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How does where we are influence who we are?

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How does where we are influence who we are?

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Where we are has a huge influence on who you are as a person. A child in a war-torn area has no choice but to mature quickly. Children in a war torn area have to fight for their lives everyday, which is a stark contrast in comparison to what the children in a first world would go through. Even on a more local scale, a child raised in a wealthy family would have many differences in comparison to someone from a middle-class family.

I am a meal. I vary from place to place, and from social class to social class. I represent a culture, and even within a culture I am different. People and my surroundings shape me and they believe that I represent them. I am never the same in two places but people recognized me immediately.

#spsphotoessay2016

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I tried to take pictures of things that people wouldn't usually think of when they think of a certain subject.

My picture is a knot, because in French, denoument is tying of lose ends. It's like a "The end" in French.

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Bob Pham's photo essay

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5. What does it mean to be "from" somewhere?

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5. What does it mean to be "from" somewhere?

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"I love being Canadian. I think growing up in Canada gives you a world perspective that I certainly enjoy" -Ryan Gosling

Communities resonate with people, make them feel at home. To be from somewhere defines people, not just because of stereotypes, but because communities give people a sense of home. I am a flag. I stand high and tall. I'm a symbol of what your community believes in, a beacon of hope in the darkness.

#spsphotoessay2016

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4. How does society influence our identity and the choices we make? 

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4. How does society influence our identity and the choices we make? 

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Society affects our personality and the choices that we make. Humans in general want to fit in, back in the day not fitting in could cost you your life. Eventually those small communities grew into towns, cities, and then grouped together to become a country. People from a country have traits that define them as who they are.

I am a playground. I am for a kid a place of joy, where anyone can do anything, where imagination takes over. For some this is where all the fun happens, where friends gather, someplace to look forward to. For some, it is place of judgement, a place where you are ridiculed for who you are. You are judge for your age, how you look, how you speak. You try to fit in but you can't. A playground could be both a place a friendship, joy, a light in what seems to be utter darkness, but in turn, like a double edge sword, could be an area that some would believe it to be a place where they are ridiculed for who they are and what they believe in.

#spsphotoessay2016

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3. In what ways is our identity defined by others?

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3. In what ways is our identity defined by others?

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I am a cookbook. People follow me for directions, following me step by step. I show people how to do things that they would have not known how to do. After a while people don’t forget about me and only use me when I’m needed.  Even though people should follow me, they shouldn’t follow me exactly. People should tweak what I recommend, changing what I say for their own needs, or what they have.

#spsphotoessay2016

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2. What are the various factors that shape my identity? 

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2. What are the various factors that shape my identity? 

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In Albert Szent-Györgyi’s book “the crazy ape”, he explains that “the human thought is very limited, we all live in a very narrow cage, the spirit of our times, in which we have very limited freedom of motion. If in different ages people thought differently, it was not because the cage got wider, but because the cage moved” . I am textbook. I am a culmination of the amount of knowledge that one would need to know in a respective point in life. I know no more, no less. I represent what is currently needed, and will be replaced later on my a version of myself, but for another point in life. I am only who I am, I can’t change it; you can’t read a math textbook in order to learn science.

#spsphotoessay2016

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I am a snow globe. I live in my own little world secluded from everyone else. I am unchanging, showing the same face to whomever lays their eyes on me, and when shaken my world is blown into chaos. Others can’t explore me but can only look upon. People are often fascinated at first, but soon lose their interest, casting me aside either leaving me on a display or stored away in a box. My life is fragile, people careful not to break me. When broken, I am a mess. Shards of myself cast along the surrounding area.

#spsphotoessay2016