A Milestone & A Book!
Our rights are precious.
In the Spirit of a Dream is a special milestone in my life. It was a moment when I finally felt safe to share my thoughts and express myself. It represents my journey from being seen as an "alien" under the law to proudly embracing my identity as a "citizen."
For over 15 years, I navigated life on various visas. Luckily, I built a successful career that eventually allowed me to self-sponsor for a green card. However, the road to citizenship was full of ups and downs—a real roller coaster! There were many roadblocks, including unfair treatment and feelings of fear and insecurity. Like many foreign workers, I often felt silenced and hesitant to speak up for fair pay because I worried that voicing my concerns might jeopardize my visa and lead to deportation. This uncertainty also made it hard to share my social opinions, as I thought my voice wouldn't matter as a visa holder.
In the Spirit of a Dream isn't just about my journey to citizenship. It's about overcoming years of fear and insecurity as immigrants. Creating this book has been a powerful reminder never to take our legal rights for granted. The rights to vote, speak freely, read, define our gender identity, and live according to our beliefs are invaluable. This journey has opened my eyes to the importance of uplifting and empowering others in similar situations, ensuring that every voice is heard and valued.
As I went through my In The Spirit Of A Dream folder to find images for the previous anthology posts, I stumbled upon a bunch of rejected cover design files I had completely forgotten about. It was pretty cool to revisit these old files.
The book cover went through a bunch of changes and discussions. One big challenge was that it's an anthology with many creators, and we tried to credit all of them on the cover. As for the art, we wanted to show people of color from all walks of life and tell the story of how immigrants contribute every day to the tapestry of America.
We want to include people of all ages, from young to old. But the design looks too busy when there's too much text and characters. Also, all these random characters don't connect clearly to the stories in the book.
The second idea is to put the characters from the book on the cover. But then we had to figure out who should go on the front and back cover. At first, we decided to feature the more well-known characters on the front cover, thinking it would catch people's attention better.
Here's another take on the same concept with headshots. But now, a new question comes up: should we feature fewer well-known people and more women to make it feel more inclusive?!
The team is pretty happy with this version, so we're moving ahead to the final art.
Here's the final art. But now, the final cover is in the graphic design stage, and the bigger team is reviewing it. The general feedback is that too much text on the front cover makes it look crowded. So, we are back to the drawing board!
The team likes those two illustrations in the book. So, they're thinking it would be cool to design the cover in the same layout style as those top two illustrations.
So, we got this new design. This design went through more internal discussion and review. Finally, the team decided why we should make something new when the two existing illustrations make a good cover.
Also, time is running out, and they have to send the book to print. LOL So the final solution is the most simple and direct. In the end, we go with what's already working!
A friend of mine just became a citizen, and she’s super excited because it happened just in time for her to vote! She was a little nervous while studying for the citizenship test. She wanted to make sure she passed. It means so much to her to feel secure and provide for her kids and family. When she finally got her citizenship, she was thrilled - she was ready to make her voice heard in the election!
For me, this whole experience will always remind me to cherish our rights and freedoms, rather than just the wild journey of becoming a citizen. It's a wonderful celebration of what it means to be part of this community!
Do you love reading anthology books? Click the link to explore the entire In The Spirit Of A Dream collection.
Thank you for this beautiful post.