I've never really felt like there was anything special or historic about my cultural

background up until I was around 10 years old visiting my great-grandmother one summer. As I
gazed over at my grandmother and listened to her timeworn rocking chair with the small creaks
in between slowly rocking back and forth, my grandmother called on me by my first name and I
nervously replied yes ma'am, as she normally had a nickname for me, I knew she wanted my full
attention. My grandmother pulled out an older photo album, and as she turned the first page
she asked, "Have I ever told you were a bunch of mutts in this family"? I hesitantly laughed and
"replied to no grandma", why is that? Suddenly she took a deep breath and muttered off quickly
with English, Irish, Indian, German, and Dutch to be exact she said. I noticed a man in an army
outfit, and she proceeded to tell me this is your great -grandfather, and he was in Germany
during World War ll. Grandma began to tell me in-depth stories of my grandfather's time while
serving in Germany and all the turmoil and horrific scenes of the war he had endured. We also
spoke about our last name Reynolds, which is my maiden name, as I'm currently married. I was
told it's an English/ German name and it represents "Powerful Ruler". At that particular
moment, I then learned how unaware I was with my own cultural diversity. I believe where your
raised has a vast impact on how you react and experience cultural orientation.

Being from Texas is beneficial to me because it's very conservative and I've always been
taught to have morals, manners, and respect for others even if they have different beliefs,
sexual orientation, religion, race, and so on. I'm sure you've heard once or twice how people
from Texas will hold open doors and wave at strangers, and think could this really be true? Well,
I'm here to tell you it's not even something we have to contemplate, it's in our upbringing as an
adolescent. I can honestly say that my childhood in school was full of diversity and acceptance.
We frequently learned about other classmates and had projects based on the different cultures
of each student throughout the class. Texas is a big state, however I grew up in a rural area with
small-town country folks. Other people might look at small-town folk as negative or close-
minded individuals but in reality, it was the complete opposite because everyone is in such a
small area with different cultures we would require and expect unity and harmony from one
another. Our community made it a necessity to reach out and help others when someone was
in need or facing hardships.

I remember being a little girl when my house burned down and everyone around us
from different families and neighborhoods didn't blink an eye to help us. One big popular
attraction growing up was the state fair and rodeo, this had the biggest impact on me
throughout my childhood because I got to spend time with so many unique characters and
experience all the southern aspects it had to offer. Being at the fair I was able to visualize and
imbibe different styles of society, such as live music, cook off's, dances, petting zoos, and even
animal performances. These different interactions filled me with so much joy and excitement
that I preserved my memories the first year and years after continuing to surround myself with
positivity and enlightenment.

I would say that dance was my other key component in learning more about different
cultural backgrounds. When I first stepped foot into a dance class it was so riveting and
exhilarating as it just stuck to me like glue, I literally lived and breathed dance. I was in various
classes and in each class I learned more knowledge than I ever thought dance could portray. I
learned ballet, tap, contemporary, jazz, and hip-hop. Having been in these different classes I was
taught where and when they originated from, as well as ritual and religious dance forms. In the
beginning, I was so unpolished, with very little form but with the repetition of classes 3-4 times
per week I learned to continuously blossom and become an even better individual. I favored the
cultural