Self-Worth: Community Analysis

I grew up in a typical southern town that was majority Christian and White. I saw a lot a of faces like mine on a daily basis and got most of my information about others from those familiar faces. Coming to college was quite a change, as I was introduced to almost every race within the first week living on my hall. I can remember meeting people of races that I had only heard about in my hometown and imminently making assumption about them based on my stereotypes. For a long time, I believed that my views were normal, since that is what I grew up around, but quickly came to realize that what I believed in my automatic attitudes was very wrong. That is when the dissociation started to happen. I would see someone and in my head make a conclusion about them before I even met them; but, would never do anything but be nice and open to getting to know this different person better. Just like the respondents in Blindspot said, “I know these stereotypes quite well, but I don’t for a moment endorse them myself.” This is a statement that I have come to really embrace and has allowed me to get away from my automatic perception of someone to meet many interesting and unique people. I find this to be very encouraging, believing that if I can do it, maybe these stereotypes about others will go away if we as a whole embrace the

During my professional, personal, and academic experiences I have always placed an extraordinary value on surrounding myself with diverse ideas, cultures, and opportunities. One of the primary reasons I chose to attend Washington State University was for the size, I enjoyed the variety of opportunities presented to me and the connections I was able to make with people from all walks of life. Academically, choosing to major in Global Politics and minor in Global Studies granted me the ability to indulge myself in a multitude of cultures, religions, languages, and general ways of thinking. This translated into my personal life while serving as President of Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity, where we were extremely proud to represent a diverse group of people, and work to ensure that everyone’s ideas were respected, opinions were heard, and no matter what all of our members had an opportunity to thrive while attending Washington State University. Professionally, while employed as Supervisor for the Games Department at Norpoint Entertainment I was responsible for managing employees that’s needs ranged in a variety of ways, from ideologies, ages, and their socioeconomic status. No matter where I was,

Imagine living in a world where everyone is the same. Everyone shares the same ethnicity, language, background, cultures. Living in Miami, for me, this is a hard concept to imagine. My whole life I've been surrounded by different cultures, people who speak different languages, eat different foods, share different stories and backgrounds. Attending Monsignor Edward Pace High School my ninth grade year changed nothing. Pace was, and still is a direct representation of the city of Miami, a cultural melting pot, filled with so many different seasoning of backgrounds. With this melting pot filled with so many different seasonings,however, it becomes easy for the hot water to rise, and feel as if there isn't any commonalities to share. As a young adult, I use my influence on my peers, to stir this melting pot to remind young people, who are essentially the futures of tomorrow, that in all our differences, there is still so much similarities.

Being the child of an immigrant mother, I have been blessed with the special ability to witness firsthand the importance of diversity. When my mother immigrated to the United States from Panama in 1990, she soon realized that the country in which she now resided was very different from the country of her birth. As a result, my mother was forced to adapt to her new environment by always keeping an open mind to her new surroundings, and this allowed her to overcome different obstacles such as the language barrier and a foreign culture. Through my mother's life story, I have been able to learn about the values of different cultures, and this has allowed me to broaden my horizons beyond my hometown in North Carolina. For me, one of the most exciting

I’ve had challenges in ranges from peas to elephants throughout my lifetime, but the biggest challenge I’ve faced Thus far has been navigating and blending cultures. From Burmese kids who’ve spent years in refugee camps to Congolese kids who’ve fled civil wars, to the American homeboys who wear baseball caps backwards, to me a girl from the congo who lives with parents that view the world in strict and narrow terms,my world is made up people from all over the world with one objective in mind- realizing their American Dream, freedom of thought, speech and opportunity to be who they are without fear. Every day is a new adventure with endless possibilities for those who are open and brave. I’m open and I’m brave, but I secretly live in a world

Critical occurrences throughout our life often form our opinion about how we value ourselves. Frequently the events we've seen, learned, and experience from our family, friends and in our communities, influence the way women see themselves. As women start to lack self-esteem, their confidence begins to decrease, and at some point, and time, it starts to disturb their thought process, and eventually it begins to influence the way you perceive yourself and how you view life. Alongside other aspects touch on, lack of self-worth produces a profound effect on our ability to value and care for ourselves and others.

I was raised in a very non-diverse small all white town about 2 hours from a large city in north Texas. My parents and grandparents prepared me well on how America had grown into a diverse population of culture and ethnicities, from around world. When turned 18 in the early 80’s I went to work and live in the city that opened my eyes to diversity. Overtime I developed great friendships with people that were African American, Hispanic and Asian that were neighbors and co-workers that I spent a lot of time with regularly. One black friend I had was openly gay and shared insight to us about him and his partner’s life. This opened my eyes and thinking of how little I truly know about others cultural environments.

Throughout most of my primary and secondary education, I was not around supportive individuals, and was forced to conceal my sexuality to keep myself safe. I found myself navigating through situations alone, constantly having to coexist with individuals that expressed hate toward my identity on a daily basis. For the longest time, I thought that there was no one else like me in the world.

“Happiness can exist only in acceptance”, George Orwell. In a world in which were, no one is accepted for who or what they are would be absolutely horrible. Being discriminated just being different. It would be the scary world to live in. We are fortunate to live in this generation that is so accepting of anyone, no matter how different they are. I am a very accepting person, it doesn't bother me what is your beliefs, gender, sexual orientation or race is because we all are equal as human beings. I have many diverse friends that I hang out with. There was a time back then when I was younger I wasn't that accepting because I was immature and ruder then I am now. One of the reasons I became more accepting was because my sister Jasmine all of a sudden became a vegetarian. That was the life-changing experience for me.

I attended one of the most diverse public high schools in New Jersey. My experiences there have taught me not only that the world we live in becomes more complex with each passing day, but that I have a never-ending hunger to explore it. That’s not something I can do by myself. Diversity is beyond an individual’s race or gender. It comprises of their characteristics that make them unique as one or as part of a community.

Moreover, my personal goals for doing the work in this book is to better understand how culture and diversity affect the environment

Four months ago, when I walked up the Memorial Steps and entered my first Childhood Across Cultures class, I was absolutely unaware of how much this class would change my perspective of the world and its cultures. I came to Tufts University with the intention of submerging myself in new knowledge and relationships, and growing as a person. As cliché as it may sound, I hoped to “find myself,” and believed that Tufts would serve as an ideal environment to so. What I did not know, however, was that in order to better know and understand myself, I had to open my mind to those around me.

I knew, however, I could not stand by with my old mindset and let this sea of diversity overwhelm me. My determination to embrace true diversity has enabled me to build a number of meaningful relationships that have expanded my worldview. My friends at the American School of Paris (ASP) and I constantly contrast our experiences and upbringings. From how the school system works in Germany to what parties are like in Sri Lanka, we have discussed it

No one told me I couldn’t be respected for my feelings. I didn’t have to hide who I was out of fear. From then on, I have taken notice to all the remarks around me that are hurtful to others. In class, we talked about mundane heterosexism. I have noticed people monitoring their speech so they don’t come off as heterosexist (Class notes, 3/24). I’ve also noticed flat out homophobic comments. I was in a communications class and we were in small groups. Someone in my group made a comment, “That’s disgusting.” I proceeded to ask, “What’s disgusting?” He finished out by saying “Men with other men.” I knew it was a safe place and so I proceeded to tell him he shouldn’t date other men then if he doesn’t feel that attraction, but some men do and there’s nothing disgusting about that. I figured other people in my group would say something next. The only comment was, “I’m not gay, but I mean I can tolerate them.” Not saying anything is still discrimination. Someone saying they “tolerate gays” is heterosexist. Class ended and we left with nothing else said. My stories aren’t

As a whole, we have increasingly become cautious in regards to how we behave and how we portray ourselves in society. In other words, we live our lives as though we are prisoners in the panopticon model in which we are unaware whether or not we are being watched (Foucault, 1984, p. 20). It is for this reason that we act well-behaved (Foucault, 1984, p. 20). By doing so, we are taking part in what is called, “soul training,” which essentially means that surveillance has required us to not only become conscious of our surroundings, but also ourselves (Lyon, 2006, p. 27). In order to accomplish this, we engage in self-surveillance, which means our goal is to accomplish self-discipline, so we can make certain that we do not get into any unnecessary trouble (Lyon, 2006, p. 27). Thus, the power of control used in the panopticon in the eighteenth-century has now spread to the twenty-first century in that our bodies are still highly scrutinized from all angles (Kaplan, 1995, p. 95). For this reason, I am proposing that the panopticon has influenced how members in society live their lives through self-surveillance. Therefore, my research question is “How does self-surveillance impact individuals in society?”. In my investigation, I will be using three specific points to support my research question: Self-care, self-protection, and entertainment. In my exploration, I found these three to be prevalent on the topic of self-surveillance as our well-being, safety, and enjoyment are