Stars and Stripes

This painting won a "Best Realism" award at the NOAPS Best of America Small Works Show in 2020 and it SOLD! It is the beginning of a new "Americana" series.

Here is a true story from the day I became a United States citizen, a day I will never forget. It was a nice ceremony in Jersey City NJ, bright sunny day, right by the water with a nice view of the Statue of Liberty. I was feeling very patriotic and proud that day. But at the end of the ceremony something happened that kind of blemished the experience for me for a long time. It is only with the gain of life experience that I have come to better understand what probably actually happened and be at peace with it. When the ceremony concluded we all (about 150-200 of us) had to go up to a series of tables and get a certificate of our attendance. Well, it turned into a bit of a mad rush by some, with some jostling and behavior that I felt was beneath the occasion. Now that I understand how the world works a little better than when I was 18, I understand that most of those new citizens were simply trying to get back to their jobs as quickly as possible, lest they gain citizenship and lose their source of income. My mother risked and sacrificed everything in order to give me the opportunity to live the American Dream. While I don't often think about where and who I would be if I were still in Cuba, I am always grateful to be a citizen of the United States.