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Assignment 1: History and Autobiography
Essay Assignment (Autobiography & History): According
to sociologist C. Wright Mills, we can always discover an intersection
between autobiography and history. Each person’s life unfolds
within a particular historical period, and an individual can understand
their own experience by locating their life within history. Each
person’s life is shaped by historic events such as war, immigration,
racism, oppression of women, economic recession, civil unrest, etc.
As C. Wright Mills states, this discovery "in many ways is
a terrible lesson; in many ways a magnificent one." For this
Essay Assignment, each student will write a three-to-five page autobiography
linking their life to history. Students should provide some background
information about themselves (where they were born, where they live,
what are the important things in their life, what are their life
aspirations, etc.). However, they should focus their essays on three
main questions: 1) How does their life intersect with history? (Have
certain historical events, such as war, immigration, etc. shaped
their lives or influenced their life plans?) 2) Why is the discovery
of the intersection of autobiography and history "in many ways
a terrible lesson; in many ways a magnificent one"? 3) Once
a person has discovered this intersection, what meaning does this
discovery have for that person’s life? This assignment is due
by Friday, Oct. 5.
- Eriko Suzuki, "My Life's
Intersection with Asian American Studies"
- Dean Saranillio, "Waking People
Up to Their Humanity"
- Raymond Ramirez, "Shaping Our
Destinies"
- Cheryl Samson, "A First
Generation Pinay's Experience: Transformation and Responsibility"
- Elizabeth Delgado, "My
Family and My Culture"
- Diana Yi, "The Historical
Context of My Life"
- Minyoung Bae, "Intersecting
Life with History"
- Mina T. Son, "My Role in Governing
Change"
- Melissa Hilario,
"Redefining My Life Goals
and Aspirations"
- Christine Tran, "Our
America: Building a New World"
- Genevieve Espinosa. "Who Am I?"
- Meredith Lee, "Intersection
to the Path of Life: A Historically Related Autobiography"
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Who Am I?
By Genevieve Espinosa
I will say I was born on December 14, 1981. I will also say I lived
in Santa Clara, California until I was about seven years old and
since then grew up in another suburb called Valencia. I am one member
of a family with six kids. I identify myself as Pilipino American.
I love dancing, cross-country running, and martial arts. I am Christian.
I expect to graduate from UCLA by my fourth year and hope to achieve
happiness in life. Now do you know me by what I’ve told you?
I’m guessing no. Want to know who I really am? Here’s
what I figure. The best way I can explain to you who I am is by
associating what you already know from your own experiences with
where it collides with mine. In other words, I’m going to lead
you on a tour of where I came from by telling you what was going
on when and where I lived. You might remember some of this and you
might not, but either way you’re bound to hit an intersection
in which we share a similar experience but perhaps have a different
perspective. Here’s what I mean. I’m a child of the 80ís
and a teenager of the 90s. That’s where our historical perspective
will collide and reveal the culture that shapes and defines me.
What exactly were the 1980s all about? I recall Saturday morning
cartoons of The Smurfs, G.I Joe, My Little Ponies, and Transformers.
I recall evening TV shows such as The Facts of Life, Family Ties,
Growing Pains, and my personal favorite, The Cosby Show. Television
programs that promoted the kinds of values that every American home
should protect; family values – according to past presidents
Reagan and Bush. My education was simple. Study mathematics, English,
science, and history. Or, sometimes paraphrased in television campaigns
of "Be cool. Stay in School." Is this all a child relates
to when thinking about the 80s? Not quite. Believe it or not, I
actually had a slight but vague idea of politics. For that reason,
blame my father who had our family sit and watch the news. I remember
a black Jesse Jackson and his so-called Rainbow Coalition. I heard
bits and pieces of a weakening Soviet system and wondered what happened
to all the Russian gymnasts in the Olympics? Did I mention that
my favorite clothes were yellow because yellow was the signature
color of past Pilipina President Corazon Aquino? Maybe I didn’t
understand then what it all meant and how it affected me at the
time, but you can sure bet that the early exposure made me an ever
curious child whose questions I would later be able to answers myself
once I gained the necessary skills. In essence, being but only a
child with an impressionable mind, the culture of the 80s was taken
in, and swallowed whole, without knowing how my stomach would feel
later.
If being a child in the 80s was about taking things as is, then
growing up as a teenager in the 90s was about taste testing first.
From my perspective, my developing sense of cultural awareness reflected
a richer palate. Friday Night Programming aired shows with casts
dominated by people of color about people of color. Shows such as
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Margaret Cho, and In Living Color though
considered somewhat mainstream, still made a statement in its presence
of ethnic concentrated casts. Hip Hop crossed musical boundaries
as it sought to "Erase the color lines" and attract a
diverse audience of listeners. Music Television (MTV) attempted
to incorporate conscious raising programming when they invited President
Clinton to appear on "Rock the Vote." Although I never
desired to watch C-SPAN, Congress became accessible in my own home.
When the Gulf War hit, my education started to introduce the most
basic ideas of democracy into the classroom. My ideological values
began forming around what I perceived of my nation, a world superpower.
Not sure what I was looking for but trying whatever came along my
way, I tasted the world as it was given to me. With an explosion
of technological advances that world became ten times smaller by
the internet and cellular phones. Yet, as a teenager seeking independence
and committed to forging my own destination, I found out that there
were parameters to what I was allowed to touch and how much I could
have. My growth and knowledge therefore was limited by what I was
permitted to experience. Though the 90s presented exciting and challenging
avenues and issues to discover, at this point my stomach knew the
taste of hunger and was left unsatisfied.
You’re asking "Who am I now?" Ah, wait. Before I
can answer that I need to take a step back and look at where I came
from one more time. I know what happened in my lifetime thus far,
but what exactly does it all mean for me? What significance does
it have on how I perceive myself in relationship to the world, in
relationship to others, in relationship to you? To begin, my understandings
of the world were dominated by a mostly conservative republican
era that taught me how to be a good, model American citizen. Besides
why shouldn’t I be proud to be American when the United States
emerged as a superior power able to extend its influences of capitalism
without much of a fight. I grew up believing in meritocracy and
following the mainstream. The mainstream popular culture engrained
in the youth their ability to define their future and be anything
you want. With the Clinton administration, the youth had further
opportunities to expand their creative capabilities and take democracy
into their own hands. Reflecting back on my childhood and teenage
years, I realized that the life set before me by my parents was
relatively carefree and secure. I didn’t witness the civil
rights movement, I had no recollection of the Vietnam war, and besides
I was too young to understand how politics or world events affected
me anyway. And thus, my coming of age held lofty expectations that
I believed were my very own ... until I came to UCLA. From then
on, I was challenged by professors and peers to critically evaluate
where I thought I came from. History took on a new meaning as I
realized I was actually a part of the process. That my hand and
my actions could actually shape it. That history was "subjective."
In order for me to move myself forward, I had to go back and unlearn
everything I was taught and re-evaluate the circumstances and conditions
that existed. In fact, as I speak, I am actively reflecting upon
my experiences to visualize my role in forming my own history. Thus
how I see history is just as important as how active I am in creating
it. I guess you could then say the discovery of who I am lies in
between the junction point of autobiography and history. So here
comes the final response you’ve been waiting for. In order
to for you to know and understand who it is that I am... you’re
going to have to do the same process within yourself to see just
where you’re coming from and meeting me now.
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