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September 14, 2005
My Culture
As we all have noticed, it is so difficult to define one’s culture. I am not an exception. When it comes to nationalities, I am Italian, Irish, Welsh, Portuguese, and Finnish. However, I don’t think any of these really define who I am as a person. As other people have already said, I see myself as an American. However, I also identify myself as a sister, a daughter, a granddaughter, a dancer, an academic, a friend, a music lover, a designer as well as a plethora of other things.
I come from a predominantly Catholic middle class town with a strong school system that puts a strong emphasis on going to college. I come from a loving family with a mother, a father, an older brother and a large extended family. I come from a place where we have a parade to celebrate apples. I come from the typical suburban town where you know your neighbors and there isn’t a lot of violence or crime, not to say that it completely lacked this. I come from a place that almost every senior in high school has his or her own car, sometimes paid for by parents and sometimes paid for by the senior.
I would also define my culture by including my traditions. I celebrate Thanksgiving with the traditional meal of turkey with all the trimmings. I always make the same raspberry dessert to bring to my aunt and uncle’s house where we celebrate the holiday. I always celebrate Christmas at my house and I always make sure everyone is up at a reasonable time to open presents on my favorite holiday. I love the feeling of giving everyone a gift as opposed to birthdays where only one person gets gifts. Another tradition my family has is family dinners. In this fast paced world, it seems that the typical family dinners are dying out, but my family almost always ate dinner together and I thought it was a nice tradition.
-Jessica F.
Posted by lcisfaria at September 14, 2005 01:31 PM
Comments
Jessica,
I really enjoyed your culture blog. It seems like a lot of simple actions and events really bring warmth and comfort into your life. That is something you need to hold on to!!
Posted by: Christina at September 14, 2005 04:54 PM
Jessica...I really loved your entry about your culture and I envy you. I used to always have family dinners until high school. They kind of stopped, I was busy with school stuff, my brother was busy, such and such. But I feel as though I could have been there for those dinners if I put the effort and care into it. But i didnt and I'm kind of kicking myself for it so I really envy how you had those fmaily dinners.
Posted by: Rachel at September 14, 2005 10:55 PM
Jessica- My mother was so insistent that we eat dinner together that we would often wait 9:30 or 10 eat, to the admonishment of our friends, family, community, etc. I really am glad that we did though!!
Posted by: Brenna at September 15, 2005 07:17 PM
Looking back at this entry and the comments makes me appreciate my culture even more. I feel proud to be who I am and to know where I come from. I also remember that when I wrote this entry, it was difficult to write because defining one's culture is so vague and yet so detailed.
However, I don't think I should have started every sentence in my second paragraph with "I come from..." At the time that I wrote this entry, I liked that I did that and I did it consciously, but now I don't like it as much. If I had to rewrite this, I would vary that a little. I think I would also go back and expand on my traditions since I only really went into the traditions that my family does during the holidays, but in reality there are so many everyday traditions as well.
Posted by: Jessica F at September 25, 2005 07:48 PM
I thought you piece was strong, Jessica, and gave a clear indication of your appreciation of your origins. I also think you have a good ear for language. Take that ear now and rewrite the post in a way that feels better to you, more consonant with what you would like to communicate.
Posted by: ellen at September 27, 2005 02:20 PM