When I began thinking of my culture, and all that contributes to the culture I've grown up in my mind went wild thinking of everything about the American culture i've experienced. I thought about the many different aspects of my life, why I participate in them and how my culture impacted my experiences with them. The pictures and captions below are a snapshot of my culture, and how each item relates to the culture I was raised in.
This ukulele represents the important presence of music in the American culture. From grocery stores playing background music, to music blasting in football stadiums, to orchestras performing in cities nation-wide, music is an extremely important part of American culture. Every time I drive, i listen to music. Anytime I get together with friends we share our new favorite songs with one another. Participating in this part of our culture, like playing instruments or singing along to songs on the radio, is a big part of what I feel is the American culture. Movies, tv shows, operas, broadway plays and so much of our typical entertainment revolves around music. We would not be the culture we identify with today without music playing such a key role.
Another thing that immediately popped into my head relating to American culture is sports. When you think of America, some may think of eating hot dogs at a football game or drinking soda at a baseball game. A vast majority of our culture heavily relies on sports as entertainment and as physical exercise. The competition, the loyalty and the excitement that comes from sporting events is something that many Americans thrive on. The unexpected turnovers and the intense rivalries keep people on their toes, and give them someone to cheer for for years and years down the road. Sports bring people together in a desire to have fun and to be competitive with one another, and it one of my favorite things to watch.
This photo represents a culture that I wouldn't necessarily define as solely American, but would definitely consider is a recent cultural attribute. Photography is something that has quickly progressed and improved throughout the past few hundred years, and has slowly adapted into what is now a short process of simply taking your phone out of your pocket to take a picture. Social media has made photography even more accessible and shareable. I think that photography is a huge part of the culture I was raised in, and the culture I am exploring now. Photography is getting more and more accessible and meaningful as more and more ways to participate in photography become available. This emphasizes the remarkable improvements in technology that have happened culturally, and represent the amazing technological advances that are continually happening.
Similarly to the camera, pictures of food have been a big part of my culture. Especially the social media culture that has progressed throughout my lifetime. So, this photo of a beautiful pancake represents the cultural norm and expectancy to take and post pictures of food that you encounter and partake of. This represents the culture of constantly posting about your life for other people to see, even down to the berries you ate on your pancake for breakfast. It has become a huge part of my life adjusting to the norm of sharing every detail of your life on social media, and having that same expectation of celebrities and societal role models. It has created a culture in which we want to see everything right when it happens, we want to know what is going on in every body's lives every single day. It has become completely normal to be able to keep up with one anothers' lives through social media which has been a big part of my culture growing up in the developing social media age.
I want to mention something that has significance to the culture that raised me, my Book of Mormon. This specific book is not a part of every American's culture, but religion is an important part of American culture. The freedom to believe in what you believe in, the freedom to worship whom you choose to worship, study with whomever you want to study, attend whatever church you want to attend is something so special to Americans. I was able to attend church and choose my own moral standards because of the free culture I live in, which I recognize as a great priviledge and blessing in my life. Most Americans find the freedom of religion a vital importance to a successful country, as people are choose whether they want to or do not want to practice any religion they wish. This freedom allows difference in opinion, but a mutual desire to have religion be a part of our culture in order to better society.
Getting more personal, my family represents a big part of my culture. Family units in general are a big part of the culture I grew up in, and this is a picture of the family I adore. Family units are a big part of the culture I was raised in, and a big part of who I am. My family and I are extremely close, and talk to each other daily. I can't imagine identifying myself without mentioning my giant, amazingly crazy family.
My friends are another part of my culture, and a huge part of human culture across the globe. Friend groups, finding people you get along well with and planning things to do with each other is a huge part of social culture throughout the world. I love my friends, and love planning things to do with them. Just like my family, I couldn't identify myself without mentioning my friend group and my connection with them.
My job is a big part of my daily life, which is why I would definitely associate it with my culture. Kids are a big part of my life, I am an aunt, a future teacher and I am a nanny to these cute girls up above. I try my best to be the best caregiver I can to them, and am constantly looking up fun things to do with them. It's a big part of who I am, my roommates constantly listen to me talk their ears off about how much I love this job!
Part of my culture is exercise and wellness. I grew up learning about the importance of exercise, as my dad is a cardiologist and encouraged us to exercise growing up. I love exercising, and find that it is my go-to stress relief. I follow fitness instructors on social media, and make it a big part of my life. It brings me joy to associate myself with the fitness world and I love finding new wants to exercise and stay healthy.
Along with exercise, nutrition is a big part of my life. I strongly identify myself as part of the healthy eating community, and am constantly reading new articles about nutrition and what to fuel my body with. I surround myself with resources and people who also eat healthily, and love feeling like I am properly fueling my body with the nutrients it needs.
Along with nutrition, I am a firm believer that everything in moderation is good for the soul :) I love baking, especially when I have people to share it with. I identify myself as part of a baker culture, and love to create new treats and desserts. It is something I spend a lot of my free time doing, and it's a good balance to my usually nutritious diet.
BYU is a huge part of my culture, as I find myself on it's campus every day of the week. It is my place of study, where I attend church and where I made a lot of my friends. It is a huge part of my life, and my family's life as all of my siblings and both of my parents attended BYU. I can't imagine my life right now without thinking about what a huge role BYU and it's community has on my life right now. It has given me so many opportunities to study what I love, and expand my education.
Soccer is a big part of my life, especially a big part of my childhood. I remember spending every weekend at tournaments and practices, it was my everything. I played throughout high school, so it was a big part of my culture. My teammates, my coaches and everyone who helped shape me as a soccer player left huge impacts on my life. Soccer will forever be a big part of my life, it sparked my love for sports and fitness.
A big part of my life now is the Elementary Education major as a culture that I experience every day here on campus, especially in my classes. It is such a unique and distinct culture, mainly LDS girls who all love children. I am so happy to be a part of this culture, and to use those around me to help further my knowledge in how I can be the best teacher I can be.
Doing this portfolio assignment has helped open up my eyes to the different cultures I am a part of, some that I didn't even realize greatly impacted my life. My culture is something I love, because it had made me who I am and is part of my every day life. However, I believe that my culture can be a hinderance in school settings in ways that are unintentional but potentially harmful. Just because I had a supportive family doesn't mean I can assume my students will have families like that. Just because I have the means to cook and eat foods that I choose, I can't assume that my students will come to school well fed and ready to go. There are a lot of things I need to be careful about when bringing culture in my classroom, and make sure I don't assume everyone knows a certain character or book or saying. This assignment has opened up my eyes in ways that my cultures may be drastically different than some of my students, which will create different tendencies and learning skills.
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