Exuberant Author Shares “Epiphany” for Writing an American Memoir

IN A HIGH-SPIRITED INTERVIEW in New York City with the Author Learning Center, author John Paul Godges says that the decisions of his forebears to immigrate to America were the results of ferocious arguments between those who wanted to break free from the old world and those who wanted to keep the family intact. “My epiphany was that, even before people arrive in America, they come with this tension. And that is the legacy that is passed down from one generation to the next.”

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“Being American means discovering yourself as an individual but within the context of the broader community, finding how you can uniquely contribute to the greater good, and sustaining that paradox of an individualism that is ultimately dependent on everyone else.”

Running time: 3 minutes, 15 seconds.

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