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• 4/20/2008 1:43 PM carla wrote:
  Well, if I landed in the middle of America in a rural area surrounded by corn fields I would presume my DNA would be different so this is a hard one to answer. I do believe if my DNA remained the same (born by the same biological parents) but my upbringing was different (adopted by other parents at birth), that nurture would far outdo nature. If I learned how to survive and be something from different mentors, I would have more closely resembled them than my biology. That being said, I do believe that DNA is DNA and if you possess dominate creative genes, even though your adoptive parents have not an ounce of creativity, those genes of nature become part of who you become,if they are nurtured.
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• 4/20/2008 4:43 PM Jeannette wrote:
  I grew up in a very small, dry town in southern Ohio, across from Kentucky and it was ruby-red neck. My mom was off the boat from the Azores, my dad, a US Air Force MP, part Cherokee and converted-to-Catholic. I grew up attending Catholic church and school, which could only get property outside the "village limits" to build on. I felt out of place. It was the 50's, 60's, and I couldn't understand mortal sin placed upon babies, which when I asked my priest about it at my tender age of 7, my Mother gave me her own style of penitence and many many laps around the beads. When I was 12, I invited a black boy over to my 50's style suburban neighborhood that I met at a New Richmond basketball game. We put on Chubby Checker and started dancing on the porch. I didn't see the problem. Our phone started ringing off the hook as my my peered through the living room window. My mom had to call his mother to take my friend home. I know now, because she was so segregated against as a little "gook", it must have been a tough call to make. When I was 15, Frenchie, a young black man, who now I think must have surely been gay (drum major and all!) had a cross burned in his families yard. Why? Because all the girls liked him and thought he was fun and our town boys took notice! His family moved right away. While growing up there I felt out of place. Now, however, I understand why I was there because I realize that experiencing life there made me an activist. www.peacejourney.com. It wasn't just that I experienced segregation, but also I worked for a Jewish man after high school. He was very wealthy and he taught me about being Jewish. We were NEVER taught about the Holocaust in school. It was totally skipped over. When Mr. Warner explained it to me, I knew at that time, I had to learn and experience the real world so that I could affect change. I have lived in downtown Chicago for the past 20 years and have traveled globally. I really believe that God put me here because somehow He knew that if I stayed in Bethel, I would wither, not blossom. So the answer for me is this: I don't think it has a darn thing to do with DNA. I think it is how you tackle life, and some of us have a need to tackle life, not just be content to live it. And if just living it keeps you frying green tomatoes and growing them too and you are content, then happy days. For me, it didn't work out that way. But my siblings are as happy as sweet molasses to be in a place where everyday is pretty much the same, and I love it. You know why? Because sometimes, I need to go back home and find peace.
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• 4/21/2008 2:39 PM dee wrote:
  This question has always made me laugh...I'm a true believer that where you are has a definite influence on you with a little bits of DNA mixed in. As a child I grew up in rural KY 10 miles outside a small town outside of Lexington. My parents East Coasters that they were, strong conservatives (at least as far as my mother was concerned) I definitely grew up with an east coast mentality. I grew up with strict boundaries and rules lots of structure!! My mom was straightforward and crass at times (something that I am totally today) and could put someone in their place with a single phrase if she needed to. Prim and proper we all had to measure up those standards or ideals I should say...I'm not sure when or wear...but that all I changed with me...my parents divorced when I was young so I mostly grew up without a dad. My brother tried to take over that role and didn't do to badly I must say. So then with my brother's influence and the occasional influence of my sister I think I started to think for myself. Went to college...didn't change that much there...I was still prim and proper if I had to be...upon my move west I am definitely a product of my environment. I'm a bit embarrassed and happy because I've gotten rid of the strict conservatism that I was raised upon and take a much more liberal and open eyed view things and realized good people no matter what are just that good people. However, I see a side to me that LA has developed the constant struggle to keep looking young, the search for the fountain of youth, maintaining the perfect size 4 that I am, I'm not so much into the material goods or the trendy clothes for on any day of the week, you are most guaranteed to see me in jeans, flip flops, tank or tee and a hat. This outfit of mine hasn't changed in over 15 years and I don't see it changing in the future. But I see the nature change and I see the DNA especially my moms is not as influential as it used to be...my dad on the other hand, I'm definitely my dad's daughter and just maybe even though his presence was absent for most of my life...his DNA was the strongest. So equally both!!
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• 4/28/2008 10:40 AM Katrina wrote:
  We are all made up of nature vs. nurture...any little thing could have spin each of our world's around and we would have been entirely different. I think had I been living in New York as a child instead of Florida and I had been around more family, my life would be very very different. I probably would have been a lawyer and who knows what my lifestyle would have been like. In Florida I grew up where friends were more important and more influential then family and I didn't spend a lot of time at home. One thing that strikes me as kind of interesting is my parents were both born in New York and they wanted out and moved to Florida. They didn't know each other at the time, they met in Florida and got married. Once I kind of set my life in motion I decided to move to NY and get out of Florida. My mother was bothered that I was moving to NY a place she tried to get away from...just interesting how it all turns out.
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• 1/29/2009 10:19 PM Ilan wrote:
  Studies show identical twins, separated at birth, are more likely to grow mustaches, (or not).
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