Blog Post 1

I found myself able to relate to the author Roxane Gay when she describe the strict rules that were placed upon her by her parents. Both my parents happen to be from Jamaica and experienced a different kind of childhood compared to someone who has lived in America all their lives, like me for example. They grew up under certain circumstances that prevented them from achieving the success that they desired throughout their entire lives, so image the expectations that they placed on their last two children who were born and raised in America. Growing up it asking my parents for what I believed to be the simplest thing wasn’t always so easy and at the time I resented them for because I didn’t understand why they were being so difficult. It would confuse every time I would ask them to sleep over a friend's house and I received the harsh no, but yet I would hear my friends discuss going on trips together and be shocked that their parents were okay with that. The past 18 years I grew up hearing my parents say “We want you to stay focused,” and “Your education is the only that’s important,” and countless other phrases, and of course I know that parents only wanted the best for me and they still do of course but I still don’t understand why it was so hard for them to let me experience things on my own. Of course as time went on and I started getting older, they became more understanding and I came to a realization that everything they did wasn’t to punish me or to keep me locked up in the house, instead they only wanted to ensure that I stayed focused and earned a good education that would in turn benefit my future.