Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

        

This week finding out what others think about diversity and culture was very interesting for me  I first asked one of the moms in the program who is Mexican what she thought culture meant and what was her view?
  I loved her answer. She immediately said it is my music, art and food. I thought that was such a beautiful way to express how she felt.I found it to be interesting that she was able to relate to art as culture most people do not.

 Then I asked one of my co-workers who comes from Australia and is a young male his.
 interpretation of what culture is?


  He said that it was what has been handed down to him by his ancestors.I also liked that ,but to vague.

.My young intern from Israel said that culture for her was a mix of many things that make her who she is.
 For example she said her religious beliefs and customs, the way she dresses and the food that she eats and does not eat. That was fascinating, because we only thing about what we can eat, she explained that she does not mix dairy with meat or consume pork.You learn something new everyday.


 Then I asked them what was their definition of diversity? They all pretty much had the same answer. Diversity is just that being different I wanted them to be more in depth and have a more unique answer, but they would all say the same thing. I realized that everyone is not as well informed of what diversity really means and that maybe this is why many people are not accepting of it. Do they realize all that diversity includes, family compositions, and different ethnic groups and race? It seemed to me that they just thought of color, and being from a different country.

MY CULTURE JOURNEY

I really enjoyed this week’s blog assignment, I was able to think what would I be able to bring that I could latter look at and feel my roots and culture .As I looked around my home I realized that I have many religious artifacts that have been handed down to me by family members. The one that stood out the  most is a large golden cross, that my Godmother gave me when I was baptized. This was brought from the Dominican Republic and belonged to her mother. I would take this to be able to explain that Latinos have a strong Christian religious belief and to confirm mine.

The second item would be a picture album with all my families pictures This album has all of my family photos in it including pictures of my grandparents and the home in which my dad was born in Cuba .I would take this to make sure never to forget where we came from and to explain how different yet how alike we all are..

The third item would have to be a cooking utensil called Pilon, this is used to mash plantains and to make what we call  adobo which is garlic, salt and oregano. You mash it in the pilon and season your meats, poultries and etc. This is the heart to Latino cooking .I am positive that I would not be able to buy this where I was going. Since food is the taste of different cultures this would be an opportunity for me to give them a taste of mine.

When thinking about which one I would chose, it was difficult because I was torn between memories, religion and food .I went with the pilon. The answer   is that I think that memories cannot be erased and religion is inside our souls. The magic of food brings everyone together and gives us the opportunity to share our diversity and feel at home where ever we go.