So do your best, baby. It’s for you. It’s not for me. We are not asking you for anything. We just want you to have a better life than what me and Mommy had, okay? We don’t want you to experience what we went through, basically. That’s what we’re trying to tell you. Okay, anak? (Froilan Carlos)

My life, as the child of an immigrant couple, has undoubtedly been shaped by the experiences of my parents.  My parents have, at this point in their lives, lived in three different vastly different cultures in very different countries: the Philippines, the Soviet Union/Russia, and the United States.  While at first struggling to find where their own culture, that of the Philippines, fit into their lives in the far more liberal Soviet Union/Russia and United States, they found that their experiences as immigrants were actually more advantageous in starting and raising their own family.  Their exposure to different cultures, then, allowed them to select the most valuable aspects of each, creating somewhat of a hybrid culture for their children to live in.  While sacrificing their own home, they created a unique culture for their children that blended the centrality of the family and respect of Filipino culture with the strong aspiration of the American dream.

Presentation here: The Carlos Family