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Brittany Smith

Edu 280

Professor Chester

September 22, 2016

Multicultural Project

My mothers parents Marianne Knott and Wolfgang Preiss were both born in Germany.

My Oma (grandmother) was born in Bad Wiessee, Germany and my Opa (grandfather) was born

in Leipzig, Germany. My mothers parents immigrated to Canada separately they met and were

married. My mom was born in Kitchner Ontario, Canada. When my mom was still a baby they

moved to Westminster, California for three years. When they first came to the United States they

struggled with finding jobs because their English was not very good, so they moved back to

Germany for a couple of years. Before my mother started Kindergarten they moved back to the

United States more specifically to Huntington Beach, California into a house they lived in for

more than fifty years. My step- father was born in El Minya, Egypt, but grew up in Samlout,

Egypt. While in Egypt my step- dad received a PHD in Islamic studies and Arabic language. He

also worked with the Suzanne Mubarak the wife of the former Egyptian president. He came to

the United States when he was forty-seven, seeking political asylum after converting to

Christianity from Islam.

I was born in Newport Beach, California on February 12, 1986. I lived in Huntington

Beach, California for the first two and a half years of my life. My family and I relocated to

Rohnert Park, California after my dad got transferred there. We stayed there for almost seven

years until my dad lost his job. We moved back home to Huntington Beach, California, where I

lived until I was twenty- eight. I lived with my Oma as her care taker for the last five years
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before she passed away. After she passed away I tried to stay in Huntington Beach as long as I

could, but because I recently had shoulder surgery and had been out of work I was unable to pay

my bills. My Oma had always thought that she stole my youth and encourage me to go back to

school, so that I would not have to work at Albertsons the rest of my life. Almost a year after she

passed away I decided to go back to school. My mom said I could come live rent free if I was

serious about going back to school, so I moved to Las Vegas in hopes to find a better career for

myself, but also to make my Oma proud.

Family has always been very important to me without them I do not know where I would

be today. My mom, Yvonne Preiss Rahouma works with mentally disturbed high school students

at Miley Achievement Center. My step dad, Mohamed (Mo) Rahouma is a missionary he assists

people who live in other countries that have converted from Islam to Christianity finding them

safe places to live and jobs. Christopher Smith, my older brother lives in Tigard, Oregon with his

two dogs Sofia and King and is the store manager of Best Buy. Joshua Smith, my younger

brother works in Foster City, California for a construction company and comes home to Las

Vegas every other weekend to visit the family and his dog, Brewtis. We have three dogs

Maximus, Brewtis and Lola. Lola is a seven-year-old Pit-bull that loves any and all food.

Maximus and Brewtis are from the same litter of puppies, but could not look more different.

They are almost three-years-old, German Shepard mixes that love swimming, playing fetch and

snuggling.

While taking care of my Oma for five years we became very close. I got to know parts of

her that very few people we privy to. She taught to always stand up for what I believed despite

what people may think of you. She loved history, was proud of her German heritage, hilarious,

kind-hearted and stubborn. After she passed away I found out that she had left me money so that
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I could take the time to go back to school and not worry about having to pay. For this I am

forever grateful and hope that she knows that everything I am doing now is to make her proud.

My education goals consist of finishing my AA here at CSN. Next year I hope to either

enroll at UNLV, CSULB, or CAUF to get my Bachelors. Once I have a job teaching I would like

to work on getting my masters.

I personally have mixed feeling about religion. Growing up I went to catholic church,

catechism, and catholic school. I did not always agree with the things that I was being taught. I

had a lot of questions that could never fully be answered. I am also a Lesbian and was taught the

majority of my childhood that I would go to hell if I did not change something that I felt was a

part of me. It was not until Family friend explain being gay being a sin equivalent to having

premarital sex. It was the act itself that was a sin not so much being gay and just like any sin if

you pray for forgiveness I would not go to hell. I found Catholics to be very hypocritical. Often

preaching one thing and acting another way. Though, I would like to believe that this life is just

preparing us for something bigger and better after we die, but until there is proof I have a hard

time believing it. Also, Evolution seems like a more realistic way the world was created.

I am apart of Generation Y also known as Millennials. This generation includes people

born between 1980- 1995. A major political event I remember is when President Bill Clinton lied

about sleeping with Monica Lewinsky and the trail about whether or not he would be impeached.

Another major event from this generation is 9/11. I remember the devastation and everyone

asking each other where they were when the planes hit the Twin Towers in New York. Cassette

Tapes becoming CDs and VHS tapes becoming DVDs was a big deal. Some television shows

that I enjoyed were Nickelodeon cartoons, Friends and The Simpsons. Popular music at this time

was Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Boy Bands (NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Hansen), girl
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groups (TLC, Spice Girls) and grungy bands (Nirvana, No Doubt, Green Day). Popular toys my

brothers and I played with were Nintendo, Barbies, GiGa Pets, Nano Babies and Ninja Turtles.

Somethings I like to do in my free time is hang out with friends, spending time with my

cousin, Roman, when I can afford it traveling to Oregon to see my older brother and

photography. I love pictures. My favorite things to take pictures of are nature, family, friends and

my dogs. I am the only I know that still prints pictures. I love all types of music. My favorite

bands are Sleater-Kinney and Sublime are my favorite band. There is actually sublime cover

band called Badfish that I enjoy going to see in concert. They often play with original members

of Sublime.

For my cultural card I used the cautionary tales that my Oma used to teach my mom to

get her to behave as a child. Struwwelpeter is a German childrens book of cautionary tales.

Some of these tales include Augustus the boy who would not have any soup, the girl who played

with matched and the boy who sucked his thumb. Augustus would not eat his food and

eventually he withered away and die. The girl that played with match lit herself on fire and burnt

to ashes. The boy who sucked his thumb had a man come chop them off. It was also like listen to

your parents or terrible thing would happen. My mom used the same scaring us into behave

tactic with my brothers and me. Hers never ended in death but were still terrifying. She used to

tell my little brother if he did not finish his food that he would get so skinny he would fall

through the cracks on the sidewalk. She told me if I did not dry my hair after my bath or shower

that I would get pneumonia. I had asthma and I often had pneumonia as a child it was the worst.

She told us if we sucked our thumbs that they would fall off. I would say these tactics were very

affective in getting her three small children to behave.