My Mother Pieced Quilts

Day 2: How does your culture contribute to the way that you interact with your social world? Culture is one of the primary reasons we act the way we do. There are many types of cultures like professional, national, religious, family, and educational. Your family culture is the number one type of culture that affects you in your adult life. It shapes the foods you enjoy, the activities you like to participate in, and specific belief systems you take part in. Additionally,

Culture incorporates many different aspects of life such as religion, food, language, ethnicity, and many more. All of these aspects influence the way a person lives and acts. Although culture provides a positive influence by bestowing self worth, it could also negatively affect someone’s life. Culture affects a person in many ways by creating internal and external conflict, which influences the way others view them and therefore affects their actions and how they feel about themselves.

The culture in which we were raised in has a big impact on who we are and how we behave. Our culture effects things such as how we dress, the way we interact with others, and our manners such as what we may or may not find funny or what we may find offensive or weird. In the Ethan Watters Article “Being WEIRD: How Culture Shapes the Mind” we see examples of how being raised in different cultures affects our decisions and the way we perceive things. For example, in the ultimatum game (which is played by giving the first player $100 dollars, he can then offer player 2 any amount of the $100 but if the second player rejects the money they both end up with nothing) we can see how differently Machiguengans and Americans were likely to play. We

“Culture is sometimes described as a lens through which we view the world, meaning that one’s culture influences their perceptions and interactions in everyday life” (Davis, 2006). Every culture has different beliefs and customs

Your culture has a huge influence on how you perceive the world. Our culture gives us a sense of who we are and where we stand in society. In Chapter 3: The Trouble We’re In, by Allan Johnson, he explains that our experiences that we claim to be real are actually cultural creations and that we see it to be a norm even if we haven 't actually experienced them (p.21). An example that Johnson gave in the first reading was the idea of a black woman in Africa, she doesn’t consider herself black because she hasn’t experienced it, she identifies herself as African and a woman, but if she were to go to America, she would be identified as black because that’s what is practiced in American culture the example shows us that although we don’t really experience things first hand we 're taught to relate to it because of our culture. In the Chapter 9: Getting off the hook, Johnson talks about the idea of one race being better than the other and that is instilled into us through our culture. He explains this by talking about two guys, one black and one white and how they were both treated in social environments. This also shows the power we give others when we allow these cultural norms to influence us. These influences help shape who we become and play a huge part on our social interactions with one another.

Our heritage and ideals, our hieroglyphics and manual to live, the things we fulfil we teach our children. Are preserved and carried on or they parrish along with our identity. There are two passages that abides this; “My mother Pieced Quilts” by Teresa Palomo and “The Keeping Quilt” by Patricia Polacco. Both of these authors present their heritage and remembrance by magnifying quilts to show a story in of itself that took struggles to get where they are today.

Culture affects people’s perspectives of the world and others through their upbringing and how, when, and where they were raised. In the essay, “An Indian Father’s Plea,” Robert Lake writes about how his Indian child’s traditional way of learning is different from those in western education systems and that he's not a “slow” learner but learns in a different way from his peers. In the personal essay, “Two Ways to Belong in America,” Bharati Mukherjee describes her differing views of living in America with her sister, despite both being raised in India. In the poem, “My Mother Pieced Quilts,” by Teresa Palomo Acosta, Teresa how this quilt that her mother made for her involves all these pieces of her past that are stitched together. In the

One story that we have read that gives valid examples on how a culture can be influential on how one may think is “An Indian Father’s Plea”. In this story the father wrote to the teacher explaining how his son was intelligent, but in a very different way. The boy’s culture taught him to study the outdoors, honor all living and nonliving things, and practice what his culture taught him. When the boy went to school he noticed he was kind of different from everyone else. His hair was longer and everything he knew was different from what his new teacher was teaching.

However, some people may say that culture sometimes informs the way one views other and the world. For example, in the essay “Two Ways to Belong in America” written by Bharati Mukherjee two Indian sisters come to America for educational reasons. At first believing in their Indian culture and having their father pick husbands for when they returned to India.

There can be great comfort in understanding one’s heritage especially when it involves the deep love and devotion of a strong mother. The poem combines family and love with the quilt to show the memories that she has shared threw the generations that have had the quilt. In the poem “my mother pieced quilts” by Teresa Paloma Acosta and the short story “ Everyday use” by Alice Walker, both author’s use imagery and figurative language to establish a quilt as a symbol for family, love and memories to illustrate their themes.

When one is questioned about their culture, a common answer involves a person’s upbringing and how they were raised. How an individual is brought up into the world determines how they live their life, how they make their life, and how they view their life. This is because culture plays a major role on one’s everyday life: history, relationships, social status Though one’s culture is a major key on how one lives their live, their personality may also play a role in their life as well as how they view the world. A person may make certain decisions in their life that are pulled from their own personality as an individual rather than their background; but, those views were taught and introduced by past experiences at one point or another.

Culture does affect how one views others and the world. It affects other people's view of others and the world because people are so used to their culture that they believe that everyone else should believe and do what they do the same way. In the story "Two Ways to Belong in America" it states that Mira believed that Baharti should be pure to her Indian culture and Mira also ended up marrying an Indian guy, which shows that she wants to stick to someone with that culture. People should always do what they believe is best and not have any influence from people.

All the aspects of life are shaped by culture. Culture can shape the thoughts and opinions we make, or help decide how we live our daily lives as human beings. Often times people will make the argument that their culture does not shape them. Culture is not just tradition, but morals, friends, family, wealth, and so much more. The culture people come from surrounds them and does not end with the memories of the past.

Do you think that your culture impacts your decisions more than your personal opinion does? Or maybe that your culture has nothing to do with your viewpoint? There is a lot of controversy on this topic. A person 's culture majorly affects how one views the world, however personal opinion, experiences also play a role. Personal experiences help to shape people into who they are today.

Sometimes I question if culture changes who you are. I try to pull up memories of the decisions I make, are they affected by my culture? Here is the response I came up with: Culture sporadically informs how an individual sees the world because, even being from completely different places and raised in contrasting households, people could still have similar views based on what they think of others and not how you are constructed with your culture, however, sometimes affects your perspective in certain occasions in circumstances where you wouldn’t face a community the same if you weren’t from the culture you were built in. This idea is supported by the personal essay by Bharati Mukherjee, Two Ways to Belong in America, the essay by Robert Lake, An Indians Father Plea, and also personal experience.