(Originally posted to Home at EraBlog on Fri, 25 Jul 2003 06:50:20 GMT)

As I mentioned in my Toast­mas­ters’ speech about nat­u­ral­iza­tion, I decided on September 11th, 2002 to become a U.S. citizen.

This morning, I had my interview with the Bureau of Cit­i­zen­ship and Im­mi­gra­tion Services (BCIS, formerly known as the INS).

This afternoon, I was sworn in as a U.S. citizen at the Seattle INS Office. Eighty-three other new citizens were sworn in at the same time. Many were Filipino, Vietnamese, Mexican, or Eastern European. Only three others, all Brits, were from Western Europe. We were gathered into a stuffy room with an overflow crowd of relatives and friends. It was not a deeply moving ceremony, but it was clear that most of us were sincerely glad to become Americans. If my interview had come a month sooner, I would have chosen to par­tic­i­pate in the massive July 4th ceremony at the Seattle Center.

Woohoo! Now I get a vote for the first time since 1986. As my youngest brother Mark, who became a citizen last year, just told me, I now have an op­por­tu­ni­ty to get the Bush klep­toc­ra­cy out of office.