Baseball

Baseball is known as America’s past time so it seemed fitting to put it first on my list. Growing up, I started playing baseball at the age of six and played for eight years after that. I played games on the weekends and practiced during the week in both the fall and spring. I would watch the Philadelphia Phillies on TV all the time and would go to the games since the stadium was just 20 minutes away. Being in the baseball world always made me feel more connected to my country because I feel that it is such a staple in American culture. I also idolized people like Jackie Robinson who broke the barriers of societal norms and paved the way for anyone to be able to play the sport they love.

Christianity

My family was originally Catholic. But, my grandfather on my mother’s side divorced his first wife and as you probably know, the Catholic church isn’t that tolerant of this and even less so 60 years ago. So my family became Episcopalian and that’s how I grew up. My relationship with religion has been on and off, I hated going to church as a child like most kids do and we started going less and less as my parents had high-stress jobs and just wanted to rest on Sundays. As I got older I essentially became an atheist mostly because I didn’t agree with many of the Christian values that I felt alienated others. More recently, I’ve begun to reexamine religion and have found some practices and goals within Christianity that I do agree with. I determined that I could shape my own religious identity while remaining a faithful person. It’s always been interesting to me how ingrained religion is with our national identity.

New Jersey

I spent most of my childhood in a town named Cherry Hill, New Jersey. It is about 20 minutes outside of Philadelphia. I would not be who I am today without Cherry Hill. My best friends in the whole world are there and every time I go and stay with my best friend’s family, I feel as if I actually am in their family. They’re my home away from home if you will. This is more of a personal identity because I believe a large portion of my personality was formed here in New Jersey. My old neighborhood and community shaped a lot of who I am and what I believe in.

9/11

I was born on February 2, 2001. My parents have told me stories of the day of 9/11 and I think that even if I personally wasn’t affected, it’s still a huge part of my and most of America’s national identity. Such tragedies are some of the only things that band people together, and everyone has their “where was I” when 9/11 happened. My parents told me they had to pick me up early from daycare as no one knew if more attacks were coming. They, just like everyone else, were deathly afraid. My own cousin was a firefighter in New York City but coincidentally had the day off. There’s a chance I could have never gotten to know him if he had been one of the heroes rushing into the building to try to save lives. A world-changing event like this undoubtedly has a place in my identity.

Hip Hop

Hip hop has played a big role in my life. I’ve been listening to it since elementary school and I think it’s influenced how I see the world. It’s hard to see how a white middle-class kid could relate to rappers from the hood. But music is a universal language and I think it’s the most beautiful way to connect to one another regardless of backgrounds, cultures, and values. Hip hop has taught me open-mindedness, the importance of family ties, loyalty, and many other things. I have an appreciation for the whole genre and especially the ones who pioneered it. (NWA is just one example). The genre has also had a massive impact on American culture and identity.

Video Games

I thought it’d be remiss of me to not include video games in my personal identity. This one was my first “real” game and I played it with mostly my neighborhood friends. But I also would play online with complete strangers and I attribute a lot of my speaking and interpersonal skills to my interactions online. I don’t love video games that much but I really enjoy competing against other people and making friends with people I wouldn’t have otherwise. I still play games today with my friends and it’s a great way to stay connected now that everyone is in college. A lot of my societal identity was built right there in the virtual world.

Apollo 11

Here I have a picture of a man on the moon. I think it is a perfect representation of national pride. Everyone in the world wants their country to be the best, and the United States putting a man on the moon created a sense of national identity. It proved that we are a nation of thinkers, scientists, innovators, risk-takers, and dream setters. Moments in time like this shape civilizations for years as citizens can look back on them and feel a sense of fuzziness, a sense that they were a part of something greater than themselves. As a kid, I was dazzled by things like astronomy, archaeology, and marine biology. I believe I gained my curiosity by learning about human feats such as this one.

Film

Cinema and Hollywood have shaped a lot of who I am. The lessons you learn from them are invaluable and they also give the viewer the ability to see places and situations they wouldn’t normally see. Whether it’s a coming of age story or an action film, I would argue that they all provide some value to the human experience and contribute to our identity. I know my identity has changed over the years (albeit minutely) after watching certain noteworthy films. There’s also uniqueness to American cinema that can’t be found elsewhere.

Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War is instrumental in every American’s national identity. It’s a symbol of our free-spiritedness and desire to govern ourselves. Democracy prevailed after the Revolutionary War and led to how government runs today. With all the issues involving the government over the years, it is still at least partly responsible for our growth as a nation and the protection of our families. The Revolution sent the rest of the world a message, the United States is not to be trifled with. We are a nation of lovers but also one that protects liberties. This message is vital to our identity.

Ellis Island

This picture is the inside of Ellis Island. The United States is a nation of immigrants and I’m obviously no exception. On my mom’s side, I have Czech and Irish ties. On my dad’s side, I have mostly German roots. My great grandparents and great-great-grandparents came through Ellis Island to the United States looking for a better life and I have my life to thank them for. Though I have a strong national identity with the United States, I also see my identity through where my family came from. The United States is not the United States without immigrants and so it is imperative that the mixing pot culture be apart of national identity.

Judaism

The town I grew up in is predominantly Jewish. I actually even went to a Jewish pre-school. It was the best one in town and my mom joked that it was the Old Testament anyway so I’d be learning the same stories as the ones in a Christian pre-school. A large majority of my friends were Jewish and I went to about 17 bar/bat mitzvahs, give or take. This interesting situation played a huge part in my religious identity as I was able to get a deeper look than most into another religion. I feel that being around others with different beliefs strongly influenced my identity and openmindedness.

Sports

The last image relating to my national identity is the four major sports leagues. My dad introduced sports to me at a very young age and ever since I’ve fallen in love with them. I’ve played and watched sports all night. They instill such important values in you such as teamwork, dedication, work ethic, and confidence. There’s a reason why sports are so important to people in the United States. They are a huge part of our national identity. Competition is in our DNA and sports offer that. Even my societal identity was influenced as I formed relationships with people solely based on meeting them while playing sports. Some like to deem sports as a waste of time, but I believe they are quintessential to life as we know it in one form or another.