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Anthony Rivera
Jon Beatle
English 113B
16 February 2016
Residential Culture
From the time of experiencing the residential culture, one can see how it may be
misleading from non-residential ideas. These ideas come from many articles like "Culture and
Communication" by Anastacia Kurylo where Kurylo describes many cultures and how they are
put in groups. By analyzing my own culture, I understood what Kurylo was saying about how
our motives and attitude change between different culture. Thus, by viewing my Culture as a
CSUN student resident, I have looked at my recent days living on campus and picked out these
differences. The residential culture has given CSUN students a larger opportunity on campus
then non residents because it lets you socialize with more students, gain more responsibilities
and communicate with residential students than non residential. These similar ideas of student
culture views are discussed in Kurylos article "Culture and Communication."
From this Culture one experiences change in the way they approach someone, how the
way they communicate with one another. I can see how Socializing and communicating with
other residents can give me a larger opportunity on campus then non residents. In Kurylo article
"Culture and Communication" concludes that "By Communicating some symbols rather than any
of the other potential symbols a person could communicating people construct cultural identity.

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In this way, culture is not a preexisting entity represented in language, but rather a cultural
construction created through the consistent and repetitive"(Kurylo pg.5) . By analyzing the
quote, you can see each culture has a set of their own generic symbols that are communicable.
Then tells how Culture is represented by the way they speak and the way they relate to one
another. It relates with my own Culture by how I speak with other residents, and one example
would be the term we give our cafeteria and the place we socialize in. The term Gemos is the
place we call our cafeteria which most non residents wouldn't get and building 18 that most
residents socialize in as the CC. These are just a few generic symbols that we residents have
made for our everyday activities.
The article by Kurylo explains how Culture is not only by similarities but goes further on
how you are placed in one. In cultures we are part of one voluntarily or involuntarily some
events we have the choice but others we don't. I can relate to the involuntary idea behalf that I
socialize with Residents when i first moved in because I can relate with residents more often
than non. The article gave another example stating "Cultural groups include those groups people
are born into as well as groups that people voluntarily or involuntarily become a part of, such as
those based on region phases of life."(Kurylo pg.4). The quote shows that one does not have to
be born into a culture, but it can be from religion, hobby, race, or wealth. Gives a extra
explanation how being part of a culture could be voluntarily or involuntarily, from the start. Just
like how my culture living at the Dorms was involuntarily, one does not choose to be part of the
culture, but becomes part of it the day they become a resident, because you're exposed to the
living style just like everyone else. I remember when I first moved into the dorms, I can tell most
other residents were inexperienced with moving and claiming their own independence.

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Socializing is not the only culture of being a resident but also gain more responsibilities in their
everyday life.
Living in residential area has given me various of responsibilities with school, work, and
even on social views on campus. In Mark P. Orbe Article "Media and Culture" you can see from
his views how students in college are exposed to social media everyday and as a resident these
views follow you home. From the Article by Orbe, he briefly explains the ideas how media and
culture are attached, in one of his quote states "The first step in recognizing the role that the
media plays in your life is to take inventory of your own media consumption. Think about a
"normal day. Given the hectic nature of many students' lives while in school, it may be helpful to
list a normal day when attending and not attending college."(pg.236 Orbe). in this quote, Orbe
discussed is how many students nowadays. He goes on and explains how the responsibility of
students are to prioritized over social media and has you think as a college student and see all the
media we consumed in one day. I put his quote and related it to my everyday culture as a college
student living as a resident, and I noticed how most of my classes are focused on social media
and based on each person's ideas. This quote shows the maturity of students and how they
transitioned from high school where they tell you what to believe, into a college where you
believe in your own ideas and as a culture of residents there is no break from media. You're
always surrounded by other students, whether you're in your dorm talking to your roommate or
eating at germanous where you're surrounded by students and televisions. We as Residents are so
accustomed to it, we don't even notice when we're looking at it or even talking about it, it's our
everyday lifestyle. In addition Orbe brings a conclusion in his idea that "Newspapers, like books,
were an early form of mass communication. Dating back to the first century, newspapers moved

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from elite usage to made consumption over time. Although many people are moving away from
traditional consumption to reading news online, newspapers continue to be a central source of
information."(pg. 238 Orbe). In his concluding quote he explains how Newspapers moved from
elite usage to made consumption over time, and how broad people would rather read information
online rather than paper. I can relate my experience to this idea, from my culture from the
amount of media me visually see, and exposed to everyday. From analyzing my past week in my
culture i'd noticed how the presidential debate became a hot topic for most students I socialize
with. But the ideas of social media and responsibilities were not the only qualities of being a
Resident, but you also communicate with more CSUN residents, rather than non-residents.
The relationship and bond, residents have with each other is everything and I believe
that's what make living as a resident great. As a residential student, living without socializing
with others seem really lonly and pretty closed as a person. One article had a similar attitude as I
had when socializing in my culture. The article "Schooling, Language, and Ethnic Identity in the
Basque Autonomous Community" by Encheverria explains how culture is a huge impact to its
students at school. One quote states "Students in Basque-medium schools were well aware of the
strictures on their speech. While in the classroom, they used eskersa when addressing the teacher
and each other, at least when they could be overheard by the teacher"(pg 1223 Encheverria). In
this quote from Encheverria, was analyzing the data from they got from Basque-medium schools,
and their students. They analyzed the students and noticed how they relate better with their own
groups which are the same ethnicity as them. I can relate within my culture, as I meet people
from my classes that are also CSUN residents and can relate with them more, than non-residents.
From past events i can relate with a few ideas that Encheverria has explained. For example when

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I first came into this English class I didn't know any of the students, but I recognized one person
who was a residents, and even though we didn't know each other at all, we still manage to talk in
class and at the dorms.

Living in the residentual area i have been living in the residentual area for awhile now
that i can agree to ideas that students suffer through struggles everyday when they started living
in the dorms. I have read many examples and articles on major struggles that students gain
through school and college. In the article by Encherria "Schooling, Language, and Ethnic
Identity in the Basque Autonomous Community" has also give an explanation on students
struggles but as well in an other article by Megan Mereno "facebook use between college
resident advisors' and their residents: a mixed methods approach" gave many examples on
students and there trasition into college concluding that one quote from Mereno article state "The
transition to college is a challenging time for freshmen and may increase risks for negative health
concerns such as depression or problem alcohol use. Previous research has shown that almost
half of college students from multiple universities indicated that they had, felt so depressed it
was difficult to function, at least once within the previous school year"(pg 1 Mereno). In Mereno
quote, it states how most residential college students suffer by the same circumstances like
depression and health concerns. When looking back to my culture from the past few days I have
met the depression standard a little and hopefully not the health concerns, but things like this
make us social with other residents. Knowing that people you're talking to is going through the
same impact as you makes you feel not alone. When Talking to someone who isn't a Resident,

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makes you still feel alone because they're not going through the same struggles as you and I
believe that's one of the bonds residents meet when talking to each other.
In conclusion from the week, that I analyzed my own culture, that's being a resident gets
you closer with other students that experienced the same things you have. You gain many
responsibilities that a resident gains when coming and socialize with other residents. One can say
that life as a resident is just more struggles as a student, but through all the that, we gain a
culture, in which is a family. That's why the culture as a CSUN resident has many ideas, between
its own ideals.

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Aguayo, David, et al. "Culture Predicts Mexican Americans' College Self-Efficacy And
College
Performance." Journal Of Diversity In Higher Education 4.2 (2011): 79-89.
PsycARTICLES. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
Echeverria, B. (2003), Schooling, Language, and Ethnic Identity in the Basque
Autonomous
Community. Anthropology & Education Quarterly
Kurylo, Anastacia. Inter/Cultural Communication. Los Angeles: Sage Publications,
2013. Print.