My cultural background is Native American, Scottish, Irish, and Canadian; I have been taught a lot about our cultural background throughout my life. I have also been lucky in the area I grew up. I grew up in a very culturally diverse area. Many of my friends from elementary school through high school were from many different cultures. I grew up eating food at friends house that to this day I still cant pronounce.…
In football, rules are followed to ensure safety. Relationships are created between players and coaches to make them a better athlete. Outside of football players have relationships with their parents, wife, and children to make them a better person. Their job aside from football are there kids. As soon as they are born it is there duty to develop rules to ensure there kids safety such as dating rules.…
What do you see when you look in the mirror? Are you pleased, or do you immediately come up with an endless list of insecurities? As a child one of my favorite memories was laying around the house with my older sister on rainy days. We would leave the windows open so we could hear the rain coming down on the tin roof over our patio, while watching reruns of our favorite tv show “America's Next Top Model”. I always thought that these women were gorgeous and I would catch myself constantly comparing their looks to my own. I wanted to be just like them until I realized the unrealistic expectations that they had to live up to. A sizeable butt and breasts, but not too large; they have got to be proportional. A skinny waist, impeccable hair, blemish free face although even with clear skin you are expected to cake on makeup because no one is actually pretty without mile long eyelashes, the perfect smoky eye, and exemplary contouring. Society has idolized these things as “beautiful” and shamed the girls that do not meet these standards; however, society should be making everyone feel confident in their bodies. Girls need to know that it is okay not to have an “hourglass figure” so they don’t…
That’s interesting you’ve mentioned not to attend the hospital and funeral for your grandmother. In my African American/Indian culture if a woman is pregnant she’s prohibited to attend anywhere the death angel may currently be around, and funerals are definitely off limits. My family used to say when a life is taken a new life is born and I don’t know if the pregnant thing was an old superstation by forbidden spirit in my family as well because they believed the death angel comes to take a life in three; therefore it permits the baby a chance at life. Nowadays, there’s wills and other things in place to carry out a person’s wishes. I believe she told you because she knew she could trust you to carry out her last wishes amongst the family accordingly.…
Here i am sitting in the kitchen cutting me up some potatoes for dinner my daughters in the back room, She says “MOM!! COME!! HERE!!”. So i'm listening and it says “ A black african american woman has been arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a Montgomery city Bus” As i'm sitting there thinking it pops up in my head that she works with me, I work at an Montgomery ward as a semingtris. We use to call her Miss Rosa. On the radio they said that they took her to jail. I would have bailed miss Rosa out if I had the money but I didn't miss Rosa was a Beautiful african american woman and she was very nice. A day after her arrest i heard on the radio that a Black man named Edgar Nixon had bailed Miss Rosa out of jail a…
“Wow! I did not know there were black Americans”. During the month I was in China, I heard this or a variant of it jokily said to me numerous times. I never took offense to it since I understood most of the media from America that came to China featured individuals who did not look like me. Furthermore, for those Americans who had come to China, they were mostly white and had come for business. While in China, I was able to share my experience as an African-American; I always found enjoyment sharing my experiences and it seemed to me those around me found enjoyment learning about a different side of America. With me sharing my experiences, they were being able to understand the diverse nature of the United States.…
It was grand Final day at the Wimborne sports ground my stomach was churning inside of me. I Stumbled to my hands and began to throw up in one of the shrubs in the car park. I was interrupted by dads laughing “You sissy stop begin a girl and get with your team we’ve got a grand final to win!” I replied back “Well actually dad if you remember, the only reason our team made it to the grand final was because of me” my dad just laughed and said “Sure, sure whatever you believe Aden”. The only reason dad named me Aden was because my dad believed that one day I would hopefully grow up as some tough rugby league super star like Greg Inglis or Sam Thaiday. But no I am nothing more than a sticker figure, with shorter hair and gleaming blue eyes. Every…
Warm dim lights bounced around the inside of a classroom like air molecules inside a hot air balloon. It was different outside. Crystal clear rain drops fell from the sky endlessly. The reason why we had recess inside instead of outside. Sitting with friends in a circle, we played with lego blocks while building the most breathtaking structures.…
When we got to my house, my friend was there. My younger sister wanted to go hang out with her friend down the street, so he and I went down the street to bring her while Leann and Kyanna stayed at my house. When we got to the neighbors yard, I could feel eyes peering at me through the window. My sister’s best friend came outside and I felt the same look again. Someone was definitely watching us. We heard movement in the house. Rushed movement, like someone was afraid. My sister’s best friend went back in the house to find out what was wrong. She came back out and told us that her family was afraid my friend was going to rob them. My friend was an African American and people often stereotyped African Americans to be robbers. The girl’s family…
I grew up as the ignored daughter. The first child of two very smart, diligent working class carribean immigrant parents. My parents worked tirelessly to give my sibling and I everything we needed. We never had to worry about where our next meal was comming from and we never wore hand me downs, for all intents and purposes, we were blessed. The one thing my parents passed down to us was religion. It was our way of life.…
“You is smart. You is beautiful. You is strong.” For a couple of years my mom would playfully cite to me her version of the famous lines from the movie “The Help” in hopes that it would inspire me as an African American woman. At the time I was nearly 10 and frankly I brushed off every word my mom said because I looked around me and didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin. It took me sometime to realize that my mother’s words would forever stay with me and empower me. Especially when I met adversaries that would try to make me feel small for who I am.…
Gender was always a very tricky subject for me until I finally realized gender and sex are two different things. So, gender was never something I ever really thought about. I was a girl and that was that. It was definitely assumed for me based on my biological “label” of female at birth. I grew up with two sisters so there were lots of baby dolls and Barbies. But as I got older, aspects of other gender(s) became aware to me that I decided I wanted to incorporate into my own gender. I did not like wearing dresses so that “norm” was thrown out of my wardrobe options. I was much more comfortable in pants and a t-shirt playing outside. I became very interested in sports and always wanted to be outside shooting baskets or throwing around…
Out of all experiences I've had, the one that has been meaningful to me is taking my last yearbook pictures for my senior year. I wasn't taking pictures for a mugshot and a crime scene photographer wasn’t taking pictures of my lifeless body. I reached a milestone in my life that many people told me I couldn’t achieve. Though I hadn’t walked across the stage for graduation yet, it felt good to do something that many people told me I wouldn’t ever experience being a young black girl in America. The reason why this specific moment was meaningful to me is because it made me think about the many people my age who never got to experience this; the feeling of being ALMOST done with high school. I could've been like many African American people my…
During my time at Dominguez Hills several of my classes have discussed white privilege. I remember first hearing this term in my Cultural Anthropology class. I believe that as a result of me being born caucasian many people carry prejudices and stereotypes against me just because of that. Typically, people judge me and automatically assume I come from a wealthy to do family, with an educated family, and a successful life. Although I have learned because I am caucasian there are some privileges I receive that others may not such as having a better opportunity to get a job, but I have also had tremendous struggles. Instead of growing up with a wealthy family we were considered poverty level, my parents were 7th and 8th grade dropouts with the…
Culture is an important and vital component that defines who and what we are as a person. We interface with cultural difference on a daily basis. So what exactly is culture? Good Question! I will attempt to identify my own cultural and explain what cultural means to me. So, lets start by defining the term culture. “Culture is a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life, art, etc.”. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2015) My cultural identity consists of several parts. I am most foremost a female that has a variety of racial genetic makeup of African-American, Native American, and European descent. I was raised in a Christian religious household and in a primarily single parent home. I have a sister and a half brother on my father’s…