Toby's Self Portrait

I found the self portrait of Toby to be very interesting. I liked how she simply layed out how her family has shaped who she is today and didn't go into exact detail for detail of her whole family's history. She shared just enough to get a true sense of who she is, but not overly telling who she was. When I first opened up the document, I am not going to lie when I saw ten pages I thought to myself "Oh, boy here we go". That thought quickly changed after the first paragraph. There were some points in the paper I could almost feel as if Toby was reading her paper aloud. The part of the paper where Toby shared her own poetry I pictured myself in a cafe, sipping some coffee, and the piece being performed. The part of the paper that said "How can people that have no connection to their past, that cannot trace their point of origin, feel stable in a society that lables them with a new name every few decades" really made me think about my ownself. I can say I am and have been one of those people that have no connection to my point of origin or past. In my family I really only know my parents, my sister, both sets of grandparents, and a couple of cousins. I have heard about/ seen some other relatives probably between three and five times maybe more who knows, but I would have to say out of those times I really only remember one or two. I guess its self explanitory how close my family really is. I feel because of my upbringing I have never really felt the need to learn more about my family. I think parts of me has had the thoughts not much of my family has been around so what more is there for me to know. But, after reading Toby's self portrait made me think just because I do not know anyone outside my immeadiate family doesn't mean I should not try to find out more about them. It also brought to my attention maybe there is a particular reasoning for my family not being very close. I guess I will find out when writing my paper.