My family is a true manifestation of America as a melting pot of different peoples and ethnicities. My maternal great grandparents were all Jews who came from Romania, Lithuania, Russia and Poland. Three of my paternal great grandparents were Filipino, while one was Scott-Irish. My maternal grandfather had spoke Yiddish, but this language, along with any other native tongue, has long been lost to my family. Because both sides of my family have been here for three generations, we are all very Americanized and ethnically diverse. My cousins range from anything from Puerto Rican to Italian to Chinese to African American. And while my first cousins and I have all had Bat/Barmitzvahs, many of our other cousins are Christian so it is not uncommon for us to be invited to a Christmas party and a Passover Seder.
Alexis Siegel
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