06/19/2026
I had the surprising realization a day or two ago that this is the 50th(!) anniversary of my immigration to the United States. I arrived here as a 12 year-old just in time for the Bicentennial. Many things impressed me about my new homeland compared to England. My junior high school had a really high standard of education, despite everyone thinking it wouldn’t hold up to an English education. It was also really diverse (at the time the most integrated junior high in the country). That was different. I also loved the feeling that anything was possible in the States; in England people were mired in the class structure and their educational paths. I was a little English, intellectual city girl and I got to turn into an organic farmer here! I also loved the wildness of this huge continent.
All these things I loved about my new country have been disappearing slowly and now at a terrifying rate. Because I wasn’t born here, I feel their loss acutely and want to be part of the solution. The change between 1776 and 1976 felt like it was a progression towards a better country, environmentally, socially and culturally. Right now, it feels like we are regressing. Let’s work together to stop and reverse that.
