cultural baggage

In the reading "Cultural Baggage" I believe that the message that is intended to be conveyed is that while every one person in life does have their own culture and heritage, what is important is that their culture is understood by them but that they also understand and learn of the other cultures that are present. The author continually states that she has no culture and is unsure of how to answer when asked what her culture is. This is because her family, while knowing their culture and following their cultural acts, also took the time to learn and live out other cultures that we see on an every day basis.

The author expresses her opinions in a very emotional way involving herself, her family and her own children. By her being expressive in this way allows for the reader to feel connected and emotional towards her life as well as the reader's own life. I know for myself, I began thinking about my culture and about how and what I would like to teach my own daughter in her life.

Nothing really puzzled me in this reading but the overall essay did challenge me to focus and think about how my family lives their lives and what we teach ourselves and our children. My family does have traditions for things such as thanksgiving and christmas but most of the time they vary depending on who will be attending that year. We have cultures ranging from Cajun to Phillipine and let's just say we are all very different. However, we are accepting to this and really enjoy learning new recipes, ideas, and doings from everyone when we are all together at these times.

If I were to respond to this essay I feel that I would agree and respond to the author in a way that would portray positivity towards her opinions and writings. I agree with her that it is important to learn of other cultures and practice things outside of our own cultures and heritages. This is not only to benefit others of those cultures when we run into them in public sometime in our life but this also