Maitlynn Mossolle's Portfolio

            Sophomore year of high school, I was in Spanish Two.  It was a more advanced level of Spanish class and I was pretty excited to learn more about a new culture.  In Spanish countries they celebrate Dia De Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.  During that time, one of the traditions people do is they build “shrines” for their loved ones’ souls.  They usually set out a picture and things such as foods that the person liked for them to enjoy when their sprit comes back to visit the family.  It is a tradition that may be seen as odd by some other cultures; however, it is a valued and sacred one to them. 

            As a project for the class, we had to create our own shrines to a loved one for Day of the Dead and then share them with the class.  I did mine on my great grandfather.  I used a picture of him then used some of the things he loved in it.  He used to live in downtown Chicago and work as a bus driver so I used a toy bus as part of my shrine.  He absolutely loved his job, and his wife never had to get her driver’s license because she could ride the bus everywhere.  Another thing he loved was all of his grandchildren; they were his world.  So, to honor that part of his life, I used toy children to represent them.  One thing he loved doing for his grandchildren was to take them to the candy store and get them any candy they wanted.  I then used tons of candy to represent that he loved doing things like that for his children.  When creating the shrine, I began to get really emotional because I never really knew him; however, while I was doing the project I felt like I knew everything about him.  I think that is another reason people create the shrines for Dia De Los Muertos, so that they can still honor their loved ones and still feel like they know them even in the afterlife. 

            In journalism I am going to come across many cultures and circumstances I may or may not understand and being able to do that is a crucial skill.  I can’t very well write stories and articles or take pictures of events and traditions if I do not understand what they are about.  Also, in my personal life I am going to have to understand different perspectives from people of other cultures.  Personally, I love learning new things about different and exciting cultures from the people who actually live it.  Being able to understand the cultural traditions of others is probably one of the most important things in life as there are seven billion other people out there, not all of them are exactly like you, so being able to understand where they are coming from is a huge asset.