Heritage

(I like to write bits intended for children and young adults/teens.)

What you you Heritage? Are you my genetic pool? Are you my DNA? What does that mean?

I am half Persian and half Filipino. I am a mutt. I am neither one nor the other. I am bigger than both. I am just like you. I am human just like you. I come from two lands, from three actually.

My father comes from the mountains, the cold snowy mountains of Isfahan, Iran. He comes from a dry land, hot in the summer, and freezing in the winter. My mother comes from the islands of the Philippines. She comes from a tropical land, a humid land, a lush land, where people battle typhoons. A land where people can wear slippers all year long, a place where people eat sweet fruit.

My father, he likes to eat dates and nuts. His favorite is pistachio. This is the favorite nut of the land. It is my favorite nut too. Ask any Persian what his favorite nut is and he'll tell you it is the pistachio. We even created the pistachio ice cream.

My mother loves to eat watermelon and dried mangoes. She loves to eat fish with rice. Sometimes at home, we just use our hands without utensils. I love doing this. It's actually easier to eat like this. I usually don't do this when I'm out in public. Or when friends are over. I only do this with my family. These foods are my favorite too.

I am half Filipino and half Persian. I have straight black hair, thanks to my mother. I have hair on my body, thanks to my father. I love the cold. I love the warmth. I am my father's daughter. I am my mother's daughter.

I love to eat on the floor, on the carpet, sitting cross legged and enjoying a nice spread of food that has been laid out on a pretty Persian cloth. I love to eat salty goat cheese with lavash bread, and sip hot tea. My favorite Persian dish, is a stew called gormeh sabzeh. There's nothing quite like it. It's made with lamb and beef, greens and kidney beans. It is a bit sour. I pour it on top of basmati rice and sprinkle saffron on top. It is the best.

I also come from America. This is where my parents met. They met in Los Angeles, one of the biggest cities of the United States. It was here that I was born. Many people don't know what my ethnicity is. Many people guess and get it wrong. I don't mind. It's fun to me. It's always a mystery. I'm not that easy to figure out.

I come from America. I love hamburgers and french fries, and I love apple pie. My favorite ice cream is Mint N Chip from 31 Flavors Baskin Robbins. I am an American. I love watching movies and eating popcorn at the theater. My favorite sport to watch is basketball. I want to grow up and get married and have kids. I want to live in a house with a white picket fence around the yard. I want to live next door to my best friend.

When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut. I can't wait to put on my blue astronaut suit and wave to the news cameras as I get ready to ride the huge elevator that will take me to the top of the shuttle at Cape Canaveral. I will be a mission specialist and once we're in outer space, I will go outside and repair the broken satellite. Or I will become a violin player who travels around the world making music for people, making really good music, the kind that makes you cry because it's so good. Or I will be a photographer for National Geographic and travel the world and take pictures of beautiful places, of people, and animals. I will get to meet all sorts of different people. But people who are probably just like you and me.

I'm an American. I'm Filipino. I'm Persian. I'm so much, but not just my ethnicities. I am a person. I am a girl. I am human, just like you.