Black or African-American?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Then explain why I (first generation Californain from OLD East Coast stock, Mayflower decendent, and pure Brit Mutt even in America) married Chris (first generation American, from old German family with White Rissian roots)? There is no common cultural connection between us at all......unless you count punk rock.

Nothing's absolute. Even identical twins don't come out with the exact same personalities. Shared culture is one of many factors. But it's one that, on the average, plays a significant role. When you're talking average in a large sampling, you'll always be able to find examples of outliers, but that doesn't negate the importance (e.g., One dude living to 115 on a diet consisting wholly of unflavored yogurt and cigar smoke doesn't change the fact that the same diet would kill most people).

But yes, I would count punk rock. Culture is a malleable thing, we all belong to and are influenced by different cultures and subcultures. And we're all more likely to have things in common with people whose cultural context contains something that matches our own.

In my case, living in the San Fernando Valley, there is no shortage of people of eastern European Jewish cultural decent, nor a shortage of people of Chicogan cultural decent. Geographic/national and religious culture is pretty strong and often the easiest to connect with, so given a large sampling it's likely people sharing those will be drawn together. Absent that (I can't imagine there are too many Mayflower descendants around LA), something like aesthetic culture makes for a good second tier connection.