Neither Here nor There Esmeralda Popo

Antonio Morales-Pita is an inborn writer, one who despite his struggles always kept looking forward. His grit, tenacity, and desire to always learn gave him opportunities who were impossible to get for anyone in his native country, Cuba. Living in a Communism country only made him for tenacious and more courageous. His burning desire for learning made him a scholar and a traveler. One of the few Cubans to have lived and studied in USSR, Scotland, Mexico, and have visited countless other countries, Antonio passionately shared with me what it was like living in a Communist country, how was he able to bridge two very different ideologies: Communist and Capitalism when he moved to the US, and why he never stops teaching in one form or another: via being a university professor and having taught to over 10,000 students or via his books.
Some of his books include “Gladys, My Unforgettable Love”, “Havana-Merida-Chicago” and lots of other economics books including Economy and Programming of the Sugar Cane Harvest, “Introduction to Cybernetic Economics”.

An immigrant from Bulgaria, Elena has accomplished a lot in the US. She has been in charge of all COVID-19 communication and guideline setting for the city of Chicago ensuring the right measures were set in place since 2020. She shares what that experience was like and what being an immigrant means to her. 

From the Caribbean island of Dominican Republic to Chicago after spending some time in Michigan and Florida, Carla shares her experience in the US, noting similarities and differences not only between Dominican Republic and the US but also how the states she lived in were different for her. 

Christian moved from a very small country in the Balkan Peninsula, Macedonia with a population of less than 2 million people across the ocean to New York City first and then Chicago. Although very small, Macedonia offered the cultural and linguistic diversity that helped Christian in his new journey in America. He is now a successful entrepreneur, founder and CEO of his own company OXUM Corporation and shares with me the opportunities that America offered him among other things. 

Naoko grew up in Japan to Korean parents but it was a little later in her teens that she learnt about her Korean origin; there were little things which made a lot of sense much later...kind of a aha moment. She had her eyes out West, in the world of Michael Jackson and out West she came early as a teenager and then later as a young adult. Naoko shares what it was like growing up in Japan and her move to New York first and Chicago when she returned. Deciding to move to Sri Lanka for a few years was another experience like no other that has left quite the impression on her. She shares with me these experiences and the apparent differences in life between Japan, the US, and Sri Lanka. 

Faezeh shares what it is like to be an Iranian immigrant in America considering the geopolitical tensions between the two countries; her first day from the moment she landed at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago filled with countless inconveniences and where she is now.