Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This week I was having a conversation with my dad and brother about a childhood friend.  The friend is a lesbian and she had put on her facebook page that was going to be on the local news station for a news clip on National Pickle Day.  In the conversation all I said was so and so is going to be on the news make sure we watch at 6pm.  My dads first comment to my brother and I were is it a piece on lesbians?   After my dad left the room my brother and I just looked at each other and shook our heads.  I was flabbergasted.  Even though our friend is a lesbian that does not define who she is. She has so many other qualities that makes her who she is.

I feel when my generation was growing up homosexual relationships were not discussed in families.  By not having these discussions in the home children were not influenced by their parents biases.  I grew up with being more accepting of different relationships and as an adult the biases my parents have have not been passed on down to me. 

In today's society homosexuality is more discussed topic.  We are also exposed to it more in television shows and the media.  I feel that the current generation of children in homes are actually having their parents biases passed on down to them thus allowing children not to  form their own beliefs. 

Perspectives on Culture and Diversity

I spoke to three different people on what they thought culture and diversity is.  Their responses are below. 

Culture is:

·         my background, how I was raised to believe and traditions that I was taught as a young child. Most come from my Norwegian/English relatives which are integrated with my Christian family values. These cultural values dictate how we celebrate holidays and birthdays, how we live day to day and what we do when someone dies.

·         is all the unique ways of living within a group such as the food you eat, the way you communicate, verbally and non-verbally, the way you raise children, the way you dress, the entertainment that is accepted, etc.

·         not only the environment in which you are born and raised in but the environment that you partake in everyday. 

Diversity is:

·         how accepting we are of other’s beliefs and traditions. How do I immerse myself with another culture that I live in and around and how much do I follow what other people believe.

·         the opposite of same and monotone. Diversity is plural. It’s the many ways of doing things, seeing things, speaking things, etc.

·         unknown.  There is culture, ethnic and sexual things to consider. 

After getting their responses I thought about how the two words can sometimes be thought as one in the same but they are different.  We have not discussed in class the issue of homosexuality.  I think that this is a topic that needs to be discussed more even though people are very passionate about the topic.  We need to be able to put aside our differences because in today’s world we are seeing how diverse families are.

Their responses touched all many things that we have talked about in the class – traditions, values, beliefs and holidays. 

 The responses also help me to understand why people are the way they are.  Two of the responses came from co workers.  After talking with them I can see now how their definitions reflect in the work that they do. 

My Family Culture

If I was told that I would not be able to return to my house and I needed to grab three items before I left I would grab my iphone, a flash drive of pictures and a small bird carving that my now husband carved for us on our first date thirteen years ago.  

• iPhone - It holds everything that I need.  I have my music that I love! Different songs remind me of different times in my life - some happy some sad but memories that have helped me be who I am today.  It also has pictures that I have been able to put on my phone.  The pictures range from when I was a baby to my childhood to when my husband and I first started dating and when our daughter was born.  The phone also has contacts for my family and friends - email addresses, phonenumbers and mailing addresses.  The phone is also a way to communicate to people.  The phone does much more but all of these things are important.  If I wasn't able to see some of my family or friends again I would at least have pictures to remember them by.  If they were being sent somewhere else I would be able to stay in contact with them.  The music would help me to remember the memories I have. 
• Flash Drive of Pictures - Pictures are another form of a way to remrember my memories. 
• Small Bird Carving - This carving is a symbol of the beginning of the path I chose when I first started dating my husband.   The carving hung in my car for a long time and whenever I look at it always brought a smile to me because it made me think of happy memories. 

If i was told I could only keep one items I would be ok with choosing any of these three.  They are all material things but I will always have the memories in my mind.  The three items that I chose would only help me to remember. 

From this reflection I know what is important me.  Each of the three items that I picked have some sort of family reflected in it.   This just reaffirms for me that family plays an important part in my life.