Culture

Culture- The characteristics shared by a group of people, such as language, religion, clothing, type of food, etc. I've always found it amazing how many countries (aka flags) there are in the world. However, probably even more amazing still is the steer number of completely different cultures that are able to exist. It's estimated (according to the people on http://anthro.palomar.edu/ethnicity/ethnic_5.htm) that there are between 5000-6000 languages spoken in the world today, with at least that many cultures, if not more.  It's almost hard to wrap my head around it. 

Country- For me, my country has always been the U.S. I have never lived in a different country, so I can't really imagine living anywhere else. With the freedom we have here, the diversity, it definitely is a great place to call home and I am proud to be an American. One thing that I don't like though is that   we do act sometimes that we are superior to everyone else sometimes, but that not always true. When we first became a nation, we were able to prosper because of all those different people--whose descendants make up this great nation today--and all their unique cultures and ideas.

State- With my dad in the military for 20+ years, I have lived in four different states so far (Maryland, Colorado, New Jersey, and Texas.) My favorite part of living in all those different places, one thing I realized early on, was the uniqueness of each of the places and the peoples that lived their. Looking back on my childhood though, what amazes the most were not the differences, but the similarities. No matter where I went, all the people were extremely nice and always made me feel welcome.

Town- With the exception of San Antonio, all the towns I have lived in were small towns. I love the feeling of those close knit communities. Everything is so close to you and the people are always watching out for you. When you move ever three years, having that kind of community make you feel more at home and gives you that feeling of belonging.

Family-My family is a small one. With just my mom and  dad, my brother, my dog, and me, we are what some people would consider the stereotypical American family. My family's always been closer and never fail to make me feel at home where ever we are.

School- So far in my life I have gone to 9 different schools, 2 preschools, 4 elementary schools, 1 middle school, and two high schools. I've seen everything from a high school sized elementary school with over 1000 kids to a tiny, 108 year old school with just less than 400 students. The one most important thing I've experienced in all the schools I've gone to was the overwhelming amount of school spirit.

Friends- What I love about my friends is how unique they are. I'm not just friends with one type of person from one group. My friends friends are the athletes who are passionate about the sports they play, the readers who always have their nose in a book. My friends are the artists and the writers who are never out of  new ideas. Most of all, my friends are the kind of people who think for themselves and who care about others.

Finding Forester Reflection 

Forrester: No thinking-that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is...to write, not to think! 

From the movie, Finding Forrester, I learned that writing isn't what you think it should be or what others want it to be, it about what you want. You need to learn to write with what you feel before you ever worry about what others will think about it.  Knowing this, I realized that writing, whether it's real or fictional, is a very personal thing. Sometimes it's a good thing just to write for yourself, even if nobody else will see it (journal, diaries?)