This handout is from the presentation, Coming Together Across Cultures: Intentional Relationship Building, delivered on Tuesday, July 26, 2011, as part of the free monthly webinar series from Friends for Youth's Mentoring Institute.

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How do you identify yourself? Most people connect themselves to specific groups of people:
With your friend, start to explore your multiple identi- about that theme. Some examples include visiting a
ties with the “What Are You?” exercise listed in the first cultural center or another town or neighborhood; at-
section of Beginning Activities. Write some of your re- tending a cultural celebration, museum, or art gallery;
sponses to the right. Together with your friend, pick an seeing a film based on an identity; eating a particular
“identity” theme to explore—this could be about your or kind of food; watching a related dance or theater per-
your friend’s ethnicity or other group that you identify formance; researching the theme at the library together;
with or would like to identify with more strongly. making a collage based on that identity; or interview-
Plan ahead and research some activities that you can ing someone else who shares a similar identity.
do together to celebrate, participate in, or learn more
Suggested books:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Growing Up Latino: Memoirs and Stories edited by Harold Augenbraum and Ilan Stavans
Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez by John Rechy
America is in the Heart: A Personal History by Carlos Bulosan * Be sure these books
The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese-American from Number Two Son to Rock’n’Roll by Ben Fong-Torres and movies are
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the West by Dee Alexander Brown age-appropriate
Push: A Novel by Sapphire for your and your
A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League by Run Suskind
friend’s reading
and viewing levels.
Suggested movies: Some of these sug-
Eyes on the Prize gestions are more
Africans in America: America’s Journey Through Slavery appropriate for
Stand and Deliver older youth.
ACTIVITY
Boys Don’t Cry
Joy Luck Club
Real Women Have Curves
Smoke Signals
Mi Vida Loca
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ACTIVITY
Learn about other identities through stories in print and film. Check your local library or online for age-appropriateness and reading/
viewing level. Think about how the author or director explains or shows an identity. Can you relate to any part of someone else’s identity?
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