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I’m Advocating for the Future of all our DREAMers

Now that he is back at Gonzaga, Brahiam is still in disbelief over everything that he has been able to experience, and he believes that this will be the case for the rest of his life. Yet Brahiam hopes to use his privilege to help others and cannot wait to see what the future has in store for him. At the end of our meeting Villanueva left me with these words, “I’m not only advocating for myself and my community. I’m advocating for the future of all our DREAMers. For the future of those who will take my place at Gonzaga.”
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A Loud Silence: Finding Community at the Vigil for Children Fleeing Violence

On this chilly November evening, Abel Nuñoz, executive director of CARECEN Central American Resource Center, addresses the forty or so people gathered in a circle by the fence of the White House’s backyard. “We have been coming here since July,” he calls into a megaphone. “We came here in t-shirts, with the sun still in the sky. Now it is darker earlier, and colder, but we are here again. And we demand the same things.” A round of applause passes through the small crowd – a diverse group of individuals brought together over the past few months to form a community around the idea of solidarity.
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The Road to Appalachia: Beginning With the End in Mind

In that 45-minute breakout session, I was reminded to look at a story from both sides. As I prepare to go with a group of my friends and peers in the spring, I am ready to receive whatever Appalachia will give me.