UW diversiy essay

I live in Edmonds and I'm older than most rocks. You have a few minor spelling and grammatical mistakes; but I am sure you can correct those before you turn in the essay.

Is location truly the cause of your growing concept of diversity? Folks are great here in Edmonds as they also are in Duvall, Concrete, Bellingham, and Edison, New Jersey. Could you dig a little deeper?

Diversely different really doesn't mean anything. I think what you mean is that the towns have differing types of populations.

You define diversity as people with different ideas, backgrounds, and cultures. And that's more or less correct. But you completely misuse the term in your first sentence where you say I would not be as diverse of a person I am now.

You do not become a more diverse person, not really. You don't change age (except to get older, but you don't change generation), parentage, ethnic background, race, gender (only with a ton of help) or sexual orientation. About the only things you can change are your religion (or to add one, or to become an atheist, etc.) and your ideas. Your attitude is really the question here. What happens in your head when you meet or hear about people who are different from you?

So, given that, what are the different ideas you've been exposed to in Snohomish? Who are the people of different backgrounds?

Case in point. When I went to college (I started in September of 1979), I had a lovely suitemate who came in from just outside of Providence, Rhode Island. At holiday time, she asked me what I was doing for Christmas, and was surprised when I told her that I don't celebrate it, and that I celebrate Chanukah instead. She told me that I was the first Jewish person she had ever met.

Clearly, she didn't grow up in a terribly diverse town, but she was open to new ideas, tolerant of differences and really, was just kind to everyone (she was and still is one of the sweetest people I have ever known).

So, in Snohomish, do you see folks who are of different races from you (I know it's a rather white area, but not 100%)? Do you see girls wearing hijabs, or boys wearing yarmulkes? When you visit your friends, do they have differing traditions from your family? E. g. do you have Italian friends who maybe have a lasagna at Thanksgiving, or Catholic friends who have invited you to a Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve?

How much has living in Snohomish done for you, in terms of showing you people who don't look, eat, pray, speak, love or eat like you do?