Crash -

In the movie Crash, the characters come from all different backgrounds. Some are Hispanic, others Asian, Middle eastern, Black and White. Their lives all crash together in different ways and each character has to deal with the racism that he or she might have. One example is when Sandra Bullock's character clings closer to her husband when she sees two African American men walking down the street. The two men mug her and her husband. She mentions later though that she was scared and she didn't do anything because if she had said something or done something, she would have been called a racist. I think that this is very true in everyday life. We see things that happen to others and so we form opinions about what a certain group of people are like. We seem to have this idea that all people from the Middle East are terrorists, that all Asians are smart and math geniuses, and that all Hispanic people are in gangs or sell drugs. These ideas of race are gathered from our society and from what the media shares. We are constantly influence by what we see. The biases that the world has, become our own.

Racism -

Over the past week, the class has talked about racism. We talked about obvious racism and the kind that sometimes just slips into a conversation. We also discussed the idea that racism is a social construction of reality that we've made up. Its totally fake! We've made it up. It started when English people began to travel the world and discovered slaves. We've now integrated race into almost everything we do. Colleges want to know your race. Your country wants to know your race. Even your friends might ask. Its not something that can be put into a box though. Because if we try to put people into categories, than we come across problems. Is race what you feel? How you look? Or just where you came from. The questions become too difficult and can and have caused much controversy. Does it really matter? But more importantly, is it worth it?

Salt of the Earth -

In continuation with our topic of social class, our class discussed and watched a video on the different perceptions that people have about the working class. America as a whole seems to put the working class man on a display. We see the effort and the hard work that they put into living and call it the "American Dream". But to some extent, we might be patronizing them. We look down on them with this look of superiority, while at the same time, trying to be like one of them. We see them as the people who could really move up in the world. However, according to the movie that we watched, a lot of people (especially the middle/working class) seem to cherish the idea of staying in the same social class that you were in. Its almost looked down upon to leave your town. They see it as  the person abandoning their home and their family. Social mobility for them, is a sign of superiority. For example, in the movie we watched, a girl moved out of her rural Kentucky home, and went into the city. Although she saw it as a sign of her moving on, her family saw it as betrayal.

Social Class -

Rarely do we own up to our true social class. We see it as something that was "per-revolution" and therefore think that it is outdated. But whether we want to admit it or not, we are the product of social class. We walk the way we do, eat the things we eat, and talk to the people that we do, because of the way we were raised, and because of the social class that we were born into. Now, we can change that social class, but we will never be able to fully integrate ourselves into that world. That's the difference between old money and new money, in the upper classes. Its why some people are called "rich" and others "wealthy". Its all about they way we are perceived. We may be able to dress the way another group does. We might even be able to talk like them. But you can never be one of them. Its like taking a Paris Hilton, and trying to make her fit into the projects of Chicago. It would never work. No matter how much you trained her to change her voice or her dress or the way she walked, she could never be like lower class people. I also think its interesting, that no two lower class groups are the same. If you look at the lower class of South Carolina, and than look at the lower class of California, you would see drastic differences in the way they dress, the way they treat each other, and the things they find important.

Jail Bird -

Over the past few days in class, we read, watched, and discussed the criminal justice system. Cracks in the system become obvious as the film, that we watched, progressed. It seemed that most of the people in jail were minorities and were poor. Most of them had been in jail on several occasions. One inmate, who was in his 50s, said he had been in the system since he was 14 years old. He has become so dependent on the the environment that he has in jail, that he doesn't know how to live anywhere else. The system that we've created, doesn't allow for the inmates to ever get out. If we could come up with a way or an organization that would allow for the inmates to recover from any sort of addiction or to help them with mental or emotional disabilities, than I think that the number of inmates that the United States has, would dramatically decrease.

Freaks and Geeks

During class we watched the TV show Freaks and Geeks in order to relate it what we've been learning about deviance in class. In the show, you can see how Lyndsey is seen as deviant in the eyes of both her old and new friends. The old friends that she has see her as becoming an out of control party girl. However, the new friends that shes with think that she is a goody two shoes. Both friend groups see her as being deviant.This deviance sometimes isolates her from everyone. Its the same way in the real world. When people see someone that does something that is really good or really bad, we label them as deviant. Those random acts of kindness that we had to do for our project, really seemed to impact people. Something as simple as buying dinner for someone, could have changed their day. But people don't always accept the gift. A lot of times they think you want something from them, because you did something nice for them.They label you as out of the ordinary.

Deviance

Every society has its norms and its expectations of the way you should act. They are followed by the people who have grown up in the society, but can be a stumbling block for the people who do not. Foreigners can violate these norms, and be accused of being deviant. Whether it be something serious or something the society considers unnatural, it can lead to misunderstanding. In class we mentioned the example of someone picking their nose. We think it is something that is disgusting and isn't appropriate for a grown person to do. Anyone who does do the habit is labeled as deviant. This label can lead to a shunning from the society, or other casting out. The rules of norms, set boundaries for what is deviant and what is not. However, one form of deviance may not carry over from one society to the next. Each society has something different that is considered deviant.

Self Image

Over the past week, class discussion has been about advertising and self perception. The focus has been on how girls are objectified in the media. According to the media, women are supposed to be thin, fragile, weak, nameless, objects. Men on the other hand, are constantly told they need to be strong, clever, and powerful. The class watched multiple videos in class about the digital modifications that editors do on models. These modifications include to make them look thinner, taller, have better hair, larger eyes, longer neck, whiter teeth and prettier skin. The women that every girl tries to look like doesn't exist. After seeing all of the modifications that people put into women's pictures, I wonder if they do the same for men. In one of the videos that we watched, the director seemed to be making a much stronger case for the effect that media has on women instead of men. Do the media images really not have the same effect on men as it does on women? I find that hard to believe. Girls are CONSTANTLY thinking about the way they look. They compare themselves to the girl next to them in class. And most likely, a girl will think (at least once) that the reason that guy is now with that girl, is because shes thinner and prettier. It doesn't matter if its true or not, because we make it true to ourselves. Which in my opinion is the last step to ruining yourself. When you convince yourself of something, you rarely change your mind. It doesn't matter who tells you otherwise. If you think your too fat, too ugly, too this, too that, then that's what you are. Period. I think we need to start getting to girls younger with this image of a beautiful person (regardless of looks), earlier in their lives. High school, is simply too late.

Service Project -

For my service opportunity, I was able to go to Myanmar. After the 36 hour trip, I was able to go around the country and help out at orphanages. The kids there were super sweet and they loved to be with you. When we would get out of the car, we would be swarmed by all the kids trying to hold your hands, touch your hair, or carry your bag. We were able to hang out with the kids and to play games and do crafts with them. It was interesting to see the kinds of traditions that they have and to see how their culture is a mix of India, China, and Vietnam. The food is mostly Chinese and Vietnamese. However, many Indian themes, like their writing, look Indian. The people there are so warm and friendly. They work hard for the little that they have and they seem very content with what they have. They never seemed to feel sorry for themselves and always had a smile on their faces.

UnTV-

Today in class we talked about the experiment from the UnTV. The challenge was to watch the TV. Not the show, but the actual TV. We were also challenged to watch someone watch it. In class, the discussion was carried by the overwhelmingly obvious theme of commercial bombardment. The TV is constantly sending you messages about what you should wear, what your life should look like, and the things you need to have. We get so attached to the constant movement of the screen, that we rarely stop to see what we are actually filling our brains with. All day long, we are filled with stimulation. We go home and flip on the TV in order to relax. However, what we don't realize, is that the TV is sending us messages as well. Not only messages, but the TV is filled with constant movement. I think that people that make TV shows know the way that Americans think. We have a go-go-go life, that we expect out TV to be like that too. In fact, we expect everything to be like that. Car rides, a book, computers, food and almost everything else. I think that's why we get so frustrated with life. We have been trained to constantly go. However, when we actually have to slow down and work for something, we decide its not worth it.

This week in class we talked about the different ways that socialization occurs to a person. Some of the categories, were work, religion, school, family and friends. Groups like religion and school can shape our overall outlook on our world. School gives us tools and helps guide us in the ways that we should deal with people and work ethic. Religion creates a general moral compass of what the culture sees as acceptable. Things like family and friends may give you a more specific moral and intellectual attitudes than just school and religion. These groups, which you are more directly affected by, influence us more specifically in the ways that we dress, how we talk, the music we like, etc. As a teenager, I've seen the effects of socialization from these categories in my own life. Due to the high school that I go to, and the friends that I hang out with, my work ethic, my outlooks on other people, as well as my opinions about other topics, are all shaped by them.

Tuesdays with Morrie -
Over the past few days, my class has been watching the movie 'Tuesdays with Morrie'. During the last few months of Morrie's life, he passes on some of his wisdom and his thoughts on to his friend Mitch. Mitch, like the rest of us, has a busy life and gets uncomfortable with topics like death. Morrie begins to pose some questions at Mitch about love, death, family, relationships etc. One of the big questions was, why are people (especially Americans) so afraid to receive love? Personally, I think the reason why we get so afraid of people loving us, is because we don't want to get hurt. Just listen to all the songs on the radio! Half of them are about a broken heart or how someone cheated on them! If we open ourselves up to love, than we also open ourselves up to pain. In our culture, showing that you are in pain is a sign of weakness. And for some odd reason, we get it drilled into our minds at birth, that to be weak and to need something is bad. Our culture is so against asking for help. I think that's because we think that we have to be so independent.

Norms -

In class over the last week or so, we've been talking about our social "norms". We talked about the classifications of the different types of norms that we have. Things like folkways, taboos, and mores, are all things that we know exist in our culture, but we aren't really sure how to define them. For example, something that our culture classifies as a Folkway, is something like eating with your hands. Now, in our culture, we do say that certain foods are okay to eat with your hands, but in general, we see eating with your hands as something that is uncivilized. In class we also talked about the general ways in which our culture interacts. For example, the pace of life. The expectations we have for our fellow citizen and so on. We have a mind set of that "go go go" personality and we can't help it. When we are asked to just relax, we can't do it. This was proven to me while doing the homework assignment where we literally had to do nothing. No thinking, moving, watching, etc. was allowed. As Americans, we are constantly thinking. If our body isn't in motion, our mind is. We can't stand to be int he present. We have to be planning or reminiscing about the past. We cannot simply be.

Shock!

In class this week, we watched the movie "God Grew Tired of Us". The movie follows a group of African born men, into their new life in the U.S. It is clear from the moment they step foot in America, that they were out of their element. You can really see the effects of culture shock on them, as we watch their reactions to things like light switches, popular TV, Santa Claus, and escalators. The men have never had to deal with these types of things before. For weeks after, the men try to adjust to their new lives. Throughout the movie, I started to feel really bad for the lost boys. They viewed our culture as something that they seemed to think of, as materialistic, busy, unfriendly, and all around rude. I think that the men were being a little ethnocentric. They kept saying that everything that we did here was wrong. To a certain extent though, I agreed with them. What they said about our culture being too busy and not having a sense of community, really impacted me. It made me think twice about what I did everyday and the way I did things. My daily activities all seemed to be normal to me, but after watching the movie, its obvious that's not the case for the boys. For example, whenever I go to the supermarket, I don't think twice about it. It seems natural to me to go up and down the aisle and to find what I need or what I want to eat and leave. But for the boys, it was strange. They had probably never even been inside of a grocery store before, much less, having to choose from all the different kinds of fruit that we have.

CHAIN REACTION -

This week we watched the movie A Bronx Tale. Throughout the movie, we follow a young boy and his life in an Italian neighborhood. When the movie first opened, I thought the town was going to be a lot like the town of Roseto that we read about. A quiet town where everyone stays to themselves and for the most part everyone is happy. I think to some extent the towns were similar. They both stay within their own race and they try to keep their traditions and their culture alive. However, the towns seemed to be different because as you watch the movie, you see that not everyone is as happy as they appear. They all have their troubles. Most of the troubles have to do with race and gang violence. I think that its interesting that so many of the people who live in the town had a problem with the African American people that would go through the area. All of C's friends would get upset and angry when African American people would walk or ride by. However, C wouldn't. He would say things like, "they ain't botherin'  you!" and he would leave them alone. He even tried to help a black teenager who was getting beaten up by his friends. I think the reason that C and his friends acted so differently from one another was their upbringing. All of the kids lived in the same environment and had basically the same experiences. However, you can see a big difference in the way their parents thought about race. C's parents seem to be less racist than some of C's friend's parents. The boys are shaped by the people that they are around the most, and by the way that these people think. It makes me think twice about who I surround myself with. No matter how much you try, you are being affected by the people you are with. Whether you know it or not, their thoughts begin to become your own. Its a dangerous way to live if you ask me.

In class this week, we looked into the ideas of micro and macro sociology. We did this by doing our activity on the boat. We kicked people off who we saw as unfit or unimportant. However, we kept people on the boat who we thought would be useful. For example, we kicked of the old couple because we saw their age and decided that they weren't going to be able to do their share of the work.  On the other hand, we kept the pregnant cheerleader because we saw the value of the life that she had in her. We used this experiment to show what affects our decisions everyday. Some of the larger things like living in America, going to the school that we do, being the age that we are etc., have shaped the way that most teenagers in America see the world. We are taught to value health, youth, usefulness, and education. That is why year after year, the results for this project are relatively the same. However, smaller things, or micro sociology also have a way of shaping us. Things like what our families are like,the friends we hang out with, the clubs we're in, all shape us. For example, I can be associated with and shaped by the general groups that I'm apart of like living in the U.S. and being a high school student. But I might be different than kids in my own school because of the people that I'm friends with and the way that they have shaped my outlook on life.

In class this week, we discussed the concept of "social construction of reality". This is the idea that people, or society, comes up with unspoken rules about what is acceptable. We get many of our opinions about things based on what society has taught us is OK or not OK. In class, we used the example of saliva vs. spit. They are the same thing. But somehow, our society has decided that the fact that the saliva is outside of your mouth, that it is suddenly not OK. You can also see an example of this in the things that we eat. In our society, we eat hot dogs and ham and all kinds of meat that we see as acceptable. But in other countries, they eat meats like dog and they think that that is fine to do. However, in America, we are shocked because we see dogs as pets and not meat. That's what our society said is not an alright thing to do. Each Society is different as to what is what is socially acceptable and what is not. But every area has their ideas and expectations. 

This week the class read a section from the book Outliers. I thought that reading the section about the town of Roseto, was a great way to start off the class because it got everyone thinking about our sociological imagination, or the effect that a person's surroundings has on them. Its the way that a person's friends, family, culture, religion affect them. It can even be the year that the person was born in, or the type of clothes that people wear. It all affects you as a person. This is true in my life as well! Growing up in the Midwest, I am sheltered as well as exposed to things that other kids around the world aren't. That means that I will have different opinions about things then maybe some other kids would who live in another country, or even in another state. That might mean that I view something like college differently than another kid my age. I go to a high school where almost all of its students go to college. For me, its a given! However, for another student somewhere across the country, maybe in the city, college might be something that they just don't see as a possibility or something important. It all depends on how your environment affects you.

Who I am...

       This post is supposed to define who I am... I'm not sure if this will DEFINE me, but I guess some facts would help paint a picture. I'm a student, an athlete (kind of), a Christian, a writer, and a musician. I've played piano for 11 years but never loved it. It was one of those things my parents wanted me to do, so I did it. But, I stayed with it only because I didn't really have the gumption to quit. I try really hard in school too and am pretty involved in my church. I'm hoping to be a "world traveler" when I'm older. I'll be going to Burma over spring break for a missions trip and I'm super excited (check out the picture)! I'm a teenager like most; I have good days and bad days. But I have some of the best friends that a person could ask for and an amazing family! I love music too. Jon McLaughlin and Relient K are my favorite artists/bands. Not going to lie though, I kind of like some country music too.
      So does that answer your question? I hope so, because that's as much as I know myself! I don't really have a "dream" or anything like that. No major goals that other people don't have. I want to go to college, get good grades, make my parents proud of me, get a good job...nothing too out of the ordinary. When I find out what makes me special, I'll let you know.