Immigration debated

Thank you for “Border Crossed,” Charles Vernon’s article on Annunciation House in Summer 2008. I thought Mr. Vernon did a very good job of explaining some difficult realities of the immigrant experience, especially those encountered at the border.

My one criticism: When referring to immigrants who come to the United States without documentation, it is preferable to use the word “undocumented,” as the author often did in the text. However, in the title’s subhead, the word “illegal” appears. No human being is legal or illegal. For that reason there is a big push to discontinue use of that term.

Having said that, I appreciate BCM’s attention to the topic and hope this type of story continues to be featured.

Vanessa Salas-Wright ’02
Key Biscayne, Florida

Editor’s Note: The editors, not Mr. Vernon, are responsible for the subhead.

There was much to learn from Charles Vernon’s “Border Crossed“:

• Helping people settle in our country illegally is a useful career that is available to Boston College graduates.
• Creative writing is fun (witness the euphemism “undocumented migrants” for the more accurate “illegal aliens”).
• The government is often ineffective (border agents are afraid to do their jobs in El Paso, what with the risk of bad press).
• The government also is sometimes effective (Operation Hold the Line has, according to the author, made crossing the border illegally more difficult. Good.)

We are informed at the end of Mr. Vernon’s account that he is entering law school. Is he aware that if and when he is sworn into the bar, he will be swearing to uphold the law?

Linda Smith Janoff ’76
Annandale, Virginia

I know immigrants both con papeles and sin papeles. For many, the choice to come here is not an easy one. People who cross the border illegally risk their lives. How does the United States as a nation benefit by suppressing the human potential here? Do we continue to say that opportunities are not available to certain populations within our borders?

Let’s face it: There are deadbeat native-born U.S. citizens who spend their entire lives on welfare. Juxtapose those against illegal immigrants who will work night and day, whatever the weather, arriving early and staying late because people in their home country are depending on a portion of their typically meager paycheck. Many illegal immigrants pay taxes and support Social Security, for which they will never receive benefits. We are taking advantage of them.

In New York Harbor, Lady Liberty says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” If we don’t mean it, let’s take down the statue or just hang a sign around its neck to indicate, “That was then, this is now.”

Georgina Arianne Laidlaw Berger ’80
Princeton, New Jersey

Charles Vernon seems to relish the fact that he and his co-workers are aiding and abetting illegal immigrants as they violate the sovereignty of the United States. He makes no mention of the fate of his “guests” who are exploited by disreputable employers, paid subsistence wages, and threatened with exposure if they step out of line.

John J. Lane ’61
Gold Canyon, Arizona

Connected

“Exsilium” by Ben Birnbaum and “The Camp: A Report from Limbo” by Abebe Feyissa with Rebecca Horn, which described life in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in BCM’s Spring 2008 issue, touched me deeply. Little did I dream when graduating from Boston College that 40 years later I would be working as assistant chaplain with the Jesuit Refugee Service in a Department of Homeland Security detention center in El Paso, Texas. For the past several years my religious order, the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, has given priority to assisting displaced persons throughout the world, and I have the privilege of accompanying those who are detained here in our own country. We have an average of 900 persons in detention, from every ethnic group and many, many nations, waiting for either asylum or eventual deportation.

Charles Vernon’s recent article on Annunciation House gave an excellent description of those persons struggling to escape the inhuman conditions of grinding poverty and/or chaotic political situations.

We who have the opportunity to walk with our suffering sisters and brothers find ourselves on holy ground.

Beatrice Costagliola, FMM, ’67
El Paso, Texas

The pilgrim’s tale

Re Andrew Krivak’s “The Pilgrim,” in the Summer 2008 issue: Is Mr. Krivak lamenting, rejoicing, or defending his no longer being an SJ? It is difficult to determine in his variegated piece.

Vito Tamboli ’56
St. Louis, Missouri

I live just up the hill from Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus, where Andrew Krivak lived as a Jesuit. The campus, as the university aptly notes on its website, is “adjacent to Little Italy, the Bronx Zoo, and the New York Botanical Garden,” in the northeast part of the Bronx.

The “loud, gritty, diverse, and dangerous” South Bronx described by Mr. Krivak lies five miles away, not just outside the campus gates.

Gene Roman ’82
New York, New York

For the ages

Ben Birnbaum’s prologue “Old Fashioned” and Steven A. Sass’s feature article “Overtime” (Summer 2008) called attention to the aging of the U.S. population, the question of when to take retirement, and the debate over the vigor and inventiveness of youth versus the experience and senescence of advanced age. Left unsaid was the issue foremost on many minds at the time: whether to vote for the 47-year-old Barack Obama or the 71-year-old John McCain.

Yale Richmond ’43
Washington, D.C.

English lesson

Re “Prospects: So, You Want to Be an English Major,” by Suzanne Matson (Summer 2008): My husband and I graduated from Boston College in 1993—both as English majors. Over the years we have tortured ourselves for choosing such an impractical and self-indulgent course that set us back in the rat race. (Why weren’t we computer science majors?)

The regret has plagued me, even as I built upon my major by becoming a copywriter. I am now getting my certification to teach high school English. My husband, who is in the business world, has often felt embarrassed about being an English major.

But after reading Professor Matson’s article, we’ve been freed from our regretful feelings. She elegantly described our thirst for knowledge and ability to think beyond the obvious. She has inspired us to a pride that we have never had.

I am going to cherish this article, and someday, when I am an English teacher, I am going to make sure that every student I have reads it.

Diane Van Dyke ’93
Leesburg, Virginia

Lady maulers

I heartily congratulate the women’s sailing team on their national championship (”The Best Armada in America,” by Tim Czerwienski, Summer 2008). It is a wonderful achievement. However, I would like to point out that while this may mark the first NCAA national championship for Boston College women’s sports, it is not, as reported, “the first for the University in any women’s sport.”

In 1992, the Boston College women’s rugby team won the national championship by defeating the University of Connecticut in Colorado Springs. The team’s trophy is on display in Conte Forum.

The BC women, led by their dedicated and skilled volunteer coach, Ken Daly, advanced through the New England regionals and the East Coast championships to prevail. It was an amazing experience.

I look forward to reading about many more Boston College women’s championship teams in BCM.

Heather (Smith) Burke ’92
Evanston, Illinois

Testament

I enjoyed “Big Man on Campus,” the article on Tim Russert by Ben Birnbaum in Summer 2008. It revealed the warm and loving character of a special journalist.

Florence Nolin, M.Ed.’69
Montreal, Canada

Flatley remembered

I would like to add a footnote to Ben Birnbaum’s fine tribute to the late Tom Flatley (”Old School,” Summer 2008).

My late brother-in-law John P. Connelly ’51 was a pediatrician with an office in Milton, Massachusetts, many years back, and the Flatley children were among his patients. A strong friendship and mutual admiration developed between the two Irishmen. In November 2004, the Pediatric Wing in the Yawkey Pavillion of the Massachusetts General Hospital was dedicated in memory of Jack, a gift from Tom and Charlotte Flatley.

Pierre Godefroy ’56
Del Mar, California

Corrections: The founding director of Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizenship in 1985 was the late Edmund Burke, not Bradley Googins as reported in “Business Centered” (Summer 2008). Mr. Googins succeeded Mr. Burke in January 1997. Also, the full title of the Burns Library’s Cuala Press exhibition was omitted in “This Beautiful Craft” (Summer 2008). It is “Sixty Years of the Cuala Press: A Collaboration of the Yeats Family and Mollie Gill.” The exhibition features books, cards, broadsides, and other materials from Boston College’s collection and from the archives of Gill, who served as the Cuala Press’s principal compositor. The show runs through March 2009.

BCM welcomes letters from readers. Letters may be edited for length and clarity, and must be signed to be published. Our fax number is (617) 552–2441; our e-mail address is bcm@bc.edu.