Individual Cultural Project

Sienna Houston

EDU 280

 Culture
I am an American white woman in my mid 20’s. Of the many
countries in my ancestry, my mom was a large part Danish (from
Denmark) and she always made a variety of Danish foods. 



I grew up in a very privileged area of town with an unfortunate lack
of diversity. I feel like this was the most damaging to be “sheltered”
like this, because it created an ignorance of how situations were for
many other people. When I started dating my (now) fiance a few
years ago, he lived on the East side in a high-crime area. I didn’t
really notice small things that people that lived over there would do
to compensate. For instance, making sure car registration stickers
Elote!

were cut with a razor blade to ensure that someone wouldn’t steal it.
Or even something as simple as learning that it’s okay to buy food
from street vendors selling elote! It’s the small things that I learned
that made a difference when I was outside of my suburban bubble. 

 My mom and I
visiting Solvang,
CA (2018)
 My G
oals
Holidays I Celebrate

Christmas Birthdays Halloween

I’m not religious, but I do For me, it’s very This is my favorite holiday
love this time to celebrate important to show those I because it’s a dress up
my family and how love how amazing they day that anyone can
amazing they are year are by spending time with participate in! I do wish I
round. 
 them on their day!
 had a house so I could
pass out Halloween candy
to the kids!

 Life Experiences
I grew up on the millennial/Gen Z cusp. This was a great
time to grow up because, unlike kids these days, I was able
to get minimal technology use and a great deal of time
outdoors with kids in the neighborhood. I wish that every kid
was able to have the balance that I did. Unfortunately, I did My cousin and I
grow up as an only child. This made me realize that when I before she moved
have kids in the future that I want to have at least 2. I was out of state (2008)

heavily bullied at school by both students and teachers and I
struggled to make friends. Since friends were few and far
between, I ended up overcompensating by bombarding my
few friends with requests to hang out with me. I relate
heavily with kids that struggle to make friends and I can't
wait to be a safe space as a teacher for kids that are alone. 

 Worldview and Familial Issues
For as long as I can remember, I’ve never felt as if I was
apart of any culture. I can start by mentioning that I am
white, and I do feel somewhat ashamed of that. A large part
of my dad and his family are racist and honestly a bit sexist.
My entire life has been a struggle of figuring out how to not
encourage their racist behaviors and still finding a way to not
get blamed for disagreeing with their views. I remember
vividly getting into a screaming match with my dad when he
was trying to forbid me from talking to a friend of mine at
school who was hispanic and not accepting that he could try
control who I was friends with during school. They were my
friends, and I wasn’t going to let his views get in the way of
that. 

On a side note, I just got engaged last month… to a Mexican
man! The look of disgust on my family’s face when I told them
about the engagement was honestly just disappointingly
hilarious. It has always been important for me to not align
with my family’s viewpoint on other races and actively protest
racism. 

 Worldview Cont’d
As I was thinking of what my goals are, and I feel like I have
a solid idea of what I want out of life. In terms of my career
goals, I want to become a elementary teacher sometime in
the next few years. However, I feel very conflicted that in
the news lately there have been an excessive amount of
school shootings. It bothers me that these kids have to go
through the unimaginable. Still not sure if I’d like to teach
online or in person, but I have to work with kids! 



For personal goals, I think often of how I’d like to graduate
college first before I have kids. I know that there isn’t a
specific order to things in life, but I do know this is
something I really want. 

 Memories

Mom and I in
Disneyland (2001)
 My band performing in My fiance and I at
a park (2015)
 Disneyland (2019)


My family
and I in
Solvang, CA
(2014)


My mom and I (1998)