He's an American superhero, but he's also the ultimate immigrant, isn't he? And it's interesting to go back to that story now, because things are different.

I identify with Superman. I am adopted, I am an only child, and I love the idea that he comes from another world, that he's the ultimate immigrant. He has all these extraordinary powers, and he has a righteousness about him.

Another threat to Immigrant success in the United States, is the All-American Deadbeat, armed with a generous dose of privilege and entitlement, but with very little initiative or drive, waiting for the next handout......

American literature has always been immigrant.

All American fiction could be classified as immigrant fiction.

I knew they were my people, but it didn't feel like it. I was pushing against any first-generation narrative, while all the people in that area were seemingly proud of it. Aunties wore salwars to go grocery shopping, and little kids had those silver or gold bangles we were all given at birth...We were different from them, and I was determined to keep us different. Every piece of gold jewelry ever given to me was hidden in my dresser; I refused to wear any of it, because it made me feel I was being marked as an Other. (I now wear all of it, sometimes at the same time, a signal to other Others that I'm an Other too.)