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.