Twittering the Oath Ceremony

On April 23, there were three Oath Ceremonies at the Campbell Heritage theater (10am, 1pm, 3pm). I attended the 1pm ceremony with Li Jiayan and her family, then stayed to "twitter" the 3pm ceremony. The tweets are time-stamped so that new citizens and their families can know what to expect during the Oath Ceremony.

I sat in the far corner of the balcony so I could text discreetly while showing the proper respect for this very, very important ceremony. Here are the "corrected" (many typos) tweets from the Oath Ceremony.

• 3:03 PM waiting for the 3pm Oath Ceremony to begin
• 3:11 PM the pre-ceremony has begun. They are talking about voting.
• 3:15 PM they are talking about registering to vote in Vietnamese
• 3:22 PM the Tagog rep from the Registar of Voters just finished speaking
• 3:23 PM Tagalog--not "Tagog"
• 3:24 PM the Spanish rep just finished (was she from Argentina?)
• 3:27 PM The Mandarin (not Cantonese) rep is exorting us to vote in Eng & Mandarin
• 3:28 PM The Santa Clara County Registgar of Voters is showing a slide show about the voter reg form
• 3:31 PM reg form: personal info, politic party, language, absentee ballot are being explained
• 3:33 PM remember: always exercise you right to vote.
• 3:34 PM film about the history of immigration begins
• 3:34 PM ellis island looks grim and hopeful
• 3:35 PM vietnamese refugee camp
• 3:36 PM old photos and new photos are made equal in black and white
• 3:37 PM the statue of libery is in glorious color
• 3:38 PM film ends. local USCIS supervisor speaks
• 3:39 PM Angela Tirado leads the star spangled banner
• 3:41 PM people cheer!
• 3:43 PM USCIS field director: we come from 55 different countries; we go out the door as 1 country
• 3:44 PM America: melting pot or stew pot?
• 3:45 PM Roll Call of Nation begins!
• 3:46 PM China!
• 3:46 PM India! Iran! Iraq!
• 3:47 PM Mexico!
• 3:48 PM VIETNAM--hello TAM LAM!
• 3:49 PM RAISE YOUR RIGHT HAND AND REPEAT AFTER ME....I HEREBY DECLARE ON OATH...
• 3:50 PM So help me God!
• 3:51 PM Congrats! Cheer! Clap! Wave flags!
• 3:52 PM Welcome!
• 3:52 PM The essence of a democracy is an engaged citizentry
• 3:53 PM with liberty and justice for all!
• 3:55 PM Thank yous...
• 3:55 PM My fellow citizens...sounds good, eh?
• 3:56 PM Closing remarks: contact Social Security about your change of status
• 3:58 PM The director shows his grandfather's naturalization papers, SF 1944
• 4:00 PM Video: AND I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!
• 4:01 PM (I am tearing up)
• 4:02 PM guests leave. new citizens receive certificates
• 4:02 PM GOD BLESS THE USA!!!
• 4:03 PM I am going to look for my former students--later!