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I grew up in a low-income, minority community. Everyone I was surrounded with looked just like me and shared similar backgrounds as me. I was comfortable knowing that I would always have someone to relate to. Since I knew what to expect, it was easy to talk to my peers and play with them during free time. When college came around, I must admit it was a bit of a culture shock. The majority of my peers were white and it made me feel really weird because I have never been around a white-majority community. My development has advanced though, as I have become open to cultural differences and have learned more than I did before. Although, my play feels like it has been hindered since I have become more afraid of making connections with what I don't know.

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I grew up in a household that was very Catholic. My mom would always tell me that it was because of God that I was able to survive from tachycardia. I was forced to do things like my first communion and confessions and it was a complicated thing for me. I believed in God because my parents told me to, but as I grew up, I lost all of my faith. Religion is something that doesn't affect my play but my development with religion has been confusing. I have moments where I feel the need to have a faith but then I have moments where I do not care to. It confuses me and makes me feel distant from my family.

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Sexuality is a complicated aspect of my identity that I still struggle with today. I never came to terms with my sexuality until I came to college. It was easy in high school to act a certain way to fit a societal standard, but once I was able to act on my own, things were different. I am bisexual. I did not come out until I was sitting on the edge of my bed talking to my boyfriend at the time. It was scary. He didn't judge me or anything but he had nothing to say. My mother is not supportive of this aspect of myself. She is so against defying the norm and it's pretty upsetting. I refuse to tell her because of her mindset. The development of my mother and I's relationship hasn't progressed much during my adult life and it's because I do not feel comforted or accepted by her.

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I am a student aiming to become a teacher once I graduate. I have been wanting to be a teacher my whole life and it took me a while to really accept that. I work at a non-profit that aims to empower minority youth through STEM-related curriculum. Working there really makes me feel like I am making a difference and it has helped me prepare a lot for my future. It's really exciting.

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I am a Latina woman and I am very proud of that. My father is an immigrant who worked very hard to give us the world. My ethnicity is one of the most important aspects of my identity because it makes up a lot of what I stand for and what I believe. My ethnicity has allowed me to make connections with so many amazing people and I believe I grew much more into it as I got older. I understood my background more which made me appreciate it much much more.

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I am a bilingual speaker: Spanish and English. Spanish was my first language and I was very fluent until I got into the 2nd grade. I was no longer in bilingual classes and all of my classes were in English ever since. The Spanish language is a huge part of my identity because it's the only way I can communicate with my parents/grandparents/etc.

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I am from a lower middle-class family and all of my life experiences are tied to this lower-class status. We were never without shelter, food, clothes, etc. because my dad worked very hard to make sure we were being supported. I couldn't afford to have pretty things or brand items when I was younger and I dealt with a lot of bullying in school because of that. A lot of experiences were taken away from me simply because my family couldn't afford them. I am not upset with the way I grew up because my dad did everything possible. He has done everything for me so now as an adult, all I can do is appreciate him and my background.

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I am Mexican and Salvadoran. With one side of my family, I participate in Mexican cultural things like celebrating El Día de los Niños (Day of the Children), Christmas on the 24th, El Dia de los Muertos, and making Mexican traditional cuisine (tamales, mole, chilaquiles, etc.). With the other side of the family, the Salvadoran side, we don't really have cultural celebrations as often because most of my family is in El Salvador. My mother does make traditional Salvadoran food to make us feel as if we are with the rest of our family (fried plantains, pupusas, Salvadoran tamales, etc.). My cultures are so important to me and I want to have a deeper relationship with both of them.

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From all the identity aspects that I talked about in my autobiography, the main one I've truly had agency over is my career. All my life I was allowed to choose what I wanted to be and could change my mind about it all of the time. My parents would ask about my aspirations and once I told them, they'd ask how I would do that and I had to come up with ways I would succeed. Agency was enacted in this aspect because no one would judge me or tell me I wouldn't be able to do it. They would just ask me if I had a plan and as a kid, I somehow always did!

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In the film Babies, Hattie hit her mom as a way to communicate that she did not want the book her mom was reading to her; if I had done something like that as a child my mother would have disciplined me but Hattie’s mom just asked her what book she’d prefer to read. The differences in parenting and the agency children are afforded can truly be dependent on culture.
From my experience, I was not afforded much agency growing up. Living in a Mexican household meant following orders, never being allowed to go out or dress how I wanted. As a kid, I could only play with my cousins and I couldn’t leave my parents eyesight. It was hard to assert my agency because if I did I would get in trouble. Parents were seen as authority figures and not people who could help during hard situations.

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Impact of Racism and White Supremacy on Play and Development - Sept 21

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Impact of Racism and White Supremacy on Play and Development - Sept 21

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Racism and White Supremacy - September 23 

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Racism and White Supremacy - September 23 

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I don't think I have ever personally experienced racism, but I have witnessed important people in my life experience it. My dad has been the victim of many types of micro aggressions- for example: we were buying a computer so I could go to school and the man had asked him if he needed a payment plan to pay it off even though he didn't ask other people that. Another example was when we went to eat together and the waiter asked us if we needed someone who speaks Spanish. These micro aggressions have made me realize how much a skin color can really affect the way people perceive you. They instantly assume they know everything about you and it's truly so damaging. I notice how my father just doesn't talk to people to avoid having to deal with judgement and it sucks. He deserves to feel comfortable with who he is but social constructs and internal biases don't allow that.

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Impact of Gender and Sexism on Young Children's play - Sept 28  

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Impact of Gender and Sexism on Young Children's play - Sept 28  

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Growing up, I experienced a lot of gendered play. My cousins and I would always split up into groups of girls and boys and we would not play together because we were always told that boys don't play as nicely as girls do. I always noticed too how the women stayed together and the men stayed together at all our family outings so I thought it was so normal to be separated from boys. I never realized just how much gender roles affected my every day interactions. If I wanted to play with boys, I would have to prove that I was "strong" by fighting with one of the boys and if I won then they would let me play with them. As girls, we always had to prove ourselves to be at the same level as the boys and it was never the other way around. If I had known any better back then, I would have not allowed myself to believe those degrading things but now that I am older I understand why things were like that. Gender roles are engraved in our culture and society and it can be hard to shake that off when it is being forced down your throat.

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Impact of Monolingualism on Play - Oct 5

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Impact of Monolingualism on Play - Oct 5

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Language has impacted me in almost every part of my identity and life experiences. At home, being able to speak English has allowed me to help my parents translate documents and has helped my dad write notes for his job. Being able to speak Spanish has allowed me to continue communication with my grandparents and family in Mexico/El Salvador. In my career, being able to speak Spanish has given me certain benefits over some of my coworkers: I have been given a raise for being able to speak Spanish, I have been able to assist more customers by speaking to them in Spanish, and I have been able to lead a Spanish-speaking after-school club all on my own. In school, speaking both English and Spanish has allowed me to connect with students from my own community and with students from different communities. I have been able to work with exchange students from Columbia and helped them produce short films. I have benefited so much from my bilingualism and I am so grateful that my parents come from Spanish-speaking communities as I am able to keep in touch with my culture and communicate with others.

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Impact of Needing Accommodation and Ableism in Play - Oct 12

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Impact of Needing Accommodation and Ableism in Play - Oct 12

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From today's discussion, I really learned how to value myself as an abled-person. I've noticed growing up that my peers with disabilities were constantly separated from us and never got to interact with us unless we were in lunch. My ability to walk and talk has allowed me to assert my agency, especially in school, as I was able to vouch for my opinions in school and move around to explore my interests. We take simple things like this for granted and it's something we should value and accommodate areas for those who don't have the same abilities as us.

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Cultural and Community Expertise - Oct 19

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Cultural and Community Expertise - Oct 19

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Culture and Community Expertise - October 21

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Culture and Community Expertise - October 21

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I was lucky enough to grow up in a community where my culture, Mexican culture, was very dominant. I was always around kids who grew up with the same beliefs as me so I never had to think about how my culture affects my life until I came to college. In college, I realized that my culture was in fact, not as dominant as I thought it was. It was hard to find some of the remedies my mom made back home here in Austin, especially since my mom would purchase items at an herb store that cannot be found here. My culture was very important to the way I got taken care of when I got hurt so it has been pretty difficult for me, especially if I get hurt, since my mom isn't around to pass along her remedies.

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Relationships with Earth, Land, and Outdoors - Nov 2

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Relationships with Earth, Land, and Outdoors - Nov 2

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I thought it was very important to learn about the Indigenous communities who lived/live in the lands that we currently live on today. I don't really think about how our current world is very colonized so I was very glad to be learning more about this.
In terms of play and outdoors, outdoor play is so important for the development of creativity as children get the freedom of space to come up with their own games and have loose-parts to incorporate into their play. It was nice to remember my childhood and how often I interacted with my environment. I think outdoor play had a positive impact on my life and has made me appreciate all the world has to offer.

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Growing up, I did not have access to technology until I was in about 7th grade. My parents believed I had no need for technology and we also couldn't really afford to have any in the household. I did have access to television though and I would spend a lot of my free time watching TV shows and movies. Technology wasn't something I found essential at the time but now that I am older, I fear I can't get anything done without it. Watching the way my siblings interact with technology makes me glad I didn't grow up using technology because I got to experience a lot of outdoor play and imaginative play with my cousins. Unlike my siblings now, they get bored after 5 minutes without their tablets and hardly ever play outside. It's strange how times have changed and I wonder what life would be like if we weren't so technologically advanced.

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Experiencing Trauma as a Young Child - Nov 16

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Experiencing Trauma as a Young Child - Nov 16