“Outsider in a Foreign Tradition: My Experience with a New Culture” Outsider in a Foreign Tradition: My Experience with a New Culture Growing up in a small town in the Midwest, I was used to a tight-knit

Some of our best (and most fun) stories, come from outsiders observing situations and then
telling us about those situations. Some examples might be: the only Muslim student in an-all
white high school in Indiana, a woman who is a vegetarian but whose family are ravenous meat
eaters, a football player who loves to read epic poetry before games, someone who believes
that Mickey Mouse is the devil and is forced to go to Disney World…the possibilities are nearly
bottomless.
To prepare for this essay, we have read a number of essays from an outsider’s perspective.
For this essay, I would like you to write about a time when you felt like an outsider to a cultural
tradition or practice, or about a time when you found yourself in a place or situation where you
felt you were in some way different from the people you were around, so felt like an outsider.
In your 500-word essay, set the scene for us by telling us specific details about this experience,
tell us what about this experience made you feel as if you were an outsider, tell us at least
three things you found strange about the experience or the people involved, and to conclude,
tell us what you learned about yourself from this experience.