Hello Readers! So this blog is actually a paper I just wrote about discovering my culture. It is a paper I had to write for my Intercultural Communications class. Hope you like it.
Glued Together By Food And Politics
You want to know who I am? Where I came from? What my culture is? Why my culture is the way it is? Then I suppose that we need to start by letting you know that I am an American. I don’t like being called anything else. People always ask, “What is your heritage?” My answer will never change, “I am American, but my ancestors come from Whales, Ireland, England, France, Scotland and America.” Many people like to believe that culture is where your ancestors come from, but it isn’t. My family on my paternal side came to America in 1620 and the rest were natives. My family on my maternal side came to America in the early 1700s. This is why I say I am an American because my family was among the first settlers. I do identify my culture more so on my maternal side.
The glue of my culture is food and politics. This holds my family together, even the extended side of the family that lives in various places in the United States. Our family also consists with a revolving door; we accept strays, those friends who have no other family than that at my father’s dinner table. Most of my family conversations take place while the ladies are cooking and everybody else is gathered around waiting to eat. Mother or one of the Aunts is always yelling at someone to stop picking at their ingredients as they are preparing for a meal. Our meals always differ from one another. We eat very diverse meals. One day it could be steak and potatoes for those in my family who eat meat. A few of us, myself included, are vegetarian. The next day we could be eating tofu and beans. One thing for sure is that the ingredients in our meals never get boring. Our meals are never mundane so we see know reason to eat out. We love our home cooked meals from scratch.
The conversation while cooking and eating tends to always be family gossip such as who is fighting with whom or who is getting married/divorced, etc. If we aren’t gossiping about each other then we are talking politics and that is the one topic that we all mostly agree.
Politics in my family is multi-generational. We are all very opinionated and our opinions tend to be on the more liberal side of politics. Ever since I can remember my family has always taught us that it is our civic duty to participate in the American democracy. We have also been taught to show respect to the President of the United States regardless of political party; that was until George W. Bush won his second term. There are a few members in the family that are republican; we accept it and most of the time we let them eat.
Through these conversations of politics my family has I learned that being politically active is one of my greatest passions. Having this passion I was eager to learn more. During the 2004 election my parents let me ditch class to listen to John Kerry deliver a speech, I was only 16. This was a very positive experience for me. I started to volunteer with the state party to get Kerry elected; we know how that turned out. I continued to volunteer and the next thing I knew it was 2006 mid-term election and I was a paid canvasser for the Nevada State Democratic Party. That election came and went. Then 2007 came and I was interning for the John Edward for President campaign for the caucus. Then 2008 came and my family encouraged me to apply to be a field organizer for the Mark Begich for US Senate. I got the job and moved to Fairbanks, Alaska.
If my family didn’t push me so hard to go after this job opportunity I would have missed out on one of the most influential experiences in my life. While I was away from my family I realized that they affected my life in many different ways. I missed all of those home cooked meals because I was constantly eating out while on the campaign trail. It was then that I realized that food, the way my family does it, is part of the glue to my culture. I had the politics but not the food. The first thing I asked for when I got home towards the end of November 2008 was a home cooked meal. We sat around, ate and talked about my adventure in Alaska.
Although food and politics is the glue to my culture it isn’t my entire culture. Education is a major part of my culture. We constantly want to learn something new. This is particularly why we follow the news so closely. Some people in my culture, my mother included, feel that they don’t need a piece of paper saying they know something; that paper being a degree in higher education. Although my mother and my oldest sister are among the most intelligent people I know they study on their own. However, my Aunt Ellen and myself strive to continue our education in higher education. My aunt recently graduated from ASU with her PhD and I will be graduating with my BA in the next couple of semesters.
The college atmosphere has definitely influenced my culture. While I identify a lot with my family I also identify a lot with the college lifestyle and my generation. Part of the college culture that I participate in is being an extremely active student with organizations. As much as I work at school this lifestyle also offers a lot of play. My close friends and I love the Reno nightlife. Every Thursday and Friday we go out on the town. We like to have a good time in a variety of different bars that downtown offers. What never seems to fail when we go out though is at least one political conversation.
One of our favorite hangouts is Amendment 21 a sports bar. My friends and I went there one day because we loved the name. We then ordered some food and although it is not a home cooked meal by my mother, I love the food.
