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Karla Lopez

Professor Flowers

EDU 280

22 January 2017

Cultural Autobiography: From Pia to Lopez

I became Karla A. Lopez when I married my husband Juan A. Lopez, before that I was

Karla A. Pia. I carried my first and last name with huge pride as it was my grandfathers name.

Pia in English simply means pineapple however, that last name carries a much deeper meaning

to me. As it gave me an identity as I was growing up. My middle name, A has a story of its own.

To start, I only use my middle name when it is fundamentally necessary and I have willingly

shared my middle name with only a few people. For many years, I wondered why my mother

made the decision to give me that name as it was chosen by my biological father who had

stepped out of the picture months before my birth. It was on my 10th birthday when I had the

courage to question my mother of her reasons for giving me that name. I respect, admire and

deeply love my mother for many reasons and one of those is because of that day. She said to me,

Mija I love your middle name; I gave you that name as a thank you to your father. Mija I will

not deny that as a woman I hated him, but as a mother I am only thankful because when he left, I

also became a father.

I was born and raised in a small California city near the border with Mexicali, Mexico

where I lived with my mother and sister. My whole family is of Mexican descent however, I had

the opportunity to interact with a diversity of other cultures. That opportunity came from the

diversity that made my neighborhood more colorful. My environment taught me to respect

everyones culture without judgment. The way my mother interacted with others taught me to
value people for who they are as human beings. In many cultures and especially within Mexican

families the role of a woman is only of wife and mother and for some woman education is a big

no. The opportunity to receive an education and the move across the border changed many of my

mothers beliefs. Who upon moving across the border acquired a mans job working in a

construction company dominated by men. I witness my mothers fight for equality as she worked

hard to learn more always pushing herself to the limits to earn the respect of all of her male

colleagues. From the moment I realized what she had done I became a fighter for gender equality

and knew that man and woman where equals. Another big change that came along with growing

up at the border of California and Mexico was family values. While the majority of Mexican

families inculcate family as the number one priority American families inculcate independence. I

can honestly say I grew up to value both aspects. My mother taught me to value family, but she

also pushed me to work hard to achieve my dreams and become an independent woman.

My family culture changed when I became Karla A. Lopez. One of the biggest changes

has to do with religion. As a child I was baptized as a Roman Catholic, but my mother

encouraged me to learn about other religions. She would say, Mija, I gave you a path, but you

need to find your faith and follow the path that you want. Despite the many religions I never

followed any of them. That was until I became Karla A. Lopez. After I married, my husband he

re-introduced me to religion, church and prayer. His faith gave me faith and our own family

culture developed. As a child I only knew about the more American Christmas with the gifts

under the tree and sharing with the family. Now besides that tradition I also include part of my

husbands tradition of setting up a manger and laying baby Jesus at midnight to celebrate his

nativity. I now also celebrate Candlemas and Day of the Dead while my husband celebrates

Thanksgiving and takes part in the egg hunt during Easter.


The writing of my cultural autobiography was a very slow process for me. There were so

many cultural aspects that I wanted to share since there are many things that influenced me into

becoming who I am today. However, doing so without going over bored with the details and the

length of my paper seemed impossible. For that reason there is only one more thing I would like

to share. Somehow when I was younger, I always assumed that all ethnicities and nationalities

carried the same culture. It wasnt until I became older that I saw just how different we all are

Which it is not a bad thing since it doesnt matter how different we all are we are still all equal

human beings. Seeing the diversity in which we live in is how I came to understand that culture

is constantly changing and evolving and that education has played a role in the evolution of ones

culture.

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