Did you say....DANCE?

So I'm sitting here watching videos on YouTube of people doing the Zorba the Greek dance, (No I dont know why either, and that fact my life is boring and desperate that not only do I DO that but I mention it in a blog as well is NOT the point of this post) and it got me thinking about some things. Mainly, hertiages.

My mother's sister married a first generation Greek. Greek was spoken in their household and anytime there's a wedding in their family, we joke about the "Big Greek Weddings". But it's something my cousins have to hold onto. I mean, they know their grandparents were born in Greece and they have a close connection to that culture.

I've gotten to know recently a Jewish coworker, and while she doesn't flaunt her Jewish heritage (however one would do that exactly), she makes no secret of it. I've got a friend who is of Hispanic descent. I met a friend in NYC who is Icelandic. My friend Ed in Toronto still has family living back in the Phillippines. I went to school with a guy who's maternal grandmother was a full blooded Comache (I believe that's the tribe she belonged to, it's been a while, I may be wrong). My fairy godfather Mark's mother was Greek, he had a close empathy to Greek culture as well.

Nonetheless, all of these people have distinct cultural backgrounds, with traditions, languages, mores, values, and history that they share with others of that background.

Me? I'm American. A hodge-podge. Oh, I know we're German, a relative of mine became a Mormon and then researched the family tree with the records they have. He discovered that Christophe Schakle arrived in America from someplace in German I don't recall in 1789 aboard the ship The Snow Molly. He knows Christophe Americanized his name, moved to the wild frontier that was the area I grew up in soon thereafter, put down roots, and good for him.

Talking to other older relatives on my own, I've discovered that I am 7/8ths German and the other 1/8th is English/Scottish/Irish, something like that. So I know my heritage, but my family, both sides of it, have been living in the this area that I've grown up in for over 200 years. I've got a large maternal family (grandfather oldest of 7, grandmother second oldest of 8, and they all had hordes of kids), but all of us, except for one branch of the family, lives within two hours of where i'm sitting right this second.

I've got long, thick and deep roots in this area, and that's fine. But what it also means is that I don't have a distinct heritage. I feel no closer to the German culture than I do to the Eskimo culture. I'm and solidly in the WASP American culture of McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Mickey Mouse and Coca-Cola.

And again, that's fine, I'm not saying I want to born anywhere else. But it would be nice if I could have a genuine cultural history or tradition that was perhaps a smidge older than the state of Pennsylvanis itself? And maybe wasn't created by the advertising that comes out of Madison Avenue or the entertainment industry in Hollywood.

I'll take what I got, cause, well, it's all I got. But it sure would be nice to have some deeper richer cultural makeup, kinda like the roots I have are.

And it would be awesome to be able to dance the Zorba The Greek Dance.



POLT