My Ethnicity? I'm, I'm..... Canadian?
So, I'm taking this class called Learning to work in a Diverse Environment (or something along that lines) and for our first assignment we had to answer these questions about our own ethnicity. *Insert cold sweat here* I looked down at the paper in front of me and realized that I had no answers. I have essentially, little to no ethnicity. Let me break it down for you, I am blond, blue eyed, pale skinned, protestant and my first language is English. I was born in Canada, my parents were born in Canada, their parents were born in Canada, and so on... On both sides of my family I am descended from "Planters" and "Empire Loyalists". We came over on the boat. Or as I like to joke "we're the ones that handed the Natives the smallpox infested blankets" Needless to say, my family has been here a long time. We've retained little to no culture from the United Kingdom, except for, of course, English and a penchant for Fish and Chips. We have no customs, nothing that really ties us to the "homeland" Frankly, we don't even eat a lot of "British" food.
Looking around, I notice that's there's really not even that much diversity in the town I live in. It is predominantly white middle class protestants. I live in a fishtank full of goldfish, instead of an ocean of diversity. And that saddens me a little, because what then do I have to pass on to my children that is uniquely our heritage? What traditions and language and food and even dress can I pass on? I suppose I can be proud of my "Planter" roots, I mean, back in the 1700's we took a chance on the "new world" but in terms of something concrete, I feel like I'm lacking.
I suppose that's why I am fascinated by, and love culture of all kinds. It's something that I don't have for myself, and so other people's cultures fascinate me.
I suppose I am fortunate that my boyfriend is "right off the boat" and so, I'll at least have some culture to pass on to my kids, even if it's not my own...
Looking around, I notice that's there's really not even that much diversity in the town I live in. It is predominantly white middle class protestants. I live in a fishtank full of goldfish, instead of an ocean of diversity. And that saddens me a little, because what then do I have to pass on to my children that is uniquely our heritage? What traditions and language and food and even dress can I pass on? I suppose I can be proud of my "Planter" roots, I mean, back in the 1700's we took a chance on the "new world" but in terms of something concrete, I feel like I'm lacking.
I suppose that's why I am fascinated by, and love culture of all kinds. It's something that I don't have for myself, and so other people's cultures fascinate me.
I suppose I am fortunate that my boyfriend is "right off the boat" and so, I'll at least have some culture to pass on to my kids, even if it's not my own...

6 Comments:
Hi there,
I'm literaryvamp from over at Chicklit.
And from the sounds of it, I look a lot like you. I get the vampire jokes all the time, because I'm so pale!
Anyways, I went to your website & checked out some of your writing. It's really good! I also really like how you have it set up. I'm hoping to do the same at my website sometime. Right now I just have a personal blog, & a book review page. Mind if I link to you?
Yvonne
http://www.literaryvamp.com
Well, I'm glad you like my writing. Please feel free to link to me.
Sorry it took so long to reply, I've been sick.
Well.. when I tell you that your writing is most excellent ( ROCK ON!! ) then what, you don't believe me! :P Will you update this thing for goodness sakes! :)
P.
Great! I'm still in the process of building the writing site, so I think I'll link you from there. Also, I was wondering if there's any way to remove my earlier post. I accidentally signed with my real name, and I prefer to stay behind a mask for now. I googled my site (yes, I know, shameful) and found that I had commented on a couple of sites with my real name. Now I have to go fix things. Thanks! And sorry for the bother. Happy writing!
Argh. Anonymous above is Literary Vamp. Sheesh. I'm having a really bad day.
Thanks again. At least you have lots of comments now!!
NSU - 4efer, 5210 - rulez
Post a Comment
<< Home