Weblog Journal Assignment

Identity Symbols 

My mom is Christian and my dad is Muslim. 

Your home is an illustration of your identity. It is filled with symbols that reflect who you are: beliefs, interests, hobbies, personality traits, etc. I mentioned before that I come from a multi-cultural family. My mom is a white southerner from Mobile, Alabama, and my dad is originally from Egypt before immigrating to the United States. My family currently lives in Mobile, Alabama, which I find hilarious because we are the total opposite of the typical 'Southern' family. I think that my home is a great expression of my identity. My house is in one of the many historical neighborhoods that were built when the French established my city. The outside looks like any other two story house with white columns and a small yard. The inside of my house is quite different because it is filled with Egyptian-inspired decor. The walls of our house are decorated with plates and paintings that we brought from Egypt. And our curtains, pillows and couches also reflect the Middle Eastern heritage.

This is a random storage trunk that I decorate with bumper stickers.
This trunk gives you a general understanding of my beliefs and interests

Exercise is a huge part of my life. I grew up playing
sports and now I work at the Rec Center, teaching exercise classes. 

If you enjoy smoking shisha and drinking tea, then you can
get along with about 95% of the Egyptian population.

One identity symbol that stands out to me is the shisha (hookah). My family owns many shishas of every size that we use for decoration and entertainment. They directly represent my Egyptian culture because you can't walk a block in Egypt without finding a cafe that serves hot tea and shisha.

If you opened our refrigerator you will find typical groceries found at any store, but you will also find random Middle Eastern foods like pita bread, feta cheese, dates, hummus, baba, etc. At least once a week my whole life, my mom would prepare an Egyptian meal. I agree that food is an important identity symbol because it describes your culture in discreet ways.

I love Lil Wayne, but my roommate loves Britney Spears. We
put the posters side by side to show how different we are.

Wherever I live in college, I try to incorporate my culture into my decoration as much as possible. I love ethnic patterns and textiles so I use them to decorate my bed, desk, etc. One identity symbol in my room at school is I have a huge poster of a world map by my desk. This makes sense because I am an international studies major and I enjoy traveling and studying different people and cultures. One extremely random identity symbol found in my room is a poster of Lil Wayne. This is also hilarious because I love rap music, although you wouldn't know after talking to me once.