{"id":882,"date":"2011-02-12T19:55:10","date_gmt":"2011-02-13T02:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hypotyposis.net\/blog\/?p=882"},"modified":"2011-02-12T19:55:10","modified_gmt":"2011-02-13T02:55:10","slug":"becoming-an-american-its-complicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hypotyposis.net\/blog\/2011\/02\/12\/becoming-an-american-its-complicated\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming an American…it’s complicated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Big personal news: I became a citizen of the United States yesterday morning. Laura and I celebrated with a big American cafe breakfast at the sunny Square Cafe<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0The citizenship ceremony was quite moving. New citizens from India, Burma, and UAE provided powerful personal testimony of coming to US. \u00c2\u00a0My own feelings \u00c2\u00a0were complicated; I decided to pass on the opportunity to speak to my fellow new citizens and their friends. \u00c2\u00a0Becoming an American is a bigger deal emotionally than I had anticipated. I was ecstatic but wiped out yesterday by the experience.<\/p>\n

Ironically, it was distrust in American bureaucracy that motivated naturalization. I wasn't in a big hurry to move from permanent residence status to citizenship. That is, until a nasty encounter with an immigration officer at the border showed me that USCIS has way too much power for me to ever feel securely part of this society while I remained an alien<\/a>. Now as long I don't commit treason<\/a> or take a super high level position in a foreign country (all quite manageable tasks), I won't have my American citizenship taken away.<\/p>\n

On a more upbeat note, I was reminded yesterday morning that it's all easy to take the right to vote for granted. \u00c2\u00a0 I will register to vote soon and look forward to voting in American elections.\u00c2\u00a0As a newly minted American, I've also become more responsible for what the US does in the world in my name; I can't pass the buck like I used to.<\/p>\n

Something I need to do soon: \u00c2\u00a0apply for my US passport. \u00c2\u00a0I find it odd that I will have to part with my hard earned naturalization certificate one federal agency (USCIS) just gave me to prove to another agency (Dept of State) to send me a US passport. \u00c2\u00a0USCIS has already scrutinized me thoroughly to grant me citizenship. The Dept of State could get data directly from USCIS instead of me. \u00c2\u00a0 On further reflection, I probably should be glad that the government doesn't have me all figured out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"