Tag Archives: Jose Antonio Vargas

When I was a kid, I resented my grandparents not speaking the perfect English I wanted to speak. Jose Antonio Vargas

We cannot change the politics issue until we change the culture around it; until we talk about what parents do for their kids as an act of love. That's a cultural conversation. Jose Antonio Vargas

Kathy Dewar, my high-school English teacher, introduced me to journalism. From the moment I wrote my first article for the student paper, I convinced myself that having my name in print – writing in English, interviewing Americans – validated my presence here. Jose Antonio Vargas

The film 'Documented,' a project of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Define American campaign, is about my families: the family I was blessed to be born into, and the family of friends, mentors and allies that I found when I moved to the United States at 12, a Filipino kid trying to make sense of my […]

I think everyone deserves dignity. Jose Antonio Vargas

To me, politics is culture. I became a journalist, and later a filmmaker, to get to know my new country and my volatile place in it as a gay, undocumented Filipino-American. Jose Antonio Vargas

Everyone has an opinion when it comes to immigration – strong, intense opinions. Jose Antonio Vargas

I think the hardest stories we tell are always the ones about ourselves. And as a journalist, I was taught that I'm never supposed to put myself in the story. So I spent what, 11, 12 years of my life writing about other people so I don't have to face my own life. Jose Antonio […]

People don't really assume that I'm Filipino. Of course, they're gonna think, 'Oh, are you some sort of Hispanic?' and you say, 'No, I'm actually not.' I get Korean or Chinese a lot. Jose Antonio Vargas

As a newcomer to America who learned to 'speak American' by watching movies, I firmly believe that to change the politics of immigration and citizenship, we must change culture – the way we portray undocumented people like me and our role in society. Jose Antonio Vargas