Richard Gambino's "Blood of My Blood" was of help to a writing instructor coming to terms with the role that her Italian ethnicity played in her life and education. Gambino's understanding of the inner tensions experienced by an individual who must negotiate between two cultures has helped the instructor in teaching working-class and immigrant students. Today's students are involved in cultural conflict. The fear is that, like Gambino, they will get so caught up in becoming American that they will disassociate themselves from their home cultures. Because some of these students may not get to graduate school and read a book like Gambino's (which might help them to keep their cultural identity intact), a pedagogy that critically challenges initiation into academic discourse and empowers students with a critical awareness of their everyday experiences could help. Students need to become cultural critics. Discussions at the beginning of the semester about popular culture and the meaning of American culture allow the students to decide what aspects of popular culture they will cover. As the semester goes on, students might discuss what programs they watch on television, what images they see in magazines, and what they see in their world around them. One semester the students became so engaged by a discussion of representations of men and women in fashion magazines that they planned a fashion show for the next class. (Contains 15 references.) (TB)