Event

Global Voices: Oksana Marafioti: American Gypsy

Monday, July 23 at 5 pm

At 15, Oksana Marafioti was a Roma native in the Soviet Union - and then her family moved to the sketchier side of Hollywood, USA. Turns out her teenage "experience" of the United States had been based mostly on MTV, and hadn't quite prepared her for the challenges of immigration: Why are the glamorous Kraft Singles individually wrapped? Are the little soaps in the motels really free? In her memoir American Gypsy, Marafioti reveals the secretive world of the Roma and brings the absurdities, miscommunications, and unpredictable victories of the immigrant experience to life - one slice of processed cheese at a time. Presented as part of the Global Voices thread of the Town Hall Center for Civic Life with Elliott Bay Book Company. Series supported by The Boeing Company, the RealNetworks Foundation, and the True/Brown Foundation.