Tishni Weerasinghe in Sri Lanka.My Name is Tishni Weerasinghe. I am 20 years old and a 3rd year student at ASU.I am a Political Science major and I am interested in double majoring in Criminal Justice. If you can't tell already, I really want to use these two majors to become an attorney. Law School has been my goal ever since I was eight years old, I can’t wait to defend those who need justice…even if it is controversial at times. If you look at me walking around campus, I look like any other student: tired, sipping something cold and probably dying of the heat. But what you wouldn't know is that I wasn't born here, I actually just became an United States citizen just a few months ago. I spent the first four years of my life in a small little country called Sri Lanka. But just because I left doesn't mean that I could escape the reality of being South Asian.
My family, in the shortest way possible, is conservative. The way they think doesn't really match with this century, but of course they don’t think so. To them it’s all about tradition and culture. It’s your typical “Godfather” like scenario except for the fact there are sari's, arranged marriages, being shamed for not being "girly" enough and following your parents' every order (or else).My Ammi (mother) always told me that I'm just like a boy. I like jeans over dresses, I watch sports more than she would like, and I was 17 when I first started wearing makeup. She looks at me and she sees Bend it Like Beckham, Part 2 except without the hot British coach and I don't play soccer. My mother's worst nightmare is that one day I won't get married, but that's beside the point.
My family and I in Sri Lanka.The point is, culture is a way of life for me. I always got the talk "we have a culture, these people don't." But to me, everyone has a culture we just don't realize it. Culture has always been the part that attracts me to people. The way they view something, or how they were raised, that's culture. Blogging about culture will open us up to other people, it will show the student body as a whole and help us learn about things that we didn't know about or were ignorant towards. Culture is what guides us to the future, it's what shapes us and it's what we are. So take this journey with me through my culture blog and get to know the sides of culture you never knew existed.
If anyone has any questions/comments/suggestions please feel free to contact me at tishniw@yahoo.com or via Twitter @tishnii.
