Drift: Immigration & Identity in America: Recent Episodes
Melissa Chimera
In this interview series, Hawai`i-based artist and conservationist Melissa Chimera interviews immigrants, the descendants of immigrants and Native people to unpack how their homelands both new and old are shaped by their ties to land and transitional experiences. Music ”Raindrops” courtesy Lobo Loco.
Neil Pendon, the self-described former military-teacher-pharmacist talks about the importance of family and education, as well as the long and winding path across many countries while navigating his "hybrid Chamorro, Filipino and military" identity.
Kodiak Island, the U.S.'s second largest island is host to a large immigrant population of Filipinos/as including women and girls who immigrated since the 1980s from various islands in the Philippines. Nita Nicholas, Mary Jane Viray, Lisa Pascua, and Deneila Lyzah Betran speak to the challenges of learning more than one language (not just English!), adapting to many physical, cultural and school environments, all while caring for family members and their community.
Kodiak's Filipino-American Association Vice President Bernadette Villaroya is a 51 year old accountant immigrated from the Visayan islands in the Philippines 20 years ago. Her life is one of struggle, resilience and overcoming many challenges not the least of which is the cold and distance from her family back home.
Linguist Kirk Gallardo helps us understand the plurality of new worlds he has immigrated to as well as those he’s left behind–and how he specifically navigates among Alaska Natives and his Filipino ancestry through his work with the Anchorage Museum.
Illustrator and artist Rejoy Armamento speaks to what it's like breaking new ground as the first professional artist in her family, working to bridge gender and generational differences.
As a half-White, half-Filipino American filmmaker in Alaska, Joshua Albeza Branstetter speaks to his journey coming to understand both sides of himself through his work in creative film-documentary projects.
Dr. EJR David speaks to his own immigration and identity struggles and his research into the psychological health of marginalized people (30 MINS).
In this 30 minute interview, Dr. Gabriel Garcia of the University of Alaska at Anchorage reveals his own story of coming to Alaska from the Philippines, graduating college as the first in his immediate family, while turning his attention to immigrant health in risky Alaskan work environments.