culture

Culture

Culture has a lot to do with family; however culture seemed to be such a big abstract
blur, something I could not point to out easily nor identify directly. I came from Puerto Rico.
I’m Boricua, which means I come from Puerto Rico, but I was born in America. I was fortunate
to grow up in an urban environment where over 65 different languages are spoken. Growing
up with friends and teachers of different cultural backgrounds and later as an adult in the
workforce, has allowed me to have such a profound appreciation for my culture. While growing
up, I had taken my culture and background for granted, but later on in life, I slowly put them
together. Little did I know that they would be like my shadow, staying with me forever. As a
teacher assistant at an urban elementary school, I am able to interact with students, teachers
and parents of all the different cultural backgrounds and help them with their needs. Naïve as I
was, I welcomed my culture warmly, besides, everyone else accepted it. I did not even feel its
existence until I moved to the United States and experienced being a foreigner. Everything I
have learned, from food to clothes to manners and language was so different that I thought it
was impossible for me to fit into anything. I was so used to strict discipline that when the
elderly treated me more lenient, I felt so guilty. As I tried blending into the new culture, I felt
that I was losing something gradually. I valued it for its influence on my character and
personality. So every day I tried my best in pleasing and uniting my old and new cultures, even
though they hardly mixed.
It all started with my earliest memory, my parents decided to move to the United States
because of the economics reason. My father got laid off from his job and could not find another
job so we came to this country to have a better life. My parents have worn us, my sister, my
brother and me that the people from the United States have a different culture, are too liberal
and do bad things. Therefore, we were not allowed to ask questions to our parents nor we
could not speak for ourselves. Me as a naïve girl, I did not know any better so I was afraid to
come to the United States and not knowing that the country that I came from people were too
liberal and also do bad things. I’m Latina and yes my dad is one of those macho weirdo guys,
and because I am a girl I’m supposed to be domestic and that is big part of the Latinos culture.
My parents kept their culture at home but l felt that I had two cultures, home and outside the
house. I was tried to fit into two cultures in one, “I am sure that my parents were not aware of
that”. However, I did not want to have two cultures, I just want to be me, one individual. I
remember one day while I was walking throughout the hallways of my school or outside in the
playground, I would hear that Puerto Rican are drug addicts, they don’t work, they depend on
welfare. I also heard comments, such as Puerto Rican are gang members, Latin mothers are
slaves to their husbands, and the only job Latin women can have is working as a maid. Growing
up, there were few Latinos in television and Hollywood. Even then, Latin characters were
portrayed negatively. During the school year, I denied my heritage by saying that I was
American. I wasn’t lying because I was born in Passaic. However, I never told my classmates I
was a Latina. I did not lie about my background or denied my race because everyone assumed
that I was either Spanish or Portuguese. When I came back to school from the summer, half of
my classmates were Latinos. They were proud to be Latinos so I started to have a relationship
with these classmates and I realized that that my old classmate were stereotyping the Latinos.
At the age of 20, I was shy, naïve and finds people intimidating. I was never been part of
a gang, never had a boyfriend and never had any self confidence. My parents were very strict
and they would not let me do anything. I felt depressed and I believe it’s because my parents
were over protected. I wanted to feel like running away to give myself a better future of course
it will be hard on my own. They don’t let my sister and I have a boyfriend, they don’t let us go
to parties, and are hesitant about letting me go to any parties at all. They expect me to get
good grades, and do all these things at school, and they always want me to spend my weekend
with them and church. My parents think that 9:30pm is a reasonable curfew. If I don’t make
my bed once, I have to make my sister and my brother bed for three days. They only room we
can eat in is the kitchen. I couldn’t have friends over my house and no sleepover. I remember
how hard it was to get this freedom. Not only that they were strict, but they also didn’t want to
let me grow up. They chased away all my boyfriends and didn’t let me have a normal puberty.
They thought that they were protecting me from getting hurt, but all they did was stopping me
from socializing and growing up. It’s true that I never had contact with cigars, alcohol, drugs, or
have sex with many guys thanks to my parents but who says that I would do all those things if
they were not so strict. When I become a parent one day, I will try to find the middle and to be
smart.
At the age of 23, I rebelled against my parents. I left the house to live with my boyfriend
and not knowing that my boyfriend as “machismo”, had the same culture like my father, I could
not accept that life again. I needed to become something or somebody. I needed to find piece
of me. I left my boyfriend and started a new life. I was a road to find myself, without knowing
it a huge piece of my culture. I would go everywhere, no destination was too far. My parents
were like a mist, and a dream, this life make me a queen. One day my girlfriend said to me,
“wanna come to a party?” “A party?, Wow what a new idea this was. However, I was too new
in this new experience. I started to drink, little bit of smoking, not my style, and meeting lots of
guys but no sex, because deep inside I knew that not having sex is part of my culture. I just
realized that I was no longer a child. I am an adult, living by myself, taking responsibility for my
own life, living in the real world. I began my journey to my success. I went to college, as a
young girl, I have always had a passion for teaching. When I was in 1st grade, I enjoyed
watching my teacher make sure all her students learned and felt special. I knew back then that
I wanted to do the same. My love for children will not only allow me to teach them academic
material, but will also allow me to make them feel special about themselves and the community
they live in. I want to be a part of strengthening a child’s intelligence, their moral imagination,
their creativity and their critical thinking. Also, I will teach the future generation about our
culture, including traditions and customs. My children may not have the opportunity to read
about well known Latinos but I will make sure that they will learn about important Latinos
History.
Culture has many definitions, does not begin inside of us. Cultures come from all that is
around us, from all that we see, hear, learn, and reject throughout our lives. This is like my
culture. I am proud to say that I am Puerto Rican. Also, speaking Spanish is very important
because our culture is based on the language. After all, one day the official language of Puerto
Rico might change to English. However, we can’t forget our roots, or where we came from.
Even though I was born in America, I am Puerto Rican. Therefore, I kept myself as an individual.