Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1538147
88 maconmagazine.com | August/September 2025 moved to Atlanta in 2018. During this transition I met my future wife, and I moved in with her a year later and have lived in Athens, Georgia ever since. In 2020, I graduated, got married (we had a little wedding due to the pandemic), and got a job o er after nishing an internship earlier that year. In 2023, we welcomed our son, Cyrus, to this world. That's when I started telling myself: "This must be it, it is real. I'm not dreaming. Hard work pays o . I have a life now; I have a little family that I love and hope for." After a bunch of applications, interviews, several thousand dollars in fees and lawyer expenses, I nally became a US citizen in 2025. How do you feel, so fresh after the naturalization ceremony? Relieved, proud, and hopeful. Mostly excited for my son Cyrus and his future. I want a better life and a better childhood for him than what I had myself. What prompted your choice to become a U.S. Citizen? The pursuit of a better life, a normal one. Living in a country whose government protects the rights and freedoms of its citizens, strives for their health and wellbeing. To be able to a ord housing, a comfortable life, and providing for one's family. Simply liberty and happiness. Do you have any speci c concerns about becoming a U.S. Citizen, considering the current presidential administration's priorities about immigration? Regardless of the political party, each administration has its own strengths injustices, and long waits that I went through as part of my immigration journey that I will need to talk to my son about, when the time comes to tell the story of my life, I will also tell him about all the smiling faces and welcoming arms of those Americans, relatives and strangers, who made me feel like this is my home. I will tell him about all those fellow Americans whom I met for the rst time on the day of my naturalization ceremony and who shook my hand rmly and congratulated me, including the judge himself (whose remarks on unity and freedom I will never forget), court clerks, and journalists. This is a home I will admire, protect, and cherish. I am grateful for my family, especially my wife, without whom I wouldn't be where I am today, and my new home. As I nished my conversation with Judge Self, he said, "I try to tell every jury: We have the greatest legal system in the world. It's not perfect. But I'd rather have it than China, Iran, … any other place in the world." I left that courthouse and walked out into a perfect spring day, the kind that makes you feel alive, like you can breathe better if you're open to the idea of it. Judge Self's words about these newest fellow Americans struck me: "I suspect they appreciate their citizenship more than all of us do. That's a convicting thing. It is emotional for me, as a veteran, as an American to see people who are proud of their country." Do we feel that conviction? We may. But conviction can have a way of keeping us mired down or even misdirected. As a witness that day, I felt the connection between our federal government and the resulting new life I could see in our people, our peers, our neighbors. And while one long and often arduous process from the top may change a life once, it's the daily interactions in our communities that have the power to change lives again and again. What power may come from our federal administration will not be the nal act. Empathetic spirit, courageous conversations, and respect for humanity will transcend us. and aws. There are always tensions, concerns, and hopes. One party represents more of my values, while the other serves fewer of them. That's normal, that's what democracy is all about. But what l care about most and what concerns me is the founding principles that sets this country apart from any other nation in history: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, etc. The tolerance for criticism and opposition, the courtesy and dignity of hearing voices and opinions that are di erent from ours, and nally, a leadership that unites and does not divide, that spreads hope instead of fear. After all, we are the United States. Any deviance from these values is a terrifying harbinger of the totalitarian regimes whose people long to be American citizens all their life in order to be free, to pursue liberty and happiness, to be able to criticize the government and hold it accountable without the fear of persecution, to rise above political lines and ourish, and to follow their dreams. That is what makes a nation great. How can more people support new citizens? Not relying on the media as the only source of truth when it comes to knowing and learning about people who were not born here. That the willingness to know about others without bias can do miracles. Be open. From my experience, most people, even those whose governments are hostile, do not mean to harm others. They value the same principle and are after a safe and comfortable life, just like you. Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers? Despite some of the hardships, Shayan Drake surrounded by family outside the federal courthouse after the naturalization ceremony.