Cultural Items

The items that I picked to represent my cultural identity is:

1. Pink Longhorn Basketball- the pink in the ball represents my gender as a female but the longhorn symbol represents that I attend the UT-Austin. Being a young women and attending UT-Austin has definitely structured my personality and goals.

2. High School Diploma- my diploma represents my social economic status. I grew up in the lower-income area of Houston and the high school I attend was also in that area. I reached my kinder-garden through 12th grade education is what you may call the "ghetto" or "hood".

3. A Cross- my cross represents my religion. My represents my life struggle which I know has shaped my beliefs and the person that I am. My religion is Christian I try my very best to walk accordingly

4. My Drivers License- my drivers license represents my age. I'm 22 years old and counting. Being young in today's society does have a major affect on my cultural beliefs.

5. A Phrase About Being Short: this phrase represents my height. "Things About Being Short: When People Hit You in the Face with Their Arm". I'm 5'0 and my entire life people have always called me "shortie" from family and friends to my peers at school. Growing up my nickname was "Lil Mama". Being short has become who I am, shortness is apart of me.

Introduction

I'm a Social Work major and this is my senior year. I'm from Houston, Texans (GO TEXANS!!). I haven't really had any previous experiences with community development besides the volunteer project I do every year with my Horns Helping Horns Program. One of the two reasons I added this class was because I saw a presentation on the Mart, Texas project in one of my SW courses last year and it really caught my attention. Second, is because their is a lot of bad transformation going on back in my home and I want to learn how I can change that or at least where to start, while combining my Social Work skills.