In this project we are speaking to people representing a diversity of experiences and backgrounds in gender identity, physical ability, whether they are Indigenous, native born, a refugee or an immigrant without legal status\u2014to ask what it means to be an “American.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fm1oPdL0gu0″ admin_label=”YouTube Video” _builder_version=”4.9.10″][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text: Video Teaser” _builder_version=”4.9.10″ text_text_color=”#ffffff” text_font_size=”16px”]<\/p>\n
NPR Next Generation Radio’s anya quesnel shares the story of Anna Sofia Vera, a dual citizen of Chile and the United States, who explores what it means to belong when roots in two countries lead to an ever-shifting definition of home.<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ custom_padding=”6px||3px|||”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ custom_padding=”3px||6px|||”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”HERO IMAGE OPTION 1: Background image: DELETE IF NOT NEEDED” _builder_version=”4.9.10″ background_enable_color=”off” background_image=”https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2021\/08\/Anya_Editorial_Eejoon_Animated.gif” background_blend=”multiply” custom_margin=”-2px|||||” custom_padding=”12%||39.4%|||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.9.10″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ custom_padding=”6px||3px|||”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ custom_padding=”3px||6px|||”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Illustrator credit” _builder_version=”4.9.10″ hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
Illustration by Eejoon Choi<\/em><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.5.1″ custom_padding=”7px||35px|||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.5.1″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.5.1″][et_pb_post_title date=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” admin_label=”Post Title” _builder_version=”4.9.10″ title_level=”h3″ title_font=”Oswald||||||||” title_font_size=”42px” title_letter_spacing=”2px” title_line_height=”1.2em” meta_text_color=”#04a3e3″ meta_font_size=”18px”][\/et_pb_post_title][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.5.1″ custom_padding=”||12px|||”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.5.1″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text 1″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ text_font_size=”18px” text_line_height=”1.8em”]<\/p>\n
Anna Sofia Vera holds two passports \u2014 Chilean and American \u2014 which made migrating to the United States for college easier on paper. Yet her sense of national belonging is more nuanced.<\/span><\/p>\nVera was born in Santiago, Chile, to a Chilean father and an American mother. She lived all of her life in South America before coming to the United States in recent years.<\/span><\/p>\nVera\u2019s parents were divorced early on in her life and she said that their nationalities created even more divisiveness in her and her sisters’ lives growing up. She remembers experiencing \u201csome of America\u201d through subtle cultural differences like celebrating Thanksgiving, which she did not see her Chilean peers and their families do. Growing up, she became her own compass for navigating questions of identity through the arts.<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.5.1″][et_pb_audio audio=”https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2021\/08\/NGR-CPR2021_Anya_FINAL-MASTER.mp3″ title=”Two passports, two languages and endless questions” artist_name=”ANYA QUESNEL” album_name=”Next Generation Radio | Colorado Public Radio Newsroom | August 2021″ admin_label=”Story Audio” _builder_version=”4.9.10″ background_color=”rgba(12,113,195,0.89)”][\/et_pb_audio][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”3px|||||”][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2021\/08\/210816-NEXTGEN-05.jpg” alt=”\u00d2The American dream is not my Indigenous dream. It’s so different than that,\u00d3 Jolie Varela said. \u00d2As an Indigenous woman, I would like to see our ceremonies restored, our traditions restored, our homelands restored, and our land back. When people come from other places and they come in the name of this American dream or in pursuit of this American dream, I don’t think they realize how that American dream erases Indigenous people, and further infringes upon our rights as Native people.\u00d3 (Photo by Jarrette Werk)” title_text=”Anna Sofia Vera 1″ align_tablet=”center” align_phone=”” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” admin_label=”Image 1″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 1″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″]<\/p>\n
Anna Sofia Vera spends time with her cousins at Sunset Park in Littleton, Colo. She finds outdoor spaces to be peaceful yet energizing. (Photo: Kevin Beaty)<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text 2″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ text_font_size=”18px” text_line_height=”1.8em”]<\/p>\n
\u201cI love music and theater. Those are my big venues of self-expression,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\nIn Vera\u2019s experience, being American is a label other people put on her, especially when she is outside the borders of the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhen I go back home, some friends call me the <\/span>gringa,<\/span><\/i> which is what we call Americans in our country and when I come to the U.S., people see me as a foreigner,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\nWhen she moved to the U.S., she felt like her nationality was the first and sometimes only aspect of her that people saw, but she knows there is so much more than that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_testimonial _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”]<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that our identities are formed by our experiences and relationships and new learnings.”<\/span><\/h3>\n[\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text 3″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ text_font_size=”18px” text_line_height=”1.8em”]<\/p>\n
Life at an American college\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
What Vera named \u201cthe privilege of having a U.S. passport\u201d came fully to light when she moved to Colorado for college. She\u2019s now entering her senior year.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI can legally work off campus and move around the country and not have to explain to the government or to the school what I am doing or why I am doing it,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\nIn the U.S., Vera said she feels most at home\u00a0 surrounded by other international students. She acknowledges a shared sense of being outsiders that makes bonding easy. For example, her international student peers must get creative in their care for one another in order to build support systems that do not necessarily exist for them in this country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2021\/08\/ANYA-AUDIOGRAM_mixdown.mp4″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2021\/08\/210816-NEXTGEN-14.jpg” title_text=”Anna Sofia Vera walking” _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 3″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″]<\/p>\n
Vera says that finding time for herself and to connect with Chile through music and language has been very important during her time in the U.S. (Photo: anya quesnel)<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text 4″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ text_font_size=”18px” text_line_height=”1.8em”]<\/p>\n
As an environmental science major, Vera is passionate about environmental justice in both Chile and the U.S. She noted her home country is considered a \u201cdeveloping country,\u201d and that development often equates to exploiting the land and people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI had met activists back home, and I had met activists here who were able to make environmental justice an accessible issue,\u201d she said. They can \u201cmove it away [from] the individual actions, and instead look at it as a systemic issue and how to address it through coalitions and activism and collaboration.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text 4″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ text_font_size=”18px” text_line_height=”1.8em”]<\/p>\n
Holding onto home in a pandemic\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
The nuances surrounding Vera\u2019s national identities became more pronounced during the pandemic, when the school residences were closed and she had to stay with her grandparents in Colorado. Adapting to life in quarantine was challenging, as she felt culturally different from her family. She would have to intentionally carve out time for herself to connect with Chile however she could.<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text 5″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ text_font_size=”18px” text_line_height=”1.8em”]<\/p>\n
While she wanted to return home to Chile, her father warned that the economic downturn as a result of Covid-19 meant that she was better off remaining in the U.S. However, as Chile turns toward new political beginnings with a new constitution, Vera said she would rather be at home taking part in the demonstrations and being a part of the social justice movements there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIf someone asks me where I am from, I\u2019m from Chile. I\u2019m Chilean. I then mention, maybe, that my mom is from the U.S. but that\u2019s not my immediate response,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nGiven the choice, however, Vera would not give up her American citizenship. She acknowledges the privileges her status affords her, but she said loss of citizenship would not simplify how she understands her identity.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI think that those identity conflicts or identity paradoxes will still remain,\u201d she said, \u201ceven if the papers [are] not there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/47\/2021\/08\/210816-NEXTGEN-50.jpg” title_text=”210816-NEXTGEN-50″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 3″ _builder_version=”4.9.10″]<\/p>\n
Vera thinks about terms like \u201cfamily,\u201d \u201cbelonging\u201d and \u201chome\u201d expansively. These change shape depending on the spaces she is in. (Photo: anya quesnel)<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What does it mean to be an American? We are finding, coaching and training public media\u2019s next generation. This #nprnextgenradio project is created in Colorado, where five talented reporters are participating in a week-long state-of-the-art training program. In this project we are speaking to people representing a diversity of experiences and backgrounds in gender identity, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":448,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"coauthors":[15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/174"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/448"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/174\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cpr2021.nextgenradio.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}