Practicing Awareness of Microagressions

First of all, I've never heard of a microagression in my life. When I type it in on Microsoft Word it underlines it with the red line, so I had to keep checking to make sure I really wrote the right word (lol). Microagressions are something that I have not dealt with much either. Dictionary.com's definition of microagression is "Microagression usually involves demeaning implications and other subtle insults against minorities, and may be perpetrated against those due to gender, sexual orientation, and ability status." I am from a very small town where there aren't blacks (maybe 1 or 2), gay people are for the most part accepted because they are a part of the community and always have been, and special needs people are treated with fairness (as far as I see). As a matter of fact, I just now thought of a microagression that happened last night. Well actually I'm not sure if it can be called that because it was unintentional. But, by no means do I look like a boy! We were eating at a Mexican restaurant last night and the waiter looked at me and said "and for you sir? mam? sir?" like he didn't know if I was a boy or a girl!!! HAHAHAH! This could be just called a mistake instead of a microagression but still. Then, I walked out before my husband and the waiter brought Dustin our to go box and said "tell that boy he forgot his food." REALLY??? No I'm not mad at him, but what the heck? My hair was in a ponytail and I had makeup on! Makes me wanna look in the mirror and think what in the world? But here's how this could be avoided, if you don't know if it's a boy or a girl then don't put yourself in the situation where you have to say mam or sir, or call it a boy or a girl. He could have just said "and what can I get you today?" And the to-go box wasn't even mine it was Dustin's so why did he have to say "tell that boy". Ok so this is really silly, but obviously you can see it bothered me a little or I wouldn't have remembered it. And I know he meant no harm but still. This is a situation where you can practice those ways of preventing this.
This week I've learned that stereotyping is really harmful whether we know it or not. And apologies are good, but at the same time if you said something you shouldn't have said, it may not help that persons emotion. We must constantly think about what we say before we say it. We must practice to not judge others and to not talk about others and then maybe these words won't come out of our mouths.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Friend #1: "Culture is your heritage like what we do here is not the same as the culture in Iraq. Diversity is like being in NY City when there are so many different ethnic groups there."

Friend #2: "Culture is what surrounds a group of people and influences them in some way. To be cultured is to allow oneself to be engulfed in many different cultures/influences and react to them in some way. Diversity is a combination of different ethnic groups and cultures."

Friend #3: "Culture is the developed agreed upon customs and behaviors of a given population. Diversity is having multiple cultures or differing cultures the same click or group of people."

In these answers, I see #1 is focused on race and groups of people. I love #2's answer on culture because she stated that it influences them in some way. That's exactly what I have learned about culture. It is everywhere and we are all influenced by it in one way or another. I realize how much I didn't know about culture before this class. Notice they all said diversity is having different ethnic groups in a certain area. My #3 friend is someone that doesn't really have the same beliefs or "culture" as me. He's quite different to me and I see a lot of things he does as.... weird! (or different from me...lol).  I like how #3 said agreed upon customs, because that can really mean anything. But None of my friends specifically mentioned how culture is the way we move, talk, act, where we work, how we react to certain things or the way we beleive. It has influenced my thinking because I didn't realize how much I had learned about culture and diversity since beginning my studies at Walden. It makes me want to keep digging and learn more and more. These are friends of mine that don't recognize or worry about their culture. They are all of different ages and live in different places in the world.

My Family Culture

If I could take three things to an unknown country with me what would I take? (This assignment is going to make my real personality show through... haha)
This is a very very tough question. The first thing that popped into my mind is my gun. Although I'm sure it wouldn't be allowed on the airplane or boat or whatever I had to ride on to get where I was going. I do have my concealed handgun license and this is definetly one time I would take advantage of that license. To be honest it would not only be for my protection but also for hunting. My whole life I've grown up hunting for food. Of course, we bought food at the store also, but my favorite food is out of the wild. We always killed deer, squirrel, rabbits, ducks, dove and turkeys and ate them for several meals. Money is one thing that didn't cross my mind about taking because I would be able to supply my own food IF they allowed me to take my gun.
This is weird again, but the second thing that crossed my mind was a cow. Fresh milk anytime I needed it and I could raise even more cattle and butcher my own meat for hamburgers and steaks! YUMMY! This question brings up a lot more questions in my mind, because if I was going to live a long time I would bring 2 cows and a gun because I would have to make a living somehow and my family and the family I married into has raised, sold and bred thousands of cattle. The ranch I live on is 1000+ acres and runs over 500 cattle on it. So in my mind I would be thinking survival, along with lifestyle and future.
So in the end I would bring my gun and 2 cows. I have to say that my Bible, money, pictures and sweet tea would come in next, but these things are only material things and won't get you through life (except the Bible)
So if I could only bring one thing, I would have to choose a cow.