Jenna Carson and Patrick Madden, English Department

Introduction

I wrote creative non-fiction essays about my experiences with Mexican migrant workers living in Florida. Originally, I planned to focus primarily on their stories of survival in order to increase awareness among U.S. citizens; I wanted readers to understand many of the complications of illegal immigration, and therefore, better understand the Mexican “Other.” Surprisingly, I focused more on my own experiences with migrant workers and how my life has been changed by them (rather than simply record their life stories). I realized that my own experiences and meditations could foster compassion, understanding, and tolerance.

Methodology

I returned to Florida and connected with migrant workers I met in rural parts of the state during my LDS missionary service; I recorded their stories; I wrote about various experiences and weaved them together. The more my own understanding progressed, the more I meditated on themes such as identity and religiosity. I realized my interest in immigration connects to my interest in religion; thus my essays became, perhaps above all, essays about God’s grace and guiding hand in both my own life and in the lives of the people I’ve met—especially those who don’t enjoy “majority” status or wealth.

Results

My honors thesis, which I will defend this April, will include these essays. One of my essays entitled “Children”—an essay that ties together my personal experiences growing up as a religious minority in the Bible Belt, observations of religiosity in Israel, and teaching Mexican migrant workers in Florida during my mission—was published in the Winter 2014 edition of Inscape.

My ORCA project inspired me to apply for (and receive) a grant from the BYU Honors Department to travel to Mexico this summer and witness first-hand some of the issues that prompt Latin American immigration to the United States. I was able to write about migrants both in the States and in Mexico.

Most significantly, while working on this project, I met the man who would soon be my husband— who just so happens to be from Mexico, the very country whose people I had been writing about. Due to these unusual (and miraculous) events that connected my research and my personal life even more deeply, I developed a variety of essays that function both as pieces of memoir and as meditations on questions about identity and acceptance. I’m especially interested in the way majority cultures treat other cultures living among them.

Discussion

My creative non-fiction writing project also led to my scholarly endeavor to examine the phenomenon of immigration from a theological viewpoint. Because my essays naturally merge immigration and religiosity, months ago I began to consider pursuing graduate work in both the field of religion and of immigration studies. I discovered that Harvard Divinity School (HDS) pioneered a unique Master of Theological Studies program that will enable me to study both Latin American immigration and theology. Because of my ORCA project and research interests, HDS accepted me to their “Diversity and Explorations” program for undergraduates, which I attended in November. The admissions staff expressed interest in me and asked me to apply to their graduate program; I’m currently working on my application for the Master of Theological Studies with an emphasis on “Religions of the Americas.” If admitted, I will begin the program Fall 2015 and take courses from leading theologians who specialize in Mexico/U.S. border studies.

Conclusion

My essay “Children” ends with the realization that we’re all God’s children, and I believe that this understanding connects all of my essays. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the message that we are all God’s children seems almost cliché. But to many people in the world, this understanding goes unknown. And even for those of us who “know,” it’s easy to forget. My essays explore this simple yet profound truth, not in order to push my own religious agenda, but rather, to help readers feel what I’ve felt. My essays encourage readers to see beyond color, legal status, and religion—to look beyond and to discover, to feel, godliness in each of us.