t have a choice in leaving the only home they had ever known a chance to remain in the country legally, receive work permits and pursue higher education. 

DACA recipients are often referred to as Dreamers, named after a similar law called the DREAM Act, which was introduced in 2001 but never passed. The law would’ve given its recipients a path to citizenship had it been passed, which DACA does not offer. 

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The Power Of Memory (Or Lack Thereof): An Alzheimer’s Tale 

Four years ago, I began to lose one of my favorite people in the world. Today, she’s gone. The ironic thing is, she’s still here, but she might as well not be. 

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. It is the only top 10 cause of death that cannot be prevented, cured or even slowed. Almost six million Americans are living with it, and the rates are steadily rising. By 2050, as many as 14 million Americans may be living with this most common form of dementia. Every 65 seconds, someone across the country develops Alzheimer’s. 

All these scary statistics never occurred to me or to my family, until one day this was Tuta’s reality, which in turn became our reality.

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