Thoughts on the Reading

Figuring out what it means to be American has been very interesting. I've been trying to get the most out of the stories that I've read and piecing together all the stories to come up with some type of idea of how I would describe on American is hard.

After reading On being a Mexican American and Young gifted and Black I thought that maybe America is just not into accepting of other people's differences, but that not really true, because America is home to so many diverse people. Zora in How it feels to be colored me was fine with her differences. By calling myself an African American am I just giving in the segregation of America or am I keeping some type of connection with my ancestors like the Native American in Sacred Soil said it was so important to do? What about the boy in There Was a Child Went Forth he became everything he saw. Does this mean that if you experience American culture you become an American? Should we all just become immigrants within our own country letting our differences carry us father then blending in to society ever will as suggested by How Being an Immigrant shaped my life and follow our own drummer like Walden advised.


There's various elements to all of these stories and so many ideas floating around in my head right now. My brain is on 'What is an American?' OVERLOAD.


So here is my Definition.
An American is a person who is in America or comes to America and embraces America's unique culture while also staying true to their differences that allows them to flourish and achieve success, whatever that is for them, in a place of unlimited chance and possibility even in the face of adversity unlike other places in the world.

Reflection on Reading

In the story There Was a Child Went Forth by Whitman is talking about a childs journey through the day and how what he sees becomes a part of. So in terms of what does being American mean from this story being American would mean becoming embracing American culture and really becoming an American even if you were not born here.
Being American is not just being born here its more of a culture. If a person does embrace the culture then they should be considered American.

I've been thinking about the other stories like the story Young Gifted and Black by Hansberry and This Sacred Soil by Seattle and I 'm still thinking about those stories. I feel like what I have to say about them is on the tip of my tongue but I haven't gotten there yet. It's like the term American was coined so long ago when things were separated.......You know what I will definitely get back to you on the next blog.