To the outside world, I appear to belong to the Traditional White Nuclear Family culture, but my family included co-cultures and subcultures that were rare in the suburban south.
Both of my parents were raised in a tradition of noblesse oblige-inspired progressivism characterized by gallantry and service. Both were raised in families dominated by a co-culture of science that encouraged intellectual pursuits.
My family is strongly collectivist in nature.
My grandfather grew up as a poor orphan in New York City. He had a younger brother to care for and wanted to avoid the “orphan trains” of the day. As a child, he worked as a bicycle messenger and learned wood patternmaking as an apprentice. He eventually became a pioneering
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By the summer of 1940, Germany had conquered France, and in September that year The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 – the first peacetime conscription in United States history – was enacted requiring all men between the ages of 21 and 35 to register for the draft. My father registered for the draft and as an engineering student was given a deferment from active duty until after graduation.
As an engineering student during the war, he traveled with other chemists, code breakers, and physicists, to Columbia University and the California Institute of Technology as part of the war effort to develop jet and rocket technologies. He was strongly influenced by Charlie Parker and the “hetcat” jazz culture of the early 1940s that he encountered while he was there.
My mother was raised by her French grandmother who in the tradition of the salonnières of Paris hosted gatherings in her fine home where creative people would meet to discuss art, literature, and politics throughout the 1920s and 1930s. My mother spent her high school years -- during WWII - in Newport, R.I., where her 20-year-old cousin was married to a high ranking naval officer. She was a gifted artist influenced by avant-garde artists who fled to the United States following the outbreak of World War II. A brilliant mathematician, after the war she conducted aerodynamic research on prototypes of helicopters, supersonic transports, reentry vehicles, adjustable wing aircraft,
''The mandatory enlistment in a country’s armed forces, and is sometimes referred to as “the draft.” The origins of military conscription date back thousands of years to ancient Mesopotamia, but the first modern draft occurred during the French Revolution in the 1790s. The United States instituted conscription during the Civil War, which led to a series of bloody draft riots. Resistance to the draft, as managed by the Selective Service in the United States, reached a historic peak during the Vietnam War'' (A&E Television Networks).
President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 which established the Selective Service System as an independent Federal agency within the Department of Defense (Smith, par. 3). Young men were only drafted in America's greatest conflicts- the Civil War, Vietnam War, World War I, and the lead-up to World War II (Bandow, par. 3). Nearly 2.2 million men were drafted during 1961 to 1973 (South, par. 25). This practice continued during the Cold War as the U.S. sought to protect friendly war-ravaged states (Bandow, par. 3). From 1948 until 1973, young men were drafted to fill open spots in the armed forces which could not be filled through voluntary means (Smith, par. 4). The registration requirement was suspended in 1975 but it was resumed again in 1980, registration continues today as a hedge against underestimating the number of servicemen needed in a future crisis (Smith, par. 10). In 1973, the United States military went to full volunteer service that marked the end of the draft. Since the all-volunteer military has been active, there have been 144 executed operations compared to 19 operations prior to 1973 (South, par. 56). Currently, there have been talks of reinstating
In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson founded the United States Selective Service System. The federal government adopted the system in order to build an army for America to enter World War I. All men between the ages of 18 and 26 are required by law to register for the draft within the first 30 days of their 18th birthday; otherwise they
During the Vietnam War, Americans were selected for military service by a government agency called the selective service. Those young men between the ages of eighteen and twenty six were forced into an involuntary process called the draft. Protesting against conscription or “the Draft” had always been a part of wartime America. Though for many citizens the Vietnam War would be the drawing line. Mentioned in What’s Your Number? an article written by Historynet, the first drawing of numbers using a draft lottery system to select who would and would and would not be drafted for the Vietnam War took place on December 1, 1969 (Historynet 2009). This marks the beginning of turmoil and uncertainty for those men born between the years 1944 and 1950
During the Vietnam War 27 million American men registered for the “Draft”. A American man was required to register for the draft at the age of 18. Men between the ages of 18-26 years old fought in Vietnam unless they were in college or Medically disabled. 80% of the middle and lower classes fought in the war, and about ⅔ of the men were volunteers to fight.
The word family has changed so much in the past century. A family back in the 1950’s was probably considered a husband, wife, and one or more children. Times have changed and families have become much different. The Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others book defines family as a, “Unit made up of any number of persons who live in relationship with one another over time in a common living space who are usually, but not always, united by marriage and kinship” (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 243). Families can be broken up into five different types. The first is the traditional family, which includes a mother, father, and their biological children. Next, is the blended family which includes
In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," the message about the preservation of heritage, specifically African-American heritage, is very clear. It is obvious that Walker believes that a person's heritage should be a living, dynamic part of the culture from which it arose and not a frozen timepiece only to be observed from a distance. There are two main approaches to heritage preservation depicted by the characters in this story. The narrator, a middle-aged African-American woman, and her youngest daughter Maggie, are in agreement with Walker. To them, their family heritage is everything around them that is involved in their everyday lives and everything that was involved in the lives of their ancestors. To
His skilled laboring values influenced my father to work with his hands as a hobby, not as a vocation. My father seems to possess both the values of education and skilled work. On the other hand, my mother’s parents did not encourage higher education. My mother stated, “In the 1950’s and 60’s, women were not expected to attend college”. Although this was a strong value for society at that time, my mother encouraged education on her children. My mother’s talent in sewing and entrepreneurship from the family-owned hardware store influenced her to start a wedding apparel business.
Similarities in culture is more so the same then not. Even though our early childhood was around drugs and alcohol our parents made sure we were at church with either grandparent learning the Word of God. When we moved to the south side, I met several friends who went to church and church camps as well. That brought me closer to some families of Caucasian decent. My parents were very athletic in school and that allowed them to teach us sports and sportsmanship. That allowed me to blend in with some of the girls in the neighborhood because they were also athletic. My father took me to a field were girls (Caucasian) were playing softball after talking with the coach my father left me there to practice with the team. I guess being in the neighborhood for a while now I was comfortable with him leaving.
Michael Halloran (2004) proposes that culture as a diverse and complex system of shared and interrelated knowledge, practices and signifiers of a society, provides structure and significance to groups within that society which subsequently impact the individual’s experience of their personal, social, physical and metaphysical worlds (p.5). Halloran (2004) theorizes that cultural maintenance is key to increasing the health and well-being of Aboriginal Australians whereby he suggests that culture provides collectively validated ways to think of and value oneself, further arguing that culture helps to suppress fundamental human existential anxieties about social isolation produced by our mortality awareness. Emile Durkheim (Marks, 1974) identifies anomie as being without law or norms, similarly, D.J Spencer (2000)
In the year 1940 after the fall of France in World War II the United States Congress enacted a peace time draft. If drafted during this time period conscripts were only required to serve one year. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor however congress
I was lucky enough to grow up with so much support. Growing up like this taught me the importance of family and how to learn from them, which I believe led to an even deeper and rapid establishment of our family’s core values. My family as a whole has always taught me the importance of hard work, service, honesty, dependability, trustworthiness, and pure kindness. My Pappaw Buddy was like our superman; no matter what his physical condition was, he was always willing to help our neighbors. He never rested when he was supposed to because to him, there was work to be done. Another very important rule my family follows is to smile and speak to everyone you meet. Establishing meaningful connections has always been important to us, especially in our small-town setting. When my grandfather passed away, the entire town mourned; this showed me how many lives he really did touch, and how important it is to live for others.
My family history is rather unclear and unexplored. I do know that my maternal grandmother was adopted. My paternal side is said to be Italian. I come from an English speaking family. The geographic range is also unexplored and limited to western Pennsylvania. I grew up in the small town of Nolo, Pennsylvania. I can recall moving from one house to another but within the same county. I did change school districts one time. I would consider this to be very stable. Currently, I reside in Indiana county where I grew up. I have been married for six years and have a two year old son that will soon be a big brother. My wife and I built a home within the same geographical location as our parents. My spouse was also raised in a stable nuclear style family structure.
While looking upon my personal culture and my family’s culture in an attempt to find appropriate dishes for this assignment, it became apparent to me that I have no definite culture. Whereas I have lived in Canada my whole life, my family’s background has engaged me in varying cultures, though I have never felt truly attuned to one culture. On the other hand, my father is a first generation Canadian, his parents both from Scotland. Though aware of my Scottish origins and my grandparents’ migration to Canada, Scottish culture has never been explicitly celebrated amongst those in my family. Furthermore, my family previously migrated from Ireland during the Irish famine, resulting in Irish culture to also represented in my family’s culture. Variously, my mother’s side of the family has lived in Canada for many generations, but I do not consider myself as being authentically Canadian. Accordingly, throughout my childhood, I was never encouraged to celebrate an explicit culture. Furthermore, religion was never prominent in my life either, as my parents decided against baptizing any of my siblings and me, as per the family tradition, because they wished for us to have religious freedom. However, because of the rest of my family’s religion, as well as my background, my family has always celebrated Christian holidays, though I have never been to church for a reason other than a wedding. I find that without any cultural ties from my family’s history and practices, that the culture I
No one can’t meet a family like mine’s. My family is well diversified. Every family member plays an important role in all my family’s lives. In my family, there are four people: my father, my mother, my little brother and me. My father is one who brings money home and is also responsible for organizing and planning family trips. My mother is the one who is in charge for making meals and makes sure everyone eats at the appropriate times. My little brother is the pet of the family. He actually doesn’t have any responsibilities, for he’s the pet. I am the rock of support in my family. I always go beyond my parents’ expectations. I also support my younger cousins and little brother, by being a role model that they can look up to. Another