Team Brainstorm Examples from previous workshops

Name:Cindy

 

Name:Lucinda

 

Activity 1 - Brainstorm

My heritage is  English, Irish and a little German. Fourth or fifth generation Californian. Grandparents from England, Boston and California. We are Catholic and relatives are part of the California pioneer Society. So my California  heritage and my Irish heritage are important to my identity.  

 

 

My background is English, people say what are you really, Mayflower realatives -puritans revolutionary war - father a dairy farmer from Main. The fam was a land grant from King George III, grew up in Brooklyn, Episcopalian,  when I go to church, New Yorker born and bred. Proud of background that and a dollar fifty will get me on the muni.

 

Name:Stan

Name:Debra

 

Activity 1 - Brainstorm       Grandmother on father's side.  Recently deceased.  The glue that held clan together.  Mysterious Indian blood in the family.  Grandmother was last one to know all this information, but she never told anyone.

 

 

Ummm.... Debra's grandmother, deceased 15yr.  Family members Arrived shortly after time of Myflower. Lots of pictures and family history. Lots of feelings about being amerivcan for a long time. Participants in civil war. feels not so long ago that family was involved in the war. Connection to American culture and northern european heritage.

 

Name: Becky, Myra, Annette

Name:

 

Activity 1 - Brainstorm

Annette is Basque. My father was born in the Basque Country on the French side. Growing up, Annette was active in the Basque community in South SF. The Basque Cultural center is her family's second home. Her father and she went to the Basque country to visit family and the farms. Her dad was a sheep herder. He came to the US when he was 18. He spoke no English, but the sheep didn't care. He was in Montana. Annette's mom is first generation American from Ireland. She met her husband in SF.

Becky went to a Basque Restaurant this summer.

Becky is French Canadian. There is lot of French Canadains in VT. That is where both sides of the family live.  They have been in VT for 2 generations. The grandparents speak French and there are many French speaking people in the area.

Myra is several generations from the South.

 

Name:Nancy  

Name:Molly

 

Activity 1 - Brainstorm

Nancy

My mom's name is Eva Lucero.  She was born in Alamosa, Colarado in 1932.  When she was 8 years old, she left Colorado with her mother and changed her name to Eva Gonzales.  Eva grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she met my's father when she was 17.  My parents were married and they had 8 children. I always loved her, and I don't think I realized how much until my own children were born.  She passed away on March 17th in 2006.  SHe loved to dance.  My grandmother would tell us stories of how my parents would go dancing and my mom would go barefoot if need be.  The dance was a big, social time for them.  As an adult myself, it's my perspective that she was the most beautiful, smart without everhaving finished high school.  And I say this without boasting - she knew what all of were doing. She was gentle.  It was when I had my children that I could really see how she cared for us.  She loved birthdays and Christmas - she lived for them.  She was a grouch to us, but her granchildren could do nowrong.  They got away with murder.  I loved her more every day, and her love of life and her family.  She was very religious.  She passed away in her sleep.  Her favorite food was corned beef and she died on St. Patrick's day.

 

Molly; My father's parents Hoo Hoo & Pop Pop we lived caddy corner from them. My parents built a house across from them in Columbus Ohio. Her father was the youngest and only boy. Molly & her sibblings were very close to her grandparents. There were visits and dinner every Sunday and dunk Matzahs  in his coffee and sprinkle Yiddish here and there.  We took turns  the boys and then the girls  for brunch at grandparents house. My grandmother played the cards Solitare constantly in their home library. Hoo Hoo was an early starter of Planned Parenthood and much involved in the Woman's League of Voters. This was approxamately in the 1930's. The strong liberal feminism has permiated through my family. Both male and female were involved in this. Even though Molly was raised in a homogenious community, she later in life sought out for diversity and the fight for equity.

 

This is your team page for sharing information and communication. Update your team progress as you complete each activity.

 

Name: R Schnitzer

Name: K Liu

 

Activity 1 - Brainstorm

Record your partner's brainstorm here

 R. Schnitzer: My Aunti lives in Washington D.C.  She is  a Germen Jewish. Her husband is my father's brother.

My mother died in 1995. She was Jewish from Brooklyn,  N.Y.  Both of them like others were very encouraging.

K Liu: I could talk about my dad.  He passed away a long time ago--when I was in high school was in 1986.  He was a company president in China.  He cared about me very much--always checked my homework, fixed my bike, bought me souvenirs when he went to workshops, (much thought here abiut what to say...).  What did he like to do in his spae time...he liked to dance and he sang well.  What do you want me to say?  I don't know what to talk about.  He died in an accident.  He went to a business trip by boat and the boat sunk in the middle of the night.  The name of the ship was something like 401 and because this was a major accident, Chinese people thought 401 to be a really bad luck number.  My mother is still alive.  She was a math teacher and I went to her middle school/high school in China as a student and I always felt under pressure because my mother taught there and I didn't want to embarrass her.  This was a boarding school.  Teachers and students had different dorms.  My mother lives in the US now since the early 1990's.

 

 

This is your team page for sharing information and communication. Update your team progress as you complete each activity.

 

Name: R Schnitzer

Name: K Liu

 

Activity 1 - Brainstorm

Record your partner's brainstorm here

 R. Schnitzer: My Aunti lives in Washington D.C.  She is  a Germen Jewish. Her husband is my father's brother.

My mother died in 1995. She was Jewish from Brooklyn,  N.Y.  Both of them like others were very encouraging.

K Liu: I could talk about my dad.  He passed away a long time ago--when I was in high school was in 1986.  He was a company president in China.  He cared about me very much--always checked my homework, fixed my bike, bought me souvenirs when he went to workshops, (much thought here abiut what to say...).  What did he like to do in his spae time...he liked to dance and he sang well.  What do you want me to say?  I don't know what to talk about.  He died in an accident.  He went to a business trip by boat and the boat sunk in the middle of the night.  The name of the ship was something like 401 and because this was a major accident, Chinese people thought 401 to be a really bad luck number.  My mother is still alive.  She was a math teacher and I went to her middle school/high school in China as a student and I always felt under pressure because my mother taught there and I didn't want to embarrass her.  This was a boarding school.  Teachers and students had different dorms.  My mother lives in the US now since the early 1990's.

 

 

Activity 1 - Brainstorm

Terry:  Cultural heritage: I have none. My parents never talked about it. There was no cultural heritage in the house. I remember my dad the most because we did so many things together. I worked with him in the garden because he had a huge garden in the back of the house. We turned over the dirt. We used a trowel; and worked on the roses and rhodedron and camillias. We painted the house, inside and out. Washed the dog in the back yard and tied him up so he could dry in the sun. Walking with him and the dog to Rossi Park.

My cousin on my mothers side, lived in Menlo Park, and had 7 kids. Being raised by myself, this family amazed me. I loved spending time there.

 

Rae Ann:  My father's mother, my grandmother, was born in Dublin. Very heavy Irish brogue.  She came to U.S. as a small child and lied about her age to get on the ship. She came with her sister who was a nun.  Never knew her correct age.  She absolutely LOVED to work.  Every spring she wouls strip every walk of paint and REPAINT.  She therefore always had  exzema on her hands due to  paint thinner (turpentine).  She married a British railroad worker who never had a chance to talk, so was very quiet.

 

 

Name: Roberta

Name: Robert

 

Activity 1 - Brainstorm

Record your partner's brainstorm here

   Robert is going to tell us about his grandmother.  She was a flapper when she was in her twenties. She was one of the first telephone operators in the state of Texas back in the 1920's. Margie (granny) had her own way of doing things. She was fashion victim - she always had the latest fashion. She always wore her very high heels - even while she aerated her lawn. She made the best peacan pie. Her favorite phrases were "Mercy Jesus", "I Swan" and "Jesus, Mary and Joseph". She lived to the ripe old fiesty age of 98. A week befoer she died she was in a fight with her roommate and wheeled her on her bed out of the room - saying "I'm tired of listening to this crazy bitch!!!" She was very limber. In her nineties she was still able to touch her nose with her big toe. As you can tell, this crazy granny is sorely missed.

 

Roberta's Memories of her Father:

My father was an only child born in New York.  He came to California when fell madly inlove with my mother.   He had been a foreign language major at University of Illinois and could speak seven languaNO MONEY in teaching!!!"  He was introduced to someone in the wine business in Caalifornia.  Because he had such a flair in working and speaking wioth people, he became the top salesman for Gallo Wines, the home of Ernest and Julio.  He was such a wonderful salesman that Ernest Gallo made him go into sales managemnet which he didn't really prefer.  His heart was always with the person-to-person sales.  He liked the interaction with the public and trade.  As a matter of fact, he use to go into the stores with his feather ducster to help dust all the shelves of wine (even his competitors!)   His historical claim to fame, of which he received not one cent, was creating Thunderbird Wine for the Gallos.  All he got for this was a lousy trip to Hawaii!!!  All my father wanted was to do the best and promote his product!  A pat on the back was worth a million bucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Name: Shawnie

Name: Ronny

 

Activity 1 - Brainstorm

 

Ronny Fresh's favorite family member is his mother.  Ronny loves his mother because she is strong, detemined, and dedicated.  Ronny's mother is an "Asian American" woman who works really hard for her family of 5.  She is a traditional woman when it comes to family and firmly believes in respect to elders which is why Ronny believes that he is such a "polite, "young" man."  she also teaches Ronny Fresh to be conservative with his spending so that he won't spend his money on 10,000 pairs of Converse.

 

Ronny Fresh is also inspired by his father.   His father is  a traditional, macho, "Asian American" head of the household.   He taught Ronny how to be strong and powerful.  He doesn't believe in being open-minded or sensitive.  He is very cold and heartless. :)

 

Shawnie Shine's favorite family member is his sis.  Shawnie's sis teaches high school English in Northen Kentucky.  She is currently pregnant.  Her heritage is  the same as Shawine which is Anglo American Redneck.  She inspires him to work really hard in school so he can become a good teacher one day like her.

 

Shawnie's next favorite person was Aunt Betty.  When Shawine was in elmentary school, he'd visit  Aunt Betty during spring break at her farm to milk cows and collect chicken eggs.  She also taught Shawnie how to jump like a man on a trampoline so he'd look macho and masculine when he grows up.  grrr...

 

Name: Scott

Name: Win

 

Activity 1 - Brainstorm

Record your partner's brainstorm here - My eldest brother is over 70 years old. My oldest sister is about 70. My brother retired from Asian Development Bank and my sister is a retired medical doctor.  They were both born in Burma. My sister was like a mother to me. My brother was one of the first few persons in Burma to get an MBA from America.They had guided me to be a good student. 

 

Scott's grandma was born and raised in rural western Kansas. Her family moved to Kansas from Missouri. She grew up in a farm in western Kansas, and moved to the town of Great Bend when she was a teenager. She was a telephone operator in Great Bend and lived in a boarding house run by her mother. She married at an early age and had two children, his mother Deloise, and her brother Johnny. Johnny died in his childhood. His grandmom's husband died in a carwreck when his mom was just a girl. His mom and grandma lived together after that.

 

Name:Grace  

Name:Laura

 

Activity 1 - Brainstorm

Grace's father is extraordinary man came from China byself at 12 and survived.  Arrived in San Francisco in Chinatown.  Worked for food, room and board and went to school all at the same time.  Met and married wife in his church.  Rose up through the ranks in the grocery store business and became a self made business man.  Now is retired and travels all the time. Has  traveled the seven continents and gone to places like the Galapagos Islands and Papua New Guinea. Shares the history of China and Chinatown with his grandchildren. 

 

Laura's paternal grandmother, Rebecca (nicknamed Ruby) -amazingly, she had five children and only 3 survived to adulthood. One died in 20's. Laura and her sisters were Ruby's only grandchildren. She was one of the easiest-going people Laura ever met. Nothing ever phased her. She had a great perspective on life. "Do anything you want as long as you clean up your mess." She taught Laura to cook, sew, can (jams & jellies). Ruby was already in her 70's when Laura was born. Ruby had severe rheumatory arthritis in her hands, but still managed to teach Laura. She was a breast cancer survivor, which was amazing at that time, especially. She died when Laura was 17. She got to see one great grandchild. A favorite memory was that Ruby was into watching wrestling: Gorgeous George and one blond guy. She thought it was all real. She would get so excited, afraid that they were hurting each other.

 

 

Name:Linda

Name: Irene

 

Activity 1 - Brainstorm

My mother, Dorothy is 86 years old.  Her mind is very sharp.  She lives by herself in her own apartment in Nevada.  She never learned how to drive so consequently she walks everywhere.  I attribute this to her excellent health.  Her mother was German.  Her father was from

Austria.  He was a tailor and he was killed in a car accident when she was 6 years old.  She was an only child and went everywhere with her father.  The day of the fatal car accident, for some reason, she was not allowed to go with her dad in the car and that's when the car went off the road and all the passengers died. 

 Irene's dad, Alexander, was born in Russia. At 18 years old, the communitsts took over and Irene's dad crossed the Gobi Desert into China with 4 other men. Only two made it to China; two died from drinking polluted water. Alexander befriended some nomads in the desert and he learned to cook rice pilaf. Irene still has some rare coins that the nomads gave to her father. Alexander made it to Shanghai, where he met Irene's mom, who is also Russian, and living with her family. They married and Irene was born in Shanghai. There was a very large Russian community in Shanghai, living in the French concession. Irene's father realized that the communitst were coming to Shanghai and took his family to San Francisco when Irene was one-year-old. Her family was sponsored by Russians already living in SF.  Irene went to China with a group of other librarians in 2005 and had her picture taken in front of the house where she was born.