9/26 Class Discussion: Identity

Who are you? What makes you say that? Any influences as to how you are the way you are today? These are the kinds of questions that were answered in our class discussion along with other ways of how culture is categorized. I learned the meaning of being influenced by those around you during your childhood and how you could either gravitate towards or away from. I really enjoyed the interactive activity we had as far as sharing each others paper and it helped a lot in getting to know people in the classroom. Trying to categorize information about someone based on their writing and the given words is difficult when the writing is vague or excludes personality. Everything seemed to mix well together. From the writing 'Cultural Baggage' and 'Pet Milk', we are more focused to use the narrator's experiences and/or surroundings to understand the overall concept of what's going on. I love that because its almost like a mystery that needs figuring out with the use of the correct context clues. In addition to that, the movie we watched titled 'Carrie', was like the cap on top of the cultural bottle. Using repetition and certain emphasis on images made the director's point of view noticeable yet dubious in its attempt. Not establishing a consistent reason to recognize the innocent and guilty throughout the movie made it different and introduced a grey area of choice. The narrator in 'Cultural Baggage' didn't believe in sticking to one kind of culture or tradition. Instead, she realized how much her experiences growing up were from borrowing thins from several ethnic backgrounds. "Think for yourself" is a simple and powerful phrase.