I thought it would be simple to inventory all the ways in which I am "culturally" different from the "main stream" and arrive at a straightforward description of myself as a kind of cultural vessel. I would cross-reference this description by sampling the impressions others had of me - including those of my Southern Ontario- raised daughters - compare myself to others with the same, or similar, genetic backgrounds, fire off a few letters to yet-to-be-met relatives, and zero in on my "true culture". With further analysis, it became obvious that distinct, pure cultures were fictions and that the term "culture" itself was rather ambiguous. Cultures are always mediated by some ideological filter, some stance. They are so easily repackaged and fed back to us through that filter. How hard will we struggle to conform to our new image?