Final Synthesis Essay

                                                                     Two in One


Family

Growing up, I felt a separation on both of my cultures. My father is Taiwanese decent and my mother is from the Filipino decent. Two very different cultures yet we are all considered to be asians. My parents are divorced and carry a very healthy, strong friendship with each other. During holidays, my time with them both is separated which allows me to have a taste of both my cultures. Although they are different from one another, it is very easy for me to understand and accept the blood that runs through my veins. My culture has most definitely helped me shape my identity and the reasons of wanting a better future for myself. On both sides, I was taught that my education must come first. Knowledge is the key to a brighter future and it will help me live a comfortable lifestyle. But what really caught my attention was the obstacles my parents had to face coming to the United States and leaving their homeland believing that this place will give their children more options to live a healthier and better life.

" Identity is the essential core of who we are as individuals, the conscious experience of the self inside. "- Kaufman

My relationship with my mother has increasingly grew much stronger as I grew up and entered college. Ever since I was a child, I've seen her work so hard to live a comfortable lifestyle for my sisters and I. Her education was stopped after high school. From there, my grandma, grandfather and their five daughters decided to make a living here in the United States and leave behind everything they knew. The country they lived in was unfortunately filled with poverty, violence, hate and crimes. Not every child could afford shoes or the simple necessities of everyday living. School was even something the majority of parents couldn't afford for their children. It was a tough world to live in.  In the Philippines, part of the curriculum in school was being taught how to speak english. My mother and her sisters knew enough but not enough to leave behind the accents they carried with them when they moved to California. They experienced racial comments and stares but that didn't stop my families ambition for a better life. There's not much you can get from a high school diploma which had my mom jumping from one job to another. She fought her way through many situations that made life a bit more difficult to deal with because of her culture and language. What I found most relevant was her drive to do better for her daughters at that time. She would always remind my sisters and I on how important it is to get a good education and to stay in school. With the knowledge and experience she provided us, I was taught that staying in school will help me live a life of means. She showed me on how difficult it is to work without a college degree and how many hours of overtimes she had to take just to make things easier on her children. This made me realize how relevant it is for me to continue my education even after high school because I'm not only doing this for myself but most importantly my family.

Culture

As a child, before my parent's divorced, I was open to the Taiwanese culture. My father's mother and father lived with us, and already at a very young age taught me how to speak their language. The food, religion, music, language and art was incorporated in my daily life living with them. It was apparent to me that my father's family didn't have to work long hours in the office because of their job title position. I wouldn't say that they are much more successful but my father's family has been living in the United States much longer and mostly all my uncles have a bachelor or masters degree. It is most definitely a different life style compared to my mother's. With my father, my culture with him has much more restrictions which doesn't allow much fun to do. It's all work, no play while on my mother's side, I was taught to love what I do and enjoy life in the process of receiving a higher education. My uncles and auntie's are very successful at their jobs, while my cousins are off to four year universities to become a doctor or a lawyer. Seeing how hard they worked on school and where there future leads many fortunate possibilities gives me the drive to want that for myself to provide a life not only for myself but my mother and father. 

" Deep in our hearts we believe that being Mexican has nothing to do with which country one lives in. Being Mexican is a state of soul- not one of mind, not one of citizenship. Neither eagle nor serpent, but both. And like the ocean, neither animal respects borders. " - Gloria Anzaldua

Both of my cultures are incorporated with my daily life. I am put into a category as an Asian which has about the same stereotypes as all Asians combined. For example, we're supposedly extremely smart, horrible at driving, and we talk too fast. We all have dealt with some racial comments about our feature and our beliefs. But what's good without the bad? With a certain amount of pressure, diamonds are created and with that being said, I believe that all the negative comments about different accents, languages and cultures has made me love my own even more. It gives a person a lot of character and depth to their personality for they are shaped with misfortunate events that has helped create a strong individual like myself. I not only represent my filipino culture but taiwanese as well. The hardships and triumphs from my fathers and mothers side of the story has really help mold my ambition and drive to have a life for myself.  Falling in love with my cultures has helped me figure out and understand my own identity and self-respect.

" I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice: Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpent's tongue- my woman's voice, my sexual voice, my poet's voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence." - Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz

Education

As a child, I had an extremely difficult time reading in english. One of the reasons I thought were accurate to the cause of this "problem" was the fact that english wasn't my first language. I had my grandfather, Akong and my grandmother, Teresita teach my Mandarin and Tagalog at a very young age. My teacher's had a little trouble trying to teach me a new language which required a lot of time and effort. As I was growing up, I got a lot better at english but lost sight of my chinese and tagalog dialect. The more they taught english at school, the more I found it difficult to remember little words and phrases. Now that I am a lot older and wiser, I refused to give up my first two languages and decided to learn how to speak them again. Mandarin and Tagalog are a part of my identity. I wouldn't have it any other way. Having three languages under my resume will suit me just fine and it's all because of the two different cultures I grew up with. There's nothing to tame when knowledge is infinite and loving yourself is the result of living a happy life.

The direction my future is headed towards is a fortunate and brighter future. This is all because of my experiences being a minority in the United States. As much as we would like to believe that racism is not alive in today's generation is ignorant because it is still here. I will not let ignorant comments and opinions of my culture get the best of me for I am already better than them. My education will prove to the world and everyone who has doubted me, that I am making something out of myself. The motivation, drive and ambition I have in my soul will persevere all obstacles and hardships that I will face along this journey. I will carry on my culture, my language to my children and so forth because we must remain true to ourselves while everything around us changes. My cultures has helped me build character and a tougher exterior to prevent any loss of identity in my future.

Publishing Freewrite

What is the importance of publishing?

The importance of publishing is for the author’s to be heard out to anyone who’s willing to give them a chance. Feel what the message their trying to send out. Make an author feel real, and important. That their ideas and stories are being considered. Publishing anyone’s personal stories is a big deal, it gives the author the chance to be writing more and more. It also gives them the voice that stands for everyone.