Encounter Activity 1

"I am a drinker with a writing problem."
- Brendan Behan

Someone once said, "If you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough."  Well I'm a grand mixture of Western European, but the Irish in me sticks out the most.  1/4 to be exact.  As for the rest, I'm 1/8 Danish, and less than 1/8 German, French, Spanish, and English.  I never really gave it much thought, because I'm only a quarter anything, but I like the idea of being Irish.  I should embrace it more.  I got the blond hair from my grandpa the Dane, but other than that I have the pale skin and freckles of the Irish.  St. Patrick's Day should mean more to me, but for most people, whether their Irish or not, it's just another excuse to drink.  The irony.  Us Irish don't need a holiday to be our excuse to drink, our blood is an excuse in itself!

PS: oddly, my favorite color is green...



So anyway, we've touched on my roots.  Now what does that mean?  My family has always been dysfunctional and broken, so I'm not really sure what it means, if anything.  But as we go through this class, I realize that I want a culture to cling on to, to have close to my heart.  So stay away from my lucky charms. They're mine. You can't have any.


Race.  I'm a white, mostly Irish, European American.  As I said before, the Irish and Danish stand out in my physical features.  Blond hair, green eyes, pale skin, and freckles.  I look mostly like my dad's side, which is where the Irish and Danish come from.  My dad's mom was full Irish, and had red hair and way more freckles.  My grandpa was a tall Dane, but only half.  Not sure about the other half, but it must have been a mixture of something that was also on my mother's side or I'd have an 1/8 of something else in me.  My mom's side for sure has all the German.  They have light skin and dark hair and eyes. 

There is something about the Danish part of me I want to touch on, while it isn't the most prominent part, there is some interesting history.  My great, great, great, great? grandfather worked for the King of Denmark.  He was his right hand man.  I know right? That's pretty cool.  So the King gave him an ivory pipe with engravings and painting on it.  My dad has it now, because the tradition is that the first born son inherits the pipe, and since he had two girls, he said his first grandson will get it.  So hopefully my first child will be a boy so I can steal it.  Hey!  I do have a family tradition! Also, my last name is Danish.  It was "Pedersen" before my family came to America.  When they got here they had to change it to Peterson.  We got Americanized...

As for religion, I could have hoped to be Irish Catholic or even a Christian, but no such luck.  In my immediate family, as in my mother, father, and little sister, do not believe in God.  They call me a fool for being Christian.  But I don't care.  I don't have to be like them. ✝

We have always spoke only English, so there isn't much to talk about in the language department, although I would kill for an Irish accent.  I think it would be really neat to have an accent.  And my nationality, always been American.  I have never even been out of the country so I know nothing else.

Holidays!  We celebrate all of the main ones.  Easter, Valentine's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas.  For some reason New Year's Eve is always the biggest one though... but yes. We have traditions in how we celebrate these holidays.  When we were kids, we would paint eggs every Easter and then whoever had us that weekend (parents divorced) would hide the eggs.  We always got Easter baskets with candy in them.  PEEPS.  Always got peeps. Our dad was a lot more into the holiday traditions than our mom was.  His mom sent him everything from May Day baskets to Halloween candy until the day she died.  I remember he was in his late 40's and she would send him candy from California to Iowa and it would be stale by the time it got to him, but it was tradition.  I have told him in the past, "Dad, I'm grown.  I don't want candy." But I see now that he wanted to hold on to that tradition.  For Valentine's Day we would get candy from both parents.  Still do.  For the 4th of July, there would always be an event in the park we would go to.  There would be games, food, a carnival sometimes, a talent show, and fireworks after dark.  Our mom would take us and we would claim a spot in the park, grill out, and the grown ups would drink beer.  The fireworks in Creston, IA are always amazing.  For Halloween, we always got dressed up and went trick or treating.   I went so long people started refusing me candy because I was "too old." We would also carve jack'o'lanterns and bake the seeds.  Yummy.  Thanksgiving was the only holiday we could get our parents together.  My dad always cooked.  My mom and dad are both great cooks, but my dad always wanted it done a special way.  A turkey three sizes too big, stuffing made with the turkey's giblets, mashed potatoes and gravy, sometimes corn or green beans, rolls, and pie.  I always had to have pumpkin pie. With whipped cream. 

Christmas was nice, because my little sister and I would always have two.  Mom's on Christmas Eve and dad's on Christmas morning, because he insisted on having us Christmas Day for the tradition. New Year's Eve was always a party night.  All of our parents did it, so when my friends and I got older we did  it too.  Sometimes we wouldn't even make it to midnight.  Sometimes we would party right through and miss the new year all together.  It wasn't about resolutions or new beginnings.  Just about fun.  It is such a "tradition," that I even partied last New Year's only one day after getting my wisdom teeth removed.  Worth it.  Maybe I'll embrace the Irish in me and switch my party day to St. Patrick's Day instead of New Year's Eve. Or KEEP tradition and just add another fun holiday for cultural purposes.

Now that I think about it there are some other traditions we had that didn't have to do with holidays.  They are all passed down from my dad's side, because on my mom's side all they do is drink beer.  One tradition was that we always had hot tea with milk and sugar in the morning.  My dad told me it's how the English drink their tea.  Not with cream, with real milk.  It was good. There were also recipes that were passed down to my grandma, but since she has passed away and my dad and I are estranged, I cannot share them with you.

The behaviors and everyday thinking of my family are a mixture of the free party lifestyle from the 60's and chaos and dysfunction.  Our social economical status has always been lower middle class.  I would describe us as poor, but we have never gone hungry or been homeless for long. 

From how I was raised, I want to be different than my family.  Although I will remain a liberal, I want to be different in the way my parents were.  My dad was way too strict, and my mom was way to lenient.  But my mom raised me, so I want to be more strict with my children.  My parents also believed that if there is a God, He was an alien.  What the hell?  I will raise my kids as Christians, but I will not be too hard on them about it.  I will just teach them about God through Bible stories at bed time and tell them they can pray if they want to.  People should have a choice.  I didn't have a choice because whenever I expressed my religion I was mocked for it.  That wasn't fair.  I will celebrate all of the American holidays the same way my family does, hopefully inherit (or steal) the Danish pipe, and make my children hot tea with milk and sugar.  But more than anything, since I've been in this class, I want to embrace my Irish heritage and learn more about it.  Maybe someday I will get to travel to Ireland.  That would make me happier than a leprechaun with a pot of gold. 

"If you could drink dreams like the Irish streams
Then the world would be high as the mountain of morn
In the Pool they told us the story
How the English divided the land..."
- John Lennon, "The Luck of the Irish" (song)

Go dtí an chéad uair eile,

Keri Jo