Gen Z Jew

I was influenced by Trevor Noah’s stories about people making assumptions about his culture. He was often seen as threatening because he was colored, like when he went to jail and put on the stereotypical tough colored guy persona in chapter 17. Some Jews choose to keep kosher, which means that they won’t ever eat meat and dairy in the same meal or even use the same dishes to avoid mixing them. People often assume that because I am Jewish, I keep kosher, which is often confused with being vegan. I don’t keep kosher, nor am I a vegan, yet people tend to make assumptions based on my culture just like they do about Trevor. On page 154 of Born a Crime, Trevor explains that there is a code for mothers in the hood. If you’re not busy and they ask if they can “send you,” you always say yes. This resonated with me because Jews have a similar code. When someone is part of your culture, you don’t have to know them personally to be kind to them. Just like Trevor Noah, I used my vignette as a way to inform my readers about my culture while also using some humor to make my story interesting. I also focused on my perspective of the story and didn’t use much dialogue. I think that humor plays a big part in both Trevor’s and my writing. It makes the reader want to continue reading the story because it eliminates any dull moments. I explained my culture to the reader by defining Hebrew terms clearly, like I was describing them to a friend, which I have plenty of experience with. I also highlighted some of the negative aspects of my culture in order to make my description more personal. My vignette explains the way that culture can affect a person’s identity by providing real-life examples of what it’s like to be part of Gen Z Jewish culture and showing the way it affected my identity through my writing style. I tend to use formal vocabulary with a casual tone, which I feel represents my personality perfectly.