American Civil Liberties Union

I recently had the opportunity to visit Florida, seeing my mother and other family members; we kicked back and talked as we hadn't had a chance to do for years.

One evening I got to thinking about one family member whom I wasn't able to see, a grandmother who has passed away and whom I still miss very much. Her life was very different from mine. Instead of college and a profession, she worked hard for many years on the Faberge factory line. My transition from elementary school in the Bronx to middle and high school in the New Jersey suburbs and eventually to Princeton University carried me into a world very different from the one where she lived. But when I would come home from school, she would say to me, "Antonio… sientate. Haz me un cuento" — "sit down, tell me a story." And it was by telling stories that my grandmother and I were able to communicate in a way that allowed us to understand and appreciate each others' lives.