What does it mean to be multicultural or culturally ambiguous? I represent a particularly easy-to-notice example of this phenomenon, having been born and brought up by liberal westernized parents but in India attending a conservative Indian school. I am a hodgepodge of cultural identities, with an American accent and values, but the American knowledge of a recent immigrant and a conversely strong cultural understanding of the South Asian context.

Having grown up used to code-...

Adaptability, to me, means adjusting to new environments and situations while still keeping true to the essence of the self. For a cultural context, I thought of the My Thai Vegan Cafe we went to in Boston. In my culture, veganism and vegetarianism is looked at as a burden and as the person choosing to be difficult. Hungarian cuisine has meat in most dishes and preparing food in an altered way can be read as a burden or as non-traditional to the culture. However, seeing an entire restaurant...

Back in high school, I barely had any opportunities to have diverse experiences. I went to a school that was 93% white, which was a clearly limited environment to learn about other people’s experiences. Sure, we were an interesting town, juxtaposing city landscapes and farming communities. But, honestly there is little you can do to escape that overwhelming whiteness. But, my senior year of high school, I made an entirely new friend group that was majority POC and dominated by queer women....

Culture is a complicated and multi-dimensional construct involving myriad identities; real and imagined. Broad concepts such as National Identity are often built upon stereotypes revolving around nationality, country of birth, country of residence, language or place affiliation, but also include ideas about race, ethnicity, religion etc. More specific constructs, such as ideas of community or family culture also touch upon these larger ideas but also include elements of privilege, perceived...