The Big Deception
Year
2019
Length
10'00"
Category
Voice
Chamber
Orchestration
Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Cello, Piano
Commission
White Snake Projects
Premiere
August 1, 2019
White Snake projects
Program Note
This music sets the story of Irene Da Silva and Ivete Souza, as told in their own words. Irene was approved for a United States Green Card and instructed to return to her native Brazil for her final interview. Irene’s daughter, Ivete Souza, bought her mother a roundtrip plane ticket to Rio, and back to their home in Boston. However, upon visiting the American embassy in Rio, Irene was informed that she had overstayed her American visitor’s visa and couldn’t enter the United States for ten years, even though she had already been approved for a green card. At age 79, she was separated from her daughter and grandchildren, alone in Brazil without her family. Faced with a decade apart, Irene worried she wouldn’t live long enough to return to America.
Irene persevered for ten long years. At age 89 she was able to return to America, reunite with her family and meet her great grandchildren. Yet she can never recover that lost decade.
May this work be a reminder that immigrants are people with families; that the application of policy should allow room for heartful human understanding; and most of all, that we should live each day to its fullest.
Text Irene Da Silva and Ivete Souza
Irene:
The letter said, “You are approved
For a green card
Go back to Rio for your interview
And get your green card.”
Ivete:
I bought my mother a round trip ticket
To Rio and back to Boston
I put her on the plane to Brazil
To get her green card
Irene:
The American embassy man in Rio said,
“You overstayed your visitor's visa
You can’t go back to America for ten years.”
Ivete:
But she was approved for a green card
We didn't know she had to renew
Her visitor's visa
Irene:
But the letter you sent said
I was to come to get my green card
I'm seventy-nine
My family is in America
How will I survive by myself?
Ivete:
We believed what the letter said
We believed what the government said
Irene:
“We don’t care about you,” he said.
“Don’t care, don’t care, don’t care”
Ivete:
I am guilty
I bought my mother that ticket
I put her on that plane
I sent her into exile
Irene:
I waited it out
Year after year after year
Alone in one room
With a small fan
Sometimes the temperatures
Reached over 100 degrees
Sometimes we had no running water
Ivete:
I sent money every month
For a girl to help my mother
To buy her medicines
And her food
Irene:
I gave up hope
My heart cracked open
I would die
Without seeing my children
Or grandchildren whom I raised
Ivete:
The grandchildren she raised
Had children of their own
Who grew up never knowing
Their great grandmother, their Biza
Irene:
I told my neighbors
“Don’t tell my daughter I’m sick
Sick with grief, sick for the baby smell
Of great grandchildren I’ve never met
When I die, call my daughter
Ask her for money to bury me”
Ivete:
I gave her an iPad
To help her live
I Facetimed her every night
For ten years, we never missed a night
I had to keep her alive
Irene/Ivete:
I/She returned to America
When I was 89 years old
Irene:
My name is Irene Da Silva
Ivete:
My name is Ivete Souza
I hope to live till I’m over 100 years old
To make up for lost time
The cracks in my heart
Forever a reminder of separation
And the importance of family
Irene & Ivete: We are survivors
Performance History
- October 26, 2019: Juventas New Music Ensemble, First Church Boston, Boston MA
- September 22, 2019: White Snake Projects, Emerson Paramount Theater, Boston MA
- September 20, 2019: White Snake Projects, Emerson Paramount Theater, Boston MA
- August 22, 2019: White Snake Projects, City Space, Boston MA
- August 1, 2019: White Snake Projects, Multicultural Arts Center, Cambridge MA
