Immediate Culture

I went home to visit family recently and decided to observe the culture that exists between us. Home for me is in Grand Blanc, Michigan. A sleepy suburb of Flint, Michigan that is known for being the most violent and depressed city in the nation. This is hard to believe as Grand Blanc is still a nice town full of mostly middle class people like my family. My family consists of myself, my younger brother Matt, younger sister Rebecca, and my parents- Mark and Brenda. This year has been a transition year for everyone. My brother went off to college, sister entered high school and I will be graduating from Belmont in the spring. I can tell that my parents have been feeling the effects of this greatly.



My mom is as stay-at-home mom and is very close to me and my siblings. She tries to be a part of our lives as much as possible. This is obviously harder for her with my brother and I as we now live away from home. I've noticed a change in her as she's suddenly had more free time. This has translated into her putting that time into my sister- taking her shopping several times a month, going to all of her volleyball tournaments and keeping up with her school work to insure that she does her best. My Dad works a tough job for an automotive company. He survived several lay-offs and has continued to work his butt off all the time to provide for the family. Recently he has been traveling a lot. Whenever our family gets together its always interesting to see how alike we are- and yet how different we are as well. We all tend to have very conservative political beliefs (my sister could care less as a high schooler). Our dialect and grammer is all the same- my mom was very good at english and constantly is correcting us if we make mistakes. Yet areas such as dress differ.

Matt is an athlete and tends to dress in baggy clothes and sport the latest shoes and popular ball caps. My dad is an executive for a large corporation and tends to always dress up- even if thats wearing a collared polo to walk the dog. My mom could practically be a spokesperson for the store "Ann Taylor Loft" as she's always wearing their clothing. Rebecca is into wearing the latest "UGG" boots and clothing from teenage stores such as "Forever 21" and "American Eagle." Personally, I've got a style that is a bit different from theirs. My dress has changed since I moved to Nashville and I tend to lean towards a modern city look. I routinely wear clothing from the store "Express."

Its funny to me to observe how alike my family is, and yet, how different we are in other areas. Its always good to go home and catch up with my parents and siblings. My family is probably the most immediate culture that warrants observation.