Final Blog

My first computer mediated communication form was probably e-mail. I set up my first account when I was a freshman in High School. Back in those days my inbox only had spam and some emails from my older sister. During that year I went on vacation to Mexico and became very close to one of my cousins. She has grown up in Mexico but had just moved to Houston to attend school. We knew that keeping in touch through the phone would be expensive so we decided to exchange email addresses. At first I didn’t think that it would be hard but I hadn’t taken into consideration the language barrier between us. Her first language was Spanish, and although she was learning English it was hard for me to understand her. On the other hand my Spanish is not that great especially when written. My cousin had told me that she would write to me in English because she wanted to practice the language. I decided to write in Spanish but I used English when I had trouble. Using e-mail definitely hindered our communication and made it harder for us to understand one another. It was hard for me to understand what she meant sometimes and vice versa. Sometimes words and sayings would not translate very well. The context of where I was did not really affect the conversation because e-mail is private in the sense that only the person you address it to will be able to read it. I did not have to worry about others reading what I had written to her. The medium used was sort of tricky because a lot of non verbal cues and parts of the message get lost through an email. When a “communication breakdown” did occur it could have been isolated to both the medium and the message. From the beginning a language barrier already existed which affected the message and the medium also affected our understanding of the message. Through time we were able to adapt to one another’s form of writing.

Popular Culture

As much as I would like to think that my life is not totally consumed by popular culture, I know that is not true. I didn’t think I would be able to find much evidence of this in my own room, since I just moved in and there isn’t much in there. To my surprise I was wrong, and it is very evident that popular culture is very present in my life. There isn’t much in my room right now, so it was surprising to notice that most of the stuff that I do have can be categorized as popular culture. This shows the importance and the role that popular culture has in my life.
There are three types of popular culture that are easily identified in my room: music, entertainment and brands. I wouldn’t classify the music that I listen to as mainstream, I prefer to listen to underground music, but the device in which I listen to my music would fall into popular culture. The IPod has become a very dominant device in popular culture in the past years; the brand (Apple) itself has become a prominent leader in electronics. Nike is brand that is known throughout the world, it has defiantly become a part of popular culture, it is present nearly everywhere, including my room. I have a stack of boxes with the swoosh on it; this is a brand that I am dedicated to. Finally, I have a stack of tabloid magazines and fashion magazines. These magazines are my way of keeping connected and up to date with everything that is considered mainstream in the U.S. I feel that tabloids and magazines are the epitome of what popular culture is. They provide us with information of everything that is popular at the moment whether it is music, television etc. I don’t have much in my room but these three items were enough to show the influence that popular culture has on my life.
There are definitely things that I have refused to buy and therefore are not present in my room. The example that Martin and Nakayama gave about the Fighting Sioux is something that I related to. The University of Illinois had a similar problem with their mascot the “Chief” many people found it offensive to the Native American culture but others saw no problem with the use of it. I choose not to support the use of the Chief as the mascot, and therefore have never bought nor wore anything that represents the chief.
I believe that all these things fit in with my own cultural identity. I identify myself as Mexican-American. The things that I have in my room do show that I am influenced by America’s mainstream culture, but at the same time the things that I do not have are influenced by my Mexican culture. I choose not to support the chief as a mascot because as a minority I feel that it is offensive to exploit others culture for the benefit of a mascot. Popular culture does play a role in my life but at the same time I know when not to compromise my own beliefs.

Silence

Sometimes silence can be golden, but at moments it can be uncomfortable and awkward. It is a nonverbal cue communicates a lot by “saying” so little. Kieth Basso identifies five situations in which silence is appropriate: meeting strangers, courting someone, seeing friends after a long absence, getting cussed out, and being with people who are grieving. I agree with these but I believe that there are more contexts in which silence is acceptable. We had to take note of silence in three situations, in class, with friends, and with family. Out of those, silence in the classroom was by far the most uncomfortable. Silence in a classroom usually indicates that the students are not fully engaged or prepared. This happened in one of my classes when the instructor asked a question. I believe that is normal to have silence for about ten seconds after a question is asked because students need to think about the question and the answer. The question went unanswered and the silence continued for a few seconds, which, felt like minutes. In this case the silence conveyed that the students were not prepared or that they did not understand what was being asked. It was an uncomfortable situation because all the students knew that it was quite obvious that no one knew the answer. Not as awkward, was silence with my friends. I feel comfortable around them enough to not have to fill silence with noise. In fact I would find it more awkward if I felt the need to constantly babble in order to avoid a silence. Although I will admit that silence on the phone with a friend is a bit rougher than in person. Silence with a friend feels normal for me and it just shows that we both are comfortable enough with each other and with silence. I was most comfortable with silence in my family. Many perceive that silence indicates a lack of interest but I think of it completely different especially when it comes to family. I have grown up with my family and for the most part see them on a daily basis. We know pretty much everything about one another and therefore do not need to constantly talk. To me the silence with my family felt normal especially if there was no conversation going on. Silence defiantly does differ from one context to another. I am most comfortable with it when nothing verbal is expected from me and when I am completely at ease with the people surrounding me. It was most awkward in the classroom because we are expected to answer and talk and when that does not occur than the message it conveys is negative, but when no verbal message is expected and silence where silence is a norm its presence is neutral. I have realized that for the most part I am comfortable with silence and I actually feel awkward when I am forced to fill silence with words.

History/Indentity

I think most people would choose to interview a grandparent for an assignment such as this one, I on the other was not able to nor was I able to interview the oldest person in my family, which is my uncle. But I was able to interview my father, who is actually one of the older members of my family.
I found this assignment to be a bit difficult in the beginning. All of my grandparents passed away when I was young, and there is a language barrier between my oldest family members and I. Although I do understand Spanish it is hard for me to communicate well with my relatives who solely speak that language. It would have been very difficult and frustrating if I were to have interviewed one of them. So, I decided to interview my father. At the time I had no idea that my father would actually be the source that I needed. Not only did he provide me with my family history but I was able to full understand why there is a language barrier between my older relatives and I.
I am first generation, my father and mother along with their families were born in Mexico. This is the story that my father told me. My father was born in 1949, he is the youngest in his immediate family. He lived in with his seven siblings and mother in a one room shack in a small town in Mexico. When he was just sixteen he decided to pursue the American Dream. He had a few relatives that seasonally lived in Chicago, so he decided to settle in the windy city. From then on he would travel between America and Mexico. He met my mother on a trip back to Mexico, they married and he convinced her to move to Chicago. They both were the first in their immediate families to travel to the United States. After talking to my father I realized why I have a slight language barrier with my older family members. As I said, my father and mother both relocated to the U.S. when they young, so they were able to learn English. I did not know that my uncles and aunts didn’t settle here until way after my parents did.
I prefer to identify myself as Mexican-American because I have deep roots with my
Mexican culture. Although I am not fully fluent in Spanish, my parents did raise me within a Mexican culture, community and with their values. I learned about my ethnicity at a young age and was aware of it. I spent every summer up till I was fifteen in Mexico and when I wasn’t in Mexico I was in my predominantly Mexican neighborhood in Chicago. I learned about the food, the dancing, the pride, the history. I learned that my ethnicity and culture was rich, vibrant and beautiful. I definitely can see how my identity has been shaped through my society. It has influenced the way in which I see life and the way in which I interact with others. Because my identity has been influenced by my ethnicity, I have had to deal with some discrimination. There will always be people who act out on their prejudices, I have overheard comments before but I choose to ignore them because I am secure with who I am and I am proud of the culture that has been given to me.
My family history has brought me to where I am today, my family history was predetermined for me, but my I chose to identify myself as Mexican.

Blog Posting #1

The Individual-Cultural Dialect aims to show the relationship between an individual and their pertaining culture or subculture. Most cultures share common patterns or beliefs but it is not the case that each member fits into the same mold as everyone else. This dialect proposes that as an individual you are unique and will not always fit into every aspect of a culture you belong to.

I attended the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign for four years; it in itself is a culture. The student life is shaped and greatly impacted by the culture that this campus has. UIUC has the largest Greek System and this defiantly adds a different experience to the college culture. I wanted to be able to experience the college life and culture to the fullest, which to me meant going Greek. My sophomore year I joined a Sorority that I thought fulfilled my needs not only socially but as a student as well. By joining a sorority I was linked to a new culture which consisted of beliefs, traditions, experiences and mannerisms. Now just because I was a part of this culture does not mean that I followed every single characteristic of it, nor that I believed in all of them.

By being a member of the Greek System I did find myself in a dilemma with the Individual-Cultural Dialectic. I felt as though not all of my own beliefs matched up with this culture. A less extreme, but still present, example was the way in which members would dress and carry themselves. I had a completely different taste in style as most of my sisters and they did not always understand that. It felt as though I didn’t fully belong to the culture because I didn’t have this characteristic or certain style that everyone else did share. Although it was not a serious issue, it was still one less thing that I could take part in. The way in which I dealt with this was by seeing it as an opportunity to not blend in with my whole culture and to have a sense of individuality. To me it was something that I thought made me a unique member or this culture, which is what the Individual-Cultural Dialect presents.