community service

I compleated my community service with my water polo team. I would help out with the scoreboard and the concession stands. After hearing everyone elses stories with their community service, I felt really underachieved. I feel like I could have done something more interesting with my time, something with a better story to it. Everyone else told stories about how they helped homeless people or mentally challenged people, and I don't feel as if I have done enough. Yes, what I did was helping my team out, and giving others a break, ordinary working people that would have volunteered anyway if i hadn't. I don't regret what I did in any way, I know I helped out, but I wish that I had also done something else as well.

implicit racism

When i took the survey for the harvard demo on the racism(European Americans v. African Americans) demo that we did in class, I got that i had a moderate automatic perference towards African Americans over European Americans. Only about 4% of people who took the test got this score, and I'm pretty sure that I took the test right, I never got any of the questions wrong. I'm so supprised with these results, I never considered myself racist towards black people, but I did expect some preference towards whites since that's what the majority of people get when they take this test. It's just interesting that I have a moderate perference towards blacks, I wouldn't have expected that.

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/Study?tid=-1

mobility?

The brookings Institute study that shows that other countries are more economically mobile than the US, such as canada and european countries. I think that this is true to an exent. There is almost no economically mobility for the people in poverty and the working class, but I think there is some for the people who are mid to upper middle class. Over the years I think my family has become mre economically mobile, there was a time when we weren't well off, right after the 9-11 attacks, I think everyone went through some hard times. I think that in the US there is the most room to economically grow if you're very wealthy.
I think I am growing up in the same social class as my parents and maybe a little up from them, just considering what colleges they went to, and where I plan to go, and what I want to do with my life in comparison to them. Our family has efinatly moved up since my grandparents. Most of my grandparents didn't even go to college, and some not even high school. I still expect to be in the upper middle class when I grow older.

blue collar stereotypes

The way the movie portrayed the blue collar people and how the middle class people were treating them, it seemed more like they were making fun of them rather than "glamorizing" their lifestyle. The dive bars in the city were a great example. I saw that the working class people were very kind to the yuppies that came into their bar and their lifestyle, but I don't think it was because they really wanted to get to know or be friends with the middle class people, I think theey only acted that way just to be nice, and to get the richer peoples buisness(the working class profited from them). I do find this condescending, because it cannot go both ways. For example, the working class people wouldn't be able to go into a middle/upper class club or bar, they just wouldn'y be able to afford it or fit in with the rest. So why should the middle class yuppies be able to go into the lower class lifestlye just to make fun of them, and have a good time? It would be a totally different story if the yuppies kept in contact, and stayed friends with the people they met, but in this case they didn't, and that's totally caondescending and shallow of the middle class peoples.

Tammy's story and her son

Tammy's poverty story is devistating to anyone. The fact that Tammy works at Burger King as a Janitor all day, and has no car to get her there, shows how desperate her family is. She and her family do have goals though, she stated that she wanted to be a teacher and one of her sons wants to go to college and become an architect or a lawyer. Statistically speaking neither of them has a chance of reaching these goals or ever comming out of poverty. Once in poverty, it's almost impossible to get out. Personally I think that the son has more of a chance at his goals than his mother. The mom works all day and has no car, there's no way for her to get ahead and go to school again. But the son is in high school and is already makeing changes to his lifestlye, and the lifestyle that his mom has portrayed to him. I think that if the son really wanted, he could get ahead and out of their povery striken life.

class interaction

In the movie, one man explained that the last time he interacted with someone from another social class was when he was in high school, and it wasn't a very good experience either because the working class felt they were being looked at as inferior. If someone said this about our high school, I would totally disagree. I think that most people at our school are already mid to upper middle class, and in fact I've never really seen anyone at Stevenson nor interacted with anyone who looks to be part of the "working class". In a way I feel that Stevenson is sheltered from the rest of the country by our class. If anything the class differences that I have noticed from day to day at school have been the differences from middle class to extremely wealthy.
If lower class people feel invisible I would understand why. Their lives are sometimes based off of the negatives. For example being told over and over again that a person cannot have the job, or the appartment, or the clothes that they want, it turns people negative. Time after time being told No, it can make a person numb to reality and life. This numbness can be seen as feeling "invisible".

devience

Even though I think money is a contributing factor, I don't think that Stevenson really follows that factor. This might be because most people that go to Stevenson are wealthy, and it's hard to judge who might be devient based on how much money they make. I think that being devient is based more on what kind of student you are, and your appearence. If a student is in higher classes and gets good grades, I think that administrators are more likely to think that the person isn't devient. But sometimes one cannot really tell weather someone is a good student or not if they're just walking down the hallway, so I believe in most cases that Stevenson doesn't really fall into the saints and roughnecks categories as much as other schools might.

social class possessions

There are so many things that people can buy to represent their social class. In my family it's the toyota. My parents won't buy any type of used car, it has to be new, and it cannot be made by any other company than toyota. This seems a bit rediculous, but my parents defend themsleves by saying that they've had to deal with so many junky cars over the years, that they're tired of dealing with any other car. A Toyota is no BMW, it's not that expensive, but it does represent their social class that they refuse to buy any other brand or any used car. I do think that class is realted to the things we own and this shows it. One other thing that shows our class is the fact that my parents won't shop at places like Ikea for furniture. All of our beds, tables, and chairs are bought from expensive exclusive stores like Tom's Price, where the stuff is handmade and real solid wood, versus buying something cheaper at target or Ikea. Both of these aspects set us apart into a "higher" social class.

Bowling for Columbine- fear

Moore's film, Bowling for Columbine, ends on a clifhanger. He approprietly addresses problems that exist in America, but never really comes to a conclution. One of the points he discusses is the fear in America. He talks about the fear of poverty(the poor) and the fear of black males. The main agent that causes these fears is the media. The media thrives on crimes committed, especially in the past few years media coverage of crime has gone up, while the crime itself has decreased. They install this fear in people, because it gives them more ratings. People will watch the news more if they are afraid of the community, and for their family. I think there is something to fear, but not to the extent that the media, and people thrive on it.

jezebel and airbrushing

I personally don't think that airbrushing is a bad thing. It's an art, and people need to understand that. As long as they learn that the picture of Keira Knightley that they see on the cover of a magazine isn't really her, that it's only a picture that others have created, then it shouldn't be a problem. The ugly truth is that the public won't accept a "real life picture" on the cover of a magazine. Maybe if all the media organizations came together, and promised that they won't airbrush a singel picture published ever again, this problem will be solved, and everyone will love themselves for who they really are!
This is a delema and I don't think it will be solved anytime soon but for the time being, people need to love themselves for who they are, regardless of airbrushed pictures in magazines and fake expectations.

nature and nurture

Both nature and nurture play large roles in development of humans. Although they are necessary for people to grow and develop properly, I think nurture is more important. Especially in this day in age, children can be born with all types of defects and problems, but with proper nurture, they can become perfectly normal beings. A person's nature can only effect them so much, and with the technology today, certain flaws in nature can be fixed. Nature is nothing without the nuture of other people or animals.

tuesdays with morrie- death

The fear of death is inevitable. All people are afraid of everything in life comming to an end. Even if a piticular person believes in an after life of some sort, nobody knows for sure what will happen, everyone has a fear of death. I think that this might be the only reason for why death is considered such a taboo topic. It's because everyone has different beliefs about what might happen after death, and also just the fact that Americans are afraid of things that they aren't certain of.
Most Americans have an emphasis on materialism, it's the American way of life. Everyone's feelings about death can be realted to our materialism, because just like our fear of death, people have a fear of failure in life. And although this failure might not be the same for everyone, but in general, it's the American way to be materialistic. Or it might be that American's use materialism to distract them from fears and problems, like death.

Tuesdays with Morrie - Dependency

I don't think one can generalize about Americans being depentent on each other as a whole. But it does seem that some people are afraid of being dependent on others because of pride or trust issues. Some might be afraid to depend on others because they might be afraid of being let down by the other person. If the person is without dependency, then there is no possibility of being let down by others. The fear of dependency could somewhat be related to our country's value of independence and freedom, because most Americans follow traditional values of that sort. I do find myself depending on others, mostly for advice on how to live my so called life, and I am definatly still dependent on certain people, like my parents. I don't think it really bothers me because all people need to depend on others for some things in life.

teen pregnancy

Juno has been all the hype ever since it hit the box office last year. Almost everyone i know thought it was a cute film.
Sal mentioned that he fears that it might send the wrong message to his students about teen pregnancy.

He's not the only one though. Family members of mine have also complained that movies like Juno and Knocked Up, are idolized films that send bad messages about how to live one's live.

I totally disagree with this opinion. Although the movies do underestimate pregnancy and in both cases the relationships became closer, I think most teens are smart enough to figure out the true meanings of both movies. After all it is just a movie and most people don't base their lives off of a on film.

Adolescents are intelligent enough to know that Juno wasn't just about teen pregnancy, that it was supposed to be a cute film about growing up, high school, and problems that go along with it. It was a movie that kids were supposed to be able to relate to in some way. Most of all I think it was just to make people laugh, and feel better about their life problems.

Groups

It is obvious that Collogero belongs in his community. As a child his groupings were as small as his family, and a few friends. When he grew older his groups expanded, and I would consider his main ones to be with Sonny, his italian friends, his crush, and his family.
Although one of his groups is with Sonny, I wouldn't necessarily put him with Sonny's main crew. Collogero and Sonny have a close relationship, but its limited to a father-son type relationship, because for the most part Collogero doesn't participate in the illegal activities that Sonny does.
I would definatly put Collogero and Sonny in their own groups, because again, although they are very close, their lives are very different in terms of who they associate themsleves with. Sonny's master status is obviously with his crew.
Collogero's master status would probablly be with his Italian friends throughout the movie, because he did everything with them, and he disregarded Sonny when he told Collogero to stay away from them. Durring the final parts of the film, where he finds his friends dead, his master status changes. He then associates himself more with Sonny, the main person in his life, because Sonny saved him from an almost certain death.

Freaks and geeks- at home

So my friends and I were so infatuated by the show that we decided to rent part of the series, and have it fill our friday night. I was trying to be a good daughter, and tell my parents about my life and my intrests. Even though I probablly was just trying to stray from the never ending conversation about what I should do with my life, thinking that I'm trying to be a daughter just makes me feel better about myself.
Anyway, my parents, trying to relate to my life and the way i think, watch the show. My mother says nothing about the topic for about a day. Then she spontaniously conbusts in Victoria's Secret, as I pick out some undergarments that she considered scandalous. She went on a rant about how buying this one undergarment was going to turn me into Kim Kelley, an insane high school burnout, going nowhere in life. Or at least that's how I interpreted it.
How she made this connection I do not know. Sociologically, I think it means that I have serious communication problems, or at least with my parents. If she felt so bitter about the show that I was watching, why hadn't she told me earlier? I consider this partially my fault, because I shut down almost everyone of their attempts to have a decent conversation with me.
But I don't think I make any sense. Hopefully nobody reads this blog.

odyssey

Unlike most of my friends or people in my classes, I was pumped for 2 days of fine arts, and spent serious time making the schedule. All I wanted to do was eat a cake, twist balloons, and get down with the suave-man. For the most part I got what I wanted. breakdancing, was the most interesting. I thought I would be so great at this, because of past dancing experiences. I was a dancer for 9 years up until about 2 years ago.

The class was quite an experience, but I soon learned that my dancing skills these days consist of ass- shaking and arm flailing, because I certantly couldn't do much else. According to the teacher my crumpin hands were more like jazz hands and my two step was bouncy. The balloon twisting was great, but didn't last as long as I had hoped. About twelve minutes after leaving the class my balloon twisted dog was untwisted, and by the last period of the day, they were all popped. The cake-decorating was alright. I wanted to learn techniques, and the art of how to prepare a beautiful baked good. I know I wasn't about to become a legendary Julia Child in fifty minutes, but I expected so much more than the stale angel food cake, and overly sugared frosting.

How does this relate to sociology? I guess this just goes to show how different poeples cultures are, and how I should never be allowed to breakdance, because I have no coordination or rythm. No, nevermind, I dont know what I'm talking about. I'm just frustrated that I cant dance. Boo-hoo I'm a self absorbed seventeen year old girl who needs to get over herself, and now I'm going to bed.

silence?

Silence is only awkward if you make it awkward.

Say someone you're having a conversation with someone who makes an odd comment, and you have nothing to say back to it, so you stand in silence. This moment is only awkward if you say or think it's awkward. It depends on the person and how you judge them.
I think silence is also a measure of how close you are with a person. when you can sit in silence and not feel awkward with someone, that's when you really know and feel comfortable with someone.

And although there are exceptions to these, in general, the awkwardness of silence is all in your head and what you percieve to be socially acceptable.

finally blogging

What can I say? I've never blogged before, so this will be quite the experience.
But I am obviously technologically challenged. It took me five days to get this post up. Writing is not one of my strengths, so creating the same 2 blogs over and over again, really made my day. I am so looking forward to the rest of this project.