‘Countries are in our blood’
“Reimigrants” is the word Shirley Geok-Lin Lim uses to describe immigrants.
The term reimigrants describes people who come from another country and try to adapt their cultures while keeping some of their own traditions.
Lim is a professor of English at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She immigrated to America from Malaysia.
“O Pioneers!: Women, Immigration and a More Perfect Union” is the title of the lecture that Lim gave Monday, a part of the Women’s History and Awareness Month (WHAM).
Foreign immigrants are not the first to travel to other countries in hopes to better themselves and their families, said Lim.
These are the “most recent layer,” of immigrants. Many Caucasians immigrants have done this first, Lim said.
Even though immigrants might travel to new lands they do not forget their homeland.
“The history of the land belongs in the heart of a man or women,” Lim said.
Lim read some of her poems during the lecture, which filled most of the lecture. She has been writing poems since she was 10.
“What the Fortune Teller Didn’t Say” describes an immigrant’s fears.
The poem also acknowledges the confidence that her mother had in her.
“She said I’d make it: money, Mercedes and men,” Lim read.
It was this confidence that helped Lim continue on with her love of writing. She spread this around by telling her girlfriends, “Who’s going to believe in you if you don’t?” and “If not now, when?”
Lim read from a number of her other poems including, “Father in China,” “Walking around in a different language,” and “Bread and Cheese.”
“Lost Name Women,” describes the struggle that Chinese women face when coming to America. The poem talks about California Chinese women, Massachusetts China women, and Arizona Chinese women.
Lim spoke of her love for America in “Learning to Love America.”
America has no “pure products,” she said. “Countries are in our blood and we bleed them,” Lim said.
Sophomore Colleen Comiskey, an elementary education major, said she enjoyed Lim’s lecture.
“I thought it was very interesting and inspiring for women. I was very impressed by Lim.”
‘Countries are in our blood’
Shirley Geok-Lin Lim a UC-Santa Barbara professor and keynote speaker talks about immigrant and minority women in Buzzard Auditorium Monday night. This was in part of the Women’s History and Awareness Month on Eastern’s Illinois campus. (John BaileyThe D
