CULTURAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY 1

Cultural Autobiography

Dylan J. Riess

Human Relations in a Multicultural Society

Minnesota State University, Mankato

19 October, 2018
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Cultural Autobiography

Sometimes I feel like I’ve just won the lottery. Other times I perceive that I’ll never win

no matter how long I play the game. My odds of winning this game are 1 in 7.7 billion; however,

there are many winners – but almost just as many losers – at any point. This game I and many

others play is the lottery of life. Every single person on this earth has been born into a unique

location, life status, personality, and set of circumstances. This is one’s cultural identity. Cultural

identity is separated into independent, specialized microcultures, and distinctions within these

topics are part of what makes every human being a unique individual.

My unique cultural identity affects every single part of my life. My distinct identity has

been influenced by my family, friends, and even society as a whole. Though I am what one

might see as the stereotypical ‘poster child’ of American society for many of my microcultures,

that’s not always entirely true; though on the surface I may seem like that, I’m not. In my own

unique way, I stray slightly from each of the stereotypes, and this creates challenges that I face,

sometimes daily. The influence and consequences I receive from these challenges have made me

a unique individual.

Family Composition

Though it can come in a large variety of forms and sizes, the basic family unit is a staple

in the culture of the United States. No matter what the make-up is – whether single-parent or

multi-parent, nuclear or mixed, large or small – the family unit is very important. My family is

one of the most important things in my life and has brought many privileges into my life.

My family is the poster-child of the basic all-American nuclear family: two parents and a

couple children. It consists of my father and mother, Tracy and Lori, and 3 older siblings, Alex,
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Derek and Hannah. My two brothers are both married and live away from the family. Though my

family was very close through my childhood, we’ve spread out as time has passed. While

Hannah and my parents are at home in Stewartville, MN and I’m at college in Mankato, my

brothers now live in different states. Alex and his wife, Samantha, live in Iowa and Derek and

Jaclyn, his wife, live in Ohio. Having brothers further away from home has created an interesting

dynamic in my family, since my family is rarely all together anymore. However, in spite of this,

my family manages to stay fairly close, just like when we were younger.

Some of the most cherished memories of my family have taken place in the family GMC

Suburban. Since there was not a lot disposable income around when I was growing up, if my

family travelled anywhere, it would be by car. I distinctly remember sitting in the back row with

my sister: doing homework, talking, and prodding at the heads of our brothers in the row in front

of us. The drives were sometimes only a couple hours but sometimes could be a day or two. My

family bonded a lot after countless hours stuffed in small box.

I am very lucky to have had the privilege to be born into a stable household. Having both

parents has made life a lot easier for me than some. Though my father worked nights throughout

all of my childhood, having his presence there was still very helpful. The presence of both

parents helped teach me how a man should respectfully treat a woman, the value of hard work,

and numerous life skills. Though I had the chance to grow up in a household like this, many

children are not that lucky. Though single and divorced parents can still do a great job in raising

children, it can be a lot more difficult.

Generation
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Baby Boomer. Gen X. Millennial. Gen Z. These four words all have something in

common: they all relate to different age groups of people in the United States. These different

generations all have slightly different habits, mannerisms, and ideals. Though in the age range of

Generation Z, I consider myself a millennial because of the influence my parents, born on the tail

end of the baby boomer generation, played on me after raising my two millennial-aged brothers.

Millennials, for the most part, may be considered lazy, sheltered from actually facing life, and

other negative aspects by older generations. It can be hard to fight stereotypes of other people

and get respect and attention from older generations.

As a millennial, I’ve tried to do my best to defy stereotypes about my generation. In

elementary and middle school, I would go home after school and start on homework right away,

putting as much effort as I possibly could into it. That lead into the last two years of high school,

when I tirelessly worked 30 hours a week and took college and AP classes. I also budgeted and

saved for a car to replace the rusty 20-year-old truck I’d gotten from my sister. In my first year of

college, I continued to work 30-hour weeks with a heavy credit load to afford school. Through

all my hard work, I have done by best to defy the ‘lazy millennial’ stereotype and show the

world that hardworking people still exist.

Though nobody deserves to be stereotyped, it still happens almost all the time. As a

consequence of being a millennial, people may view me as lazy and rude until they get to know

me. It is a major struggle to have to fight the losing battle of changing peoples’ minds about how

I act. However, every single mind that I encourage to rethink the status quo is a small victory.

Geography
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With such a big world, it is obvious that there are many nationalities and places to live.

Geography plays a considerable role in almost every aspect of a person’s personality, life, and

decisions. My ancestors are from several different countries, all European. Though I have mostly

German heritage, I have some ancestors from Switzerland and Norway as well. My ancestors,

since coming to America, have lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and all around southeast

Minnesota. My immediate family lives in Stewartville, a small town in southeast Minnesota. My

heritage and location have had an extensive impact on who I am.

There’s no better feeling than arriving home. The physical geography of Minnesota is

very comforting to me, especially after being gone on a long trip. I went to England for two

weeks in the summer of 2018, and though the country was beautiful, I felt good to be back in the

United States when my plane touched down in Chicago at O’Hare International Airport. Though

the drive back home was going to be five hours, I was excited to get back to the familiar

surroundings of southeast Minnesota, as well as seeing my family and puppy. As I entered my

town, I felt a peace settle over me; I had finally made it home after a long journey. My home is a

sacred place to me; it’s where I spent my childhood, learned from my mistakes, and made a lot of

memories.

Though the Midwest isn’t by any means perfect, it is a very privileged place to be.

Growing up a small town can help shelter people from some of the crazy events that may happen

in bigger cities or other parts of the United States but can often also lead to many members of

this area being very uncultured. I grew up seeing a lack of diversity in my city. Though growing

up doesn’t make it impossible to build cultural competency, it certainly can make it harder, since

people from this area may feel like they’re already too far behind to catch up.

Socioeconomic Status
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Anywhere one goes, the swings of wealth are often present. In some places there ware

extravagant mansions directly next to disheveled shacks. The socioeconomic status of a

particular person can factor greatly into their lifestyle and opportunities in life. Socioeconomic

status is the amount of wealth and money a person has, as well as status within their culture. The

socioeconomic status of my family is located in the lower middle class. Though we have always

had enough to get by comfortably enough – thanks to both of my parents working, and my Dad

in particular putting in 6-day work weeks often in my childhood – my family never had a whole

lot of disposable income.

Every year, the pastor of my church congregation travels through India and Sri Lanka for

over a month preaching the gospel and communicating with churches affiliated with our church

group in the United States. Through his travels he’s met countless amazing people. Some,

however, are very poor. There was one family in which the mother was the only person earning

an income since the father had a disability. To make her life easier, our congregation fundraised

to get her a small stove and a fridge. I was very surprised when I found out she had been living

without what I’d thought of as basic staples of a kitchen. Though those fairly inexpensive items

wouldn’t have gotten a second look in the United States, they made the life of one family

drastically better on the other side of the world. This realization made me truly appreciate the

privilege I had of being born in the United States.

Though I really enjoy where my family stands on the socioeconomic ladder of the United

States, it does bring both some benefits and consequences. Having to make my own money and

save up for things instead of just asking my parents for money has taught myself the value of

hard work and budgeting; it has brought a great deal of pride for being able to somewhat provide

for myself. On the other hand, I face the consequences of having to work through college; I don’t
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have much, if any, disposable income after paying for tuition and other necessary expenses.

Through all of the benefits and drawbacks of my spot in life, I’ve learned to be content with and

appreciate what I have.

Religion

As one travels across the world, the United States of America, or even just the state of

Minnesota, they are very likely to encounter many different belief systems and religions. A

religion is a system of beliefs and practices one accepts and partakes in. It may take many

different forms: atheist, Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. I identify as Judeo-Christian, though my

particular set of beliefs is neither fully accepted by mainstream Christianity or traditional Jewish

people. As a religious minority inside of a dominant religious, I find it very hard to relate to

people of most faiths and society makes some of my beliefs hard to practice.

Though, like mainstream Christianity, I believe that Christ is my savior, I don’t believe

the Old Covenant was hung to the cross with Him. I follow what Christ did when He was alive:

the holy days He observed, His adherence to Old Testament commandments, and how He treated

people. I believe in the seventh day Sabbath, the Holy Days of Leviticus 23, and many other

practices found odd by the majority.

“Oh, you can’t sit here. Only people who celebrate Christmas can do this.” I was in 3rd

grade when I was told this. Though I didn’t know a lot of the reasons why I didn’t celebrate

Christmas at that time, as most kids don’t, I knew my family didn’t for good reasons. My class

had been learning about Christmas and had just completed an art project related to it. I casually

told one of my friends that I didn’t celebrate Christmas while we were working on the project. I

didn’t realize what a mistake that would be. My friend started making fun of me, calling me
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‘Jewish’ and a ‘weirdo’ for not celebrating. That continued, thankfully, only through the rest of

the school day. I was still very hurt by the end of it. Why was I being made fun of for one little

day I didn’t celebrate? It made no sense. I never held a grudge against that friend, but that

experience taught me to never share more of my beliefs with others than necessary. Though I try

to be more open, that defense strategy has carried with my all the way to today.

Although I am a Christian, I’m still a bit of a religious minority because of my belief

system. Life as a religious minority has been somewhat difficult and proven to be very

educational. Throughout every single year of school, I had to explain to my teachers why I would

be gone for a week a month into classes for my religious observances. Though most of them

were very understanding, every odd teacher would give me a hard time for missing so much

school. I have also had trouble feeling completely comfortable eating with people. Whether it’s

not being able to eat due to a lack of options without unclean meats, having to hold up a line to

check if a particular food item has pork in it, or getting hassled by friends who mean well, all

these things enforce the idea that I’m different from everyone else and that maybe it should

change. Though sometimes not a huge deal, microaggressions such as these – as well as other

adverse reactions – make expressing my beliefs and customs uncomfortable and have taught me

to hide what I believe.

Gender

From the moment parents find out what gender their child is going to be, they start

enforcing gender stereotypes on their child. For a boy, they’ll paint a room blue, get blue and

green clothes, and find toy trucks and dinosaurs for the child to play with; if it’s a girl, the room

will be pink, the clothes become pink and purple, and the trucks and dinosaurs are replaced with

dolls and dress-up clothes. These society-driven stereotypes create much of the idea of
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someone’s gender. As a man that would be deemed not masculine by the culture around me, I

find it hard to embrace my masculinity and relate to some people.

I’ve always played games with my sister while growing up. With an age gap of only 14

months, my sister and I would play games together all the time in our childhood. Games would

always switch between two separate dynamics: racing cars and then playing with dolls or

fighting imaginary dragons followed by playing house. Primarily, we would play dolls with our

neighbor. However, almost all the dolls were girls. This made it hard to relate to the game like

my sister or neighbor did. My parents noticed this and for one of my birthdays, they bought me a

doll that looked like me. I was ecstatic. Now I would be able to play with my sister! I was so

excited to have something I could relate with that I wasn’t concerned with my masculinity; I only

wanted to play with kids my age.

Within a culture that celebrates almost only super masculine men and ultra-feminine

women, it can be hard to be a person that doesn’t fit in one of those boxes. Growing up, it was

difficult to not enjoy football and still relate to the other boys. Though I eventually found some

friends who didn’t find football that important, I was still left out by not enjoying something

else: gaming or soccer most prevalent. Not being able to relate about ‘guy stuff’ makes it hard to

feel masculine in your own way. However, in spite of that, since true masculinity isn’t just a

cookie cutter format that makes everyone the same, I have grown in the knowledge and

confidence of the masculine person I am, gender stereotypes or not.

Education

Education is something that can change the world yet is still taken for granted. Education

includes teaching to all ages of people, from early childhood until college-aged and even older.
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Through educators, education can help shape generations of scientists, scholars, artists, and hard-

working citizens. Without a good education system, it can be hard for people to fight for a better

station in life. I have had the major benefit of receiving a stellar education from several amazing

institutions.

A simple reading project in 5th grade became a major eye-opening experience for me.

Along with 5 other students in my class, an assignment was given to me to read a book: Three

Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time, written by Greg

Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It told the story of a nurse turned humanitarian who started

fighting to give girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan an education and lower poverty. As I read

through the book and converted the story into a PowerPoint presentation, I was shell-shocked. I

had never before heard that there were places that girls didn’t have the chance to attain an

education. The privilege of having a school to attend had never before been a thought; education

should’ve been something everybody had. The book was beautiful, and, though my 9-year-old

mind didn’t grasp the enormity of the situation at the time, I now appreciate how blessed I am to

be able to attend school and even a university too. After reading the book, I made sure to

appreciate school. I’d always enjoyed it before, but from then it had a purpose. School wasn’t

treated as right; it was used as a privilege.

Even though I wasn’t born into a family that could afford to pay for my schooling, I’ve

still had the privilege of receiving a family that can support me somewhat while I’m in college.

When I was a senior in high school, while preparing for college, my mother helped me fill out

applications, went on campus tours, and helped give me a push to apply for scholarships, even

though she had no experience doing these things herself. My father grew up very poor and has

made it a goal to provide his family a better life. He worked hard so his children would have the
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choice to go where they wanted, whether that be college, a trade school, or going straight into a

profession. This privilege of support for education has given me something that, sadly, many

people never have the chance to receive.

Language

Idioma. Sprache. Linguaggio. This is the word ‘language’ in just 3 of an incredible

amount of spoken and written languages through history. Language can include whole different

languages, as well as separate dialects and word choices within a language. Though language can

be a beautiful thing, it can also become a major barrier. Without a translator or other way to

communicate, people who don’t share a common language can find it very difficult to finish

common tasks or spend quality time together.

No matter where people are from, there always seems to be a home improvement that is

needed where they live. A large variety of people buy paint at Menards. While working in the

paint department there, I helped guests from all regions and nationalities. There was one day that

I was working on a task at the desk when a family came up. They had come to buy some paint.

However, there was one small problem. Neither of the parents spoke much English. Luckily,

their son translated for them, and we were able to negotiate the color, quality, and amount they

wanted. After I mixed the paint and gave it to the family, I reflected on what had just happened. I

wasn’t so much awed at how well of a job the son had done translating for his parents as much as

I was very interested that he didn’t seem to mind. It looked as if translating may have been just a

daily part of his life. A lot of times children of immigrant families may learn a foreign language

better than their parents and would become a de-facto translator for them.
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Most people who speak English as a first language do not realize how easy they may

have it. As a member of a very privileged language group, English, I am protected from

experiencing a lot of the difficulties that people face when they learn a second language. Since

English is such a widespread language, when tourists visit a different country they don’t need to

worry about learning the primary language of the place that they’re visiting. These privileged

experiences may lead to someone deciding another person is lazy or dumb just because they

haven’t learned English to the point of fluency yet.

Conclusion

The unique, specialized microcultures of a person’s cultural identity make them an

individual and different from every other human being. My identity makes me a unique

individual. There are many things that make me a different human being: my family, age,

location, social status, faith, gender, education, and language. Though I may look like a ‘poster

child’ of American society, I’m certainly not, and face my own set of trials and consequences of

these slight inaccuracies. Nonetheless, at many times in my life I feel like I’ve won the lottery of

life. Some parts of life are hard, but I wouldn’t have this life happen any other way.