Arlety Gonzalez gently plays with her silver necklace as she talks, wrapping the metal around her forefinger. A small heart and eye charm hang from the chain. The gift from her mother acts as a constant reminder of her life back home.
“I just feel like my mom is with me whenever I wear it. I feel like my day isn’t going to go well if I don’t have this,” said Gonzalez, a senior broadcast and digital journalism major.
The piece of jewelry is a just one small symbol that grounds her in a life built on a string of drastic changes and transitions.
Born in Cuba, Gonzalez moved to the United States when she was 13 years old.
The change was terrifying and monumental, she said. So much was different in the U.S. She remembers how excited she was getting her first cellphone, her own email address and how strange it was to have running water in the bathrooms.
She said coming to America is a dream that all Cubans have when they are born, to release the yolk of a strict government. But few Cubans see the dream fulfilled.
Gonzalez remembers a man carrying a large envelope coming to their home on June 1, 2006. He asked her mother to sign a few papers.
Confused, her mom thought it was the electric company coming to collect, when she realized their family had won the Diversity Visa Program, an annual lottery that grants 55,000 Cubans visas to come to the U.S., according to the U.S. Embassy website.
She was so excited, but you don’t tell anybody. It was a family secret, in Cuba it’s like that, you don’t tell people until you have a date to come.Arlety Gonzalez
So many things can go wrong before that departure date is set. Proper education, citizenship and work documentation has to be filed, and medical examinations have to be passed.
From the moment her mother signed the papers, it was a battle. They had to try to contact her father, who had moved to the U.S. in 1998.
They went into the streets and asked to borrow someone’s cellphone, as they couldn’t make calls to the U.S. from their government-controlled landline, and at the time, there was a private-citizen ban on cellphones.
Gonzalez remembers going to interview at the U.S. Embassy on Oct. 24, 2006. There was a discrepancy with some of the paperwork, so her mother came back again on Oct. 31, but there was still a problem.
“My mom kept going every month to the embassy until they told her don’t come anymore, wait for a call,” Gonzalez said.
The phone rang on Oct. 26, 2007, a year and two days after that first interview. The voice on the other line said they could come pick up their visas.
Then came a whirlwind of emotions and preparations. Schoolwork went out the window, the family threw parties every month and Gonzalez spent as much time with her friends as possible.
When it was finally the day to leave, Dec. 18, 2007, her neighbors, family and friends poured out of their homes to wave goodbye and to say farewell at the airport.
It was emotional. Actually passing the line in the airport where you couldn’t see them anymore was the hardest. My little sister was screaming, my mom was crying, it was just very emotional.Arlety Gonzalez
The flight to Miami from Cuba is 45 minutes, but the differences in technology and freedom made the two places feel a world apart. Growing up in Miami was “simply amazing.” The strong Cuban culture in the city made the transition easier.
She met new friends in high school, and fostered her love for television reporting when she got her associates degree in mass communications at Miami Dade College.
While most of her friends chose to go to a local university, she wanted another drastic change. So she transferred to a school in central New York known for its cold weather and top-notch journalism school.
“People say, ‘You don’t seem like you’re from Miami. People from Miami complain when it is this cold.’ Not me, I am cool with it,” Gonzalez said.
She credits Syracuse University with her development as a person over the last two years. This is the place where she met her boyfriend, met her best friends and became comfortable going live on-air.
Every Sunday, she had a chance to hone her broadcast skills working for CitrusTV Noticias, a student-run Spanish news program.
“With Arlety, when I first met her she didn’t really know what she was doing, but she was very willing to learn, she wanted to learn more, she wanted to do more,” said Sarah Valenzuela, a senior broadcast and digital journalism and political science dual major and co-worker at CitrusTV. “And now I think she’s one of the best reporters coming out of this school.”
Keren Henderson, one of Gonzalez’s broadcast professors, spoke highly of her upbeat attitude and genuine interest in the people she reports on.
Being a senior in any college program is challenging — we have the term senioritis for a reason. She just doesn’t seem subject to senioritis. She has that enthusiasm for this job and this career path that she has chosen.Keren Henderson
As graduation looms on the horizon, another transition awaits. Gonzalez will once again pick up her life and travel to start anew after receiving several job offers across the country.
She admits she’s nervous about the decision, but knows she can handle it. She’s had enough practice.
For now, she’s trying to enjoy the last couple of weeks before graduation. Like many seniors, she is frequenting Faegan’s and Chuck’s, sipping on her drink of choice, Bacardi — originally made in Cuba.
“I feel like I am growing so much from every little step I take, every transition,” Gonzalez said. “I get to know myself better and I am so happy.”
Banner photo by Bridget Williams
Published on April 27, 2016 at 11:41 pm
Contact Jacob: jagedets@syr.edu
