Hi, my name is Sylvia. I was born and raised in New York City (Woodside, Queens to be exact). My parents immigrated here from Taiwan many years ago but still retain much of its culture. As an ABC (American Born Chinese), my Chinese skills were...barely in existence. Taking Mandarin classes in high school helped remedy that, as well as summer visits back to Taiwan. I grew up in a very diverse neighborhood but still had a strong sense of my own cultural identity -- probably due to my parents.

Both readings this week touched on those races that were not considered white nor black -- an inbetween. Although practically fully integrated with "whites" today, Jewish, Irish, and Italian Americans were all considered an 'other' in terms of race. The first reading about "Communities" focused on the seemingly diverse yet separateness of the various ethnicities. The second reading focused on the strife within people of the same ethnicities (e.g. Northern Italians vs Southern Italians).