Introduction
When I first began working at Golden Gate Language Schools in Campbell, California, the president of the school told me that teaching English as a second language is like traveling around the world, except the world comes to you. I sat with small groups of adult students in a cozy 12x12 room for three years, imparting my native language as best I could. In conversational practice, they explained their cultures to me and I explained mine. One day I decided to photograph these students and ask their opinions of the United States. What emerged from these interactions over time formed an overarching persona of the U.S.: the great land of opportunity that lures and ensnares students, visitors, workers, and migrants from around the world. Like looking into a rippling pond and seeing a strange likeness, I heard the struggles of living in a foreign land, the failed expectations, the pleasant surprises, and the desire to assimilate or return home. A transcribed interview excerpt of personal experience accompanies each portrait. This project, entitled Dream Country, is about seeing the United States and its domineering culture from alternate perspectives. It is about having a dream, leaving home to pursue that dream, and the subjective reality encountered along the way.
