Culture can be defined in many different ways. To me, culture is your set of values that you believe in and the lifestyle that you live. Culture is something that defines the actions, thoughts, and beliefs of a community. Culture can come from many different places. You can get is from your family, friends, and even from participating in different activities. For example, I play basketball and there is a culture that all basketball players live by. We always wear long socks, basketball shorts, and basketball shoes. We own a pair of slippers that we wear with socks and we make sure that our basketball shoes never touch cement. Some people have a pair for indoors and a pair for outdoors.

I belong to many different cultural groups but my main three are the student culture, basketball culture, and the Catholic culture. The symbol for being a student is a computer because all students will tell you that they spend a lot of their time on the computer. Whether it’s for homework, music, or getting distracted by Facebook, the computer is definitely the symbol for students. The heroes of the student culture vary from person to person. Some might say a teacher or tutor while others pick a famous scientist or mathematician who they strive to be like someday. The rituals would be doing your homework or studying because every student spends hours doing that every night. The values of a student would be studying, and hard work. Every student strives to be the best and that comes with all the hard work you put in the classroom and after school.

The symbol for the basketball culture would probably be a basketball. It is the base of the sport and the number one piece of equipment that is needed. Everything else is unnecessary. The heroes of basketball also vary from person to person because some people might pick Kobe Bryant while others pick LeBron James. Michael Jordan is probably the popular pick but it is possible that people might pick someone else. I for example, pick Reggie Miller as my favorite basketball player of all time. It depends on the style of play from each player and whom they want to be like. The rituals would be all of the drills that are performed in practice. Also, shoot around is a ritual because every basketball player does a shoot around before every game and after practice. The values of a basketball player would be teamwork, selfless, leader, and hard work. To be an average basketball player, you only need one or two of these. To be the best, you have to have all of these values.

My last cultural group is the Catholic culture. The symbol for the Catholic culture is a crucifix. A crucifix is a cross that has Jesus Christ on it. It is the symbol because Catholics believe in Jesus Christ and the things that he did. We believe that he is the Lord and Savior and that he sacrificed himself for all of mankind. The main hero is once again, Jesus Christ. Everyone of Catholic faith knows that Jesus Christ is the one that we love with all of our heart. The rituals are going to church on Sundays and being active in the church community. We believe that just because you go to church, doesn’t mean that you are a good Catholic. You have to follow the faith closely and be educated on what you believe in. The values would be the Ten Commandments in which all Catholics follow. Without the Commandments, the Catholic faith has no rules so the Commandments are vital to our lives.

My race positively affects my membership in the basketball culture because I am African American so other basketball players are more willing to accept me. It doesn’t help me with the student culture because everybody stereotypees African Americans to be uneducated and unable to listen to directions in school. I don’t have a problem being accepted as a student. I have a problem being accepted as a good student. My race has no affect on the Catholic culture because everyone who is Catholic learns to accept people for who they are not what they look like. It doesn’t matter what my race is. I will always be accepted.

My race doesn’t really affect my interactions with other cultures. When it comes to other ethnic cultures, I always find myself saying some of the stereotypees that are associated with it. Some of the stereotypees might be like seeing someone of Latin decent and assuming that they work as a maid. Another one is with my own race; African Americans. If I see an African American that is eating chicken I always chuckle because of the stereotypee associated with it. I think one thing I can do to eliminate all of the stereotypees that I say is to become more active in my church. I need to learn not to judge people on appearance or what I hear from others. Everyone is an individual so stereotypees shouldn’t be used.

The society in which we live in prides itself in accepting a lot of different cultural frameworks. America is a melting pot of different races, ethnicities, and cultures and we like to be different. We like to learn about what other people do. In our society, we understand that there are different perspectives to every topic and we like to explore what the other side thinks about something. It is the base of our society and how we function.