Jessie Dzura, Where are you going? Where have you been?

When one asks the question, "Where are you from", I automatically assume that someone wants to know what physical city I was born and raised in. To answer that question, I was born in a hospital that is 5minutes away from the house I have lived in all of my life. Richmond has become an integral part of my personality and my interests. Digging deeper into the question, I am from a small family with Northern roots. My mother was born in Massachusetts and my father was born and raised in Pittsburgh. My family loves cooking, football, and story-telling. I have been raised in the legacy of both of my parent's families. My mother's side of the family still gets together every Fourth of July to catch up and eat (badly) barbequed chicken made by the local fire department in Vermont. On my father's side, I was born into a Steeler's nation, where we bleed black and gold during the regular season. Both sides of the family have deep roots in their historical culture: my mother's family hails from England, and came over on one of the first ships to America; my father's family is VERY Czech. Many of the cooking traditions of the family come from our Czech background. This includes a love for good beer.

When asked on a college survey or test what I identify as, I would say white/Caucasian. Until our in-class exercise, I did not consider how diverse we all our (even within a white identity). For example, my family has entirely different traditions than someone who situates themselves in Irish or Spanish culture. What I found most poignant about the exercise was the connections that each of us shares with each other. Race is still heavily prevalent in our society, and is completely unfounded in its importance. We are all connected by some sort of cultural or physical heritage, we all have traditions that relate us to each other. Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 really served to identify how harmful racial discrimination can be in our society. Rather than uniting Los Angeles in support of Rodney King,  a man physically assaulted by over-vigorous cops, race served to divide and destroy the community. So when I consider where I am from, I would like to say that I am part of the Richmond community, the William and Mary community, the U.S. community, and a global community that should unite to solve the problems of today.