The Question About Race

This week, while learning about race, I wouldn't say I've necessarily learned anything I didn't previously know. However, discussing race did help me to think about why race was actually formed. Although we have discussed it deeply in class, I still don't think I completely understand. In my opinion, perceptions of different races are almost entirely based off of influences around you and opinions you create for yourself. For example, people that grow up in the South and who have very racist parents are more likely to grow up disliking black people. Another example which I have heard many people around here say is that asians are bad drivers, but they believe this only because they have had a bad driving encounter with an asian person. When you think about it, it really is stupid. How could the color of someone's skin make their a bad driver or make them less intelligent? I think that if it were taught more in schools exactly how races were formed, like we learned with the map of the world from millions of years ago, people may be more likely to truly understand the idea of race. Race simply came about based off the person's closeness to the equator which made their skin lighter or darker. Now, I'm not saying I have no perceptions of certain races because I definitely do, but I wish I grew up in a society that didn't influence those perceptions, and I wish I was taught in school earlier how races came about so that I could realize how ridiculous it is that people actually think that the color of their skin make them a certain way. 

Minimum Wage

After watching 30 days at minimum wage, it really opened my eyes to the world beyond what I have lived in my whole life. Just seeing how much of a struggle that Morgan and his fiance went through in the first couple of days showed how hard it would truly be to live on minimum wage. Then, the day where his fiance gets a U.T.I and he has to go to the emergency room because of his risk, it really opened my eyes when seeing how many people were in line for the free clinic. I think that when our classes watch it, we more or less just think how unfortunate it must be for those people, meanwhile we have nice cars, nice homes, and nice clothes. Now, I don't think there is any reason to be ashamed or feel bad about having these nice things, because, at least for me, my dad has worked harder than anyone I know to get us all of the things we have today. However, after watching this and studying this unit I really wish that I could do something to help these people. My mom volunteers at a place similar to the one in the show that is affiliated with our church and people can come and pick up necessities. I often donate clothes to this place which I guess does help somewhat. I just wish there was a way that I could make a difference in helping these people or getting them necessities like health care more easily. When I go to college and especially when I start living on my own I know I want to volunteer like my mom does, and after seeing this t.v. show and learning about this unit I think that I will turn my volunteer efforts to help the poor and people that are forced to work minimum wage and support a family. 

Social Class

While watching the last video in Soc, I found that one segment I could relate to very well. I grew up in Bloomington, Illinois. I lived there for about 10 years, and nearly all of my extended family members lived there as well. Now, obviously Bloomington and Lincolnshire aren't as different as the girl who grew up in a very small time and then moved to the city, but there are still connections that can be drawn. For my dad especially, I believe he feels slightly awkward when he goes to family get togethers in Bloomington. Alot of his family members hardly even ask him about his new job and his life in the suburbs of Chicago. Although he doesn't neccessarily change his personality and clothing like the woman did in the movie, but I do notice that he doesn't like to talk about his job unless he is asked about it because he feels he will get criticized for thinking he is higher than his other family members. As for me, when I visit my friends from Bloomington, there is a change that I feel. Although they are very similar to my friends, there are still social differences, and they even tell me I speak with a Chicago accent. When I was packing for a weekend visit, I wasn't sure if packing clothes that were nice brands that weren't even sold in stores in Bloomington would make it seem like I was showing off. I was nervous around them at times because I didn't want to seem like a snobby North Shore girl and I just wanted to act like the girl who lived there for 10 years. I don't really think that my family or friends from Bloomington judge who I am now that I no longer live in Bloomington, but I completely understand where the woman in the video was coming from.

Doin' TIme

I thought that the t.v. show we watched, 30 days, was extremely interesting. I learned a lot of things about going to jail and what goes on there and I previously had a misconception about. Some things, I thought were much harsher than actually was the case at the jail that was visited in the show. However, there were some aspects of the jail and the people that were in jail that I thought were ridiculous. After watching that show, I started to think about whether the strategies and processes that jails carry out are actually beneficial. There were so many drug addicts and people that had slight to severe mental illnesses. Do people really think that locking them up with no treatment or help is going to solve anything? In my opinion, doing a very intense observation of people convicted of something before getting put directly in jail could solve numerous problems. First of all, it would immensely help the large number of people that are currently in our jail system (especially in Illinois) and it would help to get rid of a lot of the congestion our jail system is currently experiencing. Also, if we put people with drug issues and mental issues in places that can help them, I would imagine that when they were released from these places, they would have a much less likely chance of going back to jail because their problem was dealt with. Personally, I think that throwing people in jail no matter what their condition may be is extremely stupid, and simply a way to avoid the time, money, and effort it would take to actually correct what may be wrong with these people and truly make the world safer. 

Boys vs. Girls

This past weekend, I visited my boyfriend at University of Iowa. Now, it took a lot of convincing, but my parents eventually agreed to let me go. My mom said she wanted me to drive as oppose to the other boy that I was going with. I have driven to colleges or other far places numerous times. However, each of those 6 or 7 times, I only drove other girls in the car with me. As soon as we got in the car, I immediately realized this wasn't going to be the car ride I was used to. Luckily, me and the other boy I was driving with get along really well and had lots of good conversation, however I noticed something very different. Normally, I print out Mapquest directions to wherever I am going, and I assign whoever is sitting in the front seat to be the 'navigator' and help me with the directions. First of all, my friends know by now that sitting in the front seat guarantees this job, and because of that very few of them ever wish to sit in the front seat. With a boy, however, he immediately took charge of the directions. He held onto them the entire time, and wasn't afraid to tell me exactly what the next turn would be or what are next exit was. Regaurdless of the fact that this was my third time driving to Iowa, and he had never driven there, because he was the 'man' of the car, I think he felt he needed to take control and help me. Now, I'm not saying he thinks I am weaker or that I needed to be helped, and it was in fact very helpful, but right away it made me think of learning in Soc about how males feel that they need to take control, and always know what to do and when to do it, especially when it comes to a female. Whereas my girlfriends would hesitate about the directions, afraid to lead me the wrong direction, often saying things such as "I think this is right..." the boy in the car always talked as though he knew for a fact it was right, and studied the directions carefully to make sure to direct me exactly where I needed to go. We luckily got to and from Iowa safely, but I think I could have done it without a boy helping me ;)

The Age of Independence

The question of when do young adults become independent is a very interesting and difficult question. In my opinion, it completely depends on the individual. For instance, there are boys and girls across the world, sometimes as young as 5 years old or even younger, that become responsible for one or more members of their family. There are young children, especially in poorer countries such as countries in Africa who have sick or dead parents and therefore the responsibility of parenting the other members of the family fall into their hands. In this case, these children are independent at this young age because they are forced to work, provide food, clothing, and shelter for their family. However, more typical in the United States, there are some 30 year olds that still are not independent. It is very common for teenagers to believe that they are ready to be independent before they actually are. However, I think once they enter college and realize how difficult it is to provide food for themselves and keep their dorm and clothes clean and tidy, they realize they are not as mature and independent as they thought they were. I, personally, believe I will be perfectly fine on my own in college. However, deep down I know that it will be extremely difficult to not have dinner ready at the table every night at 6 p.m and not having my mom to help me wash my clothes. I agree with Sal's post that true independence comes when an individual is forced to provide for themselves completely by themselves without the help of their family's money. Once someone has to provide for a wife or husband and a family of their own, it truly marks independence.

Men and Violence

As we have been discussing a lot lately in class, I wanted to talk about violence and males. It really is astonishing if you think about nearly all of the violence cases in the past 30 years or so, and consider how many of them have been committed by females? How many school shootings have occurred because 3 female students woke up that morning and decided that they wanted to kill innocent classmates? The answer is very few. As Sal mentioned in class, one example of a girl who was involved in a school shooting (which the plan was actually constructed with male students), the girl surrendered herself to the police without going through with the plan. The question is why? Why do males commit so many more acts of violence then females? There are many reasons, but in my opinion the main reason is because of our society and how we portray men. Men and all males for that matter are seen as strong, fearless, courageous. Therefore, when their masculinity are questioned, as many school shootings begin, males feel they need to prove themselves. Unfortunately, they do this in violent ways that harm and often kill other people. If society portrayed women as tough and strong, would the amount of women who commit acts of violence increase?

Bowling for Columbine

Last week we watched Bowling for Columbine. Knowing that it was a Michael Moore film, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. I've seen Fahrenheit 911, and was not a big fan of his very  pushy and direct ways and extremely liberal attitude. However, I think through personal experience and through taking sociology I have learned to consider both sides of an argument, and I actually ended up enjoying most of Bowling for Columbine. Although Moore makes many tricky editing moves to get his point across, he does make many valid points. I think one of the strongest parts of the movie was interviewing a few kids from Michigan and asking them about guns they owned and had used before. One boy said that he was number two on the suspicious students list at his school, and was actually disappointed that he wasn't number one. By interviewing many different people, it showed that many people are far too laid back about the issue of fire arms. I think that this comfort may be one of the biggest causes of gun misuse and violence. This comfort goes along with how easily available guns are in the United States. As young children, you are taught to stay away from guns and that they are horrible things. However, as you get older, you begin to watch movies where the hero uses guns and play video games that include you actually killing people. These occurrences in the media along with the easily obtainable guns in the United States, in my opinion, are the leading reasons for why gun violence, especially among teens, is so large. Moore did a good job at showing both of these issues that lead to gun violence and many other reasons as well. 

Tuesdays With Morie- Work

When we first started the movie Tuesdays with Morie, the very first thing I realized about Mitch was how obsessed with work he was. It was clear how much his work and his striving for achievement over took his life and influenced every aspect of his life. For instance, Janine, his girlfriend, was fed up with Mitch nearly the entire movie because of how work obsessed he was. In the beginning of the movie, I thought that Mitch's work was going to cause him to only visit Morie a few times here and there, and that he would get easily distracted because of his work. Luckily, Morie had such a positive effect on him that he got ahold of his life and what was important to him. All it took was slowing his pace of life down, and taking time to "smell the roses." Morie taught Mitch about the difference between simply going through the motions of your life, and actually enjoying your life, which Mitch eventually learned how to do. I think that Mitch's character in the beginning of the movie: the work obsessed, always striving for achievement go-getter, is the exact replica of so many Americans today. Sadly, I think that we as Americans learn to have this attitude even in middle school and junior high. All throughout school when grades begin to matter, children are taught to always strive to be the best in their class, and work as hard as they can to get the best grades possible. Sadly, these ideas are carried with these young Americans forever, where they bring this demeanor to the work place. My brother's girlfriend just began teaching, and was telling us how upset parents got when progress reports came out for their kindergartner's. Yes, children in KINDERGARTEN are already receiving grades, AND parents are already concerned if their children is not performing well. How could a kindergartner possibly not perform well? What are they even being graded on: how well they can build blocks and paint a picture? It just goes to show that more and more kids are being molded at a young age to strive to achieve the most that they can, and those ideals are carried with them for the rest of their lives.

Reflection on the "Do Nothing" Assignment

The assignment ended up turning out similar to how I imagined it would. I needed to go Spring Break shopping, so I decided to do the assignment at Hawthrone Mall. I thought it would be better to go shopping before I stood and did nothing so that at least that way I would like a little bit less sketchy than if I simply stood there holding nothing. After buying a few things, I stood near the main entrance of the food court and faced outwards towards the stores. When I started, I felt very awkward. The hardest part of the entire assignment was making sure not to allow any thoughts enter my mind. I found myself beginning to think about what I was doing later, what my friends were doing, and what I was going to wear later that night. Once a thought began to enter my head I quickly acknowledged that I was having a thought, and cleared it from my head. At first, not much was going on around me besides people passing me, not paying any attention. Eventually, one couple walked past me staring me all the while, laughing and whispering to each other. I stared into space the entire time, which must have looked very strange and apparently amusing to these people passing. After finishing the assignment, I realized how important it is in my life to constantly be surrounded by someone else and always doing something. It felt very strange to me to literally be doing absolutely nothing at all. Americans are so programmed to be constantly doing something or moving around. This experience was very relaxing, and it made me realize why meditation is so important in many other cultures.

The "Do Nothing" Assignment

Today in Sociology we were assigned to do.. well.. nothing. The assignment is that we have to stand in a busy place for 10 minutes and do absolutely nothing. You can't talk, you can't people watch, you can't pretend like you're waiting for someone, you can't even think. Everyone in class had a lot of questions. I think this really is going to be one of the hardest assignments I have ever done. I understand that we are supposed to observe what's going on around us, but how are we supposed to observe what's going on inside of us if we're not even allowed to think? Hopefully when I start doing it I will understand. I'm sure if this is done correctly, a good lesson can come out of it, but I'm really not sure. I was going to do the ten minutes before school, but I know one o f my friends would say something to me, and I wouldn't be able to respond. Maybe if I run to Walgreen's or something I will try to do it there, but if I do then I think a worker will ask me if something is wrong if I simply stare in space for ten minutes. Well, I'll have to figure it out somehow! I'll post a blog after I actually complete the assignment, and hopefully it will have been a good experience!

Juno

Since I didn't get to see all of a Bronx Tale, even thought I saw it last year, I don't think I know enough about it to blog about. However, I did see Sal's post about Juno and thought it was very interesting. I saw the movie over Winter Break and I loved it. However, it was until I read Sal's blog that I realized that the pregnancy itself was never really shown as a negative thing. One possibility is, since the writer did say that this was a story of maturing, he didn't want people to focus just on the pregnancy itself. Instead, maybe he was simply using the pregnancy as a metaphor. If the writer wanted to make a movie about pregnancy, I imagine that he would have focused much more on the social, emotional, and physical effects of pregnancy. However, the fact that Juno was pregnant during the movie was focused upon, just in a different way. Thinking back now, it's weird to realize that although the entire movie revolved around her pregnancy, it wasn't in the way that most movies about teen pregnancy would be. I think that the movie is using the pregnancy to show the conflicts of maturing of growing up, instead of showing the conflicts of pregnancy. When I first saw the movie, I thought it was simply just a cute movie about teen pregnancy, but I never got the impression that it was giving off the message that it was ok to get pregnant as a teenager. Maybe others did, but I think most movie goers knew going into the movie that it was simply going to be light-hearted and entertaining. Nonetheless, I am glad I'm now able to understand that the movie really wasn't about the pregnancy as much as it was showing how Juno adapted to growing up and maturing.

Volunteering

I have always wondered the real reasons behind why people volunteer. I have always volunteered through my church, through school, and for other organizations. However, throughout high school, you have to wonder why people feel the need to volunteer. I can admit that many times throughout high school, I volunteer in order to be able to put that work on my college applications. Now, obviously, that wasn't the only reason I volunteered. This past winter, I was on Give-A-Thon, and my committee was assigned to bring all of the gifts that were collected and sort them at a shelter in Waukegan. It was absolutely freezing outside, and I didn't get to see the looks on the faces of the families when they picked up there bags full of Christmas presents, but knowing how big of a difference I was making in the lives of hundereds of families during the Holiday season, was one of the most fulfilling feelings I have ever had. I have always enjoyed volunteering, but I can admit that my initial incentive was in order to put it on my college applications. Obviously, adults don't volunteer for college applications, but I just think that in such a changing world, volunteer efforts are slowly changing from good hearted efforts, to furthering themselves in their lives. I hope that our society can look beyond the present state of fame and wealth ridden individuals, and take time to think about how their volunteer efforts are helping people tremendously, and allow themselves to feel the pure happiness that one should get out of helping others.

Freaks and Geeks

I was really excited to watch Freaks and Geeks in class this past week. Even though I have already seen that episode Sophomore year in Sophomore english, I was able to analyze it in a different way: a sociological perspective. Even though this is supposed to be a high school in the 80's, it really is funny how little things have changed. Even with all of the vast changes between the 1980's and now in the economy, politics, and culture, the behavior of teenagers in high schools have remained the same. The "nerds" still have crushes on the "popular Cheerleaders" and there's always the group of people that everyone thinks are the rebels.
I remember before I went to Stevenson and I was still in 8th grade, people told me that at Stevenson there really isn't just one "popular" group at Stevenson because of how many students there are. Although I would agree that the "popular" groups at smaller schools are slightly more distinctive than at Stevenson, there are most definitely still "popular" groups at our school too. There is still one group of guys, which, ironically, always seem to be the jocks even in a school of 4,500, and one group of girls, who are pretty and have nice clothes and expensive cars. However beyond that one group, which usually there is one group like that per grade whereas in a smaller school it might just be one group for the entire school, there are also "popular" people within other groups of friends. They aren't necessarily the jocks and the prettiest people but everyone within that group of friends knows them. I'm not sure if I'm making this make sense, but my point is that even in a school of 4,500, there will always be the popular group, the nerds, the athletes, the stoners, and the lists go on forever. I honestly don't think these distinctions will ever go away from high school students.

The Awkwardness of Silence

I think that many people feel uncomfortable when surrounded by silence. However, in most cases it seems that they feel most uncomfortable when someone else is in the room. What I mean is, when someone is alone reading a book or laying down and trying to fall asleep, silence is appreciated. But if one is sitting in a room alone with another person and there is silence, then people tend to feel awkward or anxious. On the other hand, many people have to listen to music or watch t.v when they fall asleep because they can't stand the silence. For me, there are some situations that are awkward when silence and others that aren't. The only time I'm by myself and require sound is when I'm driving. In my opinion, listening to music or watching t.v when reading, doing my homework, and sleeping is a distraction. Like I said, I think it all depends on the individual. I think that some people do talk too much simply to fill the air. People may feel almost guilty when they are alone with someone and there isn't conversation flowing. They think that they need to be the ones to carry on the conversation or else it will be awkward. I think that if people took more time to stop talking and listening to what the other person had to say, that many fights and arguments could be avoided. If people stopped expressing their opinions so frequently and listened to what other people thought, it would allow others to understand both sides of the argument instead of sticking strongly to their own. I also think that age plays a role in one's tendency to like or dislike noise. Young children and teenagers greatly enjoy music and like listening to sounds and music at all times of the day. However you tend to hear of older people and adults that are begging for silence. People that are older didn't grow up with as many forms of music, television, and movies as our generation did. They didn't sit around a t.v all afternoon or listen to I-Tunes or their I-Pod because those things weren't invented yet. Instead, they enjoyed going outside or playing with things around the house, not minding or even noticing the silence. I have experienced awkward silences when I am walking in the halls or talking on the phone with someone I am not very close with. When it comes to my best friends or my boyfriend, I don't get anxious if there is a short amount of time that we aren't talking. But if I'm talking with someone who I don't know very well, I feel pressure to come up with topics to talk about to fill the air. I think that our generation needs to be more comfortable with silence because if we begin depending on constant noise and feeling more and more anxious when silence fills the room, conversation between two people will become increasingly forced and manufactured. The best conversations come from flowing and natural thoughts, not forced ideas spit out to fill the silence and create a noise to ease our nerves.

Me on Blogging

I'm very excited to be blogging! I've actually blogged before. Last year in AP Spanish we had to respond to our teachers blog every week. I absolutely hated it. But this time I get to make my own blog, which hopefully will be different. Plus the added benefit that I don't have to write my blogs in a different language might help :). Anyways, hopefully I'll be able to relate to the questions asked throughout the semester. I think that blogging is very unique compared to writing responses on a piece of paper or typing them and printing them out. Our generation is very technologically advanced, and I think blogging is clear proof of that. I can't wait to start blogging this semester!