Born an OutKast

Artist Statement I used the way Trevor Noah uses history about his country to convey a message in my story, also the titles are inspired by Trevor’s chapter titles. Trevor uses stories about his mother such as in chapter 5 page 55 “My mom raised me as if there were no limitations on where I could go or what I could do. When I look back I realize she raised me like a white kid—not white culturally, but in the sense of believing that the world was my oyster, that I should speak up for myself, that my ideas and thoughts and decisions mattered.” Noah’s writing style really shows when I use history and politics to help the reader understand how my family and I are affected by these scenarios. I decided to use history, politics, humor, and real-life examples to convey my message such as in paragraph 4. I chose to use humor but it isn’t obvious or well thought out because I didn’t know how to make this situation funny and I didn’t want it to because I wanted to focus more on informing the reader and less so entertaining them. I didn’t discuss the complex formalities of Palestinians because I thought it would be easier to explain their history which should have showed just how prideful and resilient they are (I point out that they have been intertwined in a land dispute for years). I explain how my Puerto Rican culture helped make it harder to fit in with my Arab family. This relates to the first essential question “How do our various cultures influence our identities” because it shows the influence of Puerto Rican culture had on my Arab-American identity.