American Identities Web Projects, 2012

I'm going to start posting Identification Projects from my last two semesters of American Identities a little later this week, but here's the work of my students who chose the web authoring option for their Final Projects in spring and fall 2012!

• The 9/11 Conspiracy Theory http://brut9685fredoniact.blogspot.com/
• A Look at Documentaries http://kristaguy.weebly.com/
• American Dream, Changed http://americandreamchanged.tumblr.com/
• American Identity Amongst Friends http://amidentshelty.tumblr.com
• American Identity of Sport http://americanidentityofsport.blogspot.com/ and http://americanidentityofsport.tumblr.com/
• Immigration from Mexico http://www.ostr4363.blog.com/
• Multiethnic Americans http://multiethnic.tumblr.com/
• The Paranoid American Identity http://theparanoidamericanidentity.com/
• The Plight of Men Raised by Women http://engl296finalproject.wordpress.com/
• Positive Identities http://positiveidentities.blogspot.com/
• Video Games and American Culture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iWcTBxcR28&feature=youtu.be 
• Working on My Fatness http://workingonfatness.wordpress.com/ 

American Identity: From the Philippines to Fredonia

American Identity:  From the Philippines to Fredonia

Mikiharu Holst

Long flights are never fun and those flights around 20 hours long are especially bad. I was living in the Philippines before I came to Fredonia and my family had been travelling around the world for a long time. My father and siblings have American citizenship like me, but my mom is a Japanese citizen and has a green card to live in the States. Since we travel a lot on government orders for my father's work, she gets a somewhat free pass with issues of refreshing it and having to deal with some problems with moving in and out of the country. If the government didn’t give some leeway to families that had to travel, that would be terrible.

            Anyway, at the immigration counter in Detroit where they check your passports and what-not, the guy who was manning that desk was telling my mother she couldn’t go on. He said her card was expired and she couldn’t go on. My mother tried to explain that because of her husband’s orders… And he cut her off. He kept saying that it didn’t matter about him and his citizenship, because she wasn’t a citizen and needed to update her card. She knows how this works, I mean she’s been doing this for years, but the jerk wouldn’t listen and was just being rude. It was incredibly frustrating to say the least. We had a flight in about an hour and a half, which is not much time in airports, and this was a hassle we really didn’t need to deal with. Eventually he sent us over to another desk, I can’t remember what it was called, but they dealt with these problems more in-depth so the rest of the people could get through. The new guy understood what the problem was and knew that she didn’t have to jump through hoops to travel in the US. So luckily we managed to go on without much hassle after that. He talked a little bit about maybe refreshing it soon, but that it cost money that would be unnecessary to spend while she didn’t need to. We made our flight and now I’m here in Fredonia attending college. This experience made me really think about what it means to be American.

            Just looking at how the two different immigration workers in the airport treated my mother gave me a sharp contrast in how Americans can act. One was incredibly rude and dismissive of someone who wasn’t American. The other helped as best he could and offered advice on how to best deal with the situation we found ourselves in. Immigration is the first thing that people see when they enter a country and as I’m effectively new to the US, this was my first glimpse at America. It wasn’t a great introduction to American society, but the help of the other worker helped to make it better. In Beyond Citizenship, Peter Spiro talks about American citizenship and the devaluing of American citizenship. This probably applied in my situation with immigration as the first man obviously feels strongly about American citizenship and how my mother didn’t want to become an American citizen. This is because Japan only lets you have one citizenship; you can have dual citizenship if you're born with both, but you have to pick Japan or whichever other country you’re tied to before you turn 22. Her parents, my grandparents, are Japanese and live in Japan so she is not going to give up her citizenship when she can just get a green card to live in the States. Spiro says the value of American citizenship has gone down, and while it may have gone down a bit, I believe that being American is still valuable.

My name is Mikiharu Holst and I’m half American and half Japanese. I’ve lived in many places around the world and have in turn experienced a lot. I was born in the States but I’ve spent more time overseas than I have in the US. In total I’ve only lived in the US for four years. My time in Japan and Israel has been more memorable than the few years I’ve had in the states. Moving around so much has made it that I don’t, or can’t, say “back home” in reference to the States. “Back home” happens to be wherever my family happens to be at the moment. The location of “home” shifts every few years and that’s normal for me. As moving to a new country is a more drastic change than moving to a new house in the neighborhood or to the next state, I’d say that my life has been different than many Americans. This has also lead me to less American interaction overall, as living in other countries has limited it to people in similar circumstances to me. Japan is the place I’ve lived the longest and could possibly be called home, but I don’t think there is any country I can really dub “home.”

While I don’t have a home, I’ve developed as a person throughout my life. I can say what kind of person that I am. I’m a nice guy, not outgoing, attempt to be funny but often fail miserably (sometimes in a way that ends up being amusing), pretty lazy, and a bunch of other descriptors that I could spout. Figuring out what kind of person I am isn’t something that just clicked one day. I’ve learned and relearned what kind of person I am throughout the years. It’s a bit harder to define what I am in regards to national identity, even after my 19 years on this planet.

Race is often used to guess roughly where someone is from. You take that, compare it to their clothes and what they have and you start forming opinions. Even if it’s not conscious, we all stereotype in one way or another and we apply that to how we look at the person. This could lead to a guess to them being from Kenya, China, or England. It’s terribly inefficient though. People from all races can be found all over the world. The US is also pretty diverse so that can throw a wrench into some guesswork. Drawing a conclusion of nationality from race doesn’t work. Matthew Frye Jacobson has a part in Whiteness of a Different Color where he quotes Smith and his students. One student was saying how anyone could tell that he was Greek just by looking at him. The student he asked said she didn’t know that the other student was Greek before he told the class he was. If you stand in front of a stranger and study them for a minute, will you be able to see what nationality they are? No. I can’t look in a mirror and see what my nationality is and I can’t look at someone else and instantly know theirs. So while we are legally born with a nationality, that doesn’t really mean anything. People aren’t born patriotic to a nation. You don’t even know what a nation is yet. Identity has to be found.

            I could just look at my race and then turn to my passports and stop there. If someone asks me what my nationality is I can just whip out my passports. “Look at these and it’ll tell you what I am. Ignore any preconceptions and doubts you may have, reader of my passport; you can now see that I am American and Japanese.” But wait, this doesn’t always work for people. It doesn’t work for me. While I do identify as American and Japanese, it’s not because my passports tell me that. There are people who don’t feel like they’re a part of the country they are officially a part of. Other people feel like they have a certain nationality even when they don’t have it officially. Having that little book is very useful if you want to travel and various other things requiring identification. I get to visit my family after this semester ends because my passport will let me fly over and visit them for winter break. People couldn’t travel around the world and see new places and experience different things without passports, but they don’t make your identity.

            Still, passports can help you figure out your identity. Typically this would happen by letting you travel and the experience would help you out. I’ve travelled all over the world because of it and I’ve dealt with many kinds of people. Europe, the Middle East, Japan, and the Philippines all act differently. Being in these places gave me experience with the rest of the world and how it acts. Many things are different overseas and many things can end up similar. Obvious things like language matter little and a lot. People are people regardless of what language they speak, but not speaking the same language can cause barriers to appear. In the Philippines they speak English but Tagalog is mixed in liberally to make a unique blend of Tagalog and English. It can vary depending on who you speak to and where you are in how much languages are mixed or used. This fusion of two languages is vastly different than in the US where speaking multiple languages is promoted, and bashed, at the same time.

Language also influenced my views on my identity, albeit indirectly. I can only speak English, even though I learned Spanish as a young child and Japanese in school while I lived in Japan. I forgot basically all the Spanish I knew within a couple weeks of leaving Mexico. Japanese went away slower, but I’d also not learned it as well as I had Spanish as a young child. I probably forgot the bulk of my Japanese knowledge more slowly than I did Spanish because we use a small amount of Japanese around the house; we occasionally talked with our grandparents on the phone(who only speak Japanese) and watched anime. I know a few words and how to count but I can’t really communicate with anyone in Japanese beyond rudimentary statements. While I still love my Japanese side, my inability to understand and speak Japanese effectively locks me out of truly identifying as Japanese. I like to say I’m half Japanese and its definitely a part of me, but my American side is more prominent because of this.

Cultures of other nations can give a stark contrast, or eerie similarity, to the one you’re used to. While I didn’t really live in America long enough to really grasp American society, I’ve lived around Americans overseas and have been in American International Schools. I think one of my most interesting experiences with culture was my trip to Qatar. Qatar was only going to take a few days as I was only there for an MUN (Model United Nations) conference. I flew in from Israel, so we had to do a somewhat roundabout flight to avoid problems with that. Right away my trip to Qatar made me think about what being an American meant. Just flying from Israel is enough to make it so the flight has to be in a somewhat roundabout way that avoids nations that aren’t really on friendly terms with Israel. While not everyone loves America, we don’t have to deal with as many people outright hating our guts. Landing then leads to customs and immigrations where having an Israeli passport lead to more scrutiny. A couple people were pulled aside for a more thorough check, being hassled for things on their passport, although overall the treatment was less severe than the year before. This is the main part where I saw what being Israeli meant to other people and I compared it to my treatment then and now. After the airport, most of my experiences and comparisons that I draw from Qatar stems from comparing the culture there to American culture. In a way it was very similar, but again very different. Many women wore traditional garb yet fashion stores could be found in malls. The mall I went to is an incredible mall that is fancy. It had a canal that ran through much of the mall, complete with gondolas. It had an ice rink, IMAX 3D, and of course McDonalds. A mall as massive and filled as this is something that many people consider “American” with consumerism and burgers, also had strong Islamic ties. It was a unique experience to me and was very interesting to say the least. The US has, relative to some countries in the Middle East, pretty strong ties to Qatar so it might not be too much of a surprise to see “American” things, but the contrast was still fascinating.

            When I think of my identity in the sense of being American, I look at my life experiences and who I am to try and determine that. I’ve only lived in the US for four years in total and this freshman year in college will be my fifth. I’ve lived in Bolivia, Mexico, Japan, Israel, and the Philippines. I’ve also visited Qatar, Rome, Vienna, Paris, and other airports around the world. Seeing the world is a rare opportunity and I grew up with it. I’ve dealt with people in other nations having to deal with me, an American, which puts some more perspective onto my life. When I compare how the people are in most of these nations to how many Americans I’ve met and know, I start to think that I am pretty American. While it’s not a universal template, many Americans are pretty nice and go out of their way to help a stranger. At least, this is an aspect of Americans that I think I have. And that is how it ended up becoming for me. Travel forces perspective onto you as you see the rest of the world. Japan is a good place for this to happen. At least for me. The American environment through the housing and schools gave me a more grounded and familiar place to live. But I’d step outside and be in a whole new world and could see the differences right away. Home wasn’t a copy of American life, but it had many aspects and the bases were pretty similar. I could just look at the movie theaters and see differences between Japan and America. Simple things like movie seats being something you just picked in the American theaters while you were assigned them in Japanese ones. I could find food that is usually only readily available in America and was “rare” in Japan. Caprisun was surprisingly popular among my friends and I’d trade with them during lunches. The, in a way, easy access to America through the bases enabled me to stay grounded and explore the country easily.

            Sum up everything that’s happened to me during my life and all the things I’ve done and experienced and you build up my identity. I view myself as an American, with Japanese parts, a nice guy, atheist, person who’s seen much of the world, a gamer, and human. My life has seen a host of experiences in my travels, mistakes, and adventures. If I had to I might be able to narrow down how I exactly define what my identity is, but I feel like my identity is malleable and can easily get modified. Some of the basics stay the same, which would be the things I listed before this, but overall my identity is not something I can really define yet. But the things I listed at the start of this paragraph are some of the most important parts of my identity. Family influenced me but they’re not my identity. Being American is an important part of me as I love my country. My Japanese side as well is something that I appreciate a lot and enjoy. Experience and having been in a good amount of the world has a lot of sway for me. I’m human with all my mistakes and achievements. My gamer part isn’t just saying that playing games is an important part of who I am but it is also how I can describe the kind of things I like among other things. But simply being a nice guy is the most important thing to me. I can be a dick sometimes and am not always cheerful or nice, but I try. Being nice is something I want to be, so I try and be it.

             America is a great country and I believe it’s the best in the world, even with all of our faults and imperfections. We try to be the best, not just in raw power, but in how we act and view the world. Some politicians and citizens might not follow that same train of thought, but the country as a whole tries. Aspiring to be what America stands for is what I believe is a core feature of what being American really is. You have to really want to be and try to be American. That doesn’t mean you have to attend rallies or do other crazy things to prove it. Simply wanting and trying to follow some of the ideals of the American dream or the principles that we stand for is enough in my book. Taking it too far still makes you an American, just a bad or stupid person. The ideals that America stands for probably differ person to person, but I think some of my thoughts on it might ring true for others. Tolerance and acceptance towards others of all kinds is something that I think America stands for. There of course is still racism and hatred towards certain groups in the US, but it is not supported. As America was built to greatness by a large assortment of people and groups, none can claim to be the real American way. The best and brightest Americans have roots from all over the world.  So with that in mind, I like to think America is the melting pot, as its been called, and that we are open to all and accepting of others.

            Beyond simply accepting others for their differences and looking at who they are as a person, I think Americans’ acting when needed is another important attribute. America acts when we think we’re needed to help out. While we have had misguided acts and aren’t always doing things for the right reasons, we still act where others don’t. If there is a problem we go out and try and fix it. This is something that should apply to smaller things than the acting of the country as a whole. I would hope that I would be able to follow my own directions if it ever came up for me to try and help stop a robber or other criminal. It’s a terrifying notion, but if people can’t even go out of their way to help someone who is literally right there in front of them, then we have no right to call ourselves a true American. Americans have pulled together in times of crisis, but there are also people who loot in those times and ignore crimes in front of them. Putting aside the examples of those who don’t follow the law or turn a blind eye to those who do, it is still an ideal that I think many people would like to follow. It’s difficult to judge how people would work with it, but it something that I could hope that more Americans would try and do.

            In addition to stepping up when it’s called for and being open and accepting to others, I think to be American you have to also try and achieve the American Dream. It’s something that has been a part of America for a long time. It comes in different phrases and can be described differently, symbolizing many American values and something we can aspire to no matter our social class. It isn’t an absolute idea and it isn’t perfect, but it extols great ideals and can encourage people to rise high above what they normally would think possible. Dreaming for greatness isn’t what is required, but getting to happiness via hard work or through your own means. Promoting that you can achieve what you want in life and the freedom of each person to do so. Pushing for individual freedoms is something that America has been doing for a while and the American Dream promotes freedom to succeed.

            Being American is important to many and it is important to me. It doesn’t rule my life, but I’d like to hold onto it if I can. When I look at the rest of my life and look it over it helps me reaffirm my American side, while I still embrace my Japanese side. I’ve gone from seeing American-like things overseas to being in America again. Returning to the States for college and reading non-fictional and fictional stories on what being an American means to people and what it means to be American, I’ve supplemented my experiences with these points of views and ideas. While I think that overall my ideas of what it means to be American hasn’t really changed too much over the course of the semester in American Identities, I’ve gotten more perspectives and could develop it some more. Being American is an important part of my identity, but to really reach that point I had to experience other things to figure out what being American means.

Sushi, Hair Metal, and My American Identity

Sushi, Hair Metal, and My American Identity

Anonymous

I.  How I Identify Myself

            No one is ever raised the exact same way as their friends, cousins, co-workers, classmates, etc., and I’ve always tried remembering that when certain things about others seem weird to me or don’t make sense.  Even in the apartment I live in now during school, the two other girls I live with have been raised very differently and have very different family backgrounds than me.  I sometimes forget now, since I’m not living with or close with some of my family, that there is more to me than being just an “American.”  There’s more to all of us than just being “American” and America really is a big melting pot of different cultures, beliefs, and traditions.

            I grew up in a Japanese household with my grandmother, brother, and father.  My grandmother and father are from Okinawa, Japan, and came here in the late 1950s or early 1960s.  She was the main person who took care of me because of my father’s work schedule and a lot of her traditions and customs, which she raised my father on, were also taught to my brother and I.  We were only allowed to speak Japanese at home and if we asked for something in English or said something in English, she wouldn’t acknowledge it because it was important to her for us to learn the language.  She also made a lot of Japanese food, which I still like to this day.  A lot of the cartoons, toys, etc., that I liked and remember playing with, too, were also originally Japanese and I think that’s because, besides her raising us that way, it’s what I knew and what interested me at the time.  I even met my family from Japan and really enjoyed meeting them and learning from them.

            When I started getting older, I started being interested in my own things, like most teenagers, and was allowed to hang out with friends more.  My grandmother moved into assisted living eventually and I stopped really paying attention to a lot of her and my father’s stories, somewhat ignoring that part of me more because I didn’t really care at the time.  I even lost the language once she moved out because I was barely using it.  Once I moved out of that house and into my mother’s house, I wasn’t surrounded by those things at all and pretty much let go of all of what I grew up on altogether.

            Now, being 20 years old and a senior in college, I’ve realized what is important to me and that a lot of my personality traits, what I like to do, and what I know have come from my childhood.  I’m really disappointed I can’t speak the language anymore and have wanted to begin learning again because it is important for me to hold onto some of those things for the future, to carry down when I have a family of my own.  My grandmother has even began losing the language because she doesn’t get to use it a lot, except on the phone with relatives, and it really upsets her because even though, at this point, she’s accepted the American culture, she still wants to hold onto part of where she came from.  I still know how to make sushi and cook some of the food, which I am proud of knowing, but that’s the only thing I can truly say I’ve still totally held onto and know.

            Besides where my grandmother and father came from, there’s a lot about me that makes me “me.”  My father rode a Harley and listened to Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Motley Crue, Poison, Kiss, etc., and those things have definitely been passed down on me.  Motley Crue is still one of my favorite bands, and I have to see them live at least a couple times a year, and that’s probably one of the first things people that know me would think of when saying what I’m interested in.

            At first, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my journalism major because I know I could never come right out of college being a clean-cut news anchor or something along those lines, but this far into it, I’ve found that it actually fits me very well.  My biggest interests to write about and explore are music, body art, and motocross and it’s possible to be a successful, professional, journalist in those areas while still being myself.  I’ve never cared about going into a field where I’m guaranteed to make a lot of money in the future, like some other students I’ve met.  It’s more important to me to hold onto who I am and enjoy the rest of my life than hate going to work everyday, as long as I make enough to get by and provide for my own family in the future.

II.  A Significant Experience With American Identities

            My father fought in the Vietnam War and has told me small stories of his time there, but for the most part doesn’t really want to explain them to me or explain how scary it really was being there.  As a little girl, I never knew exactly what the war was or how bad of a war it really was, but once I got older and started learning about it in school, I started realizing a lot more of what my father went through and why it affected him so much to this day.

            I can’t imagine what he saw with his own eyes and it took me up until recently to start fully understanding his PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and how to not be bothered by it.  It used to embarrass me sometimes how awkwardly social he was and how a lot of the time, he keeps to himself and doesn’t know how to act in certain situations, but I’ve really learned, especially this past summer, how to not let other people’s reactions to the “weird” things he does affect me.

            This story about America, to me, is the one I feel has most affected me because a part of it is still with my father to this day, and throughout my life, I’ve had to experience and live with that part he carries with him.  I don’t think many people truly understand the effects war has on people until they see it first hand and while we learn about the different wars throughout our school years, and while we live through one now, it’s hard for me to imagine all of the people going through similar things my father, as well as my grandfather in WWII, went through and are going through.  The number of soldiers written out in textbooks is more than just a number and many people forget to think of it as an actual group of people like us.

            All the students my age and older can probably recall where they were when the World Trade Centers were hit and right now we’re all living through something, some more than others, that will be a few chapters in a high school history textbook in the future.  I was getting ready for school when I walked in my living room and saw my father watching it on TV.  I had no idea what was actually going on because I was only ten at the time, but I started gradually understanding what was going on as people explained it to me.  I didn’t think or understand at the time, though, that the after-effects would still be going on now.

            Now, at this point, I’ve met many people my age back home in Buffalo that have been in the war, as well as students and friends in Fredonia.  My roommate’s boyfriend was in Iraq for 8 months and came to Fredonia for school afterwards.  It’s strange to think of how much he went through there and now he’s here just doing everyday things with us, once again, but still carries that with him.  Many people I went to high school with have also gone over there and it’s changed my perspective a lot on my dad’s experience because I’m living through seeing them leave, not just hearing about it after it’s all over, and what they’re going through is somewhat similar to what my dad had to do.

III.  My Beliefs/Principles On How We Ought To Define And Understand American Identities

            America is full of many different people and I’ve met people from many different places and backgrounds, as I’m sure many others have also.  Coming to Fredonia, some of my best friends here are from Africa and Jamaica.  They still fit right in being here and I don’t see them as being any more different than anyone else, they’re just used to some different things than us.  The “melting-pot” idea of our country is very true.  We’re all a mixture of different ethnicities, religions, etc., mixing together and living together.

            I feel like there’s a place in America for people of every color, race, religion, belief, sexual orientation, etc., and think the first thing any American should be is accepting or open-minded.  We all know that this isn’t really a trait everyone in our country possesses, but to me, it’s what every American should aim for.  I couldn’t imagine living in places like Jamaica, where my friend is from, where being a gay male is wrong and having a relationship with another man is against the law.  Cops there even turn the other way when it comes to hate crimes against homosexuals, while here there are parades all over the country here and gay marriage is being legalized in many states, giving some of my friends the right to be who they are and have that equal opportunity.

            I also feel like living here gives us the opportunity to make a lot out of ourselves.  We can pretty much dream of doing anything with our lives and there’s a way to achieve it.  There are so many different majors to choose from when going into tech school or college and we have the ability to change our minds at any time as long as we can finance it in some way.  Everything in our country doesn’t always run smoothly and isn’t always the fairest, and many people don’t always agree with the governments policies or ways and some abuse government assistance, but we have a lot a more opportunities and rights than other places.

            In Margaret Regan’s The Death of Josseline, the Mexican immigrants see America as an opportunity to make more money than they can back home so they can support their families, and it’s true that we are able to make more money than them, but being an American citizen, we have to pay taxes/pay our dues for being a citizen.  Living here and making a life for ourselves here is expensive, so it’s not like everything here is just given to all of us and our country has its problems.  While we are lucky to live in this country, the stereotypes others have about the “American dream” and us aren’t true altogether to that degree.

IV.  What Makes My American Identity

            After taking this American Identities class, it’s led me to really think about what all of those factors say about my American identity.  They all seem to just work together and fit into being “American.”  Growing up listening to hair metal and music along those lines and also facing a Japanese upbringing has made me the person I am today.

            I believe the Japanese upbringing has made me more of the person I am today than I ever realized before this class.  Like I mentioned in section I, I went through a rebelling stage of my upbringing, but I still hold onto some of it today and part of my personality comes from it.  Even when I was trying to let it go and be my teenage self, I never realized that my self included some of the Japanese traits that my grandmother passed down to me and I can’t erase something that makes me.

            I related to Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother because of her daughter’s struggles with her unusual, strict parenting.  In the memoir, Chua doesn’t see that her way of parenting is too strict, which in my opinion it is, and I think my grandmother was a lot like her, just not as extreme.  I couldn’t hang out with friends a lot because she felt like homework was more important and I always had the pressure on me to not disappoint them.  I played the flute and only practiced because it pleased her and my father.  I felt like an outcast in school because I didn’t wear the cool clothes or do the cool things my other classmates did because she didn’t feel like that was important.  I also studied a lot in school and did very well, and to add onto my embarrassment at the time, I was the biggest teacher’s pet.  I eventually applied for City Honors School (CHS), which is one of the best schools in the Buffalo area, and began going there in 7^th grade.  They were so happy for me to go to that school because it kept me out of the rest of the Buffalo Public Schools that weren’t good.

            Once I got into CHS, that’s when I began to rebel against my grandmother and father and met friends that were in similar situations.  As much as I tried to ignore my home life, I look back at it now and realize how I really never did.  The music I was listening to still related to the heavy-metal, hard-rock past my father passed onto me.  The rebelling stage fit into exactly that image, as well.  I may have worn more black, gotten more piercings, and acted less reserved than I used to, but it was nothing new.  It’s the same sort of rebelling we see in many American movies and hear countless teenage stories about.  I was still doing well in school, but didn’t care much and skipped a lot of classes.  I think that might have been the biggest way I know how of firing back at my father and being an angry teenager.

            I’ve gone through some other stages since then, but that was my most relevant one because it was at such a crucial time in life transitioning from middle school up to high school.  Now in college, I’ve realized how reserved, or shy, I am compared to a lot of people, including my roommate, and this may be because my grandmother was always raised to be this way as well.  I’m very soft spoken, unlike my roommate, who is Italian and is loud and vocal with everything she’s thinking or feels.

            As far as the metal music goes, I can pretty much say that it is something I will never get over and in a way, I feel like some of it makes America.  When I think of the perfect American spokesperson, I think of Bret Michaels running around on stage wearing a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, blue jeans, and a ripped up t-shirt and singing to the troops, then riding his Harley around.  My father’s love for Ozzy Osbourne could have been his rebelling stage that he went through against my grandmother’s upbringing, so I think we have that in common.  He held onto that and somewhat Americanized himself, while growing up and realizing that he couldn’t let go of the Japanese part of himself either.  My children will probably grow up getting rocked to sleep by me with Motley Crue, Black Sabbath, Poison, and Kiss on in the background and maybe they’ll hang onto it the way I do.

            Thinking back to friends’ stories about growing up and their identity, as well as other classmates’, I don’t think there is one certain trait that everybody in America possesses that makes us who we are as a country.  What we all do have in common is that our ancestors and/or ourselves have all come from different places and have faced different cultural issues.  America is just a big melting pot of every culture, religion, race, and issue.

V.  American Stereotypes

            My boyfriend is from Nigeria and he considers himself very American.  He’s interested in arts and music, which disappoints his parents because they came to America to make a better life for themselves and their children and they feel like he’s setting himself up for failure.  His family back in Nigeria doesn’t have all that they do here and they feel like he doesn’t take advantage of that or appreciate it.  He always mentions to me how proud they are of his sister for going through medical school and becoming a doctor.  I’ve noticed many doctors I meet are from other countries and maybe part of the lazy stereotype of Americans is because we all don’t take advantage of education the way they do, or we don’t have the same goals that they do.  As I mentioned earlier, money isn’t a huge deal to me and I’m happy pursuing a job in writing.  I’ve never wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer.  My parents are a little worried about my future because journalism is a tough field to find a job in, but compared to his parents, it’s nothing and they’re still supportive.  His parents are constantly on him about finding a good job or going back to school for something other than marketing and music business, but that’s all he wants to do and feels like he disappoints them sometimes.

            When it comes to religion, I’m far from religious and am technically Jewish, but I’ve never followed it.  My boyfriend’s family is very Christian and they think it’s a shame that our country is more lenient on religion.  We’re free to believe whatever we want and in my opinion that’s the way it should be, but I can see where they’re coming from because religion has caused many issues between different regions in Africa and their culture is based on religion.  America is more accepting of different people’s beliefs, including theirs so, I feel like we’re fortunate in the way that we can all live side by side with far less conflict.  No country is perfect when it comes to different forms of hate, but at least here it’s not extreme.

            Some of the American stereotypes we talked about in class may apply to myself and/or others, but I’m not sure if they’re only American traits.  I’m going to London next semester to study abroad and I’m excited to be exposed to life there and want to see the way people act in their everyday lives compared to Americans.  I’m wondering if I’m just ignorant to some American stereotypes being true because I haven’t been exposed enough to other cultures, or if they really are just false stereotypes that could apply elsewhere.  I’ve taken vacations to other places and have met people from other countries that live in America, but I don’t think that has opened my eyes as much as that experience will.

Works Cited 

Chua, Amy.  Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.  New York:  The Penguin Press, 2011.

Regan, Margaret.  The Death of Josseline.  Boston:  Beacon Press Books, 2010.

American Diversity

American Diversity

Tracy

PART ONE:  A Reflection on Self-Identification

“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” 

~George Moore

I’ve never considered myself a family-oriented person. In fact, my immediate family barely communicates simply due to lack of common interest. We all live separately at this point, talk on the phone occasionally, and indulge on holidays. Even as a child I was very introverted and preferred solitude. When reflecting upon how I’ve come to be the person I am, I was surprised to notice the amount of influence my family, and especially my Mother, had on me. My story perfectly exemplifies the significant impact that a positive family and home environment can have on a person, even if some factors in the situation were less than perfect.

I always thought I was growing up and being raised in an average American family; even despite seeing nuclear families grace my television, I never considered my circumstances abnormal. Oblivious to social norms, I’d bet most American children don’t understand what the “typical American family” is supposed to be like if they didn’t grow up in the suburbs with a Mother and a Father, a sibling and a dog. In my case, Grandma woke me up because Mom was busy at work and Dad was somewhere else, magically appearing in the driveway on weekends, half-heartedly taking me to some museum or buying me a new doll.

 While growing up my friends used to say that it “must be really hard” to live with divorced parents, but I hadn’t ever considered my position to be difficult; it was my life and I didn’t know how I was “supposed” to feel. Hearing these comments at a young age made me really think about how I was supposed to feel and who I was supposed to be, but by age ten I decided that it probably wasn’t worth making myself upset over.  As I was growing older, I realized that most of my friends’ parents were getting divorced as well, and that this stereotypical family dynamic was simply a fallacy.

Scientists can debate arguments about nature versus nurture until the apocalypse comes, but I am absolutely certain the experiences in my life have no doubt had an impact on my personality. I am collectively, and not exclusively, introverted, ambitious, honest, and loyal. I am a feminist, a connoisseur of all things rock-and-roll, an atheist, and a person who wants to do good things for the sake of being good. I am an extremely hardworking-individual that, if not completely self-driven, seeks motivation from strong female figures that I look up to.

I never had an extremely close relationship with my Mother, and that’s something I’m currently still struggling with, yet she has had the most significant impact on me out of anyone in my family or friend groups. Throughout my life I have watched my Mother struggle through many difficulties, often facing them alone, and never faltering. We do not always get along; in fact, most times we don’t even talk, but I never fail to let her know how admirable she is, and how much courage she has. She is strong, rebellious, self-reliant and kind-hearted; she has demonstrated to me the kind of woman that girls need to aspire to be, not the women who are broadcast on television.

            I believe that in America, everyone is given a chance to succeed. Some people may have more opportunity than others, but I believe that the chances of success are largely determined by a person’s ambition and their drive to succeed. My work ethic and ambitious attitude are something that I’ve become very proud of, and are a defining part of who I am. From the time I was little, I always admired my mother, who was working diligently and, without ever saying it, showing me what a woman could be and do despite what I saw on television. I learned that ambition is the trait that differentiates great from mediocre, intelligent from dull, professional from domestic: not man from woman. My drive to succeed, to meet my ambitious goals, has gotten me through the hardest moments in my life and helped me improve myself immensely.

            My whole life I have struggled with depression and anxiety. Looking up to my mother and other women has helped me grow, and helped me realize there is no challenge too difficult to overcome. These experiences have largely contributed to the development of my convictions and my general approach to life, truly shaping who I am. I believe that each person has something in their life that gives them inspiration and strength, and communicating with other people who have overcome difficulties in the face of sexism, abuse, or misfortune gives me faith in humanity and the motivation to succeed. Identifying with these ideals has given me strength as a person and given me the support I have needed to grow into the person I’ve become.

PART TWO: Diversity Among Youth

“I think what you're seeing is a profound recognition on the part of the American people that gays and lesbians and transgender persons are our brothers, our sisters, our children, our cousins, our friends, our co-workers, and that they've got to be treated like every other American. And I think that principle will win out.”

~Barack Obama

For the first eighteen years of my life I resided in a suburban town right outside of Buffalo, New York, which was inhabited by nuclear families who worked unfulfilling nine-to-five jobs. Most of the kids my age were struggling with average issues and experiencing the expected angst and melodrama of any high school.  Everything was relatively average. Just like an American TV drama, some minor mishaps would occur but over the course of a few days everything would go back to normal.

Everything changed when I met Chad. I was in the tenth grade, he was a freshman, and my friend Vicky was our mutual friend. One morning as we were walking to our first classes, she invited Chad to walk with us. We made casual small talk and discussed our plans for the day. I was under the impression that everything was normal, Chad seemed like a nice guy and that if he was Vicky’s friend then he must be a decent person. When I got to class a couple people approached me, asking if I knew Chad. I didn’t understand at the moment why everyone was making such a big deal out of such an ordinary person. By looking at Chad there was nothing remarkable about him; he looked like an average high school freshman, squirrelly and awkward. After some investigation I discovered that the general confusion was that nobody could decipher if Chad was a boy or a girl; he seemed in-between, ambiguous, and in the year book he was listed as “Kristy.”

            My initial reaction was to be shocked and confused as well; I was angry at myself for reacting in such a way, but I had never seen anything like this happen in my hometown before. When I talked to Chad I was unsure of what to say: should I ask him about it? How should I address him? I was scared and uncomfortable.  Not being the most popular student in the school myself, I realized it would be hypocritical to outcast Chad, and I was trying to always be open-minded. After giving the matter much thought, I convinced myself that it would be idiotic not to accept Chad as he was. He was just a person like anyone else--what was there to be scared of?

Chad was really kind, and I was secretly very interested in his decision to change his gender, but I knew that if he was comfortable talking about it he would tell me his story. I knew I would have to wait and gain Chad’s trust in order for him to learn more about his decision, but other people at our school were not as understanding.

            People would tease him, spread nasty rumors, call him an “it”: they would do anything they could to rationalize him and his situation and what it meant to their lives. I was alarmed when Chad told me he had decided to address all of two thousand students at once, and that there was going to be an entire school assembly all about him and his story. He gave a short speech, vaguely detailing his story in hopes that it would feed people’s curiosity enough for them to leave him alone. In a nutshell, Chad told us all that he was born in the wrong body. He had undergone rigorous neurological and psychological testing as a child, and all the professionals agreed with him:  Kristy was really, mentally and psychologically, a male. He also touched on his emotional journey through his life, explaining how he had once been suicidal, but now felt strong. Chad also showed us photos of him as a child, a little girl who always looked uncomfortable and out of her element in a pink dress.

 At this point, I was almost certain that people would leave Chad alone, and maybe even reach out to him. I even thought that he may make several friends from the whole experience, but I was simply being naïve. I thought people would admire his courage, understand him, but they didn’t and the teasing and bullying only grew worse. Everything got so bad that Chad’s family decided to move to a different school district so that he could have a fresh start, and I never saw him again.

I stayed in contact with Chad for several years after he moved. He told me that things were a lot better at his new school and that he had joined some online support groups where he could reach out to other teens going through the same issues. Looking at photos of Chad now, he looks like any other twenty-one year old male. He has facial hair, a strong jaw-line, a smile and even a beautiful girlfriend. By looking at his photographs you can tell he truly is happy to be alive and even happier because he went through with what he believed to be right for himself.

            This whole experience helped me realize that gender is a huge part of personal identity and helps us, both as humans and Americans, define who we are and how people see us. Meeting and knowing Chad opened my eyes to a whole other world of people, people who struggled with gender, or whose gender didn’t fit into the binary gender roles and assignments. I’ve learned that many people feel threatened by experiences like these, and become defensive. As with most things, if people are made uncomfortable and are forced to evaluate their own identity then they dismiss something as “weird” or “bad.” These stigmas can be devastating to the individuals and cause high rates of depression and suicide.

            The amount of hate crimes committed against homosexual or transgendered people in America is quite outstanding. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs the amount of hate-crimes against the LGBT community has increased by 13% from 2009 to 2010 alone. The hatred geared towards this community is deeply rooted into our society and is prevalent in our television shows, video games, movies, and every other sort of media imaginable.

            Chad is just one of many other transgendered individuals whom are free to choose their gender as American citizens, because in some scenarios people do not identify with the genders they were ascribed. America was once looked at as the “melting pot” of cultures, but it seems as though we’ve come to a standstill and that we’d rather everyone assimilate into some American ideal that is neither realistic nor practical. Change and growth are necessary to make a culture progress and if we as a society attempt to inhibit cultural progress, we will be divided as a nation.

“He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.”

 ~Harold Wilson

PART THREE: American Change

“Sitting at the table doesn't make you a dinner, unless you eat some of what's on that plate. Being here in America doesn't make you an American. Being born here in America doesn't make you an American.”

 ~Malcolm X

Throughout the course of my life I have only passively recognized that I am an American citizen but I had never truly thought about what it meant in terms of my own identity. As children we are raised to always be proud to be an American, but as we grow older it is our responsibility to put some thought into why we should feel prideful of our nationality and conversely, why we shouldn’t.

I have had the privilege of being exposed to many different lifestyles throughout my upbringing and, given these experiences; it’s hard for me to say what I believe being an American entails. I believe that some foreign stereotypes of American culture are accurate at times, but I also feel that America’s culture has so much depth that is not apparent to foreigners, and perhaps is not even apparent to most Americans. The density of American culture is profound, and the ability for it to be overlooked is quite easy. The pure size and diversity of our nation causes us to form separate cultures and identities throughout the country. The formulation of sub-cultures and area-based culture distorts any pre-conceived notion of a common national identity, making us unsure of whom we are and what we’re supposed to be. The media seems to be absolutely certain of what they want us to be, taking the extreme examples of our culture and representing our entire national identity as such. This issue is directly correlated to the amount of inadequacies people think they have in our nation, which may be why we are so eager to seek medication for even the smallest of problems.

Americans are known for being fat, for teenage pregnancies, for eating disorders, and in general being gluttonous and greedy individuals. We are known for our desire to mask our problems with a façade and carry on, self-medicating and self-diagnosing. We are known for being lazy, for being stupid, for being ignorant. We are constantly questioning ourselves and seeking some sort of societal approval; as American citizens we don’t trust ourselves to know what’s in our best interest. The American media controls most of what our society thinks about health-issues, the way men and women’s bodies should look, and the appropriate way in which to act or dress.

Even in popular culture the American identity is constantly changing and shifting as technology and the general global culture shifts, and it seems as though we have become resistant to the change. I’m not speaking of technological change, but of change within our personal convictions. We are nostalgic for the past and still want to be the milk-and-butter eating, white Americans we were in the 1950s, an ideal that probably never was a reality, and can definitely no longer exist. Yet, even though our culture is shifting towards a modern age, older generations resist, and remain conservative in their values, while the youth seems to be getting increasingly more extreme with time.

American ideals have changed and women and minorities have gained more power and more a voice in our society and government. It seems as though through the shifts in our culture people are confused about their roles in society. People appear to be unsure of how they should behave and interact with others. This may have to do with the considerable difference between values among the different generations, but can also be attributed to the vast amount of sub-cultural activity in America.

Being such a large nation, we have so many subcultures and lifestyles that vary throughout our country, it seems as though there is no way to act “truly American” other than as a technicality. Despite this, I think Americans have a certain air about themselves that differentiates them from people of other countries; our pride unites us as a country.

My advice for American citizens is to approach the American identity, and all of life, with more of an open mind. All of Americans aren’t revolutionaries or cowboys or ignorant and fat. I would say that most Americans don’t know who they are, or don’t fit into a stereotypical category, and they are just trying to live their lives. Most Americans, from my experience, value their freedom more than anything, and we should be free to pursue the lifestyles we choose.

In the modern world people are much more exposed to other ways of life and other cultures and are more apt to practice different lifestyles than the way in which they were brought up. This can lead to hatred among family members and friends, which is completely unnecessary and unfortunate. If people were open-minded to other ways of life, Americans would be happier people and there would be less division between races and subcultures of modern society.

Identity of an Atypical College Student

Identity of an Atypical College Student

Tylor

What Is an Identity?

It is defined as the distinguishing character or personality of an individual. This is an identity in its simplest form. So, I set out on a quest to find my identity and in turn find out what it means to be me. An identity should be important for every person to realize about themselves because self-realization is crucial to being a good person.

My First Identifying Factor

 I would identify myself as an American. I was born here, my parents were born here, and my grandparents were born here. That makes me American. My ancestors are Irish and Italian, but that doesn’t make me Irish or Italian. It is unfair to the people who are those ethnicities to say that I am one of them. It is comparable to saying that I was on a championship winning team when in reality I was on that team years after they won the championship and did not actually earn it myself. Sometimes people forget that they have never actually been to the country that they associate themselves with. If you were to ask them anything about the country that they are from they are likely not to know the answer. If you ask them something about America, they have a greater chance of getting the answer right, but they still would not consider themselves American if asked the question.

After realizing that I am indeed American I must ask myself what it means to be American. Being American brings on great responsibility. You have to act perfect all the time when interacting with people from different countries because Americans are scrutinized the most out of all. America is the number one leader on the world stage and that means that a lot of eyes are on what America does. It also means that many aspects of globalization are strongly linked to Americanization. America is seen as too big to fail because if America does poorly, then the rest of the world might do poorly. America has used this philosophy on their own banks recently knowing that they needed to be bailed out in order for America to keep functioning properly. The fact that America is too big to fail means that a lot of people are relying on America to do well and therefore are looking at with more scrutiny. I know that when I visit other countries that I must be on my best behavior because people are always trying to make Americans out to be the bad guys. It comes with the territory and I realize this.

This isn’t the only thing that being American entails; it also includes a higher standard of living and with this higher standard comes more opportunity to help others. There are plenty of opportunities to help other people in other countries who were not fortunate enough to be able to help themselves. This is something that I know is included with my identity and I try to embrace it in any way possible. It is hard to do work for people in other countries, but I try my best to help people in need. I love being American and I would choose no other fate for myself. It is a blessing to be born in the greatest country in the world and that is why I find it unfathomable that people choose to say they are other ethnicities.

My Second Identifying Factor

            I am a white male. I group these two together because throughout history they have been considered one identifying factor. This is an obvious characteristic of mine that is clearly visible by all. Race can be an important thing is someone’s life and is different from an ethnicity. Ethnicity refers to cultural characteristics, location, and beliefs. Race refers to a person's appearance and has biological underpinnings. They are commonly mistaken to mean the same thing, but in reality they are vastly different.

            Race is something that I have dealt with a lot in my years. My uncle was adopted from the Philippines, but he looks black. When I was younger and I walked around with him, people would think he was my dad and it was looked down upon. I was clearly white and the fact that I was with him implied interracial relations. It didn’t really occur to me then, but people really do not like the idea that a black man could be with anyone except a black woman. I have no negative connotations of African American people, but that is because I was raised to know better. I do understand how people can grow up with the negative feelings towards black people because of how they were raised. If someone is told their whole life that African American people are the enemy and that they are people of lesser importance than they are obviously going to have bad feelings towards them. I was fortunate enough to be raised correctly and not to discriminate, but many people in this country are not as fortunate as I.

My Third Identifying Factor

I would identify myself as someone who is “settled down.” I have a fiancé and have been with her for over 5 years. We are extremely happy, but it is rare that someone at my age settles down with one individual, especially in a college setting. This aspect of my identity is crucial because it makes me change things about myself. I realize that I need to be more conscientious about my money because I need to save enough to support both of us in the future. Also I realize that a relationship is give and take, and I need to compromise with her on some views.

            Being in college itself is an identifying factor. The American College Kid has a certain stereotype that is mostly negative. A college male in America is supposed to follow one of two paths. A person can join a frat and live through college getting drunk regularly, have multiple women in his life, and own fancy things. This person is not prepared for life in the slightest. They never do any work, they don’t worry about what alcohol is doing to their system and they think that a tough day is one that they actually go to every class. This isn’t typical, but it is one of the college male stereotypes. The other version of a college student is the typical stoner. This is the one that never does any work and is too “baked” to think coherently. They do not care what others think and they are the ones that go to rallies and parties during class just because they have those set for their priorities. Neither of these two stereotypes are positive ones, but they are the typical ones portrayed in the mainstream movies and shows that are seen globally.

            My specific experience with the American identity of the college male has to do with the fact that I am engaged. Not many people my age get engaged, and when they do it is often frowned upon at this stage in life. People always say that I am throwing my life away. To those people I say that I am just starting it earlier than most. It is much better to start living at a young age and being with her makes me feel good. Sometimes people wonder why I would commit at my age and ask me how I know she is the one. I really dislike hearing these questions all the time. The people that know us do support us and that is really all that matters, but it goes against the mold. It goes against the stereotype of the typical college male, and most people do not like change.

            Another thing that goes against most college stereotypes is the fact that I do not drink. I have never been drunk or gone to a bar with the goal of getting drunk. This is weird to my friends because, like many college students, they get drunk 2 nights a week. I prefer to stay inside and watch a movie or play a game and remember what I did that night. This isn’t typical, but it is preferable. It is often looked down upon by the people that I am closest to.

Yet another college male stereotype that I do not fit is the all-nighter. I have never had to put myself through an all-night study or work session like it is portrayed in many movies. I believe it is more important to sleep than it is to study and there have been many studies that would back that idea up. There are many people that I have seen that do these study sessions but it really is not beneficial. I do procrastinate, but I try not to procrastinate to the point where I have to cram for an entire night, which leads to the next topic, coffee!

            I absolutely hate coffee. The smell of it is bad, the taste of it is bad, and the effects are bad. It is not great for your body but there really aren’t many things that can wake you up without a large amount of caffeine. I am a soda drinker which isn’t much better, but the stereotype says that I should cram for tests all night with a large cup of java in hand. My fiancé does live on coffee so we often feud about the effects and the usage purposes of it. She usually wins.

Fourth Identifying Factor

            I would identify myself as a geek. The term geek is very specific. It refers to someone who is interested in things that others are not commonly interested in. A geek is smart, but unlike a nerd or a dork they are also socially adept. A common misconception is that they are not good at working with people, but in reality they are. I classify myself as such because I am into sports and hanging out with people, but I also love working on computers. That is my hobby and it is the thing that interests me, but does not interest many others.

            I love being a geek. I enjoy video games across multiple platforms and I enjoy working with technology. Being a geek also comes with some negatives. In my experience, geeks are usually a bit more unkempt and have a hard time caring about physical appearance. When people find out that I am a computer technician they often put these images into the back of their head. It isn’t truly accurate or a fair representation of being a geek, but it is a misconception that is prominent in today’s society.

General American Stereotypes

            (1) There are many misconceptions about America that are portrayed in stereotype from, but many of the stereotypes about America are actually pretty accurate. Americans are known as being greatly obese. This obesity epidemic is fairly recent, and is actually pretty true. Americans seem to be a bit larger than their English counterparts. They have greater access to fatty foods and food in general than most other countries. In America fatty food is rather inexpensive whereas the fruits and veggies can cost quite a bit more. This may be the reason that Americans are seen as larger than other people globally. This is seen throughout my own experiences because I too am a bit larger than most. I eat these fatty foods because I can afford them, and I eat food on campus which is generally less healthy than food found elsewhere.

            (2) Another stereotype about America is that we do not care about other countries. In general this seems to be true also. I personally know quite a bit about other countries because I am a history major and other countries intrigue me, but my peers seem to know very little about the world outside of America. This, like most things, has an explanation. People in America do not converse with many people in other countries because we do not border very many unlike European countries. We also cannot move freely between countries like they can in Europe. There is a passport and a long wait in order to get to Canada or Mexico and honestly many people would rather stay in America than venture forth into sometimes hazardous Mexico. Some people do go to Canada, but it isn’t a trip that can be made often and usually people do not go there for an extended period of time. If people want to visit other countries in Europe they can do so rather inexpensively and without much hassle.

Another example of the blindness of America is that people who live in the United States often forget that they are not the only country in America. They forget that there is a North and South America and as you can see in my paper I am a perpetrator of this. I usually just say America because it is simpler and easier, but really it is because I do honestly forget to acknowledge the other American countries.

            (3) One of the only American stereotypes that actually irks me is the one about Rednecks. It isn’t fair to refer to everyone in the South as a redneck. I was born in Louisiana and lived there for a while and the people down there are just as sophisticated as the ones in the North. Most people do not even know what it means to be a redneck. It really isn’t a bad thing to be a redneck and in some parts of the country it is the highest form of flattery. Some people love hunting, fishing, drinking, and being ignorant to all other issues. Ignorance is bliss and it makes them happy not to worry about many problems that they usually have no control over. Americans often are too stressed about things that they cannot change and therefore have stress that isn’t warranted. I am one of those people. I always worry about things that I cannot change. I realize it isn’t something that I should do, but unfortunately I am not ignorant to the issues of the world and therefore I focus on them.

(4) One of the stereotypes that I am unfortunately adding to is that Americans need things bigger and better. When a new technology comes out I must have it. When I look for a car or a house I must have the best, but why? Why does it really matter if I have a car that looks nicer than you? Is it to make you jealous? I honestly have no answer to these questions, but it might be because I am ignoring them so that I do not feel bad for taking part in it.  If I have a car that runs and a house that is good for shelter, then I should be happy. Unfortunately this is not how many Americans think. They always want better things than the person next to them. Americans were actually upset when the new iPhone came out because it looked like the old one and nobody would know that they had upgraded. This idea is ridiculous. If it works better, then you should get it, but do not get it just so that other people know that you upgraded.

(5) One stereotype that is similar to one mentioned earlier is that Americans are lazy. This is similar to obese Americans, but is different on so many levels mostly because of technology. Before computers and machines, people had to do physical labor to get by, but now people can sit at a machine and push buttons. This means they can be obese and it won’t really affect their work ethic. The thing that I would say I would identify with the most is a hard worker. I move up fast in any job that I have and I achieve high accolades no matter what the job is. It’s not that I can do my job better than anyone else, it’s just that I try harder to do better. If I do not know something I try to learn it and I typically learn what I need to do fairly quickly. I am a Resnet technician and when I went into the job I honestly did not know all that much about computers. Within one year I became student manager and had learned everything that there was to know at the position. It was a great experience, but I feel as if it is time to move on because there is no more challenge, which leads me to my next point.

Final Thoughts

            Is there anything more annoying and diverse as an American? I would have to say no. Americans are so diverse that they can annoy people on different levels. They can be too loud and pushy like a “New Yorker.” They can be too stupid and slutty like the “Dumb Blonde” girl that we all knew in high school. They can constantly be talking about killing deer and driving around in their pickup truck with a shotgun like the “Redneck.” Or they can be getting drunk and saying “bro” all the time like the “typical college kid.” Of course these aren’t accurate representations of America, but it’s what makes America what it is today. It is diverse, it is constantly changing, it is sometimes oblivious to actual problems, and it is constantly using force to prove points.

All of these stereotypes are obviously a bit exaggerated, but they all serve to show what America is. It isn’t all of what America is, but it is a part of America and they show the culture of America. Other countries have stereotypes that they aren’t proud of but it shows what they are made of. One example is that Swedish girls are among the most promiscuous. This isn’t a positive stereotype but it does tell us something about Swedish culture. The people in Sweden actually see promiscuity different than in America and the people in Sweden simply do not care if the girls dress in “skimpy” clothing. I found this out working as an intern for schools in Sweden.

The term American identity is rooted in enlightenment ideals. Out of the enlightenment came many ideas and a new way of thinking. The main thing was a belief in the individual, and this led to romanticism and consequently romantic nationalism. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a leader in this area of thinking and one of the main ideas that he had was that people should identify with their country rather then themselves and that their country is the individual which should be fought for. The idea of a national identity comes from beliefs rooted in the early 1700s and it still exists today.

I think that the idea of American Identities is a horrible one because it creates strife and stereotypes that may not exist otherwise. Without creating specific identities for people there might be more unity. If there were less ways to single people out from others then there might be less discrimination, which would be good for all. Obviously the idea of an identity is inescapable, but it's always good to think “what if?”