When someone asks you who you are, what do you say? Nico Fischer has these thoughts on finding his own identity.
The Bay Area is an amazing place to grow up. There is so much to say and do. The beautiful valleys are speckled with the glow of people with their own stories to tell, their own cultures to share and enjoy, and their own beliefs to live by. They each have their own identity. Some people know their identity better than others.
I’ve always admired people who immediately had their own answer to the question “who are you.” The answers are different. Some people think of it as where their family’s from, as their name, and so on and so on. I know where my family is from, but it doesn’t feel like part of my own story: my Spanish isn’t good and I’ve lost the religion of my forefathers. I’m isolated from the stories of yesterday: the Puerto Rican bakeries and English towns feel like just a fairytale to me.
Of course my family origins are part of my identity, but it feels disingenuous to say that they are a big part of me or my psyche. I have my name, but I didn’t decide that. I remember when I was younger, I would ask myself: “what even is my identity?” I’ve always had a problem grasping at that.
However, as I grow older, I realized that my identity is so much more than what I look like or the stories that shaped my family in years past. As my own person, I am my own identity, and that’s for me to forge. I’m the conversations laying on the grass at my favorite park. I’m the
cross-valley bike rides. I’m the beauty that I’ve seen in the culture and compassion of my community. I’m the joy I’ve seen in the kids I’ve taught at museums. I’m the books, I’m the music that makes up my life. I am my writing and I am my home, the Bay Area. I honor my ancestors and all they’ve given me, and they’re definitely part of what makes me. But I’m more than just other people: I’m my experiences, my life and my passions. And those things bring me joy in my identity. I feel like I’m finally ready to recognize myself and all the parts of the world that make me.