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Signature Assignment

Monica Espinoza

Fresno Pacific University

ECD 310
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Item 1: Ruth, my god mother, was the chosen one to be interviewed for my paper. This

women went through divorce, raised her children on her own, and got remarried. She is a strong

women to have been able to pull through her three boys as her and her boys were going through

it too. She went from having a huge house to a small apartment of two rooms for the four of

them. She had only one car to take and bring her kids back home. During their time in school,

she would spend hours crying about her divorce. She had no accompany but her only children.

She kept Jesus in a distance relationship because she did not know best at the time. She was

viewed as a person that could not do much or would get looks from society because she would

show love to her kids in public. In addition to this, she changed religions from being catholic to a

Christian. This change made her life completely different in several different way.

Throughout her journey, she looks back at herself and realizes all of the things she went

through without even realizing she had gone through so much. Much of her family members

supported her because she got the divorce. On the other hand, her kids suffered through the

separation, even though the youngest did not know what was going on and why. She made up

reasons for being in a different place to her youngest child, so therefore he would not feel the

separation. In addition to this, she blinded herself to many things she did wrong because of

ignorance and suffering. A couple of years passed and she began to start living life as a normal

one without being blinded to things. She started accepting the fact that she was divorced and she

had to pull through with her kids. She started getting involved at church and she started opening

up to him. She became more at peace within herself and she spread that peace with her kids

because she knew they were in bad shape. Before her divorced happened, she was very strict

with her children. They were expected to follow her rules and do as she asked for their own

safety growing up. Throughout her journey, she started accepting, but her kids were not
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accepting yet. Her oldest child started getting into drugs to numb the pain of all the problems that

were happening. He did not show his expression but rather showed it through his actions. In this

case, because he was going through it, it is reasonable that he was looking for drugs to numb the

pain that was at home. Through this process, my godmother started talking to my uncle, the one

she divorced. They tried talking and fixing things for their kids for about five years.

She not only was very strict, but very united with her children and husband. The type of

music that were played were very specific as well as the types of movies. Even though our

culture differences were different, we were still looked as family and united, but with some

changes in the way each family is raised.

Item 2: Culture for me is a way of expression by where you come from and what molds

you. I have a lot of different important items that make up who I am, but, I will pick five of them

and explain why they are significant to me. The five items that I picked are: cross, name tag,

soccer jersey, tequila bottle, and my cap from high school graduation cap. These five items play

an important part of my culture, because it is what I have grew up with and accomplishments that

I take proud of. As I continue growing up, my top five can change because of the new

experiences I am going to be taking and accomplishing.

The cross, is a symbol of my religion, I grew up as a catholic and still am a catholic. As a

young child, I never really understood my faith because understanding it was not easy. I hated

waking up on Sunday mornings and sitting down quietly for an hour. The lack of knowledge that

I had was because I was too small to understand what they were saying. It is normal for a child to

act this way as a young age because they do not know any better and do not understand yet. Once

I started growing up I began to pick up and started loving it. Going to a retreat in middle school

was the day I truly realized that I was a catholic and will continue to be one until I die.
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Soccer is a sport that I also grew up playing and watching with my parents and family

members. I started playing soccer at the age of six years up until high school. I was also in a club

team called, Odyssey and would travel up and down California. The Jersey that I will be showing

is a soccer team from Germany, called, Bayern Munich. I enjoy watching this team play because

of the amount of great skills these players have.

My name tag for work, has a great significance for me because I work at an elementary

school. I enjoy working with children and providing the help they need. There is a lizard made

by one of my students that has a great significance to me. Another item that is significant to me

is a family tradition, called tequila. My family members plant their own tequila in Mexico and

they go through the process of producing it. Final item is my cap from high school graduation.

Graduation was a huge accomplishment in my family, because I was the first in my generation to

graduate. Both my parents were raised and born in Mexico. My parents goal for my siblings and

are to pursue a degree so therefore we do not have the same types of jobs that my parents have.

These culture things that I have are similar to my aunt because she is also involved in

what we as a family do. I grew up with her, especially since she was the first to see me when I

was born. She was the replacement of my dad her brother during my moms delivery of me. She

sees me as her daughter that she never had, because she did not have any daughters of her own.

Since our bond is so close, the five items that I picked as my culture are nearly the same to hers.

One of the differences is high school graduation. She was not able to graduate because

she was told to drop and work to support the family. Her and my father were in the same

situation, they had to drop out. My father only had three months left and they forced him to get

out. Graduating from high school was something she always wished for, because she knew that

having an education was very beneficial. Even though we were able to relate to our culture
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simi9larities, graduation was one of the ones we did not meet. Even though her intentions of

wanting it were the same.

Through all her battles, we have some similarities and differences and she has Christ with

her and knows that she will never let go of him. Christ for her means a lot as it does to me,

because he is the reason that we as humans pull through our deep holes and see the light.

Item 3: The culture that I researched on influences todays society, is by the way many

people in society do not celebrate Christmas as the way it should be. Many school, businesses,

stores, etc. have been changing the wording of this holiday. Many people do not realize the

actual roots to this holiday. In addition, many celebrate this holiday, but do not know the actual

reason for it. Many people only like this holiday because they are receiving gifts from others.

Receiving gifts is part of the culture of this religious belief, but it does not just mean that you

receive gifts and the celebration is over. Jesus is the reason for the season, and many people do

not even think about the name of Christ in Christmas until it is pointed out. There are many

different routes in which people in our society try to go around this particular holiday but yet

participate in it. I know several businesses that cannot say merry Christmas to their customers

because it can be defensive to them. Instead, there alternative is to say happy holidays than

saying Merry Christmas. As of my understanding, Christ is supposed to be celebrated on this

specific holiday.

In other countries, their culture root is still present and yet everyone follows it. There are

specific times to where citizens of that country are able to take time off their jobs and go to mass

or share this special day with family member. Work plays an important part to many people in

general but in other countries, they could be in need of money but yet sacrifice that time to

celebrate the birth of Jesus and do what is right of their religious belief. Many people in our
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society do not see it like that nor the businesses, schools, stores, etc. Many can understand this

reason being but people do not take that time off as a form of sacrifice to Jesus.

There are many different culture and values that people do not realize are becoming the

common but are not celebrating it for its purpose. I have come to realize this situation and I have

personally researched it though my own eyes and observing people. I also have been looking

back to the way people have viewed things and the way their actions speak louder than words. It

is a mix combination of many influences that people have but overall the tradition of what

Christmas is intended to be is slowly fading away and it is being replaced through other names.
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Reference

R.Castro, Diversity Interview, April 24, 2016.

Mason, J., & Muir, S. (2013). Conjuring up traditions: atmospheres, eras and family

Christmases. Sociological Review, 61(3), 607-629. doi:10.1111/j.1467

954X.2012.02138.x