Autobiography and a little more

            I was born in the winter of 1982 in Roseburg, Oregon with all of my extended family in the hospital.  The majority of my aunts, grandparents, and uncles were all there.  This first day of my life really set the stage for how important family would be in my life.  I am named after my father James and my mom’s father Henry.  I feel like I have a lot to accomplish to begin to live up to these two names.  My parents were together until I was about three years old possibly younger.  After my parents got divorced I moved to my grandmother’s house with my mom.  This arrangement really gave me a different perspective and what a home can include.  I basically had two mothers.  My grandma is more of a mother then a grandmother and she expects to be treated as such.  Grandma is also the rock of our family and I am really not sure what will happen after she passes on.  I have a sneaking suspicion that she will live forever.  While I was living with my mom and grandma, my dad was always around.  Even though he didn’t live extremely close he managed to always be there for me.  The arrangment my parents made about raising me has given me a positive outlook on divorced families.  Both my parents made big efforts to take care of me and make sure my needs were always met.  Their divorce was not an issue for me and I thank them for that.  My father also helped out financially while my mother worked full time and I never went without.  It is also important to say that I am an only child who was/is spoiled but I was never allowed to be a jerk.  I am not sure if it is a conflict to say this, but being an only child as instilled in me a strong since of independence but at the same time I desire a lot of attention from my loved ones.  I definitely try to reciprocate this love my family gives me.

I grew up in Roseburg which is a partly rural city made up of aroud 23,000 people.  The city originally began booming as a logging community and this is the main reason that a majority of my family moved to the area.  There is still a strong presence of the logging industry but it has changed quite a bit since Johnny Cash wrote a song about the town.  It is no real surprise that running mills 24/7 for years on end could be sustained without reprocussions on the environment and the local economy.  This roll back in logging has really changed the makeup of the original city.  The one thing Roseburg really lacks is much diversity.  There has been somewhat of a shift in the past years but the city is predominantly white.  This lack of diversity has had a big impact on the person I have become.  I grew up as someone who looked a little different from the majority of my classmates.  This is because I am a complete melting pot of ethnicities, which include five different Native tribes and at least five different Western European decents.  However, if I was asked how I recognize myself I would say I am Kalapuya and my relatives come from the Splacta Alla village in Yonkalla as well as Oklahoma.   I hesitate in saying that I felt outright prejudice while growing up, but I did feel different and always carried a big awareness of my differences compared to other students.  It was probably most apparent when I was young and kids could be less then understanding.  However, as I grew and matured through middle school and high school most kids where inclusive, sensitive, and interested in my background.  This maturity on my part and my classmates instilled in me an idea of what multiculutral sensitivty can be in a mostly conservitive rural community.  At the same time, deep down I probably made big efforts to blend in and not be my own person.  Later in high school I began to shift from blending in I attempted to stand out, which I feel has made me a better person.  My real growth as the person I am today really began towards the end of high school and into college.

At Oregon State University I began to recognize myself as liberal and was very interested in politicals, ethnic studies, and the environment.  Through my classwork and discussion with friends I started to see some real problems inherent in our society.  I leaned towards helping the environment as far as my education went.  At school I studied Zoology and this got me started working in wildlife biology after school.  Working with wildlife has given me an opportunity to travel and work with people from many different places who have some very different backgrounds.  I have also been able to connect with the environment on a personal level and work with threatened and endangered species.  This work has been very rewarding on a number of levels but the main reason for shifting focus in careers is a desire to be a part of my local community and regain the physical connection with my home.  In my opinion there is not many better ways to achieve this goal then to become an Oregon teacher... So that is why I am where I am; I live in Salem with my girlfriend Nicholle and our dog Sage.  I am going to be a biology/math teacher and I am part of my community....  


I thought I would respond with some more biography post to answer the great questions Steve asked about my first post.  I am really aware that I have an interesting family structure.  The term traditional family structure doesn't really match us.  Growing up in a house with two women I had an interesting perspective on gender roles.  One of the main perspectives I have is the strength that I have seen in women.  This is specifically true with my grandma who is the "rock" of our family.  The strength she has shown is something that is stereotypically male.   I also have some personal attributes that aren't typically associated with males and that is my sensitivity and emotional responses.  I guess the best way to say it is that I'm not afraid to cry.

A good question was why I decided to settle on Kalapuya as my main identity.  When originally writing the statement I understood it was somewhat bold.  I think I have come to this decision for a number of reasons.  First and foremost has to be my family's influence, especially on my dad's side.  I guess it is partly because it is somewhat phenotypically accurate but mostly it is something I can easily connect with culturally and locally.  I can drum, dance, powwow, and easily express my culture in tangible ways.  It is also a very special feeling to walk in a a place where you know your ancestors have been living for hundreds of years and maybe thousands.  Spiritually I also closely align myself with Native American philosophies.  So that is basically why I call myself Kalapuya.  Not to mention I have a card that gives my enrollment number and blood degree so how can I deny something that official. haha

I think my personal feelings of being different as a student will help me as a teacher and I might have a good understanding of the isolation students are feeling.  My personal feelings will hopefully help me to be sensitive to students of different cultures but at the same time I need to be aware of my own biases.  But I have somewhat been in their shoes and I can easily look back at my own experiences and relate them to my student's situations.  I have had feelings of exclusion and inclusion both.  I have been pointed out in class for my differences but I have also easily blended in at times.  Sometime a child wants to standout and other times they might want to fade into the crowd.  I might have an upper hand in identifying these situations.

The idea of community is very important to me.  Community is much more visible in smaller towns but community can also be created in large cities.  It is just a matter of seeking a community of people that can support and help their neighbors.  The community will have a big influence on me as a teacher and will definitely have an impact on my lessons and the context I will be teaching.  I will attempt to look to my surroundings to shape my curriculum.  Science and math are all around us what better to learn from then your own backyard.  Also if a strong community is present they will make me more accountable for what I am teaching their children and hopefully I can get some good input from them.