Stephanie Griest's Rebellion Against Political Norms

Stephanie Griest’s rebellion against political norms helped her to become more culturally competent and aware of the political corruption that exists similarly in the U.S. and abroad. As Griest reminisces about her experiences in Moscow, she realizes how state propaganda can have an effect on a nation’s concept of reality, even in the U.S. “After finding some disconcerting similarities between our respective ideological frameworks, the Soviets revered mass murderers; we honor presidents who kept slaves, sent indigenous people on death marches and waged brutal wars on developing nations. China’s news gets filtered through the state, ours through mega-media outlets. Cuba may not hold democratic elections, but can we really after our corrupt 2000

presidential election? Rather than point out the holes in others,’ we should be investigating the ones in our own” (Griest 366). Through Griest’s experiences in the Bloc, or living in countries with various political systems, she realizes how political corruption exists worldwide and should be understood similarly, despite fixed judgements that are posed on cultural values. As Griest became aware of the political corruption occurring both in the U.S. and abroad, she became interested in political activism and took part in the movement for peace. “My travels in the Bloc forced me to question why. How did I lose such a fundamental part of who I am? And why have I never invested time or energy recovering it? This may be the lasting impact of my four-year journey: realizing the need to turn inward by promoting public awareness for all communities worldwide. I may have lived my high school nightmare- spending my twenty-fifth year home in Corpus Christi- but it was there that I finally realized I needed to be ‘more Chicana.’ I traveled tens of thousands of miles to appreciate what had been in my block all along, but it probably would not have seemed this rich to me if I hadn’t taken the long road” (Griest 368). Griest’s experiences living in various parts of the world, allowed her to make connections from the protests she witnessed in the U.S. and the ones she would see in her experiences abroad. Living around the block allowed griest to understand how political corruption exists universally, especially in the U.S.