1. My Cultural Identity By: Keri Abitz

2. Where it all began……

3. Paternal My father’s side of the family is from Italy and from Poland. He was the first generation born here in the United States.

4. Maternal My Mother’s side is from Germany…and I’m not sure where else. I am also unsure about exactly how long this side of the family has been in the U.S.

5. Settling down Eventually, both sides of my ancestry settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

6. My Parents My parents met in their late teens/early twenties, and were married in the mid-1970’s.

7. Me I was born in January 1979 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

8. Growing up We lived in Milwaukee the first few years of my life, but by the time I started school, we had moved to West Bend, Wisconsin, to a middle class neighborhood, where the vast majority of people were white.

9. School I attended school in West Bend, where there was very little cultural diversity.

10. Traditions It is part of my culture that we spend a lot of time with family, and we all get together when ever possible.

11. Holidays Some holidays that are celebrated in my culture are:

12. New Year’s Eve/Day

13. Birthdays

14. Valentine’s Day

15. Easter

16. 4 th of July

17. Halloween

18. Thanksgiving

19. Christmas

20. Religion Growing up, Religion wasn’t really a part of my life, but in my early twenties, I decided to join a Lutheran church.

21. Getting married I married a white male my age who I met in high school. We have been married for over fifteen years.

22. Where I live About 13 years ago, we bought a house a in nice little town called Lomira, which is North of WB and south of FdL. It’s a wonderful community which I would describe as middle class. The majority of the population is white, though there are some people from minority cultures as well.

23. Children We have two children…two boys who are both teenagers already!

24. Work I have two part time jobs. One is managing the hot lunch program for a small K-8 Lutheran school. The students and staff are all white.

25. Work (continued) My other part time job is at the new BP gas station in Lomira, where I am employed as a cashier. This is an environment in which I interact with people from different cultural backgrounds. I am grateful for the opportunity to experience being around different types of people. One thing I’ve learned from meeting various ethnic groups is that we are all connected on a universal level in the way that if someone is nice to you, then you are likely to be nice back, no matter what your skin color or background.

26. Conclusion Overall, my experience with individuals from different ethnic backgrounds is very limited. I hope to learn more so that I can become a more complete person, and counselor.