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"Define American" Lecture by Jose Antonio Vargas

30 Mar 2015

Warren Wilson College’s 2014-15 Spotlight Series continues March 30 with a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker who has a remarkable personal story of his own: undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas. His free public lecture, “Define American: My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant,” begins at 7 p.m. in Kittredge Theater, at the north entrance to campus.

Several days prior, on March 25 at 7 p.m. in Canon Lounge, there will be a free screening of the film “Documented,” which Vargas wrote, produced and directed. The documentary tracks his immigration journey and explores the plight of other undocumented immigrants amid the hotly contested political issue of “legal status.

Born in the Philippines, Vargas revealed himself as an undocumented immigrant in 2011 in a stunning and widely praised essay in The New York Times Magazine titled, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” See http://nyti.ms/UbE1r4 . He had discovered, when applying for his learner’s driving permit at age 16, that his green card was a fake, a fact his grandfather later confirmed. Vargas decided to hide his true identity in order to avoid deportation, until he felt compelled to write the Times article.

Vargas subsequently testified at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration reform and has publicly and effectively challenged news media coverage of undocumented immigrants. In 2012, he appeared on the cover of Time Magazine with fellow undocumented immigrants, as part of the cover story he wrote for the magazine. He also is the founder of Define American, a media and culture campaign that focuses on elevating the conversation around U.S. immigration and citizenship.

The Vargas lecture is part of Warren Wilson’s Spotlight Series of nationally and internationally known speakers. The series theme for this academic year is “Social and Intellectual Movements.”

For more information about the Jose Antonio Vargas lecture, contact WWC Dean of Service Cathy Kramer at ckramer@warren-wilson.edu or 828-771-3774.