Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

   For this particular assignment, I had the opportunity to ask others what their definition of culture and diversity is and how they feel it is reflected in their everyday lives here in the United States and if there is any aspect of their heritage that they feel cannot be fully expressed here.  The first person I chose is actually a good friend of mine named Sally, who is a nurse an is originally from Trinadad, which is a small island off of the coast of South America in the Atlantic Ocean.

She tells me it was beautiful growing up there and their culture was represented in everything they did.  For instance what was really exicting to me was that she grew up in what would be considered a palace here with 14 bedrooms!  She said she was a nurse by trade, that was very common for women in her culture and along with her sisters and mom made wonderful fiests every night, sewed their own clothes and made purses as well.  Everything was about family, the music, the food, religion, and placement in the family.  Her dad and brothers did all of the manual labor and women did what she referred to as women's duties and they wore these beautiful outfits with beautiful decoratory jewels on their faces and hair.  Diversity is reflected in the different colored jewels and bracelets worn by the different families.  Here in the United States, she feels so disconnected from her heritage and looks so forward to her trips to Trinidad every year where as she elaborates, "she feels complete."  It made me reflect on our lessons this week on being truly bicultural and feeling like you fit everywhere.  This is a much harder task to accomplish then one would think.
     The second person I asked is one of the cheering moms, Kathy.  She is originally from Puerto Rico and moved here with her husband after they were married.  She said that she grew up near the
near the coast of San Juan.  When she reflected on her culture and diversity growing up, she said the music is what she missed the most.  There were festivals in the streets and muscians randomly happily singing and dancing.  I wondered, why are we not so care free here?  How magical and uplifting!   Her views of culture were much like Sally's in the roles of the members of the family members and how religion and faith played a vital role in their everyday lives where as here in the United States, many American famillies practice religion more on a weekly basis,not all of course but practices such as saying "Grace" while everyone sits together at a meal doesn't happen daily.  But she still has to make a full meal at night for her husband and family regardless of all of the activities.  That is one aspect of her culture and upbringing she will never lose.  She also disclosed some disconnection between her life here and how she was raised and even though her life has many opportunites that were not once available to her and her children, there is still aspects of culture here that she misses.  Culture is family and diversity is in you being the most unique individual that you can be in her eyes.
       The last person spoke to was one of grandmother's best friends, Vi.  My grandmother passed away two years ago and I think about her everyday.  Vi reminds me of her in so many ways, the way she dresses, speaks, holds your hand when you talk to her.  These are all part of hers and my grandmother's culture from the Azores in Portugal.


The culture where they grew up was very different before they came with their families to the United States.  They both lived in small fishing villages and everyone had a garden and grew their own fresh food.  The men fished and the women worked in the gardens and cared for the children.  Religion was part of everything they did.  My grandmother would pray every morning and Vi said she still does too.  Culture to her was who you were as a person.  It was not just represented in what you looked like but how you cared for people.  Embraced others no matter who they were.  Being accepting of people and always being willing to lend a hand  was part of culture, beliefs that all people deserve generosity, understanding and love was also part of who she was and her diversity she says has come about in adapting to life in the United States.  For instance, women who have lost their husbands from where she is from are still expected to wear black all the time and many of her friends, still do but she decided not to after many years.  Another difference was many women like my grandmother would never learn to drive, she was an exception.  Her diversity was reflected in the ways she lives her life now, which she feels were neccessary in our environment.