An Unfamiliar Place

"Most people at some time in their lives have felt discomfort as a result of not belonging to a place or fitting in with a particular crowd. You would be a rare person, indeed, if you had never experienced being an outsider, if you had never been misunderstood or rejected because of who you were, how you looked, or what you said. I think that immigrants experience a similar feeling of dislocation and uncertainty as a result of not belonging to the mainstream of American society. They look, sound, or act different from the dominant culture, and they have to survive in an unfamiliar place among unfamiliar people. For this reason, I think the immigrant experience is one that everyone can relate to."

- Frances Hwang
  The New Yorker