American Like Me

Introduction-Essay 10

Reading Check

1. American History (Introduction)

2. Día de Las Américas (Introduction)

3. Lying (Essay 1)

4. Being frugal/cheap (Essay 2)

5. Sizzler (Essay 3)

6. The Bronx (Essay 4)

7. Hinduism (Essay 5)

8. An instruction manual (Essay 6)

9. Boundaries (Essay 7)

Short Answer

1. For Perez, community equals extended family, and she equates the two because her community helps her survive things that one's extended family would normally help with—for example, coping with the loss of her sister at 17, and encountering racism and injustice outside of their community. (Essay 8)

2. Rae never fasted before, and she does not follow the Ramadan guidelines for fasting or for eating properly in-between fasting, so she is constantly hungry during the fast and gorges when she is allowed to eat. Rae fails because she misses the intent of the practice, which should have been to focus on sacrifice rather than on want. (Essay 9)

Essays 11-22

Reading Check

1. Her father is Indian-born, and her mother is white. (Essay 12)

2. Having so many choices/options for sliced bread and peanut butter (Essay 13)

3. He works at a Chinese restaurant until he can buy a restaurant of his own. (Essay 14)

4. Beauty pageants (Essay 15)

5. He Dog (Essay 16)

6. Puerto Rican, Hawaiian, Chinese, Irish, and Portuguese (Essay 17)

7. Basketball (Essay 18)

8. Go on a cruise (Essay 20)

Short Answer

1. Joy teaches her parents to make American-style lunches, favoring them over the Thai curry her classmates make fun of. She also gets her parents to celebrate American holidays and allow her to participate in sleepovers. Cho also encourages them to speak to her friends—a behavior they view as invasive. (Essay 11)

2. The holiday affirms Miranda's Latino heritage and gives him and his friends extra, post-Christmas and post-Hanukkah presents to show off at school. (Essay 21)

Essay 23-Conclusion

Reading Check

1. Venezuela (Essay 23)

2. Her father is Japanese, and her mother is Filipino. (Essay 24)

3. Her grandmother (Essay 25)

4. President Barack Obama (Essay 26)

5. Cholas (Essay 27)

6. Training Day (Essay 28)

7. Her trans identity and her Peruvian heritage (Essay 29)

8. Igbo (Essay 30)

Short Answer

1. Uzo's mother is proud of her Nigerian heritage; this is connected to larger concepts of American-ness when Uzo's mother points out great historical figures who have “foreign” names, highlighting how, within the American melting pot/salad bowl, we should embrace other cultures and pronounce their names properly, especially since they have contributed so greatly to our country's success. (Essay 30)

2. Sarsour defines radical as a form of love that is most needed and should be shared across neighbors, community, and even strangers, helping all exist as one family. In defining radical this way, Sarsour rejects the negative connotations others have of the word, especially when they hear a Palestinian American Muslim person using it. (Essay 31)