Personal Cultural Project

By: Diamond Gray

EDU 280 – 1002 Summer 2020
 Cultural Belonging

• My family is African American, and the only language we are familiar with is
English. My paternal grandparents grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, while
my maternal grandparents grew up in Texas.

(maternal (paternal grandmother) (paternal great

grandmother) grandmother)
 Cultural Belonging

• My parents were born in the United States (picture of

in Las Vegas, Nevada, and so was I. my parents)

• I was born on Halloween Day on

October 31st, 1999.

• I have lived in Las Vegas, Nevada my entire

entire life, and I have never been outside of the United States.
 Cultural Belonging
• I was born a female and I identify as a female.
• I do not belong to any religious organization in particular, but I have been to
my grandmother’s Baptist Church several times, and I agree with many of
their views. I am very interested in learning more about the religion, as I have
thought about becoming a Baptist myself someday.
• I have one older sister; her name is JaQuay and
she is nine years older than me.
 Cultural Belonging
• In my family we always celebrate
Christmas and Thanksgiving.
We have a tradition of putting up the Christmas
tree together every year in early November.
• Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday;
I just love the decorations, the food, the music,
and I admire how everyone seems to be a bit more happy and
cheerful around Christmas time.
 Cultural Belonging
• Another tradition we have is making gumbo for Christmas dinner.
Gumbo is a part of New Orleans cuisine;
it is essentially a cajun soup that contains sausage, chicken,
shrimp, crab, and rice.
• When my family celebrates Thanksgiving, we usually gather at my
grandmother’s house and have a potluck style dinner. Everyone will bring
something different to contribute to the feast. We usually always have turkey,
ham, dressing, yams, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato pie, and other filling
desserts.
 Cultural Belonging
• When I was younger, my family also used to celebrate Halloween, since my
birthday always falls on Halloween Day (October 31st, 1999). Every year I
would go trick-or-treating with my sister and my parents, and I would dress
up in a fun costume. Nowadays, we just watch scary movies on t.v. and we
might pass out candy to trick-or-treaters if any of them come around.

(pictures of me dressed
up for Halloween)
 Life Experiences
• I was born in 1999, right before the start of the new millennium, so I am a
part of Generation Z. I was born in a very interesting era, because there were
many new technological advances during that time period. As a result, I do
not remember a time when cell phones and computers were not widely
accessible. My childhood consisted of staying indoors, playing with Barbie
dolls, binge watching t.v. and movies, and playing computer games. I did not
have many friends as a child because I was shy and quiet, so the Internet was
my escape from the real world.
 Life Experiences
• I have never traveled outside of the United States, and I have only lived in
North Las Vegas, Nevada. I have also lived in the same house ever since I
was born; I have never moved to another location.
• When I was around six years old, I went to Louisiana to visit some of my
family members on my father’s side. I don’t remember much about the trip,
except the delicious food. If I ever get the chance to visit again, I will
definitely go back to Café Du Monde in New Orleans, where they have the
best tasting beignets.
 Life Experiences
• Besides New Orleans, Louisiana, I have traveled to a few other U.S. cities,
including Orlando, Los Angeles, and San Diego. In the future, I would like
to travel more.
(me and
(me at (me
my
Disney on a
family
World) park
at
Disney- ride)
Land)
 Life Experiences
• The most recent trip I took was to San Diego in July of 2016. My family and
I made lots of great memories during that trip; we went to the beach, went
shopping, and we tried many new restaurants.
 Life Experiences
• My biggest accomplishment thus far has been graduating from high school
with an Advanced Honors Diploma. I graduated from Legacy High School
in 2018. A few days after the graduation ceremony took place, my parents
threw me a graduation party to celebrate my accomplishments.
 Life Experiences
• Before I decided to major in Elementary Education, I was majoring in
Culinary Arts, and I was thinking about becoming a chef and owning my
own restaurant someday in the future. However, after I attended a few weeks
of hands-on culinary instruction, I soon realized that cooking in a
professional environment was not the right fit for me. I really enjoyed
cooking, but I did not like the pressure of having to rush and make sure that
everything was 100% perfect. In my opinion, cooking should be fun, and it
shouldn’t really matter what the food looks like so long as it tastes
great! Nevertheless, I still enjoy cooking as a hobby.
 Life Experiences
• I like all different types of food cuisines, and I always enjoy trying out new
recipes. Even when my cooking doesn’t turn out like I had expected, it still
serves as a great learning experience. (my first time cooking
orange chicken)
(my first time making
chocolate covered
(the strawberries)
first (the first
apple time I
pie I made
ever chicken
made alfredo)
from
scratch)
 Life Experiences
• Besides cooking and traveling, I also enjoy bowling, swimming, shopping,
and binge-watching t.v. shows and movies. Some of my favorite t.v. shows
are My 600-lb Life, Money Heist, Good Girls, and Breaking Bad. My all-time
favorite movie is Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
 My Worldview
• Honesty, loyalty, equality, compassion, empathy and kindness are all very
important values to me, and they greatly influence my decision-making
process.
• I follow the Golden Rule, which is the principle of treating others the way you
would like to be treated. I think this is the most important principle anyone
could possibly live by, because it creates a chain reaction of kindness and good
deeds.
• Ever since I was young, my family and friends have always told me that I am a
very nice, sweet, and caring person.
 My Worldview
• I always strive to see the good in people, no matter what terrible things they
might have done in the past. I do not hold grudges and I do not pass judgments.
• I do not believe that I have any prejudices against anyone, or any cultural group
in particular.
• I do my best to approach situations from an objective perspective, but
sometimes my personal feelings and experiences will create biased opinions.
Nevertheless, I am aware of those opinions, so I always try to avoid giving
people biased information.
Cultural Artifacts
This is an award
that I received in This is
8th grade for my baby
participating in blanket
my school’s that I
science fair. I did have had
an experiement ever
about how time since I
and temperature was born.
affects the baking
process.
 Cultural Artifacts

This is a family
heirloom - a This is my family
necklace that was portrait that
passed down to includes mostly
me by my mother. everyone on my
father’s side of
the family. We
decided to
choose an old
school gangster
theme.
Cultural Artifacts
This is Dallas – This is a
the first and only picture of me
pet that I ever and my mom
had. He helped when I was
me overcome my younger
fear of dogs. (maybe
around age 5
or 6). I used
to play
soccer on a
team called
the Dolphins.
Cultural Artifacts
This was my first
day of preschool. This was my last day
Even though I am of preschool when
smiling in the we had a graduation
picture, I remember ceremony. I am
being very sad standing next to my
because I didn’t preschool teacher
want to leave my and I am holding a
family to go to a certificate since I
strange place that I earned good grades.
wasn’t familiar with.