Watching the video and reading the article made me think about my own identity and how this has shaped my life. My name is Jennifer Garcia and I come from a mixed Hispanic family. My name was given to me by my father. He gave me this name because he liked the way his teacher in high school would pronounce his classmate’s name, Jennifer. He said he would pronounce it in like this Brooklyn accent that he thought was pretty cool.
Although he started to go school in this country as a teenager, my father made sure that my sisters and I learned to speak and write in Spanish. He immersed us in all things related to our Ecuadorian culture, including teaching us about the history of our mix ancestry. As well as teaching us that being born in the United States was also part of our identity. I feel that my name reflects that. That I am a part of both worlds, and this has helped me to become a stronger person. Being bilingual, multicultural, and accepting who I am, has given me the strength to make a positive mark on this world and continue to achieve my goals.
I really like that you were brought up being taught that being born in the United States was also part of your identity. I absolutely agree and can relate. I feel that was a really important part on their behalf because often kids are taught to accept only one half of their identity. This makes it hard for them to assimilate.
I can also relate to having a strong acceptance of my identity from my parents teaching me different parts of my culture.
I can relate to when you mentioned that you’re part of two worlds because I have a similar experience which was spending my childhood in the country my parents were born and raised in, although I was born in the US, then when I was a teenager, I came back to the US which really makes me feel like I’m familiar with two different lifestyles and cultures.