Isabel Bieri: Identity Project

• My ancestry consists of my mother's Mexican family and my father's American family of Swiss, Irish and British descent.
• Both sides of my family generally identify themselves as Roman Catholic. I'd say that overall, my mother's side (especially my abuelita) is more religious than my father's.
• Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Independence Day, Mexican Independence Day, and Dia de los Reyes are the major holidays that my family celebrates.
• While I am proud of my Mexican heritage and know that it is part of who I am, I identify more with being American than I do being Mexican. To elaborate a little more, I don't always feel very "Mexican." I love my mom's side of the family to death, but in the past I have felt slightly out of place at family gatherings at time, and have had instances where I felt like certain family members didn't like me as much because I wasn't "Mexican" enough. Also, being Mexican-American has posed a confusion of sorts when answering what race I am.
  
  I used to go to church regularly and identify myself as Catholic, but I don't really do either anymore. Over time I have learned that I don't support everything that the Catholic church as a whole believes.
• I've seen my mother being underestimated/ treated differently because of her "obvious" Mexican appearance and heavy accent countless times.
• I think I identify myself more by what I do more than I do my race/ethnicity/whatever. I'm pretty involved with creative stuffs, namely design, music, art (drawing especially) and a little bit of writing.
• I have a friend who has lived in Mumbai for the vast majority of her life, and I've seen instances of people thinking she's less intelligent because she's Indian. I guess I've had a lot of experience with people thinking someone is more or less intelligent because of their ethnicity.