By Ninotchka Rosca
DESPITE the admonition not to arrive before 7 a.m., 50 people were already lined up before the Brooklyn Courthouse reception. It was 7:05. I had flown to New York from Los Angeles the night before and was to fly back at 4:00 p.m. I was about to take my oath of citizenship. I'd considered postponing but all my Filipino friends screamed: TAKE THE OATH!
The decision to be a US citizen, made after months of angst almost four years ago, morphed into weirdness. First, along with the application for naturalization, one had to list all trips outside the US since becoming a permanent resident. Fortunately, I'd kept all seven of my Philippine passports; the list ran to three pages single-spaced.
Continue reading Blue passport blues.
