EDU 2120 - Culture Paper
This culture project allowed me to bring back so many memories that i had. I allowed me to realize how great my family is and what they have been through. This project made me realize again of how blessed i am. I've been through a lot that i didn't mention in this project but regardless i know that there are people who have been through 10x worse things then me. This culture project makes you think of the many different ways that you are different from people. It gives you an idea of how some people can relate to you also. I enjoyed this project and it has became an eye opener.
Years and years ago, i would have never thought I would had made it to college let alone, living almost 3 hours away from my family before the age of 20. Because of growing up in many different states i've had a unique experience with my identity in relation to the experience i would have had if i wouldnt had grew up in different places and different military bases. I've grew up in different cities in Pennsylvania, then moving to Alaska. The culture there is so much differnt then the rest of the United State cities. The Natives were always so welcoming and so inviting when it came to listening to their stories. Moving to Alaska gave me a new identity that i wouldn't have gotten if i stayed in Pennsylvania. I've always thought, what if i never left Pennsylvania?
As far as family history, my grandparents who are orginally from South Carolina moved to Brooklyn, New York when they were young. They grew up in Bamberg, South Carolina. Being that there wasnt many opportunities because they were black and living in the south, they want to get out of the small country town that they were from and wanted to move to the big city were they did have opportunities. This is were my mother was born. After my grandparents gave birth to my mother they moved to Dover, Pennsylvania that sits right outside of York, PA. At 8:38 PM April 10, 1995 my mother gave birth to me at York County Hospital. I grew up with an older brother, but i never knew too much of my siblings from my fathers side. While growing up i always knew that my mom tried her best for my brother and I. She worked at a Hospital for many years and when i was 6 she decided to join the U.S. Military. Of course this happened around 9/11 but this didnt stop her. My mom was always brave. Growing up she has always taught us to go for what we wanted. Before my mother joined the military i knew we werent wealthy and i knew we werent middle class. My mom joining the army was a step of giving us a better life.
My name is Aaliyah, its orgin is Hebrew meaning going up, ascending. I grew up always getting my names missed pronounced and people pronouncing it (A-lie-ya). But i always found myself not correcting them because it became a normal mistake. I would think that my name would be a lot more common sense no matter what school i attended growing up there would be atleast one person with the same name. When i go through my baby book i always wondered why my mom named me Aaliyah. Where did she come up with this name? I saw in my baby book that she was actually going to name me after my father. I guess i should of been happy with the name Aaliyah because i was about to be named Darnella. Which had half of my fathers name in it. I guess it was a good thing that she didn't. My name would of reminded me everyday of a father who i didnt grow up with. I always seem to compare myself to other families and other friends of how lucky they are that they have both parents in their life. As i grew up i realized how lucky i was to have a awsome super mom in place of my father. Growing up i always wondered if i was going to be in certain statistics pertaining to children who grew up with one parent. Statistics show that teenagers living in single-parent households are more likely to abuse alcohol. Would i be that statistic? They said children from disrupted families are 20 percent more unlikely to attend college, would that be me? Those are things i've always wondered. So far i have beat the odds.
I was brought up differently from the friends i have now. My family and i grew up as christians but we were never the type to go to church service every sunday. In fact we probably went once a year, and that was only for Easter Sunday. When i was younger i used to question if that made me a "unholy" person. I always had so many questions. Growing up i used to always listen to this song called "question existing", the question this song asked was "who are you living for?" As i grew up that is how i made my choices in my life. I should do things that make me happy. I go to church a lot more, i go on adventours and site see, and sometimes i do things that faces my fears. Atlthough I wasnt raised to attend church , my family and i still celebrated big occassions. We would still celebrate christmas but not just for the gifts. We celebrated it for birth of Jesus. We also participated in Palm Sunday which took place the sunday before Easter.
In 2002, i moved in with my grandparents and had to switch schools. I ended up attending a school where i was the only black student. I always thought that this is how i became good at being able to talk to and get along with just about anyone. I never cared about color when it came to my friends. A year later i moved to Alaska. I didn't know what to expect when i got there. As a kid the first thing I thought that i was gonna be living in a igloo with many eskimos. Living in Alaska i met many native americans. I even had a best friend that was a native of alaska. I learned so many new things about their culture and their people. The number one thing they teach you in Alaska is that you can't call ever Native American there a eskimo. Growing up reading children books about Alaska they always called the people eskimos. But actually many of natives arent eskimos which is why many find it offensive. Thats why i never call people a race by the way they look. You would never really know a person's race unless if they told you. If someone asked me what my race is i would identify myself as "african american" but I am actually black, white, indian from my mother and black, indian, and puerto rican from my fathers side. This is an example to never judge a book from a cover. Something that is very important to me because i like to meet new people and learn things about them no matter what race or culture. You can't do that by looking at their cover.
I was taught to always follow my dreams. No matter what i choose to do with my life, i will have a good support system cheering me on and making sure i can conquer. My family may not be perfect, but we stick together. We have a close bond. Our family culture is different but whose isnt? Our values is to be happy. Our belief is no matter what we go through to seek god. We pass along the gift of being brave. At the age of 20 years old i have completed high school and is now a second year college student. I beat the odds of children with one parent are 20 percent unlikely to even attend college. I've done this with the support of my family. Our strong bond and the culture that we embrace to be who you are. The great thing is we get to share our culture with others, friends & family. We enjoy embracing everyone no matter what religon or race. We always remember that we all bleed red.