When the on community assignment was first announced, I didn’t know what to write about. Once my classmates started speaking about what defines community for them, I realized I had felt that before with certain people. The problem was that I had never considered myself as really fully part of a community. As I wrote about my experience with the community and how I felt I didn’t reach certain requirements, I realized some things I hadn’t thought of before. Like how I had felt like I would be questioned on how American I was, but I never questioned how American my friend was. It took less than a week to write the essay; I had it mostly done for the in-class peer review. That night I took their advice and finished the final draft. When I first started writing, I wanted to get my ideas down on paper, so I ended up doing my body paragraphs first and then my introduction and conclusion.

My favorite part about my essay was how I talked about how the label “illegal alien” brought me back to my elementary school classroom. I felt that it was important to mention how even though along the way I lost some of my roots trying to assimilate to American culture, I still get reminded I don’t reach all the “legal requirements.” These legal blockades exist that prevent me and others like me from feeling like we’re a part of the American community, but we are still here. It is important to remember the “Legal Americans” that are protesting and fighting for our rights because they are showing us how they see us as part of the community even if the government does not.

From the peer review I learned how important a personal anecdote was in an essay like this. One of my group members had a personal anecdote, while the other one didn’t. I felt like I could better understand my peer’s position in their community more with the anecdote. After I received feedback on my work, I decided to revise my introduction. I cut out the extra information and added it where it made more sense along the body paragraphs. If I had more time on this essay, I would’ve loved to include more information about the effects that ICE is having on our communities right now. As somebody who has a family with many immigrants, it’s hard to hear about how worried they are, especially the ones who live in red states. I’ve heard of plans to hide and even just giving up and going back on their own. I would’ve liked to spend some time with my communities to gather my thoughts better on what the community really means for me. I hope that in my writing I get better at talking about my own experiences. This essay opened my eyes to things I hadn’t noticed before, and I want to keep learning more about myself so I can further grow.

I choose to add this video because I saw it a couple days after writing the essay and it made me cry happy tears. As I had written about how I felt alienated in my classroom it’s good to see younger generations of latinos feeling included.