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Changeseeker began writing for alternative newspapers and working actively for social change in the prison abolition movement in 1971. Over the years, she has become increasingly committed to the struggle of people of color in a country where the default position is White Supremacy, but she sees all oppression as connected and therefore acts daily to come against the barriers that keep humans in bondage to systems that threaten our survival as a human race. She first became more fully aware of the plight of immigrants to the U.S. when she made a personal commitment to a group of El Salvadoran refugees in 1989 and, through them, to the struggle for democracy in their country. As a natural evolution of her desire to know more and be more useful, Changeseeker eventually went to college and graduate school. She now teaches sociology at a public university in Louisiana where she is active in addressing the long-standing inequalities present in the culture there. Her manifesto can be found here. 
My life as a migrant advocate began in the fall of 2006, when Hurricane Stan hit my home of 18 years, Guatemala. I took time off of Harvard to help with the relief efforts and my life has never been the same. While I was down in Guatemala I decided it would be a good idea to retrace the route of a migrant and bring myself closer to understanding what it means to be an average Guatemalan. After my trip from Guatemala into the United States I was reborn as a journalist and a migrant advocate. I am the Massachusetts citizen journalist for the Knight Foundation/MTV Choose Or Lose Street Team '08. In addition to blogging my writing has appeared in publications like the Harvard Crimson and the Bay State Banner. My photos have appeared in the magazine Dollars & Sense. I have been written about, quoted, and pictured in the Boston Herald, I have been quoted in the Boston Phoenix, and I have been pictured in the Boston Globe. 
My blogging began as a way to document the lives of the undocumented, in the belief that if others could know them the way I was getting to know them, they would be valued as contributing members of our society, as people to be welcomed and loved rather than feared and vilified. It is my intent to present their lives, the good as well as the bad moments, to show the universality in their pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. My profession is Archaeology, but my passion is advocacy for a small group of Guatemalan migrants in my community. It is that passion, along with doing my best to raise my daughter to share my values, that gives my life meaning. As a part of Citizen Orange, I seek to promote the compassionate understanding of migrants, especially through the use of music, art, and film, through which we may reach the hearts of those who most need to learn compassion for the migrants among us. 
I am a writer and photographer from Florida who now works as a Communications/Media consultant for a non-profit organization doing immigrant and labor rights advocacy in Washington DC. I have an MA in International Relations from the University of Florida and a BA in English from the University of South Florida. I have lived and worked in various countries and NGOs throughout Latin America and am especially interested in issues of race, gender, globalization and human rights. I regularly blog at Lucky White Girl. 
I am an immigration attorney in New York City. In law school, I studied international law, trade, and human rights. I spent time in school studying and working in Latin America. The way citizens treat migrants provides insight into the way we view our position in our communities, both local and global. If once, all politics was local, now all politics is global. Goods, capital, and ideas travel freely and speedily around the world—then why not the people who make those products, earn that capital, and create those ideas? By recognizing that each of us may one day be a migrant, we can recognize that our common humanity transcends arbitrary accidents of geography. This realization can lead us toward policies that benefit migrants and citizens alike in the best tradition of this migrant nation. 
My first act for human rights was a defiant statement delivered at age 4. I said God loves everybody, with or without Jesus. Now I am 62 and I still believe it. My passion for justice is rooted deeply, first in Nature and then in gratitude. My values come from Liberation and Process theology, activism in the 1960s-to present radical Queer, feminist and civil rights movements; and the US Constitution and Bill of Rights and all their precedents. The longer I live, the more clearly I see the limitations of my privileged white vantage point, and the more clearly I understand my debt for the price that the poor and people of color, worldwide, pay for my comfort and safety. Therefore I come to the pro-migra movement, and I am on the front lines in Phoenix, AZ. I hope that my words about what I see and learn will help others who are not here on the border understand and act to stop what we are doing to “the least of these.” It is the same struggle everywhere, still, yet again, one more time. We all really are one with our Planet; one with all species that live with us here; and one with each other. For me, this means that what I allow to be done to them in my name both defines my own character and constructs the world around me. The work to be done now is more obvious than ever before. It is immense and time is short, and I take it personally. Every paw is needed, and every bark helps. ¡Viva la revolución! 
I started blogging for migrant rights (and common decency towards all human beings) in response to the hate speech, propaganda, and fear tactics being used by the anti-"illegal” immigrant groups at rallies in the New Jersey area to vilify Hispanics as “invaders” amongst other terrible and bogus claims. Currently I run the blog American Humanity while providing the Sanctuarysphere posts here at Citizen Orange. I am also an animal rights advocate and spend time working with animal rescue groups in New Jersey. My goal is to promote a world where all life is considered precious and everyone practices compassion and understanding toward each another. After all, I believe we all want the same thing - a wonderful and meaningful life. 
Just as a disclaimer, The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of any of the organizations the bloggers work with or the publications we write for. Each blogger retains complete editorial control over his or her posts at Citizen Orange and our writing here is only a reflection of each blogger's own personal views.
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