It’s a hot summer day, and you’re thirsty, so you try to decide what you want to drink. A water? No, too plain. Some ice cream? No, too messy. A smoothie? Perfect. You go to Planet Smoothie and order yourself a drink with oranges, bananas, strawberries, blueberries and peaches. It’s a conglomerate of almost all of the fruits they have in the store, blended together to make you your delicious and unique smoothie. Essentially, we are all smoothies in a way, however silly it may be to compare us to them. We are all blends of different cultures, ethnicities, and heritages that have combined together to give us our unique identity.
My great-grandmother and grand-grandfather on my maternal side were both born in Austria. In 1935, my grandmother was born in Vienna, Austria. At five years old, political disturbances began to overtake the countries surrounding them, so my great-grandmother, Mutti, as we call her, obtained visas for her and my grandmother, and they immigrated to the United States in 1940. Mutti and my grandmother met up with my great-great Uncle Hugo in Newark, New Jersey. They lived here for about ten years. Meanwhile, my great-grandfather was in a concentration camp in World War 2. He survived, and after migrating to Poland, he joined Mutti and my grandmother in Newark in 1945.
Soon after the three had been settled, they decided to leave New Jersey and head for Brooklyn. They first lived on Ocean Avenue, where my grandmother met my grandfather, Jerry. Grandpa Jerry is an interesting character, because when asked about his heritage, his answer is always American. We ask him where his ancestors are from, or what race he is, and he insists that he is American and that is all that matters. My mother, however, believes his ancestors are from Russia. In 1961, my mother, Dana was born, and my grandmother and grandfather moved to Trump Village in Brooklyn. This is where my grandmother resided for the next forty-three years. My grandmother divorced my grandpa Jerry, and was then married to a man named Maurice. My grandpa Maurice is the one who essentially raised my mother, and I am very close to him. He has German roots. My grandmother and grandfather eventually moved to Manhattan in 2008, where they still live on 80th street and Broadway.
On my maternal side, I am Austrian. There is the possibility I may be Russian as well although we may never know. I also have a German connection through my grandpa Maurice, although we are not related by blood. My father’s side is quite the opposite. The history on my dad’s side is not as clear as that on my mother’s. I have ancestors on my grandma’s side that came from Hungary and Czechoslovakian. My grandfather’s side is Irish, hence the last name Molloy. Much of the history on my dad’s side is ambiguous. However, I do know that my father was born in the Bronx, and my grandparents, him, and his three sisters eventually moved out to Elm Street in Farmingdale, Long Island where my grandmother has lived ever since.
Both of my parents actually attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Strangely enough, they did not meet there, and actually met after they graduated through mutual friends. 17 days after meeting her, my father proposed, and in 1984 they moved to Fulton Avenue in Hempstead, Long Island. Two years later, when my sister was born, they decided to move back to Brooklyn and settled in an apartment on Haring Street. After four years, my parents felt an apartment was too small, so they looked for a house. They stumbled upon 346 North Virginia Avenue, in North Massapequa on Long Island, which they bought and have lived in since 1990. Coincidentally, my house is only a few blocks away from the house my father grew up in.
Although by blood I am Austrian, Irish, Czechoslovakian and Hungarian, I feel that other cultures have influenced me and helped shape the person I am today. The majority of the people I’ve grown up with are Italian, and many people in my town, including my dance teachers are Italian as well. Even though I am not a “drop” Italian, I feel Italian in some ways because of my mannerisms and the way I speak. Additionally, my sister has always dated Hispanic men, and my brother-in-law is Hispanic as well, so Spanish culture has also become a part of my life. My grandparents dance tango, and my sister studied salsa, bachata and tango as well. I’ve even taught dance classes for the past year at a Latin dance studio. Again, I am not a Latino, but learning Spanish in school, talking to my brother-in-law, and being surrounded by Latin dancing has given me a sense that part of me is Hispanic.
Religiously, I am a mixture of theologies as well. My mother was raised Jewish, had a bat mitzvah, and still practices Judaism today. We go over to my grandmother’s apartment for Rushashanah, Chanukah, and Passover, so I feel a connection to Jewish traditions. My father was raised a Roman Catholic, and we go to my nanny’s house (my father’s mother) for Easter and Christmas. However, I myself was not baptized, did not receive a communion, a confirmation, nor a bat mitzvah. When I was little, I used to tell people my religion was dance because I did not understand why all the other kids went to religious school and I did not. However, looking back on it, I’m grateful I was raised this way, because it has allowed me to develop my own belief system, and allowed me to experience and explore two different religions.
I’ve lived on Long Island my whole life, and I feel very blessed to have been given the life that I have. I love my town, but for college I knew I wanted to be in the city. My town is essentially 95% Italian Catholics, and I wanted to experience diversity and engage with other cultures, which has brought me to the City College of New York. I love walking down the street and seeing so many different types of people, and just a short subway ride can bring you from a predominantly Spanish neighborhood to blocks of traditional Chinese merchants and food.
In turn, I am a messy mixture of many cultures and backgrounds. I have Austrian, Czechoslovakian, Hungarian and Irish in my blood, feel connections to Germans, Italians and Hispanics, and am influenced by both the Jewish and Catholic religions. I am a big smoothie essentially, just a bunch of different fruits mixed together to create a unique flavor. The cultures and heritages from my ancestors have mixed together and have made me the person I am, and I could not be any more grateful.
