Autobiography

My hometown,Ojai, CA, is a pretty interesting demographic split: predominantly white, mostly affluent, who are further split into staunch Republicans and die-hard Democrats; but with a significant Latin@ population, immigrants of many countries in many different socioeconomic situations. Obviously, that means a lot for the demographic of the classrooms I was in at all times. I had a lot of classmates who were Hispanic, many of them first generation Americans, and as a serious student of Spanish, I tended to interact with them a lot more than many of my Anglo friends.

The one emotion that probably best characterized my relationship with many of the Spanish-speaking classmates I had was embarrassment: I was embarrassed to be butchering their language, embarrassed that I was so interested in their culture (feeling as though it could be misconstrued as merely casual curiosity or, worse, condescension), embarrassed that I was good at being in Spanish class, earning better grades than many of the native speakers because of my ability to take upper-level, more “academically rigorous” courses because of my language advantage. In fact, even after many years of experience, gaining a high level of competency and an undergraduate degree focused on Latin American literature, I still have an acute awareness of my “whiteness” when speaking Spanish to or around native speakers. While I am able to continue speaking through these feelings of awkwardness and inadequacy, the thought that I may be misconstrued as condescending or holier-than-thou is constantly on my mind.

I have a large, close-knit extended family on both sides, and that sense of family and community has played a large part in my identity-formation. In my family is also based another important part of my self-identity: my mother’s family is Catholic, and my father’s family is Jewish. Although I practice neither religion, I identify culturally with both and have made it a priority to understand their respective customs and practices. Although I may not be the most active member of the Willamette Jewish Students Union, I have attended all of their high holiday gatherings all throughout my undergrad, and plan to continue doing so this year. Religion fascinates me, although it does not attract me as a believer, and my own experience with it, I think, leads me to be very open and tolerant of other religions and those who subscribe to them.

I grew up in the theatre, the choir, the band, Southern California - in short, I grew up around show business, and as terribly stereotypical as it sounds, this means I grew up pretty acutely aware of sexuality. Many of the people who are closest to me did and do identify as other than straight. However, my experiences and personal views have led me to come to the conclusion that sexuality is fluid: “either gay or straight, and nothing in between” is something that, for me, just doesn’t exist. However, I do think that a stigma certainly exists at the high school level against being gay or lesbian, or even exploring sexuality in any way, that leads to serious discrimination and discomfort for many students. I will strive to address this issue as it arises, and it is my intention to introduce GLBTQ authors and literature as part of my curriculum. In doing so, I hope to make it acceptable for my students to question, explore, and fully understand issues of sexuality in society, in order that they may then have enough information to come to their own conclusions about the subject. It is something that is very near and dear to my heart, and an issue of diversity that I feel is not as widely addressed, especially at the high school level, as others, such as race or gender.

For me, diversity and difference is something to be shared - it is fascinating and exciting to learn about the people with whom you interact on a daily basis, and therefore I think conversations about both our personal differences and our experiences and feelings with and about others’ difference is valuable. I feel as though the diversity I have experience with has been very out in the open, and that has certainly shaped my own views. I plan to address diversity openly, both the enlightening and the difficult aspects, but with the intention that all students should become informed so that they can form opinions - or have preconceived notions altered - for themselves.