Cultural Collage 1

Individual Cultural Collage

Denise Way-Gold

CSN EDU 280-1001

February 12, 2017

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Thinking on my own culture is a very difficult, I have always seen myself as

having nothing special to celebrate in the cultural department. I am just me, my family is just my

family and we don’t do anything

different than others. However,

having truly thought about what sets

my family and I apart I can see that

we do have a culture. In the picture

is 4 generations of my family on my

father’s side, not nearly all of my

family only those that came to my

wedding.

My father’s family is originally from Russia, but fled after the 1905 Russian Revolution.

They fled because after the failed revolution the Czar needed to blame someone for the unrest

and abhorrent conditions of the country, and

those people were the Russian Jews that were

a minority of the country. In addition to being

Russian my family is also Jewish so this

effected them. They immediately sent a newly

married couple to the united states to work and

send money back for the remainder of the

family. That couple was my Great-Great Grandmother Sylvia and Great-Great Grandfather. They

were the first ones on my dad’s side to immigrate, they were sadly the only ones of their family
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that escaped the anti-Jewish pogroms. My great-great grandparents gave birth to the first

generation of Americans. It is because of them that I live here, that my family even survived.

They lived in Brooklyn New York, had my great grandmother, and she gave birth to my

grandmother, the one who taught me all this about my past. She taught me about my family’s

past and my religion. She spoke English, Russian, Yiddish and Hebrew, I wish that I could have

learned these from her, but all I have is a few words that are terms of affection.

On my mother’s side my family moved to the United States from Germany in the mid-

1800’s they were woodcarvers and lived in the Missouri area of the country as farmers. That side

of my family completely assimilated to the American way of life, lost their language, and even

changed their last name. That is the way that part of my family lived until the Korean war when

my grandfather at the age of 15 joined the navy, having never seeing the ocean before. He moved

his family to the California after the war where he married, had 3 children and continued his

navy career. He divorced in the late 60s and while he was stationed in the Philippines remarried

my step-grandmother, who is

Ilocano, and had 2 more

children. This picture is of my

mother’s family in their home in

San Diego.

I was raised in San Diego

California, in a multicultural,

multi-religious family. We ate food from Russia, Germany, the Philippines, Mexican food and

other food that was common in southern California. I grew up learning about both the Christian
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faith and the Jewish one. I was raised to tolerate all differences, that everyone is a person and

that deserves respect in and of itself.

Both my parents had been in the Army before I was born, that instills a certain reverence

for the country that your family served. A large majority of my family have been in the military.

Both paternal and maternal grandfathers were in the navy. I have uncles in the air force, navy and

one that was in the secret service. My big brother just retired from the Army and many of my

cousins are still in the military. At one point I was even considering joining the military, after

being in JROTC in high school, this is a picture of the flag I

carried in the color guard at my

school. However, I chose a

different path. I decided to go to

culinary school and learn the

traditions that my Grandpa Way knew as a Chef in the Navy. This is a

picture of the first job I had in Nevada after culinary school.

A tradition that my family has is bowling. It was started by

my paternal grandmother. She taught all her children

not only to play but to be completive. We all grew up

bowling on leagues on Saturday mornings, going

with my grandparents to their leagues on week nights

and keeping score for tournaments. My father met

my mother in the bowling alley that he worked in and

I had my first date at a bowling alley with my husband. Bowling helped me to go to college with
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a scholarship that I earned through my tournament wins. I know the rules, the weird sayings and

all the lingo that bowling has. These are all things that I will pass down to my children.

The schools that I went to growing up is South-East San Diego were very multicultural.

There was a large majority of African-American,

Asian and Hispanic students. This multiculturalism

persisted from elementary, to high school and on to

college. The above photo is two of my best

friends from high school and the photo to the

right is a culinary school trip to balboa park,

a cultural experience in San Diego. As a

result of being around so many different cultures I was very comfortable around things that were

different from my own upbringing.