The Culture of Me

This week's assignment of creating our own personal "cultural collage" was an eye-opening one.  I have included a link to view the presentation and a summary of the collection of photos, symbols and images that I believe have come to depict
the "Culture of Me."

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Click Link Below to View the Power Point:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/93449171/The-Culture-of-Me-2

Summary of the Cultural Collage “The Culture of Me”

           
            This week’s cultural collage assignment titled, “The Culture of Me,” is a power point presentation of collected photos representing the development and stages of the many different cultures that have made me who I am today.  Viewing myself as one life among many, though all different, each life has a beginning, and grows according to where home is, where he/she belongs, believes, and how time and change transforms his/her life to where and who they are today.

            Each photo collage contained in the power point is introduced with a phrase that explains the meaning and transition of the photos; “a place called home” features photos representing my home in Indiana, and “a place called family” contains old/new personal family photos, and a white figurine symbolizing the bond between mother and child.  “A place called me” features various photos/symbols representing my cultures of gender, race, religious beliefs, and my life’s passions. The photos presented after “as seasons come and go” depict the culture of change in my life—moving, career, loss of love and loved ones, and my trip to Germany (Dachau Concentration Camp).  “Making way for the new” shows the new cultures of music, faith, family, education, along with a Miracle Whip billboard which symbolizes “old is new again.”  Photos following “nourished…” symbolize what gives me strength, what fuels my foundation.  “Watered…” is a symbolic black and white photo collage showing the culture of human dignity, equality, and people whose lives I admire and hope to emulate. The final photo simply shows my home desk view, and what influences my world perspective—what in essence is “the culture of me.”