My family is from Jamaica (the country). I’m the only one of my siblings that was born in the U.S. I’ve lived in Brooklyn my entire life, but I’ve visited Jamaica several times. I consider myself to be mostly American. In terms of loss of culture, its not so much that I don’t know it as it is that I don’t care to follow it. I don’t relate to Jamaican culture the way the rest of my family does. There are a few things, such as food and comedy that I enjoy from my culture, but that’s about it. If I wanted to live a more traditional Jamaican lifestyle, my parents would have more than enough knowledge to assist and educate me, I’d just prefer not to do so. That said, I don’t consider myself to be too “American” either, if that can even be defined. I’m not extremely patriotic and there are certain aspects of American culture that I really don’t care for. I prefer to live life based on what’s important to me as opposed to what a certain culture or tradition dictates.

I hope this class will teach me more about the geography of New York, which I’ve never understood very well. Learning about how the races and cultures of New York have changed and developed over time may be interesting as well.