Cultural Biography of

Ashley Paige Patterson

 Ashley Paige Patterson
   My name is Ashley Paige Patterson and I was named after
the famous Ashley from “Gone With the Wind.” My mom
said that my name was not very popular or common when I
was born, especially since it was considered to be a boy’s
name. Now it is very common and is spelled in very creative
ways and is also considered appropriate for a boy or girl. I am
not married yet and I have never changed anything about my
name but I do occasionally go by nicknames like Ash, Smash
and my students call me Miss Ashy.
  In the following biography, I will share a few of the cultures,
micro cultures, and experiences that have affected me and
helped me become who I am today.
 Family Structure
  My family structure could be categorized in many different ways. Most people
would say that I grew up in an extended family because my grandparents, aunts,
uncles and cousins were all involved in my life up until I was ten years old and
we moved from California to Las Vegas.

  Then we would have been considered a Nuclear family as we had no family here
in Vegas and we were far enough away from extended family that there was little
to no input about how I was raised on their part.

  When I was 16 years old, my parents divorced and I lived in a co-custody family
where I chose to spend the majority of the time with my dad and very little time
with my mom until I moved in with her when I was 18.

  All this time however, we could have also been considered a blended family
because I have three half siblings from my dads various relationships before and
after his marriage to my mom. My two older siblings lived with us at one point
but I was very young so the memories are only in my head because of the stories
I have been told by my parents and aside from large family affairs like weddings
or funerals, I rarely interacted with them. The younger sibling never lived with us
but I was very involved in her life, as I did not want her to feel about me the way
I felt about my older siblings.
 Birth Order
As I mentioned before, I have a rather complicated family
structure that makes a traditional birth order label almost
impossible. I am technically one of five from my dad, falling right
in the middle of the five. I am also one of two from my mom,
falling as the oldest of my nuclear family that I grew up with. My
youngest sibling is 20 years younger than me and there is almost a
40-year difference between my oldest and youngest sibling. So I
tend to be able to identify to and I display character traits of
middle and older birth order labels. I know what it is to be
responsible and forgotten all at the same time!
 Religion
  When I was born my dad was a Deacon in a Baptist church in which he and my mom were
married. His family was and still is full of highly devout Pentecostals.

  My mom was raised Catholic and she attended a Catholic school with nuns that she said were
mean to her and hit her on her hands with rulers. She was also excommunicated from catechism
for not going to confession as she felt a middleman unnecessary in order to speak to God.

  I was exposed to both religions and my parents and extended families opinions of them growing
up but was never made to study or attend services and events in a church unless they were
weddings or funerals. I was basically told to be a nice person and contribute positively to society
and that was all that was ever stressed as far as God was concerned.

  As an adult I now identify with Agnostic beliefs of a higher power but not an organized religion
as I find them to be hypocritical in nature. I also work in a Jewish school and am surrounded
constantly with Jewish tradition and culture and I do not mind learning about Judaism or any
other religion.

  I find many aspects of different religions to be interesting and valuable in a sense that they teach
you how to be an empathetic soul with a sense of purpose. I have also found that religion helps
explain certain events like natural disasters, death and what kind of person you should be when
you are alive in a way that most people can understand and follow through with.
 Ancestry
Mom’s Side
  My mom’s ancestry is Irish and  
German. Her maiden name is
Wenzel, which is of German
descent. Her family came from
the East Coast and she was the
first in her family born on the
West coast in California.
Dad’s Side
My dad’s ancestry is Irish with
a lilt bit of American Indian in
there somewhere. Cherokee if I
remember correctly. He was
born in Ira Texas and moved to
California when he was a
toddler. His last name,
Patterson, is of Irish decent.

*When people ask me what my ethnicity is I

just say super white or see through even
because I have taken on mostly Irish
characteristics and sunburn regularly during
the summer.
 Socio Economic Status
  My family was definitely lower middle class or even close to the poverty line when I
was very young and we lived in California. However, due to my extended family, more
opportunities were and still are facilitated for me through them. I new that money was
a stressful topic between my parents but I never understood why because I always felt
like I had everything I needed. My mom likes to tell me the story about when I was
very small, she had me in my car seat as she went through the bank and I asked her if
she had enough money in the account to cover the check she was writing. So clearly I
was aware at a young age that money was an issue but I never felt like we went without
anything we needed.

  When we moved to Las Vegas my mom was the “bread winner” so to speak of our
household and her salary on its own allowed us to define ourselves as middle class or
close to upper middle class. My brother and I were in better schools and in a better
neighborhood and in a bigger house than we could have ever had in California.
Somehow the loss of our extremely close extended family made me feel poorer than I
ever felt in California.

  However, now as an adult, I see that it was probably the better choice for us. I can
define myself as a part of the middle class due in large part to my education and the
connections that I have made in Las Vegas.

 
 a d ven t u r o u s
I am an ese
b ec a u s e o f th
individual r es a n d
r o c u l tu
cultures, mic That’s me on the back!
people!