Who I Am Essay

There are two different dimensions of our identities: ethnicity and race. Ethnicity refers to one’s belonging to a specific cultural, or racial group that makes up culture, race language, and/or place of origin. For example, one can be African-American but have different ethnicities, one African-American and the other African-Caribbean decent. Race is a social construct that can be changed over time. Historically, referring to its specific characteristics one possesses based on: ethnicity, religion, or language; today's its classified solely based upon the color of one’s skin. Nevertheless, ethnic and racial identities are important and instill a sense of belonging and identifying with that specific group through attitude, behaviors. Moreover,

Who am I? I am a student who studies Math, Science, English, and History. I am amongst the normal people trying to get through high school with good grades and not being stressed which is almost impossible when you are also trying to balance a job. I have a lot of personal experiences and qualities to share and not to share, not because I want to, but because I have to for a grade. Some of those include Loyalty, Compassionate, Stubbornness, and my argumentative side that just wants to defend my opinions. There is a lot that comes with me not just good things, but also things from my past that i bring here with me from my old hometown Palmdale, CA.

Am I black? Am I not? Am I Eritrean? Or am I an American? What am I? Who am I? Who is Abebba Araya? I constantly asked myself these questions. Why is it to certain people that I am black, yet to some I am not? My entire existence in this world has been very ironic. However, I now know who I am as a person; I am a second-generation American of Eritrean descent. I am both an American and Eritrean, yet I am not black. An emphasis on the and, which I realized exists between these two cultures and incorporating both of them into my lifestyle.

When presented with the question, “who are you as a writer?”, I was speechless at first. But after thinking about it, I realized who I am as a writer has been influenced by so many different sponsors throughout my life and there was not a short, concrete answer. Brandt mentions that “literacy is sponsored by people, institutions, and circumstances that both make it possible for a person to become literate and shape the way the person actually acquires literacy.” (Brandt 43) My attitude towards writing has been influenced by teachers, both negatively and positively, by my mother, and by academic assignments over the years. My answer to the question can only be answered by a narrative of my writing life. I have convinced myself that I am a terrible writer, and when presented with a writing assignment, I get anxious instantly. I see writing as a burden and a huge obstacle that gets placed in my life. Academic writing is not fun, but something I value due to the fact that we are a grade driven society. When writing, I write to the guidelines in order to receive points for the requested criteria. The reason being, I gave up on expressing my own ideas because I had been shut down by so many teachers throughout my education. I tried to write down what came to my mind and put my own twist on things, but that was not the “right” way to write papers. In order to make both my teachers and my grades happy, I wrote what they wanted to hear, and even then I was not to the level they

The essay “Being an Other” was written by Melissa Algranati. She is a graduate of the State University of New York at Birmingham and has a master’s degree from Colombia University. The reason as to why she wrote this particular essay was to discuss and describe her experiences of not fitting easily into any particular identity group. Her intended audience are those individuals who seem to have difficulties feeling part of a group. The text was originally published in Thomas Dublin’s “Becoming American, Becoming Ethnic: College Students Explore Their Roots.” Algranati’s identity crisis led her to publish this essay and more importantly show what it was like to be mistaken for another ethnic background. She goes on to make the noteworthy argument,

Even though the Nigerian culture and the black culture in America are very different I had to mesh them together and create my own identity. Even though politically America was more accepting of immigrants from all over the world. , its people were and are still quick to point out the differences. Even African Americans, who were once seen as the outsiders, ostracized the “foreign” traits that I had, instead of remembering that not too long ago their ancestors came from the same place. Under census categories we would be classified under the same nomenclature.

Before I began this class I thought I was well versed in terms, of race, ethnicity, and nationality. However, I may have been partially wrong. I always considered my race to be Mexican and my ethnicity to be Hispanic while my nationality is American. However, according to the definitions I don’t have a race. On forms, I usually check the block for other and identify by ethnicity. I consider myself of Hispanic ethnicity from Mexican descent. However, to Mexicans from Mexico, I am not considered Mexican. I am a white Mexican, Mexican American or Chicana; both of my parents are born in Mexico of Mexican parents. I am most certainly proud of my roots as well as being an American. In the world we live in today it’s difficult to neglect the fact that I stand out for obvious reasons. That at times I am treated differently. That because of my roots I am told to go back to my country. That I shed a tear as I write this because I live with an inner struggle of who I am.

The United States of America has long been known as an immigrant’s country. It is a melting pot of all different races, ethnicities, and nationalities. However, the time elapsed between the foundation of America and now has led to the development of the American identity. American nationalism has changed the scope and parameters of who is truly “American,” and who is welcomed in America. The United States is no longer a country of immigrants, it is a country filled with citizens of diverse heritage, but they all identify as an American. This poses a problem for those who still wish to immigrate to America. It is still described as a place where there is a possibility of an “American Dream,” and where anyone can become anything.

In this paper, I will use the sociological imagination to connect my personal experiences of being a second-generation immigrant to the theory of racialization and self-identity. My experience of looking for racial identity associates with the process of classifying others by their physical characteristics, as well as my own self-identification. This affected my unique identity by others perceiving me differently based on the social roles.

Many people of different ethnicity have passed over many obstacles and difficult experiences where growing up in a new country has been like a great wall where you cannot exceed to the other side by much effort can put. Growing up in the United States may differ between types of culture and education given by parents. Over the years many people like me with double identity can struggle to be two person at the time where you communicate and experience new cultures in other family or persons. At home, you are the other person where you communicate with your first native language; you interact with family regularly with manners, traditions and culture. It 's really difficult to have two identities and do not know who you really are, in the book "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri author, demonstrates the theme of how hard it is to find an identity in America. The protagonist of the book Gogol, during his childhood went through many difficult stages related to his identity and find himself like another characters that passed the same way.

“Where Are You Going, Were Have You Been” by Joyce Oates, is one of most the craziest, unexpected plot twist of a story I have ever read. Through this short story you are narrated through the background of the ups and downs of a young girl’s life and through the strange encounter with a peculiar man. Joyce Oates will make you question, and feel alongside her main character as you try to grasp onto this strange fictional mystery.

The answer to this question is deeply related to my identity. I am Japanese and at the same time Chinese. Though this is just a fact of myself, do you know how long had it taken me to confidently say it? For merely 9 words, it had taken me almost the whole obligational education life to claim it without any hesitation. When I was in the Japanese school, there were all pure Japanese students surrounding me. As you can imagine, the mood always made me pretend like a pure Japanese and feel the shame of being Chinese. At that time, I extremely hated people asking me whether I’m Chinese or Japanese and hated myself who always answered

My full name is David Grant Ho. I was born on August 19, 1995. Including myself, I come from a family of four, with my mother, and two older brothers. I am of Vietnamese descent and am the only person in my family to be born in America. My two older brothers and I have the same birth month as well coincidentally. I was born and raised in California throughout my entire life, particularly in the Bay Area of Northern California.

Who am I? That’s hard to say since there is no clear definition of what makes a person. I could be my occupations: a student, dancer, and swimmer. Maybe I’m my emotions like happy, sad, and angry. I could be where I live, or what my goals are and how I plan to reach them. Most likely, I’m a compilation of all of these because people are complex and are not two dimensionally made. Where I am, how I act, and what I do make me who I am and I would not be Veronica without living in this house in Portland, Texas and having aspirations that seem to be more impossible than seizing the moon. I am Veronica, but I can also be whatever I need to be depending on where I live, what I do, and how I change my goals.

Who am I? I am Leticia Martinez, a 21 years old, mother of two beautiful children with an amazing husband and currently working on increasing my culture capital by pursuing a college degree. I am a strong independent woman who is full of life and not afraid to take any challenge life brings. I am a woman who never allows anything or anyone bring me down. But before I was able to discover the person I am today. I had three agents of socialization build me. These agents consisted of my stepfather, my family, and school. Some people learn to be strong because they are taught but I learned to be strong by facing life a very unpleasant way.