Valli

A Treasure House of Cultural Pride

Every day was a playdate for Valli as a little girl. Growing up in a large Tamil enclave in New Delhi, India’s capital, Valli and her cousins would spend each […]

Karen Weliky

Opportunity in Every Hurdle

Ng Lai Goon, eager to fit in with her American grade school peers, chose her American name, Sally, from an elementary school reading primer,  

Sankar Raman

Standing Against Injustice

As a young boy growing up in the unrecognized African state of Rhodesia, Tapiwa Kapurura was faced with injustice. He was born in the town of Mount Darwin

Sankar Raman

A Focus on the Possible

For Emiliano Ruelas Sosa, the doors to the American dream began to close when he was 15. Due to his legal status he was not allowed to get his driver’s […]

Karen Weliky

Life Through Her Eyes

For 98-year-old Bertha Lee Saiget, Portland’s Chinatown is more than a mark on a map or a tourist destination. Its history is her life, and she has borne witness to […]

Sankar Raman

A Return to Her Roots

For as long as she could remember, Shirley Yee was enchanted with Cantonese opera. The emotion of its music, the grace of its performers, and the complexity of their  

Sankar Raman

Creating Peace Amid Conflict

Djimet Dogo will never forget seeing the boy, no more than 8 years old, who had been whipped by a soldier until he was bleeding from the chest.

Makka Djibrine

Competition From Within

Education is a prized commodity for Makka Djibrine Khatir. But it hasn’t always been this way. Indeed, for most of her early life, education was the same as suffering.

Sankar Raman

A Rebellion Against Silence

Sindy Avila-Gutierrez looks back undaunted on her life as an undocumented immigrant.  “I’ve always been a rebel in that way,” she says. “You tell me

Zhou Fang

Struggling to Stay in the U.S. of A.

Sometimes persistence pays off–especially when wending one’s way through the morass of the U.S. immigration system.  Zhou Fang learned this lesson first-hand

Karen Weliky

East-West Encounters

The first time Susan Chan saw snow was also the first time she spent a winter in the United States, away from her childhood home in Hong Kong.  

Sankar Raman

Choosing the Road Less Traveled

From the start, Barbie Wu was determined to forge her own path.  Born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1986, she comes from a family of scientists.  

Sankar Raman

Art and Life: Trusting the Process

Mauricio Villarreal, co-founder of the design firm PLACE, takes a pragmatic approach to daily existence. “Life just happens,” he reasons

Sankar Raman

A Lifetime of Listening

One of Margaret Stewart Clark’s earliest memories is of sitting, at age two or three,  with her sister, who was blind, as the older girl taught Clark how to

Sankar Raman

Finding Identity in Resilience

Looking back on the many changes in her life, Sara Houranpay likes to quote her father’s advice: “When life throws you down, you get up,